Today we have the next chapter of Phantom Dawn for you all as we enter some brand new story territory! There's another, perfected, reading list for those that want to suffer more of my writing regarding Daemon Soul, as well as some new art pieces that tease the future (hopefully finished soon!). Before that though, let's see what Brennan and Riz is up to!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
I really don't know what is going on with Riz’s tail in a couple of these panels, maybe I peaked with butler Riz last week and this is my punishment.
This is the Comic this issue is referring back to, in case any one is wondering.
Daemon Soul Awakening
So, I promised a comprehensive reading list last week, so here it comes!
A Demon Amongst Spiritualists (read it here)
The Last Job (as seen in Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir)
First Mission (Cheating here as the wraparound story is closer to Daemon Soul Awakening time but the main content takes place at this point, read it here)
They called her Witch (as seen in Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Hubble Bubble)
Valentines Date* (read it here)
The Contract* (read it here)
Confessions in the Dark* (read it here)
Phantom Dawn: Memories of a Rose* (Currently ongoing, scroll down to find the chapter list.)
Abyssal Gaze** (Read it here)
Fractured Shadows (Read it here)
Daemon Soul Awakening (buy it now!)
* - Technically, entries marked by this can be read at any point (after "They Called Her Witch") in any order, as along as it's before "Fractured Shadows"
**- This absolutely comes after Phantom Dawn: Memories of a Rose, read it after.
Of course, the ultimate truth here is that you don't really need the above.
If I've done my job right, you can get on just fine with the main published books. My aim with all these other stories is to build fun tales that aren't absolutely essential. There should be no required reading (unless you decide to start with Book 2 or 3...then there might be issues.)
These additional stories are more fun if you want more from the characters. There will also be more in the future set in between the Daemon Soul stories, and I can definitely think of one that will go at the very beginning...since it was cut from Awakening.
Next week, I'll go a little bit into the future of Daemon Soul but I'll leave you with this new artwork as a tease. Technically readers of Daemon Soul will already have heard her name mentioned...
And this one...because why the hell not:
Readers of the blog should already have some idea who this white haired woman is. This is an early drawing of her that I recently coloured...and learned that I need a better way of showing white hair as that definitely looks more silver! Good thing I've got more recent sketches to practice on!
Short Diversions: Phantom Dawn- Memories of a Rose
So here we are, Chapter 6, I'd like to say halfway through but it's probably more closer to a third or a quarter. Cleaning this up once this is completed here is going to be an interesting challenge.
Phantom Dawn Chapter Index
Chapter 6
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Chapter 6: Rest
Rose followed the group to an unassuming house located on the far edge of the town. On the way there, she’d witnessed the squalor that people were living in. Their lives given over to what meager luxuries they could get. Even with little knowledge of the world, she knew that wasn't right. Everyone looked broken, that any dream of a better life was beyond them.
“Its like this almost everywhere,” Neal said. “Unless you're higher up the food chain of course, like Finch and those he socialises with. They wield money like a weapon.” He let out a big sigh, aware that he was awfully close to ranting. “All because of the fortune of their birth for some of them,” he admitted.
Kurz, who was leading the way with his friend Si on his shoulders, didn't join in on the conversation, though it was clear from the look on his face that he had a lot to say.
“There we are,” Kurz eventually said after another long period of silence. Rose was positive that she'd heard the wind roar more then he'd spoken. The building they’d neared was as dilapidated as the rest of them, and a sand dune had started the process of swallowing it. For all intents and purposes, no one should be living here.
“Why here?” Rose asked, wondering if there was a reasonable explanation.
“We were evicted from the others whether Finch found us,” Neal explained, pausing only to see if the red haired girl had understood what he meant. “Really we have no proper home, not any more. We just need a place to rest, even if just for a while before we move again, and I think next time, we'll have to leave this town entirely.”
“How often have you done that?” Rose asked.
“A lot, we’ve been chased out of many towns, but…” Neal turned his head towards the rest of the town, and then to the land beyond it, the wasteland that he and Rose had just crossed. “We’ve helped a lot of good folk escape to new lives, so it was worth it.”
“Would it be different if this Finch wasn’t here?” the red haired girl pressed on with her questioning.
“Of course, I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t but…Finch is just one of the problems facing this world,” Neal answered, and it laid his own optimism low. He hadn’t been to all corners of the earth, but he’d heard enough from travellers when they had came through. Different men with different names, but all with the same occupation: Warlord.
“Are you coming in, or are you both just standing there catching flies?” Kurz asked abruptly. He had stuck his head out of the door, having already gone in and dumped Si somewhere.
Neal chuckled at his grandson’s rashness. He marvelled at how completely opposite he and Rose were.
“Aye, Kruz, we’re coming. Please, can you sort some drinks out? Whatever we have left will do.”
“Whatever,” Kruz replied, sticking his head back in.
“The way he speaks to you? Is that normal? Is that the custom around here?” Rose enquired.
“No, that’s just the Kurz way when he’s overthinking something. He carries the whole world on his back, or so he would have you believe from the way he goes on. He has a lot of his mother in him. Shall we get into some shelter? Even a young person such as yourself needs to rest at some point.” Neal bowed a little, gesturing for Rose to enter the building ahead of him.
Rose didn’t know what she thought of Neal’s answer, but she went in all the same. She did feel odd but she couldn’t place if it was tiredness, or because something in her brain was itching, almost as if there was information buried within that was desperate to get out.
Through the threshold, she saw that the inside of the house was very much what you'd have thought it looked like, everything was either covered in dust or falling apart. There had been some attempts made to repair things but even they were failing. Rose noticed that Si had been dumped unceremoniously on the worn out sofa, sleeping peacefully as if nothing had ever happened.
“I'm going upstairs for a bit,” Kurz announced, not letting Neal say anything. “Don't bother me okay?” Without waiting for a reply, the young man disappeared off up the stairs, each step causing the building to shake a little bit.
“Ah, Kurz…” Neal shook his head.
“This place…” Rose wiped her hand across a nearby table, noting the dust that had transferred to her hand. She didn’t know how to finish the sentence, but she knew that it wasn't right to live in such a fashion.
“You learn to look past it…” Neal said with a sigh. “We're all trying to survive in our own ways.” He took a seat at a nearby table, and let out all of his anxiety in one long breath.
“Is that what you meant outside? About Kurz?” Rose pointed awkwardly to the door, as if she was still unsure of how she was supposed to be acting.
“In a manner of speaking, and him,” Neal nodded his head towards the sleeping form of Si. “First impressions might not be the best of course, and I can only apologise for that.”
“I still don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing,” Rose admitted. “You talk about their first impressions, but what about me?” She looked down at her own clothes, noticing properly for the first time how damaged they were, just like the world she had found herself in.
“You made quite the impact with Mason,” Neal allowed himself a chuckle at the thought of the big brute getting some form of comeuppance but it was momentary at best, as he knew what humiliating one of Finch's men meant in the long run. He pushed that to the side, he had long resolved to stop dwelling on the past where he could and what was done was done. Instead, he opted to look forward rather than back:
“Rose, if you would like, why not change what you're wearing? Let's see,” Neal’s eyes darted around till he found what he was looking for, a unassuming box covered in a dirty white sheet. “Ah! If you go in there, there should be clothes in there that'll fit you. You may take what you want.”
Rose took the sheet off and started to look through the boxes contents. The whole thing was filled to the brim with clothes of different styles and colours, a majority of them yellows and greens. A long purple short sleeved top caught her eyes. She pulled it out and took note of the tag on it, a name was written there, Joy. She thought of asking Neal about it but decided against it. Looking again, she also saw a cut down jacket that looked like it would pair well with the top, and some jeans that already appeared to have held up against the harsh conditions of the world outside. With clothes in hand, she went into another room so she could change alone.
When she came back into the room fully changed, she almost seemed like a new person. The clothes she was wearing now were in much better shape than her old ones and had already seen some repairs.
“You might want to take some more out,” Neal suggested. “You can't wear the same things day in and day out! I'm glad they're seeing some use again…” Neal said softly.
Rose complied and took out a few others, all bearing the same name inside. She set them aside, wondering if she was expected to carry them around with her forever, but Neal had anticipated that, pointing to another box that lay open.
“In there you'll find a bag, put the clothes in there if you want. Though, I must ask, do you know what you’ll do from here?”
Rose was already picking the bag up before she even thought about responding to the question.
“I don’t know…” she answered sadly.
“Now before you get any ideas, I’m not kicking you out, or trying to push you away. I know you don’t remember anything about who you are or that. You’re more than welcome to stay with us. More hands are always useful.”
“I’d like to help, if I can.”
Neal was startled by how quick her answer came, and Rose herself seemed at a loss to explain why or how she replied so fast. She didn’t change it though, she even smiled, as if she’d found a little part of herself.
“Okay then, maybe until you know more about yourself. I wouldn’t like to think that me and my little group were derailing any other purpose you had. We’ll talk more about it later, till then, try to get some rest, okay?” Neal got to his feet with a groan and a creak. “I do believe that encounter with the monster has finally caught up with my body, I’m going to head upstairs for a while. The beds upstairs are on their last legs but at least they’re softer than the bare earth. Will you be okay down here? I mean, Si won’t be doing anything for another few hours at least.”
“I’ll be okay, I’ve just…” She went silent for the moment as she pondered what she would actually be doing. The idea of rest was alien to her right now. “I’ll figure something out,” she came out with, not wanting to give Neal anything else to stress over.
“Okay then, see you in a bit,” Neal waved as he went upstairs.
Rose looked around the room, and decided to head into the room opposite, letting Si have it to himself. There, she pulled a chair out from the table, and sat down, putting her head in her hands. She didn’t understand why there was certain things that could remember, how to speak, what to say, some of the feelings that she recognised. Nothing past that though. No name, no idea of her past. It was almost like a fully formed person was dumped in the desert. She felt like a person, and more a thing, a thing without a purpose.
Maybe that’s why I said yes just like that. I didn't have a purpose…She stretched out across the table so that her head rested on it. There was no attempt to relax, she could only go through the same questions again and again.
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Next Chapter (not finished yet!)
In case you're wondering, the outfit she chose for herself is the one that she was wearing in the comic strips I drew a few years ago. Check them out here if you want a look at what it looks like.
Well, that's all for this week!
Till next time,
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
Daemon Soul Awakening: Amazon
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