#shrbw

Aerrow: I don't want to talk about this.

Aerrow: Focus on the mission.

Aerrow: Leave me alone.

Aerrow: Don't go there.

Aerrow: No, you shut up.

Aerrow: Stop.

Aerrow: It's not important. Focus on the mission.

Aerrow: Enough with the interrogation.

Aerrow:

Aerrow:

Aerrow: I'm fine.

“So… Lithos?” Finn repeated, glancing between Aerrow and Piper as the pair stood before the team in the bridge. “That’s where we are.”

“It’s what he said.” Aerrow confirmed.

“Who?!” Junko put in, quickly rocking on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

Aerrow let out a long annoyed breath and sank down at the round table. “The far sider.” He grunted, massaging his ankle, while Radarr looked on in concern.

“Okay, what’s eaten our Sky Knight?” Finn scoffed, shooting his next blue-eyed gaze at Piper.

“Long story.” She put simply and paced over to the centre of the bridge so that she could better include the helmsman in the conversation. “He said his name was Axel. He’s a Ranger. I don’t know what that means. He and this other guy – a crystal mage – were gathering supplies for a place they call ‘the city’.”

“Where?!” Junko eagerly requested, practically bouncing on his clawed toes.

“I don’t know.” Piper meekly responded, fingering her necklace. “It has to be protected by some kind of crystal shield. Or something. We should have come across it by now and it makes no sense!”

“It’s not supposed to make sense.” Aerrow muttered and the five Storm Hawks looked over to him in confusion. He straightened up. “Piper, didn’t you catch how that mage described the city folk? And how the scanner has been going haywire since we got here, yet there’s no trace of crystal energy anywhere?” Noticing their clueless expressions, he let out a sigh. “The city’s below us.”

“An underground city?” Finn mused, folding his arms and lent back in his usual stance against the railing. “Now, where have I heard that one, before?”

“No way…” Piper gasped, suddenly. “You don’t think…”

“That the Forbidden City was built by far siders?” Aerrow casually suggested. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“You don’t sound all that pumped about it.” Finn pointed out, with a lazy wave of his hand.

“Did the far siders get to you?” Junko amiably asked. He stood over Aerrow at the table and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder.

“How could you tell?” He laughed weakly and hunched over the table, hiding his face in his folded arms. “They called me ‘kid’.” He whined, his muffled voice barely audible.

I’m still working on it. 😅

The story is based on Rift Between Worlds. You can read the first couple of chapters in the meantime, if you like. I hope you enjoy it! I tried to add some depth to the characters and world, while keeping it all familiar. I know exactly where the story is going, which is a first for me and it includes a lot of callbacks to the show and the original concepts.

Thanks, man! I’ve had this thing in the works for years, it’s just that I never felt my art was in a place to do it justice.

Well, I recently had an interview for a university course in illustration. I included some of the stuff I have going for this Storm Hawks comic, among other things and they let me in unconditionally, the moment I stood up to leave. I start in September, it’s pretty cool.