Chapter 10 Comments:
Like my old comments imply, this was fun to create. It was here that I started to fiddle around with some transformative experiences with the jewel. Not super-detail, of course, since this is told from the dragon's perspective. The transformation in the last chapter would naturally be the last transformation made with Aura's jewel.

And now, the "final" chapter of Aura's Jewel.
[quote]Aura's Jewel

Chapter Eleven:
"Her Name is Jessica"

Nathan decided to continue being a wolf for a while longer, despite the danger that previously accompanied it. Fortunately, his mind stayed normal for the rest of the time. He still had to hunt for food, but he no longer needed to have the instincts of a wolf to do so.

A week later, we decided that it was time to move on. By then, Wyte and his soldiers would probably be long gone. Of course, there was still a problem. Two of them, actually. For one, Nathan didn’t have any clothes to put on once he changed back to normal. For another, once human, Nathan would once again be a wanted man. Those wanted posters were still around. So, for the time, we decided it might be best if Nathan stayed in wolf form for a while longer, while we headed closer to the Valley of Borea.

We left the forest, avoiding the town near it, where the lost boy from before most likely was from, and crossed some fields. We soon came across a small village. A rather low-tech place considering the advancements every other place had made. Now, we would have avoided this town like the last, but at this point Nathan had grown tired of being a wolf. So I went on ahead to see if the place was safe. There wasn’t a soldier in sight. Nor were there any wanted posters. I told Nathan this.

“Even if this place hadn’t even heard of me, if I changed back to normal, somewhere along the way, I will be recognized.â€

Yeah, sounds like "Aura's Jewel" is actually just beginning. I wonder how Nathan feels being in female form right now.

Aura's Jewel

To Be (Dis)Continued...

So now Aura's Jewel is over. Or rather, cancelled. And I don't intend to give it a real revival of any sort. I just wanted to show it off for no particular reason. In case any of you are wondering, no, I didn't stop writing it because I felt embarrased about Jessica. I had actually started writing the next chapter. But I had so much trouble writing it, I gave up and lost interest. Whatever amount of the chapter I had written is forever lost as far as I know of. I do remember a little of what I was writing. The one who called to the dragon was a psychic of some sort, likely female. The chapter involved going to the robbers' hideout and mixing things up (which is where I got stuck). Aside from that, I can't remember anything from that chapter.

I did have a little bit planned furthur up. And since the story is pretty much as finished as it'll ever be, I'll go ahead and divuldge details. For starters, I was only one to three chapters away from the Valley of Borea. What would've happened between this chapter and then, I didn't have anything planned. Just making things up as I went along of course. But like the "The Curse" 5-parter, the Valley of Borea was also intended to be a multi-parter, though most likely only two or three chapters in length. It would be here where Aura's Jewel would be delivered to Aura's sister, Borea. But of course General Wyte would also be there to ruin things.

Would this be the end of the story, where Aura's Jewel is finally given up to Aura and Borea, who are undoubtedly a sisterly pun of some sort? Probably not. I was originally intending to drag Aura's Jewel to the standard length of a serialized TV series. Sixty-five chapters. I couldn't very well call it Aura's Jewel without the jewel. Or could I? I'm sure I had something up my sleeve, but of course I couldn't tell you what it is. But like I said before, Joshua and Jessie were intended to make a return, likely in another multi-parter.

Of course, there's the matter of a major villain. General Blaque was seemingly defeated in the sixth chapter, and General Wyte has been the villain since then. But then there's the one leading them all, a powerful wizard granted with part of the power of Aura's Jewel. Look back in chapter 2, where Nathan started pleading to be changed by the dragon. This being the first bit of foreshadowing of the wizard, the one that the dragon gave partial power to. This wizard is the one who was watching our heroes in Chapters 5, 9, and 10, and is the one who both changed Blaque back to human for Chapter 6 and likely killed him in the same chapter. I really can't say much more about this wizard. Only thing I know is that he was to be the villain in the final climactic battle at the end of Aura's Jewel.

So what of Nathan and the dragon? Well, the dragon is besides Nathan after the final battle, perhaps after Nathan has grown old (maybe, I don't know), waiting to be finally reunited with his body that was left behind in the subspace Aura put him in at the end of Chapter 2, perhaps being changed back to normal. Unless I was already intending for him to be put back in his body after the end of the Valley of Borea chapters. And the dragon's real name? Never gave him one.

My overall thoughts on the eleven chapters of Aura's Jewel, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. The Aura encounters are rather quick and to the point, I had a poor choice of wording in many areas, and I suck at names. But for being a two-year-old story that was mostly created on the fly, it's decent. I'm just glad I've improved since then.

Except with names. I will always suck at making names.

I've got this urge to make a comic. Yeah, I'm sure you can see where this is going already, so I'll skip the reasonings and go striaght to the point. How many of you would be interested in seeing this story comic-ized?

... I suppose I'll make a first nomination for that one. ^_^

I'll second that!

Well then, I guess a better question would be if I should improve the story. Problem is, if I do take the effort to improve the story, I'd have to put the effort into the art. Basic guesstimate, the first chapter would be 17 pages long. I'm not sure I'd have the patience to spend so much time for a single chapter. So, I'd probably comic-ize it word-for-word while doing the art at a speedy pace. Although that doesn't mean I can't take the transformations in the story and turn them into an unnarrated sequence for a page or two. The transformations are supposed to be the best part, and I'm still disappointed that I never went into detail when I wrote all this.