Since 2016, I’ve been making a webcomic called The Gifts of Darkness. I mostly just… make it, and quietly hope that it will find people who would enjoy reading it. Maybe I should sometimes actually explain what it’s about?
The barebones summary would have to be something like: Adrien is 23 when he decides to seriously pursue the study of magic with the goal of becoming a professional sorcerer. It’s unusual to start studying magic as an adult: it’s like if someone who can only draw a stick figure decided to begin studying art at 23, when many of his peers would already be accomplished painters and such. It’s certainly a brave leap.
Thankfully, he is accepted as an apprentice by master sorcerer Valerion, a gentle and compassionate person who lives in an isolated tower in the wilderness. Valerion becomes Adrien’s guide through his personal journey, and Adrien brings companionship and a long-forgotten joy to Valerion’s lonely life. An important relationship develops between them. As their lives entwine, they grow together, and they learn to understand and accept who they are - embracing and sharing their personal darkness with each other.
It’s a slow, introspective kind of story, focused on the characters and their interactions. I wanted to write in a gradual and nuanced way about a relationship forming and deepening, pretty much the opposite of love at first sight: you get to see how Val and Adrien meet, how they grow comfortable with each other, how they become close, and how they realize just how important to each other they are. You get to see them studying magic together and talking about important topics, but also having breakfast together, talking about the books they’re reading, and playing games.
In a sense, it’s a coming-of-age story for adults. The tone is generally uplifting, but in its less fluffy moments, the plot tackles the inevitability of change, fear of happiness coming to an end, and self-destructive obsession in wanting to hold onto happiness.
The characters
One unusual aspect about this premise is that Adrien’s choice to study magic is only motivated by the fact that it seems like a good trade to learn. It’s not a dream job or a great calling in life: it’s just a career change, nothing more and nothing less. Adrien is already an adult at this point, and he’s been doing other things before this moment. And it’s not like he’s a natural, or even particularly suited to magic at all: actually, he’s a very pragmatic person and, as he himself says, “hardly mystical and flowy”. He previously went to university to study mechanical engineering! But, in this world, magic is a skill that can be learned by anyone, so, why not someone like him?
Adrien’s personality is a multitude of contradictions. He’s impatient yet thoughtful, beautiful yet goofy, brittle yet resilient. Through the plot, he grows to accept himself with all of his flaws, and comes to understand that there is nothing contradictory about being himself. And especially as for what concerns his problems with anxiety: rather than “defeat” his anxiety, Adrien grows to accept it as a part of himself - the same part of himself that gives him his enthusiastic, driven, perceptive, insightful personality.
The other protagonist is Valerion, or Val as he asks Adrien to call him. He is kind, calm, patient, sensitive, wise, elegant, and spiritual. He is an accomplished master sorcerer, being an expert of shape magic (the magic of symbols, movement, and dance), and he lives in a lavishly-decorated tower in the wilderness. It seems like Val has everything one could wish to have, and is everything one could wish to be. But what Val projects to the world is a façade, and he is actually deeply unhappy, burdened with sorrows which he cannot openly speak about.
For how personable and pleasant he seems, Val is actually the kind of person who holds everyone at an arm’s length. Yet, Adrien manages to breach through his walls. Where Val fears to show his wounds, Adrien bleeds freely and reveals himself in all of his vulnerability. It’s exactly Adrien’s chaotic personality, that which he chastises himself for, that allows him to reach Val. And Val finds himself capable of caring and helping and understanding Adrien, and the act of doing so changes him.
The relationship between Val and Adrien is born off this dynamic. Val loves to guide Adrien, and Adrien loves to be guided by Val. Adrien grows to be truly himself because of Val’s affection and care. But over time, their places invert. Later, it will be Adrien, changed by his connection with Val, who will be able to hold Val’s hand in darker times.
Setting and magic
The overall setting is heavily inspired by the areas of Puglia in southern Italy where I grew up. For example, Val lives in a mysterious octagonal tower located atop a hill, like Castel del Monte. The fictional Avallans high plains are pretty much the Murge plateau, with wide open rocky landscapes and few towns far from each other. Many, many things that may seem fantastical about this story are actually just from this area of the (real) world.
In this universe, magic coexists with other technologies, including even electricity. Magic is used for all sorts of useful things, from making heavy bags lighter to powering an enchanted kitchen which can cook meals on request (Val’s yet-unfinished pet project). Magic follows logical rules like our computer science, but it also has aspects of art and philosophy to it. In particular, Val’s approach to magic is very mystical and metaphysical, and he imparts his understanding of magic to Adrien as well: to channel magic, Adrien must consider his own self, what concepts resonate with him, and why.
A key part of Val’s guidance involves helping Adrien unveil and understand aspects of himself that he needs to be aware and accepting of in order to improve at spellcasting. I wanted to write a story involving magic, but with a focus on what magic means to the characters, how do they understand it, and how does it interface with their personalities.
Would you like to read?
You can read The Gifts of Darkness on its comic site, thegiftsofdarkness.com. There is also a Tapas mirror to which I’m slowly uploading the whole comic. If you’d rather read it on paper, the first seven chapters are collected into two printed volumes which you can find in my store.
