Trace Sparing Laura
Laura's memories of Trace slaughtering wolves from the flashbacks of Page 431 and Page 587 suggested by Nitarius! To recap, young Laura was captured by wolves while trying to chase after Keith, and then the village was destroyed by Trace pursuing his wife's killer. Laura was sure she was going to die, but a moment later Trace would simply walk away.
Comments (35)
Damn, that's gore ! One of the wolf was cut in half before being impaled O_O
He might have lost the legs after being impaled? Maybe?
Whooo-who! Anakin Skywalker lives! https://youtu.be/inF5uGhByBs
this is so horrorifying to look at with what old trace were mentally capable of compared to the trace we know why would he do horrorific thing against many innocent people just for one killer?
Grief. Truly. No monster more destructive was born than vengeance by grief.
Maybe Trace seeing a trembling young Laura was enough to at least get through his grief and hatred.
For a while at least.
Ooo this one begs to be colored. You out did yourself in this one Tom!
This is a dark piece, but really well done... A glimpse of just how fearsome the Old Trace used to be
The monsters we have to become sometimes take more control than we would’ve liked
“You…You….remind…….me.of……her.”
Yeah it’s a good line.
So there you are, watching someone relentlessly mow down anyone unfortunate enough to be a keidran, like yourself. Immolation, blunt force trauma, impalement, dark magic, the list of methods he uses to dispose of those who match his criteria, and of course the fatalities, keeps growing... and growing... until he reaches you. Not that it took very long, you've never witnessed someone end lives so efficiently, so mercilessly, without regard. Not to mention, you didn't make it very far from where you started. You can't decide what's worse. The devastating loss of life you've witnessed... the accompanying sights, sounds, smells, god, the smells... or that soon enough, you'll be joining the rest. You're not sure what you feel, hell, if you can feel anything at this point. Cowering in fear, as you find what can only be death itself grimly hovering over you, staring into your soul. It feels like an eternity passes, yet in all that time you can't quite make out the expression on his bloodied face. Anger, vengeance, rage, disgust, a hint of... grief? And then... he moves... you reflexively force your eyes closed and flinch back as if to at least delay your fate by even as much as a microsecond, and everything, everyone leading up to this moment flashes before your eyes. ... The deafening silence, is ever so slowly overtaken by the roar of flames, the thud and splintering of burning wood, the shattering of glass. Muffled, ever-weakening screaming. Distant footsteps. You raise your head up a bit and peek out one eye. Everything's a smudge, your physical eyes take a moment to refocus after having been clamped shut so hard. You're soon greeted by the same hell on Earth you found yourself in moments ago. And then, the unthinkable. You see him. Beyond the charred wreck of the burnt building they used to keep you locked up in with the others, beyond the impaled, halved remains of yet another statistic. Staring back over his shoulder, and not at all of his terrifyingly awful handiwork, but directly at you. You're not too sure what to do as he stands there, it's as if he's trying to take in a view of someone he's never going to see again. You desperately hold back the instinct to just run away from it all, but common sense tells you that should he change his mind he'd catch you in no time, his magic even sooner than that. But eventually he turns away, head down, and slowly vanishes into the greenery. ••• I'd imagine that's... somewhat along the lines of what was going through Laura's head as all of this transpired. I do not envy her, and honestly question how she didn't show more signs of trauma during the fairly short time we knew her in the comic. Surviving a near death experience at the hands of someone with the capabilities and taste for keidran blood old Trace had, and by pure luck... I don't know if I'd feel blessed or cursed at that point. Anyways, gratz to Nitarius for this absolutely awesome suggestion. I'm pretty much guaranteed to give this one a color vote, it's quite the departure from the usual cuteness and whimsy we see around here. Even without seeing Laura's face you can still feel the flurry of emotions rushing through her head. You can even read Trace like a book, he looks absolutely disgusted, angry, yet... almost like he's reminiscing over Saria as he stares down upon Laura. The carnage is absolutely nuts too, I was worried this would look watered-down like that one sketch where Trace is on a killing spree and Saria is desperately asking him to stop over his shoulder. But uhh... I don't think that ex-wolf in the background skipped leg day willingly. The gore, blood, flames... sheesh.
Amidst all that carnage and suffering is that one sliver where he sees her eyes again, and he pauses his slaughter to look into them and remember all that he had looked forward to with her and his child.
It appears Tom went full berserk on this, and the result is outstanding. Not just because of the phenomenal background, but because of the emotinons you get from it. Trace as the personified evil, created by suffering and hate, being as cold as the 9th circle of hell, while he turned into a medival Anakin Skywalker. And at the same time Laura trembles in fear, crying, and begging him to live. This scene always got me in the comic, and it will stick with me for sure now that it has been combined.
I WAS going to say that this was pretty damn DARK... but on reflection, I'm sure the fires burning means it is pretty well lit. 🤔
Very heavy, and very poignant. I agree, it can be interesting to see something like this every once in a while, a reminder of Trace’s dark height of power, before his metaphorical fall and rebirth to who he is now
Getting Sephiroth vibes...
Ok. Now all I can think about is Trace as Sephiroth
RIP an tear until it is done!
Doom guy?
This NEEDS coloring
OH MAN!! Tom, you gotta do a different perspective where we see Laura's pleading crying face!
it's just amazing... There is so much amazing scenes that didn't make it into the comic... like that scene of revengeful terrifying Trace. i just love how it makes me feel, emotions it evokes... I can almost feel her terror.
You can see it in his eyes: his left one is filled with unyielding rage while his right one shows sorrow and perhaps pain over what happened to this young vixen. <br> Please keep this one in mind for coloring, thank you.
And to think the last drawing of Trace had him as a female tiger sitting down all silly...these kind of glimpses into Trace's darkest moments really show how dangerous Trace is supposed to be. And how he would have made a Great antagonist had he not been the Protagonist thanks to his little memory trifle..
It makes me want to see Tom draw a battle scene between the Templar in the keidran
Honestly, kinda forgot about that
this is definitely one of the heavier pieces, and honestly i really enjoy it. very sad to see how much damage trace did in his time of rule, but it is clear he only cares about revenge, not just killing keidran
A nice change of pace from all the cute/sexy sketches lately. Well, nice for us, not so much for Mr. Legless over there. I really hope this gets colored, we almost never get to see Tom draw something like this.
Wait, that's not his tail? *checks sketch* Nope, that's not his tail. Which means the house is much closer than I thought, not much bigger than it looks.
The man that stood before her seemed more shadow than man. His face was covered in the darkness cast by the flames that raged behind him. Only his eyes were clear and visible, blue eyes like ice. The glare that he cast towards her with them chilled her more that any winter storm she had weathered before. His body, hidden under robes once white now dyed red by blood, seemed barely present. As if he floated rather than stood. He was more wraith than man. "P-please. Pu-please!" She's whimpered from between quivering lips. What she pleaded for she did not know. Mercy? Help? Death? "You," he said in a whisper, "you, are not a wolf." What? What did he mean by that? She wondered. Was it only wolves he sought to kill. Not all Keidrian? "You remind me, of, her." For a moment a hint of warmth flashed in his eyes. The ice within them melting. "You have...the, same eyes as her." But it passed as quickly as it came and once more his face hardened. She braced for death. "You may go." He turned from her, wading into the carnage behind him again. She watched as the flames swallowed his form. His red robes disappearing among the inferno.
That's pretty fuckin brutal. I love the gratuitous violence here to better highlight just what kind a man Trace once was. It pairs well in contrast to the mercy he shows Laura.
I can't decide yet if I'd love to see this colored or not. Also, imagine how absolutely terrifying it must be, seeing this one man absolutely slaughter this village of people who captured you, only to leave you alone.
I'll take my gloom and doom iced with some morbid creamer, please