Artfight 2026 - FIRST BLOOD!! - Ikka by @DaxDoodles

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KINO - The hope of the MUTOHI [chp1 | The fall]<div align="center"> "That which is man-made neither seeks, nor wants enter the land of the forgotten and unknown…" . . .</div> They could feel their blood curdle and burn around them, wind whipping past their ears as they descend further and further. Someone was screaming, but they couldn’t figure out who through their own pain; It felt as though their spine was being broken apart, skin ripping and tearing off of their shoulder blades. Curling their legs closer to themself as they snapped and stretched in unfamiliar ways. Their descent seemed to happen in slow motion, wind resisting every atom to keep them in this limbo; If they closed their eyes maybe they could convince themselves that they were soaring, that the swooping feeling in their stomach wasn't foretelling of their future as a stain on the ground. Blearily they looked at the sky, the stars their only reprieve - Had the moon become red or was the blood finally tainting their vision? The fleeting thought soon vanished with their consciousness, the last thing they saw was the foliage obscuring their eyes, not unlike their brain and senses were being obscured by pain. Looking upon a star as it slowly crashes from the sky. CH’NOR of the human skyship, the first to pass the veil since it’s creation. Would this be the sign of their prayers being answered? or an omen for those who dare to martyr the KI for their selfish desires? ENERUY will soon be put to judgement regardless of the outcome, of this she was sure. For now, she will ensure that they live, then see what time will hold for them.<div align="center">. . .</div> They felt like crap. Where the hell were they? Groaning with the strain of, apparently, being alive. Their senses came to them agonizingly and slowly. First they could feel something dry and sticky coating their fingers, though thinking on it more, it seemed to be an all encompassing feeling. Luckily they couldn’t feel the same ripping and tearing pain of before - in its place was a dull ache, like they had done a whole a week of strenuous exercise and are really feeling it the next day. They also felt like they were under a heavy blanket, though consciously thinking of the weight on their back they were met with the dizzying feeling of something moving, stretching upward at their unwilling command. What? Groaning again they slowly forced their limbs to lift their weight from their prone position, finally braving the task of opening their eyes to assess the situation. The light of the sun was bright, only obscured slightly by the canopy overhead. At first the world was a blur of colour, and light. Rubbing their eyes was probably not the best idea, considering their hands were a distinct colour of brownish red - Instead blinking hard to help clear their vision, willing the world to come into focus. Finally able to confirm visually that not only are their hands, and whole body for that matter, covered in blood, but they did not look anything like how they did before. Claws adorned the ends of their scaled fingers, and the scales did not stop there. They spread across their entire body - clumsily they moved to look at their feet, tail getting in the way of their efforts - Tail? Contorting their body to look behind them, spine protesting with the action they saw it, them. A pair of small membrane like wings and yes, a tail; Scaled as the rest of them, with a tuft of hair on the end, not unlike the hair on their head. Despite their better judgement, they reached up to touch their face, I’m already covered head to tail in blood what did it matter? - Feeling their features they note that not only had they gained a snout, their ears seemed to have grown substantially, they had a couple of small pointed horns near the start of their hairline and their teeth had become a lot sharper as well. At least they still had hair? Small wins they suppose… They shook away the somewhat hysterical thought and focused on the world around them, they found that their senses were a lot sharper than before, due to… whatever transformation they had undergone. The forest they were in was seemingly peaceful, the only sounds making up the space was the breeze rustling the trees that surrounded them and the occasional call of what they hoped was a bird or frog. There was a mossy ledge that they could see nearby, the shafts of sunlight opposite it shining through the leaves, the area itself was aglow with distinct fungi even in the morning sun. The whole area was overgrown with flora they had never seen before, a magical sight conflicting with the war in their mind. What happened to the airship? They could only remember the chaos and fire, and the strange iridescent light… Well it’s not like they had many people to miss them they supposed. But they still worried for everyone on board, there were some nice people among the dregs. What am I supposed to do now? … Probably… Find water to wash off all this gore and find something cover themself with, if they are gonna be afraid anyway they would rather not be naked, thank you. Seems like turning into a strange beast did more of a number on my clothes than my body Huffing at the thought and slowly getting to their feet, which was more of a challenge than it had any right to be. Looking around again, they resolved themselves to walk in the direction the sun was raising from, surely they will find something eventually to wash off? “CH’NOR, I would not go this way if I was you” Startling at the sudden voice, they fearfully turned to its source, only to trip over themself and land as a heap on the floor, scrambling to distance themself from the new presence. “Such dramatics, AYOR…” The feminine voice of the large creature says, almost sighing out the last part of the sentence. “Is this still language you, paa… Humans! Humans use? Many SOLUS have passed since this language was used, I was unsure” They seem… nice? Nice enough anyway. This woman? creature was standing on that mossy ledge, looking down at them; which did nothing to ease their anxiety at her imposing size. She seems to be a similar creature to what they were transformed into, though with notable differences - obviously there was size, she was large and quite plump - body almost camouflaged by her forest green scales. She had large horns that curved backwards behind her small ears, framing her long face - Her snout was definitely longer than theirs, her face held wrinkles that told of being wizened by time, though not enough to be considered old old. She was wearing some sort of burnt-orange shawl, poncho type of fabric on her neck that covered a large part of her upper body, the cloth was mossy and held various trinkets at the hem of it, was that a bird nest? Remembering to answer her question they croak out “Ye- Yeah. We um, still use this language.” voice hoarse from what was likely their whole transformation ordeal. “Good! This one is NISHA, a historian in my people. You fell from your skyboat, this one saw the whole thing, quite interesting and paa… horrific.” That felt like an understatement, they thought, as the creature they now knew as Nisha, approached and slowly crouched in front of them, her chestnut hair coming into view as she lowered the hood of her shawl. ”Your FIUN seems to have helped you survive, we find such MUTOHI artifacts rare in this era.” She punctuates by softly pointing at their chest, where, luckily their necklace still hung. With everything that happened they had almost forgotten about the only object in this world they held with any sentimentality. “My… Necklace?” they address holding the charm of the object up to their sight. “Mutohi?” Had they died and somehow gone back in time? they vaguely remember hearing something like that when trying to quell their boredom at a local library. They were called dragons in their language, though they couldn’t remember much else about them, hadn’t they gone extinct a thousand years ago or something? Nisha huffs and looks at them worriedly, perhaps their confusion and dread was showing. She gently offers her hand to help them stand, which they take thankfully after some hesitation. <div align="center"><img src="https://file.garden/ZnGZOv7aF21WeO00/Sheezy/Nisha Image.png"> Sketch Illustration of Nisha and Kino. </div> “This one will take you to safety. See that you are bathed, there is a SHA, next to my home. The S’HE is not safe as it appears.” Though they didn’t know what the words in her language meant, she didn’t seem to house any ill intent - not that they really had much of a choice in this situation, which the look she was giving them they were certain she would drag them there even if they protested. They nervously nod in agreement and begin following her through the forest, Nisha clearly slowing down her pace as they work on adjusting to their new limbs. The whole situation could be a lot worse, they suppose; they would take Nisha over a bear or whatever else is found in this fantastical forest any day; She had a caring but stern aura about her, it reminded them a little of a primary school teacher in that way. There were so many swirling questions plaguing their mind, though for now they will chose to ignore them all in favour of finding a semblance of safety. Thankfully thanks to Nisha, that task will be taken care of easier then anticipated. Yeah, they just need to trust this large, surprisingly nice, dragon women he just met… What is my life? <div align="center"><img src="https://file.garden/ZnGZOv7aF21WeO00/Sheezy/Kino Concepts.png"> Some concept sketches for Kino, to give you an idea what they look like. </div>trophy

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