"I've got to get
away! Why won't this nag go any faster?" The Champion cried as he
raced his horse along the winding mountain road. He could still hear
something chasing after him, forcing him ever higher into the mountains
just outside the city of Essensia. He couldn't tell who or what chased
him, but he knew he couldn't let it catch him. He had seen little more
than shadows and heard little more than some sort of snarl, but he was
filled with a dread which he could not explain.
This, in itself, was difficult to imagine. He was,
after all God's Holy Champion, the protector of all Essensia. He had
battled all the enemies of his people, never feeling such fear. He had
defeated giants, trolls, fearsome dragons with his skill and his Holy
Sword. Why was he so afraid now?
He spurred his horse to greater speed. It was early
spring, and snow was still on the ground in this high country outside
Essensia. The Champion worried about his horse slipping, but he
dismissed this quickly, trusting his horsemanship. After all, he had
been taught by the best trainers in Essensia since childhood. Now, he
was fully a warrior, a great hero, decorated for his bravery, surely he
could outride some common thug seeking his purse.
Still, he was afraid.
Then, up ahead, he saw three large boulders which
marked a sharp turn in the snowy road. The boulders were without snow or
ice, and this gave the Champion an idea. He rode for them, pushing his
horse to its limits. Then, in a move which others would have thought to
be insane, he leaped from his moving horse onto the rocks. There, he
fought hard not to lose his balance, he knew falling would mean his
capture. He regained himself, standing catlike upon a boulder, and he
watched his horse gallop down the road.
He laughed at his cleverness.
He knew his pursuer would soon be upon him. He looked
down the slope of the mountain, it was covered with Elmoran trees, which
remained green all year, and were the strongest wood, commonly used for
furniture and city walls. Again he grinned, spotting a nearby branch,
and he leaped from his perch, grasping the branch with his hands. He
pulled himself up into the tree. Like the apes of the Dry Lands he
fought years before, he moved through the strong branches of the Elmoran
trees. He used the dense forest to move down the mountain slope,
swinging through the trees, thus leaving no tracks. He climbed down from
the last tree, almost laughing at the excitement of the chase. He looked
up the slope behind him, certain to have eluded his enemy, not having
left a single track in the snow.
Still, he heard Him coming.
"What manner of being is he?" He panted.
Ahead of the Champion, further down a hill, he saw a
stream, which, with the coming of spring and melting ice, had swollen
into a fair river. Running north and into the water, he sought yet
another means of outrunning his foe. As soon as he entered the stream,
ignoring the cold in his boots, he turned immediately south, wading
chest high upstream for more than a mile. He was shivering, and began to
have difficulty breathing, but he persevered. Certainly he had eluded
his enemy now.
Yet, still he heard pursuit, and now, although he
wasn't sure, he thought he heard dogs baying in the distance. Not an
ordinary sound either, but something awful and desolate. He climbed from
the icy water, trudging recklessly through the snow.
"They can't catch me! I'm God's Champion!"
He whispered.
Then, ahead, he saw a rocky ledge which overlooked a
great chasm and he suddenly felt as though all was lost. As he got
closer, however, he saw that across from this ledge, was another cliff,
separated by a distance of twenty feet or so. When he reached this, and
looked down, he saw that the chasm was at least a mile deep, and his
heart began to pound blood painfully through his veins.
Again, he thought he heard the baying of hounds.
In desperation, he darted his eyes all about. Then, he
smiled. He saw a thin Elmoran tree near the ledge.
"What a miracle for you to have grown here!"
He said happily.
The Champion ran to the tree, and pulled his Holy
Sword. The Sword of his station, wielded by dozens of Champions through
time. The blade was solid gold, the hilt ivory, wrapped by heavy
leathern straps. It was said that God Himself forged the blade in
Heaven, so that His Champion might wield it in His stead. He swung this
powerful blade and cut through the tree in a single stroke, felling it,
and bridging the gap between ledges.
Again, he was pleased by his resourcefulness, and he
crawled across his makeshift bridge toward the other side.
He was almost across when, again, he heard the dogs,
and he turned his head instinctively toward the sound. His balance was
thrown by this, and he felt himself begin to slip from the Elmoran tree.
"Oh God, no!" He cried, trying to grab hold
of something even as he felt gravity pull him down into the chasm.
Then, a hand grabbed his.
God's Champion was pulled to safety on the other side
of the ledge, but he knew immediately that something was wrong. The hand
which grasped his own was vice like, unyielding, and would not release
him, even after he had reached solid ground. Instead, this hand began to
drag God's Champion, like a broken doll, through the snow. He tried to
struggle free, but he was helpless, unable, with the violent motion to
even see who had him. All he saw were clouds of steam emitting from this
being who dragged him.
He was taken, at length, to a great cave. Inside,
God's Champion was flung violently against a cave wall and landing upon
soft warm dirt. There, he struggled to rise, his body aching in a terror
he would not admit, even to himself. After all, he was God's Holy
Champion! Finally, he reached his feet and unsheathed his Holy Blade.
He felt a presence behind him. He wanted to scream,
but he refused. He had known, although he had never allowed himself to
admit it, who he had been running from. He gritted his teeth, and spun
to face his enemy. He looked into the eyes of his foe, looking, finally
at His charred body. He stood before God's Champion filled with
bleeding, infected sores, steaming in the cool spring air. The Adversary
stood there upon hooved feet, with legs of a black goat. His face was
long, pointed, with long matted hair reaching his haunches. His teeth
were yellow, large and his eyes were cruel and haughty.
"You led a merry chase." He said.
"How did you find me?" The Champion
whispered.
"You and I are quite intimate, Champion of God.
You will want to know why I have brought you here, correct?"
"Yes."
The Adversary shook his head with melancholy. "I
am disappointed, for I should think God's Holy Champion would have
unraveled at least part of my plan."
"You want to kill me, as you have so many
others."
"You do not give me enough credit, Champion of
God, killing would be a small achievement.
"What then, do you want?"
"Truly, you are a forbidden fruit worth
picking." He tittered.
"You speak like a senile hag!"
"You will be my crowning achievement, Champion of
God. I have watched you since birth, biding my time and awaiting this
day. You will be the one Champion of God who shall serve me."
"Never!" This angered the Champion,
suppressing a bit of his fear.
"That is what your father said, and his father,
and his father before him Then I killed them."
"You lie! You know nothing of my fathers!"
The Champion roared.
"Of course." He bowed politely. "In any
event, I did come to your poor, heartsick father. Sickened by the death
of his wife, who I also claimed, just after you birth, in fact, Champion
of God. I comforted him, in his hour of despair. Then, when he found out
who I was, he took that very sword which trembles in your paws, and
plunged it into his own heart. Ahhhh, what sweet irony!" He leaped
into the air, somersaulting and landing exactly on his own footprints.
"Am I not wonderful?"
"I will not kill myself, if that is your
hope."
"Good. You are made of sterner stuff. You have
overcome so much heartache, so many trials and tribulations, surely
nothing can make you destroy yourself. Which is all in accordance with
my plans." He bowed mockingly.
"Why you are tormenting me? Whatever you plan to
do, do it I say! Let this mockery of a conversation be at an end!"
A confused look crossed his bleak features. "I
merely challenge you to have the courage to try and kill me, Champion of
God. Is that not your function? Is that not why you exist? Are you not
God's Champion?"
"This makes no sense!" He stammered.
"I had once dared to challenge your father to
fight me, as was his sacred duty, but he was a coward and killed himself
instead."
"My father was a great Champion! He served God! I
ask you again, vile beast, why do you torment me?!"
"You are God's Champion. It is my obligation to
torment you, as it is your obligation to fight against me. In this,
perhaps it is I who am the better servant to your God."
"You do nothing in God's name!"
"Whatever the name, you must admit that I played
you like a fine instrument in an orchestra of my own design. In fact,
were it not for my temptations, you would not even be born, Champion of
God. Every hardship you have known, every foe you have beaten, every
obstacle which you have overcome is because of me. Perhaps you should
think of me as your grandfather."
The ground shook with His laughter. The Champion fell
to one knee.
"At last, you bow before me, Champion of
God."
"I worship only God, who is your better in every
way!" The Champion snapped.
"You think He cares for you? He doesn't, you
know. He denies you, even as you deny me."
"What?"
"All humanity denies me at every turn. You deny
your own sins as though that will make the evil they create
disappear." He moved, in the span of a second, to within an eyelash
of The Champion's stunned face. "The Lord of Darkness spits hot
venom into your face, yet you would rather slam your eyes shut against
my reality than oppose me. You would call me bad luck, natural disaster,
karma. These things are not real, there is only Me!"
"Truly, I am saddened that you feel a lack of
recognition, Dark One." The Champion said with open sarcasm.
The Adversary leaped again, high into the air,
flipping backward, landing some feet away. There he stood, bowing
politely like a grand Lord at the court of an Empress. "I am what I
am." He bellowed his laughter, wreaking havoc with the cavern due
to the boom of his voice. Stalactites fell and The Champion barely
escaped being impaled by the sharp rocks.
"What is so funny?" The Champion cried.
Everything stopped. "It was something your God
once said to a man who was much like yourself. I told you that I enjoyed
irony."
"God speaks to no man."
"Not here, not now, not on this world. Yet, on
another attempt at His earthly vision, he often spoke with His
cattle."
"What are you saying?" The Champion shook
his head, trying to understand what he was being told.
"Behold, I unfurl the very nature of
creation!" He said, waving his hands above His head. "You see,
your little world is nothing in the grand scheme of things." .
"Your God has created and re-created this world many times. Each
time, He has failed." A great stone pillar rose beneath the Dark
Lords' feet, becoming a pulpit
"God cannot fail."
"Your very statement betrays one of His
inadequacies. He does, indeed fail, Champion of God. Doubtless, I must
take some responsibility for His troubles, but rest assured, your God is
fallible."
"I do not believe you."
"He is stubborn too. It seems that He truly is
enamored with you humans. After each world fails, He resigns Himself to
undo the mistakes of the last world. Yet, every canvass he paints
mirrors the others. His love for you is truly insane. He even loves your
faults! He will never realize that it is man himself who is the bane of
His dreams."
"God dreams?" The Champion was spell bound,
listening like a tiny child to a tale from a favorite uncle.
"Of course he dreams. He is no better than I! He
needs and He suffers, He sleeps and He dreams. He knows passion and
love, He knows fear and hatred. In fact, twas at His knee that I learned
the craft of cruelty."
"The tale of your fall from grace?"
"It is no tale!" He screamed. "My fall
is the only truth which He perpetuates on all His worlds. He blames me
for His own failures. Yet, twas He, not I who created humanity.
Humanity, who by its very nature is better suited to serve me than
Him."
"Surely, God is more creative than to recreate
the same world again and again." The Champion couldn't help
himself, he was fascinated by all this.
"There are differences. One world, for example,
He actually dwelled with His humans. He sat Himself upon a great
mountain and dispensed His brand of justice to all. On another world, He
created lesser God's to handle smaller spheres of interest. Still, He
remains blind to His true error."
"What of this world?"
"Aye, let us speak of this world. What was His
innovation here?" He smiled and The Champion feared that he had
fallen into some kind of verbal trap. "Twas His decree that, on
this world, man would have ultimate power over his own destiny. Man
would be given power over his evil while God would remain aloof, never
interfering, no matter the circumstance. It is His belief that you can
control me, where He could not."
"That pleases you?"
"Why shouldn't it?" He cackled. "God
made this world under the delusion that man can defeat me! What a
joke!" He then caused his stone altar to burst into flames beneath
his feet. "To this end, did God pluck a single tooth from His mouth
and He did forge it into the very sword which lies, shaking within your
grasp."
"Then, I can destroy you!" The Champion
shouted.
The laughter stopped. "The Lord Your God will
that man would Champion His laws and beliefs, protecting His flock from
the hideousness that is I. In simple terms, Champion of God, the sword
can kill me, but I think that you are impotent and without courage
enough to properly stand against me. I certainly doubt that I will slip
from my perch, and fall onto the sword point!"
"I will not be underestimated! I am God's
Champion, as were my forefathers! I have a sacred duty, and I am truly
capable of carrying it out!"
"Then, show me your mettle!"
The Dark Lord leapt from his altar, gliding toward The
Champion like a diving hawk, talons extended. His claws ripped into The
Champion left cheek. Hot blood ran from his face and he fell to the
ground. He knew that he had been disfigured, he knew that he was
bleeding badly. This fear lasted only a moment, and then his training,
everything he had learned in war took over, including the one ability he
regretted, the ability to hate. He rose to his feet, searching for his
opponent, but he did not see him.
"You coward! Where are you?" He screamed.
"I am still with you, Champion of God." The
voice came from above. The Champion looked up, and he saw Him hanging,
bat-like from a stalactite above.
"Why does a being of such power feel the need to
toy with a mere mortal such as I?"
"Why, Sir Champion, are you angry?" He
leaped down, somersaulting and landing nose against nose with the
Champion.
"No." The Champion wasn't sure why he
answered thus, because he was furious, but he thought it to be the
correct answer.
"Are you certain?" He smiled. A foot long
tongue sneaked from his mouth, and licked the blood from The Champion's
face.
"Get away from me!" He was beyond rage,
insane with hatred. He felt as though he were on fire and he cared only
for the death of this beast before him. He attacked, slashing the
Adversary's legs with his Holy Sword.
The Dark Lord fell.
Then, God's Champion raised his blade around his head,
and plunged it deeply into the throat of the Lord of Darkness who still
managed to cry out in angst.
An odd look came over the face of the fallen
Adversary. There was a kind of cruel satisfaction there as God's
Champion removed his sword, and poised for a killing blow. God's
Champion hesitated at this, his anger draining from him like the stopper
had been pulled from a sink of rage. He stepped backward,
panting and confused. "This is wrong, how is this
so simple?"
Now, the expression of the Dark Lord changed into one
of utter desperation and horror. "My heart! You must pierce my
heart, Champion of God!"
The Champion backed away, more confused.
"No." He said.
"What!?" The beast now felt irrational fury.
"Are you insane?" He threw himself onto his stomach, pounding
the ground in a tantrum. His ire was terrible to behold, for each time
he struck the ground, the whole world seemed to tremble!
"Stop!" The Champion screamed.
Instantly, everything was still.
God's Champion, sprawled on the ground, looked wearily
for his opponent. He saw Him, weeping and sobbing before him. Hot tears
fell from his face onto his hands, which blistered with each drop and
then instantly evaporated. Then, the Dark Lord crawled close to God's
Champion.
"I hurt." He whispered.
"What do you mean?" The Champion asked.
"I am injured by the angst of countless worlds
made over. I know the agony of trillions of years of punishment. Mine is
a great hurt, and now, I am left with recourse but to be fully and
utterly . . . honest."
"I don't understand you." .
"I must tell you the entire truth, not just that
which serves an evil end.
I resent being forced into this, for honesty to me, is
like murder to you, Champion of God. I am repulsed by it, for that, by
God's decree, is my nature. Honesty which does not serve an evil is
anathema to me, yet I am left with nothing else." He sat
straighter, cleared his throat and began.
"What I say, not even your God knows. This is my
one secret from Him." It seemed obvious that the words were heavy
in his mouth, painful in his throat.
"I will hear you, Dark One."
"I am the Lord of all that is Evil, the Great
Corruptor, the Bringer of Woe, and Him who Devours all Innocence. I am
Satan, Lucifer, Asmodeaus and a thousand other vile callings. This is
the cosmic role for which I unwittingly auditioned, but was thrust upon
me. There was a time when I thought to be the monarch in Hell was better
than a slave in Heaven. I was wrong."
"I do not understand."
"I have come to the realization that, even though
I am not in Heaven, I am still God's servant. Everyone is, whether they
know it or not. God uses me to weed out those who are worthy of Heaven
and those who deserve Hellish punishment. All of my grand schemes are
for naught, for in truth, they are just part of His cosmic plan. I do
not rule over Hell, I merely tend it for Him. I am God's garbage man.
"Tis why honesty is so difficult for me. I have
no choice but to be evil, for that is the mold He cast me into. He bade
me to be evil, and so I am. I have defiled and defamed for millennia
without number, and I know that, truly I am nothing. I am a great slug,
God's vermin, I am disgusting even to myself and I would not be Lord of
Darkness any longer!"
"You are what you are, eh?" The Champion
replied.
"I see you have a taste for irony as well,
Champion of God. Can't you see how miserable I am? I am an abomination
to all who behold me. I cannot stand this awful hatred which is rightly
felt for me by the universe."
"What can be done?" He asked carelessly.
"Have you sinned?"
"Obviously, you know that I have."
"Does your God forgive you?" He asked
quickly.
"Of course."
"Does He love only those who are without
sin?"
"God has love for everyone."
"What of those sinners who escape my notice, and
are first sent to Heaven? What of them?" Satan smiled.
"They stand before the Lord and are judged by
Him, forgiven by Him if that is in their hearts."
"Exactly!"
"I don't see your point."
"I have arranged everything to direct you here to
me. I have carefully calculated everything so that you might learn to
hate and fear me. I made you feel thus so that I might force you to take
your sword and slay me, for only here, on this world, is this
possible."
"You want to die?"
"Yes! I want to die! That way I can stand before
God and beg Him to forgive me!" He moved onto his knees. "I am
begging you, Champion of God, kill me!"
"This cannot be God's will."
"I do not care about God's will! I have bent to
His will for ages! I have paid my debt thousand fold! I must be
free!"
"I cannot." The Champion said softly.
"What of your own interests? You are not without
such, after all. Think, for when I am dead, who will hold the souls of
Hell from being judged and sent to Heaven? Think of your parents, both
of whom you can redeem this day. You alone can do what even God
cannot!"
The Champion began to feel dizzy.
"Think of your mother, you know that she was a
good woman. She is undeserving of her fate. What right do you have to
allow her to continue suffering? What of your father, who Championed God
all his life? Kill me, and in so doing, free those you love!" Satan
gestured, and there, before The Champion appeared the images of his
loved ones who had been sentenced to Hell for all eternity. His parents,
bound in fiery chains, inundated with insects and snakes.
The Champion looked at them, and an awesome, almost
tangible sadness filled him like sour wine. His tears became his master,
his chest heaved, his muscles flexed and tightened, his teeth clenched,
threatening to break his jaw bone. Then, all of his sadness, his pity,
his pain and his love exploded like a great star bursting in space. A
great roar came from his throat and he lifted his Holy Sword high above
his head, and plunged it into the breast and heart of the Lord of
Darkness.
The tooth of God did chew upon the vile meat of evil
itself.
Then, there was nothing.
The Champion felt a weight fall upon his body. He
grabbed hold of it, staring down at the face of the limp body with
fascination. He held a young, beautiful man with long red curls,
surrounding high cheeks bones with alabaster skin, deep blue, weeping
eyes. A smile was upon his lips and a voice which was more beautiful
than a choir said, "thank you."
Before him, The Champion saw the shades of his mother
and father, smiling and without pain. They held each other, and
together, they ascended out of sight.
Then, there was nothing, an utter void, bereft of
light. The world of God's Holy Champion had now become one with Him,
having fulfilled its destiny as no other world had.
God was truly happy.
Then, from somewhere, and from no where, a great voice
shouted out in the cosmos. "Let there be light!"
Thus, the cycle continues.
