2.6.9
on January 14, 2026
at 3:00 am
I may have fallen for the classic storytelling blunder known as “patting myself on the back for how good of a story I just did”
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
I may have fallen for the classic storytelling blunder known as “patting myself on the back for how good of a story I just did”
resting in a hole in the ground
#myholeintheground
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: I think a nap in a crater would fix me
Image source: perhaps
Rakhn is a volcano whose lungs are decorative. Don’t smoke, kids.
Rakhn is a volcano whose lungs are decorative. Don’t smoke, kids.
That was Tumblr Text
Bluesky Text: a sleepy wednesday
it makes sense that a volcano would smoke
. Kendal lies in a crater in the volcanic stone, eyes closed, sword in hand. “Go on,” Rakhn rumbles. He sits next to Kendal on the lip of the crater, a lightly smoking pipe in his mouth.
. “There’s not much more to tell,” Kendal says. “Beran asked if I was sure, and I was. I took the sword and woke up.”
. “Interesting,” Rakhn says, taking the pipe out of his mouth. “Shades of Vash’s lost populace. I have never heard of such a thing. But then, a city has never died with such thorough efficiency.” He looks down at Kendal. “Your short life does not have many happy stories in it, godling.”
. “It’s not so bad. I just didn’t want to bore you.”
. “How kind.” Rakhn lifts his gaze, watching the sky at the horizon darken as the sun sets. He smiles softly. “It’s true that even joy can lose its novelty, yet I find I am slow to tire of it. When the winter redoubles its offensive and the Hearth’s Feast is thrown, my people repay me with many happy tales. Births. Lovers. Friendships. Rich new veins of ore. Perhaps this year they will tell me of your thief.”
. “Perhaps,” Kendal says with a slight smile.
I’m baack! Wish me luck on my midterms ‘:D
OMG GOOD LUCK. I just took mine, they were not fun 😭😭
Good luck to both of you! This too will pass!
Yeah, but hopefully, *THOSE* two will pass!
Man, it sucks being old…but I sure don’t miss midterms and finals. Now it’s all just…deadlines.
Two bros chilling at a volcano, one’s in a crater ‘coz they’re not gay. (For the record, Red has stated several times that Kendal is ace, don’t @ me :P)
AAAAH!!! SERIOUSLY!!? Oh my GLOB that would be Awesome! I would love that! because I *Deeply* *Truly* LOVE the love that Kendal and Alinua so clearly and obviously have for each other, but they have literally never felt (to me) ANY kind of sexual Or romantic tension, and – while I would absolutely love for them to both declare their mutual commitment to spending their lives together – I would feel cheated if their relationship was in any way romanticized. (Honestly I would also feel cheated if they did Not end up spending their potentially eternal lives together, but that’s an aside)
Red has definitively stated that Kendal is asexual (although shes said shes not sure of his romantic orientation), and shes never said anything suggesting that romance between Kendal and alinua will be part of the story, so its probably not going to happen. I personally see their relationship as being potentially a queer-platonic sort of thing?
I recall the statement that Alinua and Kendal is “family at first sight” (storge at first sight?), or something like that. Which I’m all for.
All looks aside, Kendal is not part of a sexually (or otherwise) reproducing species. Being asexual would be as natural for him as anything else (more, actually, because it would be the default assumption as opposed to nothing else about him being natural at all otherwise).
Ah Kendal at peace. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
Do you think this counts as his long-awaited therapy session?
My first thought at seeing panel 2 was “Therapy session pose” so maybe??
When it loaded in I only saw the first panel for a second and it had me worried, not gonna lie.
Haha saaaaame
Methinks the Red did that on a wee bit purpose.
Honestly, i think ¨patting yourself on the back for how goood a story you just did¨ is thouroughly justified here.
Rest with a great need
Regaling his tale of woe
Some joy is yet there
Does anyone know what time zone this gets posted in? B/c I’m in cst and it used to be posted at 5am my time and for the past couple posts it’s been 2am?? Did Red move or something or just switch up the timing? B/c I am frequently awake at 2am and almost never awake at 5am
Might be DST-related tomfoolery. The comic used to follow the Midwest DST iirc, so I kept seeing it at 10 AM Central Europe Time (DST or not), but ever since New Years I’ve been seeing the comic release consistently at 9 AM instead.
It’s posted in pst! 3am sharp(ish, sometimes)
That’s weird. I’m in EST and it’s been consistently 3 am for me.
Tolkien% has been achieved. Someone is finally smoking a pipe.
Pipes✨️
Is it just me or is the volcano attractive?
Rakhn sure got hotter when he stopped being on fire…
It’s the way the volcano sits and smokes.
The volcano, smoking
I mean, if he were a woman wearing that sort of clothes and smoking in those poses, the pictures would have been pin-up worthy.
I mean, see and compare panel 4 with this image https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0572/4877/6259/files/Color_Pin-Up_Tattoo_2_480x480.jpg?v=1709112061
Are you saying the volcano is…hot?
Captain Obvious approves.
Of course the volcano is hot, that’s how volcanos work!
ThatAndRedDrewHimRealPretty-
Goddamn…Rakahn! I wish I had an interrobang as a punctuation mark to add to the end of that sentence because Rakahn is smokin’. Also is it just me or does this scene give anyone some vibes that Rakahn and Kendal did more thsn just fight?!
He’s resting.
Rakhn: You like the crater, I call it a “talk hole”.
Kendal: … Uhh, how about “conversation pit”?
Rakhn: Hmm, yeah actually that does sound better.
Vash, a city god, held the memories of all his populace and knew them all, to the point where Kendal was taken aback when he realised how little he knew of Alinua. Meanwhile Rakhn, a god of a mountain/island, needs to be told this information about the people living on him, and from what we’ve learnt, that’s just the way he likes it.
Definitely Rakhn, the tale of Falst Fire-thief and his quest to save his “very close friend” will be a great story to tell, especially the fiery bridal carry finale. I wonder if Alinua could use his love of stories to reunite with the gang; he and the Northern Wyrm may be bitter enemies, but the tale of Alinua exploding her from the inside might be too tempting for him to resist.
Kinda ironic how Kendal and Alinua have befriended gods on opposite sides; that’s helping them now, but may complicate things later.
Conversation Crater!
Kendal getting to be peaceful for a moment <3
I dont like sleeveless Kendal. It gives wrong vibes
yeah, I don’t know why, but something just seems so /off/ about it
maybe cuz it’s a collared shirt?
You’re right.
Vash = sleeveless, YES
Kendal =/= sleeveless, nuh-uh
It has something to do with Kendal’s modest, understated manner.
Aaw yay, Kendal and Rakhn are hanging out! I like how Kendal’s getting floor time—I mean crater time—and a bit of a physical rest while he tells Rakhn the story of his life, and Rakhn’s smoking a pipe and just, like, chillin’.
This is, uh. Considerably less emotionally fraught than the scene with Falst, Dainix, and Tess we just left. I’m sure it’ll be a relief when they find out Kendal’s fine.
I love that Rakhn has a pipe XD I wonder if it’s comforting for Kendal to speak with someone else who understands a god’s point of view?
Also, that crater looks entirely too comfy. I want a crater nap.
Wonder who will find him first. Tess who may or may not need to pay by telling her story, or Alinua riding what may look like a land shark made out of seaweed and thorns (I feel like seeing that come out of the water will be entertaining enough on its own).
I would love to sleep in a crater
Out of context, panel 2 gives off strong “they just fucked” vibes.
(I know Kendal and Red are Ace, I just find the composition funny.)
he’s resting in a crater… vash was built in a crater… am i reaching i feel like i’m probably reaching
For a volcano god he sure seem pretty chill
Volcanoes do tend to be pretty chill until they very suddenly aren’t
Well, they did do the confrontational bit first, even spared for a bit, now they be chilling after thier excersize.
#MyCrater
oh my golly me it’s Kendal
oh my golly me it’s Rakhn
oh my golly me look at that pretty sunset gradient
Oh my gosh golly me there’s a crater
oh my golly me we should start a club
this is surprisingly cute omg
I’ll admit, I do like Rakhn’s philosophy here (or is that the philosophy of his people?). I for one, would love nothing better during the cold winter months than to sit by a fire with a warm cup of cocoa or tea and a pleasant book, such as The Hobbit, or perhaps The Way of Kings. A bit of warmth for the body and the soul in the dead of winter.
Maybe Rakhn just needs a good library on his volcano.
RIP Rakhn you would have loved tumblr and Ao3
Have you tried mistborn?
genuinely almost fell out of my chair cuz i forgot how fine Rakhn is 😋
I mean you can ask the local ocean guardian.
And the scariest prospect is that you can ask herself soon enough.
Oh wait, Rakh mean them telling him about Falst.
I thought he meant hearing stories about the collector.
Therapy session anyone? Maybe everyone else should come and also tell Rakhn about their turbulent lives
Therapy session anyone? Maybe everyone else should come and also tell Rakhn about their turbulent lives
This is all the vibes ever
Big Gilgamesh and Enkidu Energy right here.
Rich new veins of ore? More like rich new veins of lore.
I’ll see myself out.
Kendal has such beautiful hair
Glad to see they are getting along
Looking at panels 2 and 4, how is Kendal Level with Rakhan in 2 and is in a crater or pit in 4? How does the camera perspective line up?
Oh golly me it’s a crater
Oh no! Red forgot to tell us to be normal about this entire page!
Psht, like it would have worked anyway!
Remember kids only gods can smoke safely
The Volcano God is hot, go figure.
Dainix: “For some reason, they [the Volcano Ignans] let us walk out of there with a piece of Rakhn’s heart in you hand”
The Volcano Ignans: “A cat Ferin managed to get past our guard, sneak into the centre of a very on fire volcano, stole a piece of Rakhn’s heart, and fell into lava only to be saved by the manifestation of some sort of special Ignan?!? This would be an AMAZING story to tell Rakhn.”
“This is gonna be the best Winter story EVER!”
I should have seen this Gilligan Cut coming, but didn’t. Bravo, Red!
God I love Rakhn so so so much. Excellent volcano characterization that he’s capable of being very chill a lot of the time as well heheheh
I think this is as close as Kendal is gonna get to a beach episode, at least for a long time. Technically, I believe they might be able to see the beach from up there…
I love Rakhn’s line that happy stories don’t get boring as quickly as sad ones. He’s already fighting an endless war of attrition lots of the year, sometimes he’d like to relax. I think that also reflect’s Red’s view that she personally enjoys triumphant media over Grimdark. I personally agree, sharing in joy is much easier to me than listening to tragedy.
The more I look at the page the more it kinda bothers me…
In panel 2, we can see the horizon, so there’s pretty much zero frog perspective going on. Rakhn’s stomach should be about the height of Kendal’s chest, and Kendal clearly extends past the walls of the crater. But in panel 4, Rakhn is fully visible with the ground he sits on, but judging by the speech bubble, Kendal is allll the way down there so deep we can’t see any of him. One of these panels isn’t possible I think…
Want a smoke, kid?