After Two Months Of A Long Waiting And Several Times That I Took His Color Pallete Wrong (and Agonizing

After two months of a long waiting and several times that I took his color pallete wrong (and agonizing because i can’t fix the previous one until my vacations end) I’M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS PIECE! :D

Because even being a little shit, Merlane needs more love

Are we ready for this??!

Bit of a personal one for ya 🥀

For those curious as to what religion, I grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints, aka Mormon.

I was IN IT. I'm not exaggerating when I say that religion was apart of my life almost everyday single day up until I left at 23 yrs old.

I sketched this comic a year ago before I came out to my parents. I hadn't yet processed why simply thinking of doing so upset me so much, despite knowing my parents would be supportive.

I did end up telling them soon after sketching this. It went better than I thought it would. They told me all that matters is that I'm happy 😭

I'm almost 30 now. Left the church 5+ yrs ago. It's been wild seeing how 'the world' is, how normal people are. Everyone isn't a degenerate like the Church made non-members seem. There's a lot of de-programing I've had to do and boy does it make me realize how weird I grew up, how odd some of the teachings and mindsets are.

Like I said in the comic, the faith taught me good stuff too ... but I'm glad I left ... I never felt like I truly belonged in it. There was always this part of me that never meshed, no matter how long I'd been in it.

Thank you to anyone who read this far. I could go on and on about this topic but I'll leave it at this. Let me know if this resonated with any of you. I'm curious how common it is.

Just a few more disjointed thoughts about Chapter 130 after rereading again (sign of a good chapter that I've been thinking about it throughout the next day, too).

Arslan repeating Hilmes's own words back to him ("Let the true Shah be revealed by his mastery of the sword") 👌👌👌

Zandeh trailing blood on his way to Hilmes 😭 (I'm still not over it, but thankfully the wound on his arm doesn't look serious.)

Andragoras broke Arslan's sword with one swing. If Innocentis hadn't entered the scene, what would have happened next? I think we'd have seen Andragoras vs Daryun, personally. They're inside the tower so no possibility for Gieve to save the day with an arrow, but Daryun being prepared to fight and kill the Shah for Arslan's sake? Looking at his expression in the panel before Azrael shows up, I think he was readying himself to do just that.

I'm going to need a scene of Team Hilmes waiting together inside that room next chapter. I need to see the look on his face. I need to hear the words that might be spoken between them.

Also someone please go and fetch Irina! At least let her know Hilmes is okay and make sure she's safe, but ideally bring her to his side!

Hilmes going through all of this while still wearing his fur trim coronation cloak 🥲

A few characters were conspicuous by their absence... Estelle (who I'm sure we'll see searching for the Lusitanians she previously helped soon), Jaswant and Farangis. We saw what Gieve was up to in this chapter, maybe next chapter we'll see what their role was during this time?

There's a part of me still hanging on to the whole 'what if Team Arslan DID go the Mount Damavand before their arrival in Ecbatana?' theory. As I said before, they had time... And Arslan once more stating "This sword was bestowed on me by the Hero King Kaykhusraw", this time to Andragoras... what if there's some truth in that? What if his bluff in the previous chapter was mixed with truth? He cannot draw the sword (yet), but something happened to indicate Kaykhusraw's will that he possess it? Perhaps Kaykhusraw's wishes are that the blade is only used to shed the blood of the Snake King, meaning that Arslan will be able to draw it when he faces Zahhak? Ah, I don't know, though, because would a flashback to that moment even work now? Well, maybe if they had captured a mage and next chapter we see Farangis guarding their snakey prisoner, we could then backtrack to see how that happened.

Surely there will be a full Team Arslan reunion next chapter, right? Kishward's forces are right outside, meaning that he, Isfan, Tous and Kubard can soon join forces with Arslan, given that Andragoras is now out of the picture.

I wonder whether Arslan will have his own coronation before or after the matter of Zahhak is settled? I imagine, unlike Hilmes, he wouldn't rush to do something like that until the city is in a better state. But how ready are they to to defeat Zahhak? How much do they even know about him, his servants, where they might be hiding, and what their plans are? This is why I keep saying they need to capture a mage. Though really, good luck getting anything out of one of them, they're unlikely to be willing to talk.

Narsus, is it true Daryun used to get a lot of love letters?

He got a couple -

Very entertaining reads.

{{Text reads - “Dearest Lord Daryun - You will find my heart is yours… … Flushed with the deepest and most ardent Admiration for only you… … my _Noble _and most Handsome Lord}}

Bonus: