BloodRayne: Dark Soul

BloodRayne: Dark Soul
Release date:	December 1, 2005
Cover:	Blond Cedric Nocon Fred Vigneau Makma Ori Ayalon Rob Delatorre Romano Molenaar Stacie Ponder
Colorist:	Denis Hurel Fred Vigneau Makma
Inker:	Stacie Ponder
Writer:	Steven O'Connell
Letterer:	Ed Dukeshire
Penciler:	Rob Delatorre

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Rayne investigates the disappearance of two Brimstone Society members, leading her to an ancient cemetery. Once inside, Rayne finds her hands full as she's hit from all sides by dark nasties. Meanwhile, Rayne's evil alter ego, Dark Rayne rises from the shadows.

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BloodRayne: Dark Soul is a one-shot comic book released by Digital Webbing.

Plot

Short summary

Rayne shows up to an ancient cemetary to investiage the disappearance of two Brimstone agents. She has to fight off two brutes and another demon who spawns after their death. After taking care of the third demon, a mysterious woman, resembling Rayne, shows up and starts a small fight with Rayne. During the fight, the woman, Tiger Wraith, reveals she is a dead body being controlled by a spirit. After the fight, the serpent that Rayne was sent to find and kill emerges from the ground. The serpent attacks the pair and swallows Rayne. Tiger Wraith then attacks the serpent and cuts it in half. Rayne escapes the body of the serpent but as a possessed version of herself known as DarkRayne. DarkRayne and Tiger Wraith fight again until the arrival of Ephemera, who reveals herself to be alive after her supposed death in BloodRayne 2. The two surviving Kestrels and a dhampir are with her. DarkRayne seemingly kills Ephemera's entourage shortly before the serpent rises again, taking Ehpemera and DarkRayne down towards Hell with it. Rayne emerges from the hole, just barely, realizing that is what happened to the missing agents. All seems well as the comic ends with Rayne and Tiger Wraith being on non-hostile terms.

Long summary

Rayne shows up to an ancient cemetary on a mission for the Brimstone Society to find two missing agents who reported sightings of a giant serpent a week prior. Rayne notes that there is no sign of the serpent as she only finds a brute at the cemetary. After dispatching the brute by jumping over it and slashing at its back, another one shows up and charges her. Rayne manages to jump over this one as well, causing the second brute to charge into the first one. Rayne then uses the opportunity to finish off the pair with her blades. Just as they fall over, the ground rumbles and breaks open to reveal a demon coming from the depths of Hell. The demon is green, large, has four horns protruding from its forehead, and has four arms. It claims that Rayne can not protect the whole surface from them as for every creature she kills, their master sends two more up. Rayne accepts the challenge and kills the demon by impaling it on a gravestone.

Rayne continues her search of the cemetary only to be confronted by a woman who resembles her but possesses white hair, light gray skin, and black facial tattoos. Similarly to Rayne, the mystery woman jokes around with her as her introduction. This mystery woman introduces herself as Tiger Wraith and claims to not want trouble. Rayne doesn't buy it and attacks her anyway. Battle ensues and Tiger Wraith claims Rayne can't hurt her but Rayne persists. It is then revealed that Tiger Wraith is already dead and is just a decaying body held together by a spirit acting as a body. It is not explained if the spirit is the same one that originally was tied to the body or if it just found a random body to possess. Tiger Wraith claims the spirit inside of her drives her to confront evil, thus bringing her to the cemetary. When the spirit moves on, she says, she will cease to exist and crumble to dust. Rayne notes their similarities in them both having their lives stolen.

The pair seem to stop fighting as the ground begins to rumble again to reveal the main reason to Rayne's mission, a giant serpent breaking through the ground. The serpent immediately attacks the women and manages to take Rayne into its mouth after a few strikes. Tiger Wraith expresses her hatred of snakes as she uses her swords to slice the serpent in half and fall to the ground. Emerging from the corpse is a new, twisted version of Rayne, calling herself DarkRayne. Her appearance is different, her hair is white, her eyes are white, and her skin is gray with black tattoos very similar to Tiger Wraith, She claims to be called "the Dark Hearted" and that gods remble before her and she feeds on the souls of the fallen. DarkRayne then attacks Tiger Wraith, demanding her to bow before her. She also expresses that she has been away for a long time since her captors falsely imprisoned her as she claims, her last memory being "the Mage Wars." The serpent apparently awakened her when it swallowed Rayne.

During their fight, they are interrupted by a green smoke and a familiar face. Ephemera, the last two remaining Kestrels, and a dhampir appear before DarkRayne. It seems as DarkRayne has the memories of Rayne as she claims to have seen Ephemera die. She claims that some things can be transcended, referring to her death. Ephemera then wants her to server by her side so that they may "rule the shadows" together. The Kestrels and dhampir do not seem interested in such an idea and beg Ephemera to let them "take a little piece of her." DarkRayne immediately attacks, claiming she serves no one. Ephemera is impressed, telling her sister to surrender to the darkness. DarkRayne takes issue with being called sister as she cuts down the Kestrels. She then explains how she fought hordes of demons in Hell and that they will be no problem for her. The remaining dhampir says the fight won't take long as she attacks. She is proven right when DarkRayne cuts her down almost instantly. Just as she turns to attack Ephemera, the serpent (or perhaps a second one, it is unclear) breaks through the ground again and appears to eat Ephemera or drag her down to hell. The serpent then turns to DarkRayne and grabs her within its jaws and drags her down through the hole.

Rayne crawls her way out of the dirt of the cemetary, back to her normal self. She notes that she understands what happened to the missing Brimstone agents as she only barely made it out herself. Rayne then ponders more about Tiger Wraith, thinking that she could be useful with more training and she will look into her files back at the Brimstone manor. They seem to be on good terms as the comic ends, with Tiger Wraith's fate being uncertain. The last panel shows Rayne's eyes flicker white, hinting that DarkRayne is still in there.

Appearances

Characters

• Rayne
• Tiger Wraith
• DarkRayne
• Ephemera
• Kestrels
• Serpent
• Female Unnamed Dhampir
• Brute

Locations

• Ancient Cemetary

Weapons

• Rayne's Blades
• Tiger Wraith's Swords

Fights

• Rayne vs Brutes
• Rayne vs third demon
• Rayne vs Tiger Wraith
• Rayne and Tiger Wraith vs Serpent
• DarkRayne vs Tiger Wraith
• DarkRayne vs Kestrels and Dhampir
• DarkRayne vs Serpent

Trivia

• Ephemera appears in two other comic mini-series, Plague of Dreams and Prime Cuts
  • Her appearance in Plague of Dreams is a flashback, her appearance in Prime Cuts she is a clone
  • Her appearance in this comic is unclear if she is the real Ephemera resurrected or not
• DarkRayne appears as a sort of ancient spirit imprisoned in Rayne's body. DarkRayne also an official alternate skin that can be found in BloodRayne 2
  • It's not clear if DarkRayne gets her name from Rayne, despite likely being older than Rayne herself

Gallery

Cover A by Rob Delatorre

Cover B by Romano Molenaar

Retailer Incentive Cover by Cedric Nocon

Comic Central Exclusive of 750 Copies by Rob Delatorre

Rupps Exclusive Cover of 1000 copies by Cedric Nocon