After Darkness

Information
Author	Eugene Ramos
Illustrator	Caleb Thomas
Published on	13th June 2023
Publisher	The Dragon Prince Official Website (After Darkness)

After Darkness is a side story published through the official website of The Dragon Prince. It revolves around Karim during his attempt to reclaim the corrupted Lux Aurea alongside Osato and Tijana. It is part of a short story series called "Reflections".

Summary

Karim is dazed in a secluded dark corner of the corrupted Lux Aurea and finds himself dreaming about playing Bannerman's Run with his friend Osato as children outside of the city. When Karim and Osato found themselves surrounded by players of the opposing team, the prince of the Sunfire Elves decided to run for the finish line before an opponent slammed him down and claimed victory by taking the banner.

Karim eventually wakes up from his dream and remembers his purpose of reclaiming and cleansing Lux Aurea from its corruption by casting "Post Tenebras Lux" at the Sunforge. He is disturbed to see corrupted horses and Banthers prowling the streets of the city, but relieved to find Osato and Tijana are with him. Karim learns that Tijana tackled him out from the path of a corrupted Banther, which gave Osato the opening to kill the monster. After Karim casted "Ligatus Ignis" to brighten their location, he insists his comrades to not give up and keep running towards the Sunforge. However, the sight of familiar Sunfire Elf soldiers who had been infected by the corruption terrifies them. When Osato tries to reach for the corrupted elves, Tijana seizes him by the arm and tells him that they are lost. Karim protests that the corrupted elves are not dead and might still be saved. The reluctant Osato is then torn from his grief and agrees with Tijana that they need to retreat so they can return and fight another day. Karim and Osato remember the strategy they used for Bannerman's Run before fleeing from Lux Aurea alongside Tijana.

As dawn approaches, Karim, Osato, and Tijana successfully escape into a dry riverbed that is far past the golden gates of Lux Aurea. Tijana exclaims that Osato's left arm is bleeding. Osato brushes his wound aside and starts to come up with a plan of searching for scattered survivors since the corrupted monsters do not attack until sundown before he vomits a mouthful of black blood into the sand. The horrified Karim and Tijana realize that Osato had been infected by the corruption, and a dismayed Osato pleaded for his left arm to be cut off. Tijana picks up Osato's sword and slices off Osato's left arm before she tries to cover the stump. However, Osato swiftly succumbs to the corruption and begins to attack Tijana. Karim decides to cast the cleansing spell, only for Osato dodge it and turn to the Sunfire Prince. As Karim tries to cast the cleansing spell again, he is aghast when he witnesses Osato being stabbed through the chest by Tijana with his own sword. The saddened and angered Karim yells at Tijana since he could have saved him. Despite Tijana confessing that Osato was beyond saving, Karim rejects her comfort and demands her to leave since humans do not belong in Lux Aurea. Once the grieving Tijana left, Karim mourns and buries Osato while he vowing to banish the darkness from Lux Aurea. Karim then stands on his feet and finds Osato's red glove on the ground before he puts it on and closes his right hand into a fist.

Trivia

• The story plays before the events of "Rebirthday".
• In the one year aniversary of the release of "After Darkness", Eugene Ramos revealed that he initially had the idea of making what would become the Reflection story into a graphic novel with over 100 pages which he named "The Spark That Ignited The Sun", but was unable to conceive it, leading him to put what he had planned for the graphic novel into "After Darkness".