Nameless Wayfinder Sketches 3

Following a narrow escape from an exploding, asuran lab, you, Braham, and Rox found yourselves in the environs of the Desert Highlands no longer. Instead, you were on an island off the coast of Elona, somewhere near the Sargol Sea. Led by the elementalist charr Boticca, you soon arrived at the village of Atholma, a fishing village comprised entirely of the Olmakhan: charr who had left the legions long ago, rejecting the culture of a militaristic society and choosing to live amongst families rather than warbands.

Rox didn't hide her genuine interest in the Olmakhan, delighted that you three were remaining in town for the next several days. She was fascinated so deeply by the way they valued their connection to nature and others around them. Whenever you took a stroll around town, she was engaged deeply in conversation with one of the local charr. Braham watched on, having little to contribute to the interactions, only coming because Rox asked him to.

And every time you saw her again, she appeared more enlightened than the last.

Mary (Final Fantasy VI) Sketches 5

Autumn was in full swing, leaves once verdant now turned into varying shades of orange, red, and yellow. The sun shone a different way in the sky now, with skies bluer than they usually would have been in the summer. There were many days when they had to rake up leaves in piles and to store them away in burlap sacks, for use as either fuel for the fire, or dry mulch for the planters in the future.

Autumn also meant something else for Terra. She remembered the days when she still communicated with her father through his magicite; he would tell her stories of his life in the Esper World, and what her mother was like to him. While a lot of their conversations were so terribly mundane to the outsider, to them, it was all they had as father and child, robbed of the peace they should have had.

Maduin loved her dearly. He told her to always remember a certain day in October, the day when he and her mother were the happiest they had ever been when Terra was...

Etherei and Zephyr Sketches 2

Heels clacked in the distance, the sound of hard leather meeting ancient stone echoing from the other side of the corridor. Then, at last, a figure emerged from the darkness: a caped woman with long, flowing apricot tresses, her cerulean eyes cold and scrutinizing as her gaze transfixed on the young Enerhija Knight before her.

Etherei swallowed. Suddenly, it felt like all the fighting beyond the walls became drowned out by the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears. She had such an intimidating aura that he could already feel the bile in his system rising to his throat from how overwhelming it was.

"Wh... Who are you?"

Silence hung over them following his question, compounding the already suffocating feeling of dread and darkness that constantly hovered all over the fortress' atmosphere. She then reached for the hilt of her blade, drawing it out with a clean swipe from its sheath.

"Hmph. I had dismissed you as yet another barbarian like the others invading my liege's domain," She grunted. "But as you've at least some semblance of decorum rather than coming mindlessly at me, I will do you this one final act of kindness."

Raising her blade, she aimed it at him directly, her cape and long hair billowing right behind her.

"I am Emeline Marie de Garde, of the Valkyrie Queen's Chosen," She introduced herself with steely conviction, "And you shall sully these walls with your existence no further."

---

Alone without Zephyr's guidance, Etherei ventures into the Fjalar Fortress alone, where he comes face-to-face with one of the Valkyrie Queen's most powerful generals and a member of her personal guard. And boy, things ain't looking good for our little guy.

Was messing around with lighting again while I was working on this, and I also used this tutorial on Pinterest as a reference for getting the stone walls and floor sketched out. I'll have to try this on a future landscape painting though. This rendering technique looks absolutely genius.