Yet another character emerges from the vast storehouse of untold tales that stir in the imagination of Stacey and myself. Aiden Conleth, a warrior largely inspired by the characters of Strider from Lord of the Rings and both al’Lan Mandragoran and Rand al’Thor of The Wheel of Time. After facing many trials and ordeals, Aiden at last proves himself worthy of taking up the sword of kings, and all the powers that go with it, the power of the Phoenix Risen. I had been struggling for awhile to find a character for Aiden (someone both handsome but a little rough around the edges. After a few trials and errors I found that Gypsyangel's Matthias fit the description nicely). About the only thing I was certain about was when I got my hands on the awesome Blade of Prophecy II from blbarrett that I wanted that to be his sword. Then this image came to mind after several long and difficult weeks at work (inventory… ugh! At least we passed!) I wanted to depict a warrior as weary after a long ordeal as I was feeling the last few days. Once the scene was in my head, everything just fell into place. I've had the magical glyphs backgrounds from Caballus for awhile and this seemed a good excuse to use them. The spotlight worked out as I envisioned it and I imagine the glyphs spelling out the prophecy of Aiden's ascension. A little distraction from the Clerin series (Daz keeps crashing every time I try to render the scenes I have in mind with that lot! And with work I haven‘t really had time to work on fixing that) But Stacey and I have ideas on linking the two storylines together. Rendered in Daz 3 / Postworked in Paintshop Pro 9 M4 (Daz) Matthias by gypsyangel (Daz) Universal Wet Maps and Orcamaid by Parris (Daz) (Yes, for V4, but I was able to adapt them with a little post working) Cuffed Tail 2 by AprilYSH (Daz) Valiant for M4 by Ravenhair (Daz) Dauntless for Valiant by Moyra (Daz) Blade of Prophecy II by blbarrett (Renderosity) Magical Glyphs - Backgrounds by Caballus (Renderosity)