#azotus

[thewritingautisticat]

Azotus and Aracus my doomed twins UGH they make me so heartsick

Like even from birth they were doomed. Victims of a superstition, a self-fulfilling 'curse', simply for being identical twins. That Azotus was evil, and Aracus good, and they could never escape those roles.

So of course they fulfilled them.

Azotus. The devil twin. Ill-tempered. Drunkard. Chronic runaway. Willing to do anything, fight anyone, because when you've been punished your entire life no matter what you do, why bother trying to be good anymore? Why not just throw yourself into whatever mischief that comes your way, since you've been told you're damned anyway? Because "no amount of scars or holy water would ever be enough to drive the devil out of him."

Aracus. The good twin. Gentle. Compassionate. The one with genre awareness. Will follow his brother to the ends of the earth, to hell and back, if it means there's even the slightest chance of saving him from himself. Because he knows how this ends. He's seen his twin spiral lower and lower their whole lives. He knows that one day, something's gonna break. And he knows he's the only one who any chance of pulling Azotus out of trouble, even if it costs him his life. He doesn't know exactly how things will end up, but he knows there's no way this ends well. "All tales of brothers are tragedies."

And thus it ends, with the good twin lying dead, and the devil twin left to bear the knowledge that the only person who ever cared about him took an arrow, gave his life, to save him.

[thewritingautisticat]

Hmmm Isom and Azotus are really two sides of the same coin

Both were born with a sinful inclination (Isom towards sexual sin, Azotus towards anger issues and pride) which was then exacerbated by the environments and people around them. Both were abused in various ways that made their issues WAY worse. Not that they wouldn't have struggled without it, but it turned from manageable impulses/inclinations into a huge aspect of their lives.

Both experienced religious trauma. Not merely from being told, "what you're doing is sinful," but being told "your sin is who you are, and who you are in unforgivable." For Isom, his sin was secret, but he heard enough sermons and others talking about "those" kinds of people to believe he was damned. For Azotus, everyone knew what he was and scorned him for it, and his priest outright told him he was damned. Both internalized a label: for Isom, being "gay"; for Azotus, being the "devil twin".

Both felt extreme shame, and for both of them, it led to self-harming and suicidal tendencies (to differing degrees).

But they each reacted a different way.

Isom attempted to hide his sin, afraid of complete and utter rejection. He struggled with his shame in private, his sinful desires all but strangling him, and he had no one to help. He couldn't even tell others about the abuse he went through because even that would reveal what he was. The darkness slowly suffocated him until he thought there was no way out.

Azotus embraced his sin, openly and proudly. If he was a devil twin, then why not life fast and die free? Once he lost Aracus, the "good" twin, he had nothing to hold him back. It didn't matter what it cost him or who ended up in the crossfire, as long as he could run faster than his consequences. He embraced the darkness and let it consume him, to the point of literally turning into a dragon.

But both of them, after finally reaching a point where they could no longer take it, found Grace. A Grace that said, "what you did is not who you are. What happened to you is not who you are. Not even the person you used to be is who you are, not anymore. You are freed. You are washed. You are made new."

[thewritingautisticat]

I made another OC animatic! This one is for Azotus, featuring his twin Aracus.

TW blood/scarring/death

Are you man enough to take the blame for this?

[thewritingautisticat]

I finally actually drew a design for Aracus (the twin brother of Azotus, and the character who must die for the sake of plot) AND NOW I REALLY DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE ALALSLSKMSDMKEEK HE'S A CUTIE AND A SWEETHEART AND HE JUST WANTS TO HELP HIS BROTHER 😭😭😭

(Aracus is the one with the ponytail, Azotus is the one with the short fluffy hair. These are all shots from an animatic thing I'm working on)

[thewritingautisticat]

Quick OC thing I did. Not entirely happy with it but I had fun exploring a new style.

These are my twins Azotus and Aracus from my fantasy series The Lion Academy. Due to superstitions surrounding identical twins in their culture, Aracus has been deemed the "good twin" and Azotus the "evil twin", which has unfortunately become somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, Aracus continues to try to keep his brother on the right path, even if it may cost him the ultimate sacrifice.

[thewritingautisticat]

"Came back wrong" except he didn't actually come back, it's just an illusion reality you created to try to somehow change the past, and none of it's real but it's real to you, and he's different but you're different too. And if you wanted him back so much why are you hurting him, why can't you stop, why is the darkness creeping in? Because Magic has a price, creating a world where things turned out different means you're different, you didn't ever have to control the darkness in yourself in this reality and now it's taking over, the other you is taking over, the darkness you always had inside is taking over you. And he came back wrong but he's still your brother, still your twin, and you just wanted to hold him one more time but you're hurting him instead, and all it means is that you're going to lose him again.

[thewritingautisticat]

Saw a moot doing one of these so I decided to do it with my Lion Academy characters

[thewritingautisticat]

ㅤwhen have they looked at their reflection and hated what they saw ?

Ooooh okay this question specifically is PERFECT for Azotus.

Azotus has an entire mirror crisis after his identical twin, Aracus, is killed in a battle. For the first time in his life, he is unable to see what his own face looks like just by turning to his brother beside him. He also just got half of his face burned by a dragon. So in the middle of a whole mental breakdown, he ends up staring at himself in the mirror, one half of his face disfigured by his own foolish choices, and the other half the face of his dead brother.

Needless to say, this does not make him feel good, and he very nearly decides to break the mirror if it meant he never had to see his face again. The face of a "devil twin". The face of the man who got his own brother killed.