The sea is tainted with the blood of thousands of those unlucky enough to be caught in the action, their screams fill the air with the sense of impending doom, but then a sound —thunderous and deafening— crackles through the air with the fury of all monsters that are known, "Pathetic!" A voice snarled in disgust "and your the number one champion of Nike? How utterly pathetic must champions really be?" The one speaking was none other than the Stinger of the cursed Typhon, fashioning wings of countless creatures on his back, with talons protruding out of his lower jaw like a pair of tusks. Aro stood upon the waters and looked up at the cursed stinger, the flame of Nike burning within him as he extends his arm to the Stinger "Stinger of Typhon! You've showed yourself as a great adversary, but alas..." and with a swift motion Aro now stands face to face with the Stinger, baring his usual smile, "It's time to show you the true power of the Victorious! For we champions do not cower in the face of adversity No matter who we are, for we follow the just road built by Yama! And our steps are built by taking you down, here and NOW! " The punch connects, and a thud was heard all across the seas and evil was vanquished that day by the hands of the number one Champion, Aro of Nike.
Back home a child sees this fight and has an epiphany "Mom, mom, mom, mom!" He says, running of to his mother, his little feet planted firmly on the floor as his smile radiates the same light his hero did as he vanquished the evils of the Stinger of Typhon, "I will be a champion of justice!" He exclaimed, balling his fists and throwing them up to the sky, a triumphant glare shines in his eyes "I will be THE champion of justice just like Aro!" His mother looks at him, seeing his determination and drive she got down to his eye level and said while patting his head, "of course you'll become! After all, you are Victor, isn't that right sweety?" And as he heard his mother's reassuring words, he couldn't help but let out a squeal of excitement. The father, over hearing this from a distance looks at his son, a faint smile forming on his face, a small, warm, proud smile.
The night drew closer and Victor went to bed, his father was reading him a story about the gods and how they helped humanity, "daddy..." Victor's little voice comes, somewhat reluctant to speak but he pushes through, "how do God's chose champions?" The father paused for a moment, placing the book of to the side he leaned closer, his smile eliminated by the soft light of the moon, "well, a God goes and looks for a righteous soul, and a soul with magical power, and he goes to this soul and says that he wants this soul to be his champion, and if the soul agrees it must go through a trial, they may vary, but after all is done, the God gives his new champion powers, and tells the champion to fight for justice and to never do bad things."
The boy—now visibly tired but still intrigued—says as he looks at his father "but daddy, what if a soul is bad?"
"Well Victor, we call those souks "Stingers", they have no magic, and the gods hate them."
"Well, can't we give them magic?"
"No son, they are cursed, they did something to anger the gods, some may be good, but Stingers are bad by nature, that's why Aro fights them." The boy looks at his father and then smiles faintly, "okay daddy, I'll be a good boy so that I can become a champion like *yawn* Aro..." the fathers let's out a soft chuckle and places a gentle kiss on his sun's forehead, "Alright Victor, you should sleep now, we can't fight bad guys and tiredness at the same time now, can we?" The boy looks at his father and smiles, his eyelids feel heavy and they close softly. The father gets up and starts to walk out of the room, being careful not to make any sudden sound to not disturb his sons sleep. As he gets to the door, he takes a look back at his son and smiles, wishing him good night before closing the door.
Walking out of his son's room, the father walks by the mother pulling herself a glass of wine, "C'mon honey, isn't it enough yet?" He says, his tone teasing slightly. "Hah, still not enough!" she says, sounding annoyed and slightly out of it, Dionysus then says while holding a glass of wine "my champion must hold his own, Josephine." His usual attitude shows as he takes a sip of his wine with much bliss.
Josephine head lays flat on the table, too tired from all her drinking "he really likes Aro." she says, pride in her son is clear as she looks up at her husband, Michael "he has potential," Michael comments, placing a hand on his wife's hand gently "and I know who he gets it from." Dionysus over hearing them smiles, placing a bottle of unlabeled wine on the table "so this calls for my special wine, in Viks honor." He opens the bottle and the smell of grapes and barriers fill the room, a smell fir for a wine of the gods. "Do you... think he can do it, Dio?" Asks Michael, a twig of worry in his tone ashis inquires from the god. Dionysus let's out asoft Humm, running a hand through his hair as he thought about it for a moment, "well, he'll become a champion no doubt, but I don't know the god that will chose him, and there are lot of them, so safe to say a God will chose him."
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Both Michael and Josephine felt a hint of pride at that revelation.
8 years latter
Victor's birthday came and went, making him at the ripe age to become a champion of the gods, both Michael and his wife did everything they can to make sure that thus day will never be forgoten, so they sent their son to the island of heros, otherwise known as New Macedonia, an island in the pacific where kids from all backgrounds go in hopes of passing their trial, and Victor, though older, still had that same driving force of when he we 7 years of age all that time ago, but he now is taller, his short black hair swaying in the humid winds of the sea, and his bright green eyes harboring a flame that will never die out.
Back home things were not going so smoothly, "C'mon Josephine, that island was created as a safe space for kids to undertake their trials, and alot of champions are their to make sure things go smoothly." Dionysus said, his voice a reassuring tone as he gently rubbed the back of Josephine, —who was now on her 5th bottle of wine— all the while Michael was pacing around, bitting on his nails while saying something unintelligible under his breath.
Victor's eyes shined brightly as he looked at the island, towering buildings, bright lights, larg structures, it all was new to him, but he knew he had to be strong for the a God to choice him as their champion. As he was mesmerized by the approaching island, he heard a sound of someone throwing up behind him, looking back he saw a boy, barely holding himself up by the boats railing and throwing up into the ocean, "I shouldn't have ate alot before coming heree..." the boy cried, moving his hair away from his face in preparation to vomit again. Seeing this, Victor mustered up his courage to walk up to the boy, his smile radiating "hay, I think this will help." He said as he handed the boy a peppermint, the boy looked up at Victor, although he was slightly surprised by Victor's idea, he took the peppermint in hopes of it helping him in any way. "Thanks," he said as he looked at Victor with a slight smile, "you're really a life saver." Victor blushing slightly let out a soft laugh, waving his hand slightly, "Hah, no no, I just do what Aro would do, it's no big deal!" The boy let out a soft chuckle at Victor's attempt at modesty, he placed a hand on Victor's shoulder and said with a slight smirk, "I think we might become great allies." The boys hair went down to his mid back, golden blond in color, and his eyes were s soft shade of amber, the boy knew that Victor had the heart of a champion, and the smile of a hero "I'm Frode Bj?rnson of Alto, nice to meet you." He said, extending a hand towards Victor with his smile growing wider.
Victor took his hand, his own mouth smiling warmly at this new friend, "and I'm Victor Miller, and it sure is nicer to meet you Frode."
The two boys started to bond on the ship, laughing and smiling with each other, and as the island was now at its closest, the ships captain called an assembly.
Everyone waited on the main deck, all waiting for the captain to come. Not long after the captain came out, he was an older man, his cane at his side, and an old face that has seen all that the waters can offer "now listen 'ere ya maggots, this is New Macedonia, an artificial island created for ya lot to take yerr trails. Now, this island has rules," he held out a hand and raised one finger to signify the first rule "one, no fightin' u'less tis part of yerr trial. Two, when ya get yerr trial go tell a supervisor, they'll take you to a room specializin' in yerr trial. Three, if ya kill someone, hide the body, don't dump it in the ocean, currants 'ill make it wash up shore, that's not a rule, I just hate cleaning corpses. Now, any questions?" Before Victor could raise his hand to ask a question, the captain cut him off with a loud voice "good! No questions, now off my boat yea scoundrel!" Giving none any other chance to say anything, everyone got if the boat and onto the island, but something was strange, the tall buildings that they had saw were nowhere to be found, they looked around in confusion, thinking that they were lost, until the captain came down and he looked annoyed at seeing them fir some reason, "what are ya lots doin'? Why did ya stop?" A boy looked back at the captain and said "where can we go?! It's just dense foliage!" The boy sounded a little distressed and annoyed, but the captain couldn't help but laugh "HAHAHA! T'brings a tear to me eye every time." He said while whipping away a tear with his metallic hand "tis a special trial, survive three days 'ere and the path to the city will be cleared out." At this revelation alot of the participants were shocked, none had ever heard of this, even Victor and Frode looked at each other with surprised expressions, but the two friends looked at each other with wide grins.
