Champion

Chapter 12

Suddenly everything started to make sense to David. The sword wielding bandits holding a beautiful prisoner; rescuing a damsel-in-distress that was literally the most gorgeous woman he could imagine; and actual magic. He was so f****d. He must have been hit by an IED, and now he was a vegetable laying in a coma in Ramstein. He was stuck in some weird f*****g coma dream, the product of too much Dungeons and Dragons growing up, and too many Role-playing video games as an adult. It was either that, or he was dead, and this afterlife stuff was really poorly marketed back on Earth. He wondered if it mattered which it was. If he was stuck in a coma there was nothing he could do about it, and if he was dead then that was it. Game over. Either way, he was here and he might as well go with the flow. He figured if this was some weird dream he would probably be given some grand quest, like slaying a dragon or s**t like that. And if he was dead then he figured his ancestors would start popping up soon. He missed his mom and his dad every day. If this was the afterlife he should get to see them again, or he was going to give whoever was in charge the biggest ass-chewing ever imagined.

Seeing Laurena finish up and settle next to his gear, he carefully stepped back from the cave entrance. He didn't want her to think he was spying.

"Champion David," he heard her call to him a few moments later, "I am finished cleaning up. You can return inside now."

Clearing his throat to announce himself, he walked back through the entrance and into the cave.

"You look nice. Are you feeling any better?" he asked, trying not to stare at her ample cleavage, or get lost in the memory of how magnificent her breasts had looked when they were bared to him earlier.

"Much better now, thank you. I am still upset about my favorite robes, but I am sure Astinus at Wolfsvale will be able to fix them for me."

Nodding in sympathy, he walked over and sat on top of his ruck next to her; trying to organize his thoughts enough to begin his inquiry. It was difficult. This close to her he could smell her body's natural scent, as well as a hint of roses that must be some type of perfume. The two smells combined to intoxicate him more than any alcohol ever had. It was really distracting. Hoping to jumpstart his higher brain functions, he began with a simple question about something that had been bothering him.

"Why do you keep calling me Champion?"

Laurena looked at him slightly puzzled, but answered him all the same, "Because you are the Champion. Eros came to me in a dream three days ago and told me that I, and a handful of others, had been chosen by him to seek you out. The one who found you was to bring you to meet with him. He even showed me an image of you, standing in the mountains, dressed as you were when you rescued me."

Nodding his head as though he expected the answer, David fell into quiet thought for a few moments.

Yep. Grand Quest. It's a coma. Damned insurgents blew me up, and now I'm in a damn coma. A coma where I'm apparently some frikkin' chosen champion of a deity, who crawls into the dreams of Playboy Bunnies to turn them into my own private nubile GPS's. f*****g IED-laying, goat-r****g, child-killing, brain-washing, Quran-thumping, Islamic radical fundamentalist, terrorist, jihadist, insurgent MOTHER-FUCKERS!

Shaking his head in absolute disgust, he decided to just push ahead with his inquiry; 'in for a penny, in for pound' after all.

"Okay...one, who is Eros? Two, what does a Champion do? Three, why do I have to go to him? Isn't he a god? You know...limitless power, omniscient, omni-present, etc?"

Laurena became increasingly confused with each question. This was Eros' Champion. The vision was rather clear about that. But it seemed as though he had no clue about anything. Who was Eros? Everyone knew about Eros. He was the only god of this realm. This whole world was his dominion, and he was a kind and benevolent caretaker of it. Where could David possibly be from if he didn't know who Eros was?

"Eros is our god. He is the One True God of our realm, and Love is his divine message and gift. He wishes for all people to love him, and one another. He guides parents to birth and raise strong, kind, and happy children; and we, his clergy, are responsible for spreading his love through the intimate union of Eros' Blessing and Eros' Healing.

"You are his chosen Champion. I am only an acolyte, so I do not know of all the intricate details of that divine mandate. I do know that you are responsible for defending this realm, and protecting its people in his name. When we get to Wolfsvale there is a priest there named Astinus, who may be able to tell you more.

"Lastly, we go to him because he commands it. I know not why it is thus, and I care not either. He is my god. I have dedicated my life to his name, and feel honored to be entrusted with a task of such importance to him. Perhaps as his Champion you can ask him this question directly," Laurena answered him to the best of her ability.

"Why do you ask these things? You are my god's Champion? Surely Eros can explain these things far better than I?"

Realizing his dream / psychosis was far more elaborate than he originally thought; David decided to just go with it. "I am not from your world. I come from a nation called the United States of us, on a planet called Earth. I have never met Eros, and this is the first I've heard of being his Champion. I think there was a mix-up somewhere. I'm an Artillery lieutenant that was in the middle of a war in another country called Mukavia. It looked a little bit like here, but there were a lot more mountains, and a lot less trees."

Processing his comments, and stumbling over some of his strange words, Laurena puzzled out the gist of his meaning. He wasn't from Erosius. He may not have even been from this realm. That seemed unlikely, since Eros always chose his Champion from within his own realm to defend it from attacks by other realms. But perhaps David was such a powerful warrior that Eros chose to bring him here because her god believed that those here were not powerful enough to stop the next attack. She worried how powerful this new foe could be if that were the case.

She remembered the stories she and others were taught growing up in the Great Temple. Those training to be future members of the clergy were expected to know the history of Eros and his realm. His Champions were each beautiful and powerful in their own way. Some were powerful magicians, some were brilliant strategists, and some were deadly fighters; but each had been the best in the land when they were chosen. If the best this realm had were not good enough to face what was coming...

"Well, you are in the Abatinus Mountains now, on the continent and kingdom of Erosius. Tomorrow we will continue on the path to Wolfsvale, and we should arrive there in a day and a half by horse. I will answer any questions you have on the morrow; but tonight I am truly exhausted. Might we get some sleep?" she inquired with hooded eyes. As she finished speaking she leaned in closer to him, reaching up with a hand to twirl a lock of her hair around one finger, and reaching across her stomach with her other arm to push her breasts together and up, deepening the valley between her magnificent, lightly-tanned mammaries.

Looking down from her eyes to the top of her chest, David became momentarily lost in the depths of the smooth, plunging valley of her cleavage. He suddenly had trouble remembering what she had said, or his name, but he definitely knew he should be answering some question of hers.

"Sure, that will work," he said, hoping it was the correct response and unable to tear his gaze from her chest.

Leaning back with a smile on her face, Laurena reached down near her feet for the unusual coat he lent her. She picked it up and handed it to him while looking back up, but remained leaning forward; this allowed her robes to drape further open and expose more of her smooth flesh. This is way too easy, she thought to herself with a barely concealed grin. It's like he hasn't even seen a woman in years. He can barely keep his eyes in his head. I'll have him eating out of my hand before we make camp tomorrow.

Amazed at this beautiful woman who seemed to be oblivious to how exposed her charms were, he took a ragged breath and politely accepted the return of his fleece jacket. Tearing his eyes from her he looked over her saddle and bags. "Will you be warm enough tonight without a fire?" he asked, not seeing anything big enough to be a thick sleeping bag.

Unable to restrain her grin now, Laurena shrugged her shoulders. "I have a bedroll and blanket that I use, but I wasn't planning to spend the night in the mountains without a fire. It is a bit too cold up here for the sleeping gear I have."

She knew she had him. He couldn't take his eyes off her chest, and he had struggled to string two intelligent words together for the last few moments. He would take her statement as an invitation to sleep close to one another, snuggling up to share warmth against the cold. After one night with her soft form pressed against him, he would be putty in her hands.

"That's ok. I have a solution that should work," he responded confidently.

It worked. He was done for. After tonight she would be able to demand anything from the Champion of Eros. She was the happiest she had ever been. She knew her beauty was a powerful tool for guiding men. But she never thought her charms would work this well on her god's Champion.

Watching as he reached down and grabbed a bulging sack from inside his bag, she wondered how he would make the offer. Would he be demanding, matter-of-fact, humble, playful, or something else? She was becoming aroused at the thought. For the hundredth time she wished she were a priestess. Then she wouldn't have to wait until they reached Wolfsvale. She could conduct a worship service this very night, and render the Blessing of Eros on this Champion over and over again, until they both slipped from the waking world, their passions at least temporarily sated.

Opening the sack, David pulled a large, thick bundle of strangely patterned cloth from the bag. Shaking it out, he walked over to a smooth area in the back of the cave. Leaning down, he moving a few small rocks until there was a cleared man-sized space on the soft dirt ground. Spreading the bundle out on the floor, he opened it up and turned to Laurena.

"This is the ECWS sleep system. In the current three bag configuration it is functional down to negative twenty degrees. Climb on in."

Smirking, she walked over and removed her traveling cloak, rolling it up to use as a pillow. This 'E-C-W-S sleep system' seemed barely big enough for one. Apparently they were going to get very close tonight. She would need to remind him of her acolyte status. The clergy could only have s*x as part of Eros' Blessing during worship; or, on extremely rare occasions, with their spouse. If Eros permitted them to marry. Laurena knew of no one in this generation that had been blessed by Eros to remain in the clergy with a family.