ArtStation Post

A quick preface to this post, Child of Paradox already encompasses a number of story arcs, and each thread has gained it’s own heading. Those references help me sort through reams of material quickly in my head, but won’t make much sense beyond tantelizing hints at the referenced arc’s plot. So, this is one of those glimpses that will leave you wondering, more than spoiled.

Building on notes for the reboot of Child of Paradox, the notion for today is to change the sequence of the following threads: Hunger and Thirst can be assigned to Dawn (Arden Ava Nova), as a preface to the inception of Avonlea (Morgan Avon Ova Lea); Predator and Prey can be a consequence of the Ghost/Demon Within and Slain Lover threads; Inheritance and Engagement can be a strand linking the Goddess and Girl threads with Hunger and Thirst and Daughter Self.

A synopsis of Dawn’s takeover of the Hunger and Thirst thread exists, but in brief, Dawn would take on human form at times to go among mortals. In the lead up to Hunger and Thirst, she established herself in the community of gods in self-exile derived from the Avatar Project thread. It was an attempt to experience a mortal life starting from age seven, posing as the daughter of a god who recently lost his wife to the Purge. The need to watch over the god in his mourning provided the excuse Dawn had long sought. She becomes the youngest of three daughters, allegedly kept secret because of the Scourge until her mother’s death brought her out into the open. This scenario blends in with the Avatar Project arc.

The conjunction of Predator and Prey with the Ghost/Demon Within thread builds on the inception of an avatar of Dusk, leading through the unwanted suitor, the Accidental Assassin and Slain Lover threads, all tied into the Demon Within arc. This approach feeds on the Singular Duality thread, absorbing events explored in the rough draft of the Eve of Paradox. It also lends weight to the naming of the rival suitors Evan (or Even▼, the incarnation of Dusk) and Logan (the were tiger). The name even is easily confused with Avon, and can be simplified to Eve, conforming and cementing the abstract intent for the human incarnations of Dawn and Dusk. Finally, Even would hail from Avalon, and often be addressed by that as his affiliate name.

Untangling some threads will cause others to get tangled, or cause parallel events to unfold. Just be wary and avoid jumping back to an old channel. The mortal guise of Dawn can be Maureen or Arden, with the latter appearing in notes. Maureen might be a proposed name for Morgan (preface to Morgan Avon Ova Lea nee Morgan Ava Nova Lea, a form taken in the past.) The Inheritance and Engagement thread splits between Avonlea and Arden the events associated with the lead-in and the lead-out. Avonlea never faces the natural conclusion of the thread, because of the Slain Lover thread’s consequences, ending in a trip through the Rift. Arden picks up the portion that was developed, but could not be used, in her own ordeal of inheritance and betrothal. It provides the foundation for Avonlea’s childhood, and a scenario she suspects would be her future (and demise) as the consequence of her pregnancy. Arden takes the child under her wing almost as soon as the girl is born.

Giving Hunger and Thirst to Arden does upset the timelines a bit, by necessity, since the events precipitate the inception of Avonlea unless the notion of the ember coming back through time with Avonlea is pursued. In that case, Hunger and Thirst follows the original timing, a year after Avonlea’s birth. That would also allow the Slain Twin thread to be reintegrated. The death in that thread is the death-like state she falls into after the conflicting bites are inflicted. The immolation of Arden can be postponed until the morning after the massacre, and her demise could result from Avonlea forcing the demon to face the sun. Holding him in dawn’s light until an ember is all that remains. Arden uses the last moments of the struggle to compel the girl to preserve the ember within her body, encased in a kind of pearl embedded in the wall of her uterus.

That ember is the key to Avonlea’s survival at the conclusion of Predator and Prey. That thread occurs in the past at the point where an attempt is made to return to her own time following the battles in the Shattered Realm. The dragon she escaped going into the past catches her and the enemies pursuing her on her way back to the present. At first, Avonlea credits the peculiarities of the Rift with the secret of her resurrection. In truth, being eaten by the dragon kindled her own phoenix-flame. Her impregnation was a direct consequence of her resurrection. Her flight from any further encounters with the dragon leads her, and her allies (and the dragon that blooded itself on her), back to her own realm roughly eight years before her birth. This is when her path crosses Arden’s, and where the events associated with Unpromised take place.