Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow
To the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight
Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall fade

-Edge of Night by Billy Boyd

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Whatever made him do it, Arctic spun in the air, flung his wings open, thrust his front talons toward the pursuing guards, and shouted, “Spears! Stop those guards!” Foeslayer grabbed his arm in horror. “Arctic, no!” But it was too late. The spears snapped free – out of the guards’ claws or off their back – pivoted, and stabbed into the Icewings’ chests. “No, wait!” Arctic yelled. “Don’t kill them!” He shook his talons frantically and tried to point at the guards again. “Don’t kill them! Just stop them, that’s all I meant! Leave them alive!” It was too late. One by one, the six Icewings fell from the sky, dropping like the rocks Foeslayer used to throw into the deepest canyons of the Night Kingdom. “No!” Arctic cried. “Go back and leave them alive! I take it back!” He turned to Foeslayer, clutching her arms desperately. “I didn’t mean to! I just wanted them to leave us alone!” –Wings of Fire: Winglets #4 - Runaway

The danger came from the white dragon. This was Father, some kind of partner to the dragon who cared. The newly hatched dragonet could hardly look at him without seeing a spiral of confusing flashes: pain, fury, screaming dragons, and blood, everywhere, blood. This white dragon had done something terrible that haunted him, and he might do worse someday. –Wings of Fire: Legends – Darkstalker

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Arctic after accidently killing the Icewing guards with his animus magic in the winglet, Runaway. This is, surprisingly, a rarely drawn scene, although I find it to be one of the darker moments in the series. Most importantly, for me this is the scene that defines Arctic from then on. This is the scene that turns him from the dragon that Foeslayer falls in love with, to the dragon that Darkstalker was able to brutally kill. This is what pushed him over the edge. This is what seals his fate. So I went into this knowing it was going to be one giant metaphor. What we’re seeing here isn’t the dragons dying, it’s Arctic’s reaction to their deaths. The blood on him is theirs(*cough*maybeanothermetaphor*cough*), but if you look closely at where it landed, there’s a neat little bit of foreshadowing regarding Arctic’s later demise. I also wanted the moon behind him to vaguely resemble a crown, for obvious reasons. The night backdrop, while it does match up with the description given in the winglet, also coincides with the lyrics of the song.

As far as how the song relates to the picture, I went through a couple of ideas for scenes and characters to draw, but ultimately decided this one was perfect for the song I had chosen. In my mind ‘Home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread’ relates to Arctic choosing to flee the Ice Kingdom. ‘Through shadow, to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight’ represents his decision to go to the Night Kingdom, and Foeslayer’s hope that they can be happy there. ‘Mist and shadow. Cloud and shade,’ represents all the obstacles standing in their way, most notably Snowfox, Snowflake, and their devious plan. And of course ‘All shall fade’ is when Arctic finally commits this unspeakable act, shattering all the hopefulness he had left in him.

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No critique desired. Please respect that.

The character belongs to Tui T. Sutherland

The art belongs to me, and you are not permitted to steal, trace, copy, reference, or otherwise redistribute it in any way. I also do not want to see this posted on RP sites, Facebook, YouTube, etc. without my permission. That's still art theft.