“Yea bet you can’t swim you filthy son of a bitch!” I screamed out at it, my voice echoing out over the valley and the lake. It let out an enraged roar, then it decided to call my bluff. Jumping into the water with a massive splash, hurtling a wave before it. As it began to swim, I realized the truth of the nightmare I was in… turns out multistory horrors can swim pretty fast.

It got about halfway to me as I stumbled up the island looking for the other side before, I heard a bloodcurdling scream from the monster as something green and scaly, with massive jaws shot out of the lake and pulled the thing under. My blood went cold and I stumbled over backwards, before I caught myself on a spindly tree as I watched in fascinated horror as I saw the last gasping air bubbles pop the surface of the lake, then all was still.

Everything was still that is until I saw a snout splash up out of the water, and two yellow eyes watched me as I sprinted up the island, trying to get as far away from the water as possible. It did not for a wonder seem interesting in chasing me. I could see the snout munching and crunching, and there was a massive arm sticking out of it’s many, and very large teeth. Then…I swear… the thing winked at me before it vanished down into the depths.

“Did…. It just… wink at me?” I grumbled and decided I had just imagined it. Sitting down on the rock, I groaned as my multiple injuries took that point in time to come crashing into my awareness and I hissed as I tried to heal myself. It was a surprise when I suddenly came back to my senses looking up at the morning sky, with my head pounding. I must have passed out for a second.

It felt good to be alive… and now I was hungry again. I wasn’t sure if my reincarnation had included the crab meat that I had stuffed myself with, but somehow, I doubted it. My stomach roiled and grumbled as I stalked up the crest of the island looking for anything that either couldn’t run away fast enough or wasn’t running towards me with the intention of making me it’s breakfast. The island was a decent size, but didn’t seem to contain much other than a few stands of fir trees, a bit of tumbled ruins and a lot of driftwood along its shorelines.

Making my way towards the ruins, I wasn’t entirely impressed. There was, however a small shrine with stone statuettes on it that did seem to be more recent. It had a stone roof, that covered a nearly collapsed wall that was propped up by a fallen pillar. I wondered if this was an altar.

If it was… perhaps I could make this my respawn point. I have a laugh and wondered if I had lost my sanity. Yes, great idea! Create a respawn point that traps you on an island in the middle of a lake inhabited by a monster that could curb-stomp Godzilla. Brilliant!

That pretty much demonstrated my brief train of thought on that idea, where I gave another snort of laughter and sighed as I sat down and groaned, clutching my stomach. As I studied the alter, shrine or whatever it was I got a sense of unease. It was as if I was in turned being watched, and scrutinized. It gave me the heebie-jeebies and I quickly decided the rest of the island needed a good look over.

There really wasn’t anything on the island… at all. Just those ruins, and as I watched the sky darken, I decided to try and find as much driftwood and other campfire fuel as I could before the approaching thunderstorm reached me. It did look to be moving quite fast, so I figured it wouldn’t last more than a few hours at the most.

Gathering up a small pile of driftwood, rotten fir deadwood and other fuel, I started a small fire just inside the shelter of the shrine and warmed my hands up and burned the damp off my skin. The sky opened up with a deluge of water, and yes… it was icy cold. I swear I even heard a bit of hail for a few moments off and on.

I had made it a point to make sure my fire was on the opposite side of the shrine from that creepy altar that was making my hackles stand on end every time I looked at it. Walking over, I got a closer look, a few details that I hadn’t noticed before standing out. There were carvings of wind, water, and lighting on the stone of the altar itself. Upon the surface of the altar, sat three statuettes in a triangle facing each other as if in conversation.

It was very odd. The first statuette was of a man gripping a forked spear and a net, the second was of a short, squat muscular man wreathed in lightning and clutching a massive double-headed axe. The third was a woman with billowing tassels coming off what looked sort of like a cross between a robe and an evening dress. It reminded me of a picture of a gypsy woman I had once seen, Roma I think they are called.

Crouching down I met the eyes of the man with the spear and net. The detail on the figurine was amazing, almost as if the thing was alive. I could even see the veins on beefy arms of the guy, and his hair seemed to almost be waving in the wind, it was so finely carved. The eyes though… they seemed to be watching me, as if curious.

Shaking my head and definitely weirded out, I scooted back to the fire and wondered if it was wise to not try and pay respects to some water god if I needed all the luck, I could get to get past supercroc or whatever that thing was in the lake.

As the storm continued to howl and shriek, thunder crashing down and shaking my little shelter I felt something at the edge of my awareness, it was as if the storm itself was calling to me. I stared out into the grey, howling maelstrom and somehow it was mesmerizing. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it was almost as if I knew deep in my heart that something in that storm felt somehow… right.

I uncurled from my crouch and stood on the entrance of the shelter; light spray carried on the wind flowing around me as I smiled. At first the water was icy cold, but then as if a switch had been flipped, the more I breathed in the crisp and spraying wind and drank in the sheer power of the wind and water the more I felt at peace, and it didn’t feel the cold at all. It felt as if my body was on fire, not from the outside in but as if with each lighting crash my heart burned and swelled. With each rumble I could feel it in my bones.

I let out a feral cry, all the rage and pain and heartbreak that I had gone through in my short but stunted life seemed to flow out of me, and I think it was in that moment I felt reborn. It almost was a shock to my system when the sun finally flared back down on me as the storm rumbled past and down the valley. I was left standing outside my naked body gleaming in the first breaking rays of sunshine. I slumped, and felt almost spent but still tingled all over as if I had gotten a shot of expresso.

As I turned back to my fire, I froze. The statuettes were no longer facing each other. They were all turned towards the entrance of the shrine, and seemed to be watching me. I locked gazes with them, and I wanted to run… but my feet refused to obey me. Instead, as if I was being drawn in, I came close and then knelt until I was eye level to all of them.

There was an awkward shuffling from the statuettes as they peered at each other, then at me. One of them spoke in a bit of a strange accent. The eyes lit up in sparking blue sapphires, that blinked as it considered me.

“You’re a bit of a wee lass to be a traveler er?” He cleared his throat, and I studied the statuette of the man with the spear and net. The net was now casually slung over his shoulder as he turned to glare at the other occupants of the altar who were also staring at me.

“She’s young… but powerful.” The woman said and her eyes flashed sky bright white like the sun peeking through the clouds.

There was a snort from the squat muscular dude and he spun his axe in an idle motion, flexing his fingers as he tugged on his stony beard and shook his head.

“I don’t need another teenage champion… one headache is enough for me. Thank you very much.”

“Oh shut ye pie muncher Shango, you know that silly lad will just get himself killed anyways, why not have a backup?” The man with the spear catcalled.

“She’s not quite attuned to me Aegaeon, but she seems to fit you perfectly.” The man cackled as he watched my incredulous expression shift from confusion, to wonder and back to incredulity.

I cleared my throat, as I watched the little statuettes bicker with one another and before I gave a sigh and put my head in my hands. Of course, this was a fantasy game… of course the freaking gods were real!

“Hey you… Girl!” The squat man with the axe gestured to me and I quite nearly rolled my eyes before I saw him narrow his own as he stared me down.

“Um… yea? Can I help you guys? You going to offer me a quest or something?” I said hopefully, crossing my fingers hoping I wouldn’t get a smiting for imposing myself.

He seemed to sigh in exasperation, and the woman with the billowing tassels cackled with laughter. “Pay up! What was the pool?” She gleefully rubbed her hands together before I saw the man with the spear sigh and drop his net as he fished around in the tight shorts he wore as his only article of clothing. I saw a glimmering flake of rock change hands and the woman looked at him smugly before flashing me a toothy grin.

I was totally floored. These weren’t quite what I had imagined when I had thought of all-powerful gods or whatever. It was more like a bunch of old friends shooting the breeze around the watercooler.

Aegaeon cleared his throat and then peered back at me before shaking his head at my clueless expression. “You want a job lass?” He said, then got a kick in the shin from the woman who glared at him.

“Ah… what I mean to say… do you want to be my champion?” He mumbled. The other two glared at him then I tried and failed to crack up laughing. “Um… just like that, no interview or anything?” I asked and realized there was a catch.

“Does this mean… you know my life will get more interesting?” I said, almost hopeful and with a deep pit of dread in my stomach.

“Well, lass it’s been a while… I don’t usually take champions but there are a few things I need done, just like pretty much every other god right now.”

The woman snorted and her bubbling laughter seemed to stir breezes around her as she shook her head in exasperation. “Just what do you need done Aegaeon? Admit it, you just want to have a piece on the board.” I frowned as I witnessed the glowing white orbs that were the statuette’s eyes do a classic eyeroll. That… was creepy.

“Ah she is close by that traveler kingdom the one that Pan likes so much! Let’s send her there! What could go wrong, point her in the right direction and let her loose!” Shango cackled.

“Er do I get a say in this?” I stammered, and all three little statuettes turned as one to glare at me. I gulped. All of this while it sounded interesting, didn’t quite convince me that it wasn’t more trouble than it was worth. Yea, being a champion to a god sounded cool, but I was betting there was a catch. I knew how the gig worked. One thing I had a lot of when stuck in a lift support chair or pod was time to read. In these stories there was always a catch 22.

“There is… one minor detail for travelers anyways.” The woman sheepishly murmured. I narrowed my eyes. Yep… I wasn’t going to like this.

“Once you take the mantle of a champion… it does seem to limit the number of times your avatar in Endaria can go through rebirth… that thing travelers do when you come back from the grave. Oh, and if you die the final death you can never be a champion again even, in a new mortal form.” She explained.

“How many lives?” I asked. My stomach sank and I felt ice rush through my veins.

“Four.” She coughed.

“Ah, and each time you die you lose a major part of yourself.” Shango spoke up solemnly.

“Can I say…. OH HELL NO?!!?” I backed up and all three gods groaned.