About

“Assassin x Immortal” follows the story of Truyen, a human assassin, who comes across Mai after being contracted to kill her, only to discover that she is immortal. Realising that he is completely at her mercy, Mai offers him an alluring proposition: travel with her to find the man who wants her dead, and kill him. Without much other choice, Truyen agrees and the two set out on their journey together, discovering much about their world in the process.

But surely Mai would have nothing to worry about as an immortal, right? Even with enemies, it’s not as if she can die. Perhaps Mai’s proposition isn’t as straightforward as Truyen first assumes, perhaps she herself has her own hidden agenda…

Mai:
An immortal with severed ties to heaven. She has an extremely questionable past and is very cunning and untrustworthy.


Crowboy [name unknown]:
An immortal who tortures newly deceased souls for information and blackmails the living to death. Obsessed with death and finding the bridge to the afterlife because neither Heaven nor Hell want him and he hates being alive.

Truyen:
A human assassin, he unfortunately tried to kill Mai and obviously couldn’t so now he’s stuck with her indefinitely.

Ruen:
Not immortal but has an incredibly lengthened lifespan. He has no personal connections to heaven but is blessed and loved by the divine.

Binh-Binh:
My babygirl.

The flower loved by Gods: Mai

Mai was the first character created from this series, she started from the same character concept as Aester from my other series “HUERIUM”, however the two of them grew into completely different characters due to the differences in their worlds.

From the beginning, I always wanted to integrate traditional Vietnamese culture into the world and was adamant on traditional-esque clothing. Ironically, Mai’s outfit strays the most from traditional designs due to how stylised it has become but it still maintains much of it’s traditional roots.

Mai is based on multiple different legends in Vietnam, hence her heavy connection to myths and heaven. The most prominent legend she references is the Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán) legend of the Mai flower (Mai vàng), where her yellow shirt, flower imagery and name are referenced from. The legend also ties into her backstory and lore.

Mai is an immortal who is loved and favoured by Heaven and the divine, but despite this, she decided to cut ties with them before the story takes place and chooses to wander around Earth.

The Assassin: Truyen

Truyen was the second character created in this series and acts as Mai’s counterpart, the two of them share the position as the stories protagonists and main characters.

In contrast to Mai, Truyen’s design and outfit is much simpler and is almost exactly the same as what was traditionally worn by the common man back in the Trần to Early Later Lê Dynasties in Vietnam. His simple appearance is meant to help him blend in more with the crowd and provide direct contrast to Mai who stands out.

Though he is definitely not ordinary, Truyen is the most “normal” out of all the prominent characters in “Assassin x Immortal”, and often feels at odds with the others. Despite this, he and Mai end up getting along pretty well and make up for each other’s flaws.

Before the story took place, Truyen was a notorious assassin who was known for always getting the job done swiftly and successfully (though he remained anonymous). Of course after he met Mai, his whole world changed completely and he was dragged into the crazy adventure with her, discovering the world of the divine and immortals.

A gift from the local Turtle God: Ruen

Ruen is a very peculiar character, everything about him indicates that he himself is an immortal, and yet he is not. Gifted from the local Turtle God who loved his parents, Ruen was not born like most others, but merely given as a gift to humans.

Due to the strange way he was brought into this world, Ruen often finds himself isolated from others as no one can understand him and his upbringing, and he is often worshipped as he himself is not human. He resides in a temple of his own on a lonely island away from the general public, the place where his parents raised him, and is unable to have any visitors (other than Mai) as the waters surrounding his temple are much too dangerous for mortals.

Ruen is blessed (or cursed) with luck, having basically everything bend in his favour whether he wants it or not. However, he himself cannot bless others with luck or good fortune, and he often finds himself further isolated when those around him get hurt, and he remains untouched.

In my illustration “One Thousand Year Tide”, Ruen is performing a ritual for the residents of his town. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon, a force beyond Earth and out of reach, much like how Ruen’s entire life is constantly influenced by the forces of Heaven that he cannot control. He is always pulled along as his life moves forward, and he has no choice but to be carried by the tide.

The Abandoned Crow

Crowboy is an immortal in the story who has no connections to Heaven or Hell. Much like Mai, he is based off of legends and contains many references to traditional myths in his appearance and lore.

Having been abandoned by the divine, Crowboy is very bitter and resentful, often despising all others as they have something he wishes he could obtain; the ability to die. Because his goal is unattainable on his own, Crowboy frequents graveyards in search for newly deceased souls on their way to the afterlife, torturing them for information in hopes that one day he will find the bridge to the afterlife himself.

Along the way, he came across Mai by chance and saw her as his salvation. She was an immortal who had travelled between Heaven and Earth on multiple occasions, and was favoured by the Gods. She was everything he had dreamed of attaining and became his beacon of hope.

Upon their first meeting, he asked her to show him the path to Heaven, and Mai promised him that if one day she wished to return to Heaven again, she would take him with her.

My illustration “White Lies (but Truth is Blacker than Ebony)” shows Mai and Crowboy’s first meeting where the promise was made. The title alludes to the fact that Mai, despite being ethereal and holy, is deceitful and misleading Crowboy with their promise, while he was true and honest with her from the beginning. Their contrast of truth/lie, black/white, and hated/loved is a very important feature of their relationship in the story.