Page 1045…
Hey guys!
I had no idea yesterday’s page would be so popular. Wow.
I guess a lot of information’s being put out this chapter. I hadn’t realized what points would have the most impact.
Thank you all so much for such wonderful insight and feedback.
You may have noticed that Alexander and the sword are fading away….
…it’s time to wake up.
Here’s today’s vote incentive.
You may remember this from Chapter…? God…I forgot.
But it’s the chapter where Felicity realizes that she stole something of Nastajia’s.
Hope you like.
🙂
Scott
And he’s finding this out, just as Alex is waking up (to wit, both he and the sword are becoming transparent…)
Which also means Alex will have his sword again, next time he comes to Dreamland…
Good thing Dan can’t have dreams of any kind. I think Nick wishes to give him a nightmare worthy of Wes Craven.
one comment about the last panel, your transperancy is a bit off, you can see nic’s wing through alex’s head, unless of course he’s in the process of waking up.
Can’t wait to see what kind of reception Alex receives, when he tells Dan and Nicole all the new developments from his latest trip to Dreamland!
Kudos once again, Scott!
oy, ignore me, he is waking up, you said so.
Ahahaha! Nic just realized he had a brother.
Let’s hope that when Alex returns next time, it’ll be one of those ‘gone for a few seconds’ days…
presuming he lives through whatever might await him on the Awake side of life.
Hehe, I love it, a nice twist there.
One problem, you didn’t save it until Friday, that was a good Friday comic. Should have had one more fight page.
Uhoh, now I’m worrying what you are going to do for Friday!
And if Nicodemus intends to hold on to the sword, he’d better hold very still until Alex gets back. Otherwise it might rematerialize through his hand. Not a very pleasent feeling, I would expect.
Wow, talk about a WHAM episode. Does this mean that poor, dreamless Dan would have been king, or am I being unusually dense tonight?
Um. Why can I see Nick’s wing through the blade of the sword?
Oh wait… same reason. Alex is waking up. Man, I’m dense.
Oy! This is only the set-up for Friday’s WHAM?
Question answered. He is mysticaly tied to the sword. I wonder if he returns at exactly the same momment he leaves. And why is he so alarmed? Maybe there is something more he knows and we do not?
So…my question is this. Who will end up being king? Alex or Dan? Or someone else?
The “everyone lives happily ever after” ending that is big in Disney stories as an example would have Alex give the throne to Dan when all is done, and have the Centaurs or Elves, or maybe even these Guardians that nobody knows about, do something to let Alex come as well, allowing BOTH brothers to Dream for the rest of their lives.
Of course, this does bring up another question. What do the Guardians guard? Dreamland is the easy answer. But what do they guard AGAINST? Only children come to Dreamland. An idea that comes to mind off that is that only a child can become king. Interesting idea. Still, back to the question. What do the Guardians GUARD and what do they guard AGAINST? And most important of all, if nobody in Dreamland remembers them, are they still GUARDING at all?
Adults still can’t enter Dreamland, so if that is what they guard against, they still do. But what if they guard against…say…nightmares? If that is true, then the Guardians are gone. Somehow though, I think a very important part of this story will be finding out what happened to the Guardians and if they are gone, returning or rebuilding them.
*eyes pop open*
This is out of left field. But…a POSSIBILITY is that IF the Guardians are gone, then Dreamland needs not only a new KING but a new GUARDIAN as well. There are two brothers. One is wise. One is impulsive. Who would make the best King? Who would make the best Guardian?
And someone noticed yesterday that the ancient kings of Dreamland were great men in our world as well. So becoming a monarch of Dreamland does not mean leaving our world behind. Either Dan or Alex or could Dream and still become someone great in our world.
Oh, good, the sword goes with Alex even if he’s not holding it. I was a little nervous.
It seems to me Nic’s little ‘no new king’ plan is fading away faster than Alex waking up. XD
Finally all caught up! Yay! And I LIKE where this is going. This chapter has pretty much been nothing but awesome.
Thank you for pointing out the transparency bit! I missed that!
I don’t really have a comment to do … just a “keep up the good work, Scott”.
The story is evolving really well.
very convenient time to wake up. “poor” nick won’t be able to follow. 😀
I’m still curious about how much alex has heard of the discussion while he was busy being fried. trying to explain the recent happenings to dan might become a tad bit difficult. 🙂
amusing thought that came up when that rock crumbled a few pages earlier: what if alex stands on some structure before waking up and while he’s awake that structure collapses. he’ll appear in the same place he was when woke up – which then would be somewhere in midair. would that make him go splat? 😉
Wow out of all the comments everyone seems to have forgotten that poor Nastajia is standing right within firing range of Nic….. Oh the possibilities… It would seem once again Alex getting woken up isn’t quite the best in timing for him.
Naw Alex knows how to fly now. 😉
I have not been to Dreamland in a while. I am glad to see that the master storyteller’s skills have not diminished. Good work, sir.
I suspect, in the case of twins, either has the right to become King but only 1 can crossover.
It also means that, when their dream father dies, both will be in both worlds. When that happens they can’t be tricked that easily (or find themselves too busy to plan) as, knowing each, they can plan in the waking world as well as the sleeping.
That boy is our last hope.
No. There is another
Only if it takes more than mere moments of Dreamland’s time before Alex appears again. The way it waffles back and forth, from one time to the next, you never know.
But yes, possibilities abound!
Or maybe it is as in the Landover series by Terry Brooks. I don’t want to spoil anything if someone here wants to read it but I can say that the land is missing it’s king and it’s protector and the only thing they know is that the protector disappeared shortly after the old king died.
Lets hope scott doesn’t take that page from starwars.
Okay this is really cool, but how the heck did Nick guess he had a twin? The sword never said he had a twin..just that he wasn’t the first born.
I’m so siked to see Friday’s page now.
Maybe the “first born” and only the first born is always king – unless there are twins?
If that was the lone exception to the “first born” rule, Nicodemus would probably know it – he’s evidently made a lot of plans to ensure that the real ruler of Dreamland would never oust him, so he’d probably know the rules of succession back to front at this point.
So if the only case where the next king is not the first born would be if there were twins, Nicodemus would probably jump right to that conclusion.
Nicodemus: “You have a brother…then Orion’s failure is complete. If you will not turn to the dark side…then perhaps he will.”
Whoa, glad we have a ways yet to go in the story!
Hmm, hope Nastajia and the gang are going to be okay after Alex leaves them alone with a tic’d off Nic!!!!
I was watching you do the fade technique today, Scott, very interesting. And a big thank you for explaining it all.
The funny part is, while I did notice the fading out, starting in panel 2, I completely skipped over the fact that Scott commented on that very fact. So it moved me from being “very” observant, to being “somewhat” observant, having noticed the details, but not the comment on said details…
You’re totally correct. Dan would have been King.
Thanks Jessica!
Thank you all!
I can’t tell you how happy I am that you all “get it” so well.
It’s so flattering to know you’re enjoying the story so much.
Thank you.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
hmmm.. on a similar note, what would happen if where he was is now occupied by a pile of rocks? would he wake up under or on top of them? O_O
LOL!!!!
Alex has reappeared trapped in rocks before, but not merged with them, link in name. So I’m thinking would show up in the closest free space even if he barely fits in it. Also unless his waking up and going back to sleep during the jump with Felicity was instant, not just very quick, he reappears where he would have been if he didn’t move. Gravity and previous momentum apply but usually he is standing still so it doesn’t matter.
Not a good thing, the main offensive weapon fading away and leaving the angry dragon and the not helpless yet imho underpowered group behind. I wondered if something like this was gonna happen. And hopefully the sword is still a magical chatty thing in the ‘waking’ world. That’d be great and would fetch a lot of money on ebay!
Not that I’d suggest selling it, I’m just saying.
I think Nicodemus is more concerned with the end game planning and while the rest are annoying, Alex is the big problem. With him awake I think that Nicodemus might actually rush off to prepare for a war with Alex not just the one with Nastajia he was ready for. If he gets the human king out of the way he can handle all the Dreamland inhabitants like he has been for 600 years.
Why do the Guardians get me thinking Knights Templar or some other ancient, secret society?
Welcome, fellow Dreamer!
Now that you’re caught up, don’t forget to hop over to TWC every day and vote for Scott’s awesomeness!
😉
Yeah, I think a bunch of us have been expecting the fade-out to happen at any moment.
I’m still holding out a faint hope that this will leave room for Paddington to get some clobberin’ time in …
😉
Nice vote incentive today, Scott!
I really have to get back to actual work now, so I won’t be able to try and figure out what language (or code, or whatever) that text is written in just yet.
(I admit I’m kinda hoping someone will beat me to it. But, if not, I’ll probably work on decoding it tonight, or over the weekend if it proves challenging enough … )
yup… http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/2006/10/09/todays-dreamland-chronicles-237/
did anybody else notice that alex’s arm is sunk into the rock on the first pannel?
Looks like it on the last page too, but it is just a ridge that he is on both sides of. The angle changes between the panels on the last two pages help to show where the ridge is that is concealing part of his arm.
you’ve got a point there… but before that he would have gone splat, right? 😉
Well, this confirms something I’ve thought for a while: Alex is more or less worthless if he’s just in for himself, but if he’s rescuing or defending someone he loves then and only then does he tap into his full capacity.
It didn’t even occur to him that he had a shield that blocked Nic’s breath weapon even though he’s used it before. It blocks swords, too, as the pirates found out.
So my guess, based on the incentive, is that Nic threatens the party, Alex reappears just in time to see Nic winding up to barbeque Nastasja, and that gets him using his full power aggressively. All they really have to do is put enough of a hurt on Nic to get him to go.
I’m quietly hoping that Orion doesn’t get the Sacrifice-of-the-Noble-Indigenous-Wise-Man treatment in the course of the battle.
I couldn’t get here yesterday, but the last two pages were brilliant, Scott. BRILLIANT!
Great detail on Nic’s hand/claws. The shadowing/colors and detail in the first panel are really excellent. Not that the entire story isn’t full of amazing detail, that one just struck me. Something so minor, and the detail is wonderful.
Possibilities, indeed! Sometimes he reappears almost instantly. Other times, though, a great deal of time has passed.
He may well come back and find that his friends have been taken captive, and now he has some of those difficult choices that kings have to make. (cue dramatic music…)
Just to point out even in cases of twins 1 and only 1 can be born first no matter how they are delivered unless u have two doctors pull out both babies at the exact same time one is usually born first, (whoever they pull out first), and then the 2nd one is born a few minutes later. So there is still “the first born”
“Oh… wait, he can’t get to Dreamland. Give me a few pages, I’ll figure out a workaround to that!”
The thing is we don’t know if Alex will get the sword back next time he falls asleep. The last time he woke up leaving the sword in someone else’s possession they still had it when he went to sleep again. Of course that all happened off-screen so we don’t know the exact details of how that worked. Alex may find the sword lying on the ground where Nick had been when he returns to Dreamland or it might reappear in Nick’s grasp, wherever Nick happens to be then. I have a hunch Alex is gonna come back to find that the Scooby gang are all guests in Nick’s dungeon and he has to go rescue them, sword or no sword.
Now that I think of it, Dan’s odd interest in his brother’s dreams now looks like a more practical/mystical treat! After all, he was supposed to be the king. It’s good when a future king shows genuine interest in the details (of any kind) of his kingdom.
Also, noticed the sword fading, but not Alex. I didn’t quite understand what was going on until Scott pointed it out. Thanks Scott!
Well we now know why Dan can’t get to dreamland. because Arthur is not dead, but ‘gone’
so once Arthur is dead, both Dan and Alex will be able to get to Dreamland, unless Dan is too old now.
Just wow.
This will get ugly. Nastajia better have some serious strenght on her legs. I do believe that a running is in place?
Ah, but the twin is a brother, not a sister.
well she can fly now too remember??? if Alex can fly the rest of his friends can fly… or that was what the back story said anyway… So hopefully while Alex is in the wrong place at the right time the rest of the crew will not suffer to greatly…. I am with the rest hoping Alex decided to take a nap again as soon as he wakes up….
The transparency on panels 2&3 seem to be the same. Just an observation. Shouldn’t panel 3 be more transparency.
and here comes the part i cant wait to see.
will dan hate alex even more after he tells him why he cant enter dreamland, or will he tell him the king is still alive and that him and dan are the descendants of Aurthur…
i just dawned on me..
can Aurthur be there father that is trapped in dreamland..
i mean when child like dan is being from not being able to enter dreamland, that would mean there blood connection to the past king.. makes me wonder.
Hey it is me again with irrelevant facts… Dan could come into Dreamland with the Bahta Alikchi that Alex had been carrying back and forth… I dunno at least that is what I have thought of anyway… so instead of notes being passed back and forth it could have been Dan or Nichole could have come to Dreamland…
Who knows except the wonderfully delightful mind of Scott… Cheers and keep the daily cliffhangers coming… now if you folks will excuse me I will step back to the front of the chronicles and read from Chapter one to present again reveling in the awesomeness that this truly is!!!
gah typo everywhere sorry for the mistypes
but im just a little confused as to how he figured out that not only does alex have a brother, but a twin brother…
Ray, either Scott misspoke here or he just gave away Friday’s “WHAM”.
Oh well, this could be a wonderful setup for several happy endings (kid’s book, we get one 😉 ) and it will be fun to see which way it goes. Of course, it also gives a lot more for speculation on why Nastajia’s parents accepted Alex into their family, wanted to help with Dan’s “problem” and what was up with Orion’s private correspondence with Dan.
I’m putting a nickel on Dan gets to be King and Alex gets to marry Nastajia and live in Dreamland permanently. Hmmm, come to think of it, since we are doing Authurian mythos, the king never died, but was taken away to an enchanted island, so it is possible that Dan and Alex both will get to live in Dreamland.
Nicole for court mage!
nastajia: oh sugar honey ice tea…
RUN GIRL, RUN!!
Drat! Shoot! I always read comments like this, but can’t–because I already voted!
Remember: do like the Chicago election motto: Vote Early! Vote Often!
I’m with Mandolin–I suspect Nicodemus knows the rules quite well. Only he never thought of that particular loophole in regard to Alexander until just now.
It depends on how long the fade-out lasts in this case. Would 15 or 30 seconds be that critical? (Especially if it allows Alex to recover and get his sword back in hand…) OTOH, if it lasted several hours, it could be a problem.
Yes, it’s true–even when they fight over it as did Jacob and Esau in Gen 25: 24-26, or the sons of Tamar, Perez and Zerah, in Gen 38: 27-30. But more often I hear of twins as extremely close and protective of each other, even when they have areas of rivalry.
Nick doesn’t have any fingerprints…
Dan’s got a soon-to-be girlfriend in real life, Alex has one in Dreamland… I’d suspect that’s a rather large tip-off to where they should both end up.
Yeah, didn’t he wake up as he was falling from the tower with Felicity before? Then came back and kept falling? I am too lazy to go look it up…
Only when he’s there, though, eh?
there’s a SERIES???????? that explains why Magic Kingdom seemed to stop short!!!!!! so now i get to go find the other books….. thanx!!!!!!!!
yeah i thought of that as soon as he gave him the pouch and wondered WHY???? dont they try it? if it didnt work wassa worst thing could happen? they sleep???? but i guess the deepset rules of dreamland wouldn’t have let dan in anyway….
I just want to know what the text in the vote incentive is saying. If it IS saying something, that is.
Also, it may be the different backdrops, or the angle, but the sword’s fade in panel 2 seems lighter than in the 3rd to me.
Apart from these things… sweet page, Scott. Anxiously ruing the inevitable cliffhanger that comes tomorrow.
Dang and here I wanted Alex to go all Jedi Knight and pull the sword to him., or even better Nastajia to grab it and be able to use it since she’s the future Queen of Dreamland anyway.
Oh and don’t worry about the others, Nic wouldn’t throw away good Bargaining Chips like that.
So is that why Dan never dreams, because he couldn’t go to dreamland while the previous king was alive? Ohhhh…. plot twist.
Here’s a odd question. Is Nick talking to the sword or Alex in the last two panels? So are there twin swords? Nick seems to be eyeing the sword and not noticing Alex coming up from the cliff.
The text is probably:
slkjaspioeoinobihapoi
I’m sure I didn’t actually write anything.
🙂
He’s talking to Alex, the last panel gives that away as he looks directly at him. Ganna be a sweet page tomorrow.
We know that he doesn’t always wake up exactly where he left off because of that little bit where he woke up in between the dwarven halls and the centaur camp…
Alex is leaving. That leaves ‘Staj & Co. all-by-they-lonesome, I do believe. This calls for a quote.
“We can’t run from all our problems!”
“You’re right – but I think this is a good one for the running list!”
why is the sword and alex see through?
OOOOOOH
wow.
loving it! secret twin!
or maybe just his brother.
sigh.
haha i’ve seen two so far just like this! hahaha way to read the stuff under the comic!
*secretly scrolls up*
knights at the round table much?
wow that strip is super glowy compared to this one! put me offbeat in my head! haha
ooh one more thing:
if nic noticed him fading away, and threw the sword at him, and it went through him, would that be considered dead, or would he be ok cuz he’s not really there? but then neither is the sword, so…
or maybe just nic’s claw. that sword looks so puny in his hand
I think it’s because the sword recognizes Alex as the current king. Which means that the real king has to be his twin brother.
OH NOES!!! I voted too late so I couldn’t get the secret amulet art :(. I wonder what he will say to Nicole and Dan? I doubt that he will be able to give all the details Nicole asked him.
We already know how that happens, remember? Dan wears the sword, instead of Alex. Though, I suppose this problem of Arthur needs to be clarified.
NP! ;P The sixth was published August/September 2009.
Or, is it possible that Nicodemus is able to monitor earth to some degree, and knew that Mrs. Carter hasn’t had more children. Making him think that Dan was alone and a twin would be the only exception.
Yay for teh twin!
I don’t know for certain if this is the answer, but if I recall my lore correctly……
Twins (even when they are not identical) tend to have a mystical connection that surpasses even that of brother/sister. The connection is so close that they can sometimes communicate on a telepathic level. Gifts tend to be distributed unevenly. For example, one twin may be a gifted scholar (with both intellect and focus beyond the norm) while the other displays little talent for learning, but may be skilled in physical areas. (Note how quickly Alex has taken to both fighting and flying, but has problems with focus and understanding abstract concepts, while Dan is the one who has managed to follow what has happened in Dreamland and figure out many solutions to problems Alex is having. Dan also managed to convert the scientist from skeptic to participant, finally demonstrating diplomacy skills.)
Both brothers combine to have the gifts needed to make a great king in Dreamland, which the sword would reccognize, this tends to occure with twins, Alex must have a older twin brother.
Yes! Dan’s the king! Go nerdy sibling archetypes!
Wait a sec, how does he know that dan is both his twin and a guy… maybe dan was a girl and not a twin… Danelle or something… Okay, I know it’s not realistic, just a thought
Elven King: He was our only hope[Alex]
Orion: No.there is another…
Elven King: You know when that little goblin said that, nothing happened right?His sister never lived up to her-limited- potential.The kid came through in the end..I am mildly desperate but I KNOW we shall prevail!
Orion:I ‘m just saying.Don’t be so upset over the facts.
Elven King:Its that you sounded so absolute in a gloomy way…
Orion:Awww you need a manly hug?
Elven King: What?!!
Yoda:A goblin I am not…