Deep in the forest, suddenly chaotic and twisted plant life had started appearing in greater numbers, sprouting from every which direction it could outwards, like a tidal wave. Faint red waves of energy could be seen in the air, magic so corrupted it become visible to the naked eye, even though it's normally invisible, hanging in the air, enveloping all the wild life, and twisting it much like itself had been. At the center of it all, was the culprit. A magically sensitive creature had wandered too close to a concentration of foul magic, lingered for too long nearby, and was now serving as not only a conduit for it, but also a means for it to spread further and faster

Idk, just a lil thing to try and set the mood, ignore that :'D

So this is a concept I've had in mind for honestly, as long as I've had Ashura! It originated during the ref making process, when we were refining her design and figuring out colours and things, a quick recoloured alt was made for fun, and I've hung onto it since, wanting to do something with it in the future. Turns out, that future is now (old man!)

The core idea behind it, and the one I think I'm going to stick to, is that being a creature so heavily relying on magical energies and aura's in the air/enviorment around her, Ashura is incredibly sensitive and vulnerable to changes to said magic, so if she's exposed to corrupted/foul magic for too long, as it passes through her, it'll rapidly change her appearance, behavior and even magic as a result.
Since the way she works currently is that, she absorbs magic from the air around her at all times, the magic flows into and circulates around her body (all the green/blue parts), before it's then released back out again. Kinda like breathing I suppose. The problem arises, when foul magic enters her. If it's just a small amount and for a brief period, it wont do much, and she'll likely actually purify it over time, but, if she's not allowed time to fully cleanse it, and more just keeps entering her system, eventually it'll get to the point where all the magic circulating in her is foul, and so any new magic she absorbs, immediately gets corrupted too, which also causes her colours to change in response.

At that point, not only is she being twisted by the magic and will behave differently, much more aggressively and violently, because she's now serving as a source of corrupt magic, the air and environment around her will slowly get entirely saturated with the foul magic, and it'll seep into all the local flora and twist it in chaotic ways, causing uncontrollable, crude growths to sprout from the ground, and any existing flora will suffer the same fate, the effect spreading out from everywhere around her as she walks around, her own magical capabilities are similarly affected, and rather than healing and nurturing, it just spreads the corruption and twists anything she uses it on, causing the sporadic growths of thorns and similar.

While it is possible to "cure" her, so to speak, and return her to normal, it requires tremendous effort and a steady supply of purified magic. Too little, and she'll corrupt it all before it can cleanse her, and you're left with an even bigger mess.

That was a lot of attempted explanation as to how it all works, sorry if it doesn't make much sense! This was meant as a sorta "Halloween" themed picture for her, playing around with her corrupted form, trying to figure out how it would work and look, and Silvyr absolutely nailed it, they did such an amazing job with it, I couldn't be happier with it!
Everything from the menacing pose and expression, to all the chaotic plant growth that's surrounding her is just so wonderfully done! One of my favorite details they added, is all the visible red magic and particles in the air, signifying the corruption flowing all around her and being so over saturated, that it's just hanging in the air, almost like fungal spores, waiting for a new potential host to flow into.

Super happy with how this turned out ; 3 ;

Ashura is miiiiineeeeeeeeeeee
Artist is  silvyr