shizuyue

Shizuyue Meruri

@shizuyue

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Hexephre
@Hexephre
Hexephre
@Hexephre

FFXIV Comic: Vessel

a 12-page comic about my FFIXV Warrior of Light, Xephre, and how they ended up making a pact with their voidsents.

i had a blast making this one - after all the silly, lighthearted comics i've been doing, it was really nice to sit with something more serious and story-focused, and get a little more experimental with presentation. it was also important to me that i take my time figuring out how i wanted it to look - i poked it intermittently between other projects until i had a grasp on it, which gave me the time to play around with effects and fonts and textures.

also, it's my blorbo bleebus, i gotta do them justice.

the rest of the pages are under the cut! looks like embedded images don't support line breaks in the alt text, so hopefully that's not too annoying.

Comic page (2 of 12) - Four panels float over a blue background with blood droplets scattered over it. Panel 1: a close up of Xephre's eyes, looking tired and hazy. Text outside the panel reads: "Please." Panel 2: a profile shot of their head as they continue to float. Text outside the panel reads: "I don't want to die again." Panels 3 and 4: Their hands and feet begin to break up and dissolve. Text in panel 4 reads: "I'm sick of this infinite loop." Comic page (3 of 12) - Three panels against a blue background with more blood as well as tally marks that fade from white to red. There's exactly 83 marks, if you cared to count. Panel 1: A figure in gold and red armour, wearing a horned helmet with a gas-mask-like front, stabs Xephre through the chest with a long blade. Text outside the panel reads: "How many times have I died at Gaius's hand?" Panel 2: a close-up of Gaius's face, or rather his mask. Text outside the panel reads: "How many times have I fallen before I could even reach him?" Panel 3: Xephre floating through the void again, more of their body dissipating now. Text in the panel reads: "How many more times will I be rervived just to fail all over again?" Comic page (4 of 12) - Against an even darker blue background, three vertical panels descend in size, opacity, and position from left to right. In each one Xephre is further and further away, dissolving into nothing. Text outside the panels, getting smaller and darker throughout, reads: "Hydaelyn... Twelve... Anyone..." Comic page (5 of 12) - Most of the page is comprised of a plain dark, scratchy background. In the top half it’s dark blue, but fades into a muted red. Near the bottom, a horizontal panel is filled with a dark red, with two wide, bright green eyes staring directly at the reader. Outside the panel, there’s a floating red feather and text in a scratchy bright red font. Each snippet of text has what I guess I’d call imprints or echoes behind it? It reads: “The gods aren’t listening, are they, little morsel?” Comic page (6 of 12) - Two panels on a scratchy, dark red background. The panels themselves are a muted blue with scribbly crosshatching. Xephre floats in these panels, looking around themself, lit with bright red lighting. Around the panels various features are visible: several floating feathers, bird-like claws, a sleek wing, a long whippy tail, and a large demonic snout full of jagged teeth. There’s also a repeated, echoing voice going “kill kill kill” all over the page. The red text in and around the panels reads: “Oh, this one will be fun. The way it squirms and suffers as it descends toward death… Yes, you’ve found a good morsel, sister.” Xephre’s dialogue is in a tidier white font. They respond, “Who are you? /What/ are you?” Comic page (7 of 12) - An open feathered wing sweeps across the page, dividing it in two. In the top third, a chorus of cawing rises as Xephre looks behind them. In the bottom two thirds, three demonic creatures circle Xephre against a red background. At the top is a black bird with sleek feathers, a tapered beak, and a pointed crest. On the left is a red dragon-like demon with tattered leather wings and a snout full of jagged teeth. On the right is a dark purple crow-like bird with a hooked beak. All three have talons for feet and long, whippy tails ending in points. As they circle Xephre, they caw dissonantly together: “The answer to your prayers.” Comic page (8 of 12) - Four panels, with text across all of them. Panel 1: the purple bird perches on Xephre’s shoulder as they look back at her. Panel 2: a shot of Xephre from the chest down as the red bird clings to their hip. Panel 3: the black bird perches on both Xephre’s shoulders, looking down at them. Throughout the page, the red text reads: “We are voidsents, sisters three. With our power you will fell your enemies like moulting feathers. With your power, we will find our prey abundant and fresh. You desire a chance to rise again. But such chances are not lightly given.” Panel 4: Xephre looks determined, asking, “What must I give?” Comic page (9 of 12) - The three birds loom around Xephre, suddenly enormous. Two of their tails curl menacingly underneath. Xephre stares up at them, their back to the reader. The birds say: “Naught more or less than your aether and soul. And when your duties are fulfilled, your soul, too, will be ours.” Comic page (10 of 12) - Panel 1: Xephre looks up, saying, “I won’t return to the aetherial sea.” Panel 2: Close on Xephre’s face as they close their eyes. The birds say, “Nay, morsel. Is that a price you are willing to pay for your precious chance?” Panel 3: Xephre opens their eyes with a determined look. They reply, “Yes.” Panel 4: The three birds all smile in the darkness. Comic page (11 of 12) - Panel 1: The three birds dive toward Xephre. The purple one is merging head-first into Xephre’s chest. Streams of purple and red pour from that point. Text reads: “Waning, she of suffering and torment.” The word Waning is in purple. Panel 2: Xephre is silhouetted with red and purple wisps circling around them. They’ve sprouted ragged wings from and a long whippy tail and their feet have become clawed talons. Text reads: “Demise, she of snipped ends and fleeting moments.” The word Demise is in red. Panel 3: Xephre brings clawed hands up to their head, around which wrap two smaller feathered wings, obscuring their eyes. Their teeth are gritted and they’re wearing a ragged black and green cloak that’s torn at the chest, revealing a diamond-shaped gem embedded in their skin. Text reads: "Remains, she of all that is left behind." The word Remains is in blue. Comic page (12 of 12) - Panel 1: Xephre stands upright, their face off-screen. They hold their hand out, with a scythe hovering over it. They spread out one of their wings. Panel 2: A full view of Xephre, lit from behind in bright red. They have three pairs of wings - one feathered pair over their eyes, one tattered leather pair on their upper back, and one sleek feathered pair on their lower back. Their hands are clawed and their feet are talons. They’re wearing a tattered black and green cloak. Their tail has long spikes on the spine as well as on the end. They’re holding a scythe whose blade looks like a long feather; on the end that connects to the handle there’s what appears to be the top of a creature’s skull with a jagged crest and teeth. Text on the page says: “We are the Keres. Henceforth you shall be our vessel, and we shall be your strength.”

thanks for reading!

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in reply to @Hexephre's post:

zelkova
@zelkova

YEAAAAAAHHHHHH god I love when you do red/hot pink highlights on stuff its so GOOD

I really like how soft Xephre's facial expressions are in the first few pages & then how quickly they sharpen. The "what must I give" panel is probably my favorite, expression-wise. I love that entire page's framing in general though

The way their body is disintegrating in the first few pages is very cool too and the sparkles (aether???) around them as they drift downward... I just like it a lot

This is a good serious comic but knowing that Xephre is sort of pulling the wool over their eyes here in relation to the time loops has me going, "haha dumbass birds; eat it"

Once again, the colors in this are so, so cool

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Hexephre
@Hexephre

thank you!! i also love the red/pink highlights, though most of this comic seriously hurt my eyes to work on... TvT i did as much as i could with a greyscale filter over it, but i always gotta check in the end... worth it though

i love the way you notice stuff that even i don't. despite everything else i considered re: the progression of the overall comic, i didn't think about xeph's facial expressions, but it's really fitting! thanks for pointing it out!

yeah, the keres will not be happy when they find out what they've signed up for... that's a part of the story i'd like to explore too, but i feel like there's a few other things i should establish first... so much to do, so little time.

thanks zel, your comments are always super appreciated <3

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