I've been thinking about Eugenesis again and have been wanting to draw this sad proud smile for a while. I feel like Nightbeat's part in the story should have just ended here, bc this is such a powerful scene and "bringing him back" sort of cheapens the impact of one of the most memorable scenes in this fic.

Closeup: https://64.media.tumblr.com/39c6120.....90703a7e64.png


Excerpt from Eugenesis:

Over the next few hours, the explosion would fade; they always did. The lightning would cease and
the mists would lift to reveal a pink plain patterned with crushed ash and blast marks. Search teams wrapped
in heat-resistant alloys would prod the gelatinous surface and leave boot marks in the dirt. Detonation
circles would be counted and measured like rings on a tree trunk. The sky would regress in shade from
black to blue to green to yellow, and onlookers would finally see stars.
And at this point a lone figure with limbs like paper and a mouthful of cinders would stagger from a
crater where a temple used to be. His shorthand movements, so soft and small, would leave liquorice rings
in the air, and he would manage only a few awkward steps.
Then he would stop, look up, and smile.
A sad smile; a proud smile.