Final Fantasy Heavensward, the Dragonsong war. Those who have played it found a gripping emotional story that resulted in a monstrous clash. These two Dragons are brothers. On the left of the image is Hraesvelgr, a white Dragon of the first brood, and to the right is Nidhogg, a Black Dragon, also of the first brood.

The Au Ra character Kal Fury from the Zodiark server stands in the middle of the brothers.

This image started as something else entirely. It was never meant to be so detailed or to take so long - 202 hours in total! - and it is now arguably my most time-consuming work to date. I began with Nidhogg and found that his scales, compared to Hraesvelgr, are very sharp and more reptilian. Hraesvelgr feels more mammalian in nature. This actually gave me pause, as after I had finished working on Nidhogg and tried to do the same process on his brother, I found that it would not work as well. This is why the details on Hraesvelgr are not wholly accurate with regards to the details in the game. So I made the decision to carry on like this, rather than go back to the drawing board. Although, to be honest, I was enjoying myself too much at this point to actually stop....hehe.

The character came together quite well after I had finished the two Dragons. Her story is that the black horns on her head started to grow after the final battle and her eyes went from a tender green to an almost molten yellow, the effects from her brief possession of both Hraesvelgr and Nidhogg's eyes, the eyes being the source of a Dragon's power. She had somehow absorbed more than just power during the fighting. This in turn led to her developing two distinct sides to her character. The Warrior of Light attitude that had endeared her to Hraesvelgr, and the darker inner rage that was the storm of Nidhogg.