Page 12, panel 1: a large vertical slice that takes over the left half of the page. It’s the black horizon, dotted with the white-red flames of the souls beyond the mountain. The camera is at viktor’s back, watching him as he watches the sky fall over his head. Narration says; tonight, you are safe in this cave. Lucky you. But what about tomorrow? Panel 2, the camera refocuses, showing his immediate reality. It’s the cave, and its viktor, a sleeping jayce by his side covered by the jacket blanket, and a crackling fire right in front of him, the flames growing unruly and absurdly large as viktor glares inside the pit. Fwoosh. They reach skyward like a whip. Panel 3, a closeup of viktor’s intense glare. His pupils are as white as the fire. Narration says: Jayce is in no condition to fight. He hides it well, but you know… panel 3, a closeup shot of Jayce’s wrist, scarred by hexcorization. Panel 4 says: A body… a human body has its limits. The lines frame a drawing of jayce in profile, his naked body whited out. In place of clothes or anatomical details, he is covered by the hexcore scar, growing pink and fungi like into his arms, torso, face, and injured leg. End page.
Page 13. Panel 1. Viktor thinks: beings of flesh and blood can die so easily. It’s terrifying. The panel depicts him hugging Jayce tightly, stuffing his arms inside the jacket, his leg between jayce’s, burying his head on his partner’s chest. For his part, jayce seems so deeply asleep he does not stir at the contact. Panel 2, an image of a piltovan toy knight with his head ripped from his shoulders. Its body scatters on a table uncomfortably, lying on a puddle of oil that looks like blood. Those are viktor’s thoughts plaguing him. What if. What if? Panel 3, pure black fading into gray. Narration. Exhausted, Viktor drifts away with a promise. Panel 4, the last one, is framed by darkness and snow blowing in chunks from outside the page. Baby jayce, trapped in the snowstorm, is seen screaming help from afar. Viktor’s promise is as follows: I won’t let you come to harm. End page.
Page 14. This page is made up of 6 symmetrical panels, no words. Starting from the top, they all depict viktor from the back, his face cut off frame. First is the herald of the arcane, floating high among the stars and surveying all the gentle soul flames of the people he has raptured. His cape billows out of frame, regal. Incomprehensibly powerful magic. Panel 2, viktor in the abandoned commune, as he was before it died yet watching the empty hollow tents left like husks after his death. A paradox. Panel 3, Viktor in the hextech lab he once shared with jayce, after he steps out of the cocoon. His hair still wet, the blanket slipping from his shoulders. He is framed by the false light of the window they kept in their laboratory. Newly transformed. Panel 4; viktor from the end of season 1, after his terminal diagnosis. His posture is pained, skewed south. His head is bowed, finally inside the frame. Covered in shadow. He is at the very edge of the water tower, at the center of the hole where he almost killed himself. Panel 5, child viktor in the creek where he played with his boat, at the opening of Singed’s cavern/hidden laboratory. He turns to face the viewer, and his face is a blotch of pure black ink. It almost looks like a fountain of blood in motion. Panel 6, a lonely white figure at the bottom of a black page, child viktor, faceless, staring straight ahead. An empty hole for a face. End page.
Page 15; only one panel, in the corner. The rest of the page is black and gray and punctured textures. I won’t let you come to harm. It is written, rewritten, scrawled and rasped 50 times in this single page, litany against failure. I won’t let you come to harm. I won’t. The single panel is a close up of child viktor, burrowing carved ink black hole face seeming almost cruel as he tilts his neck to ask: Won’t you? Big words, for a boy without a mouth. End page.
ONE MILLION HAPPY ENDINGS 6/?
end of pt1, you made it! thank you.
#Jayvik #Hexposts #1MHE
