Rise of the Champion (The Champion Book 1)

by Clara C. Johnson

  On the bottom floor of the courtyard, Ewen was dressed in his black robes, standing in front of a large table with three statues sitting in a row.

  She heard him say to his men, “May the ritual begin!”

  The statues. That was how Ewen would bring back the gods. The statues were some type of gateway to the realm they reigned, or their souls were trapped inside them. That was why he needed the one Grom had, it was the final piece to Ewen’s set.

  Serra and the others watched as Ewen sprinkled what looked like blood on the statues. A man lay dead on the ground several feet away from him covered in his own blood. A ritual sacrifice.

  The statues responded to the blood as a crimson aura formed around each of them as if feeding off it. The gateway was opening.

  “Serra, there must be forty men down there. We can’t fight them all,” said Caden. Theren, in response, unsheathed his sword, giving him a frown.

  “We have no other choice. We fight and die or Xobris, Aljun, and Anja will awaken and destroy the world.” His voice faded in a whisper. “We have to try.”

  Serra knew the risks coming here. She knew what could happen if she had found Ewen, and she was too late. As the only weapon against him, he had little to worry about but he made sure to take precautions. Between Serra and Ewen, there were ten of his followers, and all the rest were the guards ready to strike at the first sign of trouble.

  Ewen must’ve known she would go after him. He couldn’t risk not having most of the guard with him tonight. Behind his followers, she noticed someone with tied-back blond hair. Commander Falck. Her suspicions were correct—she was one of his followers now.

  All the anger Serra held for her dropped. She was doing all of this against her will. There was no way she was willingly participating. Her eyes were the same as Ethrond’s, black and lifeless. Serra hoped her fate wouldn’t be the same.

  Finn pulled her attention away from the commander. “We should split up. We will keep the guards and his followers busy while you get Ewen.”

  Split up? That was the last thing she wanted to do. Serra wanted nothing more than her friends to stay beside her. She needed to protect them from these monsters. Tears formed in her eyes.

  “Finn, you’ll all be killed. Look at all of them! If we separate, they will kill each of you one by one.”

  Caden touched her arm. “We’ll be fine. It’s more important that you stop him. I’ve seen some of those guardsmen fight—they can barely move with all that weight of their armor. Each of us have speed over them. It’s an advantage.”

  “Doesn’t matter. His followers are in robes. They won’t have the same issue,” she said, gripping onto her sword tighter as she felt herself shaking violently now.

  Theren cupped her face. “Serra, look at me.” She did. “This is our only shot at overwhelming him. He couldn’t have predicted all of us. I know you can do this. Don’t worry about us.” He offered a small smile to reassure her.

  This could be it. She could lose everyone she cared about in one fell swoop. Finn, a father and best friend. He raised her since the day he found her starving on the side of the road. No matter how different they were, no matter how much she may have driven him crazy, he never left her. He was always there watching out for her.

  Caden, her best friend who had helped her several times with wounds and when she got into trouble. He stood with her against Grom when he was going to enslave all those elves. He joined the rebellion to stay with her and Finn, and now he was here because he didn’t want her to face Ewen alone.

  Theren, her love. The only one who understood her pain. Her anger at herself for taking revenge on the men who killed her family. He never held it against her and found a way to care for her for who she was. He never left her side, and he wouldn’t leave her now unless it was necessary.

  Finally, she nodded as she wiped her tears away.

  “Know that I love each of you. You are my friends, my family, and if we don’t make it, I’ll see you on the other side.” The words barely managed to leave her throat.

  Caden grabbed her hand the way comrades do. “It was a pleasure, Serra Blackburn. You gave my life true purpose. I’ll never forget that.” And with that, he moved into position on the left side of the courtyard.

  Theren kissed her passionately as if he, too, thought it would be the last time he would ever do it. When they released, her heart sank into her stomach.

  “I love you. No matter what happens here tonight, I will find you. Nothing in this world or the next can ever keep me from you. Stay strong, my love. I know you can do this.” He kissed her again and moved into position across the courtyard from Caden to attack the two guards below.

  He said it. He said he loved her and she might never hear it again.

  Finn and Serra remained, staring at one another. He then embraced her, kissing her head. “We’ll get out of this in one piece, I promise. I would never let anyone take my daughter away from me.”

  It was only a few times he ever referred to her as his daughter. He treated her over the past few years as his friend, only picking up the father mantra when he felt he needed to. The thought of losing him made her want to never let him go.

  She sniffed. “You trying to say something, dwarf?”

  “Only… only that I love you, child.” His voice was breaking at this point. Tears stained his cheeks when he finally pulled away.

  “You may not have been involved in my birth, Finn. But you were always my father.” She forced a laugh. “When we get out of this, I challenge you to another round of cards.”

  “I’ll buy the drinks,” he said with a wink.

  Finn pulled out his duel axes and went down the steps to attack them from behind. Serra took several deep breaths, saying a small chant to herself that they will all make it out of this. There was too much at stake. She couldn’t let Ewen win.

  She saw the statues glowing bright now. It was only a matter of time before the ritual was complete.

  Guvtarr¸ if you’re here. Protect them. Protect my family.

  She gave the signal to Caden and Theren.

  They worked in perfect formation. With the attacks from each side, the guards were disoriented, unsure of what was happening.

  The ritual paused when Ewen took notice. “Kill them!” he screamed.

  Serra watched for the perfect moment. Her friends were going to create her a path directly towards Ewen. She saw as Caden took a kick to his face, making him almost fall back. Finn jumped in and threw one of his axes toward the guard, killing him instantly.

  Theren swung his sword hard, cutting down one attack after another, but he was getting overwhelmed fast. He was slowly making his way toward the others, fighting all along the way.

  Caden and Finn were back to back as they were surrounded. Screams of pain echoed in the night air, and Ewen was getting angrier. She saw him push two of his followers toward Finn and Caden.

  No!

  She couldn’t take it anymore. Serra jumped over the railing and landed directly on Commander Falck, knocking her straight to the ground. Disoriented, she swung her sword mindlessly at air. Serra parried her attack and kicked her in the face, knocking her unconscious.

  Serra ran toward Ewen, who had barely seen her before she could take her first swing at him. He vanished before she could hit her target: his head.

  The Black Trinitas followers attacked her from behind. She dodged several of their attacks before she was cut on her arm then her stomach.

  A fog formed around the courtyard, making them pause. “No, this one is mine,” Ewen’s voice said. They stopped their attacks and moved away from her before they could land the final blow.

  “Come out, you coward!” she yelled, hoping to antagonize him further.

  A laugh echoed through the fog. Ewen seemed too amused for his own good. Her anger rose. He was playing the same game he had before. Vanishing and reappearing when it suited him, only this time, he was wary to come too close. She couldn’t get a direct hit.
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  “You are not much of a warrior’s champion, Serra. Guvtarr may have been able to defeat the gods once, but you cannot stop their return no matter how hard you and your friends fight. You are nothing.”

  The fog held shadows several feet away from her. At first, she thought it was more of Ewen’s guards. She raised her sword, waiting for their attack.

  But what she saw… wasn’t what she had expected.

  “Darling,” her mother said, holding a baby girl in her arms. Her baby sister. She looked so beautiful. Bright blue eyes, fuzzy blonde hair just like her own. She was clothed in a light-green dress. Her father smiled as he placed his arm around her mother then placed a kiss on her sister’s forehead. They were exactly the way she remembered them. The way she dreamed of them.

  He waved her over. “Come on, sweetie. We have a lot to do today. You did remember your sister’s birthday, right?”

  Her sword fell, clanking against the stone. “Mama… Papa…” she rasped, barely able to form the words. “This has to be a trick.” Her body trembled as she fell to her knees. “You’re dead. You’ve been dead for years.”

  Her father and mother laughed. “Dead? Oh, sweetheart, did you have another nightmare? You know those are only nasty thoughts in your mind. We’re here. We’re fine. Come inside and help us eat the cake I baked.”

  It was a trick. A horrible, vicious trick. Like the captain, Ewen had found a way to enter her mind and used it to pray on her emotions. He used her pain against her. It was just a distraction to keep her away from her friends. To stop her.

  Though, the temptation to have them back to her. To hold them and embrace them again… It was too much.

  “Go to them, Serra. Be with your family. You could all be together again,” Ewen’s voice said beside her. She didn’t dare look at him. She knew he was there, coaxing her on.

  She looked over her shoulder, seeing her friends still fighting. They were getting tired. Their movements slowed. Dirt, blood, and sweat covered their bodies.

  When her eyes returned to her family, tears streamed down her face. She grasped the hilt of her sword and stood.

  “My family… is dead.”

  And with that, she attacked them. Their screams filled the air, deafening her to everything else. Her mother’s voice changed into something darker, deeper. Her father threw his fist, only to be stopped when Serra stabbed him in the belly.

  The bodies of her parents lay before her as blood coated the stone underneath them. By destroying the hallucination, her parents faded, revealing a man and a woman dressed in black cloaks with a baby doll on the ground between them.

  “My family is dead,” she repeated more to herself than to Ewen.

  Ewen roared. “Do you really want your friends to die, Serra? Save them from this! Drop to your knees, and I will spare their lives!”

  He was getting desperate. Without his hold on her mind, he couldn’t get close enough to stop her.

  “End this now.”

  The red glow grew brighter. The statues formed human-shaped figures in front of her. No, not humans. Elves. The gods he summoned were elves. She couldn’t make out their faces, but their ears were prominent. Their souls traveled into this world.

  Serra gripped her sword with both hands. The elven markings on her blade responded to the statues, burning so hot that the color turned blue. “No,” she told Ewen’s voice, then rushed to the statues. Swinging her sword as hard as she could, she smashed them. Monstrous screams filled her ears as the red glow grew brighter and brighter, until a shockwave pushed Serra away.

  The light dissipated as well as the fog. Dead bodies and blood coated the ground next to Serra. When she looked up from the ground, she saw another figure take shape. It was a human male, from what she could tell, dressed in golden armor with a dragon painted on the breastplate. He stared at Serra.

  “Guvtarr?” she said, trying to stand.

  He said nothing but nodded instead. A small smile passed on his lips before he, too, vanished into thin air. Serra believed that, somehow, he was thanking her. She had done what was expected of her. A warm feeling filled her body as if she were next to a flame.

  When she finally stood, Ewen was screaming. He was pulling at his hair and picking up the broken pieces of the statues. His followers stood around him, sharing looks. They forced him to his feet, and one of them slit his throat. His body dropped to the ground as he choked on his own blood.

  Each of the members of the Black Trinitas removed their hoods. The blackness around their eyes faded. The surviving members of the guard did the same, including Commander Falck. That was when Serra saw Caden on the ground.

  She rushed to his side and pulled out the sword that impaled his stomach. He screamed in agony. “It’s all right, Caden. I’m here. It’s over.” She needed to stop the bleeding. She tore off her sleeves to use as a tourniquet for his wound.

  “There’s no point, Serra. I’ve lost too much blood,” he said, breathing heavier.

  She shook her head. “No! You’re going to be fine. It’s nothing I can’t fix. Just tell me what I need to do.” She could handle some cuts, but she wasn’t sure what she could do about this. Caden was the healer, not her.

  “Serra,” he said, touching her arm. “It’s all right.”

  “I won’t let you die.”

  He smiled, but then violently coughed, spilling blood over his mouth. Serra wiped what she could away with one of the sleeves. “I won’t let you die,” she repeated.

  “I meant what I said earlier. I was… nothing before meeting you. You gave me… purpose.” He paused for too long of a moment. He was growing weaker, and there was nothing she could do.

  “Thank you… for everything,” was all he managed to say before he closed his eyes. His last breath exhaled as his hand dropped his hold on her hand.

  She couldn’t stop the tears. She couldn’t stop screaming. Sobs filled her throat, knotting up her chest. She gripped his clothes, shaking him. “No, no, no, no, no.”

  But it was too late. Caden was dead.

  Hands grasped Serra’s shoulder as the sobs continued for what felt like an eternity. Theren and Finn didn’t say anything, but they held her close between them as a reminder that they were there for her and still with her. She lost someone else she loved. Her parents, her unborn sister, and now Caden. She gripped onto Theren’s shirt as if it could somehow make all this pain go away.

  She had no idea how long they remained like that. The sound of the guardsmen’s armor was the only thing she could hear over her own cries. They did their best to show empathy for her loss, giving her space and taking off their helmets to place them over their hearts. Captain Falck eventually knelt on the other side of Caden’s body, staring at his lifeless corpse.

  “I’m sorry,” she said in a low voice.

  Serra could barely understand her words. She had heard them countless times before whenever she spoke of her family, but they never brought any comfort. She saw them as empty words people would say because they truly didn’t understand her pain. They didn’t know the loss she had suffered.

  The captain left her side, saying something to her men she didn’t hear. Serra didn’t care. If the captain decided to throw them all in prison, she would make sure to take the fall. Theren and Finn had nothing to do with this. They didn’t lead Caden to his death.

  Once her sobs calmed down, Theren pulled back to look at her. “There was nothing you could’ve done.”

  Yes there was, she wanted to argue, but the words failed to reach her throat. “I wasn’t fast enough,” she said instead.

  He embraced her once more then picked her up off the ground, forcing her to stand. She faced him as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

  Finn approached them. “Serra, Falck wants to speak with you. I tried to tell her—"

  “It’s all right.” Though it really wasn’t. “I’ll speak with her.”

  Captain Falck waved her hand, giving orders to three of her guardsmen. They nodded and went
to another group of men who were moving the bodies. Serra guessed they needed to clean up. The captain turned with a sour expression.

  “I can’t say I’m pleased with the mess, but I must thank you for stopping him.” She touched her temple. “I don’t remember much of what happened. Things were in order one day and then… it’s fuzzy.”

  “The duke was part of a cult, The Black Trinitas. Their goal was to bring back some dead gods from an elven legend. Though, I guess it wasn’t much of a legend now.” She glanced at his corpse. “I’m not sure how he got his power, but I don’t think he can hurt anyone again.”

  “It would seem so,” Falck concurred. “But my men will need to hunt down the rest of the cult’s followers. He may have been a prophet of some kind to them.”

  It would make sense. When he failed to fulfill his promise to them, they killed him. Their eyes seemed to return to normal, but they left before Serra could see a full change. Perhaps magic changed their appearance.

  Either way, it would be safer to find them and end them before they could cause any more damage.

  “Hard to believe he was involved in all of this,” Captain Falck said as she added another paper to a large pile on Ewen’s desk. As the cleanup continued, the captain had asked Serra to join her in investigating Ewen’s office for any information.

  Her thoughts remained on Caden as she picked up another pile of books and moved to the chair on the other side of the desk. “I’m hardly surprised. When a man like Ewen is given power, he wants nothing more than to increase it, no matter the cost. I’ve met too many like him.”

  “Perhaps one of these days you and I could share some of those stories,” Falck offered with a polite smile. “We women should stick together, no?”

  “Sure,” was all Serra managed to say. So many things had to come first though. Caden’s funeral, the survival of the elven rebellion, and getting things in order. She hoped the people in the rebellion were all right. Irma… Aravar… Leo…

  I kept my promise, Aravar. The bastard’s dead.