The Champion

Once upon a time there was a great warrior that was unstoppable. The emperor continuously relied on this warrior to lead his armies into battle. There was only one flaw with the warrior, they had no name, and therefore was only referred to as The Champion. This did not matter to the emperor, who only cared about domination and unity. The Champion was exactly what the emperor needed, and eventually conquered most of the continent. With every province now united under one ruler, the emperor now had to choose his successor. He was getting very old, and increasingly doubtful of his only son, who had continuously shown he was not ready to take the throne. The emperor now had to make a desperate decision. Give the crown to his son, and risk the recently united empire crumbling, or give the crown to The Champion, and risk a mutiny for defying tradition. The emperor finally made his decision, he gave the throne to The Champion, and a few months later, he died peacefully. Immediately after his death however, the rebellion he worried about sparked, as many people detested tradition being broken. The emperor’s son, Arnfinn, led a rebellion against The Champion. Many people of the empire had taken to calling The Champion A Nameless Evil, a mockery for the lack of having a name. The Champion, rightfully, had a pure hatred for this name as all he wanted was the best for the empire. Luckily, because he used to be the most respected general, most of the army decided to defend him, as they had seen how honorable and caring The Champion was. He gave Arnfinn an ultimatum: The Champion would give one of the island provinces away to him, where another empire could be built, without any violence, or there would be war. Arnfinn ignored it, saying that the empire was rightfully his, and he would fight for it. Over the next few years, war was waged, and The Champion was mocked more and more. This continuously made him angrier, and anyone who knew him also knew that anger only made him more focused. He continued to lead charges on Arnfinn’s forces, and ultimately destroyed them. Arnfinn knew how powerful The Champion was, and he should have foreseen how he would react when faced with insults. Arnfinn thought that mockery and berating The Champion would weaken or break him, but instead it sharpened and strengthened The Champion, ultimately leading to Arnfinns destruction.