Welcome back, my dear readers! It's time once again to tell you the tale of great heroes. Last time, our heroes each seemed to have met a sad end, but fear not, for everything is not as it seems. So, listen up as I continue the story of Champions!

They each awoke, floating, suspended, in an empty void. Each void was a different color: teal for The Phantom, pink for Xavier Rue, orange for Jeremy Lane, and blue for The Fox. All they had with them were the clothes on their backs and the items they had on their persons when they "died". Before they had time to process the situation, a sort of digital screen appeared in front of each of them.

On the screen, it said "Initializing... Please Wait." It stayed like this until a blue bar at the bottom filled completely. After which, the text changed, and a loud robotic voice echoed around the nothingness, reading the words appearing on the screen.

"Congratulations! You are among a special few. You have been chosen by one of the Divine to be their Champion."

The text then changes again, it now asks, "Are you ready to be materialized?"

Once the voice finishes speaking, two options appear on the screen.

Yes

Tell me more

The four were all curious about what they could learn about their situation before being "materialized", whatever it meant by that, so they clicked Tell Me More.

The words on the screen shifted "Of course, what would you like to hear about?" More options appeared; this time they were topics which they could receive more information.

Champions

"Of Course... Champions are special beings who act as the Acolyte for a particular Divine. They’re gifted abilities upon entering this world so that they can fulfill their Divine’s wishes."

The ‘Divine’

"Of Course... The Divines are immensely powerful beings who rule over this world. They are so powerful and amazing that they need to live in separate planes as to not reshape the world with their presence."

My ‘Divine’

Unlike the previous two options, a different answer was given to each hero.

The Phantom

"Of Course... Artifice, The Divine Craftsman, Watcher of blacksmiths and inventors, is the most creative, imaginative, strong, smart, and handsome of the Divines. He is the creator of the Rebirth System, as well as all the greatest blends of magic and machines."

Xavier Rue

"Of Course... Bardios, The Benevolent Entertainer, Keeper of musicians and storytellers, is the most eccentric and petty idiot among all of the Divine. He is the creator and showrunner of the Extraplanar Colosseum, as well as bi-weekly karaoke nights."

Jeremy Lane

"Of Course... Sorcerona, The Natural Beauty, The Guardian of outcasts and widows, is the kindest among the Divines, but only to those whom she has chosen. She will stop at nothing to protect her followers. Sorcerona is also known for her unforgiving nature, once she has been wronged by someone, or someone so happens to burn the food on the second date (please give me another chance :( ), they will almost never be forgiven."

The Fox

"Of Course... Wizzarin, the Arcane Bookworm, the Inspiration for librarians and nerds, is considered the most intelligent of the Divines (I personally disagree, what’s a few books on real experience). He transcribed all the spells known by mortals using an arcane language."

Other

This option was a little different as most of the four found out, The Fox was content with what he learned and as such he did not select this option. Unlike the previous options, which had set answers, this option allowed them to ask the voice any question. The Phantom, worrying about his syndicate at home asked, "How long will I be gone?"

The voice replied in its robotic tone "Forever... Or at least until your divine sends you to your home world."

"Oh" The Phantom said, tone thick with discouragement "Where will I be going after this?" He inquired.

"To the land of Xandrea."

"I see. I have nothing further to ask."

"Excellent"

---

Xavier contemplated his questions carefully, processing all of the information he had learned prior. After thinking long and hard, he asked where he would be going, just as The Phantom had done, receiving the same answer, the land of Xandrea. He then followed up by asking "A-am I dead?"

The voice glitched, for the first time it struggled to answer as if the question shocked it. It buzzed and stuttered for a second, until it stopped and began answering the question like nothing had happened "You are not dead, you are being reborn, so you cannot be dead."

"If I'm being reborn, then that means I died before. Aww, man, I was having a good day too!"

"Y-y-you are mistaken, you were taken before true death, as to preserve your life force."

"So, when I get out of this, I'll be dead, in front of that truck?"

"No" The voice echoed, seemingly agitated, as much as a robot could. "IF you get out of this, your body will be healed by the power of the divines."

"I guess that's all I have"

"Great" Composure returning to the electronic voice.

---

Jeremy floated there, only slightly processing the information presented to him. His mind was truly elsewhere; he was mainly concerned with if he would keep his Teddy Bear, a gift from his parents long ago. Because of that, his question to the voice was simple "Do I get my Teddy Bear?"

"Yes, all of the items you had upon transport here will remain with you."

"Yay! That's it, that's all I wanted."

"Fantastic"

Once everyone was satisfied with the answers they were given and the knowledge they received, the voice again asked, "Are you ready to be materialized?"

This time everyone answered yes, they didn't know exactly what was waiting for them on the other side, but they knew that they would have to face it confidently and bravely.

"Perfect! Scanning body and mind, allocating stats, loading features, designing visuals." As the voice said this the appearance of our heroes' clothes and items slightly changed. A symbol etched itself into the center of The Phantoms chest piece. It looked like a wrench and hammer that is partially concealed by a glass bottle.

Forming out of nothing, a black pauldron with metal spikes formed atop Xavier's shoulder. On the back of his guitar, a symbol carved itself across the metallic surface, it looked like a simple lute.

The pencil in Jeremy's pocket began to expand, the led spiking out and changing its dull gray color to an astonishing spray of random colors. The fur in the center of his teddy bear's chest darkened, revealing a symbol that looked like a person with a small fire growing in their chest.

The hat that had happened to land on The Fox's furry head, shrinks and nestles itself between his two ears. Out of thin air leather straps form and twist themselves together, forming a form of harness to hold the book that The Fox had nabbed back in the hunter's home. On that books cover, a symbol showing an open book burns itself into the leather.

"Preparations are complete, depositing physical form in Xandrea in 3… 2… 1…"

The four awake in shallow pools filled with glowing blue liquid, all of them in the same room for the first time. This is where their fates intertwine directly. This is the first step, the first chapter in this story of Champions.

Hello! Sorry that there has been such a long break between this post and the last. In my last post I did say that these will be posted weekly and that is still my goal, I've just been very busy these past few weeks. So, I hope you enjoyed the second installment in my (hopefully eventually) weekly series of posting my dnd campaign! I hope to post again next week to try to get into that weekly rhythm (maybe even sooner to catch up, who knows) so be on the lookout!