Issue 19, Page 33
At least someone’s having a good time.
This is it for issue 19, but issue 20 is ready to begin! Next Friday I’ll reveal the cover, and the Wednesday after that we’ll start with page 1! A massive 45+ page issue, the end of this trilogy and the culmination of many plot threads.
BUT, and I saw this concern in the comments, don’t worry – this is not even close to the end of this webcomic. There are many mysteries to reveal and solve, many stories to explore, exciting times and places to visit. Honestly, this comic is designed to last forever as I expand and explore the world, mythos, and wider universe, so don’t you worry, there’s LOTS to do and lots to see.
Transcript
1: Julia’s ears perk and twitch.
2: She is curled up on the floor against the wall, looking up, eyes wide as she stares at the ceiling.
Julia: S… Sedj…
I can hear you…
3: She’s slowly getting to her feet.
Julia: You did it… hh, hah… hahah…
Why… Why’d you do it? Hah!
4: She stands, laughing madly – mouth open too wide with too many teeth, eyes staring at the ceiling as she clutches herself, her text distorted and scratchy.
Julia: Ahahaha! Hah!
Welcome back, Sedjet!
HahaHAHAHAA
WELCOME
BACK!!
hooooooooooly crap.
Also, regarding more worldbuilding… YAY! This has been such a delightfully *haunting* work in the best way, and for someone that really doesn’t do horror or creep factor, this comic has engrossed me from the start.
Cheers, Rebecca. And thank you for all you do. This fan appreciates all your hard work.
Ditto 🙂 Wonderfully disturbing story, this page especially. Thank you, Immie 🙂
Since the beginning of the chapter, Julia’s condition has had me asking myself “Is this good news? Is this bad news?” and the only output had been “ho-oly ****”.
So becoming discount Venom unifies you in a hivemind.
100% read this is my head as Rafiki(Lion King), in the scene where he realizes Simba is alive.
Yeah, I’m even more convinced now there was some mindscrew shenanigans done to guide the scientist to making an erroneous conclusion from the evidence. Not that him having trouble sleeping and stressing out would have helped.
Welcome obratno v ad.
Huh?
I don’t know.
But- when I put, “obratno v ad”, into Google’s Russian to English translator, it says: “obratno v ad” maybe means- “Back to hell”.
So, “Welcome obratno v ad” might mean: Welcome back to Hell. *shrugs*
Hrm… Pretty sure I placed a bet a few pages back that the Black idol was manipulating Julia from the start with intent to screw with one or more of the scientists…
Now who owes me 5 bucks?
Inconclusive evidence, friend 🙂 People are capable of screwing each other and themselves over without aid from an alien mind
Some theories, after re-reading the entire comic to date.
The Black Idol was created on earth, by the ancient Raptor civilization. (Or, it came there from elsewhere, in a spaceship that is now the moon base.) They also created the White Shards, a method to keep the Idols in stasis. They built all the ruins and teleport gates.
At some point, a disaster happened. The Black Idol managed to escaped containment and got out. Probably some of it escaped through the warp gates, causing death and destruction on uncountable worlds, as the insectoid aliens had mentioned. And of course several instances of aliens (the bug, the blue shapeshifter alien) wanting to worship the Idol instead.
The ancient Raptors did something desperate. They installed something–a machine, a huge White Shard, something inside the Earth that puts out unusually high levels of Shankar radiation. This caused uncontrolled mutations in the Idol, causing it to become standard Earth life. The first time we see this, back towards the beginning, the Idol sample mutates into something resembling undersea coral. The Martian in the previous issue even stated that Mars has significantly less Shankar radiation. Earth apparently has the most of it. And is just now starting to study and understand it (an entire collider, from a news broadcast while Melissa is slowly sinking to the floor).
Meanwhile, Julia, a creature from Earth, went through a warp gate and ended up on a planet outside of the entire Sol system. Spent several days there, and it’s not hard to guess there was no significant source of Shankar radiation there.
As she said, it wasn’t in the water or air. It was never /on/ that planet. She /was/ the Idol, all Earth life (except possibly the now-dead Raptors–and maybe their animalistic cave descendants?) has always been.
There was a scientist early on in this series that thought the Black Idol might actually use the radiation to communicate. If it was originally a hive mind of sorts, then a vast amount of the radiation would be like a constant screaming which drowns out all other voices. Blocking someone from that radiation might cause someone to say “it’s so quiet now”; or cause someone else to say “I can hear you now”.
Welcome back…to the hive mind.
Many comments agree with a half of that.
The rest is one specific possibility fished out of a sea of many.
The origin is sure to remain mysterious for a long while.
Instead, I wonder about Smiley Guy and the Black Dog.
How would they see Julia and Sedjet?
Black Dog eats, what, emotions? Emotion-soaked soul? So would it see Julia & Sedj as the “Black Star” entity it’s been trained to eat, or the sapients it’s been trained to leave alone?
Sure thing. You bet. 😀
I like to speculate about fun + exciting fiction, too!
Like….I thought that, in my opinion, that Harrison Ford and the crew would be smart, and leave
the “Raiders” films at just 3 films, and not do a film, whose story would put Bozo the Clown to shame. Eep.
Grumble, grumble….stupid Crystal Skull nonsense. Hee, hee, hee! 😀
How can you tell me
How much you miss me
When the last time I saw you
You wouldn’t even kiss me
That rich guy you’ve been seein’
Must have put you down
So welcome back baby
To the poor side of town
—lyrics from the song, “Poor Side of Town”, sung by Johnny Rivers. ( This is a 1966 song).
The question is are these particular characters having their stories come to a close, then?
This is one scary good comic, though it makes you think, if everyone is the black idol, doesn’t that mean everyone is immortal? The black idol was stored for thousands (I presume it’s thousands) of years and it shows no sign of decay, if everyone somehow managed to control it they could possibly control the black idol in there bodies and turn into it and transform back on command, though it would probably take some demonic ritual to do so, but if someone where able to do This the possibilities are just insane to think about, surviving a world ending disaster, done, want to fight but you have no weapons, Your magical black idol powers got you covered, you want to exchange information with your friend quickly? Just send it over with your mind, that is honestly a bit scary and cool to think about, but then again I’m a crazy person sooooo