Gray Waves

Note before reading

This explains certain events I never explained In character cause reasons. Yes there are spoilers. No I dont RP Afer much anymore for this to matter so this is the only way to understand what I've done. But I hope you enjoy! More on the Afer character here: http://www.blueskooma.com/forum/m/22417574/viewthread/14959077-afer-infallable

- Takes place in Eastmarch. Many months ago-

The sky was pitch black with no stars showing in the sky. The clouds covered the sky but no snow was falling. It was quiet, even the wind was calm for that night.
Suddenly footsteps of a desperate man running for his life can be heard running down the road. A Breton noble man dressed in some of the finest clothing. He was middle aged with brown hair and some grey hairs among them. He was out of breath but kept running and looking behind terrified of what may be following him. He kept thinking to himself ‘have to keep moving.’ but he saw no signs of something behind him. He begins to slow down to catch his breath, but he sees a town within the distance. “Safety.” He continues down the road breathing heavily. Suddenly a sound of a crossbow fires from off the road among the trees. The bolt that fired hits the Breton in the leg forcing him to to fall to the ground “Agh!!!” he shouts in pain but he was too terrified to stop, he begins to crawl with his arms dragging his body. He begs “Please! Please I beg of you!”

Moving out from shadows of the trees a figured dressed in all black armor similar to Ebony style. He held a sword and shield on his back and a crossbow in his arms. He stared at the man as he walked towards him looking down at him. He gets closer and places his foot over one of the downed Breton’s hands stepping on it applying all his weight to it.

“AGHHH!!” the Breton screams huffing trying to catch his breath. He looked up extremely terrified “ How did you catch up? You are wearing so much armor to move fast.” He tries to free his hand but just can't with all the weight on top of it.

The Ebony man straps the crossbow on his back and proceeds to crush the Breton hand with his foot. He spoke to him in a deep voice unrecognizable “ I don't move fast. I cut corners” he kicks the Breton over and places his foot on his chest to keep him still “Running away makes this worse.” He begins to unsheathe his blade on his side. The blade is black but long. “I don't like runners. Please embrace your fate. All will end soon”

The Breton was in too much pain to speak clearly. “ Please don't do this. I-I-I can changed, I can change I promise just let me….” He was interrupted as a blade impaled him through the chest. He begins to cough up blood before falling silent.

The Ebony man pulls the blade out and holds it with one hand and leans over to drag the Breton’s body to the a large body of water they were near. He places the body in the water and let it float out. He kneels near the edge of the water taking out a rag from a small pouch and wipes his blade with it. He continues to do so in silence thinking about what he just done. Who he killed and why. Whatever the reasons were he convinced himself that it was justified.

Moments later he sees a group of civilians with torches and weapons the were shouting as they walked down the road. The Ebony man hid in the shadows watching them recognizing one of them as a Blacksmith from windhelm. He can hear him shout “Kjelle! Kjelle!” he overhears multiple other names but that one stood out. He sighs and stays hidden behind the tree as they pass.

-One day later-

In Windhelm , early in the morning, the same Blacksmith is in a room with a Imperial man discussing with him. The Imperial is revealed to be Afer. He hires Afer to track down and find his daughter and bring her to safety.
Afer accepts the job. He was dressed in his adventuring gear with only his chest having plated metal on it. The rest was thick leather with a variety of pockets on it, a few places to sheath a dagger, a belt with a number of items on it, a strap around his torso to hold his crossbow with more pouches on it. He kept a long sword to his side. His face was clean and smooth with a massive scar running down the center if his face. His hair was blonde but cut short like he recently had some of it cut. His eyes were as blue as the sky on its brightest of days. But no matter he heard or what pained look he saw on the blacksmith he kept a smile that varied in size based on what he heard. A cocky smile to keep the blacksmiths hopes up, even in this troubled time.

Soon he sets off from the Blacksmith’s home taking in a deep breath. “ No Dunther with me today. Going solo on this one.” He tightens his straps and sets off.

- Hours later -

Afer arrives in front of an abandoned mining cave. The door looked tightly shut with a ominous feel to it. He could just feel the evil that surrounded it.
Right next to him a slim nord appears dressed in full leathers with his face mostly covered with a hood and face mask, leaving his eyes exposed. “This is the cave. I’ve tracked the girls location to here. I have not explored but I can suspect vampires or bandits. Either are dangerous. Do we go in?”

Afer shakes his head with a smile “No. I go in. You are done, thank you” He leaves him some gold “Good tracking”

The nord looked confused “There are possibly multiple enemies in there with dangerous weapons or magic. You are no army all by yourself.”

Afer smiles looking at the entrance to the cave placing his hands on his waist with cocky grin yet he kept very calm. “I don’t need to be a army. I just need to be me”.

The nord sighs shaking his head “By Kyne’s beard this boy is gonna get himself killed..” He walks off.

Afer grins proceeding to talk to himself. He does this a lot but as a way to focus on his thoughts “Heh… here it is then. I go in, kill everything then go out. Simple. But this time, no Dunther to help me out. Nope he is being replaced for today and this team going in is gonna be me, myself, and I. Deadliest group in Tamriel.” He exhales “Ok, time is not on my side. I need to save these people.” He enters the cave noticing its barred from the other side “Oh dammit. Barred from the other side.” He peaks through the window “But it’s wood and its looks old maybe I can…” He charges at the door and he heads a cracking sound “Phew, again” He charges at the door again and again and again until SNAP. He breaks through, breaking the wood in half “That thing could not even stop a child.” He smirks and continues into the cave.

Inside the cave Afer moved in quietly. Using what he knows of stealth he slink through most of the cave but not seeing anything. The cave however was well lit with torches. Some kind of group was staying down here. He stays quiet as he enters the first massive room. All the torches were lit but nothing else was around. It was quiet except for the stream of water that flowed through the cave. “Hmm too quiet. Its vampires then” He loads in a silver bolt. He spots a gate on the opposite side of the cave, there was a rusty lock hanging on it but it was unlocked. He moves towards it “Let's go deeper” He opens the gate and continues on the path.
As he continues he spots a pale man in cloth walking around, patrolling the area. Afer could move quietly but attacking in stealth was something he never learned to do and will never learn to. Afer aims his crossbow directly at the vampire “Hey, don't move” He says right before shooting him with a silver bolt right in the chest. The vampire fell over to the ground lying still.
The noise caught the attention of a few more vampires who began to investigate the area. “Ok that was loud so I need to move now” He loads in another bolt and now begins to walk faster through the tunnel. Vampires were moving in one at a time to him, Anticipating this would be a vampire cave he brought a sword that had a fire enchant on it. “For a group of vampires you sure do have a lot of torches. Must be fake vampires” He smirks as he moves through the cave shooting or cutting each vampire sustaining a bit of damage on himself. No direct scratches from claws but was cut from a few blades and hit with a few offensive spells.

Soon he found himself in a area with prison cells. He runs up to each one. To observe the insides. He begins to frown as he sees all are either empty or have corpses in them “Too late…” He hears weeping from one of the cells he did not check and runs to it. Inside he finds a young girl in there, looked tortured and abused curled up in a corner Afer looks for a way to open the cell, pulling the lever next to it opening up the gate. He runs it to comfort the girl

“Hey… hey. Look I'm a friend, I'm a friend.”

The girl begins to kick and scream “No! Go away please no more!” The noise itself began to draw even more attention. Until there was a loud shout even further below giving warning to a intruder. Soon most of the cave began to rumble with movement

Afer hears this and he tugs her “Look. We are gonna get out of here. Please, I'm here to save you.” He picks her up and pulls her “Just look at me” He gives her a smiles “We are getting out of here”

The girl relaxed as she looked at him at him. Her face was filthy with lines of dirt cleared away from the tears she cried everyday. Her face drew blank as she got lost in his eyes. She looked slightly unresponsive but she grabs onto Afer’s arm and does not let go.

They ran back to the entrance of the first gate with the rusty lock but they were being followed by a group of 6 vampires. But these looked much bigger than the ones Afer just fought. They were now in the massive first room. One catches up to them right as they passed the gate. Afer pulls the girl so she was in front of him and pushes her ahead of her “KEEP GOING!” He shouts but the Vampire right behind them grabs Afer by the neck and tosses him back. He gets thrown onto his back and rolls over trying to ignore the pain. The vampire leaps onto him showing its teeth trying to dig them deep into Afer. He uses his hands to grab the vampire by the top of his mouth to keep him from biting. Pulling out one of the daggers on his side he stabs the creature in his neck. But one was not enough to stop it.
Afer looked over at the girl who slowed down to see if he was alright. But the other 5 large vampires bust through the gates letting out a screech. They do not bother with Afer and go straight for the girl charging at her.

The girl froze for a moment staring at the vampires charging at her.

Afer stabbed the beast again in the neck “RUN! JUST RUN!”

The girl snaps out of it and turns away running as fast as she could. She spots a lantern on the wall and threw it on the ground hoping the fire and oil will stop them. But she kept wanting to make sure Afer was ok.

Afer stabs the vampire on him a fourth time before it went down and off of him. He looks at the group of vampires chasing the girl and does not hesitate for a second to pick up his cross bow and load in a explosive fire bolt. He only had one and was gonna make it count.

I’m a idiot. I’m a idiot, I’m an idiot.

He takes aim and shouts “KEEP! GOING!” He fires the crossbow bolt but misses the group of Vampires, hitting the wall of the tunnel that led to the exit. It exploded on impact but the it was soon revealed that the cave was very much unstable. The tunnel began to rumble with rocks falling from the roof.

The girl kept running but rocks from the ceiling began to block the path. Luckily the girl was past the blockade of rubble. She kept running till she was out of the cave. She turns back looking at the entrance of the cave now with her hands folded “Please. Please come back out alive.” She waited there a moment before walking off

Inside the cave shooked. Afer covered his head and turned over. He felt he was gonna die but still kept his smile. Some of the falling rocks were big enough to crush someone. Few fell on top of the vampire group that came charging out. 3 of them were crushed. The fire enchanted sword Afer dropped was also beneath a large boulder, and his crossbow was crushed by one. Afer remained uncrushed but still plenty of smaller rocks did land on him.

As everything begins to settle a handful of the torches went out in the room making it significantly darker. Afer looked up to see 2 of the large Vampires uncrushed by the rocks but slightly wounded. Still good enough to fight a fierce battle. They turn to Afer and waste no time to lunge at him. Afer gets in a defensive stance and holds out a normal steel dagger as the only weapon he has to defend himself.

-Several minutes later-

I feel so sticky. Why am I so sticky? Wait… is this blood? Whose blood is this? Someone’s hurt? Oh wait… now I remember. It’s my blood.

Afer slowly regain consciousness after a short brutal fight. His vision was blurry but all he could see was two massive figures standing over him.

One vampire picks him up by his neck and punches him with full force in the face

That definitely broke something something in my face. It hurts to breath. But…

Afer punches the Vampire holding him and kicks him multiple times freeing him from his grip

It hurts to do nothing too. Staying down is not an option

Afer jumps back drawing the dagger he had on him charging at the nearest vampire stabbing it in the shoulder. “I hope you like this new type of piercing, it’s a bandit style dagger pierce-”

The vampire slashes him across the face with its claw knocking him back. He pulls the dagger out of his shoulder and the other vampire grabs Afer by the back of the head slamming him to the ground.

Afer coughed up blood and even more blood poured out from his face where he was slashed at. His face was drenched with it.

The jokes didn’t work. That was obvious. They look bloodthirsty… but they are also enjoying this. Heh, I would enjoy this too if I was in their place. Break my enemies down before I kill. What makes monsters so different? Just their history.

The fight continued with Afer being overwhelmed and outnumbered. This was a losing fight. Every attack Afer put out was always countered by the other vampire he was not targeting. One of the Vampires knocked to the ground and stomped on his back with full force.

Still hard to breath, and harder to lie still. Keep pushing. Keep fighting. My armor is crushed. My spine is beginning to follow. The head pain, it’s like a constant migraine. Im soaked in my own blood, my legs feel like melted cheese. I don’t even know where my dagger is anymore. I might live if I just stay down… but I’d sooner die than to surrender to abominations like this. That. Is. Not. A. Option.

Afer gets back up balling his fist and holding them up. “Be afraid I am a master of unarmed combat.” He jumps at one of them punching them hard but the Vampires barely flinched from the attack.

One of the vampires punches him again sending him back

Good news at least. The migraine went away. But.. I can't feel my head at all. Heh, I feel I never told anyone why I'm so cocky, why I make jokes as death stares at me in the face. The amount of times I’ve fought something that could have killed me is extremely high. Killers, bandits, any type of evil. If I showed them how afraid I really was, I would have been dead years ago. The cockiness hides the insecurities. It ruins foes concentrations. It lets me live on. Heh… It boost moral. Maybe that is why so many women like me.

Afer stood down for a moment. His body was in front of a pillar with one of the torch still lit in the cave. One of the Vampires lifts him up slamming him into that pillar. He shows its teeth, it was done having fun and now wanted to eat. Afer looked down at it with a small smirk

Coughs up blood talking some what slowly. It was painful for him to speak. “When I was young, I burned my hand near the campfire once. I cried about it. Mother told me that if I could not handle the burns…” A sudden jolt of energy fires up in Afer, His eyes open wide. He reaches from the torch mounted on the pillar ripping it off and hold the fire till it’s touching the vampire melting its skin right off “Do not play near fire.” The first vampire turned to ash right in front of him. He looked up to the second one holding the same torch. Afer’s face was covered in blood with his gear mostly destroyed. He took steps to the next Vampire.

The vampire showed its teeth, hissing, ready to attack but backed up as well, It feared the way this fire was being held.

Afer walked closer and closer with it with a limp “ Looks like I tip the scales.” he his walk soon turn to run as he charges at the beast shouting. Right before getting in range he leaps at the vampire swinging the torch down on it

The vampire swings it arm digging its claws deep into Afer and in the same motion he bites down onto Afer’s neck hard.

Afer screams in pain but does not stop, he makes direct contact with the torch and the vampire’s skin burning it till he turned to ash. Afer falls to his knees in pain then soon fell onto his back

Victory. Sorta. Heh… I’m dying. I’m soaking in a pool of my own blood. It will be a miracle if I survive. All of this, for one girl. A girl who I have not met in my life. My life traded for hers. Is it worth it? A innumerable times worth it. If I get out of this I would just do it again. And again. Till it kills me.

His eyes slowly began but he continues to wear his smile on his face.


-Months later-

On the northern side of Reaper's march was a Imperial designed home near the Strident springs. The home was that of a very wealthy person. Everything from statues to furniture looked very expensive and very fancy. Inside was a Breton woman sitting on one side of her octagon shaped table with a redguard design. She sat in a throne like chair with a number of sweet rolls populating the table. The room was not well lit, a number of the sconces on the wall were not lit up. She sat there with her arms folded and her legs crossed, looking into a dark section of her home.

“Is that what I am to believe?” She spoke up

A shadow like figure slowly moves into the light but barely. Dressed in black Ebony armor. Revealed to be the Ebony man “That is what you are to know.”

She scoffs “Oh right, what I ‘know’. And what about ‘Afer’s’ friends? You know they will want a body.”

The Ebony man “I will tell them the truth. There is no body…”

The Breton woman sighs “Sure. The truth”

“Is there something you want to say?”

“You are foolish. No one would believe that.”

Ebony man pauses looking looking down at her holding his silence

The Breton woman shakes her head “Fine. Go with that story.” she leans forward onto the table “Then tell me this. Why do all this?”

The Ebony man stood silent for a moment then turns to the door opening it up. Light begins to shine through better outlining his figure “I don’t want to be seen as a monster.” He closes the door behind him

The Breton woman sat there in the dark room placing her hands on her face sighing. She mutters to herself “......foolish brother. Do not go down this dark path. It does not fit well for you”

Shortly after another person enters the home. An Altmer in traveling gear “Ms. Charlotte Dusk? I request more work.”

The Breton looks at him “Of course, darling. You can do a delivery job”


-Current time. Post-Daedric siege-

Fog began to surround certain parts of the Valenwoods especially on some mountain tops. On one specifically with a cliffside was a young Imperial girl, no older than 13, practicing her shooting with a bow and arrow. She was near a large tree and on opposite side the tree was a memorial of sorts. She practice hitting a practice target that was given to her. Alongside her was a white fur bear dog resting its head. The dog would look up at Kana every once in awhile but keeping his head down. The girl was hitting most her shots with the bow and arrow cheering after each shot. She spoke with such energy in her voice and excitement “Dunther! Another one! Ahaha I’m becoming quite the marksman. Soon I’m gonna hit a target alllll the way far from me with precision.” She continues practicing her shooting.

Further up the mountain the fog gotten thicker, but soon found itself clearing away. A figure stands a top of it, looking down onto the the Imperial girl. She could not see this figure. The figure soon revealed to be the Ebony man looking down on her, staring. He mutters to himself as he kneels down watching her.

Minutes later a Breton woman sneaks up behind the Ebony man, walking slowly and calmly. She played with her fingers as she approached “Even after death you find yourself attached to this spot.” She slowly makes her way to the edge of the mountain to look over the edge. “Is that her? She has your dog. Already filling her father’s shoes.”

The Man grunts standing up “Why are you here, Charlotte?”

Charlotte shrugs “Why not? Just spending quality time with family.” She continues to look over the edge “Why don’t you just go over there and meet her? Surely you watching from up here pretending to be some…. What even are you trying to be? What novel did you read this out of?”


He grunts once more holding his silence as a response

“Of course. So, let me ask this. Why?”

“Because…”

“Because what? You are afraid your friends will see you some monster? Because the ‘oh so mighty Afer’ can’t be seen like this? Why go around spreading rumors of your death?”

“I did not spread rumors. I was hoping to avoid…”

Charlotte cuts him off “Oh you tried to avoid. All you had to do was not say anything… and now you have your daughter believing you are dead and Lucrezia believing she killed you. Whatever in the world took over your brain to do-”

The Ebony man cuts her off raising his voice “I got too close, I stood in one place too long, I have not talked to them in so long I just… Will you just leave?”

Charlotte shrugs standing up “Pathetic, Afer really. Stupid and pathetic.”

He holds his silence

“Well what happens when you get cured? Hmmm oh suddenly a celebration? I hope you don’t believe that.”

“If, I get cured. Im staying away. Move on to somewhere else. But for now-”

“So now you are just gonna play mystery stranger who spies on people all day and kill people all night.” She scoffs shaking her head “I expecting better than you. You have your friends caught in a web of lies, that one does not make any sense, and two just leads to more pain than it should. But it’s not my life…”

He looked away from her listening to her words. “Are you done?”

Charlotte shrugs “Are you done playing shadow hero?”

He grunts again.

She turns around “Well then -

He holds his hand up to her “Before you go. Can you do me one more favor please? Describe how she looks?”

“Why don’t you just look at her for yourself”

“You know why I can’t. Just one more favor, please.”

She sighs looking back down the mountain directly at the Imperial girl that was still oblivious to the two having their conversation up top. “Really short, dark short hair. She wearing her smile on her face. It’s a big one, guess she got that from you. Hmm very well developed for a woman her age. Her skin is darker than yours. ” She squints down “Her eyes are like yours, blue as the clear sky. That is something since I can tell from here. And… she has a scar, a nasty one. Going down the left side of her face. Where she get that from?”


The Ebony man lets out a long exhale, undoing on the straps to his helmet. He kept it tight on him. He removes his helm shortly afterwards. His face reveals a massive scar that goes across the center of his face diagonally. But the hair on his face was shaved. His skin was pale with veins easily visible. But he wore a blindfold. But there is a faint glow on the blindfold. The man lifts his head up pointing to the sky “She probably looks like her mother. The scar is from a hunting a bear.”

“A bear! On her own?”

“No. She had help.” He puts the helmet back on tightening the straps.

“Right.” She stands up “I nearly forgot why I came here. I have information for your next target. I hope you like breaking into fully protected noble homes.”

“Thrilling” He walks off with Charlotte

The fog returns and the Imperial girl looks up the mountain where the two were having their conversation. There was nothing there, just fog now. She swore she heard something. Maybe she was crazy “Ok Dunther! Watch this, gonna be a shot right down the middle!” She fires hitting the center “Bullseye! Kana number one! Ahaha!”

-END-

Author's note

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed! If not, thanks for reading! I wanted to post this cause I enjoy writing these types of stuff. I doubt I will continue with this page so feel free to comment or point out any typos. I know there must be many.