When a human falls into a cryptic world of monsters, she marries a local shapeshifter that very same day. She is trying to find her way back home in one piece. But who is this man who so quickly came to her rescue? What is under all of his shifting layers?
The world of chiaroscuro is full of mysteries, from the graveyard from out of time, the grave keeper who found a human in a spot no human has walked in 400 years, to the ghosts that haunt their dreams.
Updates 2x a month!
When a human falls into a cryptic world of monsters, she marries a local shapeshifter that very same day. She is trying to find her way back home in one piece. But who is this man who so quickly came to her rescue? What is under all of his shifting layers?
The world of chiaroscuro is full of mysteries, from the graveyard from out of time, the grave keeper who found a human in a spot no human has walked in 400 years, to the ghosts that haunt their dreams.
Updates 2x a month!
During a high speed car chase, their cars collide, and Meredith is sent spiralling over the guard rails of the freeway. She crashes into the government protected nature reserve colloquially called "Dante's Inferno" It's full of venemous critters and other warnings, and now she has to traverse it on foot.
OK Now we're all caught up on my backlog! from here on out we'll update about every 2 weeks, sometimes more often if I hit donation incentive goals. But thanks everyone who's subbed while I was still getting my big ol comic all the way over here on Global! :D
Meredith opens up about the guilt she feels over Snowball, who died from Joe's hand when she first tried to get away. She wants to erase this part of her life, which terrifies Djali, since for a witch, that wish is fully possible. Yet the dogs at her side snap from their stupor and give her big kisses, and symbolically, Snowball also understands why she did what she had to do.
200 years ago, Djali and the Prince talk about how Prince Alixander feels as if he doesn't know who he is besides his duty and the curse of being a companion monster. In the present day, Djali's form is breaking down as he feels he is unqualified to be Meredith's companion. So, he calls Gillian for help.
Normally I'd split long episodes, but since I added this flashback portion suuuper last minute, I couldn't figure out where to split it. That means you don't have to wait a month to see who sent Gillian that 3 AM booty call (it was Djali). Episodes will go back to normal length next time, where I'm sure absolutely nothing weird is going to happen with all these eyeballs growing on Djali's face.
Djali visits Gill and Coop, upset that his companion magic never worked. Gill and Cooper think he's just drunk and try to drag him indoors until they realize his shape is changing. Djali tells Gill that he feels like a fool for thinking that true love could fix him, and that, should Djali lose control, Gill must use the kill switch on Djali to save the town.
Djali loses control, and asks Gill a question before Gill passes out: why did the gate say what she said to Gillian? Gill then has a vision of himself at the gate, everything decaying around him. To his horror, the gate beckons him to walk inside, and Gill would rather not, yet he knows he must go forward with the dream and see it to it's conclusion. So, he musters his bravery and steps inside.
Gill traverses his dream further into the gate, which has taken on the form of a hall of mirrors. There's an VIP at the end of that hallway, and he surely can't see her while he is in his pajamas, and he surely can't keep her waiting: so the dream accommodates. And who is this impatient VIP residing in the gate? Why it's Queen Keranina, Prince Alixander Keranin's Mother.
Kudos to anyone who remembered who Queen Keranina is, you have very good reading retention, that was like a year ago.
Within Gillian's nightmare, he is dragged into the gate the same way Meredith was dragged into the gate before, as the ghost repeats a phrase that has haunted Gillian Morte for so long. Luckily, Cooper is an ice elemental and not-so-gently snaps Gill out of the dream with a magic snowball. To Gillian's shock, he has already pulled the kill switch out of his pocket; the dream was nearly lethal.
Although Djali is barely aware of his surroundings, Gill confronts him about how Djali could possibly already know what the gate told Gill that day: "We are all undead." As an answer, Djali tells him that Gill told him himself, which is something Gill has no memory of doing. Djali's magic breaks down more and more, and Cooper can keep him back with magic, but things are looking grim.
Djali looses full control of his magic, saying things that Gill can't fully understand. Under duress, Gill blacks out again, but instead of a dream, he recalls a memory. His professor tells him about the madness that lingers under their magic, and why it is University students that carry the kill switch. He says it the price they paid to steal the progress of mankind through the library.
Gill makes one last attempt to snap Djali out of his destructive state. When Djali lunges for Gill, Cooper intervenes, and Djali changes his target to Coop. As Djali's fangs descend, Coop assumes he is done for, until he realizes that the fangs, the claws, the whole Djali is gone! Replaced by a kill switch and a pile of smoke. Djali is dead?
There are certain moments of the story where when I was writing the script I thought "Oh I'll never get to this part of the comic, it's like thousands of panels from now" and it seems so far away. And then I'm posting that episode and it's like. Damn. We actually made it. And I'm just...stunned at how tiny little steps ended up to so much completed work.
So thank you everyone who's read this far, I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.
Hey all I caught the big sick (again) so eventually this post will have like a title card and some summary at the top once my brain is no longer full of beans but until then, this is basically straight from my buffer. Anyway, Meredith is not one to fool, but can she convince Gill and Cooper Djali is in fact, not dead?
We're on like Episode 100 now but Gill has finally recognized that Meredith is in fact real, and has, in fact, been real this entire time. She's not a ghost that will vanish eventually, she's here to stay. So...now that she's real...do we tell her what actually happened or...
PS I am taking a hiatus during September. We will have 2 updates during that time, they'll be recap updates for you
Gillian makes the grave mistake of telling a woman to calm down, and he finds out quickly what happens when you do such a stupid thing. But she shouldn't be able to do magic if he's dead right? ...Unless...
PS next Month I'm taking my hiatus because I fell WAY behind! :D You'll have 2 scheduled recap episodes during that time. I'll see y'all again in October!
Lets see what's happened from Gillian's perspective throughout this story. While I said there would be no new content there are a couple new tidbits here and there that Gill has been brewing over.
Also, welcome to the concept of a magic seal, which wasn't going to come up for a while actually, but, unlike humans, Monsters can keep things out of the library with a little encryption.
Gill is trying to sort through his thoughts, trying to see what he may have missed. As it turns out, he has been investigating Meredith this entire time, and yet it took all the way until now before he could finally admit that she is a human who is very much alive.
Next time we'll have some new content! Thanks so much for being so chill during my hiatus. It was much needed :D
Back from my soft hiatus, thanks for being so chill about me taking some time for doing other things, I really do have the best readers <3 . This week Djali has to make a new identity, and we see how long it takes for Meredith to run into her husband using the power of dog.
In this episode we find out that Gillian isn't the only person having some nightmarish visions in the middle of the day. Unlike Gillian, he is used to this. What does it mean? Hopefully nothing bad. :) Meanwhile, Meredith is hanging out with her favorite old gatekeeper.
Since Djali is breaking a bit at the seams, the Royal Ghost has decided perhaps it's time she and Meredith had a little chat about her magic problem. Meanwhile, Takoda has to go back to doing his job, AKA, cleaning up after the supernatural nonsense that's popping up all over the place now that the Royal Ghost is reaching out.
Everyone is a little bit in denial of who they are and it's causing some consequences. From Meredith who doesn't take any responsibility of being a witch, to Gill who doesn't take his responsibility of being a police officer by telling her what he did to Djali, to Djali himself, who put his entire identity in being a meet companion, which did not actually happen for him.
Our Prince has been diving deep into the human library, leading to strides in research at the University, but his parents are worried about a consequence that could happen, a warning that the Prince has decided to ignore.
Lets dive further into Prince Alixander's plans (that will go really well and nothing bad will happen.)
Also I apologize about how freakin long this episode is. I'm sure you're all bothered by this length but I need to get out of this talking heads segment where everyone has antlers. :D
As it turns out there are some things from the human library that are not so great, and when taken outside of context, this 1820's mad scientist has gotten himself a little lost in the sauce.
Anyway, for all of my eagle eyed readers who guessed that Djali is the result of a genetic experiment, congratulations! You get a cookie and award, here you go! 🎊🍪🏆🎊
Alixander's Mother has an opportunity to scold her son about his trust issues and she is not going to hold back. However, maybe Djali's next words will sway even her?
Meredith is determined to find answers, even if it means stopping by the neighbor's place. That ghost neighbor who shouldn't actually exist. Gill is tagging along too, despite his best interests, and Djali--we'll get to Djali, don't worry, we'll just say he's busy stress eating all the snacks he can find.
Ghosts that never could have existed are manifesting, holes in space and time are forming, and Meredith's starting to understand why this wouldn't have been the best location for a bakery.
Last minute I added like a lot of Djali to this episode. Figured maybe someone would want to know what he's up to and he's currently pacing around a tiny bathroom. A little bit safer than what Meredith's been doing.
Meredith finally has a heart to heart about the nature of the magic she wields but cannot control, which is something that she needs to control, or she may find herself consumed by the same magic that empowered her.
Also, life got kinda crazy on my end, hopefully things even out and I won't have to go on another soft hiatus, but fair warning, that might happen. (fingers crossed)
Things have been dark, but Meredith sees a light at the end of the tunnel, and a chance to do something that hopefully (crossing fingers) won't blow everything up.
PS I'm taking the month of June off for a soft hiatus. I'd like one of those updates to be a Q+A, so if you have any questions leave em below marked as Q+A and one of my characters will answer em if they aren't spoiler heavy :)
Gillian remembers something his family once told him about how magic works, Meredith attempts to use magic, and Djali finally got off the bus on the way back to Museum road.
Unlike Djali, Gill seems to have walked away from human magic without turning into a wall of spooky eyeballs. Why? He doesn't want to talk about it. But, it IS time to finally talk about some lore. And those things will have to wait until September, which I do feel bad about, blame my long covid for that timing. But we will meet again in Fall and unpack some Chiaroscuro secrets!
Also I think my huion tablet died 2 days ago but I'm too afraid to plug it back in.
Send thoughts and prayers to my huion tablet.