Champions Vol. 01

David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Fuck. Fucking fucker pacifist motherfucking bullshit holier-than-thou FUCK!!

Opening his eyes, David walked to the priest and moved into his personal space. Leaning in to put his face less than six inches from the shorter man's eyes, he glared every ounce of his hatred at the priest as he spoke.

"Fine, asshole, you win. I'll let the bitches tag along. But understand something. If I get to this Field of Woe and Eros isn't there, or he can't send me back to my world, I'm coming back here. When I do, we will revisit this conversation...and I can assure you that you will not like what I have to say."

***

Upon leaving David's room, Astinus sought out Laurena. He found her sitting in the temple kitchens, angrily wiping tears from her face.

"How are you my dear?" Astinus asked her gently.

"I am fine, Priest Astinus," she said stiffly, not turning to look at him.

"I am sorry that David was so harsh with you," he said, "but there was a good reason I asked him to miss the Blessings of Eros. His world is not like ours, and he does not understand the Blessings as we do.

"He sees them as wanton acts of lust and hedonism, not a sharing of love and affection amongst the faithful. Your attempts to sway his feelings for you were successful, but you did not account for how his differences would affect the manner in which he would act on those feelings."

Surprised that the priest had discovered her deception during the service, as well as her attempts to seduce the Champion, Laurena turned to face him, but could find no words to speak in her defense.

"So now he sees you as a wanton whore, which is how those of his world would view your actions. And you must find a way to work past that belief and teach him of Eros' love; for he has agreed to the penance that we discussed last night. You and Sapphire will both have to counsel him on the road to Eros, and neither is particularly enamored of their sentence," he explained.

"But I still don't understand," Laurena begged of the older priest. "He saved me, and he was only defending himself. I know that Eros commands all life be held sacred, but should he have allowed such men to harm me, and himself? Eros himself has stated that it is often necessary to take a life in the defense of others or oneself, and that such actions are permitted."

Sighing, Astinus seated himself next to the acolyte. He took a few moments to order his thoughts, so that he could help the young woman understand the enormity of his decision; as well as her role in the days ahead.

"David's actions to save you, and later to defend himself, would have been permitted if he respected the lives he took. But he did not. He does not see eight men who lost their way; he sees eight wastes of human potential that deserved death. He does not hold their lives to be as valuable as yours, or his own. Thus he has broken with Eros' decree. His punishment is harsh, far harsher than I would like, but he must learn why all life is sacred if he is to become a worthy Champion.

"He is angry about the loss of family and friends, he is angry about the attempts on his life, he is angry about those he has had to kill, and now he is angry about being punished for doing what he truly believes was the right thing. That anger will be his undoing if he cannot learn to set it aside and instead embrace love."

As the old priest noted the dawning realization on the face of the acolyte, he added another surprising fact.

"He is also angry about his feelings towards you."

"What feelings towards me?" she asked sarcastically. "He has made it quite clear he hates me."

"My dear, if he hated you, why would he have any concern for your actions?" the priest wisely inquired of the young woman. "If he had no care for you, why would your actions, good or bad, have any effect on him either way?"

"I did not think of that," the acolyte said, a small spark of hope flickering once again.

"You have little experience with jealously, Laurena," the priest replied, "so it is no surprise that you are unable to recognize it. But I assure you, that man's anger toward you is in no small way fueled by his jealousy over your Blessing of other men and not him."

"But I was just doing as our god commands," she said, defending her actions.

"And David does not understand that. He does not understand our faith. All he understands is his world, and that is the lens through which he will view us until you teach him otherwise." Astinus explained to her. "It will be your responsibility to show him our faith, to give him an understanding of Eros' love beyond the carnal. And you must also help Sapphire, for though she has never been one of the faithful; her actions dictate that she must pay penance for her crime."

"If she is not one of the faithful, why would you choose this penance for her? How could she be of use teaching David our ways if she does not follow them herself?" Laurena asked in confusion.

"Her father was once one of my faithful, but after he met his wife he told me that she gave him all of the love that he would ever need. He stopped coming to service, but would still visit with me whenever he came through town. Later, he began to bring his daughter with him on his travels, once she came of age. She had only ever known her mother's faith, and he wanted her to learn of ours.

"Whenever he stopped, we would sit and talk long into the night, discussing our faith and morality. He wanted his daughter to understand his world as well as she understood her mother's."

"Her mother is a dragon, or dragon-kin isn't she?" the acolyte deduced.

"Yes, she is a Dracian. Her mother is half water dragon, and she raised Sapphire with her beliefs," the priest confirmed, "but the girl decided she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become a trader. So he taught her of our world, and allowed her to travel with him to learn our ways as well as the ways of a trader.

"You were raised with our faith, and know of nothing else. She knows what it is like to view our religion from the outside, and may be able to help David understand it better than you can."

Laurena really did not like that idea. She wanted the Champion to rely on her, not some other woman; especially not someone that looked like Sapphire. It wasn't fair that she was part dragon. Her beauty was the result of an unnatural magical advantage, unlike the divine craftsmanship that Eros had blessed Laurena with.

"Priest Astinus, I do not believe I need her help. I am well versed in the teachings of Eros, and I am more than capable of sharing that knowledge with the Champion," Laurena challenged him.

"You are not perfect acolyte," Astinus said, his tone cooling. "Have you never questioned why you have failed two tests for priestess? Or why you were sent from the Great Temple on the eve of your third, and final, testing? I have been away from Sanctuary Port for many years, but during my time as a teacher there I never heard of an acolyte leaving, for any reason. You know full well that all acolytes are taught the only way to leave is as a full priest or priestess, or as a faithful that can no longer serve in the clergy."

Laurena lowered her head in shame. She knew this was true. She had volunteered for the assignment to Calavius only after her mentor had told her that she was not ready to pass her next, and final, testing. Priestess Aurelia had called in a large number of favors to give the acolyte this unheard of opportunity, and she had instructed her pupil to use the time wisely. Laurena was to pay close attention to how other priests and priestesses along her route spread the love of Eros, and determine what was preventing her from doing the same.

"I am not sure Priest Astinus. I have studied all the teachings, and attended every service. I have worked harder than any other acolyte at the Great Temple to master the Blessings of Eros, and I have been very successful at that. I do not know why my magic remains so weak," she mumbled.

"It is not difficult to understand young woman," the priest said. "You lack the boon of Eros, the magic he grants to his faithful."

Shocked at this statement, she began to argue with him, "That cannot be. I have done everything demanded of the faithful. I have attended worship, every man and woman that I Blessed has seen their magic grow after joining with me."

"And yet, your magic remains weak," Astinus countered. "Did you not think it odd that after every service those who were Blessed by you left stronger of faith, and stronger of magic; while you continued to have the same power that you have always had?"

"I am just not that powerful," she countered. "There are many in our lands that are naturally weak of magic; and given how much beauty Eros has blessed me with, is it not fair that he has chosen to take some of my magic to preserve the balance?"

"Ah hah," the priest responded, "and that is your failure. You love yourself too much, and others not at all. You see the other faithful as a means of gratifying your physical needs, or of confirming the power of your beauty. You do not see the value and fullness they add to life, separate from their interactions with you. And until you can, you cannot truly love them as Eros commands; which means you will never share of Eros' power."

Laurena was shocked at his words. How could he say such things? This old priest barely knew her, and he thought he could make such wild claims. And yet, she had begun to suspect this for a while. Not his reason for why she lacked Eros' boon, which just couldn't be right; but that she did not have any magic beyond her own. She just assumed that Eros' granted power was the reason for her beauty, but if that was not the case, then why didn't she have the power of his love?

"You still have time to change, Laurena," Astinus told her. "Take this time with David and Sapphire to learn the nature of love. Learn to love them first if you must, and then you may eventually learn how to love all of our god's faithful."

***

Astinus stood in the doorway of his temple, and watched the trio depart. None of the three looked back at him, and only Laurena had spoken words of parting to him, done very formally. He sighed. His actions with those three were very risky, and could easily backfire, but he had to try something.

Shortly after he finished talking with Laurena, David had walked into the kitchen wearing his strange armor and carrying his equipment.

"We leave in an hour," he had said tersely to the acolyte, not even waiting for a response before exiting.

Astinus had found a horse for him. It was a large male draft horse, more suitable for pulling a plow than riding. Yet with all his heavy baggage, anything smaller would have been unsuitable for David's needs. The priest had used a bit of his magic to craft a saddle for the large animal, and also a bit to repair Laurena's favorite robes. She was wearing them as they left.

Sapphire had joined the pair just before they departed. David was a bit surprised to discover that the bluish tint of her skin had not been from the moons' light the night before, but had been her natural skin tone. Laurena was not surprised, now aware of the other woman's ancestry.

It had hurt the priest deeply when the young trader refused to speak to him, or even meet his gaze. He had been very close with her father, and had come to care deeply for his deceased friend's only child. But her anger was great, and she resented this act of penance he had saddled her with, which she had only agreed to reluctantly.

As a traveling trader, she knew every section of the road between Lexia and Calavius. She was the perfect choice to see that they reached Eros at the Field of Woe. She also still had much rage in her, and he hoped that she and David could share their pain, and conquer it together. The young man had far too much experience living with the pain of loss, and of doing dark deeds, but maybe some good could come from that familiarity.

Astinus knew David's penance was extreme, and possibly unjustified. Just as he knew the penance he had chosen for Sapphire was far too lenient. But the Champion needed her help to reach the Field of Woe in time, and she needed his help to return from the darkness. He had feared his plan was a failure when the soldier initially refused, and he still feared it might not work. But the Champion was stubborn, and he had to find some way to force the man to take both of the women with him. David needed their help in this world, just as much as they needed his.

Would the soldier teach the young trader how to live with her demons? Would the two of them be capable of teaching Laurena to love more than just herself? Would the women teach the man the value of all life? Would any of them be strong enough to face what a Champion and his followers must?

"Were we?" he asked himself the last question out loud.

My beloved Ophelia, I have missed you every day since your fall, he thought to himself.

And an old priest, standing in the doorway of a small temple, began to weep as he remembered his one true love. The most beautiful, wonderful, and compassionate woman he had ever known, lying dead upon a blood soaked battlefield; watched over by the god whose realm she had died defending.

*** Chapter 18: Awakening ***

141900MAR13 DW

On the road to Exitibus (Day 1), Erosius

The rest of the day had been rather quiet, with each of the three travelers lost in their own thoughts.

David was still furious. This place was worse than Afghanistan. At least there when you killed the bad guys all you got was an ass chewing about putting 'innocent non-combatants' at risk; as though the concept of non-combatants actually existed in that country. Non-combatants didn't stick around when bullets started flying. They knew the score, because they had been living in a damn war zone for centuries. They knew to run away and hide when the fighting started, and David had seen them do it on multiple occasions. The supposed 'innocent non-combatants' were just insurgents that had been killed and then had their weapons removed from their bodies by their surviving insurgent buddies so they could use the deaths as propaganda.

He still remembered the last serious ass chewing he got for calling in a fire mission on a group of 'non-combatant' shepherds that had been firing at his team. One of the COP cameras had been providing overwatch for his team's patrol, and caught the whole thing on video. That lieutenant colonel had been so busy trying to shift blame away from himself he hadn't bothered to watch the clear proof that the 'sheppards' had been firing on David's team until after the lieutenant had left the man's office. It had been two months ago, and David was still waiting on an apology. Not like he'd ever get it now.

But that fucking ass-hat Astinus was ten times worse. David had done everything right. He had met lethal force with lethal force. So what if he hadn't waited for those assholes in the mountains to start hurting 'the whore' before he engaged them. Was he supposed to wait around until a target successfully killed another human being before he was allowed to engage? If he wanted to put up with that shit he would have joined the FBI, not the Army.

Now he was stuck with two annoying prima donna bitches that he would sooner leave tied up on the side of the road than deal with. Laurena was a manipulative slut, too busy stuffing herself with cocks to bother caring about anyone or anything else. And Sapphire may be blazing hot, but she was way too damn high strung. He had volunteered some good advice that was based on his own experiences, and all she had wanted to do was bite his damn head off. Fuck both of them.

Laurena could not believe what Astinus had said about her. She was perfectly capable of loving other people. She did love other people. She loved how they worshipped her body during Blessings, how they filled her body, and how they made her feel important and powerful with their attention. Were it not for other people there would be no one to appreciate the perfect form that Eros had blessed her with. It was not her fault that no one else was as beautiful as her. Yes her magic was weak, but that didn't mean that she lacked Eros' boon, did it?

Sapphire was furious with Astinus, but not because of her penance. She knew full well that she deserved far worse. No, she was furious because she had talked with the owner of the Howling Moons last night after dropping off David. In that conversation she had discovered the fourth man that had attacked the Champion was named Lucius, had been associated with the other eight for years, and had been living in plain sight this whole time. It was the clergy's job to hunt down these criminals, and yet they were living happily under that old priest's nose.

She had also learned about two others, one named Francos in Lexia, and another named Galen in Exitibus. She didn't know if they were involved or not, but she was determined to find out. Unfortunately, this babysitting trip was getting in the way of that. At least she could do some initial information gathering on her way through Exitibus. Then she could drop the pair off at the Field of Woe and get back to hunting down everyone that had a hand in stealing her father from her.

Given their deep thoughts, it was not surprising that the sun was nearly hidden behind the horizon when they finally stopped to make camp. What was a surprise was Sapphire's sleeping arrangement.

"Did you need to borrow something to sleep on?" David asked the younger woman, finally noticing she had only one small set of saddle bags, and no sleeping gear that he could see.

"No, do you?" she replied sarcastically, glancing significantly at the massive rucksack and long-barreled weapons strapped to the back of his horse.

Well fuck you too, bitch, David thought.

After he unloaded his gear and saddle from the large draft horse, he brushed his mount down and tied it to a convenient tree using a long lead, allowing it to graze in the lush grass nearby. Then he opened his sleep system and rolled it out onto the soft grass. Looking up he noticed Sapphire pulling a large feed bag from the too-small saddle bags she had removed from her own mount.

Huh? Where the hell did that come from?

Forgetting his current task, he looked on in amazement as the young woman continued to pull far too many large items from the too-small bags.

After fitting the feed bag on her mount, and giving it a loving pat on the side of its neck, she had returned to her saddlebags and begun to pull out what he soon discovered was a decently sized tent. Once she had removed the cloth portion, she then removed a number of six foot long poles from the small bags. Placing the poles on the ground in a rough circle, she chanted a quick spell, and stood back as the tent assembled itself.

The poles stood up and the cloth tent raised itself from the ground and settled onto them. Ropes unraveled from the sides and staked themselves into the ground, securing the tent. The side nearest the trader pulled back, creating an entrance into the interior, which had a thick and sturdy looking woven cloth floor. The trader now stood next to a twelve foot diameter hexagonal tent.

Next she pulled a bundle of cloth and wood from the clearly too-small bag, and set it on the floor of the tent; where it proceeded to assemble itself into a comfortably sized cot. Finally, she pulled a bundle of bedding from the bag, and turning to put it on the cot. As she turned, she noticed David's now open-mouthed stare.

"I'm sure your sleeping arrangements are comfortable, but I am attached to these," she said, looking with a smirk at his sleeping bag lying in the grass.