I found some inspiration lately in the form of ABD Illustrates. A friend sent me his YouTube channel, and I ended up navigating to his Concept Corner playlist wherein I saw his characters for a still-in-progress idea called Heartless. I highly recommend.
A disclaimer: these are my interpretations of things. While watching the CC playlist, I thought of a scene with the main character having a mission go wrong and also coming in contact with (one or two of) the BBEG(s). Nothing’s set in stone here. Just having a bit of fun.
In any case, preamble aside, let’s get into it.
It was hard to see past the smoke billowing from the crater. Every time Heartless tried to call out to his friends, he choked on his voice. “Alche—!” Another cough. “F… Flint—!” He grabbed his throat and backed away from the smoke.
“We’re all right!” shouted a voice past the cloud.
“Get the crystal and go!” shouted someone else.
Heartless spun around, looking frantically for the dull coloured crystal. “I can’t! I won’t leave you!” But he needed to find that crystal. It helped take the burden off his magical core; it empowered him. It… spoke to him? It was hard for him to understand, but if he could grab it, he knew that he’d get some answers.
“Can you really afford to say such a thing with that bleeding heart of yours?”
