Crusader: Champion of the Dark One

Chapter 7

"And who are you, old man" Jason inquired in an even tone, sclera still black as night as he stared at the old man.

"I am known as the dark one, the God of all that is dark and shunned in this world by the so-called light, and my followers follow the path of darkness", the old man asked as he bowed slightly.

"I sense in you a yearning for power, a hunger to control and not bow to another. Those that walk my path certainly find it"

"Huh, so you are some evil God in need of followers, offering a devil's deal?"

" My followers are often treated as villains, with no moral code or compass, but one must know that just because one follows the dark and lives for oneself and desires does not make one inherently evil, it's just a matter of perspective. One is not good just because he is a hero or said to be a priest of light, why then must my followers conform to the rules and so-called social norms that others set. Every human in this world desire something, no one is perfect not even the so-called Gods of light, the so-called rules that society bases on to separate the good and the bad was set by someone based on his definition of good and evil. Why must his definition fit all, my followers are those that question everything rather than follow blindly like sheep, they are those that act and are willing to achieve their goals through any means when others are limited by their moralities. Remember this young one like everything else, the darkness is not inherently evil, the creators merely choose to paint their creations in varying shades of grey. And you will come to realize this as well" The old man grins as he says

Jason's mind reeled with this explanation.

"Do many pass these tests?" he finally asked

"Test may not be an appropriate word." The old man's wrinkled mouth twisted in a grin. "Think of it more as an evaluation. There is no one right way to approach the trial. It depends on the individual.

"So, what about my choice, what does it mean", Jason said with furrowed eyebrows taking in what the dark one had said.

"It means my daughter wasn't wrong and that you are worthy of being chosen as my champion. My representative and hopefully successor in the future" said the old man

"And what is a champion"

" The creators after making our world created the voice of the world that governs everything that is in this world even the gods can't go against it. It is also the one that grants the abilities of all individuals in this world and rewards them based on their various deeds and achievements. It also converts the souls of those you kill into strength causing them to level up for a lack of a better word. Now once in a while, our world ends up clashing with other worlds, no one knows why but when that happens the voice of the world tests the world with various waves of monsters and trials to see if they are worthy of being merged into our world. During this time mana is released into the world and a similar system to our world is put into place. The gods are allowed by the voice of the world to battle each other to attain a higher level of power and steal the divinities of others through representatives of theirs known as champions. These individuals are granted immense skills and abilities by their patron gods and charged with leading their various followers against the monsters and other champions in a bid for supremacy. These champions also are responsible for gathering followers for their various patrons. A god depending on his/her level of divinity can choose more than one champion but usually has only one main champion and the others act as a kind of supporting champions.

'But why our world, wouldn't it be better to choose someone from this side instead as your champion", Jason said in confusion

"While that may be true, people from your world have never been exposed to mana and as such, think of it as someone living on a planet with higher gravity suddenly going to one with lower gravity, he will be much, much stronger than those there because his body is used to the higher gravity plus you guys have nigh unlimited potential to grow since you were not born on our world plus it is very difficult to send someone of our world to yours even though the world barriers are weakened."

"So why did you choose me as your champion why not anyone else and why is it that I was not summoned here using conventional means"

" You see when the creators made this world they created various gods representing different aspects, I was among the strongest at the time and when the creators left, the various gods formed alliances, and I became the leader of the dark pantheon which consisted of various god's that were seen as an outcast due to their divinities or how weak they were as gods, and like so many stories go, a war broke out between us and the uniformed coalition of so-called light god's led by the goddess of light. They claimed that we represented all that is evil in the world due to our aspects and followers, as most god's in my faction had non-human followers some more monstrous than others, but truthfully, we all knew that bitch and the god of war were just after our divine source to empower themselves. And so, a holy crusade was launched against us and we fought even though we knew there was no chance of winning. We lost quite badly, with most of the other gods dying some, going into hiding but as one of the strongest gods in existence that went against the bitch and that bastard of a god together whiles dealing them fatal wounds they could not kill me and so I was imprisoned down here with most of my divine source stolen. But to the outside world and most other gods, I am dead and the newborn gods do not even know I ever existed forever forgotten in history.  But utilizing a loophole I found in the summoning system with the weakening of the barriers when the other god's summoned their champions, together with your natural affinity with dark mana I managed to transport your soul over to this place when you were at the point between life and death with your fall, plus I didn't choose you my daughter did but that is for another time."

"So what now," said Jason

“Now you choose as to whether to accept to be my champion or not but know this I will not be able to grant you the instant power-up and abilities that the other champions will get nor would I be able to grant you immense support since my followers are few and scattered but using loopholes in the system I will remove class limitations allowing you to master abilities from all classes related to my divinity while using the quest system to grant you power as I recover. Plus I will modify your class-related skills a bit and give you the undying loyalty of all my few followers left but know this should you work hard enough and restore my pantheon, my entire power will be at your disposal. So do we have a deal?”

" I don't care much about this whole conquering and war of the gods, I also don't care if you use me as well but so long as you don't betray me and grant me the power that I desire then we have a deal. Jason said with a deep voice that would sound eerie to any who heard but the dark one just laughed and with a booming voice said

" Then Jason with the voice of the world as a witness, let the bargain be struck, I choose you Jason as my champion and grant you all that is mine to use as you see fit, go forth and let the world tremble in the name of the forgotten one," he said whilst laughing, immediately there was a strong wind blowing in the cave as lightning struck all over the world and the voice of the world sounded out saying

THE CHAMPION OF THE FORGOTTEN ONE HAS BEEN CHOSEN, ALL PIECES ARE SET AND SO LET THE GAMES BEGIN!