Chapter 1: Three Letters Backwards

The sky was covered by dark clouds as rain fell harshly onto the cold earth below. No sunlight broke through and the land was covered by darkness. Even though it was daytime, the blacken sky could be mistaken as night. The smell of death perfumed the air and enflamed the nostrils of those who dared take a good sniff. The sounds of the wagon broke Ahmes from his trance. He looked around frantically, forgetting where he was for a moment. Ahmes heard the man from his right cough and shudder from the cold before attempting to hide himself in his blanket for warmth. Ahmes could start to smell the copper smell of blood even with the rain's attempt to blind his senses. Ahmes could tell they were close, as the wagons were starting to slow down. In front were various men atop different types of horses. Some born for battle, others, to work in the fields.

"Hey kid, don't suppose you gotta match on ya?" The old man sitting across Ahmes asked in a rough voice. Ahmes shook his head as the older man cursed his luck before turning back to Ahmes.

"So what ya here for kid," The old man asked, leaning forward in interest, causing a loud creak to echo throughout the wagon. Ahmes shook his head as the old man's eyebrow rose and his face became written with confusion and slight frustration. For weeks the old man had been trying to get Ahmes to talk, but Ahmes had never been the talking type of person. He just found talking to always end up him saying something stupid and embarrassing, and found social interaction to almost become a chore. He had trouble making friends growing up, and would often be made fun of for his shyness.

"Do you remember why you're here?" the old man asked with a small smirk. Ahmes shook his head again, lying for his own personal amusement.

"Is that all you do? Shake your head?" the old man asked. Ahmes looked up in thought for a moment and shook his head again. The old man laughed heartily, Ahmes smirked along and eventually made a small chuckle as the old man continued to roar with laughter. Ahmes was happy to see someone laugh even in this rotten landscape. Ahmes was a young man, turning 18 a mere month ago. His hair was black and messy spreading out wildly atop his head, covering his pale blue eyes. Ahmes had been sitting in this wagon for about a week now, and he would usually get lost in his own little world to pass the time. A few weeks ago, he set out on his own adventure after soldiers from the empire came to his home town and asked for any volunteers for the war effort against the Thalmor. Ahmes, seeking out adventure was one of the very few who volunteered. His mother was completely against it, everyone knew that those who left for the war almost never returned. Ahmes' father volunteered a few years back, telling Ahmes to look after his mother, and that he would be back soon. Ahmes knew now that that was the first lie his father ever told him. Ahmes still till this day couldn't reason as to why his old man went out into duty in the first place, maybe it was to help with the cause, or maybe it was because a friend of his was going too. Ahmes didn't know, he could only speculate.

Those who partook in the 2nd Great War were almost never veteran soldiers. Soldiers of the Empire we beginning to lose all hope for the war, and any chance of defeating the Thalmor's oppression. They believed it to be a lost cause. Now, mostly criminals and a very few amount of volunteers took part in the war. Every so often, a foolish noble would take part in the war only to die like the rest and return in a body bag, if at all. When Ahmes first decided to go for the Thalmor War, he thought of it as a big adventure, the boy believed that he would be the one of the few to survive the battles and make his mark on the world, bragging away to the other boys in his village. Half way through the journey, he realized just how foolish that naïve dream was. No one came out the battlefield alive for a reason, he thought. There were stories people told of the Shadow, the most dangerous weapon of the Thalmor. He didn't particularly knew what made the Shadow so terrifying, but it was enough to be used as a scary story to tell to children when they misbehaved. He had heard rumors that some did survive the war, and tell stories to the people of the danger of the Shadow, but rumors were all they were meant to be and some never took them seriously. The wagon made a complete stop, as word spread to the men that they were going to start the journey on foot. The soldiers and criminals hopped off the wagon and collected their weapons and little armor they had, many grunting and cursing on the way down. Ahmes was confused, why stop now? Was there any Thalmor scouts nearby? Were they setting up camp?

The walk to the final stretch of the journey was going to last for a few hours, which made Ahmes internally groan and swear. The groups started to line up like an unorganized army and walked forward with three veteran soldiers atop armored horses leading the way. Each veteran faked bravery and their dirty armor hiding their shaking bodies. Ahmes noticed a man squeezing an amulet of Talos against his chest and praying silently. The men around him bore stone hard faces that knew of their imminent demise. Ahmes realized he was most likely the youngest of the group, which gave him a chilling felling. Some men behind Ahmes started to guess on what lied just in the distance that could possibly be so dangerous that stories claimed no one ever came back alive.

"Why do you think we started moving on foot?" A solider asked another,

"Maybe it is a dragon, and the general wants to be discreet" one of the men guessed.

The other man scoffed, "Last time a dragon had been seen was a few years ago, ever since the Dragonborn slayed most of them, dragons have been scarcely heard of since. Even then, do you really think going on foot will keep us hidden? A dragon could probably spot us a mile away" He explained.

"Well what do you think it is?" The first man responded. The other man looked up and placed his hand to his face, stroking his beard.

"Perhaps it is because the scouts saw a Thalmor camp. It would make sense for us to be order to get on foot to prepare for battle. Although that does still seem odd," He stated as the small army continued to march onward. Ahmes stopped walking for a moment until the person behind him bumped into him and berated him to keep moving. Ahmes had wondered about the Hunt for a long time now, and realized that there were some things about this impossible mission that seemed off to him. How was it the commanders leading this band of rapists, thieves, and volunteers know where the Thalmor were in the in first place? Could there really have been scouts sighting of Thalmor camp? He thought that there was very few amount of able men here, how would it possible for a scout not be spotted. Especially with the Thalmor's superior magic, it would be almost impossible to get out of there alive. None of this made sense to him, but he realized many of his questions would be answered soon, but he was worried that he might not be able to live to tell the tale. As the army treaded forward nervously, Ahmes could start to smell the copper scent of blood becoming too unbearable to breathe in. He hid the bottom half of his face under his ragged shirt in order to avoid the stench of rotten flesh and dried blood. Some men followed the same action as others began to cough uncontrollably from the thick air. The rain had helped hide the stench slightly, but even then the smell was too strong for most of them. The trees around them had become distorted and old, covered in ash and red stains. Piles of bones and armor littered the ground around them, almost as if a large battle took place there. Some of them started to pray more loudly while others tried to keep their gaze forward, away from the countless dead bodies. The makeshift army had marched in the graveyard for what seemed like an eternity until the commander up front raised his hand and the small army halted. Ahmes was near the front lines now, and he could see a small cave in the distance. The commander shouted for all the men to take arms as everyone unsheathed their swords and bows. Most of which were broken and rusted swords. Ahmes could almost even spot a few mages in the mix.

The group slowly moved to the front of the cave carefully, as if a single sound will unleash the hell inside. Small beads of sweat ran down Ahmes' face as he tried to look into the cave, but could only see complete darkness. He had half expected legions of spiders to run out and devour them all, but only the cold wind escaped the cave. As they stood only a few feet away from the entrance, black crows flew high above the cave, waiting for their next feast to present itself. Ahmes looked intently inside the small cave from where he stood and held his breathe. The storm began to become harsher as lightning painted the sky in its white light. From the flash of lightning, Ahmes could see what awaited them inside, for only a second. A small figure sat within the small cave and droplets of water fell to the ground with wet splats. Mud around it was a mixture of brown and red, ripples spreading throughout it from each drop. Ahmes could make out black armor sitting inside the dark hole that moved up in down steadily with each breathe. It's breathing was ragged and sounded more animal-like than human. It held a long black broadsword pointed downward to the ground sitting lazily atop his shoulder. The armor was sinister looking and had an evil aura around it, each piece covered in blood. Its leg tucked under the other while its other leg had its knee up, in almost a half crisscrossed pose. Red eyes glowed inside its black helm that promised death and destruction to all that drew near. A black cape hung loosely on its back, raggedly flowing in the small amount of wind it received. The blade in its armored hand was black, with red outlines and inscriptions decorating it, making a sinister design. Its gauntlet shaped like claws, with each end of its fingers tipped in red, dried blood. A single red thread hung from the top of the helm that flowed to the side. The most terrifying feature was the small wisps of darkness that danced around it, somewhat hiding its image while creating a sense of an unstoppable shadow. Inside the cave, was only a single person…The Shadow.

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I dont own anything, Elder Scrolls is owned by Bethesda.

Hey, this is my first fanfiction. There is one thing I would like to make perfectly clear. I don't intend to really finish this story. I had actually already wrote the first 20 or so chapters, and i'll be updating them as I go and edit them. However, I am usually very busy with school, work, and other stuff, so don't expect me to update regularly. When i finally reach to where I was when I wrote this, I will most likely post a chapter detailing everything that i planned to happen in the story. However, if i get a spark, or I get less busy for some reason, by that time, I might try to get back into the story. The main purpose for me putting this up on Fanfiction is so someone can read it and continue the story for me. I actually do want to see the story finished, so my main goal is for anyone to pick up the story from where i am that can either rewrite the whole thing, but keep the major plot and story elements (which I wouldnt perfer) or for someone to continue the story where i leave off. I also want to point out that the best way to imagine what the Shadow looks like, is a mix between Berserker (from Fate/Zero) and the Berserker Armor (from Berserk), but it takes more after Fate Zero Berserker. Anyways, enjoy what I have and I left some clues in the story for future spoilers. Some are obvious, some are not, try and to figure them out, it'd be cool to see people find them out.