Some Must Be The First

"Of the people with magical abilities or powers within sorcery, there are only a few with the highest degree of power - and they can only receive the full fruits of these powers if their minds are ready for it. If they aren't, their life will follow a normal course of life, if one can say that about a person with magical powers, of course. They will still have the power, and they will most often master the white power and the dark power, which never, never must be confused with the black power. There is one way of distinguishing individuals with these powers - most of them have some kind of... let's call it unnormal feature. You have your dark eyes and white hair, some have the opposite - pale eyes and dark hair. It doesn't need to be a big thing - some only have a slightly sharp tone to their eye colour, like the very first Ajeènien Charbakina had. The gods know when they will face troubled times, and if they are not strong enough, they will not have very eye-catching marks. But when they have reached their absolute full powers, which nobody has done yet because even having the ability is very rare, they can hide it. Of course you cannot necessarily see all people as sorcerers because of their features - you always have the Aiwar, or the People of Two Spirits." Shanouna's teacher, the sorcerer Meliro, when asked about her unnatural eye- and haircolour (see "Moonchild" or "the wanderer" for example (this is not her))

Passage from a (unrevised) conversation between Shanouna and Arodhi, but when this takes place, I won't tell. (I love secrets...):
"You know, you are the first with real powers since the first Ajeènien Charbakina," Arodhi said.
"I've heard about her. That no A.C. could ever match her in powers."
"There was a reason, though. One had to have huge powers to do what she did. But she never grew powerful enough to hide it - those green eyes were really recognizable. Even though she had the powers to blast anyone of their feet if they tried to harm her."
"Did... did you know her? It was thousands of years ago!"
Arodhi smiled one of his knowing smiles.
"It was indeed. Three thousand four hundred and seventeen years ago." He took a sip from his wine. "You are as unlike as anything I've seen, yet you have the same task. Hers, to establish the rule for Charbakin, yours, to re-establish it from its corruption. That is, if I let you. We might want to discuss that."
"What makes you think there is anything to discuss?"
"The fact stands that we two are the most powerful sorcerers in the world, including those before. You are the only one who can do your task, I am the only one who can stop you. And I will."

The quotes are a bit longer than intended, and had a bit less to do with this than intended. I thought I might give you a little glimpse into "my" world, though I guess it lacks a lot of explanation for this to make sense. Ask, and I'll explain!
As you might have guessed, this is the first Ajeènien Charbakina, sort of a ruler over Charbakin, though not quite. Charbakin isn't really a country - in one sense. It definitely wasn't before this woman came around. She was a haunted and frightened woman, quite contrary to Shanouna, who is the last. Well, Shanouna has her inner demons too, but in another way. I have no name for her yet, and really nothing else than what I've written here and some other fragments. Her green eyes was her mark, the feature that marked her as one of (or with the potential of) the highest powers.

I had a lot of fun with this - it was purely for relaxation, since it's soon summer holidays for me. I started out with a sketch, then I airbrushed and used the blenders, then I painted with oils (the joys of Painter) a great deal. For the background I used a lot of colours that I blended together, then palette knife to get the wicked texture, and airbrushing again for some details on the face and the light in the background. Oh, and the background stuff, the general sketchyness and some other things are all symbolic.