This is the first art I'm posting for an OC universe I had back in middle school, Haze-verse. I just wanted to draw him and thought I'd make it a ref sheet for a place to store the story for now. This guy is the main character's father and he's very cool, he brought you apple slices so be nice.
Humans. The dominant species of earth since they evolved. Creating, yes, but also destroying. And a lot more of the latter. They were especially good at coming up with ways to destroy other humans better. This specific one, Virus 9, was never meant to actually be deployed, only used as a threat. But it somehow found its way out of containment, wreaking havoc and eventually wiping out every remaining human on earth. With humans gone forever, the spot for top predator opened up. You'd think it might be apes, or even just any primate, but no, they were partially susceptible to the virus, their populations weakened. Dolphins? It would take too long to evolve hands. Octopuses? They were mostly extinct anyway. Out of nowhere, feline species learned from the past success of humans, evolving to have thumbs, use tools, learn their spoken language, and even be able to use human technology and replicate it for generations to come. But humanity left behind something else, too. A parasite without a host. Well, less parasites, more demons. In a dimension linked to earth called Haze, demons stewed, waiting for their chance to come back into the mortal world. And they found it in the Felines. This new species inherited the same curse that plagued humanity. Some people had demons inside them, haunting their thoughts, their minds, even their bodies. And now, some Felines have them. It's rare, and obviously not well researched, so people that have them hide them, going to bed each night praying not to wake up somewhere else. But, life goes on. It has to. Especially for Blaze, a high school cat who just wants to live his life. But that's difficult when someone else wants to live it too. Little does he know, it's not as uncommon as he thinks. Things claw their way out of Haze all too often.
