The Gods Champion CH. 1

Cyrodiil, the heart of the empire. In the center of Cyrodiil lies the Imperial City, home to both the civilized and the savage. The city is split into 10 sections: Talos Plaza, the Elven Gardens, the Market District, the Waterfront, the Temple District, the Arboretum, the Arcane University, the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Prison, and The Arena.

The Arena is an execution ground for the Imperial Prison but is also a means of freedom for the prisoners. If any prisoner regardless of the crime he or she committed can defeat 20 warriors they can walk free. This is no easy task. Many of the warriors have skill in magic or use enchanted equipment. Also many of the warriors were soldiers, assassins, or raiders and they all hold a dark secret. In the years The Arena has been under Imperial rule only two have ever made it out. This is not only due to the difficulty of the combat but also the conditions of The Arena's ready rooms which have been nicknamed The Bloodworks due to the fact that blood from the Combat Ring falls through a large grate and into the Undercroft. The last room many combatants see is the "Red Room" a small room containing the Basin of Renewal which has the ability to completely heal and refresh any who have come from the Combat Ring. The Red Room also contains the ramp that leads from the Bloodworks into the Combat Ring.

The Empire takes full advantage of The Arena and keeps it guarded with soldiers. But the Arena has a dark secret that not even the guards know. In all the years The Arena has been under brutal Imperial control no one has discovered this secret and lived. Until now.

Inside the Imperial Prison a guard enters the cell of a Bosmer with jet black hair and sand colored skin marred only by a long white scar down the left side of his face and yells "Hey prisoner, wake up it is time for your sentencing."

The Bosmer opens his eyes revealing that his right iris is blood red and his left eye is pure white. He responds, "I have been awake since dawn."

The guard replies, "Shut up prisoner. Now stand up and do not try anything, you will not make it out the door if you do."

The Bosmer stands to his full height of seven feet and gestures for the guard to lead on. The guard warily leads through the door and into the inner courtyard and stops to give more instructions.

"Now remember do not try anything. We are going to go see the captain to see what you have been sentenced to."

They walk outside and past many soldiers and archers. They leave the prison courtyard through a large city gate and enter the outer courtyard where a large man in dark steel armor waits.

The man asks the guard. "This the one that attacked the soldier transports?"

"Yes captain." the guard quickly replies.

"Good." The captain faces the Bosmer prisoner. "What is your name?"

"Vinderion."

"What were you thinking taking on an entire caravan of that size by yourself?" the captain asked, "do not answer that. You killed 10 trained soldiers and wounded six more it is obvious that you can handle yourself. Now you have been sentenced to death. Unless you think you can take on the Arena."

Vinderion looked questioningly at the captain.

The captain laughed, "It is the way we test the prisoners will to live. If you can defeat 20 warriors you walk out a free man."

"And if I am unable to?"

The captain once again laughed, "Then you do not leave. Not alive anyway."

Vinderion was led to the Arena and entered the Bloodworks which lies under the Arena's Combat Ring. He was handed over to the arena warden and the rules were explained.

"1. Its a fight to the death. 2. You may only have weapons while training, going to or coming from a fight. 3. During the fights anything goes. Use magic, bows, poison, enchanted items, anything. 4. You will fight anytime you are told to. Not all wins go toward you getting out of here, some are just for the entertainment. 5. Give a good show. These fights are for the enjoyment of the citizens always remember that."

Viderion nodded and was shown the "living" quarters, ready room or "Red Room", and the armory. When shown the armory he was led to the racks of basic equipment and told to pick what he would want to use until he advanced. He chose a set of chainmail armor, an iron shield, an iron longsword, and a curved iron dagger. The guard then led him to the training room and let him train with this equipment for three hours. Then the guard led him back to the armory and had him leave the equipment with the armorer and lead him back to the living quarters and left him until he was called for battle.

Two weeks later a pair of guards walked into the prisoner living quarters of the Arena "Vinderion! it is time for your initiation fight!"

"Finally!" Vinderion stood "I am tired of just sitting around listening to the others place bets on how quickly I will die."

The guards looked at each other and laughed "Well looks like it is a good thing for the others that your first opponent is Gorn Bladebreaker."

Vinderion asked them what they meant but they ignored him and led the way to the Red Room to get him ready for the fight. Vinderion put on his armor took up his weapons and walked through the Combat Ring door. He was blinded for a few seconds by the bright light and deafened by the roaring of the crowd.

An announcer started speaking "And now ladies and gentlemen the moment you've all been waiting for the first fight for the new combatant and it is against Gorn Bladebreaker. Combatants ready? Lower the gates and let the fight begin!"

The gates dropped and Vinderion cautiously walked into the Combat Ring ready for anything. The opposite gate was already down but no one could be seen inside. Vinderion slowly made his way to the center of the ring and waited.

Suddenly there was a loud roar coming from the opposite gate and a large man sprinted out of the opening and swung his weapon. Vinderion dodged it and the quick followup attack and got a good look at his opponent. It was a large Nord male wearing full steel armor wielding a steel round shield and a large heavy steel mace that was glowing with enchantment. Vinderion decided quickly he didn't want to know what enchantment the mace had on it and started formulating a plan of attack when Gorn suddenly swung his mace with incredible speed. Vinderion just barely managed to block with his shield which shattered on impact and instantly he felt a surge of electrical energy course through his body. Being shocked by the electricity and without a shield he jumped backwards to get some room to maneuver and try to get some time to think. Gorn wasn't having that and proceeded to follow with a series of quick attacks to try and keep Vinderion from being able to think clearly.

Vinderion quickly realized why, Gorn was a Nord and as such relied on brute force and not on strategy. Taking this realization into account, Vinderion quickly looked for a weakness in Gorn's armor while simultaneously letting off fire based magical attacks. No matter where he looked Vinderion couldn't seem to find one. Then he noticed that Gorn was slowing down and realized that the weakness was the weight and mobility of Gorn's armor. Knowing this Vinderion started to run and dodge around the ring trying to tire Gorn out so a lethal attack could be let off. After about ten minutes Gorn started to slow down and Vinderion decided what his attack would be.

As Gorn turned to attack him Vinderion jumped clear over him and threw his sword into the gap between Gorn's helmet and cuirass. Vinderion landed facing away from Gorn. He stood straight and waited. Then Gorn's body sprayed red blood and hit the ground then his head fell and rolled away. Vinderion's sword had gone straight through Gorn's neck and separated it from the rest of the body. The crowd was silent. Then one person high in the stands began to cheer, then two, then four, and after a few seconds the entire crowd was loudly cheering. Vinderion retrieved his sword, wiped the blood off, and sheathed it, bowed to the stands, picked up Gorn's head, and walked out the way he had come.

When Vinderion entered the Bloodworks the prisoners surrounded him and cheered. Many congratulated him and three of the prisoners stayed with him after the rest left. They were Drognagog, a 6'11" male Orc warrior, Dath'wing Wulfhunter, a 6'6" male Dunmer battlemage, and Zaban-ma, a 5'10" male Khajiit thief.

Dath'wing said, "You might do for our plan. Yes, you will do. What is your name Wood Elf?"

"I am Vinderion. What do you wa-?" Vinderion attempted to ask before Zaban-ma interrupted.

"Your help of course. it is the only way to stay alive. Find the strongest and make him a friend."

Vinderion shot back. "And if the strongest doesn't want friends?"

Drognagog replied, "Then the strongest will not have help when the prisoners break out. Numbers are stronger than individual force."

Dath'wing glared at Drognagog, "Hush you fool!" he hissed, "Do you want the soldiers to hear us?"

Drognagog glared back but scoffed and walked a little ways away.

Dath'wing turned to Vinderion and continued speaking, "As the big oaf said, we are planning a prison break. The only thing stopping us are the 20 warriors that fight in the Arena. Once they are gone we could safely break out. But-"

Zaban-ma broke in saying, "The problem is that so far no one has gotten past Gorn much less the other 19. But today you changed that. Just watch your back Dresh-dracchi doesn't like it when prisoners win."

Vinderion asked, "Who is Dresh-dracchi?"

Dath'wing replied, "He's the dremora who runs the Arena. He hates it when the prisoners do anything to try to win their freedom. Even more so when they try to through Arena combat. But enough of that for now. Enjoy your victory. Just be ready. The next fight will not be so easy."

Vinderion spent the next two weeks training and preparing for the next fight wondering when it would be. As he was returning from the training room one day, there was a female Altmer waiting for him.

Before he could speak, the Altmer said, "Hello Vinderion, I am Lythri Spellweaver. I assist Dresh-dracchi with anything he requires. He has requested that you speak with him. This is a great honor."

Vinderion replied, "What if I do not want to meet with him?"

"You do not have a choice. Follow me." Lythri turned and left the room.

Vinderion was led to an area of the Arena that he had never seen before. they went through many guarded doors and through many halls until they came to a large ebony door with blood red bindings. Even with the door closed Vinderion could feel the absolute presence of evil seeping out. Lythri seemed unaffected by this and ordered the guards to open the door. Once the doors were opened and they entered the room it took Vinderion's eye a few seconds to adjust to the dim red lighting in the room. After his eyes adjusted he saw a room that was made of pure black ebony with lava flowing down the walls in the corners for lighting. In the middle of the room was a large, blood-red throne that was obviously of daedric design. On the throne sat a large powerful-looking dremora. Vinderion warily walked forward aware of how dangerous and unpredictable dremora can be.

The dremora spoke in a deep growling voice, "There is no need to be afraid. I have no need to kill you. For now. I only wished to speak with you and give you an offer."

Vinderion asked warily, "What offer?"

The daedra replied, "I am Dresh-dracchi, leader of the Arena and a Valkynaz for Molag Bal's armies. My lord tasked me with finding the strongest fighters in all of Tamriel to serve as his personal warriors. This search has led me to the far reaches of this world and I settled on using the Arena to test the mightiest of Tamriel. Anyone that dies while fighting in the Arena will end up in my lord's realm to serve him."

Vinderion instantly became alarmed and started trying to find an emergency escape in case it was needed.

Dresh-dracchi seemed to know what he was thinking and laughed "There is one door in and out of this room for mortals and if at any time you run you will quickly die."

Vinderion then asked, "What do you want with me?"

Dresh-dracchi replied, "I wish to extend an offer to join the ranks of the warriors that must be defeated to win freedom and as such work as a harvester for Molag Bal."

At these words Vinderion instantly replied, "No! I will not slaughter men who have no chance of defeating me."

Dresh-dracchi replied, "That's too bad. I was looking forward to working with you. But I guess you will have to live the life of a prisoner here and try to beat the Arena warriors. O well. We will meet again and I hope you will reconsider. Goodbye."

Dresh-dracchi snapped his fingers and Vinderion was instantly transported back to the training area.

Four months went by, Vinderion fought and defeated one more Arena warrior, a bow using Redguard named Haekwon Blackheart, as well as participating in many entertainment fights. During this time, he grew into a stronger fighter and used his knowledge of languages and cultures to convince many prisoners of differing backgrounds to help when the full rebellion starts.

Also during this time Dresh-dracchi kept his eye on Vinderion's progress and attempted to formulate a plan to stop him without getting directly involved.

One day as Vinderion was returning from an entertainment match he saw an Argonian as he entered the armory. Vinderion didn't recognize this prisoner but didn't think anything of it as new prisoners were brought and old ones died all the time. This prisoner was different somehow though. He followed Vinderion through the armory and always turned away as Vinderion would turn around. Vinderion got fed up with this and spun around and yelled, "What do you want!"

The prisoner replied, "To challenge you in a one-on-one match."

At this Vinderion started laughing and agreed saying, "It is your death."

The Argonian mumbled something and walked out. The fight was set to happen midweek at noon to allow the maximum amount of spectators. Vinderion selected his new Mithril armor, steel cruciform longsword, a curved Elven dagger, steel bow, and 300 steel Arrows. Thus armed and feeling cocky, he entered the Combat Ring. The Argonian was waiting dressed in heavily-enchanted Blackwood steel armour and wielding an enchanted steel claymore. Vinderion instantly became wary knowing that Blackwood steel armor was only made and worn by members of the vicious Blackwood mercenary group.

The merc smiled "Are you surprised? I was hired to come here and kill you."

The announcer began speaking and then the fight began Vinderion instantly pulled his bow and let five arrows fly at once. The Blackwood merc dodged moving surprisingly fast for a man in steel armor. Vinderion knew that if the merc got close enough to use his claymore, the fight would quickly swing in the merc's favor. Vinderion kept his distance firing off arrows and ranged spells to keep the merc away. Vinderion could tell that his quiver was emptying and although he could keep the merc at range with magic it would quickly tire him out. The merc seemed unfazed by the arrows or the magic and continued trying to get close. Vinderion realized that the only way to win would be to get in close and then strike with one of his blades. Vinderion drew back his last five arrows and prepared to release them. He released them, dropped his bow and ran at the merc drawing his dagger as he went. The merc took a stance to attack but had to avoid the arrows which put him off balance. Vinderion ran up grabbed the merc and attempted to plunge to dagger into the merc's neck. As Vinderion struck the dagger was bent on one of the armor's enchantments. Vinderion saw this and retreated to a distance that he could use his longsword effectively. Unfortunately this put him well in range of the merc's claymore. The merc swung first attempting to behead Vinderion with the first blow. Vinderion dodged and jabbed with his blade. The merc hopped back and started a power attack. Vinderion brought up his shield and bashed the merc throwing him off balance. Vinderion pressed with a quick complex series of strikes designed to find weaknesses in heavy armor. The merc seemed to know what Vinderion was doing and avoided most of the blows and began an attack that if it connected would slice Vinderion into two even halves. Vinderion threw up his shield luckily stopping the bow before it hit his body. Vinderion released the now useless shield which was stuck onto the claymore and got some space in between him and the merc. As the merc tried to separate his weapon from the shield Vinderion noticed a weak spot in the back of his armor. He lunged forward and stabbed directly into the point and shoved the blade through the merc. Without emotion Vinderion bowed, retrieved his fallen weapons and his ruined shield and walked into the Bloodworks.

Dresh-dracchi roared and threw his goblet at one of the lava flows in the room. It flew about three feet then slowed and curved into Lythri's hand.

"You really should be more careful Dresh. You know what happens when Daedric Mead comes in contact with lava."

"Yes I know Lythri. You know how I get when I am angry I tend to forget what explodes and what doesn't. I just do not know what to do about this Vinderion. I can not figure out how he has the strength or skill to defeat enemies that have superior equipment and supplies."

"Remember Dresh he was a bandit. He had to use low quality equipment to take well guarded caravans."

"Even then these are not normal men we are putting him up against remember. Gorn was a champion of Mehrunes Dagon"

"Maybe he's a champion of the Nine."

"do not you dare say that. Here I am above even them. They cannot interfere with this arena, it is the land of Molag Bal. They can not do anything here. It must be something else."

Vinderion was getting ready for his fight against the third Arena warrior, a 7'3" male Orc Warrior named Krognak gro-Shrub. Vinderion chose to use Elven armor with no shield or helmet, a Ebony cruciform long sword, curved ebony dagger, a Ebony bow with a fire damage enchantment and 400 barbed ebony arrows enchanted to do ice damage. He entered the combat ring and prepared to be rushed by the orc. But Krognak slowly walked out of his gate wearing a set of enchanted armor that Vinderion had never seen before.

Krognak laughed and asked, "Like my armor? it is made of madness ore."

Vinderion had never heard of this before and the orc explained. "It can only be found in the Shivering Isles, the realm of Sheogorath. Only one person there can create it. Dresh-dracchi gave it to me for this fight."

Vinderion became worried. He didn't know what the armor or the mace was like if it had come from the realm of the Prince of Madness but he determined he would win the fight to show Dresh-dracchi that even the daedra couldn't stop him.

The fight began and Vinderion pulled his bow and fired six arrows. They never even touched the orc. About a foot from him they instantly reversed direction and flew back at Vinderion. He dodged them and released three more which did the same thing. He realized that something the orc was wearing had a variation of the repel damage enchantment. Vinderion put his bow on his back and drew his sword determined not to lose to his own arrows. He quickly closed the distance between them and began attacking. The orc just stood there and laughed. Vinderion realized that he was doing no damage and that his sword was becoming dull.

He jumped back and used magic to restore his sword to peak condition. As Vinderion looked for a weakness, Krognak closed the distance between them and hit Vinderion with a heavy attack that was aimed for the head but hit the left arm instead. Vinderion screamed in pain as he felt his bone shatter and electricity coursed through his body. Vinderion jumped away and not focused enough to cast a spell to heal the broken bone realized that he was in real trouble. He launched arrow after arrow with magic but they all were deflected. He couldn't see any way to damage the orc until he noticed that the eye holes weren't glowing. Vinderion instantly thought of a way to use this and launched eight arrows at the eyes and for good measure ran behind them with his dagger drawn and ready to strike. The arrows never reached their target veering off about a foot away but Vinderion's dagger found it is mark and went through the orc's eyes and into his head. The large orc fell and Vinderion collected his arrows, bowed to the crowd and walked out.

In a cave deep below the Arena Dresh-drachi slowly approached a statue of a beautiful woman who had a vicious looking dagger in hand yet seemed calm and peaceful. Dresh-dracchi drew items from the bag he had slung over his shoulder and arranged them on the ground. He stood when he finished and looked at the items to make sure they were set up properly. On the ground in a circle of lit candles lay a skeletal effigy of a Elven male with a heart in the ribcage and flesh draped over the bones. Dresh-dracchi drew out a ebony dagger rubbed it with nightshade petals and then kneeled and began stabbing the effigy over and over again. "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear. Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear. Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."

After three hours of doing this, he wrote in the dirt next to the body 'Dresh-dracchi leader of the Arena requests a contract.' and walked out returning to his regular duties.

A 5'5" male in full black and red leather armor walked into the hall leading to Dresh-dracchi's throne room he smiled when the guard reacted to the noise that seemed to have no source and thought to himself, 'Well I guess the chameleon enchantment works'

He made his way down the hall to the door and slipped in as a servant left the room. Inside the room the man looked around before striding forward until he was directly in front of the throne and removed his enchanted necklace instantly becoming visible the second it was unclasped. Instantly he had four swords aimed at him. "Unless you do not wish for your contract to be fulfilled you will call off the guards Dresh-dracchi."

Dresh-dracchi replied, "At ease everyone. I asked that he come here. Now everyone, but Lythri out now."

The four guards sheathed their blades and walked out of the room. The man spoke again, "Thank you. I am Lucien Lachance, a speaker of the Dark Brotherhood, and I am eager to learn what reason a daedra has for calling one of my order."

Dresh-dracchi responded, "Thank you for coming so soon as for what I called your order for there is a prisoner here that is a thorn in my side and I wish to be rid of him."

Lucien replied, "Why have you not done anything after all this is a combat arena can. You not simply send him into combat and have one of the warriors kill him?"

"I tried that. No matter what he is put up against he always comes out victorious even with impossible odds. I will allow you access to all areas in the Arena and will make sure the guards turn a blind eye. I just need this man dead. I will pay significantly for this contract and will ensure to give my Arena as a sanctuary in the caverns below just as it used to be."

"Contract accepted. I will have the most skilled assassin available dispatched for this and will contact you when it is done."

Vinderion was returning his equipment to the armory after an entertainment fight when he got a feeling that someone was watching him. He cast a major detect life spell and slowly turned in a circle and let out a sigh when he didn't see anyone. He continued replacing his equipment and walked out of the armory and entered the sleeping quarters to find a bedroll. A man materialized behind a weapon rack and took a second to look down at his weapon, which was a steel wakizashi coated with a poison made from nightshade and wormwood leaves, before putting his ring of chameleon back on and sneaking into the sleeping quarters. The man slowly followed Vinderion until he lay down on his mat to sleep and once the man was sure that Vinderion was asleep he slowly walked up to him, unsheathed his wakizashi, raised it over his head and plunged it into Vinderion's chest. Vinderion had a single violent convulsion and then lay still. The assassin cleaned and sheathed his blade then silently made his way out of the arena.

Vinderion slowly opened his eyes and tried to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep and then there was a sudden sharp pain in his chest and then nothing. He looked down at his bare chest and was startled to see a scar that he did not remember getting and even worse the skin around the scar was blotched and looked infected.

"Oh, it appears our guest is awake."

Vinderion lifted his head to look for the source of the voice and saw nine tall figures in pure white; five being male in appearance, three appearing female and one appearing to be male with the head of a dragon. Two of the male figures were standing closer to Vinderion than the rest and one was kneeling near him holding a ball that appeared to be a healing spell. The male kneeling near Vinderion spoke.

"Do you realize what we are?"

Vinderion replied, "You are the nine divines that watch over and protect all life in Tamriel."

"Correct, Julianos' blessing seems to suit you. As do Talos' and Stendarr's."

"What do you mean?"

"What Arkay means is that you have put their blessings to good use. Although you do not use all of our blessings equally."

"Hush Dibella, it is a good thing he isn't using all of the blessings equally otherwise he would have already been discovered and perhaps killed."

"Woah slow down what do you mean blessings and why would I have been killed?"

The man with the dragon head came forward and spoke "I will explain. I am Akatosh who humans have labeled as the chief deity. You have been chosen to be our champion. You have been given wisdom from Julianos, mercy from Stendarr, strength and leadership from Talos, luck from Zenithar, kindness and harmony with nature from Kynareth, speed and skill with magic from Akatosh, power over life and death from Arkay, love and compassion from Mara, and the, (cough), talents of Dibella."

At this last bit Dibella smirked and winked at Vinderion.

"Okay but why do you need a champion right now and why me? I am not exactly the most honorable or religious person."

"We need a champion because there is about to be a very dangerous event. And we chose you because we believe that you can stop it."

"What do you need me to do?"

"We'll get to that, for now let Arkay finish your healing then we will train you in our skills for as long as you need then Arkay will resurrect you and you will serve us as a champion."

"I understand. I am ready let's do this."

END OF CHAPTER 1 MORE TO COME LATER.