Trip to EastMarch

It's mid-day, sunny and warm in the Silvenar. Afer just straps on his armor after a good morning of training and exercising. He slips on his steel plated armor inside his home. His two blond headed kids sit on top of their bed looking at their father prepare himself. Both kids are bosmers at the age of 5 but of opposite gender by the names of Sai and Serah. Sai is a shaggy haired boy who constantly smiles, even more than his father. Serah long haired girl who often keeps a shy look but it changes to a smile whenever she looks at her brother or father. Sai lightly kicking his feet as he looks up at his father. “Daddy, are you working today?”
Afer straps on his gauntlets tightening them “Hm? No, not today. Well… maybe, might see if there is a little contract I can do for the day. Don’t you two want to go play with your friends today?.”
Both kids shake their heads talking in unison “We can't, no one can play today”
Afer sighs “That never gets old. I suppose I should wait for Nelliel to come back soon before I head off. Hmm come on, let's go to the hall. Get a nice contract now before it is taken.” He takes his massive shield and hands it to his son. “Keep us safe while we head there, ok?”
The boy takes the shield slipping his hands through the straps and places it on his back. The shield is three times his size, he leans forward to keep his balance while holding the shield heading towards the door. His sister soon follows him rushing to stay right behind him.
Afer straps his axe to his side sighing looking at the two kids as they leave. Just as Afer heads to the door, his daughter walks back inside looking up at his “Daddy… there is a man out there. He says he has news.”
Afer looks at her with questioned look “News? I hope its good new” he smirks patting her head as he heads out the door. He steps out placing his hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun's light and slowly moves them so his eyes can adjust.
Looking ahead he sees a Khajiit male in full leather Fighter’s guild uniform. His mouth is covered by a piece cloth that stretches across his helm. On his back was a long object that was completely wrapped in leather. The Khajiit approaches him with a rather depressing look. He spoke very softly with his eyes looking to the floor, Very hesitant to speak at first “Comrade… This one has news for you.” He hands him a folded paper with the Fighter’s guild stamp on the front of it.
Afer takes the paper but doesn't open it yet “What is this news? Did I do something wrong again? I swear I'm sorry if I have been using too much of the guild resources I can help restock….”
The Khajiit interrupts him “Please… comrade. Just read the letter. Or would you prefer this one to tell you?”
“Afer slowly unfolds the paper but doesn't read it “I guess you can give me the summary of what I should know”
The Khajiit folds his hands in front of him looking up at him trying to hide his depressed look “Comrade Leotus. This.. this one is saddened to inform you that Guild Warder…” he stops mid sentence to take a deep breath “that Guild Warder Cynthia Hawking… has… perished.”
Afer’s eyes widen as his hears that and looks at the paper re-reading it over and over “....no. no no no. This false, I know this this false” he sheds a tear shaking his head refusing to believe as he reads the paper up and down. It informs him of her death. He tightens his grip around the paper slightly ripping it as his hands hands.
The Khajiit look down sadden placing a hand over his own chest “This one is sorry…”
“Shut up. This is clearly a joke, you think this is funny?” Afer crumples the paper tossing it to the side “You think this is hilarious? You have a sick sense of humor you bastard” he pushes him hard on his shoulder “I know damn well she can't just die. She promised me she would never die before me. She always keeps her promises to me, ALWAYS!” his tears soon began to obscure his vision as his face starts to get completely red from anger. “I lost her once already, there is no way I lost her again. Now tell me where she is right now or I will kill you where you stand you heartless bastard.”
The Khajiit shows no fear but her raises his hands in a surrendering way “Please, this one is just a messenger. Don't kill the messenger. This one deeply apologizes for your lost… The breton, she was a good friend to most in the guild. None will forget her courageous acts”
Afer shouts out again “Lies. show me proof, now.”
The khajiit looks down “This one has witness the act… it was terrifying. It in the Imperial city. The guild’s fighters manage to hunt down flesh atronach. But the atronach was much...much...much larger than the others. I was with Warder Cynthia’s small squad. We bit off too much than we can chew. Way too much. The Xivkyn lieutenants showed up as well. Killed off almost all of the squad. Only survivors was this one and another fighter. This one watched as the Warder fight to her dying breath. We tried to get her to retreat. We tried but she refused.” he looks down at the ground briefly “She was outnumbered and out strength.. We barely had a body to recover”
Afer stops him “You… abandoned her!? You cowardly piece of trash You left her to fight alone? She would be alive if you helped her. Get.. Just get out of my face, now… please.”
The Khajiit looks ashamed “Please understand this one had to. There was no way I would have survived. Please forgive this one”
Afer shakes his head “I told you to leave, did I not” he clenches his fist tightly
The Khajiit lowers his head in shame taking a few steps back. He talks softly “You were the most important person to her. She always spoke of you. We recovered much of her notes, they mostly had writings about you and your growth. The Breton also left a lot… for you” He takes the leather wrapped object off his back and hands it to Afer. “The funeral with be in eastmarch where she was originally stationed. Take care…. Comrade” He walks off dragging his feet
Afer maintained his angered look at the Khajiit snatching the object from him. then relaxes his face slightly as he is out of sight. He unwraps the object and pausing closing his eyes for a while falling to his knees. The object was Nordic axe, Cynthia’s main weapon given to her when she was young. He stares at the axe for a while holding it with both hands.
Both Sai and Serah were watching this whole time with their little heads poking out the door. They didn't quite understand what was going on but Afer’s depressing mood soon rubbed off on them making them feel as depressed as he was. The slowly walked out the door approaching on both sides placing an arm around him. Sai leaves the shield by the door.
Afer wipes his eyes several times both looking at both of his kids kissing their foreheads “I need to go somewhere for a few days. I have to take a trip to Eastmarch for a while.”
Both kids nod at the same time.
Afer soon stands up holding the axe in his hands “come on. head inside. I'm not doing any contracts today. Lets just wait for your mother to get home”

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It has been days since Afer has received the news of his dearest friend’s death.
Suddenly in the center of the mages guild in Windhelm, Eastmarch a bright portal opens up. The mages in the hall don't seem surprised at the portal as they are use to opening several times a day. From the portal Sai and Serah running out laughing with slowly walking right behind them. “Ahh home sweet home. Haven't been here in ages… well I was here a few years ago but that was for business. Hurry up old man, we still need to do things before the day ends”
Right behind Afer, A middle aged Bosmer man wrapped in fine mage guild robes follows with a walking stick in his hands. His smirks at Afer’s comment as he slams his staff to the ground closing the portal “Boy. Don't worry, we will do everything required today. The Funeral will be in one hour.”
Afer nods slowly “Thank you Arben… old friend. And thanks for doing this in such short notice also. I know it takes a lot out of mages to port this far with multiple people.”
Arben waves his hand “Non-sense. I do this often. Like to take my lady friend, or shall I say friends, to various lands often. Im use to it. How has the lesson been treating you lately? Are you still that cowardly boy I saw years ago?”
Afer heads to the door of the mages guild sighing “Pfft no. When was I ever a coward? you must have me confused”
Arben slams his staff again “Hey! I taken the time to get all of you something warm while you are walking out there” he points to the large black fur cloak on the rack near the door and the 2 smaller cloaks next to it that were identical to the larger one.
Afer takes the smaller cloaks wrapping them around his kids, kissing both their foreheads before standing up and putting his on. “Oh… thanks. A bit large but it will do”
Arben scratches the side of his head “Hey I expected you to get taller.” he smirks motioning to the the door. “Hurry now. You need to get to the Fighter’s Guild”
Serah and Sai run out of the door but stop dead in their tracks once they get outside. They stand there in awe for a while looking around. Serah turns to Afer “Daddy. It's so white.” The spot a patch of snow next to the door and observe it. Both stand there clueless about what it is they are looking at.
Afer snickers walking to the patch of snow scooping up a handful and makes it into a ball “This is what we call snow. It's like mud but white and cold and not as dirty. And you jump into it…. or you throw it at people” Afer takes a step forward throwing the ball of snow at Arben aim directly at his face.
Abren in a split second holds his hand up stopping the ball in its place with his spell of telekinesis. He keeps the ball rotating around him slowly “Children” he looks down at the two bosmer kids “If you are going to throw a snowball at someone, don't make the foolish mistake of throwing it at a mage. Be better than your father” he glares at Afer and launches the ball at high speeds at him.
The Snowball connects to Afer’s face. Afer stumbles back completely stunned. His face gets red from the impact and his begins to rub it gently “Owww.”
Both his kids break out in a laughter looking at their father. They both soon walk to the patch of snow making the best they can out of a snow ball and throwing it at Afer
Afer holds up his hands waving them but manages not to get hit by a single ball “No no no I surrender. I surrender. Spare me” he gets on his knees begging to them but he smiles brightly “You 2 are too much for me, I can't face you both”
Both kids stop but still laugh at him dropping whatever snow was in their hands. They both pat Afer’s shoulder. Sai nods to him “We accept your surrender. You serve us now, daddy”
Afer nods “Yes my master. I serve you now” He stands straight up patting their heads adjusting his cloak and walks to the Fighter’s guild beckoning them to follow. “Come. We have business to attend to”
The two kids shrug at each other and follows their father
Arben taps his staff twice on the ground and follows as well
The group walks to the Fighter’s guild in Windhelm taking their time observing everything they pass by. The 2 children walk very close to each other in front of their father. They spot the guild hall slowly their walking speed and pointing to it “Daddy! We are here” Sai lightly tugs his sister to the sparring area where he watches the fighters train against each other. Both stand there staring.
Afer walks ahead looking for someone higher up. He glances back at his kids every once in awhile. He spots a tall nordic man in the fighter’s guild uniform that was shinier than the other uniforms being worn. He approaches him in haste “Hey...Comrade. Who is temporarily in charge here?”
The Nordic man lowers the clipboard she was writing on looking down at Afer “That would be me. Warder Nijal, are you here for the funeral? We start in less than a hour… inside.”
Afer nods “Swordsman Afer Leotus. Yeah I'm here for the funeral. I already know all the details… I just come to you with one request, please”
He smiles at him smacking his shoulder hard enough to stumble a lot to the side “So you’re this Afer I hear so much about. Warder Cynthia never shut her trap about you. Every day I had to listen to ‘Afer Afer Afer this and Afer Afer that’ Gods I loved her like a sister but that got annoying” he laughs looking down at him “What is it you request?”
Afer gets closer to him “Yeah. Um If you know Cynthia so well then you know that we grew up with each other. Please I ask of you, let me have the body.”
Nijal raises a brow “what? Why do you need the body?”
He looks up at her “I need the body because… because I know where she would be buried. But it's a secret area. I can't invite others there to bury her. I need to do it, alone”
“So. you want us to give you the body of a very respected member of the guild so you can't do secret things to it?” He crosses his arms giving a suspicious look
Afer seemed almost frustrated “No. I ask that you allow me to bury my friend in the proper place. I know what she wanted and this is what she want. You know she loved me more than everyone else. Let me, her greatest friend give her the burial that she deserves. Please, I beg of you”
The Nordic man glares at him for a while let's lets out a hearty laugh “Fine fine comrade. I trust you. I trust that you will give warder Cynthia the proper burial she deserves” he flexes and approaches Afer closer looking down at his in an attempt to scare him “But if you dare do anything to defile her body I will kill you and no one will be able to tell either it was me or a frost troll that gotten to you first… understand?”
Afer takes looks up at the man fearlessly squinting his eyes. “I understand.”
Nijal laughs once again smacking Afer’s shoulder even harder causing him to stumble further to the side “You are not like those other Imperial milk drinking fighters. You got spark in you boy. Now then. is that all?”
Afer nods smiling brightly “Yes yes that is all. thank you.”Afer turns to look at Arben “Hey we….” He pauses after he notice that Arben was not there. He shrugs looking back at Nijal “Excuse me comrade..” Afer turns back to his kids and joins them in watching people spar

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It's a day after Warder Cynthia’s Hawking’s funeral. Afer heads outside of windhelm with both his kids walking right behind him. Afer wears the same thick black fur cloak he received the other day and his kids where a similar one but smaller to fit their bodies. He wears his leather Fighter’s guild armor underneath and a much smaller shield than he usually had. He walks further to the outside gates. There is spots a man in full metal Fighter’s Guild armor standing in front of a small wagon with a box covered in a with red cloth with a design of a sword on it. The warriors standing in front salutes to Afer and his kids “Swordsman...I was asked to assist you anyway I must”
Afer nods to him “thank you, but no thank you. I can do this myself.”
The Warrior puts his arms to his side “Are you sure Swordsman. The wagon can be a little heavy for just one man”
Afer pats his shoulder “It's fine. Go one now I'm sure you have something to do like a contract or assisting with the Daedric threat”
The Warrior nods leaving Afer “Stay safe comrade”
Afer nods to him as he leaves and takes his shield off his back and hands it to Sai “Sai the Fearless. I request your assistance in protecting a caravan so they make it to their destination. Are you up to the task?”
Sai takes the shield smiling brightly placing it on his back. The shield is not as large as the usual so he walks more normally. “Yes daddy… I mean Yes sir.”
Afer smirks and looks east “that way.” He takes a deep breath in and lifts the end of the wagon and begins pulling. The wagon is a bit heavy but Afer manages to continue pulling and keeping a steady walking pace. He talks softly “Time for a visit”
Afer and his kids continue walking east until Afer spots a trail leading away from the road. “Hey, turn here.” He struggles pulling the wagon through the snowy trail but manages. The follow the trail for a while until they come across a small clearing. There is nothing around except hundreds of trees. and near the center of the clearing there is a tombstone mostly covered in snow. Afer continues pulling the wagon through the snow but lets it go half way through and walks over to the grave staring down at it for a while before closing his eyes “Hi mom. Told you I would not forget to visit. I have so much to tell you mom… and I have a big surprise for you. I’m sorry it taken so long. Cynthia told me she was taking care of you while I was gone.” he spots the mountain flowers on her grave dying. He walks back to the wagon and digged into a bag pulling out mountain flowers that were just picked recently and places them on her grave “Don't worry, I will visit more often now mom. I promise” his eyes water a bit “I'm so sorry… for everything.” He begins to wipe his face with his sleeve “I'm so sorry, It was my fault I could not save you that day. But I'm here to make sure you are no longer lonely due to my mistakes. Do you remember Cynthia? She was the girl you said was the best thing for me. She was my first friend” he smiles at the grave “She told me that she has been taking care of you while I was gone. I see she done a amazing job at it” He kneels next to the grave and begins rubbing the snow off to reveal the carvings in the tombstone “She changed the stone? I… wow” He slowly reads it aloud “Here lies Aia Leotus, greatest warrior to ever walk the face of nirn and mother to the fiercest man alive” His eyes waters a bit more as he smiles at the writtens “...much better than I wrote before” He stands up waving his kids to come over to him
Both kids step up to the grave looking down at it unsure what it is they are looking at for it was the first grave they have ever seen. Serah looks up at Afer “Daddy…? where is grandma suppose to be? I want to meet her”
Afer lowers himself next to the kids pointing to the tomb “She is right there… your grandmother was the one who made me who I am today. She taught your father all that he knows”
Sai shakes his head “But I don't see anything. Is she invisible?”
Afer smirks “no no she is not invisible she is right in front of you. I guess you can say she is resting. Yes resting but she can still hear you and she watches over you as you grow up”
Both kids turn to the grave “Oh! Hi!” the wave eagerly to the grave
“Mom these two are your grandkids. Sai and Serah. Yes their mother is a Bosmer I met while down in the south of Tamriel. A paladin woman but clearly no match for your strength” He giggles lightly
Afer stands up “Come now, let us get Cynthia into somewhere more comfortable.” he walks back to the wagon taking a shovel from it and begins digging into the snow and soil right next to the his Mother’s grave. He digs for a while wiping his forehead afterwards before moving to the wagon to move the large box on it. Brings it a little before unloading it gently. The box was fully covered with the red cloth. Afer takes a deep breath in before moving the cloth off to open the box “Please I just have to look at you one more time…” He opens the box and reveal the body of Cynthia inside. She was in her favorite nordic gear with her hands folded into side. He stares at her for a while “You… you look so, peaceful” he able to identify some fatal wounds on the corpse as he stared “I...I’m also sorry. Please rest easy friend. There is no way I will ever forget you” He closes the box again and put the cloth over it. He slide it over to the hole and places it in and begins filling the hole up with the soil under it was filled. Goes back to the wagon where he takes a blank tombstone off the cart and a chisel with hammer. He lays in on the ground and begins working on it
Serah approaches behind him “Daddy… Is Auntie Cynthia also resting?”
Afer nods “Yes. But she left you and your brother an important task. She said you 2 can only do this when you get old and stronger. You have been tasked with ensuring the safety of your mother” He smirks returning to the chiseling.
Serah giggles taking a step back watching her father work
After carving for some time Afer blows in the tombstone and holds it up. He slowly reads aloud “Here lyes Cynthia Hawking. The Warder of the Fighter’s Guild, The Wife of Danger, The most Nordic Breton, The Troll Tosser, The Bringer of Justice, The Friend of the Fiercest Man Alive… I ran out of space there. I had a hundred more titles for her.” he smirks carefully placing the stone in the ground right next to the buried area. All three of them sit there staring at the stones for a long while “You know… right now, i'm surrounded by the most important people in my life. I feel… I dunno I feel just comfortable here” he grabs his kids and hugs them tightly.
Serah manages to release herself from Afer’s grip and stands up “Daddy, I want to give Cynthia a gift to help her rest.” She exposes her neck a bit and reveals a small string wrapped around her neck with a very small cloth bag attached. He pulls it off her neck and opens the bag taking out a small acorn she gotten from Krimie in Greenhill. “Auntie Krimie gave me this. She said something about growth and life and since Grandma and Cynthia helped you grow then they would love this.” she walks to the center of the graves and digs a small hole with her hands and places the acorn inside covering it up. “I hope they love it” he finds herself right next to her father again
Afer smiles her to her brightly “Of course they will love it. And I guarantee that years from now a tree larger than any in the valenwoods with grow right in this spot.” he pats her head
Serah smiles back “Oh and daddy, one more thing” she nods to Sai quickly and both kids in sync slam a snowball into Afer’s face laughing at loudly “Got you, daddy!”
Afer breaks out into a laughter as well “you got me. Now I want revenge!” he quickly makes two snowballs and holds them in both hands chugging them at both kids.
The kids and their father soon begin enjoy a snowball fight laughing as hard as they can.They played until the sun began to lower a bit making it a bit darker outside. But their laughter was so loud that they could not hear the cracking branches in the woods. As they continued playing the snapping branches gets louder and louder.
Afer pauses a bit feeling uneasy “Wait… take a break” he perks his ears “What is that noise?” he glances around a bit. His eyes then locks onto a large figure he spots into the woods. He hears the heavy breathing of the beast staring at them. He spots a large round object in his hands. He place his hands on the shoulders of his kids and motions them to back up. “Stay next to me” He takes his shield from Sai and holds it to his side”
The figure breaths harder and lunges out of the darkness of the trees. It's revealed itself to be a Frost Troll holding a small boulder in his hands. The beast lets out a battle roars chugging the rock at them without hesitation. Afer’s quickly grabs both his kids and jumps to the side barely dodging the boulder. It miss them and completely destroyed the cart behinds them.
The Beast beats his chest for a moment and charges at them taking wild swings at Afer
“MOVE! NOW!” he shouts at his kids pushing them and puts up his shield to block the beast swings”
Sai and Serah completely terrified of what they are witnessing they freeze right where they are standing staring at their father battle a Troll. Serah shouts “DADDY!!” Sai clenches his fist and grabs Serah arm pulling her hard “Come on! daddy said move” Serah resist as much as she could “I'm not leaving Daddy” he tugs her arm back trying to free herself “Daddy!”
Afer continues to fight the troll but reaches to his side “I… DAMMIT!” he realizes that his left his sword on the cart which was away from them now.”Cause of you, you damn troll that I don't have a holy sword to slay you with. I can’t wait to make a new leather piece out of you” He continues to only fight with only a shield as he figures out a plan. The Beast pounds the ground right in front of Afer cause him to stumble. The Troll waste no time and grabbed Afer with both hands and wrapped them around his body letting out another roar in his face. Chunks of blood and meat fly out of the troll’s mouth as he roared
Afer manages to free his arms from the creature “Wait I do have a little gift for you friend” He pulls a dagger out of his gauntlets and stabs the creature in his forearm
The Frost Troll roars even louder tossing Afer hard to the side. He lands far away from his kids and the troll. He begins to feel a sharp pain from the toss gripping his side “Ahh dammit”
Serah shouts to the top of her lungs “DADDY! NO!” she frees herself from Sai’s grip and runs to Afer. She only manages 2 steps before the Frost Troll takes a step forward towards the kids shaking off the pain quickly. He beats his chest once more roaring loudly.
Serah stops dead in her tracks frighten completely by the creature. Sai runs in front of her opening his arms wide doing what he can to defend her.
The Troll cocks his arm back and goes to attack the two kids with his brutal strength
Sai shuts his eyes tightly turning around to hug his sister and face his back towards the troll as he goes to strike. He holds her head down and both kids shut their eyes and kneel down.
Afer reaches out his hands with his eyes widening as much as they possibly can. “NO! SHIT! NO!” he launches off the ground and charges at the troll but not fast enough to possibly stop the strike...

“SHIT! NO! NO! NO!” His voice echo throughout the land as he lunges himself forward towards the Troll. No matter how much strength his used he was not getting close enough in such a short amount of time. The pain went away briefly and nothing mattered to him anymore except for saving his kids but he knew he was a not fast enough. Time seemed to have slowed down for him and his watches the Troll’s hand moving closer and closer to both his kids. He watched both kneel down to ground hugging each other tightly. He shut his eyes tightly biting his lower lip as hard as he can and applied even more strength which was still not enough….
Almost a split second later a booming voice shoots right at all of them “ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
The voice waves pushed itself through the trees knocking off the leaves. The Troll stops mid swing turning his head to the source of the voice. It begins to beat his chest turning away from the kids letting out a roar to compete with the shout. The smaller trees begin to knocked over and branches begin to fall off as the source of the voice gets closer and within a short amount a time a gigantic sticks his foot out of the woods taking a step that made the ground shake slightly. A Giant dragging his club right behind steps out breathing heavily staring directly at the troll frowning at it gripping the club tightening. the Giant takes a deep breath in and shouts louder “NOOOOOOOOOO!!” he lifts the club up high and swings it down hard on top of the troll crushing its skull and burying what's left deep into the ground from just one swing.
The Troll's body twitches slightly and then goes motionless as a pool of blood soons fill the area around its head
The giant pulls his club back to him tossing it over his shoulders staring at Afer and then glancing at his kids letting out long exhales.
Afer stood there in shock staring at the body of the troll before shaking his head and runs towards his kids falling to his knees early and slides over to them
Both kids watched the act slight before shutting their eyes again refusing to lighten the hugging grip. Serah felt the presence of her her father approaching her. She opens her eyes slightly looking at him before letting out a extremely loud cry rushing into his arm burying her face into his shoulder covering it in tears in seconds
Afer squeezes her back “Shhh it's ok, it's ok. I'm here, Daddy is here. You are safe now”
Sai stood there nearly motionless looking down to the ground shaking slightly due to what he just experienced. He stands there clenching his fist refusing to allow himself to show fear but fails horribly letting out tears. He bites his lips trying to hold it in.
Afer notices grabbing him with his free arm pulling him closer to him putting him in a tight squeeze as well. “Its ok… im here”
Sai rest his forehead on his father’s shoulder beginning to cry but not nearly as loud as his sister.
Afer spends a while hugging them before lifting them both up in his arms and they rest their heads on his shoulder sobbing light now
The Giant stands there a while observing them before letting out a grunt and turning away
Afer looks at him walking closer “HEY! YOU! Giant man… words cannot express how grateful I am. You saved the life of those dear to me. You did what I was about to fail at… Thank you, friend”
The Giant lets out a grunt letting his arm fall to side. A necklace with a emerald hangs slightly from his arm that is wrapped around it. It catches Afer’s eye as he recalls the design of the necklace
“Hey wait! where did you get that necklace, huh?”
The giant pauses looking at his necklace wrapped around his arm. He grunts once more and then points to the grave of Afer’s mother
Afer’s smirks “What seriously? She was not lying then? She told me once she was a friends with giants. At first I thought she meant nordic people but then she said giants… like you. Were you her friend?”
The Giant grunts resting his arms back to his sides and turns to Afer
He laughs lightly “That woman. Nothing short of amazing at this point. Even in death she finds ways to keep me from screwing up” he looks up at the giant once more “Are you… have you been protecting her grave?”
He grunts once
“I take that as a yes. Do you mind if I ask you of one more favor please? My mother is a amazing woman, yes. But now there are two amazing women here now. Please I ask that you protect their graves when I cannot. This place is to remain untouched by others…. please.”
The giant adjust his club on his shoulder and grunts to Afer
“Thank you… do you want a reward for you help here?”
The giant turns around “no”
“Oh. is ‘no’ the only word you know?”
The Giant begins to walk off into the woods “no”
Serah lifts her head up staring at the giant as he leaves
Afer sighs at the giant before looking towards the destroyed cart “Best we get moving before it gets too dark” He continues to carry his kids who now fall asleep in his arms as his heads back to town
Afer sighs as he walks “how much would be dead if I my mother was never around to protect me from my screw up. How much longer will I have to go on with some one saving me from my own mistakes. Its luck so far… but luck won't last forever. Mom. Cynthia. I’m completely on my own now. And I promise from here on. No more screw ups. My first one already go you killed…”

Afer wakes up in a room that feel oddly familiar. He slowly opens his eyes staring at the ceiling seeing a few crossbow bolts stuck up there. The sits up straight feeling a sharp pain in his arm. He grabs it tightly looking sitting on the edge of the bed he was laying in. He looks over his shoulders seeing his two kids completely asleep on the other side of the bed. He stares at them for a while sighing “...I’m sorry” he turns back rubbing his face and eyes. He looks to the nightstand next to the bed and spots a headband on it. It recognized it immediately. “Cynthia’s room. How did I end up here?” rubs his head. He takes the headband holding it in his hands observing it and smiling “Damn girl. She loved this thing… I guess now she took it off for once” he kisses it “I'm sorry…” he grips it tighter
Arben stood behind him staring at Afer “You tell people don't feel sorry if it's not their fault. Why don't you take your own advice?”
Afer doesn't turn back but responds “Why do you always show up at the oddest of times but never when I need your help. Doesn't matter. What do you want”
Arben taps his staff against the ground “I'm here to make sure your kids are alright. They took quite the scare yesterday. Not many live after dealing with a troll unprepared. Luckily for you, your mother is a friend to some giants” He looks down at the sleeping kids
“Yeah… lucky me.” Afer sighs
“Stop it. It's not your fault she died. It's not your fault your friend died as well. There was nothing you could have done”
Afer places the headband back to the side “There was something I could have done. You don't know what you are talking about. Mother died right in front of me. She was killed by that..monster. All I could do was watch… he pinned me down. As she bled out she looked at me and smiled. She didn't deserve death from that. She has much more to give to the world than I. Same goes for Cynthia. I made promises to her. Promises that we will keep each other safe no matter what.” He wipes his eye “And clearly I failed at that…”
“Stop talking, Afer. Foolish child” he clears his throat “I mean foolish man. There would have been no way you would have kept Cynthia alive and your mother… you was clearly out powered. You were only twelve. A twelve year old who survived a severe wound to the face”
Afer lightly places his hand over his scar on the center of his face “That was because I was too weak to…”
Arben slams his staff to the ground again “I told you to stop talking, correct? Instead of living in the past and sobbing how about you redeem your self then? Prove yourself that you are stronger. Continue fighting for both of them… how about you stop being child”
“I’m NOT being a child, dammit”
Serah rubs her eyes sitting up “Daddy? who are you talking to?”
Afer turns back to spot Arben but sees no one “I'm not talking… to anyone. Are you rested?”
she crawls over the bed to hugs her father “Yes.” resting her head on his shoulder. Sai rolls over more taking completely advantage of the amount of space of the bed now.
Afer kisses her forehead “Hey. Today you and Sai are gonna have to be on your best behavior. Daddy has some business to take care of today and can't risk having you harmed. Ok?”
Serah nods her head “Don't get hurt, ok daddy?”
Afer pats her back “I swear on my beard that I will never ever get hurt ever again.”
Serah raises her head laughing “You don't have a beard, daddy” She rubs his chin and smacks his cheeks lightly
Afer laughs back “What you don't see it? Look harder. You are blind just like your mother” He stand up carrying her getting both his kids dressed for the day as well as himself
-later that day-
Afer walks along a path back to close to where he was yesterday. but takes a detour off. He cuts through a bunch of trees until he makes it out overlooking a cliff. He takes a deep breath “I love those kids but I still want this spot to remain a secret” He sits near the edge of the cliff taking a deep breath in again “Gods I remember this place… my private spot of tossing things off cliff to relieve anger” he looks down the cliff at the river below smiling lightly “Been so long. Damn” he falls to his back closing his eyes. He lays there thinking about his past all the good bad and horrible moments. At random moments he would just start laughing out loud and then just cry or make angry facial expressions. He does this for several minutes before hearing a twig break behind him. He wipes his face jumping up gripping the giant axe on his back “Who's there?” he braces himself for another troll attack
A small girl who looks around the age of 14 steps out of the woods. her face was covered in dirt and she was dressed in rags. She holds out her hands “Mister… can you help me?” She points behind her “Some men stole from me”
Afer looked behind the girl “Who are these men? where are….”
He feels a sharp pain in his neck and reaches behind pulling out a green feathered dart from his neck. He turns behind him but his vision already begins to blur. He barely catches a glimpse of three men wearing skulls on their face popping their heads out the trees walking close to him. Afer falls to his knees trying his hardest to stay strong. He glances up at the girl
The girl stretches a evil grin across her face and back hands Afer while he is down.
Afer was too weak to do anything and falls face down and passes out shortly afterwards
The girl snaps her fingers to the men in skull mask “Hurry up you louts, we gots ourselves a new contestant… hurry before we are too late to the arena”
The men nod dragging Afer’s body away with them “Ugh a Imp. Can’t wait to smell his blood after the troll rip him apart in the arena..”
The little girl snaps “SHUT UP! and MOVE NOW!”
The men shakes in fear and then drag his body unconscious body faster.

A day after his capture the men chained Afer to a wall in an arena like area. A looked the gates leading into the pits. The little girl who aided in the capture took a bag of coins from a Dunmer man wearing dark clothing that was mostly clean with straps going across it. The Dunmer man smiles to her and walks over to a throne like area overlooking the arena behind the man who wore a skull mask as well and his throne was decorated in a variety of skulls from trolls, bears, men, giants, and Sabre Cats. The Dunmer man whisper in his ear before stepping away and getting on a pedestal near the throne folding his hands behind his back smiling down at the unconscious body of Afer. Afer was covered in filthy casual like clothes.
*It's so dark here. Why is it always so dark everywhere I go.... no wake I cant open my eyes yet. I can't even move. oh dammit am I dead? No I think I would remember my own death. Hmm I hear noise… sounds like people screaming. No more like cheering. Why do I hear people cheering? not the usual voices in my head. Wait I think I can move a bit. Huh? why does it sound like chains moving when I move… Oh wait, I remember now. I dropped my guard. Dammit*
Afer slowly begins to raises his head but barely able to open his eyes. He hears the screams of several men and woman cheering. These people were dressed in mostly filthy rags and stained armor and clothes. The place reeked of ale and blood. Lifeless bodies filled the corners of the arena.
Afer shook his head light trying to clear his blurred vision, and begins coughing while attempting to shake his arms free “Ahh where…” He stands up but his arms still bound to chains against the wall “Where am I?. He looks around the arena trying to make sense on what he is seeing
The man in dark clothing cleared his voice looking down at Afer and talks loud enough so his voice echoes throughout the entire arena “Seems our newest contestant has awaken. Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen! Are you as excited as I am…”
The Skull man sitting in the throne chair snaps his fingers “Nalis! Enough talk. Start the damn thing”
Nalis bows “Y-yes” he clears his voice once more and snaps his fingers to two bandits who both run down into the pit and approaches Afer. “Shall we test the strength of the Imp? Shall we see how good Imperials bleed?” The two bandits pull a key out and free Afer’s arms and quickly rushes out locking the gates. “Enough of these chat let's get the show started. Let see how our contestant handles a few of the wild life” Nalis stomps his feet twice on the floor and moments later the much larger gate underneath wear the Skull man was sitting slowly opens.
Afer rubs his wrist several times looking around area again then slowly turns to the gates opening. He can hear heavy breathing again. It sounds familiar to him. Very familiar. He shook slightly in fear but then clenched his fist to stay strong strong. He turns fully to the gate.
Chains begin to rattle a lot and seconds later a Troll with black hair attempts to lung out directly by Afer but it gets halfway to him before the beast is leashed by the steel collar around his neck. It begins to beat its chest roaring loudly and stares at Afer
Afer back was completely against the wall once he saw the beast staring at it with wide eyes. He Mouth hanged open realizing that he could have died without a proper weapon to fight with.
Nalis smirks “Oh! did that scare you? Don't worry We will take good care of you. Wouldn't be a good show if we didn't get to see a bit of fight out of you” he laughs loudly then snaps his fingers again.
One of the bandits from the side tosses down a large battle axe next to Afer’s feet
Afer’s eyes shoots further open with anger as he recognized the axe. Cynthia’s favorite weapon that has been touched by unhonorable filth. He nostrils begin to open wide but then the troll roars loud than the last. The beast pulls at the chain hard over and over again. Deep in the cage a screw hits the ground that was connected to the leash and the troll was able to get one step closer
Afer heard the screw and picked up the axe without further hesitation and gotten into a stance staring at the creature bracing himself for the worst.
The Troll took a final pull at the chain breaking it off from where it was attached and stares back at Afer taking short steps towards him, breathing heavily as he gets closer and close stopping directly in front of him placing his hands on the ground letting out a ground trembling roar with debris flying from the inside of his mouth.
Afer cover his face from the vile things flying out from the troll’s mouth then grips the axe tighter swinging as hard as he can barely hitting the troll on his shoulder.
The Beast jumps back to beats its chest and grabs a deceased body from the corners of the arena throwing them as projectiles towards Afer.
He barely dodges them all giving a horrified look at all the dead bodies being thrown. He bites his lip to keep himself focus carefully approaching the beast holding his weapon in front of him.
The troll drops the body in his hands and leaps towards Afer swing his powerful arms.
Afer made 1st mistake by challenging this power and holding his weapon up to block and counter the swing. The power of the swing not only smacked the weapon out of his hands across the arena, it smack Afer along with it and he slides across the arena as well. He stays down from a moment gripping the side of his face where a new wound was made. His clothes already torn apart from the hit. “Dammit.” He looked up at the troll briefly who was taunting Afer by continuously beating his chest. “Ok think… think… think dammit.” He spots three daggers next to him that had fallen out of the pockets of the corpses near him. He reaches out with his foot and drags the daggers closer to him where he places all three in front of him. He sighed heavily banging his fist on the ground “....I have a idea. Stupid but… just do it. no thinking anymore”
He puts one of the daggers in his mouth by the handle and holds the other two in either hands. He pushes himself off the ground and runs at the Troll keeping himself low to the ground as he charges.
The Troll stops taunting and swings once more at Afer as his approaches.
Afer respects the trolls strength this time and ducks quickly underneath and raises himself up fast enough to jump slightly to stab the Troll in the shoulder and leaving the dagger deep in its arm.
The Beast shouts from the strike and counters by swinging his other arm.
Afer jumps back at this strike to dodge it and runs back in quickly climbing up the troll while his arm is down and sticking the second dagger in his hand right in the left eye of the troll and leaves it in there.
The beast howled in pain but did not waste time to grab it’s expose target. The Troll grabs Afer in both arms squeezing him between his hands as hard as it can.
Afer bites the dagger harder. The pain on his face begins to show, but shortly the anger takes over his face as Afer looks down at the beast and does what his can to ignore the pain. He raises both his feet high enough and kicks them at the Troll’s face. Both his feet kick the dagger in the Troll’s eye pushing it deep in its skull.
In full pain the beast drops Afer from it’s grip and places both hands over it’s eyes roaring loud.
Afer lands on both feet ignoring the pain for now. He spits the dagger out of his mouth and thrust it in the chest of the Troll. “Where is your heart. Guess we need to keep stabbing till I find it”
He steps to the side fast enough to pull the dagger out of the Troll’s shoulder from his first strike “I need to borrow this” Afer then begins stabbing the beast over and over again with both daggers in the chest.
The Beast took wild swings at Afer but all missed completely. He constantly stumbled side to side unable to see in one eye.
Afer took one of the daggers out and slashes deeply in the back of the troll’s leg cutting the hamstrings.
The Troll stop moving around so much as it continued to be stabbed.
Afer took the dagger back and stabbed its chest once more then smirks “Found it”
He grips the dagger tightly with both hands and pushes it as deep as his can and pulls down ripping the flesh apart until he gotten to the stomach area. He takes the other dagger and stabs the creature in the same wound again to get deeper in there. After two more cuts he reaches his hand in there and pulls the heart out himself.
The beast fell silently a while ago but now it falls on its back with his chest and eye completely bloody. A pool of blood soon forms underneath the troll and spreads across the arena.
Afer stood there with the heart beating in his hands slowly but shortly after a while it stopped. He looks at the heart emotionless with his arms and face covered in blood and his shirt mostly torn. It took him seconds before he tossed the heart out of his hands and gave it a horrified look before look at his hands “By the eight…” he looks at the corpse of the troll “did I do that? What did I do…” He backed up a bit then looked at the announcer and the skull man on his chair
Both the Dunmer and Skull man stared at Afer with an amusing smile. The Dunmer cleared his voice afterward and spoke aloud “It seems we unleashed two beast in the arena this time. But there is only one left standing. Shall we now present the next contestant?” The crowd begins to cheer loud throwing any sort of object they can find into the arena including weapons, money, food, and pure junk. None of the objects flew far enough to hit Afer.
Afer took deep breaths to calm down but and walked to the axe he dropped earlier. He shook a bit as he walked but did what his can to shake the fear off as he prepares himself for the next challenge. As soon as his gripped the axe he felt calmer and more relaxed. He held up up as his walked back to the center of the arena glaring at both the Dunmer and Skullman.
The Skull Man claps softly for Afer and smiles underneath the skull.
The Dunmer snaps his fingers “Next challenger, NEXT CHALLENGER! This Imp can rip a troll’s heart out. But does he have the courage to slay another Imp? A true test for him. Or Perhaps it's a true test for our new comer”
The gates open up and a young short black hair Imperial girl is tossed in. The girl was in her early 20s in a layered dress covered in a dirt. Her face was full of tears and fear as she was tossed in. She fell to her knees as she entered covering her face as she cried. Shortly afterwards she looks up at Afer and jumps up “Please.. dont hurt me”
Afer lowered the axe looking at her concerned then glances up at the Dunmer man “You force your hostages to kill each other?” he looks back at the girl “no. I'm not gonna hurt you…”
The frightened girl shook her head rushing back against the wall but stops short after seeing all the corpses and troll body laying all over the ground. She picked up one of the daggers and points it at Afer and cries out “Please! dont hurt me…” She began to shake in fear staring at him
Afer approaches her and keep his axe low “I said I'm not gonna hurt you. Look we can get out of…” The girl in fear closes her eyes and swings the dagger cutting Afer’s hand. She shouts “STAY BACK!”
Afer flinches at the cut pulling his hand back clenching his fist “Dammit.” He dropped the axe raising his hands in a surrendering position “I told you, I am not gonna hurt you. Just please. We can escape here. Trust me”
The girl lowered her dagger but still crying “I just want to go home…”
The Skull Man stands up stretching his arms and yawns “Boring.” He jumps down into the pit shaking the ground as he lands. The man stood over 7 feet tall wearing fur for pants and no shirt but a necklace made of smaller skulls around. He approached the two “This is not entertaining”
Afer turned to him taking a step back “Free us”
Skullman approaches the two shrugging “Deal. you two bore me now.” he walks to the girl “Do you want to go home”
The girl nods quickly “Please”
The man gets closer placing a hand on her shoulder and gently rubs it down her arm and back up “Pretty lass. would have made a great companion. Sad to see you go.” He quickly slides his hand back up and grabs her by the throat tightly and raises her up into the air with his right hand
Afer quickly responds to this leaping at him but is quickly knocked back with a fist of the Skullman quickly. “Build up your anger. I want to see your rage” He looks back up at the girl he was choking smiling at her “If I had to pick between a good fight or a good night, I would have to pick a good fight. Sorry lass. The weak must fall” He lifts his other hand placing it around her neck and snaps it. He drops the corpse where he stood “Whoops. You break easily” He giggles looks back at Afer who was recovering from the wound “Oh look at that. Another one dies and you were too weak to do anything it” he cracks his neck “I remember you well boy… oh yes. This shall be fun”
Afer rubs his wounded face standing up now red from anger “You heartless bastard” He charges at him without much thought and gets striked in the face again
The Skull Man taps his feet sighing “refusing to learn and not showing enough rage. No way you will kill me that way. Learn a bit, boy”
Afer backs up pausing a bit and stares at him till the next episode.

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Afer falls to one knee breathing heavily but stares with a angry expression his face. He tightly grips the handle of the axe.
Skull man walks back and forth in his place looking down at Afer “you don't remember me? oh that rude. I spared your life years back. Back in that pathetic village. I have to say… your village sure do breed fine woman. My boys had the times of their lives that day” He takes advantage of Afer while down and kicks him onto his back, placing his foot on his chest and applies pressure “Now do you remember me?”
Afer struggled to get the foot off of him but he looked up and can see the brown eyes through the eye sockets of the skull mask and begins to frown heavily showing his teeth to the man and begins to grip around his ankle tighter “You!....You… you… you heartless bastard. Kill… you.”
The man lowers his head “I didn't hear that last part, speak up!” He raises his foot and slams it on Afer’s face “Perhaps get the foot out your face first” he begins to laugh
Afer began to struggle even more and eventually stop trying with his complete lack of strength
“You went silent? Shame. I thought you have some fight in you. I thought today I would have a challenge. YOU WASTED MY GIFT I GAVE YOU, BOY. I spared you that day cause you showed strength for a 12 year old. I thought you would appreciate my gift and give back a challenge. Well at least that day I was prized with a lovely Breton girl. I never knew they were better…. young. What was her name again” he rubs his chin crushing Afer’s head more “Caitlyn? no, wait it was Cynthia….”
Afer lets out a loud grunt using all strength he had to lift the man’s foot off his face “DON'T YOU...SPEAK...HER...NAME!” He completely raises his foot off of him and launches the man back. He stands up completely red from anger clenching his fist with his shirt barely hanging on to him “I will kill you.”
Skull man laughs at his angry burst “can't be mad at me. When she was our little… companion she cried a little less in my care”
“SHUT UP!” He picks the axe up with one hand staring the Skull man down. “You defiled her! You were the reason she had nightmares, you were the one who hurt her the most. I will kill you!”
The Dunmer man standing high above the ledge tosses down a nordic style maul covered in crude carvings and the Skull man catches it twirling it a bit and gets into a battle ready stance “Yes. Rage. Lets see your rage. Show me your rage!” He charges at Afer and short leads swinging the maul downward.
Afer completely side steps this attack and watches it slam onto the ground. He waste no time and swings his axe across cutting the man alongside his arm.
Skull man flinches back from the pain jumping back but slides his finger across the wound and sticks it in his mouth “Not bad. I'm easy to hit but hard to take down” he smirks and approaches Afer again violently swing maul before he got close.
The two clash metal with each other creating bright sparks with the weapons. Afer manages to dodge most maul swings but would get caught off guard from several of the kicks. He would waste zero time resting between each clashing to recover quickly and get back in there. Over the course of the battle Afer manages to cut the man several more time along his body which seems to do nothing to the man as Skull man continued to deliver the same powerful strikes.
After over 20 minutes of fighting both manage to pause for a minute to catch their breath. Skull man puts the maul over his shoulders “Not… enough. Die now. Cynthia would want you to die like how she did”
“I said shut up didn’t I?” Afer glances down and spots the same dagger the the girl wielded before she died and her corpse laid a few inches away from that. He picks it up slowly tucking it in his pants and grips his axe with two hands again. He gets in a defensive stance taking a deep breath in.
Skull me leaps at him once more but this time Afer stood his ground and challenged his strength. Thier weapons locked and Afer glared deep into his eyes as he used whatever strength he had left push back. The Skull Man was not moved at all nor was he able to move Afer. The two nearly seemed like equals at this point. Almost as if Afer just gotten more strength suddenly. While their weapons were locked they got closer to each other staring at one another once more. Afer shows his teeth with a angry expression but then suddenly closes his eyes. He backed up quickly and side stepped causing the Skull Man to stumble forward and lose his balance. Afer removes the dagger out of his pocket and stabs the Skull Man in the back quickly forcing him to flinch and drop his guard more. Afer quickly swings the axe upwards at the man fully following through with the attack causing it to swing over his head and slam right behind him. The Skull man made the wrong decision to turn his head right before the strike and he gotten smacked with the sharp side of the axe. The hit caused the man to fall on his back and his skull mask to fly of his face and into the corner of the room. His face is now revealed to be a Nordic man with several scars across his face and a piece of metal sticking through his nose as a form of jewelry.
Afer raises his axe and without much thought he leaped over to the downed man and swing his axe over his head down onto the man’s arm severing his forearm from his body causing the Nordic man to scream out loud in pain shutting his eyes tight.
Afer stomps on the man’s chest hard and leaves it there. He raises his axe high in the air looking angrily at the man beneath him “I want a name. Now”
The Nordic man looked up at Afer squeezing a smirk on his pained face “Ongar. But…*cough* I am not the man I said I am. Kill me if you wish, champion. Just know..” he coughs a bit of blood now “Know that I was not the one who killed your family. I lied just to see your rage. Been so long since I had such an exhilarating battle. I had to lie. *cough* If you are seeking vengeance then you would want my brother….Angar. I watched the whole thing years back. Watch him slam a axe in a boy’s face and slaughter his mother right in front of him. I… I see that you still bear the scar. Don’t forget it. Let it serve as a reminder to what you goal is here” He stretches his neck “He hides in the Rift. He hides from his crimes. The coward went soft years back and left us all here. I use to have such respect for him…. not anymore.”
Afer’s angry expression went away and replaced with one more emotionless as he looked down at him “is that all?”
Ongar nods coughing up more blood
Afer sighs “You still scared my friend for the rest of her life. You…. monsters do not deserve to live” He quickly steps to the side and slams his axe down over Ongar’s neck and decapitates his head from his shoulders squirting blood all over the area around. “Angar….the Rift. Vengeance will be mine” He kicks the head away from him and limps over to the gates looking up at the dunmer man shortly afterwards. The gates soon slowly open and the bandits standing near it move aside out of respect.
Afer doesn't even look up at them. He continues to walk on gripping his arm in pain dragging his axe along with him. His face is covered with bruises and cuts from several attacks with blood slowly dripping from his body. He manages to limp his way out of the cave he was in seeing a bright light. He shields his eyes from the bright light noticing a small river in the distance. He limps his way there leaving a bloodtrail. He arrives shortly to the river looking down at it briefly before his vision begins to blacken. He fall to his knees shortly and then falls to his face. He caught a quick glance at Arben standing over his body, tapping his staff on the ground and then his vision blackens. He opens his eyes once more briefly with a Giant standing right behind Arben then his vision blackens once more.
-A day later-

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Afer opens his eyes again but this time he found himself awake in the same room again from earlier. Cynthia’s room. He looks around jumping up from his bed looking around and down at himself.
Arben stands near the doorway “Careful now. Badly wounded, but that was all taken care of. We found you near the south side of eastmarch.” Arben begins to cough a bit
Afer notices himself covered in bandages then looks up “Where are my…”
“Kids? they are safe being watched over with several other kids in town.” Arben cuts him off and begins coughing again
“Friend, are you ok? You seem, ill.”
Arben waves him off “I'm fine. You are the one who is hurt. And Afer, listen to my words. Don't do something you will regret… and don't lose your self. That is all, now rest”
Afer raises his hands but lowers it quickly talking softly to himself “I'm not gonna lose my self… just doing what I failed to do years ago” He stands up walking around the room observing the objects in the room. He stumbles across a chest near the covered of the room that was mostly covered by junk. He kneels down dusting it off and opening it. He looks inside taking note of several small broken weapons in there. But he spots a silver mask in there pulling it out holding it up. He looks inside the mask seeing a small carving inside 'Never forget, Angar and Ongar'
He sighs afterwards “She planned for vengeance as well… I have to continue where she left off” He takes one of the daggers in the chest and scratches off Ongar’s name. After tossing the dagger back in there he notices a rolled paper in there and pulls it out. He opens it and reveals it to be a map of the Rift with several landmarks shown on it and area’s crossed out and circled. on the top there is small text on it. ‘Coward hunt’. “Afer takes note of the circled locations and rolls the map up and stands up “It's time for a hunt then” he cracks his neck putting the silver mask on
-another day later-
A nordic man with a long brown beard and bald head dressed in dirty miner clothing, walks up a path up a mountain to a secluded cabin on top surrounded by flowers and low grass with no trees nearby. It is late in the day with the sun on the horizon. The man holds a pickaxe sighing walking to the top of a hill overlooking a plain “Who are you?”
Afer slowly walked his way behind him silently with his crossbow loaded and pointing at him. He speaks to him in a low tone beneath a silver mask and dress in mostly black armor. “I’m… I am here to bring justice for your acts…”

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The sun lays low to the ground in the orange like sky covering all of the rift. The wind begins to die down as the clouds separate and disappear. No birds roam the sky and everything else remained silent. A Nordic man looks over a large hill with a pick axe in his hands resting it on his shoulders. He keeps his eyes closed breathing deeply through his nose. His face contained innumerable scars and wounds. His hair was non-existent. His clothes was filthy from ash and dust mixed with dirt. His hands looked rough and covered with calluses. He tighten his grip around this pickaxe “You did not answer my question… tell me who you are. Now” he talks low and demanding.
Afer kept his loaded crossbow pointed at him “I am justice. You have not paids for you crimes, Angar the Brute.” He keeps the crossbow steady with one hand with his finger on the trigger prepared to fire at a moment's notice. Afer stood there staring,wearing dark leather armor that seemed to have no scratches or marks on it. His face was fully covered with a black hood and a silver mask that reflected most of the sun's light with the shiny metal. “You attempted to escape your crimes you committed years ago… but there are many who never forget the acts of a monster.”
Angar slowly lowers the pickaxe but doesn't turn around “......... after years of running someone found me. But know this I am a changed man. That man who heard of years ago…. it was not the same man. But you win bounty hunter. Turn me to the guards and collect your money”
Afer adjust his position slightly “I'm not taking prisoners… I'm acting as executioner. This is the last place you will ever draw breath. Farewell….Angar”
Split second later Arben just suddenly appears next to Afer. The bosmer mage skin was pale and he looked ill. He began coughing violently with small amounts of blood around his mouth and hand. “Do not do this. This is not justice, this is not you. You are acting purely out of rage. What happen long ago has been dealt with. Let the actual justice system *Cough* system take care of him. Do not take these matters into your own hands.”
Afer speaks in a emotionless tone “Shutup. It is justice. Justice for the many he killed and justice for those lives he ruined.”
Arben taps his staff on the ground “Yes I understand your pain. but think about it. When the Khajiit warrior killed your father you spared him, did you not? Show the same mercy here. I beg of you, do not lose yourself here over revenge. Just…” Arben falls to his knees coughing even more painfully spitting blood out his mouth “Please… stop. You are killing me”
Angar ears perk up “Boy. Who are you speaking to?”
Afer turned to where Arben was standing but he disappeared by the time Afer turned his head.
Angar slowly turned his head and saw Afer was losing his focus. In a split send he drops a bit lower and turns completely while side stepping. Afer notices too late and fires the crossbow at him. The bolt barely his Angar on the shoulder, ripping part of his shirt and creating a new wound. The pain did not even slow down the brute of a nord who was charging at full speed towards Afer. Unable to load another bolt fast enough Afer drops the crossbow and goes to reach for the dagger under his glove. As Angar gotten too close he swung his pick axe with brutish strength at Afer aiming at his legs. The pick axe digs deep in his thigh through the leather armor. Afer did not have time to scream in pain as Angar quickly follows up with shoulder charge knocking him on his back. All the air in Afer releases and the dagger in his hands slips out next to him. Angar waste zero time pouncing onto him and knees him in the gut before wrapping both monster size hands around his neck.
“Now tell me… who are you?” Angar quickly uses one of his hands to remove the mask off of Afer. He takes a long look at the Imperial “I don't know who you are. Good I won't feel bad when I send you body back to where it came”
Afer frowns showing his teeth but has trouble talking with a pair of hands around his throat “You heartless bastard. You dare kill everyone I love and say you don't know me!? Look closer cause I am gonna be the one that will kill you” he opens his eyes wider looking up at Angar angrily.
Angar stared back confused for a moment but did not lessen up his grip around his throat. He then put a more shocking look onto his face. “That boy I spared years ago. Finally taken act to find me yourself… Just know this boy. I’m not just gonna roll over and die for you. want to kill me? Try harder. Perhaps I may spare you again.” He now begins to squeeze down on Afer’s throat attempting to choke his life away.
Afer’s face soon gets red from the choking. At the corner of his eye he spots the dagger he dropped close to him. He reaches out for it for one hand and uses the other constantly punch Angar in attempts to free himself from his grip. Angar was still unphased by the punches, he continues to crush Afer’s throat while he gasp for air “Weak child. Not worth the effort. I showed you pity and you come back to toss your life away. Maybe I can bury you right next to....” Afer manages to grab the dagger and stab Angar several times in the shoulder and then cut him along the side of his face. Angar begins to flinch from the pain now and loosens his grip grunting in pain. Afer took one more stab in this shoulder where he now leaves the dagger impaled into Angar’s shoulder. This final impaled caused Angar to release Afer from his grip. Afer quickly rolls away and jumps of the ground coughing violently trying to breath to get his breath back.
Angar stands up gripping his arm and then slides his hand up to where the dagger was gripping the handle and slow pulling it out “Ahh! Fuck! That actually hurt” After pulling the dagger out he wields it in his bloody hands.
Afer draws one of his swords looking at Angar “You… you, I spent years running away and hiding in fear because of you. You ruined my life! You took everyone and Everything I care most for in this world and ripped it out of my life. I was forced to start anew because of you. A swift death is too generous… no no I want to hear you scream you bastard. I want you you to feel what I felt ten times over.” he stands up straight holding the blade up ready for battle. “I was to see your lifeless corpse underneath by boot”
Angar giggles at Afer’s words “Done? Fine, want to kill me? Do it then. Right here right now!” Angar holds the dagger up and getting into stance and then charges at Afer swiftly
Afer closes his eyes briefly to take a deep breathly and shoots them open swinging his sword quickly. Angar ducks underneath the swing and lunges the dagger at Afer. He swiftly swung his sword to block the dagger’s strike and causes Angar to back up quickly. He quickly regained his balance from the deflect and charged at Afer fast enough before he got back in stance. He knees Afer in the stomach once more and quickly follows with a dagger swing. Afer braced himself for the knee and looked up quickly afterwards and was slashed across the side of his face. Blood soon feel from Afer’s cheeks but this did not bother him while in the heat of battle. He jumps back biting his lip and closes his eyes once more talking low to himself “No more being a coward. No more running. No more dodging.” he opens his eyes looking at Angar who was in the process of charging again “No more anything” He braces himself for the charge but doesn't move an inch.
Angar assumed it was a trick but he continued the attack. He ran up to Afer like a charging bull and stopped short as he impaled Afer in his stomach area. He lifted him off the ground barely as he stabbed him. Afer looked at Angar with emotionless eyes and blood soon filled his mouth slowly dripping out. Afer then glances glances down at the sword in his hands. The sword impaled Angar as well and completely went through his body. The other side of the sword dripped blood as Afer released the handle of the sword as Angar lets go of the dagger in Afer. Angar stumbled back looking at Afer shocked once more. His vision begins to blur and he is unable to keep his balance, falling down onto his side spitting out blood that keep overfilling his mouth.
Afer slowly walks over to him smirking. “For Cynthia” He kicks Angar in the face while down ,gripping the sword stuck in him and pulls it out holding it up high in the air “For my mother. For everyone you killed and every life you ruin.” He grips the sword tightly and swings it hard over Angars neck separating his head from his shoulders. The head nearly flies off and rolls down a hill. “May you find happiness in Sovngarde or may your soul forever suffer.” he twirls the blade and swings it hard to the side to get the blood off and sheaths it.
The sky gets dark quickly and wolves howl in the distance. Afer can feel his strength weakening by the second. He bites his lip hard as he grips the dagger stuck in him and pulls it out hard “DAMMIT! AHH!” He screams from the sharp pain. He drops the dagger and stumbles his way to the cabin nearby. He vision blurs more and more as he gets closer to the house. He raids Angar’s cabin for medical supplies quickly and finds health potions that he quickly drowns down. Shortly after he passes out onto the floor.
-Next Morning-
*It's black again… no wait my eyes are not open again. Idiot* “Afer opens his eyes slowly. He finds himself on the floor and empty vials around him. He barely remembers what they were. He stands up slowly wincing at the sharp pain that still lingers from the fight. He steps outside and see the bright sun up high with birds filling the sky along with bright clouds. He continues to step out further and sees the corpse of Angar. He also sees that the wolves have gotten to body as several limbs and cloth were ripped off. He walks out slowly looking down at the dried blood on his hands “I did it. No more fear…” As he looks down he spots the silver mask he wore yesterday. He kneels down slowly to pick it up and holds the mask over his face briefly, sighing and then puts it back down “I..I'm not done yet. There is someone else that needs to die. I know you hear me. Show yourself”

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YouTube video: CTMZZG4aB51Jw5VmI0UR[/youtube]

Afer closes his eyes briefly and then opens them. As he opens them he sees Arben kneeled over coughing up a lot more blood. He looked almost like a walking corpse and his staff was lying to the side of him “You.. I told you not to do it. I TOLD YOU NOT TO!” he interrupts himself coughing violently
Afer almost seemed like he did not care “I know who you are. Or should I say what you are” Afer walks over to the crossbow he also dropped yesterday and loads it up with one of the bolts in his pouch. He points it at Arben and fires it. The bolt goes right through Arben and he stays there kneeling unphased from the bolt. The bolt did not even hit him though it went through him “Arben. You are not real. You are something I made up in my head to make myself feel better when I was younger. You are a figment of my imagination. I want you to go away now.”
Arben looks up with anger in his face “You want me to leave? After all I did for you? I gave you the confidence to keep pushing, I helped keep a smiling on your face, and I helped you from being a fucking mess of a child who cried all day in fear”
Afer straps the crossbow to his side “You gave me false confidence. You gave me false bravado. You gave me false optimism. Yes you helped me smile but those smiles were never real. There were to cover my fears. They were to make those around me feel at ease. And because of you..” he points to the corpse near them “I never avenged my family sooner. You helped me hide the fear but you never solved it. Now I ask you once more. Get out of my head!”
Arben puked blood now and looks up “You… you need me. If it wasn't for me you would have left that whore of wife you have and left your kids alone. You do not understand, boy, you don't understand how far a fake smile has taken you in this world.”
Afer sighs and closes his eyes. “Fuck the blind confidence and fuck the fake smiling. It's time I act like...me” he takes a deep breath and a ghostly figure appears before him. The figure remained shapeless for a moment before the legs and arms shoots out. The figures takes a recognizable form to Afer. It appeared as a giant breton woman as tall as an average height nord woman, with short hair, dressed in nordic armor and with a battle axe attached to her back. This ghostly figure took on the appearance as Afer’s decease friend, Cynthia.
Cynthia begins to be less transparent as she approaches Arben cracking her knuckles and grinning down at him. Afer opens his eyes “Goodbye Arben. You helped me when I was young but it's time for use to go our separate ways.” Cynthia punches Arben through the chest and her fist impales him and breaks out through the other side. Arben’s blood got all over Cynthia. He looks up at her as his body begins to glow white and then burst into billions of pieces and then disappear.
Cynthia turns back to Afer smirking placing her hands on her hips. Afer looks up at her “Hello old friend” Cynthia nods to him “I'm not old yet, loser” she says playfully. “Come on, let's go get drunk” She takes a few steps before stopping “Afer. Do this warrior as a favor. I need you to smile more around people. But before you say anything, it won't be a fake smile Arben taught you to do. It will be real smile cause you are a happy man. You are happy because you are avenging me. When you get back to Eastmarch check with the hall steward there. I left you gifts before I passed.” She smiles patting Afer on the back. Afer turns to her and smiles walking down the hill with her while laughing and chatting with her…. or laughing and chatting with himself

Spoiler

ROLL UP MARVEL MOVIE CREDITS
YouTube video: CTMZZG4aB51Jw5VmI0UR[/youtube]

Afer and several other Fighter’s Guild warriors stand over a bunch of vampire corpses in a dark cave filled with cages and skeletons with chains around their necks. Afer walks over the corpses observing each and everyone one of them. He wears his full Fighter’s Guild uniform and carries a loaded crossbow in his hands and Cynthia’s Axe on his back. “All clear. Good work” he pats random members on the back “Go ahead and head back, I will fill out a full report of this when I return” The other fighters nod and walk out. Afer clears his voice and talks aloud “Do’Omir. Stay a moment, I wish to say a few words to you” The Khajiit warriors pauses and turns around “What do you need from this one?” The Khajiit removes his helm. It is the same Khajiit who delivered the news of Cynthia Hawking death. Afer lowers his crossbow smiling “Just want to mention that I was watching you this whole time in here. Good work. You showed how fearless you were in here. Damn almost as if you wanted to lead this mission.” The Khajiit laughs lightly “Oh this one did not want to steal the spotlight from the new Warder. This one congratulates you for you new ranking. Warder Cynthia would be happy that you accepted to take her place.” Afer nods lightly still smiling “Yeah. She would be proud. May her soul find the rest it deserves. Well then, that is all I wanted to say. You may leave” Do’Omir nods slightly and turns slowly towards the cave’s entrance and begins walking. Afer speaks up again “Oh… wait one more thing.” Do’Omir turns quickly to him “Ye…” A crossbow bolt flies right through this neck and shortly after he begins choking on his own blood and unable to breath.

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YouTube video: CTMZZG4aB51Jw5VmI0UR[/youtube]

Afer stands there with his crossbow aimed at him with his head lowered and shadows covering his eyes “Your end has come.” Do’Omir falls to his knees with a pained and scared expression on his face as he feels himself dying slowly. He continues to look up at Afer until he collapsed onto the floor with a small pool forming around his body. Afer lowers his crossbow and walks over to the Khajiit corpse and kicks it over onto its back. He begins to talk in a low tone “Oh no… comrade, what has happen to you?” Afer looks to one of the vampire corpse and pull his dagger out to cut off the hand of the corpse. “Oh no comrade, watch out. I think Vampires still lurk about” Afer takes the severed hand and places it over the face of Do’Omir’s corpse. He digs the nails of the hand into his face and drags it across. “Watch out for their claws, Comrade. dangerous weapon they have” He removes the hands from his face and toss it to the side. He goes down to lift the body up “Comrade let's seek your aid” he smirks lightly walking out of the cave with the body hanging in his arms.
-hour later-
Afer brings the body to the Eastmarch Fighter’s guild with a sadden look in his face. He approaches Nijal the Hall Steward there. “We… we wiped the cave but there were vampires who lurked in the shadows out of our sight.” he looks to the corpse’s scratch marks “Do’Omir dropped his guard. Jammed his finger through his throat using those damn…” Nijal cuts him off “No need to explain comrade. Good work on your first specialist mission. Hopefully you recovered good information. Afer nods “Aye I have. take the body and give him a proper funeral, ok?”
Nijal nods taking the body and walking off.
Afer salutes and turns to the door of the guild walking out slowly. He lowers his head and smirks.
-later that day-
Afer sit in Cynthia’s room at a desk facing a wall with maps and wanted posters covering. Afer pulls out a small sheet of paper with a list of names and and reaches for a pen. He draws a line across Do’Omir’s name and puts the pen back. Cynthia stands right behind Afer placing her hand on his shoulder. She speaks to him in a low tone “One down. several more to go. Avenge me, Afer. Rid the world of those who have wronged me… and continue my work.” Afer looks at the paper emotionless “Working on that. I need time. I swear I will make sure everything you have started will be completed” Cynthia smiles down at him “Afer the Avenger. A title that will fit you well. Keep it... shhhh and don't tell anyone what you are doing. The weaklings will just ridicule you and get in your way” Afer nods “It's a title that I will keep…”
Serah walks up behind Afer “Daddy? who are you speaking to?” Afer shakes his head and smiles down at Serah lifting her up and sitting her on her lap “No one you little scamp” he kisses her forehead “Why are you not in bed? we go back home in the morning. Serah rubs her eyes “I couldn't sleep.” he rest her head against Afer and closes her eyes and falls asleep instantly. Afer rubs her back and stands up with her in his arm smiling to himself “This girl” he lays her down in the bed and he yawns “shit is about to change” he says softly