Gh0stMaloneJun 30, 2017Jun 30, 2017 at 05:43 AM
#1
Firstly I would just like to say "Thank you" for making me put this up, this is the first time I have every truly gotten connected with my character and I actually shed a tear while writing this (Lol). I went in not knowing what to heck to do, but as I went on and continued to write It kinda just flowed onto the paper and that is why it is so stinkin long, I had to cut out a lot of portions, but if you guys are interested (you probably won't be :) ) I'll post it here.
I am really looking forward to expand with BSR & ESO and I am really looking forward to RPing with you all soon.
ESO @name: @Gh0stMalone
Character Name: Ver'ra (Means "Faith")
Race: Breton
Age:(26)
Sex: Female
Marital Status: Single
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual (Prefers Men) Keeps to herself mostly.
Affliction: None
Physical Description:
Ver'ra is a young, short, blue eyed, petite but rugged Breton girl who has seen a lot of loss in her years, she wears her long dark brown hair laid down to cover up the scars on her neck & back, and also to conceal her injured ear. Her slim body is riddled with scars from her rough childhood, which is why she chooses to wear long sleeved shirts & skintight leather jerkins to cover the scars of her past.
From a very young age she had to fend for/provide for herself & her younger sister Aqyua, because of this she has learned many skills that kept them alive, such as lockpicking & pickpocketing, pretty much anything to help her get by, so to most she takes up the appearance of a thief. She is skilled with blades of all kinds but personally prefers to use Daggers over swords due to their light weight design, versatility, and speed.
In addition to her sword/dagger skills she taught both herself, and her sister how to skillfully use a bow for both protection against the land & the people who wish to do them harm, and hunting, living on your own with no coin to your name forces you to do many things once thought not possible.
Flairs:
Ver'ra is often covered with scuffs & dirt from living in the forested areas of High Rock and general traveling throughout Tamriel, she is no stranger to getting her hands dirty. She has a large, claw shaped scar stretching from the upper-mid part of her back to the lower left portion of her midriff from a savage bear attack that almost took her life.
Those however are not her only scars, years of training with men & women larger than her has left her body scarred, from lacerations to deep cuts, to bruises and some fractured bones, years of practice & pain have not left her with the smoothest skin, but she is strong, and never let anything keep her down for long.
Personality:
Growing up, Ver'ra was always very protective and conscientious...by nature she is strong willed, determined, and very anxious.
From the young age of 13 she has been fending for herself, anyone that she once saw as a friend left her and her sister to rot when their parents were murdered, this has left her emotionally broken and untrusting of others.
On a more upbeat note; Ver'ra is crafty, and precise with her hands, she enjoys working with many different materials, she is more particular fond of working with wood, whether it be wooden bows building shacks and huts for shelter, or creating instruments of her own, while Aquya learned how to sew and make clothes to keep them warm.
Ver'ra loves using her hands, her father taught her how to play the Lute before he was killed, so naturally she has a deep passion for music, and often plays songs from her heart for Aqyua. Ver'ra looks to Music as one of her "escapes" from reality, the feeling of letting her heart speak for her makes people who are around her feel "serene", and the feeling it brings her makes her feel "safe" even if for a moment.
In addition to her vast knowledge of the landscape and flora of High Rock, she learned a thing or two about thievery from living on the streets of Camlorn as a child, from pickpocketing to locksmithing, she became a devious, deceitful & mischief girl.
This however has not suppressed her charisma, Ver'ra is just as crafty with her words as she is with wood or a weapon, (though most of the time she keeps to herself unless she has good relations with the person) and most people can't help but listen to every word she has to say on the rare occasion she shares her pain & experiences with someone (typically a love intrest).
Likes:
-Passion for Music, specifically the Lute.
-Hunting, either Sport or for survival.
-Helping others.
-Working with her hands, more specifically woodworking and leatherworking
-Warm fires & clear nights.
-The sound of the evening rain as it hits the leaves.
-Aqyua’s gentle voice as she sings along to the songs she plays.
-Sunsets
-Memories of her family.
-Avid Reader.
-The occasional drink.
Dislikes:
-Tattletails.
-Fish
-The Daedra or any sort of destruction Magic.
-Long conversations about herself, Ver'ra is more of a listener.
-People who boast or brag about themselves.
-Any or all notion of the war.
Strengths:
-Skilled Hunter.
-Proficient in Lockpicking, sneaking, pickpocketing, etc.
-Can hold her own in a fight
-Can be charming when she wants to be.
-Compassion towards others even after everything she has been through.
-Memories of her Family drive her to keep moving.
-Can be seductive to get what she wants.
-Vast knowledge of plant-life & her surroundings.
Weaknesses:
-Family was/is more important to her than even her own life, and she often
threw/throws herself into harms way to protect what she loves.
-Her stubbornness often gets her in sticky situations.
-Refuses to choose a side in the war, she only cares about what's best for herself & helping others when shes able.
Why is your character in Dominion territory? How did they get here?
Ver'ra has been through a lot in her short life...the Divines have not been too kind to her & she has seen too much loss for one person to bare, but she keeps moving despite it all. Her most recent loss....the loss of her beloved Sister Aqyua was especially hard on her. It doesn't help that she constantly blames herself for every bit of what happened, even tho it was completely out of her control.
High Rock had been the only place she could call "Home" ever since she was born, she knows the land like it was her own backyard. But now she has no ties to that land...what has anyone there ever done for her? After her tragic loss she was left broken…either it was time to end it all....or get away from everything she thought to herself. If she were to run away, she could start a new life...with new people....new faces....and possibly start a new family of her own...however she is very reluctant & afraid that her past will keep repeating itself.
She decided that quitting was not the answer, that it was time to "Get away from everything"....even if that meant leaving everything she had every known to start a new life in a place that would seem alien to her...so she picked herself up…and headed in a single direction, with one intention in mind…never stopping…
This...is where Ver'ra's story begins...
Background:
(From this point the story will be told from Ver'ra's perspective)
"Life is a precious thing...you don’t truly know what you have…until every bit of it is stolen from you" [she begins to choke up as she tightens her grasp around her mug full of wine] "I have learned...you have to pick yourself back up...and keep moving, no matter what." [a soft, gentle smile forms on her face as tears slowly well up in her eyes as thoughts of her sister aqyua find their way into the spotlight of her mind].
Growing up was never easy, even before everything was taken from me, before we were taken from our home, I was a hardworking, loyal student in school, and as you could imagine…I didn’t have a lot of time for friends, even still my childhood was sweet. Most of the people I played with were from school, and when we did hang out we mostly did mischievous things…such as poke fun at the guards & explore abandoned places, we even got our hands on some Sweet Leaf a couple of times…which I loved and still do on occasions…
Other than the little bit of time I had to goof off and mess around, my Papa spent most of his free time teaching me how to fight to protect myself, as well as teach me to play the Lute.
Mama always told me & Papa she saw something in me, something special that only she could see; I never quite understood what she meant by that, still don't to be honest. I guess that's what you can expect when your Mother is a Cleric.
She would always help Aqyua with her work & taught her basic forms of magic for healing purposes, which I'd like to believe that is partially why I've made it this far.
“Gods I miss her…”[ver’ra says as a tear trickles down her left cheek, she looks deeply into her mug as she wipes the tear off her face before anyone can notice and tries to play it off; she takes a drink of the wine and continues]
Papa was an extraordinary man. He was Mother's Yang to her Yin, she was his Kindered spirit, his River Lilly, I have never seen a bond so strong, one that could not possibly be broken by any form on Nirn. They always told me it was fate that brought them together...and even in death I can still feel them watching over me…It was like a perfect love story.
Papa was a soldier, not only that but a warcheif, I won’t go too far into details about that...but when he met my mother he had been gravelly injured from a recent battle, “Nearly slipped off to the Dreamsleeve” he always told us “When your Mother saved me and Brought me back down to Nirn”, at the time she was the only cleric strong enough to mend his fatal wounds, she saved his life, he was forever in her debt, and from there it was love at first sight…
[she begins crying tears of sadness at the thought of her parents, nothing meant more to her than her family]
Papa always wanted what was best for me, Mother & Aqyua and I loved him for that. He was a family man, I could tell that being away from us was hard on him in the war…but being by King Emeric’s side was his duty, and no matter how hard it was, we had to understand that. Nonetheless he spent most, if not all of his free time at home either training me to protect myself, or spending his time with us in other ways.
I was born on the 12th day of Rain's Hand year 2E 557, on my 4th birthyear Papa gave me my very first Lute, while I didn’t quite understand it at first…to this day it is but now the only heirloom I have to remember him by, he crafted it himself with his own hands, he said it “Carries a piece of him”. I love it, he taught me so much...I...it's the only piece of him I have left, I can feel his presense upon me when I play it’s soothing strings...It is the best gift I have ever received. I miss him…
Throughout the years of my childhood he taught me how to play in his spare time. He always told me great stories about his adventures around the fire on starry nights with Aqyua and sometimes Mama would join, I loved every one of his stories, I felt like I was in a dream listening to his sturdy, but soft and gentle voice tell fascinating stories about his life. My most favorite being the one he would tell every year during Old Life Festival, the story about how Mama and him met, it always brought me to tears. Life was great. Years passed without event, all the while he would train me to fight and protect myself, & mother would help read and learn new things outside of school.
Attack of the Daedra:
The year is now 2E 570, everything is peaceful on the 15th Morning of the Morning Star. We lived in a small town outside Camlorn & We were sent home early from school for South Winds Prayer, things seemed “off” on the walk home with Aquya, nothing was too out of the ordinary, however the sky had an unnatural hue to it, we thought nothing of it and continued on.
Aqyua told me about a new healing spell she had learned recently, and that she noticed one of the Dunmer boys at the school looking at me and that he had a “thing” for me…I told her to shut up and we ran home.
It was mid afternoon when it all happened…Gods I will never forget the sounds…the screams…to this day they still haunt me.
It all happened so fast, I was so unprepared…mother was teaching Aqyua how to master her newest restoration spell while dad and I were training in the yard. He always saw my weaknesses and the moments I would let my guard down and would point them out until I got better and closed the gap. He was a great teacher, the soldiers who served under him were great warriors, I knew a lot of them and I would often see them guarding our town, when I wasn’t poking fun at them I would talk to them and get to know them.
We were about done with our session, it was just pass the 17th hour & we were about to go out to get sweetrolls and play my lute, he had one of his own and we would play together in harmony, it brought mother to tears hearing us play. We were about done with our session when we heard a loud explosion outside our house which made the whole place shake and rumble, it sounded like a thousand fireworks went off at the same time.
“What was that?!” I asked Papa,
“I’m not sure, Ver’ra…go to your mother…Now!” He said with a stern voice.
I nodded and did as he instructed. As I ran through the house to where my mother and sister were I could hear the screams of the townspeople through the walls, for some reason it made me run faster, I needed to get to them as fast as possible and I didn’t know why, it was just instinct.
As I reached the Basement where they were training I see my mom praying to the Divines in the center of the room, laid before her were relics that were passed down from generations of her family, these relics had amazing powers that only she and a handful of other people understood.
“W-what are you doing mama? What is going on outside?” I exclaimed.
“They’re here…” Aqyua said ever so softly.
“Who’s here” I asked, puzzled.
Mother finished her prayer and slowly looked up to me with tears streaming down her face, her face swollen up from sobbing and her eyes bloodshot from all the tears.
“The Deadra are here Ver’ra, they are terrible beings controlled by the Deadric Prince Molag Bol, our time is up.” She said in a broken down voice.
I began to panic as I heard the word Deadra, I had read a book or two about the deadra in the past, but I never really saw them as a threat to us so I didn’t care to remember the important facts about them, plus I had skimmed through the book…it was the only thing my mother refused to teach me.
“T-the Deadra?” I said with a whimper. “Papa!!” I yelled as I snapped back to myself and ran up the stairs to the front door. As I reach the front door I could hear fighting going on outside, I hesitated for a moment to open the door, fearing what I would find outside. My instincts kicked in however when I thought of my Papa, I rushed out the door only to see brutal fights erupting between the people & Army of Camlorn & the Daedra. A hunger Daedric Anchor had been dropped right in the center of our town and the daedra were spilling out of it.
I used my size to my advantage and snuck around the town to find my father, it was a massacre, I will never forget the site, I saw peoples head on pikes, entrails spilled all over the ground, people who I knew…my friends & their families…It was almost too much for me…Father was not too far from the house, I could see him dressed in his Warcheif armor & fighting alongside his Brothers in Arms, I almost called out to him, but I feared I would be seen and killed by the daedra. They would easily overpower a small girl like me. I watched helplessly as each of his comrades were struck down in battle, most of them I knew by name, I knew their families, all of them, killed like it was nothing.
My father slayed one of the Daedra and looked to the sky, Cursed Molag Bal, said a prayer Stendarr & Kynareth. As the last of his men fell, I could see it in his eyes, he knew it was over, there was nothing he could do to protect his people, he was supposed to be the light in the darkness…but it was just too much for him. He slayed the last Daedriac monster that was near him and he fell to his knees with exhaustion. I couldn’t do anything, tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of my father, my hero, defeated, I realized the hopelessness of the situation, somehow…through the fighting he must have heard my cries because he looked straight at me and I could see how worried he was for my sake, and that of my mother & sister. Immediately, almost as if we were ordered to, we both ran back to the house, to Mother & Aqyua.
As we ran inside he slammed the door, barricaded it, and he looked at me with the with the most serious look on his face I’ve ever seen, he got on one knee, put his hands on my shoulders, and hugged me tighter than he ever had before.
“I’m so sorry Ver’ra…I have failed” He says as he puts his hand on the back of my head. At this point I can feel his tears land on my head and I can feel him shake, I’ve never seen him like this before, but I have already fully grasped the scale of the situation, this was it for us, unless we found a way to escape they would just hunt us down like animals and murder us.
I couldn’t say anything, I only hugged him back and cried silently.
“I love you so much…” he said gently. He then pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes and said “It’s going to be okay Baby Girl…I promise.” he said as he wiped my tears away from my face.
I looked back at him and nodded, I don’t know how, or why, but when he said that…I felt at ease, my mind was at peace even though the world around us was crumbling. Even still I could see defeat in his eyes, but he was strong….
He had that power, that special ability to make you feel “okay” and “Safe”, even if it was a lie. He was my Superhero.
I looked at him and nodded. Just after he heard loud bangs on the door behind us.
“We don’t have much time, Come with me Ver’ra!” He shouted as he took my hand and we ran downstairs to my mother and sister, who had been down there the whole time. Halfway down the stairs he stops and tells me to keep going. “There is one thing I need get before it is too late” he said in a stern, demanding voice before running upstairs.
I continued downstairs and saw that all the furniture was moved and a large part of the floor had markings on it with mothers heirloom relics scattered on the floor, it had become clear to me that she was preparing a portal for us to escape. I looked to my mother who was on her knees, praying in in the middle of the circle, then I looked to Aqyua who was silently sobbing on other side of the room, I quickly ran to her to comfort her, she then hugged me tightly, I returned the hug and began whispered to her
“It’s going to be okay baby girl…I promise…”. These were words papa used to always say to me when I felt sad or lonely, or if I felt I wasn’t strong enough to do it, he would say this to me and I knew that no matter what, I can do it.
“Aqyua…Look at me!” I said as I brought her eyes to meet mine.
“We are going to be okay” I said, hardly believing the words in which I spoke.
“I know…b-but….” she whimpered. “I will always be with you” I said.
Aqyua smiled slightly and nodded.
Mother began to stand up as Papa came quickly down the stairs, with my Lute in hand. Mother turned to me, slowly walked over and looked me in the eyes, by the grim look on her face…it was clear that she and papa would not be able to go through the portal.
“Ver’ra, Aqyua, I am…so sorry…we have failed you both, we have failed our town, we have failed High Rock.” She said as she hugged us both tightly.
“Your time however, is not over, your lives are just beginning, your journey will be hard, but you must stay strong, you must protect each other, you both are strong in your own ways, you will survive if you stay together, and never loose sight of your future…you both are going to do great things….I love you so much and I thank the Divines everyday for blessing me with you both.”… At this point everyone in the room has a wet face, family runs deep in this household, and the Daedra have taken that away from us.
Papa had finished barricading the basement door, at this point and had walked over to me and hands me my lute.
“Ver’ra, you will always be my Mountain Flower, my Soldier, my Sunshine…I need you to stay strong for your sister. Take your Lute, it will always carry a piece of me. Never stop playing it, no matter how much hurt, no matter how hard life is or how painful things might be for you and your sister, remember…I will always be with you…your journey is only beginning.” I take the lute in my hand and then look up to him. I nod and hug him for what would be for the last time. “Never lose sight of who you are, you are a Macgrath,“ He said in a calming voice and kisses my forehead, he then kisses Aqyua’s forehead and begins to softly sob, as the daedra start to beat on the basement door.
“Quickly! We haven't much time!” Mother says She takes her Special Soulgem Necklace that has been passed down upon generations of mages in her family off her neck and gives it to Aqyua. “This will always carry a piece of me, never take it off. I will always be with you.” She kisses her forehead and Begins to open the portal. She needs to consonantly cast the spell to keep the portal open long enough so she is unable to pass through it before it closes.
The Deadra break into the room as the portal opens enough for us to pass through Papa holds them off as long as he can, Aqyua is the first one to step through, as I head towards the portal, I look back one last time, only to see my father being stabbed right through with a sword by a chief Daedra warrior. I scream in pain watching my hero, my idle being killed and tossed aside like it’s nothing, knowing my mother would soon follow I started to bawl.
“Go Ver’ra! Now!!!” Mother screams. I tightly grasp my Lute, I close my eyes, and jump through the portal.
As I pass through to the other side I land on my feet but then fall to my hands and knees, Aqyua is soon at my side to comfort me, somehow, throughout this whole ordeal, she was more calm and composed than I was..tears ran down my face as I feel the sand on my knees and hands from the ground we landed on. We hug each other and take a moment to collect ourselves. We ended up on a beach in northwestern High Rock, it was sunset, the sky was clear and the air was crisp, we sat on the beach for what felt like hours, at least into the hours of the night.
Life from there was rough, we didn’t stay in a single place for long and any place we would end up calling “Home” was either robbed and torched by bandits or destroyed by the stray Giant. But we persevered I used some of the skills I learned and trained with the local theives guilds in the towns we would end up at, I had to resort to taking things that weren’t mine, or doing dirty jobs to scrounge up enough money to scrap by. After a while of that we moved closer towards Camlorn, trying to seek answers to what actually happened that fateful day.
The journey there was not easy, we would do the bestwe could to build shelters and I did most of the hunting while she got the fire going. There was this one instance however where I bit off a little more than I could chew…I was unlucky enough to pray upon a large male Elk one afternoon while I was hunting, little did I know that this elk had caught the attention of a bear in the nearby woods…I was somewhat of a “skilled” at this point, I was able to pinpoint vital areas and hit precision shots to take them out as painlessly and effectively as possible, this time was no different.
It was a clean kill, not too much blood and most of the meat was still usable, as I was cleaning my game I let my guard down for a minute…which was one of the greatest mistakes of my life, this wasn’t just a bear, this was the bear from your children scary stories, towering much much larger than a human, fast, strong, and fearless…I still don’t know how I got away, but he got me pretty good. I managed to injure him enough to make him retreat, and I managed to crawl my way back to our hut…out in the cold, all by yourself, maimed and left for dead…I thought my life was over, I would slip into the Dreamsleeve and I will finally be at peace. Tears formed in my eyes as I laid there looking at the stars that began to appear in the sky.
I needed to stay strong, I made my way back to the hut where Aqyua patched me up the best she could, I was amazed…and grateful, at least the pain was more bearable.
I wish she could be here now…
3 years have passed since her death…I hate the very thought of going back to High Rock, we should have left when we had the chance.
I am really looking forward to expand with BSR & ESO and I am really looking forward to RPing with you all soon.
ESO @name: @Gh0stMalone
Character Name: Ver'ra (Means "Faith")
Race: Breton
Age:(26)
Sex: Female
Marital Status: Single
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual (Prefers Men) Keeps to herself mostly.
Affliction: None
Physical Description:
Ver'ra is a young, short, blue eyed, petite but rugged Breton girl who has seen a lot of loss in her years, she wears her long dark brown hair laid down to cover up the scars on her neck & back, and also to conceal her injured ear. Her slim body is riddled with scars from her rough childhood, which is why she chooses to wear long sleeved shirts & skintight leather jerkins to cover the scars of her past.
From a very young age she had to fend for/provide for herself & her younger sister Aqyua, because of this she has learned many skills that kept them alive, such as lockpicking & pickpocketing, pretty much anything to help her get by, so to most she takes up the appearance of a thief. She is skilled with blades of all kinds but personally prefers to use Daggers over swords due to their light weight design, versatility, and speed.
In addition to her sword/dagger skills she taught both herself, and her sister how to skillfully use a bow for both protection against the land & the people who wish to do them harm, and hunting, living on your own with no coin to your name forces you to do many things once thought not possible.
Flairs:
Ver'ra is often covered with scuffs & dirt from living in the forested areas of High Rock and general traveling throughout Tamriel, she is no stranger to getting her hands dirty. She has a large, claw shaped scar stretching from the upper-mid part of her back to the lower left portion of her midriff from a savage bear attack that almost took her life.
Those however are not her only scars, years of training with men & women larger than her has left her body scarred, from lacerations to deep cuts, to bruises and some fractured bones, years of practice & pain have not left her with the smoothest skin, but she is strong, and never let anything keep her down for long.
Personality:
Growing up, Ver'ra was always very protective and conscientious...by nature she is strong willed, determined, and very anxious.
From the young age of 13 she has been fending for herself, anyone that she once saw as a friend left her and her sister to rot when their parents were murdered, this has left her emotionally broken and untrusting of others.
On a more upbeat note; Ver'ra is crafty, and precise with her hands, she enjoys working with many different materials, she is more particular fond of working with wood, whether it be wooden bows building shacks and huts for shelter, or creating instruments of her own, while Aquya learned how to sew and make clothes to keep them warm.
Ver'ra loves using her hands, her father taught her how to play the Lute before he was killed, so naturally she has a deep passion for music, and often plays songs from her heart for Aqyua. Ver'ra looks to Music as one of her "escapes" from reality, the feeling of letting her heart speak for her makes people who are around her feel "serene", and the feeling it brings her makes her feel "safe" even if for a moment.
In addition to her vast knowledge of the landscape and flora of High Rock, she learned a thing or two about thievery from living on the streets of Camlorn as a child, from pickpocketing to locksmithing, she became a devious, deceitful & mischief girl.
This however has not suppressed her charisma, Ver'ra is just as crafty with her words as she is with wood or a weapon, (though most of the time she keeps to herself unless she has good relations with the person) and most people can't help but listen to every word she has to say on the rare occasion she shares her pain & experiences with someone (typically a love intrest).
Likes:
-Passion for Music, specifically the Lute.
-Hunting, either Sport or for survival.
-Helping others.
-Working with her hands, more specifically woodworking and leatherworking
-Warm fires & clear nights.
-The sound of the evening rain as it hits the leaves.
-Aqyua’s gentle voice as she sings along to the songs she plays.
-Sunsets
-Memories of her family.
-Avid Reader.
-The occasional drink.
Dislikes:
-Tattletails.
-Fish
-The Daedra or any sort of destruction Magic.
-Long conversations about herself, Ver'ra is more of a listener.
-People who boast or brag about themselves.
-Any or all notion of the war.
Strengths:
-Skilled Hunter.
-Proficient in Lockpicking, sneaking, pickpocketing, etc.
-Can hold her own in a fight
-Can be charming when she wants to be.
-Compassion towards others even after everything she has been through.
-Memories of her Family drive her to keep moving.
-Can be seductive to get what she wants.
-Vast knowledge of plant-life & her surroundings.
Weaknesses:
-Family was/is more important to her than even her own life, and she often
threw/throws herself into harms way to protect what she loves.
-Her stubbornness often gets her in sticky situations.
-Refuses to choose a side in the war, she only cares about what's best for herself & helping others when shes able.
Why is your character in Dominion territory? How did they get here?
Ver'ra has been through a lot in her short life...the Divines have not been too kind to her & she has seen too much loss for one person to bare, but she keeps moving despite it all. Her most recent loss....the loss of her beloved Sister Aqyua was especially hard on her. It doesn't help that she constantly blames herself for every bit of what happened, even tho it was completely out of her control.
High Rock had been the only place she could call "Home" ever since she was born, she knows the land like it was her own backyard. But now she has no ties to that land...what has anyone there ever done for her? After her tragic loss she was left broken…either it was time to end it all....or get away from everything she thought to herself. If she were to run away, she could start a new life...with new people....new faces....and possibly start a new family of her own...however she is very reluctant & afraid that her past will keep repeating itself.
She decided that quitting was not the answer, that it was time to "Get away from everything"....even if that meant leaving everything she had every known to start a new life in a place that would seem alien to her...so she picked herself up…and headed in a single direction, with one intention in mind…never stopping…
This...is where Ver'ra's story begins...
Background:
(From this point the story will be told from Ver'ra's perspective)
"Life is a precious thing...you don’t truly know what you have…until every bit of it is stolen from you" [she begins to choke up as she tightens her grasp around her mug full of wine] "I have learned...you have to pick yourself back up...and keep moving, no matter what." [a soft, gentle smile forms on her face as tears slowly well up in her eyes as thoughts of her sister aqyua find their way into the spotlight of her mind].
Growing up was never easy, even before everything was taken from me, before we were taken from our home, I was a hardworking, loyal student in school, and as you could imagine…I didn’t have a lot of time for friends, even still my childhood was sweet. Most of the people I played with were from school, and when we did hang out we mostly did mischievous things…such as poke fun at the guards & explore abandoned places, we even got our hands on some Sweet Leaf a couple of times…which I loved and still do on occasions…
Other than the little bit of time I had to goof off and mess around, my Papa spent most of his free time teaching me how to fight to protect myself, as well as teach me to play the Lute.
Mama always told me & Papa she saw something in me, something special that only she could see; I never quite understood what she meant by that, still don't to be honest. I guess that's what you can expect when your Mother is a Cleric.
She would always help Aqyua with her work & taught her basic forms of magic for healing purposes, which I'd like to believe that is partially why I've made it this far.
“Gods I miss her…”[ver’ra says as a tear trickles down her left cheek, she looks deeply into her mug as she wipes the tear off her face before anyone can notice and tries to play it off; she takes a drink of the wine and continues]
Papa was an extraordinary man. He was Mother's Yang to her Yin, she was his Kindered spirit, his River Lilly, I have never seen a bond so strong, one that could not possibly be broken by any form on Nirn. They always told me it was fate that brought them together...and even in death I can still feel them watching over me…It was like a perfect love story.
Papa was a soldier, not only that but a warcheif, I won’t go too far into details about that...but when he met my mother he had been gravelly injured from a recent battle, “Nearly slipped off to the Dreamsleeve” he always told us “When your Mother saved me and Brought me back down to Nirn”, at the time she was the only cleric strong enough to mend his fatal wounds, she saved his life, he was forever in her debt, and from there it was love at first sight…
[she begins crying tears of sadness at the thought of her parents, nothing meant more to her than her family]
Papa always wanted what was best for me, Mother & Aqyua and I loved him for that. He was a family man, I could tell that being away from us was hard on him in the war…but being by King Emeric’s side was his duty, and no matter how hard it was, we had to understand that. Nonetheless he spent most, if not all of his free time at home either training me to protect myself, or spending his time with us in other ways.
I was born on the 12th day of Rain's Hand year 2E 557, on my 4th birthyear Papa gave me my very first Lute, while I didn’t quite understand it at first…to this day it is but now the only heirloom I have to remember him by, he crafted it himself with his own hands, he said it “Carries a piece of him”. I love it, he taught me so much...I...it's the only piece of him I have left, I can feel his presense upon me when I play it’s soothing strings...It is the best gift I have ever received. I miss him…
Throughout the years of my childhood he taught me how to play in his spare time. He always told me great stories about his adventures around the fire on starry nights with Aqyua and sometimes Mama would join, I loved every one of his stories, I felt like I was in a dream listening to his sturdy, but soft and gentle voice tell fascinating stories about his life. My most favorite being the one he would tell every year during Old Life Festival, the story about how Mama and him met, it always brought me to tears. Life was great. Years passed without event, all the while he would train me to fight and protect myself, & mother would help read and learn new things outside of school.
Attack of the Daedra:
The year is now 2E 570, everything is peaceful on the 15th Morning of the Morning Star. We lived in a small town outside Camlorn & We were sent home early from school for South Winds Prayer, things seemed “off” on the walk home with Aquya, nothing was too out of the ordinary, however the sky had an unnatural hue to it, we thought nothing of it and continued on.
Aqyua told me about a new healing spell she had learned recently, and that she noticed one of the Dunmer boys at the school looking at me and that he had a “thing” for me…I told her to shut up and we ran home.
It was mid afternoon when it all happened…Gods I will never forget the sounds…the screams…to this day they still haunt me.
It all happened so fast, I was so unprepared…mother was teaching Aqyua how to master her newest restoration spell while dad and I were training in the yard. He always saw my weaknesses and the moments I would let my guard down and would point them out until I got better and closed the gap. He was a great teacher, the soldiers who served under him were great warriors, I knew a lot of them and I would often see them guarding our town, when I wasn’t poking fun at them I would talk to them and get to know them.
We were about done with our session, it was just pass the 17th hour & we were about to go out to get sweetrolls and play my lute, he had one of his own and we would play together in harmony, it brought mother to tears hearing us play. We were about done with our session when we heard a loud explosion outside our house which made the whole place shake and rumble, it sounded like a thousand fireworks went off at the same time.
“What was that?!” I asked Papa,
“I’m not sure, Ver’ra…go to your mother…Now!” He said with a stern voice.
I nodded and did as he instructed. As I ran through the house to where my mother and sister were I could hear the screams of the townspeople through the walls, for some reason it made me run faster, I needed to get to them as fast as possible and I didn’t know why, it was just instinct.
As I reached the Basement where they were training I see my mom praying to the Divines in the center of the room, laid before her were relics that were passed down from generations of her family, these relics had amazing powers that only she and a handful of other people understood.
“W-what are you doing mama? What is going on outside?” I exclaimed.
“They’re here…” Aqyua said ever so softly.
“Who’s here” I asked, puzzled.
Mother finished her prayer and slowly looked up to me with tears streaming down her face, her face swollen up from sobbing and her eyes bloodshot from all the tears.
“The Deadra are here Ver’ra, they are terrible beings controlled by the Deadric Prince Molag Bol, our time is up.” She said in a broken down voice.
I began to panic as I heard the word Deadra, I had read a book or two about the deadra in the past, but I never really saw them as a threat to us so I didn’t care to remember the important facts about them, plus I had skimmed through the book…it was the only thing my mother refused to teach me.
“T-the Deadra?” I said with a whimper. “Papa!!” I yelled as I snapped back to myself and ran up the stairs to the front door. As I reach the front door I could hear fighting going on outside, I hesitated for a moment to open the door, fearing what I would find outside. My instincts kicked in however when I thought of my Papa, I rushed out the door only to see brutal fights erupting between the people & Army of Camlorn & the Daedra. A hunger Daedric Anchor had been dropped right in the center of our town and the daedra were spilling out of it.
I used my size to my advantage and snuck around the town to find my father, it was a massacre, I will never forget the site, I saw peoples head on pikes, entrails spilled all over the ground, people who I knew…my friends & their families…It was almost too much for me…Father was not too far from the house, I could see him dressed in his Warcheif armor & fighting alongside his Brothers in Arms, I almost called out to him, but I feared I would be seen and killed by the daedra. They would easily overpower a small girl like me. I watched helplessly as each of his comrades were struck down in battle, most of them I knew by name, I knew their families, all of them, killed like it was nothing.
My father slayed one of the Daedra and looked to the sky, Cursed Molag Bal, said a prayer Stendarr & Kynareth. As the last of his men fell, I could see it in his eyes, he knew it was over, there was nothing he could do to protect his people, he was supposed to be the light in the darkness…but it was just too much for him. He slayed the last Daedriac monster that was near him and he fell to his knees with exhaustion. I couldn’t do anything, tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of my father, my hero, defeated, I realized the hopelessness of the situation, somehow…through the fighting he must have heard my cries because he looked straight at me and I could see how worried he was for my sake, and that of my mother & sister. Immediately, almost as if we were ordered to, we both ran back to the house, to Mother & Aqyua.
As we ran inside he slammed the door, barricaded it, and he looked at me with the with the most serious look on his face I’ve ever seen, he got on one knee, put his hands on my shoulders, and hugged me tighter than he ever had before.
“I’m so sorry Ver’ra…I have failed” He says as he puts his hand on the back of my head. At this point I can feel his tears land on my head and I can feel him shake, I’ve never seen him like this before, but I have already fully grasped the scale of the situation, this was it for us, unless we found a way to escape they would just hunt us down like animals and murder us.
I couldn’t say anything, I only hugged him back and cried silently.
“I love you so much…” he said gently. He then pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes and said “It’s going to be okay Baby Girl…I promise.” he said as he wiped my tears away from my face.
I looked back at him and nodded, I don’t know how, or why, but when he said that…I felt at ease, my mind was at peace even though the world around us was crumbling. Even still I could see defeat in his eyes, but he was strong….
He had that power, that special ability to make you feel “okay” and “Safe”, even if it was a lie. He was my Superhero.
I looked at him and nodded. Just after he heard loud bangs on the door behind us.
“We don’t have much time, Come with me Ver’ra!” He shouted as he took my hand and we ran downstairs to my mother and sister, who had been down there the whole time. Halfway down the stairs he stops and tells me to keep going. “There is one thing I need get before it is too late” he said in a stern, demanding voice before running upstairs.
I continued downstairs and saw that all the furniture was moved and a large part of the floor had markings on it with mothers heirloom relics scattered on the floor, it had become clear to me that she was preparing a portal for us to escape. I looked to my mother who was on her knees, praying in in the middle of the circle, then I looked to Aqyua who was silently sobbing on other side of the room, I quickly ran to her to comfort her, she then hugged me tightly, I returned the hug and began whispered to her
“It’s going to be okay baby girl…I promise…”. These were words papa used to always say to me when I felt sad or lonely, or if I felt I wasn’t strong enough to do it, he would say this to me and I knew that no matter what, I can do it.
“Aqyua…Look at me!” I said as I brought her eyes to meet mine.
“We are going to be okay” I said, hardly believing the words in which I spoke.
“I know…b-but….” she whimpered. “I will always be with you” I said.
Aqyua smiled slightly and nodded.
Mother began to stand up as Papa came quickly down the stairs, with my Lute in hand. Mother turned to me, slowly walked over and looked me in the eyes, by the grim look on her face…it was clear that she and papa would not be able to go through the portal.
“Ver’ra, Aqyua, I am…so sorry…we have failed you both, we have failed our town, we have failed High Rock.” She said as she hugged us both tightly.
“Your time however, is not over, your lives are just beginning, your journey will be hard, but you must stay strong, you must protect each other, you both are strong in your own ways, you will survive if you stay together, and never loose sight of your future…you both are going to do great things….I love you so much and I thank the Divines everyday for blessing me with you both.”… At this point everyone in the room has a wet face, family runs deep in this household, and the Daedra have taken that away from us.
Papa had finished barricading the basement door, at this point and had walked over to me and hands me my lute.
“Ver’ra, you will always be my Mountain Flower, my Soldier, my Sunshine…I need you to stay strong for your sister. Take your Lute, it will always carry a piece of me. Never stop playing it, no matter how much hurt, no matter how hard life is or how painful things might be for you and your sister, remember…I will always be with you…your journey is only beginning.” I take the lute in my hand and then look up to him. I nod and hug him for what would be for the last time. “Never lose sight of who you are, you are a Macgrath,“ He said in a calming voice and kisses my forehead, he then kisses Aqyua’s forehead and begins to softly sob, as the daedra start to beat on the basement door.
“Quickly! We haven't much time!” Mother says She takes her Special Soulgem Necklace that has been passed down upon generations of mages in her family off her neck and gives it to Aqyua. “This will always carry a piece of me, never take it off. I will always be with you.” She kisses her forehead and Begins to open the portal. She needs to consonantly cast the spell to keep the portal open long enough so she is unable to pass through it before it closes.
The Deadra break into the room as the portal opens enough for us to pass through Papa holds them off as long as he can, Aqyua is the first one to step through, as I head towards the portal, I look back one last time, only to see my father being stabbed right through with a sword by a chief Daedra warrior. I scream in pain watching my hero, my idle being killed and tossed aside like it’s nothing, knowing my mother would soon follow I started to bawl.
“Go Ver’ra! Now!!!” Mother screams. I tightly grasp my Lute, I close my eyes, and jump through the portal.
As I pass through to the other side I land on my feet but then fall to my hands and knees, Aqyua is soon at my side to comfort me, somehow, throughout this whole ordeal, she was more calm and composed than I was..tears ran down my face as I feel the sand on my knees and hands from the ground we landed on. We hug each other and take a moment to collect ourselves. We ended up on a beach in northwestern High Rock, it was sunset, the sky was clear and the air was crisp, we sat on the beach for what felt like hours, at least into the hours of the night.
Life from there was rough, we didn’t stay in a single place for long and any place we would end up calling “Home” was either robbed and torched by bandits or destroyed by the stray Giant. But we persevered I used some of the skills I learned and trained with the local theives guilds in the towns we would end up at, I had to resort to taking things that weren’t mine, or doing dirty jobs to scrounge up enough money to scrap by. After a while of that we moved closer towards Camlorn, trying to seek answers to what actually happened that fateful day.
The journey there was not easy, we would do the bestwe could to build shelters and I did most of the hunting while she got the fire going. There was this one instance however where I bit off a little more than I could chew…I was unlucky enough to pray upon a large male Elk one afternoon while I was hunting, little did I know that this elk had caught the attention of a bear in the nearby woods…I was somewhat of a “skilled” at this point, I was able to pinpoint vital areas and hit precision shots to take them out as painlessly and effectively as possible, this time was no different.
It was a clean kill, not too much blood and most of the meat was still usable, as I was cleaning my game I let my guard down for a minute…which was one of the greatest mistakes of my life, this wasn’t just a bear, this was the bear from your children scary stories, towering much much larger than a human, fast, strong, and fearless…I still don’t know how I got away, but he got me pretty good. I managed to injure him enough to make him retreat, and I managed to crawl my way back to our hut…out in the cold, all by yourself, maimed and left for dead…I thought my life was over, I would slip into the Dreamsleeve and I will finally be at peace. Tears formed in my eyes as I laid there looking at the stars that began to appear in the sky.
I needed to stay strong, I made my way back to the hut where Aqyua patched me up the best she could, I was amazed…and grateful, at least the pain was more bearable.
I wish she could be here now…
3 years have passed since her death…I hate the very thought of going back to High Rock, we should have left when we had the chance.
RaccoonismJun 30, 2017