Over the past few months, I had worked on my willow tree chair. I had gotten it to be the perfect chair, using plant empathy to slowly adjust it. It only got better once I got the beer bucket since I was able to have the tree slowly grow a side table for the beer.

The only problem with the whole arrangement was how few beers I had. Which is why I started with the growler that night. The health was nice and all, but really the thing I was after was the increased intoxication. The question of who I was just messed with me too much because I didn’t have a clue.

I fell asleep drinking beer while still sitting in my tree chair. Right as I drifted off, I got a pop-up. My drunken eyes popped open, and I stared blankly.

By your actions today

New knowledge has been granted to you!

Close quarters combat (Level 0)

I laughed a bit. It had been so long since I had gotten a new skill I had almost forgotten about them. Then for it to show up now. I laughed and laughed. Then I opened another bottle and drank some more.

I pointed up at the moons, and then I dreamed of Ash.

I knew a few years had passed since Ash and Taphine (as she liked to be called) had met. Drath had left last year to go find a mate. He would likely be gone for a few more years as the process involved carving out a territory, and then only once he proved he was strong would he be able to approach a female without them fleeing. Now they were leading the armies of the Pantheon.

The champions and Taphine had ridden up a hill to get a better look at the horde they had been chasing. It had been a month since they had cut this section out of the great horde. Through a series of small battles, they had managed to move close to 20,000 orcs away from the rest.

Garth, the champion of Warfare, asked. “Do you think they will run?”

Most of the others chuckled, and a few rolled their eyes. There was no place for the orcs to run. This horde had been cut off from the rest of the great horde. The reason it was important was that there were two champions of the dark ones down there.

I spoke, or Ash did. “I think come morning, Grick and Zerdan will know they have no place to run and set their horde to face us. If we move now, I think they will try to break out.”

We turned our mounts around and started to walk back to camp when Taphine spoke up. “Ash when do you think I will get made a Champion?”

The question startled me some. It wasn’t that everyone became a Champion, but it felt that way around me. Each one of these warriors had been fighting beside us for years. Each one was claimed by a god that Order introduced them to. Yet Taphine hadn’t been asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know dear. The gods do as they want. Why would do you want to be one?”

The group had gotten quiet. We were all friends and brothers in arms. We had fought in the thick of the battles for years with each other before Garth got asked to be a Champion. Soon after that, six others were offered the job. Then our number grew to twelve Champions when another six rode into camp. Each one had been sent. The only ascended that didn’t have a real champion now were Order and Chaos as I left that role.

Taphine turned on her horse to me. “I want the power. Each one of you gained a dozen levels at least and then your prayers and other skills. Most of you were less powerful than me and now you have passed me.”

Sigeric, the Champion Magic said. “Taphine, all of the pantheon have chosen Champions.”

Taphine drew her horse to a stop and yelled. “That’s a lie and you know. Order and Chaos haven’t chosen one. They could choose me!”

I knew why they hadn’t chosen her. They couldn’t see her. She was a hole in their vision. When she went to pray to them, they didn’t hear, and when she tried to give them things, it never happened.

I sighed. “Dear they say that you have yet to earn faith with them. They don’t even see you because of that.”

Taphine’s eyes glowed green for a moment as she pressed her lips together. “I have tried to offer them things but they keep rejecting me. How should I get faith in someone that doesn’t want it?”

“I don’t know why they don’t take your offerings. When I have asked they act like they don’t know what I am talking about. But you don’t need to be a Champion to grow more powerful. I can help you. It might take time but we can move you to being a Demigod.”

She snapped back. “I’ll be a old hag by that time! Do you want that? A hag by your side! You had the easy way becoming a Champion!”

With that, she spurred her horse forward to camp. By the time I got there, she was already in her tent. I could feel the magic starting to form and knew she was already working on her rituals for the next battle.

I headed over to my tent, tired. We had this same argument every few weeks. It wasn’t like I didn’t want her to stay young and beautiful. Just that the Sisters refused to pick her, and she didn’t like that. Why she couldn’t accept that we could work to raise her power. We still had time to level her enough to slow her aging down. Sure it wouldn’t be like a Champion who just didn’t age. But it would give her the time to get power.

Taphine had become my companion over the years. She was hurt like I was, so we bonded over that. However, her anger never grew cold. Rather she turned it inward as she tried to improve. Always saying that the town died because of her. That she needed to become stronger.

Her magic had warped as well over the years we traveled with each other. No longer did she cast spells like others. She had started doing large ritual castings. Given time her magic could affect thousands at once and even reach several miles away.

The problem was the magic that she used. I knew what she was doing when she would vanish for hours. She was out harvesting the hearts of orcs for her magic. The things she could do were amazing, but it changed her. I still loved her more than anyone since Lorie, but her magic was warped.

I sighed. Even with everything that was odd about her, she was the brightest spot in my life. When she wasn’t angry, her smile would light up the world. When she was driven, she would gain levels so fast. We talked about the future of once she was a demigod. Yet she never wanted to talk about the past.

There was a deep sadness from her past that she didn’t want to talk about, but it affected her. I saw it when we would ride through towns. When she saw little kids playing, she would just stop talking. It would be hours later before she would smile again.

It would be a few hours before the different parts of the army were in place. The two flanks blocking the escape needed to finish getting moved. If they weren’t in place, then Grick would give us the slip again.

Sure, that orc loved to fight, but unlike others, he would disengage when he knew he couldn’t win. Which had been what kept us on this run. We split his forces off first, and then he kept evading until he got to Zerdan.

Now that they were linked up, we thought we could force the fight. If we could wipe out the two champions now, then we should be set for a while. The Dark ones only had three champions on this world, and the third one hadn’t been seen in years.

I was pouring myself a drink when Garth came in. “Arn, we need to talk.”

I pointed to a camp stool and sat down myself. “How private?”

“Very”

I nodded and activated a small orb on my desk. It started to glow a deep red. Then it slowly pulsed out till it hit the edged of the tent. The red adsorbed into the canvas and slowly pulsed.

Garth took a deep breath. “Arn, I come to you as a friend more than anything right now. I know that you love Taphine and so overlook things. But she has gotten worse in the past year. Her magic scares the troops and honestly even many of the champions.”

I clenched my jaw tight and stood. Garth was a friend, a good one, but he was wrong about Taphine. Her magic might be warped, but she was fine, and she was the one scared most of the time. Not other people.

Just when I was about to respond, Garth spoke again. “Brother, her tent reeks of death and corruption. Sigeric had to erect wards so that her mana wouldn’t leak into his tent.”

I let my breath out slowly as I thought about what he said. “It’s the rituals they are powerful. You have seen what they do. With the battle tomorrow I am sure that we need the suppression that she is going to put out there.”

Garth went to leave right before he did; he looked back at me. “Warfare is worried about her, he can’t see her and doesn’t know what that means.”

* * *