Champion of Light

Under the rising sun, concealed by the moon, a child was born. The Champion of light that the ancient prophecies foretold of. Far to the west: whole forests were cleared, rivers dammed, and animals driven to near extinction. The Commonwealth of Estaria was responsible. Smoke and soot filled the air above their cities, as they ignited new steam engines and factories whirred to life. For each tree felled, each bird choked by the smog, and every fish poisoned in the rivers, the god Arcanis wept.

A scholar of the old gods, and a student of prophecy, he knew a champion was fated to rise against this new enemy. He kept a close eye on the young star child, who was given the name, Maria. For decades in preparation for her great quest, Arcanis blessed the family. Every prayer was answered, the family farm prospered and Maria was often drawn to the forests during her youth. When she turned 16 the time was finally right. The stars aligned and the prophecy would be fulfilled. Arcanis had waited for this moment for decades.

Maria walked through her family's oat fields, the sky was dark and clouds covered the sun. She neared the edge of their land when a boom of thunder sounded, the very ground she stood on shook and the sky split open. A single beam of light shined down on Maria. The oat plants grew and twisted together in front of her, into the shape of a man.

"Behold Mortal! Your god, Arcanis, speaks to you!" the avatar spoke with thunder in his voice.

Maria prostrated herself before him, "What have I done to deserve this blessing, my lord? What has a humble peasant done to warrant such an experience?"

"Nothing, not yet. Maria, my child, I have watched you since the day you were born, the stars have foretold your coming. You shall be my champion!"

The avatar outstretched his arms over her, "You are the one fated to destroy the commonwealth and all their vile machinations in my name!"

Maria shot up from the ground in shock,

"WHAT!?" She screamed at the deity, "I'm just a peasant girl, I do not know how to fight, I don't know how to lead! You have chosen the wrong person!"

Arcanis was taken aback, "Mortal! You dare to challenge my will? even if I had not come here to speak to you, you will still have vanquished the Commonwealth."

Arcanis parted the clouds and let all the flowers of all the plants in the valley bloom.

"Prophecies of the old gods foretold, 'When smoke and soot mix with rain and shower down destruction upon the land. When nature flees the expansion of stone, a champion of light shall rise up. A woman born under the rising sun, eclipsed by the moon.' That woman is you."

"That's so vague! You could literally have picked any girl born that morning! How is it just me?" Maria stood and stepped slowly away from the grass construct.

"Cease this insolence! You are the chosen one, and you shall fulfill your destiny!" The avatar stepped close to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "I shall be with you all the days of your life to aid you on your quest." he spoke reassuringly.

"How?" Maria shook off his hand, "You are a god of nature, what power do you even have in their cities?"

"My power is mighty and nature shall reclaim their stone and steel cities. And you shall carry my banner to them."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. I refuse. I am not some champion, and I won't fight a bunch of people in steel armor!"

Thunder struck the fields, and the wind howled. Fire slowly spread among the crops.

Arcanis boomed,

"You will fulfill your destiny, there is no choice in the matter! I shall return once you've come to your senses!"

At that, the avatar crumpled into a pile of dried oat stalks, and the clouds covered the sun again. Maria's face was only illuminated by the fire that spread on the edge of her farm. She rushed back to the house. Maria screamed for her family as she filled buckets from the well. The flames could be seen from across the valley. It took hours for the small family of five to quench the flames, over half of their crop was lost. Maria begged her family for forgiveness since she had angered their patron god and he lit their crops ablaze.

Orion and Astrid could not fathom why their daughter had refused the blessing of a god, and certainly could not understand her refusal to become his champion. As weeks passed, an early winter set upon the farm. Snow and hail fell on the homestead. More and more crops withered in the bitter cold. Maria, bundled in sheepskin clothes, collected deadfall wood in the forest when the sun once again singled her out.

"Behold mortal! I have..."

"NO!" Maria screamed into the sky, cutting off the thunderous voice,

"I don't care about your stupid prophecy!"

The sky darkened and a heavy snowstorm set in. Maria stormed home and grabbed her father's axe. In the heart of the forest she searched for the oldest tree she could find. With fire in her eyes, she sunk the axe into the body of an ancient pine tree. With weeks of stress relieved in a dozen swings, the tree fell. Out of breath Maria dropped the axe and looked over the giant tree,

"Crap... I can't get this back home by myself..."

Only the outer branches were light enough for her to carry home. A low fire burned in the hearth where Maria tossed the branches. Astrid stirred a small cauldron that held the meager dinner they would have to share. Water, oatmeal, and old bitter dandelion greens.

"So, still telling the powerful nature god, 'No'?" Astrid asked without looking up at her daughter.

"I guess you heard that?"

"Honey, we could all hear the booming voice of a god, and we could all hear him stop talking right before a storm started. I do not understand your hesitation to be elevated to a divine champion!"

"Mother, I can't, I'd get killed out there." Maria pleaded,

"My dear... we will all get killed if you don't."

The fire crackled, and steam from the pot rose high into the chimney. Maria walked to the windows to watch the last rays of the setting sun. The next morning Maria gathered her few personal belongings, said goodbye to her family, and ventured out westward. The sun seemed to shine just a little brighter, and the air just a little warmer. As she traveled the winding roads to the Commonwealth, on the wind a soft voice could be heard,

"See? I told you that you would make a fine champion. Even now you trek towards the heartland of the enemy, carrying my banner."

Maria brushed the fallen leaves off of her backpack. It took many days to reach the outskirts of the Commonwealth, their border was marked by twin lines of steel on the ground. The air got harder to breathe the further she ventured into the stone and metal city. Smoke clouds hung in the air. Massive chimneys belched out storms of smog.

Maria looked at all the people and knew she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her sheepskin jacket turned the heads of folk wearing factory-sewn cotton. A young man came up to her,

"Excuse me miss! Where did you get such a fine handcrafted jacket?"

"I.. uh... my mother made it for me. From one of our sheep." Maria stuttered.

"One of your sheep? You a farmer?"

"Yeah, I suppose. My family has a farm out East."

"Out East? I didn't think we had any farms out there." The man said while circling Maria.

"There aren't, I’m not from Estaria. I actually came here to find a way to help my family... the farm... is... Would you stop circling me?!" Maria commanded. The young man quickly jumped back and gave a nervous smile,

"Heh, sorry, I just don't see many handmaid clothes these days... My name is Tyler by the way." He reached out his hand to shake Maria's, "I manage the floor of my old man's garment factory."

"So, Tyler the tailor?" Maria chuckled as she shook his hand, "My name's Maria."

"Oh shoot! I'm sorry for distracting you, you said your family needs help?" Maria's expression dropped and she looked back the way she had come,

"We're running out of food. Our crops withered with the snow and a fire spread over half of our fields."

"Oh, I am so sorry..." Tyler said, "But I might be able to help you out!"

Maria squinted her eyes at the tailor,

"How? Don't you make clothes?" "

Well, yeah, but clothes sell for money... and your garments would fetch a hefty price if you're willing to part with them."

"EXCUSE ME?" Maria exclaimed,

"No! No, not like that. Well... okay maybe something like that. Real handmaid sheepskin is expensive here, we could auction it off to a bidder. I would be willing to part with a spare uniform from the factory and you'd be able to buy some food!"

           Maria was hesitant, but agreed,

           “Okay factory man, but how much food can one jacket really trade for?”

           “Trade…? Just follow me and we’ll see how much we can get for it.” Tyler asked, putting his hand out for Maria’s. She did not take it but did follow the young gentleman through the garment district of the city. All around her massive signs advertised shops selling all kinds of clothing. She could tell almost all of them had not been hand sewn. After a few minutes, they rounded a corner and Maria was taken aback by the sheer size of the building before her. A massive stone and metal building, with five chimneys billowing out an endless stream of smoke.

           “Welcome to the Tailor family factory! We can grab a uniform here.”

           “Hang on, your name is actually Tyler Tailor? And your family makes clothes?”

           “Yeah… I know. Kids back in school were quite fond of poking fun of that.”

           Tyler led Maria through the factory. She had to cover her ears, the grinding of gears and the ticking noise of hundreds of sewing machines all powered by the furnaces of five industrial steam engines was more than she was used to. The upstairs office space was partially quieter, Tyler explained that the walls were padded with a little more insulation to absorb some of the noise. Along a row of lockers, the pair looked for a uniform that would fit her, and after a quick trip to the washroom, she looked almost native. The uniform was a plain garment, a gray coverall with a zipper down the center. The back was stitched with the words “Tailor Family”.

           The auction house was a comparatively modest building of red brick. Tyler presented the jacket as a “One of a kind, handmaid, artisanally crafted garment.” Maria supposed that he wasn’t wrong. The final bid for the jacket was over 500 notes. As the pair was paid out in the back office, Maria looked at the slips of paper the old accountant handed to Tyler.

           “What on Earth are those? I thought we were getting food.”

           "You really are from the middle of nowhere, aren't you? It's money."

           “What is it some fancy floppy gold then? It just looks like paper.” She scoffed,

           “Well, yeah it is paper. They’re kind of like an I.O.U., we can get food for this… a lot of food actually.”

           Across town, Tyler brought Maria to a large warehouse, whose sign read “Kraven’s Canned Goods.” The whole interior was filled floor to ceiling with massive wooden crates. Maria wandered around the maze of containers while Tyler hashed out a deal with Kraven. Crates filled with all manner of supplies were here. Maria was astonished that there was no smell of rot; meat and out-of-season fruit all kept above ground in wooden boxes? They must surely have gone bad by now, she thought.

           But it was those crates that Kraven’s men were loading on a platform outside. Tyler handed her three slips of paper.

           “Here, what’s left over from your mother’s jacket. Managed to haggle the old miser from 300 down to 200 notes.”

           “I… thank you. Really, thank you for all your help. Are you really doing this out of the kindness of your heart?” Maria said,

           “Well…” Tyler started, “I can have multiple reasons.”

           Maria raised an eyebrow at him,

           “I skimmed some money from the auction, and I was thinking also… those jackets of yours are really well made and would sell for a lot here. I could be a middleman, get your family the supplies you need in exchange for more ‘Artisanal clothing’. What do you say?”

           “I’ll have to think about it. In the meantime how are we going to get all of this to my family? Those crates must weigh tons.”

           Tyler spent the next hour doing his best to explain what a train was, while they waited for one to take them and the supplies to the edge of the Commonwealth, where a horse-drawn wagon would take them the rest of the way.

           After a few days of wagon travel the pair arrived, along with a few laborers, to Maria’s homestead. Orion, Astrid, and their other children ran out and embraced Maria.

           "Thank the gods you're home safe!" Orion exclaimed, 

"Sweetie, what are you wearing? You look like you've gone native" Astrid said, as she felt the tightly woven denim.

Over dinner, Maria explained her travel and the modern marvels in Estaria. They devoured the canned fish that she had brought back and ate their first substantial meal in weeks. Maria also mentioned Tyler's proposal.

"I don't know dear." Astrid responded, "They're so far, and other than this wonderful food to get us through winter, what else could we need?"

"Well, we have more than just canned food." Tyler said with a wide smile, "We have all kinds of new machines that could help you guys all the way out here! Tractors to plow the fields, water pumps to bring up more well water than you could ever get from the hand well, even these new 'chainsaws' they just came out with!"

Orion and Astrid agreed to sleep on it. Over the night, Maria had a horrible nightmare. A man sitting on a throne of apple trees spoke to her,

"You ventured to the Commonwealth as your destiny foretold, and you joined them?! You and your family's labor shall increase tenfold in the fields." Over the night, termites ate away at the wooden fence that held the oxen, and they escaped. Orion was devastated and worried about how he would ever plough the fields, or plant his crops without them. Maria reminded him of Tyler's proposal. A week later Tyler returned with a tractor and barbed wire to reinforce all the fences.

Arcanis halted the rain from falling, and drought struck the farm. Maria went to the city and returned with a powered drill well. Arcanis fumed and sent an earthquake to destroy the dirt paths between the farm and the city. Maria and Tyler convinced the city council to fund an expansion of the rails to the valley. The pair were granted the machinery to begin a foresting operation.

Maria sat at the head of a steam-powered chainsaw tractor, as she drove through the forest. Ancient oaks were brought down in moments. Laborers behind her manned tractors with sleds to pull the trees back to the logging camp, where they would be cut to size to fuel the furnaces of the city.

Once more, the sky darkened, but the only light that shined on Maria was the fire of the furnace behind her seat. Thousands of pine needles, branches, and saw dust coalesced into the avatar of Arcanis.

"MORTAL! What have you done? I granted you and your family blessing after blessing. I would have made you a champion! Yet now you bring nothing but fire and death to the land!"

"You cursed us! You sent plague after plague on us, and drove us to starvation!" Maria yelled back.

"You chose to take the difficult path to your destiny!"

Maria did not give him the satisfaction of a response but drove ahead deeper into the forest. She ordered her workers to grab their axes and follow her. She drove through the underbrush of the forest, destroying saplings on her way to the center of the forest. The workers chopped and slashed through vines and branches that seemed to be trying to attack them. Whatever they brought down along their path they fed to the ravenous furnace. After three grueling hours of deforestation, the small battalion reached the center of the forest.

The Sacred Grove of Arcanis, fruit trees lined the perimeter. Maria drove her machine full throttle into the living palisade. The steam engine shrieked as with all of its power it carved through each tree in its way. Bark and splinters flew like a swarm of gnats away from the sawblades. The center of the grove was immaculate, with bright sun, and clean air. Both were soon desecrated by the exhaust of the engine, and the sun was covered. Maria ordered her men to cut down everything they could. They did battle with the very plants they sought to feed to their engines. Limbs animated with divine fury, cut down by steel axes.

Maria steamed forward, at the great apple tree at the center. The very seat of Arcanis. It was a swift battle. As the apple tree fell, the other guardians stopped moving. 

Smoke and soot of the engine blotted out the sun. Maria and her team gathered up all they could under the light of the furnace.