Looking back, I don’t regret my choice at all. The only thing I regret is the length of time it took for me to accomplish my goal. The years since have long passed out of all living memory except for mine, and I am left with just my title and solitude.

Selvar looked up at the temple built in the desert. According to everything he’d learned, this was the spot where the God of the Night first spoke to man, many millennia ago. This was the spot where the God of the Night’s power was strongest. This was the spot where Selvar would gain the power to take down the Holy Empire of Andstine.

Selvar walked into the temple, breathing a sigh of relief and taking his facemask off. Now out of the sands, he wouldn’t need it for a while yet. Climbing to the topmost portion of the temple, he set to work cleaning the area around the altar. Cleaning hundreds of years of dust off the altar was painstaking work, but it would be worth it.

As he finished the cleaning of the altar, the sun began setting. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Selvar took several items out of his bag: five candles, a lantern, and two torches. Setting the torches in the holes on either side of the altar, the lantern in the center, and the five candles around it, Selvar lit them all with a match.

The timing was crucial for this ritual. Selvar needed to blow the lights out one by one, with the final light going out at the exact moment the sun sunk below the horizon. Selvar spent the final few minutes before sunset steeling himself, for he was about to speak with a god.

Selvar first blew out the two torches, then slowly blew out the candles until just the lantern remained. Checking the sun’s position, Selvar blew the lantern’s flame out just as the sun finished sinking below the horizon. Left in darkness, Selvar closed his eyes. Sight wouldn’t mean much now anyways. After a few minutes, Selvar still failed to sense anything, so he turned to step back down the stairs, when a voice rang directly into his head.

‘A human seeks me out now, of all times, when the largest kingdom in the world seems dedicated to wiping out worship of all other gods. Either you’re desperate or foolhardy. So tell me, human, which is it?’

Selvar’s heart beating fiercely, he spoke. “Desperate. I seek the power of the Night’s Champion, so I may take vengeance on those who have wronged me.”

‘The power of a Champion isn’t one suited for everyone. I shall grant you access to the Trial, but one condition: destroy this Holy Empire of Andstine.’

Selvar grinned. “Done. Give me this trial, so I may bring terror to the Empire.”

The voice said nothing else, but the darkness gathered around Selvar and he could tell he was being transported elsewhere. When the darkness faded, Selvar found himself on a silver platform, lit only by the light of a moon, high in the sky. The platform was empty, save for a single silver blade in a pedestal in the center. Selvar walked towards the blade and placed his right hand on the hilt of the blade. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the blade out. Almost instantly, darkness swirled around the platform and several armored figures of darkest black stepped forth from the darkness. One of these figures stepped forward even more, and a black sword and shield appeared in its hands.

The blade in Selvar’s hand morphed to fit his hand, becoming slightly shorter. Selvar stepped forth to meet the shadowed figure that stepped forth. Seeing the acceptance of its unspoken challenge, the figure charged Selvar. Slipping out of the way, Selvar slashed at its back as it charged past him. He slammed the point of the blade into its back and it dissolved into shadow.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Another shadowed figure stepped forth, this one with a greatsword. Approaching Selvar cautiously, it waited for him to make the first move. Selvar raised his own blade to a defensive position as well, waiting for the shadow to make the first move. Eventually, the shadow swung at Selvar. Selvar parried the strike, then reversed his grip on the blade and slammed it into the shadow’s chest. It, too, dissolved into shadow.

This went on for a while, with Selvar repeatedly killing shadowed figures. After several dozen shadows, Selvar was breathing heavily, but all the figures had vanished. The platform began trembling and cracking, the edges falling. Selvar rushed for the center with the pedestal, but before he could reach it the cracks reached the center and the pedestal fell into the darkness below.

The darkness around the platform faded, only to reveal a series of smaller platforms a bit away from the platform that held the pedestal. Selvar rushed for the platforms, as they were not cracking and falling apart. Just before he reached the edge, the part he was about to jump off crumbled and fell. Selvar leaped off the crumbling platform, reaching for the silver platform.

Catching the silver platform with one hand, Selvar slammed into the side of it, before quickly pulling himself up. As he stood up on the new platform, it elongated. At one end, there was light. At the other end of the rather long platform, was darkness blacker than any of the other darkness in this area. Selvar sat down on the silver, catching his breath as nothing seems to be happening. After a few minutes, Selvar stood up and looked at the light and darkness.

“This has to be some sort of test as to the nature of the night.” Selvar thought out loud. “If it’s asking whether the night is part of light or darkness, the answer would be neither. The night is brought about by the absence of light, but that doesn’t mean it’s of darkness either. There’s light in the night, in the form of stars and the moons. Therefore, the answer is somewhere between these two…”

Selvar looked at the blade in his hand. Getting an idea, he raised the blade above his head and gripped the hilt with both hands. Bringing the blade down, Selvar pierced the platform in the center with the silver blade. The silver blade sunk in far further than expected, and a third path that stretched far into the distance extended in front of him. Pulling it out of the platform, Selvar started walking the path.

Several hours later, the path started to turn into stairs that stretched as far as Selvar could see. Sighing, Selvar started climbing the stairs. Eventually, Selvar reached the top of the stairs and stepped onto the moon that had been lighting the area since he arrived. There, Selvar found a rather tall man, dressed entirely in black. “Um… hello?”

The man turned around, and Selvar saw his eyes that were entirely black, including the parts that would normally be white. “Selvar, I take it? You are the first to have reached the end of the trial in a very, very, very long time. So long, in fact, that you are only the second Champion I will name. Congratulations.”

Selvar dropped to a knee. “Thank you, my lord.”

“Rise, Champion of the Night. Now, walk with me while I explain to you what your abilities as my Champion shall entail.” The God of the Night started walking, and Selvar hurried to keep up. “You shall have the ability to call upon the night to enshroud an area. This will be highly useful. The next ability you’ll use is the ability to bring nightmares of your opponents to life. No matter the creature in their imagination, you will be able to bring it to the material world. Third, you shall be able to travel between connected shadows. Finally, the dreams of men shall be open to you.”

Selvar nodded. “Makes sense. And the terms of becoming your Champion?”

The God of the Night looked to Selvar. “Destroy the Holy Empire of Andstine. So long as you do not fall in combat, you shall be immortal. Until you choose to give up this power, you shall keep the immortality so long as you complete the task.”

Selvar stopped walking. “I’m ready to begin.”

The God of the Night smiled, then darkness shrouded Selvar once more. When the darkness faded, Selvar found himself back at the altar in the desert. Testing out his newfound power to travel through shadows, Selvar melted into the shadows and appeared back at the entrance to the temple. Looking back at the temple, Selvar began travelling through the shadows towards his home of Serace.

Approaching home at nearly midnight, Selvar thought it best to simply go to sleep. When he woke in the morning, there would be hell to pay for the Lord of Serace.