And here we are, the final page.
Shades of Gray (Ten’s Story) is officially completed. Ten never appears again after this night, but that doesn’t mean that the story ends here, because stories never really end. They just pass on to the next narrators.
I want to give a huge thank you to all my fans and readers for supporting me through this project. Everyone who’s left comments, emailed me, created fanart and fanfiction, supported me through patreon, or just showed up to read – Thank you so, so much. I could never have finished this without you.
Shades of Gray and the Kahmith universe have been a huge part of my life. I started creating the universe and characters when I was just 15/16, and started posting the comic right before I started college. Since then, it’s taken me through graduation, meeting and marrying the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, the death of my father, and more housing and job changes than I can count. For better or worse, Shades of Gray has been a constant through it all, and it’s been an indescribable experience to grow up with this story and these characters, and getting to share them with the world.
I’m not sure exactly where I’m going to go from here. I have no intention to take on another project like this, but I have ideas for things I might want to draw or write going forward.  Tumblr and Deviant Art are the places new stuff from me will pop up in the future, so look for me there.
As promised, I’m going to be answering any lingering questions on tumblr, no matter how big or small. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the site, you don’t have to have an account to participate. Any questions you have can be submitted HERE, and everything I’ll be talking about is tagged under WBW (an old throwback to when I did World-Building Wednesdays.)
Among other things, I’ll be going into the untold stories behind Jael, Tattle, and Vivan. Keep an eye out for that, though it’s going to take me a bit to type them up. Even abridged there’s a lot to say for each of them. I hope to get lots of questions from you guys, so don’t be shy!
Since the story is officially over now, I’ll be taking down my patreon in October, once the final round of donations from September are processed. Thank you so much everyone who gave me financial support on there. It’s helped me out more than I can say, and gotten me through tight spots more than once.
And finally, thanks to generous fan donations, this site will remain up until August 2019. Past that, the story can also be found on its original site: TheDuck (a free hosting site I’d recommend for any budding comic artists looking to get their stories off the ground.)
Aaa goodness, the final page. Okay, I’m a little discombobulated and emotional, but I think I’ve covered all the important things.
So one last time, thank you so much for reading and being a part of this experience with me! You guys are the best fans anyone could ask for. Big hugs all around!
– avs ♥
avsaroke
jake
Bleh
It’s been a wild, wild ride. I’m certainly sad to see it go, but thanks for taking us on the journey with you.
No thank you! It has been an amazing six years since I started reading this comic. I know I’m not super talkative but it was so much fun reading reactions and occasionally throwing in my two cents on some the pages. At some of my lowest points over these years I remember popping open my browser and just start reading through the story to the most recent page (seriously this comic helped me get through so much). I’m honestly so glad to have found this comic, this great community, and of course the spectacular mind and artist behind this project Avsaroke! Ah yes you better believe I’m fighting back tears while writing this but cannot express enough how happy I am for meeting you all and finding this gem of a comic. Lastly Avsarokee, thank you for taking us on this journey! This has been a story for the ages! Keep being awesome and see you out there on the interwebs!
its been wonderful following this comic, sad to see it end but im happy you were able to wrap it up! beautiful art to finish with, too. this has been a great story and i hope you have fun with the rest of your future!
Thank you for the last few years! Your comic was one of the three or four in my 200+ list of webcomics that I really, actively looked forward to! Even when you switched to text form, the story was still awesome!
Ahhh what an amazing ride. I’m gonna go make a couple of paper towels wet. Anybody need a cup or two of Ringer’s solution. Soon as I get done crying, I’m going to have a lot!
This is a beautiful last page, Avsaroke. It feels like hours after a Kiva’s had a fitful sleep and we are right in that room with her and her (slightly bigger) family right as everyone has started to wake up to a sobering new future together.
Thank you so much for this amazing story! I will miss it very much, but the ending has been so fulfilling. I believe what ever your next projects are and where ever they lead you, they will be wonderful. You are thoughtful, talented, and dedicated, and that makes you magnificent as an artist, writer, and beyond. I wish you success and happiness!
Wow, that’s beautiful. Man, I’ve been reading so long, I don’t really know what to say. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, and thank you especially for bringing it to a close when the comic became too much for you. I hope to see more of you in the future.
I’m pretty hopeless at expressiong emotions in words, but I just want to say I’ve enjoyed this entire story. I’m really going to miss Ten and all of his friends. Thanks for giving them to us.
Been one of the most ottsome stories I’ve ever read. Sad to see it end, but can’t wait to see what else is coming.
Beautiful finale page! Thank you Avs, for bring us to end of this journey. I know it was tough for you stick it out at times, thank you for giving everyone this closure. Not to mention taking it a step further to answer lingering questions. Truly AMAZING.
Enjoy this fresh step in your life! Post-comic freedom. We should hang out and celebrate!!!
Wow, amazing story.
Thank you again SO MUCH for not just dropping the comic, but telling us the whole story.
It felt a little “Neon Genesis Evangelion” with the wild twists, but I think you landed it successfully. NOT what I expected coming in 🙂
I feared the day this page would come, for it would mean that one of the best webcomics I got to know has come to an end.
This story has accompanied me since mid 2014 and I think it’s the first comic I ever liked so much that I created fanart for it.
I hope I’ll never forget about this ride that not only got me active on DeviantArt and Tumblr but also for the first time somewhat invested in an online community that shared the love I had for a story.
Thank you, Avsaroke, for sharing this story, and telling it to the end unlike so many other that didn’t.
I wish we could have seen some of the scenes you told especially in the last pages the way you envisioned them, but ultimately it is nice to know that even though Ten’s story has come to an end we know that we didn’t hear the last of you!
Cheers! o//
What amazing characters, each one dealing with loss, and each one doing it in a different way. I can’t wait to get my questions typed up, and in! What was Jovi’s planet, mining colony, space station like? What was Kiva’s home life like? How did her parents react to her (name) Brother’s death? Why didn’t Ten see more spirits of the space station’s park? What plan was Nox plotting for Jovi and Co. What jobs did Nox give Li and La’s bothers and sisters? Adm. Maev and Tattle go way back, … What is their thing, did they know something was coming down to highway, space-way? Whose side were they on? What’s up with SD being so very incompetent? And what’s up with Tattith and basking? When you were a teen, and you started this, is this the ending you foresaw? Did your younger-self have lots of weddings in the story? And who were the pairs? How annoying are all these questions?
Thank you for everything, at first I was a bit disinclined to give the story any benefit of the doubt, but the artwork caught my eye and drew me into the world.
I do hope that you announce any further projects here, since I use a comic service (piperka.net) and would be more apt to notice any such announcements.
Good luck with your life and my your eyes never grow cloudy.
Thank you so much, Avsaroke, for sharing such a fantastic story with us all! 😀
Seriously. I loved it every step of the way (even when it made me all teary-eyed!)
Thank you so much for this story, and driving to complete it.
I love the world that you built, and seeing the attention and care you put into it. When I first found the comic, I delved into the archives, and eagerly read through them. I was thrilled when you replied in the FAQ the amount of world building you put in (even so far as to have station mathematics!), and seeing/reading as it came to be. I look forward to learning more of the history and lore as the questions roll in.
Best wishes for all your future endeavours, and may avsarokes flit about your dreams!
So, this is the end; it feels so surreal. I think I have said most of what I want to be said, about how great it all was, how important. This comic followed me all through high school and now I’m here in college far from home. Ten was the first, and really only character I have ‘related’ to. maybe that’s why I am so attached to the comic. The community is great to. I have never been one to comment, or interact much, this is really the only place I have. But, it certainly feels good. You guys are all cool, Avs. your awesome, just the whole lot.
I’m being pretty rambly. It’s three in the morning and it feels like I want to say so much but just can’t. God, its so good.
Anyways, last comic I said I would have something for the close, and it looks like I did it. I had to write an essay in a philosophy class and I decided to write it about this. I am also now realizing that the title is partly in kahmith but I never actually defined it, but hopefully thats fine.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NNU0Q_pQ6Gi4cutik4GpDm-2cZvN0ps8/view?usp=sharing
heres the link to view it. I think that when I talk about page 445 I might sound a bit harsh so I’d like to reiterate here, especially for avsaroke: I think that ending the comic was a good idea, it was the write choice, and I’m glad you did it.
Due to time constraints I also didn’t get to talk about a lot of stuff I wanted to, and really each thing I talked about could have been an entire essay on its own. Analyzing it in this way makes me really appreciate how much goes into each page.
I guess this is it though, one last goodbye, one last thank you.
I guess here it is. thank you, just, so much.
-Carson Bennett aka ranger of gaia aka 1800hellmo
Carson; Thank you for sharing that with us, a very well thought out and concise analysis of the experience. Well reasoned, and well written.
I’m sorry you didn’t include one or more of the philosophers James, Ouspenski, Ellis, or Geo. MacDonald, (whose book “At the Back of the North Wind” 1- has some wonderful descriptions in it), or even Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows” whose chapter titled “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” 2- has Ratty and Badger meet with the god Pan, tho’ they don’t remember it the next morning.
I thought your essay very well done, it gets an A+ from me, it’s almost perfect (other than two or three typos)… You turned it up to 11!
Kudos to you!
1- yes, it’s a children’s book, but the descriptions of the Sublime leave one breathless.
2- also title of Pink Floyd’s first album. … I wonder why? (Not)
why thank you very much! this was the first “formal” essay, just a bit longer than normal, we had in the class. I will also have to check out those people you mentioned (I am impressed at how well you versed you seem in the subject) the two I mentioned primarily are really the only substantial works we have read on the subject as of yet. It is super interesting though, taking the class makes me really want to study aesthetics more.
I also see all of those typos in my last post (“write choice” 🙂
I would also like to thank you for really just being here as well. Although this applies to all the others here in a similar manner, at least to me, you have been an integral part of this community. You are always so active and passionate every page; it just as refreshing every update to see you in the comments as the page itself. As I said, I have never much interacted in online communities, but you have been a big influence in making really attempt at commenting (though, especially earlier on, it was not the best). It just feels so weird to not have coming back here as a safe haven; its been so many years.
1800Hellmo,
Heres the link to project Gutenberg free copy of Wind in the Willows.**
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/289/289-h/289-h.htm#link2H_4_0007
This is set to chapter 7, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. +15 points if you know who the “Piper”, is before reading the chapter. +20 if you know what instument he’s playing before reading the chapter.
** optional: one or two tissues. Recommending Kleenex®™
1800Hellmo, if you’re u want more ideas, about books and concepts to look at about the ineffable experience, email me at my gmail.
Good luck.
Wow Carson. Just… wow. I’m blown away by how deeply you thought about my story, how much you must have combed through it to find the exact quotes and moments you wanted to highlight, and how much the experience touched your life.
Thank you for thinking so highly of my story that you thought to use it for this essay. I hope you get a really good grade on it!
While I wish I could have enjoyed this comic as long as some of the other fans, it was a fun and wild ride while it lasted. Thank you so much Avs, for taking us on wonderful journey with your story and characters, and for going out of your way to give us closure with this comic we have all come to love and enjoy.
This comic helped through a rough time in my life, and I’m really glad I found it when I did. It helped me deal with my depression and get my life back on track, and I am incrediably grateful to this comic for that.
I’m sad to see this comic go, but Thank you again Avs and good luck on any future endeavours.
My problem is that there are bad, or good, or great webcomics out there. Still, Cannot find one that draws me in like this one. Out of the 15000 web comics to be found, one would hope that there would be something as good, but still I say to Avsaroke; (singing) Nothing compares, nothing compares to you(r) comic.
I can’t believe we’re at the end. What a long journey it’s been.
For many of us it has also been there through many, many life experiences. Shattered dreams, new goals and ideals. Life and death.
It’s felt ingrained in my life for so long now.
Thank you, Ava, for the excellent ride, and for sticking it out until the end.
I’ve been following your story for years, and while I’m sad to see it end, there’s always a new beginning from this. Thanks for keeping it going to the end. I wish you the best of luck in your future!
Like others, this story and world has been here for me through a lot. I got into webcomics when I was spiraling into depression and dysphoria, and felt like I was drowning without things to distract me, four years ago.
It quickly became my favourite, and I’d eagerly check back for new pages, and reread every piece of auxiliary detail you published about this fascinating and complex world. Seeing the end of it was quite literally something I thought about to fight thoughts of suicide.
We got to see your art style evolve, and foreshadowing come to fruition. We cried. (Well, I cried.) Even through prose, the story remained just as affecting. My fiancée asked me what was making me sad, the day Ten died, it hurt so much. But it also wasn’t the end of the story, and I think that’s the best part — you’ve made a universe so much deeper than any of the characters on their own, and more than the main story, and that’s the mark of a fantastic world builder.
So Vale, Ten and Akiba, and goodbye Kiva and Raj and their children.
Thank you, Avsaroke, and I wish you the best with your future projects and endeavours.
First, let me say that your “Handle”/user name is Awesome!
Then let me say, that you are not the only one moved to tears by events in this story. From asides and comments, as well as some direct emails to me, many of us were strongly touched by the story’s powerful pulls on our hearts. My emotional involvement cost me more than I wanted to pay at times, but I would not change a thing, knowing now what I didn’t know then. And my Heart-Mate put up with a lot of moodiness and grousing when the comic’s path didn’t agree with my plans for it. (As if it should have? -wink-)
And it was NOT a pleasant week in my house when the financial backing that I thought was there for Avsaroke, wasn’t. Even the dog was unhappy with me. (I growled a LOT). But here we are, all resolved, except for the Fan fics. I guess I better get writing.
I’m not sure I’ve commented more than once. I stopped reading for a time when the illustration stopped and then I lost my bookmarks but you kept me interested with the story. It’s sad to see it end. I hope you continue to draw if not for another comic project.
Well, here at last is the short tale of what happened to my head-canon character, Medical Assistant Rho.
In my head-canon, Rho was always there on the space station but he never appeared in the main story.
Rho would have been involved in a very minor way in Ten’s medical care; mostly in pathology to process blood samples.
The Fate of Medical Assistant Rho.
Rho sat and stared somewhat moodily at his desk view-screen, which was currently displaying a telescopic view of Kahmith, taken from a hull-mounted camera near the rear of the spaceship.
Rho wasn’t sure where on the hull the camera was positioned, exactly, but he didn’t dare enquire any further since strictly speaking, he’d hacked the system to get this video feed and the longer he commandeered the camera’s use, the more likely it became that someone else would notice.
Nobody was supposed to look back. Everyone was supposed to be looking forward; toward the unknown future out among the stars and the eventual landing of the spacecraft on a new planet where the Kilm could settle down. But Rho found he could not resist one last longing look at their abandoned home world.
Almost without him noticing it, Rho’s thoughts went wool-gathering over recent events.
First came the attack by The Others on Altair 7309, where Rho had been training in his chosen career of Field Medic. He had only been an assistant but he was highly dedicated to his work and knew that his scores had been well above average.
After he was evacuated from the crippled space station and had recovered from his surprisingly minor injuries, caused by the station’s sudden deceleration of rotation, the demand for competent medical staff which had been caused by the attack of the Others, combined with his proven medical competency had seen Rho fast-tracked to full nursing status, although realistically his duties tended now to encompass those of a fully trained medic.
Rho heaved a sigh of regret and cut the video feed. Enough of this self-pity, he told himself.
Rho strapped on his artificial leg and carefully stood up, proud that he no longer wobbled whenever he stood. He’d mostly recovered and it was time to get back to work. There were still other wounded Kilm who he could help.
So what if he’d lost a limb in that attack on the planet-side hospital where he’d been continuing his training? That wasn’t going to stop him. Not now. Not ever!
Rho dressed himself and headed for the medical facilities to announce his return to duty. The future would take care of itself.
Rho was content to live in the present, for now.
Short but very sweet, I feel it really captures well, the future facing all the survivors of the invasion. I like Rho already and hope to read more of his adventures in their uncertain future.
Thank you for your compliment. 🙂
I intended for this little vignette to be a one-shot, but I’m not completely ruling out doing a continuation, some day.
I might even do a series of vignettes for where I expected Rho might have fit into the main story. We’ll see. I do have a DA account although I’ve never used it for anything.
Well, just for snacks and giggles, I’d follow any more vignette or story you are inspired to write. I myself imagined a highly dysfunctional and abusive relationship between two students training for the space Corp. and then commissioned three more to see where someone else would take it.
This world is so complex and well reasoned and deep, how could we not imagine things that Avsaroke didn’t have time to write up?
By now, it is a murder mystery, Helm has been found, or discovered, doing a space walk. Rather unfortunate that he didn’t bother with his space suit first, before exiting the station. Whodunnit?
Thank you for seeing it through to the end. The pure dedication you have show is commendable and very inspiring. This comic has had a huge impact on me and my life. I can’t thank you enough. I plan on following you for the years to come on tumbler and I hope things go great for you for anything you do.
Still waiting for Hollywood to pick this up as a movie to animate.
“Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you.”
One hell of a ride.
Congratulations, and thank you.