In 2021, I started a new story, about an unlucky serval boy named Rori who is taken in as the newest pet of a rich and powerful Master. Trauma, drama, healing and romance are all included. It started as nothing more than a writing exercise based on role plays I had with  wolfywetfurr to make me productive again after a lengthy dry spell. What started as just a few scenes became a few more. And then a few more. By then, I had shown several people what I made, including  shiftx, who fell in love with the story and characters, and just had to know how it ended. I hadn't intended on concluding it, or even making it a proper story, but his interest kindled my creative spark into a blazing inferno.

I attempted to move on to a new story in 2022, but my mind kept returning to the story I started the previous year, now called "Treasure Hoard" after the placeholder title proved perfect for a permanent title. And in 2023, my friend,  electrocat challenged me to have it completed by the end of the year. I accepted his challenge, and with every free day, I dedicated most of my free time to working on it, cranking out ten, fifteen, up to twenty two pages per session, my most productive year in over a decade. And not only did it get finished, thus winning me the challenge, it turned out to easily be the best thing I ever made! And brought me something I'd always wanted but never had: fans.

Earlier this year, I began edits with my friend,  Guan to get it ready for publishing. Progress on that is ongoing. But I realized I needed a proper cover page for my Magnum Opus (or Magnum Oopsie, as some call it when one makes their greatest work by accident or unintentionally). Once I got reacquainted with  Boneitis, I looked over his drawings and felt he fit what I was looking for in a cover artist, and hit him up for it. I could not be happier with the results! It looks exactly how I imagined it in my head! It was $250 in total, and worth every penny! The front cover is unique, and will grab attention. The unique font was not in the request, but adds a lot to it.

The emotional ambiguity was planned from the beginning and is easily the best part for me. Is Rori afraid? Shocked? In awe? Is the hand grabbing him pulling him away to face its owner's wrath? Or is it steadying him to keep him from falling? You'll have to read the story to find out. I will link it here when it is ready for purchase. Enjoy, everyone!

The artwork is ©  Boneitis.
Rori, Xávirac and "Treasure Hoard" the story are all © me.