GZ Tales: To Kill Part 2

 

“Yes! I will destroy your world, noble King! I exist to kill!”

            Maniac’s charge threw wreckage in all directions. King Falcon summoned his wings and darted into the air as a massive hand crashed to the ground. King Falcon swung his axe across the Cyborian’s shoulder. Sparks flew but little damage was done. Cyborian armor is heavily equipped with repair programs as well as weapons. Maniac responded with surprising speed and backhanded the King out of the air. King Falcon hit the ground and his body made a trench several yards long. But the King was notable for combat speed of his own, and was back into the air instantly. He hit Maniac with a beam of cosmic power, but the monster charged right through it.

            The two met head on. King Falcon swung his axe across Maniac’s chest as giant arms closed in. Maniac meant to press the hero King against another saw blade that extended from a joint in the chest. King Falcon flew out of the way just in time, and hit the monster across the head. With a jagged gash across his faceplate, Maniac grabbed the King in both hands. A massive energy surge made the whole area glow enough to be seen from space. Maniac threw King Falcon’s body through some of the starship wreckage with a crash.

            King Falcon struggle to get to his feet, “I’ve never been hit with such a surge,” he thought, “must get to my feet or…”

            A massive metal fist interrupted his thoughts and pounded him into the ground. Maniac’s laughter echoed as he followed up with one terrible blow after the other. Again and again, in rapid succession, Maniac landed energized giant fists into a forming crater. Finally, Maniac stood up over the body of King Falcon. Blood dripped from his armored hands. Maniac continued to laugh.

            “I told you, I exist to kill. My armor will repair itself soon and then I will kill your world and all its peoples. Oh, and what was that you said about distance not being a factor? Foolish pride, noble King.”

            Maniac was about to turn and leave when something caught his attention. King Falcon’s wings were extinguished and his body battered. Yet, a tiny ember of light appeared on the King’s right leg. As Maniac watched in wonder, more lights appeared. The glowing embers multiplied until the encompassed all of the King’s body. Energy readings grew fast in intensity. Maniac couldn’t figure out what they meant, but then he was blinded.

            The flash of light happened so fast and so bright that his optic sensors blinked out. A shockwave of heat turned all wreckage and the remains of the bodies to instant ashes. Maniac heard a shriek that almost made his sound sensors crackle. What he couldn’t see was the form of a great Phoenix blazing up hundreds of feet from the center of the fireball.

            When Maniac’s optics came back online, he saw an enraged King Falcon standing before him. King Falcon had his arm held back with the axe and before anything else could be done, that axe was sent for Maniac. It hit him full in the chest and spun as King Falcon held and outstretched hand to command it. A whirlwind of strikes hacked away at Maniac’s chest armor. Damage readings glared in the red.

            “I believe I said it doesn’t matter how far from home I am!” King Falcon’s voice boomed.

            The axe flew back to its master’s hand and King Falcon flew into the air. Maniac struggled to move but it was too late. The King came down in a glowing power dive with his axe. The blow made the ground shake for a mile in each direction. Maniac’s systems went into critical overdrive. King Falcon stood on his enemy’s chest and raised the axe high overhead. As he brought down the axe for Maniac’s head, the form of the Cyborian flickered and vanished.

            As his axe hit the ground, there was a peal of thunder. King Falcon stood alone. Maniac had retreated in defeat.

            “That’s right, run,” King Falcon said, “because if you ever come back, I’ll be the one doing the killing.”

            The Ring of Knowledge told him that Maniac wasn’t even in the same solar system anymore. Satisfied that his home was safe once again, King Falcon spread his wings and flew away.

            In another solar system, on some barren rock in space, Maniac hid himself. His systems would take days to repair. He seethed in rage at his defeat but knew that Arconia was out of his reach for the time being.

            “One day I will come for you, noble King and I will kill. I exist to kill.”

Meet graphic artist, Robert Beltran!

This really is a special edition of my guest artists. All it takes to be a guest artist is to draw any one of my characters from GZ, but this was different. I commissioned Rob to do a very special piece of work for me and boy did he.

This summer, we are using some vacation fun time to go to a comicon on June 22, in San Antonio. Naturally, I intend to network for my project and writing while I'm there. I'll be handing out business cards but I thought I needed just a little something more. Enter, Rob Beltran.

Big Rob, as they call him, does a lot of graphic work and you can check out his page of hats and shirts HERE. After seeing what he does to ballcaps I had an idea. I realized a King Falcon hat would be perfect to go with networking and this was just the way to do it. So I contacted Rob and tossed him some details. You can see the results!
Click on image for closer look.

Rob won't just paint hats, oh  no, he'll paint just about anything! You'll find shirts, shoes, and even a bicycle! He's done Marvel characters, Transformers, and Disney too! My hat ran me 30 bucks plus shipping (but keep in mind that prices may vary for shipping or demand). Payment is before work begins and it's WORTH IT. Paint for the hats is rubber based (I think for shirts and shoes too) so NO running colors if you're caught in the rain.

So, you can't do work like this and not be a guest artist for GZ! It's only deserving after all.  I'm telling you, if you wear ballcaps or want some really cool work on your favorite character, this is the guy to go to. Big Rob has been on DeviantArt.com for 10 years and has done hundreds of works. You can reach him at his page or on facebook.

Spotlight: Arconia!

If you read the spotlight on King Falcon, you know he's from the planet Arconia. Today, for the holiday posting, I am going to give you the Arconian grand tour. I hope you enjoy meeting this special race.

Arconia is a lush jungle world with 3 moons; Colas, Laros, and Venure. Only Colas is uninhabited and frozen over with ice and snow. Naturally, that makes Colas the furthest from the planet. Laros is home to the house of Paradien, and Venure to the house of Kasau-Ki.

As you can tell, Arconians are humanoid (male or female) formed with the heads of various birds. A trivial note is that they are born without their beaks, allowing a live humanoid type birth. They also nurse like mammals until their beaks grow in. The family types depend on the Royal house they are from or related to. Royalty has ability to summon wings of fire and lightning (allowing them to even fly through space) thanks to and ancient relationship to the race of the Star Phoenix. See the pic above of Lord Valderon (father of the Arconian race and legend).Peasantry have no wings. The wings of an Arconian can be a serious weapon, able to raise temperatures hundreds to even thousands of degrees in a fifty foot area or more. The lightning can be cast up to a hundred yards for attack purposes.

Their government is formed of five royal houses with the Royal House itself making number six. Each house takes turns in ruling Arconia as a revolving monarchy. Each house is ruled by a Lord and Lady, assisted by a Duke/Duchess, and finally an Earl (who acts more like a regional Sheriff). So lets take a look at the five houses:

Paradien: Represents nobility and law. The birds here look like falcons, ospreys and eagles. Royalty come to this house to learn the laws of Arconia, and ways of nobility. No youth may take official status of a house without their lessons in each royal area. This house also enforces trials over Arconia's laws and metes out punishment for serious offenses. Even the King may have to face Paradien, but only by unanimous ruling of each of the five houses. Pictured here is the current Lord of the house, Lord Harp. He's holding the scales of guilt and innocence. Facing those scales makes a trial very short indeed.

Kasau-Ki: Represents warriors and ways of defense. The birds here look like kestrels, hawks, and owls. This is where royals are taught how to fight with their wings and cosmic powers. Yes, they have cosmic powers. Arconians are quite adept in using several tactics and archaic (enchanted) weaponry. Arconia uses no technology. They have powers and magics that take care of all they need. This house developed diving attacks and the use of another potent weapon; the Arconian war shriek. King Falcon's shriek and shatter some of the strongest metals in the universe. Interestingly enough, Arconian usually only needs one protective force to keep invaders away; the King. Each King of Arconia is gifted with great power and considered to be the god and protector of the people. For this reason, Arconians practice what they call, Monarch Worship. The King is God to the Arconians. In the picture you see Lord Owl with his mystical sword.

Magor: The house of magics and great knowledge. The birds of this house look like toucans, cockatoos, and cockatiels. This is where teachings of spells, bardic music, and standard academics are given. The members of this house are powerful in magic enough to shield their world from nearly any threat. Magic is considered to be the blood of the universe and therefore very important to understand and respect. In this picture you see Lord Lord Heziah and just behind him, Lord Chamberlin. Lord Chamberlin represents the House of Magor in the Royal house. All representatives serving in the royal house are honorary Lords.

Fau Lin: The house of life and nature. The birds of this house look like the many forms of parrots and macaws. Arconia is such a lush and life filled place. There are even other magical beasts such as dragons and gryphons. Once a year, around our holiday season, they have an annual dragon hunt (for the non-intelligent species only) and a great feast at the Royal House. Hunters who participate have three choices to hunt with, spear, bow, or bare hands. King Falcon always uses his bare hands. At the house of Fau Lin, royals are taught how to respect all life and the ways of nature. They learn all about the harvest and how to grow all the foods Arconians live on. In the picture you see Lord Macau using powers of nature to grow a vine.

Iyson: The house of balance and powers. The birds of this house look like nightengales (dark black), jays, cardinals, and magpies. Arconians study the Balance of Good and Evil with a watchful eye. They also study the use of powers as much as the use of magic. If you follow the characters of Galaxy Zento, you will see many beings with amazing powers. The House of Iyson studies the use of powers and respects that they have a source in creation all their own. This house also helps write the laws and politics enforced by the House of Paradien. In this picture you see Lord Yiro with his staff of power.

There are several Arconian characters in Galaxy Zento and they are coming soon to be posted at the fan page and Deviantart. Be sure to follow along and I hope your holiday season is exceptional blessed!

The You will rise project: King Falcon Poster

Through my page at DeviantART, I was contacted about an amazing project. You can check out this project HERE.

It was asked of me, would I be interested in submitting the King Falcon anti-bullying poster. Of course!

The project is all about rising above bullying. If you've been a victim of bullying and you use art or writing to overcome it, they want to hear from you. You can see the King Falcon entry on their blog site HERE.

I think any project that takes on bullying is worth while. Especially one that shows people with talents who have overcome or are in process. You see, you don't have to listen to the bullies. They put you down, but they are wrong. Just check out the talents on that page to see what I mean.

And don't say you have no talents, it only means you are still finding your way. Things will get better and you can rise above bullying. I did.

Spotlight: King Falcon

King Falconus is the monarch of the distant planet Arconia. Arconia is the richest planet in the known universe of Galaxy Zento. It's rich in all sorts of wealth, from gold and treasure, magic and knowledge, to mineral and resource.

King Falcon stands 7ft, 11in tall.

As the King, Falconus is gifted with special artifacts that allow him to protect his world and others. First is the Amulet of Arconia, found at his waist, attached to his mystical armor. It does two things for him. First, it enhances the phoenix blood in his royal veins. Should he fall in combat, the amulet will resurrect him in a giant ball of phoenix fire. This is potentially hazardous to his foes. If someone manages to take the amulet and slay him, the amulet must be delivered back to Arconia. It will resurrect him there. It's not perfect, the amulet is "sensitive to fate". There is always a chance that it is King Falcon's time. At that point, the amulet will vanish and reappear in it's holding case at the royal palace.

Second is his personal weapon, blessed for him alone. It's called the Axe of Arconia. It can respond to King Falcon's will and cannot be lifted by anyone but him without his permission. He can recant permission at any time.

To fly, he summons wings of fire and lightning (only royalty can do this) and he can fly the voids of space. With his wings he can fireblast large areas and raise temperatures to molten levels around him. His wings also enable him to fly at extreme speeds through space and even to warp to other worlds instantly. His other natural weapons include cosmic class phoenix rays, a war shriek that can shatter steel and stone, and his incredible strength. King Falcon can lift 100 tons with ease and more if he takes time to "gather" and absorb energy from the universe. King Falcon has moved moons in their orbit.

He is immune to disease and impervious to base physical damage.

He also carries one of the legendary Rings of the Multiverse; the Ring of Knowledge. It allows him to gain all knowledge on any given thing or subject he comes across. It also gives him a lie-detecting sense. He also took the Ring of Alchemy from Maestro, but doesn't carry both rings at the same time.

On Arconia they believe in Monarch Worship, who ever is King, is their god. There is no technology on Arconia. They don't need it. The only military is the royal guards and they are to protect villagers and palaces in royalty's absence.

King Falcon helped to form the Council of Leaders, a panel of leaders from various planets for the good of their universe.

King Falcon is one of the most powerful heroes of Galaxy Zento. He's always ready to lend a helping hand to stop the evil forces of the universe.

Two special posters

So I've done two special project posters. One on Bullying and the other on Autism awareness.

You see the Autism aware poster here first. I drew my character, Dimension Man for the very first time in making this poster. I've put it in several groups and have it available for purchase at my DeviantArt page. Just click on the "prints" tab toward the top of the page. A large poster is only about 20 bucks and I get a small commission of that. Past that, it's okay to share on your website so long as you post links back to me. It's okay to share on your Facebook page so long as you post link to the fan page or share about me. Fair enough, right? I also want to give access to the Autism Society.

Dimension Man is a cool but rare character. He exists on multiple dimensional planes so nothing can physically stop him from going where ever he wants. His evil counterpart is Tick Tock.But more about him later.

I chose King Falcon for the anti-bullying poster because he's the defender of several planets in his stories. It just made sense to me. I wanted that arm to come across really huge in the picture and then I did my own form of lettering. I ordered a print to donate to my son's elementary school.

So, how easy is this for me? Well, as you can see in this picture, I tried to draw a single line. My hands shake so badly at times, that it takes me quite a while to get a drawing done. It gets frustrating too. I'm hoping, once my diagnosis tests are done, there will be something that I can do to help steady my hands and slow the tremors. Till, then, no giving up!

Still no entries for the guest artist program, but it takes time so I'm hopeful that maybe the holiday week will stir things up. I really look forward to writing an article here about a fellow artist!