The Book Of Champions

It was an unusually quiet day in Brichcan library, not a soul to be seen except for the old librarian. Talos walked in carrying his return books and set them on the counter.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Lancer” he said, and the librarian looked up. Mrs. Lancer was probably in her sixties but sometimes looked younger if you glanced at her quickly.

Mrs. Lancer nodded and took the books, Talos smiles and walked away looking for his next book to devour.  He scanned the shelves, his fingertips brushing against each book. Talos had a habit of picking books solely by touch, he had a firm belief that each book had a unique personality, a soul if you could say so. As his hands brushed against each book, he felt a spark between his fingers, Talos jolted away. He assumed it was because of friction but nevertheless, he looked down at the book responsible for the spark. It looked brand-new, which was strange in this old library that usually had secondhand books.

Talos turned the book around, looking for the description but there was none.

“Hmmmm” … he then looked at the cover and as he tiled it he saw an image reveal itself. The book had a reflective cover, the image looked to be of a man sitting and holding something. Talos could not make out much due to the lack of light in library. Still, he found the book interesting and decided that this would be his next read.

Talos walked over to the counter and Mrs. Lancer looked up “That was fast”, she said as normally Talos would take hours just to pick what to read. Talos laughed “I guess so”, he handed the book over to her and as her hand encountered it, a hiss escaped her lips.

Stunned Talos looked at her and swore he saw her pupils split, he blinked again, and it looked normal again. Mrs. Lancer stamped his library card and got up and left. Talos frowned at her weird behavior, then left. Once outside he felt the wind slap him in the face and he stumbled back. The once clear skies were now grey and ominous and Talos decided to hurry home. Using the last of his pocket money he got a taxi home, his home wasn’t far but Talos wasn’t exactly fit enough to make it home before the weather became unbearable.

Once home Talos immediately walked upstairs, and to his room. He sat down on his bed and began reading the book.

It was a strange book and often some things written in it didn’t make sense but still Talos decided to read all of it. The book was a mixture of disjoined stories, recipes, and weird symbols. If it wasn’t so cleanly typed out, one would assume it was someone’s though journal.

By the time the clock stuck seven Talos had finished the book, on the last page he finally saw the name of the author ‘BY REMY FERN’ was written on the last page. Talos set the book down, “What a waste of time” he muttered and got up to go get food. Whilst downstairs, the book began to shine, it filled open, and the pages began to move and forth. The door of Talos’s room was slightly ajar and so his little sister peeked inside.

“Tawos” she said noticing the light coming from his room. The book moving caught her eyes and she smiled fascinated by it.

“Wow” she said, and she walked towards it and reached out to touch it, a sharp pain crawled up her arms and she let out a shrill scream. From downstairs, Talos and his father heard her scream and ran towards the sound. Talos’s father was the first to get to his room, “What in the- “Talos followed and saw his sister’s body burning up. An orange fire wrapped around her body like a serpent, while she screamed in agony. Talos ran to her trying to help her when he saw the book at her feet. He grabbed in and shut it and the fire stopped.

“Lydia are you okay” he said as she fell into his arms, her body felt hot but miraculously there were no burn signs on her. His father who was in shock finally moved, he picked her out of Talos’s hands and said, “I’m going to take her to the hospital, you stay here”. Talos nodded and watched as his father left while carrying Lydia.

He couldn’t believe what he had just seen and looked down at the book on the floor. It was lightly charred on the corners, he picked it up and carefully opened it and nothing happened. He could’ve sworn the fire came from the book. He inspected the book and there on the very last page where the name of the author should be, was another entry.

Under the name of Lydia Gensen a new portal has formed. Her kin, Talos Gensen a brand-new champion is not fit for the call.

Thus, it has been decided that he will be replaced…

Talos read this in shock, both his and his sister’s names were written in the book.

 “How is this possible?”

A crack of thunder shook him and as he stood up, he saw a man standing his doorway.

“An unfit champion indeed” said a deep, dark voice, Talos looked up and saw a figure shrouded in darkness with blood red eyes.

“It seems you’ll make a tasty meal” …

The immediate feeling of danger overcame Talos, and he screamed as the shadow descended upon him. A blade appeared and the shadow fully materialized as a tall burly man in armor, he smiled a sinister smile as his blade aimed for Talos’s neck. Talos barely managed to duck as the blade sliced the ends of his hair, he fell to his knees and began to crawl out of the room. He scrambled to his feet and tried to run but felt the back of his hoodie being grabbed and him being lifted. The opening of the hoodie tightened around his neck and Talos gasped.

The man picked him up like he was nothing and threw him across the hall. Talos crashed into the bathroom door at the end of the hall, he cried out in pain, the impact had trigged his asthma and he began to hyperventilate. As he struggled to breathe the man began to charge at him.

“What a pathetic champion indeed” he said, Talos barely managing to scream, closed his eyes and braced for impact. He felt no pain, instead as he gasped for air and opened his eyes a woman stood before him, beams of green light stemmed from her hands and he saw the man who had attacked him fall to his knees, his head rolled to the side.

Talos saw this and his body went limp.