Mimetka

I've actually been trying to figure out how his signature furnace would work in skeleton form for quite a while, considering the notable lack of skin and therefore lack of his chest scar to channel it from. I was just about ready to concede defeat and make him lose access to that particular power in full lich form, when I was hit by an epiphany~

I spent a while scrolling lich/undead character artworks on Pinterest for inspo when I came across a picture of a skeleton with its sternum broken off, making its ribs look sort of like teeth, and I was like, HOLY COW WHOA bingo. Still, the issue of Mael's scar remained, and then I had an idea:

What if the infernal stigmata - his cursed scar(s) - was literally branded into his very soul, not only his flesh? It does make sense in hindsight. It's why his Departing scars remain despite his regenerative immortality, after all - what with him having bound a demon's soul to the wounds sustained from a God. It's something that will manifest on Mael even if he were reduced to just a ghost, a literal inescapable curse that follows him through any and all forms he might take.

Thus, the furnace remains more or less unchanged, manifesting out of the central spark of magic within Mael's ribcage and burning away his sternum to create the signature fanged look of the Soul Eater's brand. The bone around it changes color to black to stand out better, which I explain by localized Shroud magic. You would be able to see a subtly shifting shadowy texture, strongest at the tips of the ribs.

Sorry for the short middle missing section - I was bummed this part didn't record! But I wanted to post one with different audio so not all of them have the same track. :p Though the audio is at an early/rough stage.

For the audio, I originally came up with this tune while tinkering around on the keyboard. I later composed it in LMMS (a "digital audio workstation" - it's like a digital piano you can compose songs with) (it's also free and open source, I highly recommend it if you have any interest at all in writing your own tunes :D ).

The version here is that early composition where I noted it down - this is from a while back, and I'd compose it differently now. It's more like an audio sketch than an audio track.

I also tried playing it on guitar a few days ago for the first time! That gave me even more ideas for how I'd add to the LMMS composition. Ah, when I have time! Or maybe I'll also try recording the guitar version at some point.