Anna

I find myself in a dark space. But it soon opens up to a snow-capped mountain where streams of men charge through the snow as fire rains down on a town below. The screams of battle and terror echo endlessly as more men pour out into the town below.

“A battle looms on the horizon.”

I turn to see Talos standing beside me with his eyes glued to the scene in front of us.

“My sister is on the warpath and is manipulating every pawn she has towards this confrontation. The battle you see before us has no honor. It’s men devour like starved wolves. That my sister could believe this conflict will ever create love I will never understand.”

“Is this happening right now? Where?”

“No, it is a vision of a possible future that is set in motion. The drums of war create a battlefield far before that battle ever takes place. But this battle must be stopped if peace is to ever return to this land. As my champion, it is your duty to find a way to stop it. If you should fail, your sibling’s sacrifice will have been for naught, and my sister will have won her twisted victory.”

“But how am I supposed to stop this? There seems to be no end to this invasion.”

He holds out his hand and a flame appears. It then sculpts itself into a tough grizzled man.

“This is Stonewall, he is a follower of mine guarding the pass they are using to invade. I urge you to seek his assistance. But with that our time has drawn to a close.”

He begins to walk off and I’m left with more questions than answers. As I’m about to ask him a question he turns to me.

“Make sure to pray more Anna. It takes a lot of effort for me to appear to you like this.”

I open my mouth to respond but instead the scene changes and I’m in a stone room. I launch up looking around only to find a man sitting at a desk diligently reading from a book paying me no mind as he sets a bookmark and closes his book.

“I see you are awake Anna, champion of Talos and sister of Humanity’s hero. How are you feeling?”

“Fine, why do you ask?”

“Well for many champions it is a grueling experience to be controlled by their patron god. Most are bedridden for days, but you. You seem like you’ve just woken up from a nap. You otherworlders sure do boast an unusual constitution.”

He chuckled as he pours me a glass of water passing it to me.

“Thank you, but who are you?”

“My name is Arthur and I’m a priest of Mara, but I hold no ill will to you champion. Instead, I want to help teach you what it means to be a champion.”

“I’m sorry, thank you for the offer, but there is something I must do right now.”

He doesn’t look surprised by my response and goes about tidying his desk.

“What? Go on some unknown quest with impossible odds?”

“Maybe, what of it.”

He turns back to me looking at me in pity. I don’t think he believes I have what it takes to complete any kinda journey and I kinda have to agree.

“Well, you need to learn to use both magic and what being a champion actually means.”

“So I should bring a priest of Mara to join me on a mission to stop a plan that Mara has set in motion?”

He then realizes that he isn’t my ideal backup and quickly recovers.

“Alright, maybe I’m not the ideal candidate to join you on your journey, but at the very least you should learn what it means to be a champion. It’s the least I can do to begin to repay your sibling for all she has done for us.”

“Alright fine, so what exactly is a champion then?”

He stands up and begins to lecture as if were a sermon.

“A champion is a person the gods have given their power to. There can only be one living champion at a time and they are the tools the gods use to personally affect the world. They can speak to their god and are effectively the eyes and ears of that god.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“That’s why they are generally treated with the utmost reverence wherever they go. No one wants to personally piss off a god and even nations will think twice before committing to something that a champion is against.

“Each champion has a special power that is specific to each champion. As for what power each champion has, no one knows. It’s a kind of trade secret that each champion tries to hide. Though there are rumors of course if you want to investigate them.”

“Then what are you going to teach me?”

“Well I’m a priest, so, I'm going to teach you how to be pious.”

“You’re going to teach me how to pray?”

I think I already know how to pray. Is it different here or something?

“It might sound easy, but for a priest, it has a much deeper meaning. We personally connect with our chosen god and borrow their strength in our daily lives. But, unlike a champion we rarely will ever hear our patron god and the power we can manifest is like a grain of sand. A champion’s power though is only limited to their god and their relationship with that god.

So come on, I’ll watch you pray and from there I will do my best to help you better understand what I mean.”

I follow Arthur out if the room and find myself in a large cathedral. In the front of the room, a large statue of who I guess was Mara stood towing over everything. I found myself uncomfortable even looking at the thing and my tattoos start to itch in irritation. Guess those two really don’t like each other right now.

“Is there another place we can pray. I don’t exactly feel comfortable in here.”

He looks up at the statue and then back to me before realizing what I mean.

“Yes, I keep smaller statues for the other eight gods in a separate room. Since we have soldiers from all over the empire I made sure to keep a statute of all nine to make sure all could keep their faith.”

Leading me to another room there lie the other eight gods. There are a few people praying to the statues as light streams in through the windows.

I see a statue of a large macho man wielding a large broadsword who if I had to guess was supposed to be Talos. It really didn’t match the man I’d seen in my dreams. Arthur seems to notice my dismay at the statue and answers my question in a quiet voice.

“The gods have been known to change their form over the centuries. I’m guessing our current statue is quite old compared to his current form.”

“Yeah, you could say that.

I make my way to the statue and kneel down next to it. I honestly feel conflicted. I’ve never really prayed to a statue before, and it is a taboo in my religion. But I guess I could call it more of communing with my patron instead of praying to a god I guess. Either way, I need to do this so I brush the matter aside.

‘Hello Talos, how is it going. I feel like you skipped a lot of information when you asked me to become your champion.’

I don’t feel anything. I wonder if I’m doing this right?

‘I did, but it will all come with time. What I want to hear is how things have been going. How are your sister and Seliph getting along?’

I feel a power welling inside of me. I wonder if this is what Arthur meant.

‘They are getting along fine enough. But things might proceed slowly since he is such a dunce when it comes to these things.’

‘Really? I thought things were proceeding quite well with them.’

‘It might be but he has never had a lover before so they are no doubt going to take their sweet time.’

‘Well that’s fine. Demons have a long period where they bond with their partner. Marriage bonds carry a lot of weight for demons after all and can never be made again.’

‘What do you mean? Is it different from just exchanging vows?’

‘For humans, it might just be that. But, for demons, they must enter an eternal partnership. This is done to increase the chance of having offspring. It was a ‘deal’ I had to make with Mara. She said it was the only way she would increase their fertility. I, unfortunately, had little say in the matter. The only good thing that came out of that deal was the fact that I made it where she could never change that deal.’

‘So what exactly does this partnership entail?’

‘They combine both of their strengths and take characteristics of the other. But, as a result, should one party ever die the other will be irreversibly impaired for the rest of their life.’

‘Then has my brother made this vow with Seliph!?’

‘No, it takes a long time for there to be a strong enough connection to initiate an eternal partnership. My guess is it’ll take at least a year for them to even begin considering the ritual. Though there have been rare cases.’

‘Should I tell my brother about this?’

‘Has Seliph not told her?’

‘I don’t know?’

‘Well, it shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll tell her when he is ready.’

‘I guess I’ll take my leave then Talos.’

‘Make sure to keep me updated Anna, and remember -‘

‘Yeah I know, I need to find some way to stop that army. I’m still working on a plan.’

‘Good, best of luck then Anna.’

The trance broke and I realized the sun had tipped a fair bit and I wondered how much time had just passed. Rubbing my head I stand up and feel a strange energy coursing through me.

“I see your prayer was heard champion.”

I see Arthur next to me and I nod my head as I look at my hand.

“Yeah, I feel a little weird though.”

“That must be the power of Talos flowing through you. It’ll become more natural with time. But make sure to pray at least once a day to your god. It will help not only to increase your strength but to also build your bond with your god.”

I look at my hand and make a fist. I’m going to need all the strength I can get if I’m going to stop that army. Just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. I just hope this vision can be prevented.