Welcome! This here is a volume dedicated to the various art provided by Kaze who has been doing art with me pretty much since The First Flame started. He has put up with some outlandish requests and has been really helpful in the creative process in creating visuals for the series. We even did a demo real of adapting a section of 33. All These Tears I've Shed as kind of a test visual of adapting the series into LN/manga form. We never went forward with it because at this pace, he would be doing the manga for like 8 years if we try and do monthly releases and they'd still only be 10 pages long. We may revisit it at some point.

However, I have commissioned 12 pieces from him as of writing; all of them are just too good to just leave sitting around so I decided to make a tribute to Kaze for his hard work for me. What he has done is big and as my requests get (inevitably) more outlandish, he deserves all of the support. I do suggest that you read the series before coming back to admire the art; much of this is spoilery. All spoilers in this volume will contain the volume and chapter that this art is for.

Also, all art in this chapter will be uploaded and sized for desktop for simplicity's sake.

With all of that fussiness out of the way, let's go down the rabbit hole and start with the cover!

Cover

The cover was the first thing Kaze did for me and was done when I was still struggling to get a good image of the duo in my head. I had a lot of references but no actual art that I would classify as accurate. Kaze took my strange references and descriptions and ran with it to create a cover that's just too awesome not to use. Here, the key focus was that Arylos and Iris were two different halves of each other but they were functionally one being; a common theme in the romance side of the series. We also have the focus between Arylos and his otherworldly self and Iris who can barely contain magic that she can't understand nor begin to because Arylos and Iris's father never taught her.

Arylos's Tattoos

The tattoo's of an otherworldly Titan. What would you expect to see? What would a Titan deem important enough to tattoo into his skin? The only one who knows for sure is the last remaining Titan. Contrary to popular belief, these markings are not just tattooed into Arylos's skin; they are branded into his flesh. Arylos forcefully possesses each body he takes in this world and each time he does, these brands are seared into the body of his host. They represent who he is and his life's story and his status as an Elder Titan. We can also see the permanent scars he leaves in his body as reminders of his past battles including the massive scar on his chest as a parting gift from Nerseis, the brother of the man Arylos possessed to come to this world who holds nothing but contempt for the Titan. We even see a weapon seared into his back that he bears as a mark of shame for his past sins; a legend Iris has, as of yet, never fully understood because the only one who knows the truth is too ashamed to admit it.

Maid Iris (Carnivore, chapter 7)

Yes, you read right. In celebration of Zechamp's [Maid] to Kill, I wanted to make a little art to celebrate. So I had my good buddy Kaze whip up Iris in a maid uniform. By this point, Iris had well earned her waifu status so it was time. After all, when I told Kaze, he was practically drooling. We were caught up on color schemes though. Ultimately, we decided on Iris's blue hair and eyes since there wasn't much art of her like this; she rarely uses her magic so she generally remains a brunette for a vast majority of chapters, especially since she can't control both her magic and her appearance. We also couldn't decide whether to make her dress red or blue; red is seductive and ties to her connection with Arylos but blue is her actual color and represents her (ya know, red-blue dynamic and all that). Since we couldn't pick, Kaze did both.

The card I sent to Zechamp:

[MANGA] All These Tears I've Shed (Horizons, chapter 33)

Kaze and I tossed around ideas of converting the series to a manga, but as you've read previously, that's just not an option right now. But that didn't stop us from doing a demo run. We actually picked this because it was a wholesome moment and it also allowed us to test portraying Arylos with his tattoos.

It was also a fun chance to show Iris and Arylos at their real heights towards each other. Don't forget that Arylos is 200cm tall and while that makes Iris still tall, she's tiny compared to him. Kaze actually exaggerated her height so they could be in frame together. (yes, that means I imagine her being much shorter; there's a reason Arylos calls her "little girl" even though she's a full grown adult)

Reminder, Japanese manga is read from top right to bottom left.

Zjornfernheim, the Titan of Fire (Cerulean, chapter 92)

For nearly two volumes, everyone has asked "What is a Titan? What is a Vlajhilsen? What is Mortehksun?" It has always been hinted at and even now we still only know a small portion of Arylos's history. But we do know a few things; his birth name was Zjornfernheim, a name literally meaning "The Elder Titan of the First Flame". We also get an idea as to what the Titans, properly called Vlajhilsen (Vlajhilsen'r plural), were like and Arylos's social status as being an Elder Titan. But we still don't know everything. We do get glimpses of what being a Titan is about when Arylos summons the ancient Titanic power he keeps hidden and he transforms into a creature that is both angellic and demonic. This form of Arylos is hauntingly beautiful and shows the true meaning of the phrase "angels and demons are the same; they simply change on perspective".

The main focus are the tattoos on his body and how they're not tattoos, but brands; phyiscally burnt into his skin by the process that bound him to that body. They tell his life's story; who he is, what he has done, his age, his status, everything. Every body he takes bears these marks as well. We also see the anomaly of the First Flame universe; 6 wings. Wings in this universe are symbols of divinity; the more wings a creature has, the more divine power it has. Anoron, the most powerful of the Templarians, only has 4 wings; everyone else has 2. Arylos is the first and only creature we see with 6 wings. What adds to this is that his larger set of wings are actually dismembered and the only trace of them left are the flames on his back in the shape of his former wings. This is a constant reminder that he gave up a piece of himself to become what he is now and leaves him constantly wondering if it was worth it. His other 4 stone-like wings illustrate the otherworldly nature of a Titan; the feathers themselves are made of hardened stone and even retain heat long after they were removed.

When like this, we begin to wonder about the spear that's branded into his back; the same weapon he made from his severed wings. What is it? How powerful was it that it could kill Titans? And more importantly, where is this weapon?

The face of "don't you touch my waifu".

Iris and Arylos at the Beach (Cerulean, chapter 109)

I'm not a man of taste without some fan service, aren't I? Cerulean chapter 100+ sees us head to Inamura in the Kadahn region where Arylos, Iris, Bellona, and Eir spend some quality time at the beachside city. This was ironically the most fun I've had writing because it allowed me to let Arylos and Iris's romance blossom and I still find myself re-reading this arc because it's just so wholesome. It's also when we see Iris no longer regard Eir as a Templarian but a member of her family that she mentally adopts to replace the family she lost. This is where Iris's tsundere behavior peaked and it was so cute.

So of course I had to have Kaze draw Iris in a swimsuit.

Iris is a shy girl but she is a girl after all with an adoration of the cute and pretty. She wouldn't go for anything risque, even if she was trying to impress Arylos because she's too self-conscious about her own body to do so. But she doesn't need to be risque; she just needs to be herself with all of her cute and shy flaws. Kaze and I had a few back and forths about her design and we ultimately picked out a design that suited her body and personality. At heart, she's a carefree girl who's also hopelessly in love.

Let's just say we spend MUCH more time debating on Iris's design than Arylos; we just said "stick him in a shirt and shorts and call it done". Iris was the star of the show this volume.

Tyranny, the Envoy of the Beginning (Cerulean, chapter 131)

I never thought that while writing a climax that I would begin to feel bad for one of the villains that I spent so much time villainizing. Let's be honest here, Nerseis's heart was in the right place; he loved his brother and couldn't bear the thought of Arylos running around in his brother's long deceased body and living a live that Korseis should have lived. But Arylos was right; it was a case of the wrong place at the wrong time; had Nerseis not meddled, Korseis would still be alive and Arylos would have moved on. But we also see Arylos show remorse because it was because of Korseis's death that let Arylos settled down with Iris and fall in love. But that doesn't mean he can shake the guilt, which is why he couldn't believe that Iris could love him.

This ultimately leads to Nerseis falling into a mental trap carefully laid by the Eikons and he turns into an newborn Eikonic Sage; Tyranny, the Envoy of the Beginning and the Seventh Sage. Seeing a Sage brought into this world for the first time chills Arylos's blood and sets up for his PTSD that he gets after the encounter is over. Ultimately, he watches as Nerseis is infected and burned out of his body as the Eikon Tyranny forcefully takes over, ripping him apart and carving out anything that would have once made Nerseis human and even carving out the Nerseis's Paladin nature. It kind of makes me feel bad. Nerseis spent his entire life becoming stronger for his revenge and getting sealed away for it only for his last moments to be spent in excruciating pain as his humanity is carved out of him until there's nothing left but the machine. In all honest opinion, it's a horrible way to go and it was inspired by the parasite of Scorn.

In Scorn, one of the protagonists becomes mutated and turned into the parasite, still vaguely aware of his initial goal. Except he has no control over his own body anymore, freed from his "humanity" and turned into a means to an end as he infects another just like him. Tyranny treated Nerseis just like that; a means to an end. Since the Eikons require a host to live, one could argue that Tyranny is a reflection of Arylos if Arylos was as nefarious as people believe him to be.

Vortex, Lord of the Burning Sky (Unbecoming, chapter 151)

To live is to suffer and to love is to live. At the end of the day, all good things come to an end and it's that temporary nature which makes the fleeting cycles of life that much more important. Arylos gets a hard lesson of this when he looks at Iris; a reminder that his love for her is temporary and she'll die long before he ever could. So he chooses to cherish each moment he can just like any other human. No lesson hits harder than when Vortex, the Sixth Eikonic Sage, comes to Sentoraya and burns it to the ground. Arylos, with his home once again turned into a wasteland, learns that difficult lesson as he encounters not just another Eikonic Sage, but the former King of the Reig now turned into an Eikon. Kalndahvok, the king who attempted to enslave Kaiyumi 3,000 years prior, had returned to finish the job now that he had been reborn as a Sage. The slogan for Unbecoming is "as machines battle gods and we find ourselves under new skies, the earth crumbles beneath the stars as our reality cries". The entire Vortex arc is to represent how fragile humanity and compassion is and how quickly Arylos would throw it away and become a monster again if he needs to, but he can't bring himself to do it and lose Iris. Vortex is not just an attacker; he is a symbol to Arylos just how fragile this life he had chosen really is.

In my opinion, this is Kaze's magnum opus for me. He did such a great job bringing Vortex to life that it sold me that I wanted to keep working with him. He made this art of Vortex back when Horizons was running just so we could get an idea of what it's like to draw an Eikon.

1 Year Anniversary

December 2022, I celebrated running this show for a whole year and Kaze and I decided to celebrate with commemorative art of myself with our favorite duo. It's also the one of the few times we see Arylos and Iris relaxing as themselves and the picture of them together was just too good that it became a cover.

I also found Arylos looking strangely Asian which is weird because I don't picture him as that; more British than anything. Then again, that may just be me when I look at his closed eyes and the Japanese text near his head.

The Fading Ember

One future project I have in my list is The Fading Ember which still has Arylos and Iris as a focus where Arylos lives a life as a musician. Although, I probably won't pull the trigger on this for a long time (First Flame has to be finished first), I still had Kaze make a demo of Arylos on stage screaming his lungs out. I used to be a singer back in the day and so we based Arylos's design off of my own costume design with some variations. It actually ended up being a fun little project so I hope to actually work on it at some point.

Obelisk, Lord of the Mountains

Obelisk is an Eikon we have yet to see, but I wanted to see just how far we could go. Obelisk is an Eikon who continuously adds onto his body, kind of like Godrick from Elden Ring; the idea of grafting kind of got to me. Eikons are creatures of war after all and they live to infect various races. Obelisk hasn't appeared in the story yet but he is the Fourth Sage (yes, number 5 has not been done yet, but will soon). His primary purpose is to "imagine" for the Eikonic race, finding new ways for the mechanical species to evolve and enhance themselves to infect more races. Obelisk is ruthless and powerful, having enhanced himself so much that he is practically unrecognizeable from what he originally was. We'll see more of Obelisk in future chapters.

That's the end of the list for now; I will update this as more art comes!