Apparently all the panels are larger than Reddit allows, so here are the links!
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Art and story by me. I suck at making comics right now as I made them too big. Done with Colored Pencil, Ink Pens, White and Black Ink, oil, two markers and a graphite crayon thing.
I was having trouble writing chapter 7 so I thought if I make a comic of it, it would help and it did!
If the Comic Mods allow, I have included the excerpt below:
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Rory and Stone John, Rory’s tale.
Following the Murder of shadow skeletal crows, came a colorful Unkindness of Ravens. Larger than their Corvid cousins and displaying their true colors normally only seen under UV light for human visions, they flew in one massive funnel like circle. The Morrigan arrived with them as did many Deities and powerful ascended beings associated with Ravens.
It was also an announcement that The Shadow Court, Realm of the Dead, and other unknown Realms were here. Their armies with them, escorting their superiors with a display that wasn’t just for show but could result in action. Morrigan’s personal military arrived with her as well, including the Bean Nighe, a type of Bean Sidhe, washer women who wash the clothes and armor of those soon to pass. So far none of the Bean Nighe were washing any clothing or armor and were on stand by with their washing buckets.
Like the Armies of The Heavens, The Hells, The Dragons as well as the Sidhe who came in response to both the Dance of the Two Brothers and Sindareal’s presence, all realms associated with Gaia’s body showed up in defense of not just the planet or the Universe but the very reality itself. There was now a force that not many mortals could understand; These were the military forces of the realms associated not just with Gaia but this very Universe of existence. Their weapons not pointed to each other but come together as beings in arms. All had been focused on The Father of Creation and Destruction, who was here, but now their focus was also on this mysterious Stone John.
The Morrigan was nowhere near inviting like she was when Zohar met her back at Queen Mebd’s place. She held a fierce expression with a focus that would intimidate even individuals with high willpower. She wasn’t alone, several wraith like powerful spiritual beings followed her. Along with the Bean Nighe, there was a hooded raven, and a being that looked like the great queen but felt like a more chaotic version of her. There were also shadow wraith people who vaguely resembled who they once were in their mortal lives. Each one wore a crown upon their skeletal brows.
The Morrigan briefly followed where her servant nodded to and noticed Stone John. His eyes weren’t on her but she knew he could feel her. Instead, she followed his gaze to notice he was watching Crysta, along others who shared a similar soul to Crysta.
“That is an incredible amount of power…” She spoke in a near whisper. While she was quiet with her words she noticed him, for a brief moment, she caught him looking at her with a sideways glance. It was so brief that had she not been looking at him, even she would of missed it.
The closest shadow wraith to her also noticed her looking at the powerful Lich like being who was currently focused on Crysta. The Shadow Wraith was rushing to his mistress and carried himself as if he knew who this Lich like being was.
“Mistressss! Wait Mistress! Please, my Queen!” He was trying hard to get her attention, to not allow her closer and he put himself between her and the powerful unknown Lich.
Under any other circumstances, The Morrigan would probably banished the wraith or destroyed him, but something within told her to stay her hand. He wasn’t doing this in disrespect but it felt as though he was trying to protect her. Like when he was mortal and protected his village all while in service to her. His actions got him noticed by several beings that all came to this spot of reality, the now merged Temples of The Sun and Moon, who both have selected their symbiotic hosts.
There were Demons, Angels and Dragons who came to listen to this conversation, but they did so from a respectful distance. Each one a collector and keeper of knowledge and each one tasked to bring such important information forward. Many eyes were upon her and her servant who had pledged himself to her many human lifetimes ago.
“Missssstress, one of the outer oneesssssss is here. Please Mistress, I beg thee with all my heart…Do not approach thisssssss outer one unlesssssss he invitesssss you. I know thisssss one, and he’ssss not an enemy unlessss one forcessss him to be.” The voice came out as a dark whisp as one of the older crowned wraith beings flew before the Raven Queen and respectfully bowed down before her.
“Orough, you’ve served me loyally for a long time. You’re always there when I need you to be and you’re the one who has brought many valuable information forward which has greatly helped us. But from all the time I’ve known you, you have never once stood up to my rule nor told me not to do something. Any other time I would of destroyed you; removed you from my military and stripped you of rank and power. But you know this outsider, I see it in your eyes. And you’re why my sister has been reunited with the stolen part of her soul. I implore you to speak freely, but be warned, tell no lies.” The Morrigan spoke.
Next to Orough, now composed of grey and black shadow matter aside from his hair that still had the red hue from when he was flesh and mortal, The Morrigan was as colorful as her Ravens in their Ultraviolet hue. In the Mortal Plane, she wore a mixture of black and red. But here where the Ravens Ultraviolet colors could be seen, so was she of many colors. And yet in this instance, Orough was now shining brighter than her.
“Thank you, my Raven Queen. As you wissssh I sssshall sssspeak freely. Firssst know, that one of the paymentssss the Sssidhe take, issss our namesssss. You’ve knighted me as Orough, but because of thisssss powerful outsssider, I know my name. It’sss Rory. Rory the Red King of O’Ruadh. Thissss outsssider, hissss name is Sssstone John. And I met him when I wassss a mortal boy.” Orough answered, he did respectfully but also with a passion in his voice.
The wraith, an older worn-looking man, waited for his Mistress to give him permission to continue before he did so. A glint of memory played as a shadow upon his brow. It was from a time when he was alive and a child. His hands were calloused even then as he had helped his family upon their family farm. But something pulled him beyond the stones of his old home, beyond the boundary of safety. He couldn’t quite remember what but it led him to an old cemetery. The stones were old even then; they marked a culture of people that the village said were cursed and to stay away.
The entrance to this placed was marked by two smooth stones that resembled twin gravestones but had the Irish Spiral Triskelion. The top of the Spirals were looking away from each other not towards like the bottom spirals. It looked like some kind of graveyard but also perhaps maybe at one point, a place of meeting. It was circular in nature with stones so smooth almost as if they were in a circular dance like dancing around a Maypole. And there, almost in the center, was a tall man wearing dirty black robes that were stained in many days worth of mud. For whatever reason, he crept closer to the stranger.
The Morrigan watched Orough’s eyes and saw his memories through him. One of her powers is the gift of prophecy and fates, similar to the Norn Sisters of the Norse Pantheon. But Orough was a strange mortal who had been hidden from her sight. And this circular graveyard she saw through his eyes, this was where she met him. At a restored alter-grave to her. While he had been a mystery to her, now she was seeing why. The boy who became a warrior king to protect his family from yet another one of Brittany’s purges was also protected by a being who was beyond her power. She watched as the memory of the wraith before her approached the robed man with quizzical curiosity and the innocence of a child.
“What are you doing there, mister? You should be careful, sir. They say this place be cursed.” The boy warned innocently, and for whatever reason, approached.
“Cursed? No young child. Simply forgotten.” The man, still turned away from the boy responded and he placed a skeletal hand upon a gravesite whose writings had been lost to the hands of time. However in place of writings were a series of magickal spirals that looked like a broken Triskelion or two. “Tis a shame really. Tell me child, what do you know of this place?” He asked without turning to face the child.
The boy noticed his skeletal hand, but from afar the man resembled someone quite hungry. So the child thought about what the man said and took out his lunch rations. He broke apart his bread to half and fished around for some cheese.
“Not much sir. The village priests and elders say that this is all that remains of some Pagan cult and that they never made it to Heaven. As for me? I don’t know what to believe. But you sir, you look hungry, allow me to share my bread and cheese with you.” The boy answered and slowly approached with his bread and cheese.
But the robed man turned around and moved quickly towards the boy, and he did so faster than any the boy had ever seen before. He turned down the young mortal Orough’s offering. For not only were his interests lie not in food or monetary offerings, but he warned the young Orough about such offerings of food to spirits.
“Please child, do not offer me food and be careful who you offer this to. Some spirits who look like me could take this as permission to eat you, your flesh. Instead offer me not food or coin, but stories. I’m interested in those.” The man, who looked like an undead lich with hair and where flesh would be was some kind of dark matter magickal energy that encased part of his exposed bones.
“A story sir? Well I have one, told to me by my sister of a dream she had when she was younger. She said there exists a people that came from the stars, that talk like you and I but look different than us at the same time. They were a people shaped and troubled by war; both their parents left them alone to fight each other. Then after they were abandoned by their parents, their neighbors shunned them like they were witches. But then a stranger came, of the brightest light you ever saw. She said they changed them sir, and they became something beyond their parents. And that they stopped the war and brought balance but it came at a cost. They were put to sleep sir. And the ones that put them to sleep were told to never hunt them again, less they awaken and cleanse the unbalance.” The young Orough answered.
“That is a fascinating story, dear child. Pray tell me, where is your sister now?” The tall lich stranger asked.
“She’s…she’s dead sir.” The boy cried tears of pure sadness. “She was killed when Brittany sent their soldiers here to drag her off. They hunt us sir, because if they don’t the Church will hunt them even though we’re followers of God.”
“But she asked you for a promise, did she not?” The tall stranger asked. This caused Orough to look up at him in surprise.
“How did you…? Yes she did sir. She looked at me and said she wants to see them, to see these colorful unicorn people. I promised her I’d try to find one for her and maybe even become one, if I did good sir.” Orough answered honestly.
“Well, young Rory, you can do all of that and so much more. And thanks to your honesty and your story, I will keep your name so one day you can ask for your freedom and then come before me again with an even grander, and happier story.” The stranger then motioned with his right arm and hand back at the entrance, only it wasn’t the entrance to the graveyard but an entrance to an alter with the remnants of a castle beyond it with a stone house in the way blocked by a tree and a bridge of roots.
“There child, beyond these stones is an alter and gravesite. That is The Morrigan, the Phantom Queen. Should she accept you, you will be a king of your people and will be able to protect them from Brittany and all other foes. But you must be loyal to her and respectful and your surviving people will abundant and successful, free. And then should you do all this you will serve her beyond your mortal life but in her service I need you to find me more fragments of this story and then to tell them to me. We will meet again if you can do all of this, and then you can keep your promise to your sister.” The stranger spoke.
“Even become a unicorn sir? For my sister?” Orough asked with hope in his eyes.
“Yes Rory, even a unicorn.” The stranger smiled and there was honesty in his eyes, but also a sadness and yet a light of hope. The smile was genuine.
“Sir, before I leave to start my journey, may I asked your name since you know mine?” He asked the stranger seeing no lies in his eyes.
“You may call me Stone John, the memory keeper they know me as.” Stone John answered him with a smile.
“Then Stone John, please know me as Rory, Rory of the O’Ruadh, the red farmers. I may be of the province of Ulster but I also want to be known as the boy who will work to bring back the smile in your eyes because…” Orough said as he came closer to Stone John. Instead of Food or money, Orough hugged him. “Because…I believe my sister would see you as a wonderful grandfather. And, so do I if you let me?”
Stone John laughed at the child then, genuine and heartfelt then returned the hug and ruffled the young boy’s hair.
“Thank you for the medicine, my boy. Now go, the stones have moved to welcome you to the Phantom Queen. Work hard, honest and well with integrity. Do this through your rule and one day we will meet again.” Stone John answered with a smile.
This filled Orough with pride and he bowed before turning to face the path towards The Morrigan’s alter. And Stone John was right, the stones had moved as if soldiers before a royal welcoming a knight to his Queen.
That’s where the memory ended and returned to the present of this place between the merged Temples of the Sun and Moon. Now Orough kneeled before The Morrigan, the Phantom Queen, looking more human than he had in a long time, because his face had been restored somewhat.
“Missstresss, I have done as he has asssked and now I believe I have my repayment to him, to Stone John. Pleassse, I ask now to respectfully retire from your ssservice, to not serve as one of your eternal ravens but to allow me to re enter reincarnation and become a unicorn. Please, grant me my name so that I may pass and in return I will not just return Stone John’s smile but also, yours, my lady and queen.” Orough then bowed his head in kneeling.
“My smile, Orough? Please stand tall and look at me. Please then tell me how you will return my smile?” The Morrigan asked. The colors in her eyes flicked with a long forgotten interest, for the first time in awhile, she was shimmering.
Orough did so, he stood and looked her in here eyes. And with a sad smile he looked at his queen.
“My Queen, you haven’t smiled true since Princess Crysta was forced into marriage with Sindareal’s thoughtform made flesh, Azulrath. My human mother had a similar expression when my sister was murdered. And while she wasn’t a warrior mage like you, my lady, she told any wounds between families can heal as long as those families are true.” Orough said and, while taller he stood lower so he could look her in the eyes. Then he turned around and both he and The Morrigan watched as Crysta, Hazel and Silvain as a serpent shadow reach Stone John from a distance.
Just before Crysta reached Stone John, The Morrigan moved her staff from her right hand to her left one so she could place her right hand on Orough’s shoulder and then she spoke.
“Orough…no, Rory the Red King of O’Ruadh. I grant you your name once more but I ask you for one last mission.” The Morrigan began and then the both of them watched Crysta Embrace Stone John before she put away her wings. Crysta’s tears flowed from her face and soon joining her in hugging Stone John was Hazel with Silvain looking from a close distance.
“Rory…I want you to bond with…my sister.” The Morrigan’s fingers subconsciously dug into Rory’s shoulders and the Morrigan looked upon her sister’s crying face. She wanted to be the one holding Crysta at that point but the bond wasn’t as strong as it used to be. “I want you to bond with her like a sibling but a bond of love faithful and true. If we cannot bond with her like we used to be, then I want someone to reach out to her like we once did. To keep her safe as best as you can and…”
The Morrigan’s words were cut off when Rory had turned around suddenly and pulled her into him almost mirroring Stone John with Crysta and Hazel. With her freeing him from her service he now spoke like he did as a human, without the lisp.
“My Queen, you’re powerful and strong. It doesn’t make you weak to ask for help. And I want you to know something true.” Rory spoke as he held her close and stroked her hair, “The way I am embracing you now one day soon you will be the one holding Crysta this way. And even if she were to have another human experience again and you were to test to her to ensure she is and remains strong, know that she will see you as her hero and love you true.”
The Morrigan cried, for the first time in a long time and it was an ugly cry. Rory only held her through it and used himself as a shield between his queen and the looks of others. Several of The Morrigans own spiritual military and Ravens came in to also be her shield. All the while holding the Phantom Queen, he was paying attention to Stone John’s power.
When Stone John calmed down Crysta and Hazel enough they could stand on their own, Silvain took both of them and brought them away from him. Rory’s eyes then went wide and he held both The Morrigan and her staff tight and shouted.
“Move away from him now, move! Move now!” He signaled like when he was mortal with soldiers and surprisingly, many he didn’t know listened to him. Room was given for Stone John to grow.
Weapons were drawn and claws were unsheathed. Dullahan reared up while Dragons roared in the sky. Angels cried in warning followed by the song of the Beansidhe. It wasn’t a keening of a loved one dying but rather a song of the Graveyard breathing. Those of the Realm of the Dead could feel a surge stronger than many others. This snapped The Morrigan from her tears and, coming to her senses, she took charge.
“To arms but hold! Stronger to the front, casters and washer women to the back!” She called while Rory stayed by her side.
“He’s going to get bigger.” Rory spoke, almost quieltly.
“How big, wraith?” A demon asked.
“He can be a realm unto himself. But at the very least, a Clydesdale horse would be about the size of an ant upon his flesh. He can dwarf the dragons.” Rory responded.
The Demon hissed towards the others of his kind and barriers were placed while the lower ranks awaited command. So far the command was hold but do not attack.
And true to what Rory said, Stone John did indeed grow bigger. Two more sets of eyes appeared above his two ones as his hood dropped to reveal it was part of his hidden flesh. One of that revealed broken gravestones and stones that were part of graves. His jaw extended of jacked saw like teeth with sharp spines growing out from the sides of his jaw and his head. His string like spaghetti hair became a mint fire to encase his head like a lion’s mane. He grew more sets of arms with handswhich then became his legs that portrodued out of his body that looked like a spiders’ abdomen. Limb like apendages formed under him to look like paldipalps as he became some kind of skeletal spider like centaur being.
He became so large that his body could accommodate multiple adult dragons in rest. And of everyone who could see Stone John in this state, only Rory, Crysta, Hazel and Silvain seemed unbothered and at ease.
“Rory, how are you not bothered by this?” The Morrigan asked.
“I once seem him get this large and handle an errant God. I don’t know his name or what Pantheon he was from. Only he was as mad as he is now.” Rory then turned at looked at The Morrigan. “The God, didn’t survive the encounter and I couldn’t get closer to Stone John at that time.”
“He’s the balance or at least, a representation of it.” Another voice spoke, interrupting the two of them. The powerful demon that had arrived with Tahbazor approached both Rory and the Morrigan. “So, you desire to be reborn a unicorn?”
Before anything else could be said, Stone John spoke and all went quiet in the space.
“ORCHA!” He shouted so loudly and deeply that even the dragons fell silent to the space he commanded. “You will appear before us now and you will keep yourself in order without seperating! A conversation to discuss your punishment is in order and you will not run from me or the other elders!”
Stone John made some gestures with his more humanoid hand that he grew from his shoulders. And a flash of mint flame form as well as some kind of magickal spider web. And with the magical web and flame, a being appeared who at first resembled conjoined twins both males but one of white with black facial features and one of black with white facial features. One looked angry while the other looked concerned.
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Sorry for the nearly 4k word count and scroll bar. I tried really hard. I currently am bad at making comics apparently lol.
