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Description
My new project revealed!!! This is Celestine Evermore, the protagonist of my new (or rather old, I used to write under that name!) trilogy, "Eternal". I am currently writing te first installment "A Story of Clockwork" and this is an illustration for a scene later in the book in which Cel falls off the clocktower. In this story, a lot of people will fall off the clockwower.
Anyway, here is a preview of the first chapter:

Eternal: A Story of Clockworks
'People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.'
-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

~Prologue~
A Light in the Darkness
They all said that the city of clockworks hid some terrible truths. Creatures were said to roam the night, preying on any brave but foolish soul who dared set foot outside their safe dwellings after the setting of the sun. No citizen of Cai-Terra dared challenge the old stories, accept for perhaps the City Guardians, and one or two fools who believed luck to be on their side. Until this night, the creatures who were shrouded in mystery would have taken a young woman of twenty two without even a hesitation, but this one in particular… Well, no body and no thing within the great walls would ever have stood a chance.
Like a phantom, she barely existed. Her face was pale but hidden, the hood of her black cloak casting shadows across her face and blending the rest of her form into the darkness of the alley she was running down, only the dim clicking of her heeled boots on the cobblestones suggested her presence. Her dark brown hair whipped in her face every now and then as the wind played with it. As she tossed it out of her way, she looked over her shoulder, and then down at the white face of a golden pocket watch, which was illuminated by the flickering streetlamps.
Under the hood obscuring her face, she smiled, the red glow of the setting sun disappearing on the horizon.
Another figure ran into her, a lucky fool. The woman turned around and hid her smile behind a serious mask. The girl who had run into her, Miss Evermore, if her memory had not failed her, stopped in her tracks and turned around, catching her breath. “I’m terribly sorry!” She apologised quickly.
“You should not be out here at night, it’s dangerous.” The woman told her, lowering her voice so that it could not be recognised. She noticed her time running alarmingly thin all of a sudden.
“I know.” Celestine Evermore replied, flushing with embarrassment, and turning to look down Wyvern street where she was headed, “But thank you…” Her voice trailed off into a thought when she looked again.
The woman was gone.

~Chapter One~
And So It Began
The words “Once Upon A Time” have always made anyone above perhaps the age of seven groan. After all, once you have heard one fairy tale, haven’t you heard them all? Let us see… a Princess is always involved, of course, and a Prince… maybe a frog and a witch...
But… what about the story of a Lady Engineer? The story of a Time Traveller and an Inventor, a Rider and a Guardian; a story of mysterious letters, and the secrets of an old city, a story of clockworks… What would you call such an epic? It is certainly not a fitting set for a fairy tale, that’s for sure, so why don’t we swing open the stage curtains and shine the spotlight on the first chapter of a book whose pages have never been turned and wonder, for a change, if this will end in happily ever after…
And so, once upon a place, and a time that has not yet come to pass, there was a girl.
After the nuclear wars, and earth had become too much of a hostile and polluted environment, the folk of Old London built a new city around themselves, hidden behind high, fortress-like walls, and in the very centre with seven wings leading off from it, a clock tower which was the beating heart of the city, it’s source of time, power and life, everything was run on clockworks and steam. Soon, history itself began to repeat, and the residents of the city adopted a much more peaceful, simple way of life. Society’s classes remained, although they became more isolated from each other, and people lived in harmony, apart from one famous dispute. By the year 3081, everybody had forgotten about the city war ten years ago. This city was named Cai-Terra, and here dwelled our heroine.
Celestine Angel Evermore was the point of interest for society. A strange girl, but then, it was to be expected. With the tragic fate of her parents, Ven and Cecelia, any child must experience something of a disturbance, but as far as the upper classes were concerned, what had become of the Evermore’s daughter was something else. Celeste, as she had insisted she was to be called, was both oblivious and uncaring of it; this built up the suspicion even further.
Firstly, she lived with an inventor. Seth Hale was his name, and he had made it famous in Cai-Terra from selling such contraptions he made his workshop in the Evermore Manor house (inherited by Miss Evermore), beyond a sturdy metal door whose lock was impossible to open even to the master of puzzles. There had been rumours, of course, of a romantic connection between himself and Celeste, but that was what rich people did to amuse themselves; create rumours of scandal, it made their dull, eventless lives a little less so. In truth, Celeste had met Seth when the final blast had happened, and the maid, Hattie, who was now Celeste’s guardian, had taken him in, as he was a poor street urchin. The pair had been best friends ever since, and Seth had always said he would be married to his work.
There was also Micajah Bellman, a cousin of a friend, living at the Manor as Seth’s apprentice. He was a clumsy boy, and so it was easy to see why his cold and stubborn relative, Lydia, who was a trainee of the City Guardian Squad, refused to take him in. Cage, as he had been nicknamed, was more often a hinder to Seth than a help, but the inventor was patient, and took it upon himself to help his younger apprentice become at least a little more gentlemanly. Try as he might though, Cage still had his slip ups, for example, he had been found before with an empty tin and the remnants of what was once an entire one of Hattie’s cakes.
Finally, the only other resident of Evermore Manor was Miss Eva Hale. There was a small curious detail about Eva… As far as the public were concerned, she was Seth’s older sister, and she had, in her short time in the city, worked her way up the social ladder with ease. It was plain to see why, for she was very beautiful, with her long blonde hair, her porcelain skin and blue eyes; and even though she was occasionally vain and cocky, people hung on her every word and hero worshipped her. She had that sort of soft voice that made her words sound wise and sincere, and her threats twice as frightening.
However, the truth behind Miss Eva was that she was not at all human… She was an android, created by Seth.

---HB mechanical pencil and coloured pecils
-Madam Takara

Description
My new project revealed!!! This is Celestine Evermore, the protagonist of my new (or rather old, I used to write under that name!) trilogy, "Eternal". I am currently writing te first installment "A Story of Clockwork" and this is an illustration for a scene later in the book in which Cel falls off the clocktower. In this story, a lot of people will fall off the clockwower.
Anyway, here is a preview of the first chapter:

Eternal: A Story of Clockworks
'People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.'
-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

~Prologue~
A Light in the Darkness
They all said that the city of clockworks hid some terrible truths. Creatures were said to roam the night, preying on any brave but foolish soul who dared set foot outside their safe dwellings after the setting of the sun. No citizen of Cai-Terra dared challenge the old stories, accept for perhaps the City Guardians, and one or two fools who believed luck to be on their side. Until this night, the creatures who were shrouded in mystery would have taken a young woman of twenty two without even a hesitation, but this one in particular… Well, no body and no thing within the great walls would ever have stood a chance.
Like a phantom, she barely existed. Her face was pale but hidden, the hood of her black cloak casting shadows across her face and blending the rest of her form into the darkness of the alley she was running down, only the dim clicking of her heeled boots on the cobblestones suggested her presence. Her dark brown hair whipped in her face every now and then as the wind played with it. As she tossed it out of her way, she looked over her shoulder, and then down at the white face of a golden pocket watch, which was illuminated by the flickering streetlamps.
Under the hood obscuring her face, she smiled, the red glow of the setting sun disappearing on the horizon.
Another figure ran into her, a lucky fool. The woman turned around and hid her smile behind a serious mask. The girl who had run into her, Miss Evermore, if her memory had not failed her, stopped in her tracks and turned around, catching her breath. “I’m terribly sorry!” She apologised quickly.
“You should not be out here at night, it’s dangerous.” The woman told her, lowering her voice so that it could not be recognised. She noticed her time running alarmingly thin all of a sudden.
“I know.” Celestine Evermore replied, flushing with embarrassment, and turning to look down Wyvern street where she was headed, “But thank you…” Her voice trailed off into a thought when she looked again.
The woman was gone.

~Chapter One~
And So It Began
The words “Once Upon A Time” have always made anyone above perhaps the age of seven groan. After all, once you have heard one fairy tale, haven’t you heard them all? Let us see… a Princess is always involved, of course, and a Prince… maybe a frog and a witch...
But… what about the story of a Lady Engineer? The story of a Time Traveller and an Inventor, a Rider and a Guardian; a story of mysterious letters, and the secrets of an old city, a story of clockworks… What would you call such an epic? It is certainly not a fitting set for a fairy tale, that’s for sure, so why don’t we swing open the stage curtains and shine the spotlight on the first chapter of a book whose pages have never been turned and wonder, for a change, if this will end in happily ever after…
And so, once upon a place, and a time that has not yet come to pass, there was a girl.
After the nuclear wars, and earth had become too much of a hostile and polluted environment, the folk of Old London built a new city around themselves, hidden behind high, fortress-like walls, and in the very centre with seven wings leading off from it, a clock tower which was the beating heart of the city, it’s source of time, power and life, everything was run on clockworks and steam. Soon, history itself began to repeat, and the residents of the city adopted a much more peaceful, simple way of life. Society’s classes remained, although they became more isolated from each other, and people lived in harmony, apart from one famous dispute. By the year 3081, everybody had forgotten about the city war ten years ago. This city was named Cai-Terra, and here dwelled our heroine.
Celestine Angel Evermore was the point of interest for society. A strange girl, but then, it was to be expected. With the tragic fate of her parents, Ven and Cecelia, any child must experience something of a disturbance, but as far as the upper classes were concerned, what had become of the Evermore’s daughter was something else. Celeste, as she had insisted she was to be called, was both oblivious and uncaring of it; this built up the suspicion even further.
Firstly, she lived with an inventor. Seth Hale was his name, and he had made it famous in Cai-Terra from selling such contraptions he made his workshop in the Evermore Manor house (inherited by Miss Evermore), beyond a sturdy metal door whose lock was impossible to open even to the master of puzzles. There had been rumours, of course, of a romantic connection between himself and Celeste, but that was what rich people did to amuse themselves; create rumours of scandal, it made their dull, eventless lives a little less so. In truth, Celeste had met Seth when the final blast had happened, and the maid, Hattie, who was now Celeste’s guardian, had taken him in, as he was a poor street urchin. The pair had been best friends ever since, and Seth had always said he would be married to his work.
There was also Micajah Bellman, a cousin of a friend, living at the Manor as Seth’s apprentice. He was a clumsy boy, and so it was easy to see why his cold and stubborn relative, Lydia, who was a trainee of the City Guardian Squad, refused to take him in. Cage, as he had been nicknamed, was more often a hinder to Seth than a help, but the inventor was patient, and took it upon himself to help his younger apprentice become at least a little more gentlemanly. Try as he might though, Cage still had his slip ups, for example, he had been found before with an empty tin and the remnants of what was once an entire one of Hattie’s cakes.
Finally, the only other resident of Evermore Manor was Miss Eva Hale. There was a small curious detail about Eva… As far as the public were concerned, she was Seth’s older sister, and she had, in her short time in the city, worked her way up the social ladder with ease. It was plain to see why, for she was very beautiful, with her long blonde hair, her porcelain skin and blue eyes; and even though she was occasionally vain and cocky, people hung on her every word and hero worshipped her. She had that sort of soft voice that made her words sound wise and sincere, and her threats twice as frightening.
However, the truth behind Miss Eva was that she was not at all human… She was an android, created by Seth.

---HB mechanical pencil and coloured pecils
-Madam Takara