He-Man Twilight: The Damned

"Hail Lord Aesir the Brave, thrice renowned in the Western Lands for the glory achieved at the Battle of Kadar! I am but a peasant in your presence and I dare disturb the sanctity of your halls to deliver this most urgent message.

The Enemy is upon you. His creatures have smelt your souls in the desert and discovered your hidden fortress and are now amassing in the eastern limits of your lands.

Thus, with these ill tidings I also bring you a humble and desperate request: get your people outside of the Castle you still hold against the hordes of death inmediately. The Darkness and the storm is upon you all and there is nothing but loss and tragedy upon its black wings.
You were -and still hold that title for those who remember old alliances- a trusted friend and advisor to the Empire of Randor. You befriended the lost Prince Adam and taught him everything you knew about fortifications and the art of holding a siege. But walls are of no avail anymore. The creatures of Skeletor see through stone, metal and flesh alike and are able to destroy them with a slash of their putrid limbs. Yet, that is not the worst fate you will endure...
There is no peace in these lands anymore. Not even in the grave. You and your loved ones will die a horrible death only to be raised from the ground by the evil powers of the Witch Queen at the Dark Lord's side. To haunt and torture the living. To further enlarge the armies of undead that I fight against every day of my tortuous existence.

I wouldn't ask such a brave warrior to flee this nightmare if I did not think the Enemy was far too powerful to withstand. I wouldn't dare ask you to listen to my pledge if I had not seen with my weary eyes too many bold soldiers, beautiful princesses and virgin maidens become ghosts roaming the burning sands of Eternia.

For the sake of this warrior, if I'm allowed such a plea after failing in my task of protecting thee when this apocalypse began: flee. Run. Don't look back at the abyss. Only I can withstand it now, for I've become a ghost myself. A lonely grieving figure of Vengeance who will never rest until evil is vanquished."

Letter from He-Man the Wanderer to King Aesir before the storming of the Aesir fortress by the armies of Skeletor the Great.

No records exist of a reply from the King to He-Man, but it is reckoned by scholars that his corpse was left hanging at the gates of his Castle, animated only to repeat a curse to the Wanderer.
The rest of his people were tortured and killed and his fortress plundered and burnt to the ground. Afterwards, Queen Evil-Lyn raised them from their own ashes and filth, but not to fight in the service of darkness. She left them there, rotting carcasses howling and wailing aimlessly through the sand. A reminder to those who still thought of raising arms against her Dark Lord."

Book 22, Chronicles of Twilight,
"Books of Eternia: The Old Days"

Well, well, well... almost ten days without an update. Things have certainly slowed down around here, huh...?
I'm really sorry that I'm not around more, but I'm still taking care of deadlines, commissions and projects that I delayed for too long.

I hope this image will help you quench the thirst for some Aerion artwork. To be honest I was going to colour this one at first, but later decided against it. Why? Because, for some reason, I felt that my version of He-Man woul benefit from some B&W, in the vein of the old Conan magazines I used to red as a kid. B&W gives, to me, a very crude quality to post-apocalytic and Fantasy settings, which is something that I wanted to convey with my dark retelling of He-Man's adventures.
Plus, I want to add imagery to my B&W portfolio so I can publish an Artbook collecting them... what do you say...?

Let me know what you think as usual, and if I achieved my goal with this one.

Until soon (I hope!).

Nic.-