A/N: This is the first chapter of my new work, Hound of War. This is my first attempt LitRPG. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place for this, so I'll be posting it to Royal Road as well! I found the genre a few months back thanks to "The Magineer". If you haven't read it, check it out. I hope you like Hound of War!
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Ryan enjoyed walking through the woods. He'd always loved it, since he was a child. His family had often taken camping trips in the Appalachians in the spring and summer. His father would tell him to "go explore" while he set up camp.
Running through the backwoods of the mountains were some of his fondest memories. It was the sort of thing that make up personalities, and never left him. That was why Ryan, now 24, set out along the hiking path this memorial day weekend. He was getting his so-called "nature fix". Leaving behind the city for a few days always did him good, and his friends new that enjoyed his solitude in the wild. They had seen him off in their group text, and made him promise to text back when he got off the trail. He had agreed; a competent outdoorsman, he always had a plan, always let someone know where he was going.
That was five hours ago, when he set out on this trail. He hiked the Appalachian Trail to the turn-off, when the white blazes met two blue dashes. He turned onto Slippery Rock Trail, a little used local 30 mile loop. He was coming up to the 10 mile mark, and his first camp now, where he planned to relax along the river bank. He brought his fly rod and planned to catch a few small trout as he wiled the afternoon away.
He was a half mile away from camp when he saw a 2x4 nailed to a nearby tree. Having hiked this trail before, he stopped to read the new sign.
> Waterfall This Way .8 Miles
"Curious," thought Ryan, "a waterfall? I've never heard it while hiking here." But the sign pointed at a trail offshoot that looked vaguely familiar. He had no memory of hiking down it before, but Ryan loved to explore. The sign was far too tempting for him to continue on without checking it out. He decided a short detour, and a possible dip in a waterfall pool would be the perfect way to enjoy the day. He began hiking down the new trail.
The new trail had blazes of purple on the trees, spaced every thirty feet or so. As he hiked down it, the grade became steeper and steeper while the path thinned. Soon he was walking down a narrow trail that descended along a steep hillside. The trees grew taller and the air cooler as he descended into the little valley. He began to notice more moisture collecting on all the plants and more moss on the rocks. The blazes became harder to see in the dappled sunlight of the hillside. Soon though, he had to focus on his feet to keep from falling down the ever steepening path.
That was when Ryan slipped. His focus on staying on the path had him miss the loose soil ahead of him. His heel went out and he landed on his pack, sliding down the cliff face. As he slid, his cast iron pan caught a branch and spun him sideways. He began to roll down the hill, pricking up speed. It seemed to him an impossibly steep hill, and he rolled faster and faster. Then, without warning, Ryan's head collided with a pine tree along the trail. Everything immediately went pitch black.
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Ryan awoke to a world awash in white. Everything was white as far as his eyes could see. The whole place seemed illuminated from the absolute whiteness. "Am I dead?" Ryan thought. Then he laughed, "What a cliched thing to say. But where am I? The last thing I remember is slipping and hitting my head on that trail."
A voice spoke out of the whiteness, "You are with me." Ryan looked around, expecting to see someone in the white place with him. There was no one. "Who are you? What do you mean, I am with you?" The voice spoke again, soft, soothing, and feminine, "I am Luris. You are in my waiting chamber."
The voice seemed to come from all around Ryan, he could not isolate the source. But the speaker seemed kind and willing to talk, so he decided to ask it more questions. "Who are you, Luris? And what do you mean, I'm in your waiting chamber?"
The voice answered his questions patiently, as if talking to a child, "I am Luris. Luris is me. My waiting chamber is where all my champions come when time calls for them." "Champions?" responded Ryan, "What do you mean Champion? And where are you? Can I see you?"
"That is a fair request, and one I will grant." The voice seemed to coalesce as it spoke, and in a quick flash of golden light, a body appeared across from Ryan. It was a woman, of indeterminate age, clothed in a brown homespun dress. Her skin was earthy and flecked through with green. Her hair was grey like Spanish moss, but alive. Intertwined within it were many leaves and twigs. Her eyes shown in bright gold, like the color of a good hunting dog's. She smiled at him, "Hello, Ryan, I am the avatar of Luris."
Ryan stood in shock, amazing at this person's entrance here. He moved to speak but Luris held up her hand to stop him. "I must answer your question before you should ask another, Champion." She gestured with her hand and three tree stumps appeared, one like a table and two like chairs. They sat, and a cardinal fluttered down to alight on her hand as they spoke. Ryan looked around to see that the white space was gone, and that he was in a wooded glen. Sunlight broke through the treetops and dappled the floor. Ferns grew in the shade of mighty conifers that reached out to the sky. There were no flowers, and the hooting and whistling of strange animals rang in the air.
Luris smiled, playing with cardinal on her hand, and answered his unspoken question. "Ah, this place. It is one of my favorite times from your planet's past. I understand your scientists call it the Jurrasic," she giggled, "I like the trees the best here. So do they!" She gestured across the clearing. A group of dinosaurs was browsing the ferns in the shadow of the pines. Ryan stared, slack jawed, at the sight. Luris spoke again, " So, to answer your question, a Champion is a creature chosen by a god." Ryan turned to her, "You're GOD?!"
Luris smiled and waved away his question, blushing, "No, no, no. I am not the Creator. He made me as well, and the other gods. We are but pieces of Him given form, to look after his Creation. We are part of him like a cell in a tree." She paused to ensure he understood. Ryan thought about the explanation and accepted it. So God had made gods to make sure his creation was running smoothly. Seemed realistic. Luris continued, "The waiting room is a place where I exercise my power outside of the physical realm. For instance, right now I am using my power to keep your mind from imploding due to shock. The fact that you are accepting this with little protest is due to my influence."
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Now," she straightened, "Why have I brought you to my waiting room? Why have I chosen you to be my champion? What am I going to do with you? These are all the questions running through your mind. So I will answer these as well." She gestured and the table stump grew two small plants. They unfurled to reveal cups, like a pitcher plant. Inside the cop was a dark and hot liquid that smelled of coffee. She smiled, "The coffee cup plant. An experiment of mine gone quite right. Sugar?" Ryan shook his head. He drank his coffee black. So, it seemed, did Luris. She took a sip from the "cup".
"I have brought you to my waiting room to make you an offer. You are laying in your world, concussed by a tree. I have watched you for a long time, and I made that trail appear so that I may speak with you. You may turn me down and go back to your life." She set her coffee down, "The offer I am going to make you is this; I will give you outdoor skills like you cannot imagine. I will make you adept at survival and attuned to nature. But, I cannot do that for you on Earth. I have no power there, where humanity was born. That is the sole domain of the Creator. He favors you among his children and forbids our interference. He demands that if we should work with you, it be due to your Free Will."
She gestured and a pair of spiders crawled out from one of the many holes in the stump, bringing forth a roll of paper. They rolled it open for her as she spoke. "This contract will transport you to the world of Aurora. Aurora is a special world, a world of challenges and quests. A world made for the amusement of the gods. For when God banished our power from Earth, he banished our favorite pass time. A game we like to call The Championship."
Ryan snorted, and Luris giggled as well. "It is a terrible name, I know. But it is quite fun! You see, we each choose champions. Humans are the only creatures allowed as game pieces as they must choose to play. Non-human champions are events and assists. For instance, you've heard of the human Gilgamesh?" Ryan nodded and she continued, "Well Gilgamesh of Akkad was such a champion. The Divine Bull, at that time, was my first monster champion. Ishtar made a move that allowed her to posses him from me, and sent him to Gilgamesh to destroy him. Of course, Gilgamesh killed it." She took a rather long sip of coffee after that, the went on, "Anyhow, things got out of hand. Baal and many others tried to establish religions over the humans to farm champions. We had some wars, there were some disasters. General bad news. After a while, we weren't allowed to play on Earth anymore. So the Creator made Aurora as our playground."
A hawk swooped by a dropped a pen on the table. Luris picked it up. "Aurora is a huge world with many continents. Each continent serves as a game board for a round of Championship. I was first out in my last game, and as a result I had to wait 100 years to play again. I would like you to be my Champion!" She smiled brightly at Ryan.
"Madam Luris," Ryan began, "How can I be of any use? I don't have any special skills or traits! I'm a normal guy who likes to be outside. I can hunt, fish, hike, and boat. That's about it! So, why me?" Luris nodded her head, "I expected this question. Ryan, I watch all humans. We all do. We look for Champions in each of you. Champions that will represent our will the best. I chose you because you represent me. You prepare and you plan. You love the outdoors and all its creatures. You understand the cycles of nature, and you have the capability to be a good champion. Do not sell yourself short!" She crossed and uncrossed her legs, getting more comfortable. "Besides, you're an Eagle Scout. My last winner, Robert, set the Scouts up for me to help recruit new Champions. A loophole work around if you will." She giggle deviously.
Ryan gaped at her, "The BOY SCOUTS ARE A FRONT FOR YOU?!" She nodded, pleased that someone appreciated her machinations. She didn't tell Ryan, but it had been a long time since she'd won a game, and she hated losing. "So, Ryan, what do you say? Go play a lifetime in Aurora for me, and I'll return you to your world if win. I promise, it will be the exact time and place of you turning down that trail." "And if I lose?" countered Ryan. "Well, we tally the points after you die, so you'll be dead anyway!"
He would die? Well, it wasn't like Aurora wasn't a real place with real dangers. It wasn't a game, but it was a game. And he was the game piece. If he decided to go. But he needed to know more. "What are the rules," he asked, "how do I win?".
Luris clapped excitedly, "Great questions!" She snapped her fingers and the table stump showed a continent shaped game board. There were player pieces already on it. "It's my turn to place my piece, but I have to choose one first. Some of the other players have placed theirs, as you can see." A red piece, a man holding a sword stood in the north. On an island was a blue piece with a net and trident. Ryan tried to look at other pieces but Luris snapped the map away, "no cheating!" She admonished him.
"We win when our champion gathers the most points. You can earn points from any action in the game. Quests, kills, and special skills give the most points. The game master keeps track over the points. I had to be a game master the last 100 years because I couldn't play. Our current game master is Loki. He lost in the championships to Anubis a few years back and is on his 200 year out right now." She snapped her fingers and a green piece zoomed up, "This is Robert's piece," another snap and a card appeared by it. "Here are his stats from that game. He won for me, so I'll show you his stuff."
The green piece showed a man atop a horse in cuirass and helm, with a buckler, lance, and carbine. His stats read like one from an role playing game:
Robert Baden Powell Champion of Luris Class Hussar Title Champion of Luris, BattleWalker, Hero Slayer, Tree Speaker Race Human HP/MP 1,550(+3.2)/440(+1.2) Level 100 STR 136 AGI 114 END 155 CHAR 98 WIS 88 INT 93 Skills Summon Horse, Lance of Light, Far Sight, Long Shot, Deflect, [...]
"Robert won by killing the other champions on the field of battle. His chosen class was a Hussar, so battle suited him. My next game, I went for a magic build but he died from poisoning. It turns out the winner, Coyote, recruited a baker and trained him to poison food. Tricksy. I'll automatically lose if you die by the hand of another champion. If you survive to a natural death, or you die from any other cause, we will tally your points. In your eye you'll see them as experience points. The more experience points you have, more of a chance we'll have to win."
She turned to Ryan expectantly and held out her pen. The spiders rolled out the contract, "So, Ryan? Will you be my champion?" He thought of all his friends back on Earth. They'd miss him, but if he won they'd never know he was gone. He didn't have a girlfriend or a dog, so it wasn't like he had to worry about that. His job as a house painter could definitely wait behind. All told, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He knew that if his friends somehow knew he was in this situation, they'd encourage him to go for it. Ryan needed something to challenge him, to make him grow and develop. Earth wasn't cutting it, so being a plaything of the gods was worth a shot. He grabbed the pen, "Lady Luris, I'd be more than happy to," and signed on the dotted line.