The Eternal Champion

'Perhaps,' I said. 'But I do not think so. It is Space and Time which chain me. I am separated from you by a gulf without form or dimension…'

'How may we bridge that gulf and bring you to us?'

'The united walls of humanity may serve the purpose.'

'Already we pray that you may come to us.'

'Then continue,' I said.

I was falling away again. I thought I remembered laughter, sadness, pride. Then, suddenly, more faces. I felt as if I witnessed the passing of everyone I had known, down the ages, and then one face superimposed itself over the others-the head and shoulders of an amazingly beautiful woman, with blonde hair piled beneath a diadem of precious stones which seemed to light the sweetness of her oval face. 'lolinda,' I said.

I saw her more solidly now. She was clinging to the arm of the tall, gaunt man who wore the crown of iron and diamonds. King Rigenos.

They stood before an empty platform of quartz and gold and, resting on a cushion of dust, was a straight sword which they dared not touch. Neither did they dare step too close to it, for it gave off a radiation which might slay them.

It was a tomb in which they stood.

The Tomb of Erekose. My tomb.

I moved towards the platform, hanging over it.

Ages before, my body had been placed there. I stared at the sword which held no dangers for me, but I was unable in my captivity to pick it up. It was my spirit only which inhabited that dark place-but the whole of my spirit now, not the fragment which had inhabited the tomb for thousands of years. That fragment had heard King Rigenos and had enabled John Daker to hear it, to come to it; to be united with it.

'Erekose!' called the king, straining his eyes through the gloom as if he had seen me. 'Erekose! We pray.'

Then I experienced the dreadful pain which I supposed must be like that of a woman experiencing child-birth. A pain that seemed eternal and yet was intrinsically its own vanquisher. I was screaming, writhing in the air above them. Great spasms of agony-but an agony complete with purpose-the purpose of creation.

I shrieked. But there was joy in my cry.

I groaned, But there was triumph there.

I grew heavy and I reeled. I grew heavier and heavier, and I gasped, stretching out my arms to balance myself.

I had flesh and I had muscle and I had blood and I had strength. The strength coursed through me and I took a huge breath and touched my body. It was a powerful body and tall and fit.

I looked up. I stood before them in the flesh. I was their God and I had returned.

'I have come,' I said. 'I am here, King Rigenos. I have left nothing worth while behind me, but do not let me regret that leaving.'

'You will not regret it, Champion.' He was pale, exhilarated, smiling. I looked at lolinda who dropped her eyes modestly and then, as if against her will, raised them again to regard me. I turned to the dais on my right. 'My sword,' I said, reaching for it. I heard King Rigenos sigh with satisfaction. 'They are doomed now, the dogs,' he said.

CHAPTER TWO 'THE CHAMPION HAS COME!'

They had a sheath for the sword. It had been made days before. King Rigenos left to get it, leaving me alone with his daughter.

Now that I was here, I did not think to question how I came and why it should have been possible. Neither, it seemed, did she question the fact. I was there. It seemed inevitable.

We regarded one another silently until the king returned with the scabbard.

'This will protect us against your sword's poison,' he said.

He held it out to me and for a moment I hesitated before stretching my own hand towards it and accepting it.

The king frowned and looked at the ground. Then he folded his arms across his chest.

I held the scabbard in my two hands. It was opaque, like old glass, but the metal was unfamiliar to me-or rather to John Daker. It was light, flexible and strong.

I turned and picked up the sword. The handle was bound in gold thread and was vibrant to my touch. The pommel was a globe of deep onyx and the hilt was worked in strips of silver and black onyx. The blade was long and straight and sharp, but it did not shine like steel. Instead, in colour, it resembled lead. The sword was beautifully balanced and I swung it through the air and laughed aloud, and it seemed to laugh with me.

'Erekose! Sheath it!' cried King Rigenos in alarm. 'Sheath it! The radiation is death to all but yourself!'

I was reluctant, now, to put the sword away. The feel of it awakened a dim remembrance…

'Erekose! Please! I beg you!' lolinda's voice echoed her father's. 'Sheath the sword!'

Reluctantly I slid the sword into its scabbard. Why was I the only one who could wear the sword without being affected by its radiation?

Was it because, in that transition from my own age to this, I had become constitutionally different in some way? Was it that the ancient Erekose and the unborn John Daker (or was it vice versa?) had metabolisms which had adapted to protect themselves against the power which flowed from the sword?

I shrugged. It did not matter. The fact itself was enough. I was unconcerned. It was as if I was aware that my fate had been taken out of my hands to a large extent. I had become a tool…

If only I had known then to what use the tool would be put, then I might have fought against the pull and remained the harmless intellectual, John Daker. But perhaps I could not have fought and won. The power that drew me to this Age was very great.

At any rate, I was prepared at that moment to do whatever Fate demanded of me. I stood there, where I had materialised, in the Tomb of Erekose', and I revelled in my strength and in my sword.

Later, things were to change.

'I will need clothes,' I said, for I was naked. 'And armour. And a steed. I am Erekose.'

'Clothes have been prepared,' said King Rigenos. He clapped his hands. 'Here.'

The slaves entered. One carried a robe, another a cloak, another a white cloth which I gathered had to serve for underwear. They wrapped the cloth around my lower quarters and slipped the robe over my head. It was loose and cool and felt pleasant on my skin. It was deep blue, with complicated designs stitched into it in gold, silver and scarlet thread, The cloak was scarlet, with designs of gold, silver and blue. They gave me soft boots of doeskin to put on my feet, and a wide belt of light brown leather with an iron buckle in which were set rubies and sapphires, and I hung my scabbard on this. Then I gripped the sword with my left fist.

'I am ready,' I said.

lolinda shuddered. 'Then let us leave this gloomy place,' she murmured.

With one last look back at the dais on which the heap of dust still lay, I walked with the King and the Princess of Necranal out of my own tomb and into a calm day that, while warm, had a light breeze blowing. We were standing on a small hill. Behind us the tomb, apparently built of black quartz, looked time-worn and ancient, pitted by the passing of many storms and many winds. On its roof was the corroded statue of a warrior mounted on a great battle-charger, The face had been smoothed by dust and rain, but I knew it. It was my face.

I looked away.

Below us a caravan was waiting. There were the richly caparisoned horses and a guard of men dressed in that same golden armour I had seen in my dreams. These warriors, however, were fresher looking than the others.

Their armour was fluted, embellished with raised designs, ornate and beautiful but, according to my sparse reading on the subject of armour, coupled with Erekose's stirring memory, totally unsuitable for war. The fluting and embossing acted as a trap to catch the point of a spear or sword, whereas armour should be made to turn a point. This armour, for all its beauty, acted more as an extra danger than a protection.