28. DNAmnesia
The ongoing newsletter for the 404EVER Comic
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Happy new year, everyone. I feel like 2024 had one last bullet in the chamber with all these fires going on in LA. Thank you to everyone who reached out, I’ve been incredibly lucky over here. However, some friends were not as fortunate with their homes, sadly. I had one friend who lost a beautiful house and hundreds of years of family history. Irreplaceable Photos and relics from pre-World War One (Eastern and Western) Europe, gone in an instant.
I was drawing when the fire first broke out in the palisades near Malibu. Intense, blasting winds went from carrying dust and twigs to ash and embers within seconds. If you live out here, I recommend you always keep a bug out bag loaded near your door, and one in your car. I have a lot more to say about the why of it, but it’s shouting into the wind at this point. All I can say is, if you can, get personally strong enough to take care of yourself and the ones you love.
I want to share a scripted scene between Colin Atari and Maxim. These two characters have a bond from long before the 404EVER comic timeline begins. They formed a close-knit group of exceptional people, people with the rare ‘Warrior’ job class. Unable to integrate into society, they fought and took over what is now known as The Altair Tower (Where Echo would eventually spawn). Once, long ago, it was their own private domain, a world of options and liberty, where they could live freely by their own code. Today, of course, The Altair Tower is a private sex and pleasure district, cut off from the rest of Geo-City One. How it got to be that way is a story to be told in 404EVER.
It’s important to note that the humanoids in 404EVER don’t age the way we do. If a user can avoid the Fragmentation Error (Officially known as the Originality Virus), violence, or overdose; they could potentially live forever. Of course, with Geo-City One being the way it is, it’s highly unlikely. The average lifespan of an active user is 2.3 years.
Colin reclines, stretching his body in an arc over the soft, membranous sphere. Maxim watches, unable to determine if he’s witnessing a spiritual connection with The Orphic Console, or an outright vulgarity against it. The ancient, living relic softens under Colin’s back, as if absorbing the tension now leaving his body. The impossibly thin, wet tendrils holding up the console’s sphere twist and hiss as Maxim wades through the luminescent pool; reaching Colin.
“Colin… No. My MODERATOR”.
Hundreds of years of invisible history emerge from simple words. Colin can’t erase the smile, but he does tilt his head far enough back to stop Maxim from seeing it.
“Yes?”
Maxim lowers his head. The water swirls around his waist, merging with the mutating patterns on his iridescent Persona Suit, a uniform permanently burned into his skin after years of horrors.
“For us. For you. THE DeBUG UNIT has done many hideous things over these long years. Disgrace on top of disgrace. And now we’ve allowed those two abominations to bring our world to near ruin. No, it’s even worse. We’ve now stooped to protecting them”. New, violent thoughts almost escape into words, but Maxim catches them. Like fangs biting into his own throat.
Colin folds his arms under his neck, staring at the infinite black above him.
“And what now? Trying to clear your conscience before the end of the world?
Maxim can’t help but laugh. “No. I have no apologies. And Anyone worth confessing to wouldn’t want to hear my sins, anyway. No, I want you to promise me something”.
“Of course, Maxim”.
“Promise us… Promise me”. Maxim’s Persona Suit reacts, painting thousands of memories across his face, betraying his cold expression. “When you restore the settings and create our Paradise again… Promise that the world you make won’t be too beautiful for people like us to exist in…”
“But, Maxim…”
Colin finally pushes himself up, drooping his long arms over a raised knee. Resting his head lazily across his forearms, still hiding his smile, he locks eyes with Maxim.
“A world without us will never be beautiful”.
Next time I will have some art from the opening pages of the first real release chapter of 404EVER. I’ve kept a lot of it under wraps but it’s time to share! Sorry I’ve been so slow. Here is some in-progress art of Echo that will be used as part of a cool cover arrangement I’m working on:
Please be patient with me until the end of January! I’m finishing a big commission comic project with a great writer, it should be published and available soon. After that, I’m going to be releasing 404EVER chapters for online and print. I love you all, your support, kindness, and interest in the worlds I’m creating have meant everything to me. Despite the chaos and nightmare schedule, I promise this year will be filled with more output; as well as something new and very exciting.
See you all soon.
