Elly!

I kinda wish I had posted the last Dyskrasias art in two posts bc this frame is my favorite in the whole AMV

Castrel facing off with Yualis. Yualis looks down at Castrel, her lame wings lifting slightly off the ground, though it’s impossible to tell the intent behind this action. Her gaze settles on Castrel and seems almost peaceful, thoughtful, an expression so very distant from the crazed wide scribbles with which the Umbral Aves regard Castrel. Castrel’s hair lifts in the air from the speed of her turn, her halberd poised to strike.

Castrel effortlessly decapitating Yualis with a streak of blue light from the blade of her halberd. Everything in Castrel’s pose exposes her tension and the effort behind her strike, the supernatural blue streak left in the wake of her strike likely a burst of some magical force to ensure the swiftest possible defeat of this towering monstrosity. Yualis’ expression is wide-eyed as her head separates from the rest of her. Where the halberd struck, her body comes apart like water, not flesh or bone or even blood. Her feathers morph into a black thin liquid that hovers midair for this moment, even her halo seems to be reducing to a splatter before even hitting the surface below. It looks less like the beast has been defeated, and more like an illusion has been shattered.

Castrel’s will would not be broken by something as fleeting as a god.

She defines herself, over and over, in persistence and execution.

The Queen of the Aves is a mockery of everything Castrel is, everything she does not know, trailing her like a nightmare through the Plains.

#dyskrasias

I have been sketching the final Dyskrasias sequence in one big go, since it has a lot of complicated images and I wanted my drawing to feel a bit more limber by sketching frequently

I only have two left and that feels so crazy…

I thought that talking here would kinda ruin the integrity of the Dyskrasias posting but I now understand that’s Not How The Website Works

I really like this one. So I repost. :)

It’s so sad that my Dyskrasias updates don’t show on my page bc they’re in a thread :c I wanted Convenience……

A closeup of Castrel’s face as she grits her teeth, certain she feels something within the shadows, unaware the light of Yualis’ halo illuminates her head of white hair from behind, as her piercing blue eyes shine in the shadows before her.

Now, Castrel realizes the danger lies behind her. Her eyes whip to the look behind her, leaving a streak of blue light in their hurry. Her expression is now fearful and tense, fearing it may already be too late.

To bleed together with the moon, with a god, with a shadow, would be to come apart.

So, she does not bleed together with Yualis, for their blood has already mixed, decanted, and been newly bottled in violent vessels, but Castrel can feel her, as steady blood pounding in her veins.

#dyskrasias

The beast from the previous animation, now revealed to be Hollowed Yualis, watching Castrel from behind. Castrel is unaware she is being watched, but looks around herself with an expression of deep concern, as if trying to calm restless thoughts amid the darkness. She holds her halberd at the ready, certain danger lurks somewhere. Behind her, we are shown the rest of the monster that is Yualis. Her neck stretches high above Castrel’s head, the color of the feathers down her throat and chest a dark bloody red, as if pouring from her throat. The feathers along her spine are long and curved like a mane spilling down her neck. Her face is that of a barn owl cast in pitch black save for the white oval of a moon centered on her forehead. Her eyes pierce through the darkness, blue matching precisely the blue of Castrel’s eyes before her. Most striking of all, though, is the golden halo collaring her just behind her face. It is a flat, radiant disk, shining its light blinding as it clings to the back of her skull, her face eternally framed in its divinity. This light shines softly down to Castrel, brushing her shoulders and glinting off the blade of her halberd.

Hollowed Yualis, whose heart bequeathed to the earth its tides, Hollowed Yualis who in her mercy absolved the sanguine of their tellurian burden, so too watches Castrel in this strange land.

Castrel, who does not know the name Yualis, but heard from Keeper Tajsa of one called Valke.

#dyskrasias

In another place, at another time, a dark feathered beast, kin of the Aves, crosses the Abyssal Plains.

Where her footsteps–handprints–fall, light is called forth like full moons from the night denied eternally to these skies.

Above and below are not so different in her Plains.

#dyskrasias

As the darkness clears, they find themselves no longer in Mare Oblivium, but in a luminous, frigid plain of ice and barren trees.

This is Dove’s firmament, Lacus Khion, where footsteps echo against the frozen lake’s surface.

A safe, bitter place that the Harbinger calls her own.

#dyskrasias

Castrel kneels, wounded, as Dove approaches. Castrel is unaware of Dove’s approach, as she is barely holding herself up by gripping her staff. By the shadows surrounding her, it seems she has just had an encounter with a murmuration of Umbral Aves and barely survived, cut and bleeding as she is, her eyes cast down. She does not seem to notice the shadows abating, or perhaps she is so used to this scene that she is only reflecting on how narrowly she escaped with her life. Dove stands immediately before her, the hand not holding her lantern resting at her side. Behind them, a crescent moon faces downward as if balanced on its center, a thin halo of bright light surrounding it.

Dove reaches out a hand to Castrel, a companion piece to the one immediately before. Dove has held out her hand to Castrel, who now looks up, realizing someone is stood before her. The shadows continue to dissipate around them, and Castrel’s expression is unusually timid and curious, perhaps unable to summon the strength to defend herself and so at the mercy of whatever fate lies for her if she accepts what appears to be an offering of peace. Surely, if this stranger wanted to strike her down, the moment for such an easy victory has long since passed. The crescent moon behind them shines brighter as the shadows fade.

Castrel, weary from battle, does not anticipate any hand offered open and kind.

It is not uncommon for the Umbral Aves to triumph over Castrel, and were it not for this serendipitous meeting, she could have given in to the lure of the depths, the mockery of slumber they call death.

#dyskrasias

Dove, holding her birdcage lantern staff and looking straight on towards the viewer. She is lit only by her lantern, with darkness shrouding her all around. As one might expect, she bears a striking resemblance to the other denizens of the Abyssal Plains, aside from her eyes glowing with a silvery white light. Across both eyes she has vibrant teal and orange markings, teal extending down across her cheek bones, orange ending at the outer corners of her eyes, very similar to the markings of a kingfisher bird. Her long white hair is styled ornately, held up at the back of her head around a golden halo hair ornament, then tumbling down her back in thick waves. She wears a white robe with an ornate, gold chest piece of feathers extending down her chest and sweeping up to meet at her shoulders. Beneath the robe she wears a simple dress, and beneath that her black jumpsuit is seen covering her arms, ending in fingerless gloves. She wears a single golden bracelet around each wrist. In her left hand she carries the golden staff with the birdcage lantern attached, and her right hand rest lightly across her chest. Her expression is uniquely soft and warm, a smile gracing her lips, the first smile depicted throughout the entirety of Dyskrasias up to this point. She is here as a savior, as a friend.

This is the lantern kept by Dove, Halcyon Harbinger, of Lacus Khion. She and her birdcage alike gleam amid the gloam.

Shadows seem to slip from her robes, banished with the Aves from this murmuration, unable to sink their talons into the comfort she bears in the crescent of her lips.

#dyskrasias

When shadows blacken the firmaments of the Abyssal Plains, a soft, warm light sometimes follows, as if to soothe the darkness’ fear of itself.

#dyskrasias

The flare might have been caused by toothpaste of all things which is just silly I think. Then I got a cold. But I seem to be bouncing back ok for the past couple weeks so I’m optimistic!

Gonna be a bit of a longer break before the next Dyskrasias update. I have MCAS and was in a flare up for like two months and I wanna have a little extra buffer time to work on what’s left. :)

Castrel sitting in Mare Oblivium. She sits on the ground, nearly still but for the ripples stirred when she sat up. She’s small in the landscape, if a flat plane of water can be called a landscape, and she looks down at her hands. She is unarmored entirely aside from her pauldrons and cape, otherwise covered by her usual black bodysuit. The moon in the eerie greenish sky behind her is full, obscured slightly by more greenish mist. The scene feels exceptionally quiet after the overwhelming energy of the brawls before. It is just her, alone, regarding herself.

Castrel sitting in Mare Oblivium, a companion piece to the one just before. Castrel is still sitting where she was previously, in the empty plains of Mare Oblivium, but has turned to look up at the moon as she did when she first arrived, which is away from the viewer. As she turned, her arm opposite the direction she was looking reaches back and her finger tips hold her steady by lightly touching the surface beneath, which ripples more at the only disturbance as far as the eye can see.

This is the way of the Abyssal Plains.

You rise, you fight, you sink, you rise. Waxing, waning. Ebbing, flowing. This cycle is only broken when Castrel delivers the fatal blow. The others perish alongside her, but only the Ichor moves ever toward the Shade. To Valke the Exsanguinated.
#dyskrasias

Castrel looking down at her hands after waking up abruptly in Mare Oblivium following her own death. This is a continuation of the scene following the previous illustration. Her hands look unremarkable, not stained, not wounded, not even scarred. The only abnormality visible at all is a few water drops across her palms from the surface beneath her. The plainness of the image exposes an uneasy tone, as if something should in fact be on her hands but simply isn’t. One looks for too long for something amiss, likely the way Castrel feels in this very moment.

As fresh as her first awakening, she is reborn.

No wounds mark her body, open, closed, or scarred. No proof of red, gold, or black upon her.

All she finds on her skin are droplets of water from the tranquil surface beneath.

#dyskrasias

Castrel waking up in Mare Oblivium, clear due to the misty greens and blueish greys of the sky and water behind her. This image shows Castrel in profile, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide, water droplets and hair following her as she jolts upright presumably from lying down. Notably, when she was dead in the previous firmaments, she died lying on her front and side, but now she appears to be waking up from lying on her back. She looks shocked and confused, as if she has merely woken from a nightmare.

Castrel wakes up in Mare Oblivium.

#dyskrasias

Lanio dying after killing Castrel. The shot focuses on Lanio’s knees hitting the ground, one in a small saltwater puddle typical of the Ruins of Atrea. Her right hand hits the ground, palm splayed, helplessly trying to catch herself as the inevitable is written on her armor in bright red blood. Despite Lanio’s armor covering her torso completely, blood escapes through the cracks, staining the sash around her waist, pouring down her stomach and legs, revealing the mirror to Castrel’s fatal wound.

Svellere dying after killing Castrel, a partner piece to the one before. In a conclusion to the previous pose of Lanio falling to her knees, Svellere completes the action, falling to her own, with both hands on the ground. In Svellere’s firmament, water completely makes up the ground, and the force of her fall sends water splashing up around her knees and hands. Unlike Lanio, but like Castrel, Svellere’s golden blood flows not from her abdomen, but from her throat, her own mirrored fatality. While Svellere’s face is not visible, her hair can be seen just at the top of the canvas, making it clear the blood could be coming from nowhere else. The volume of blood matches that from the previous shot of Castrel after Svellere killed her. It is clear she will not be able to survive this.

Then, her own blood pours from the unopened wound of the fatal strike landed on another woman’s body.

As the Ichor falls to rise again in her own firmament, so too does this fleeting champion, rewarded only by bearing witness to her adversary’s failure.

#dyskrasias

A far shot of the Ruins of Atrea, where Castrel lies dead on the ground while Lanio looks onward. The ground here is not entirely water, but instead is wet sand littered with pockets of seawater. While the waning crescent, haloed moon hangs bright and large in the sky, the foreground still is dark and somber. Some columned ruins can be seen in the far distance, and broken, shorter pillars can be seen around Lanio and Castrel. Castrel is crumpled on the ground, small in the vast landscape, her hair covering her face. Her dark blood stains the ground in a path leading towards Lanio, who stands tall, watching to ensure Castrel is truly dead. She does not seem particularly proud, regarding the situation with an air of detachment despite her claws still dripping with Castrel’s not-yet-cold blood.

A far shot of Ourelian Rise, where Castrel lies dead on the ground while Svellere looks onward. In all ways except literal, this illustration is an exact mirror of the previous one. Ourelian Rise is on this occasion its typical brilliant white and gold, a waxing crescent moon low in the sky, cliffs reaching towards the heavens while waterfalls pull them down below. The still water comprising the ground ripples outward from either of Svellere’s feet, who stands at a distance observing Castrel’s corpse collapsed on the ground, staining the water around her with the ink of her blood pouring from her neck. Svellere’s spear still drips with blood, and she, like Lanio, does not seem to take any particular pleasure or relief in seeing the woman who had tried to murder her finally lie still.

The battle has ended.

Castrel lies dead on the ground.

The victors regard their success for a single, still moment.

#dyskrasias

Castrel dying after being slain by Lanio. Castrel faces the camera at a tilted angle, absolutely covered in blood and wounds, her hand weakly gripping at the mess of blood her abdomen has become after Lanio’s fatal strike. Her eyes are not visible, and blood escapes through her mouth and down her chin. There is black and red blood everywhere across her, her armor is scratched and stained, her cape and jumpsuit shredded by Lanio’s claws. In her other hand, she barely holds onto her halberd with the last of her strength.

Castrel dying after being slain by Svellere. Castrel, facing the camera again, kneels on one knee as a hand weakly tries to grasp her throat, which is pouring blood rapidly into the water on which she stands. Her hand is covered in the stuff, and it travels down her arm, but still this cannot stop it from overflowing and pooling by her feet. Her hair drapes over her bloodied wrist and her other hand pushes down against the haft of her halberd flat against the ground as she tries to steady herself, long cuts across her exposed arms bleeding over her hand and halberd alike. Her eyes are again not visible, giving a foreboding atmosphere of certain defeat.

Castrel could prevail neither over Lanio nor Svellere. Whether by claws rending flesh and organ, or needlepoint-spear deftly piercing the hollow of her throat, the blood eagerly betrays her veins by spilling to the ground, mixing with the salt of the endless sea beneath a callous moon. #dyskrasias

Castrel being killed by Lanio in the Ruins of Atrea. Lanio has swept under Castrel’s guard and landed a gruesome upper cut straight to Castrel’s abdomen. A full fist’s worth of massive gold claws are embedded so deeply into her gut that it has lifted Castrel off the ground, an explosion of pitch black blood spewing forth around Lanio’s fist, obscuring her hand almost entirely. Castrel’s expression is wide-eyed and vacant in the shock of the moment of impact, one hand forced free from her halberd, the other losing its grip. Lanio’s expression and stance are equally steady and determined, one glowing red eye visible through the eye socket of her lion-skull helmet.

Castrel being killed by Svellere in Ourelian Rise. Only Svellere’s spear is visible in this illustration, piercing Castrel through the very center of her throat in the small gap between the top of her armor and her chin. Blood spews from the wound as Castrel looks forward, her expression vacant and terrified in the moments before she dies. She is backlit by shining gold light, and on Svellere’s spear you can clearly see the small glass vial collecting Castrel’s black blood as it sinks into her throat.

A final, decisive blow is struck.

Castrel, despite her efforts, is slain.

#dyskrasias

A close-up of Svellere’s face as she fights Castrel in Ourelian Rise, a partner image to the previous illustration. She looks down at the viewer, and so at Castrel, with an expression of indignation. Her sneer mirrors Castrel’s from the previous illustration, but feels more heated, more hateful than Castrel’s somehow. Her right hand is lifted to her face, wiping gold blood from her nose in a messy smudge across her face. Castrel’s blood is seen in specks across her face and across her hand and arm.

A close-up of Castrel’s face as she fights Svellere in Ourelian Rise. In contrast to the previous scene, the lighting of this scene is extremely bright. Castrel is hunched over, gripping her halberd as though for support more than battle. She has a black eye (somewhat literal due to her blood actually being black) and a bloody nose that drips down her chin. Castrel looks up though her head is tilted down, her blue eyes piercing and bitter as she looks directly toward the viewer. It is as if she is challenging Svellere to prove she can really knock her down. Her lip is curled in a sneer that betrays her impatience and resentment.

In time, their wills separate, the echo of the other’s obstinacy no longer shrill in her ears, the salt of abandoned oceans no longer coating the backs of her teeth. She feels too keenly her opponent's determination. The path forward is in equal measure revealed or denied in blood. #dyskrasias

Lanio, still for a moment during battle. Lanio faces off against an unseen adversary who is presumably Castrel, fully facing the viewer, a bright red crescent moon behind her haloing her in an eerie crimson light, the scene otherwise dark and murky. The darkness of the scene paired with Lanio’s glowing eyes make the image much more severe and menacing than the previous illustrations. Her hair blows to the side as she holds a stance with all claws on one hand pointed towards the viewer, towards Castrel. She is, as in all previous images, splattered with Castrel’s blood, and her own bright red blood drips from wounds on the exposed skin of her upper arms and hands.

A pair to the previous illustration, this shows Castrel in the same dark, red-lit landscape as Lanio, presumably facing Lanio by facing towards the viewer. She returns the severe gaze seen by Lanio before. She holds her halberd up high in front of her as her eyes glow bright, a shock of clear blue against the murky greens and vibrant reds. She bleeds from gashes in groups of three parallel lines where Lanio’s claws managed to sink into her in harmony, and red blood is seen across her armor, hands, and halberd. There is no anxiety in her expression, she is fully focused and prepared to continue fighting.

At times, it is as if her mind is not her own; they bleed together. Her eyes meet her own gaze, a needle of thought pulls taught a stitch of feeling, a shattered reflection of her own fear and fury in the back of another’s mind, an open wound of terror and conviction spilling into itself #dyskrasias

Castrel and Lanio in the heat of battle. Lanio, in the foreground and facing her adversary, lunges to the left, her mane of hair trailing behind her. Her right arm is held out to the side while a cut above her elbow bleeds red, and she bares her claws, dripping black with Castrel’s blood. The jaws of Keeper Tajsa are open, flashing bloodstained golden teeth. The shape of the skull with its teeth apart lends itself to the idea of some sort of facial expression, despite a skull on its own being incapable of such a display. Here, it appears to be laughing, mocking Castrel for her efforts. Castrel, facing Lanio, has just spun to keep eyes on her target, her halberd gripped tight above her shoulder in a dynamic mid-swing, a bright blue blaze of light arcing in its wake. Her expression is unusually fierce, her teeth grit hard and her eyes wide and flashing. Her hair flies behind her from the momentum of her spin. Her armor is splattered with bright red blood and it stains the handle of her halberd. It is a moment of tremendous movement and frenzy.

Castrel and Svellere mid-combat. The scene is much darker than the other illustration of Ourelian Rise previously. The sky and ground are dark and gloomy, with a bright yellow moon low and distant in the sky, providing little light to fight by. Castrel in the foreground looks back towards Svellere with a shocked expression. She is knelt down as if to swoop up and find an opening to strike her halberd from below, but Svellere has bested her in this trade of blows. Svellere’s right foot presses down on Castrel’s halberd, golden heel perfectly aligned on the narrow handle, forcing Castrel to open the hand holding it to avoid being crushed. Svellere has crossed her own spear across the halberd as well, now with plenty of opportunity for an easy blow. Svellere’s expression is merciless and cold, she looks down at Castrel as one might a particularly unpalatable stain. She appears completely calm and competent, there is no mark at all on her to suggest either exhaustion or fear.

They are evenly matched in battle. The gilded jaws of Keeper Tajsa snap, hurtling Lanio towards its prey. Svellere finds her footing always on the higher ground, the scorn across her features sharper than any blade. Castrel need only focus on that victory which is hers by rights. #dyskrasias

Lanio and Castrel locked in combat. Castrel holds her halberd’s haft up to deflect Lanio’s swing, Lanio’s claws sending sparks as the sharp points scrape against the metal of the halberd. Lanio glares up through the eye sockets of her lion-skull helmet, Keeper Tajsa, as her other hand is revealed to be readying its own strike. Castrel’s arms are cut where Lanio has landed previous blows, bleeding black. Lanio is better armored, but bright red blood shows on the exposed flesh of her upper arms and on in her palm. Black and red blood are splattered across both of their armor, indicating the battle has been well underway.

Svellere and Castrel locked in combat. Castrel and Svellere attempt to break each others’ guard as they fight each with their own long-ranged weapons. The hafts of the halberd and spear collide, and Svellere locks focused eyes with Castrel. Castrel bleeds black through cuts across her forearms, and Svellere has her own golden blood escaping through wounds on her face, chest and stomach where there is no armor to protect her.

Blade and claw, halberd and spear sing into the empty skies of the Abyssal Plains. These foes are much more fearsome than any Umbral Aves, flesh and bone as they are. Lanio is as wine-blooded as the sea itself, and Svellere’s veins reflect the light of a golden moon. #dyskrasias

Svellere wastes no time reaffirming the law of violence. She recalls sharply what Castrel cannot, and each seems equally incensed by this asymmetry. Again, something is unseen by being seen. If Castrel could remember, perhaps she would know the Lancet for the terror she is. #dyskrasias

Lanio and Castrel meet, and were it not for inky blood mistakenly spilt on a gilded claw, perhaps violence would not have become law. Perhaps one would have grasped longer at the abstruse truth between them. Instead, all either knows is this: she will kill me if I cannot fell her first. #dyskrasias

Svellere the Lancet, Tenebral Servant, watches over her firmament, Ourelian Rise. Here cliffs pierce the featureless sky, their waterfalls vanishing into radiant mist at the water’s surface. She will halt the heretic’s passage here; Exsanguinated Valke absolutely must not be reached. #dyskrasias

In the firmament of the Ruins of Atrea resides Lanio, Maw of Rust. The tide long ago left the not-dried seabed, most of the stony ruins staining the landscape fading to fog like mirage. Lanio dons her armor and her helm, Keeper Tajsa, divines that the Ichor must return to the Shade. #dyskrasias