The Challenger

Jyke

Jyke was many things. First and foremost, he was a Summoner. But he was also a generally good guy. And the thing that shaped his life the most at the moment, was his status as a Challenger.

The Summoners were a race that had come to the plane of Synn many years ago, trying to escape something. The details were lost with time, along with the knowledge of how to leave Synn. The Summoners were planeswalkers, beings of immense magic that could travel between the plains of the multiverse with ease. The natives saw the power in the Summoners and started to worship them.

The natives were originally tribes roaming the endless plains and savannas of Synn, until the Summoners came. Once the Summoners saw that they had superiority over the Synnians, they quickly took control of them and brought forth civilization. Mighty cities were constructed, both with the help of the natives as well as the Summoners. After the cities were constructed and the people began to thrive, the Summoners needed to decide on a system of power. How would they rule so many people? And at that, how would they do so fairly?

In each city, Councils were established, with the ten strongest, wisest, and most genius of the Summoners occupying the seats. Then, over all the cities and all the Councils, the Council of Eons ruled. They were both the ultimate Council, as well as the local Council for the capital city from which they ruled, Synndor.

But with only ten cities, and ten Councils of ten Summoners, the rest of the Summoners were left with lower positions. Those content with the system were made ambassadors, law enforcers, teachers, and builders, teaching the Synnians how to build, learn, and in rarer cases, wield magic.

The other majority of the Summoners, however, were not content to deal with the lowly Synnians, They wished to sit in the Councils and rule over them, rather than distributing those rules. The issue was presented to the Council of Eons, which eventually decided on a new system.

To ensure that only the most elite and powerful of the Summoners ruled the people, the Council erected a Tournament. Challengers would fight other Challengers in an Arena, using their powers as a Summoner to bring forth spells and creatures from across the planes.

The Challengers were initially excited at the prospect of joining the Council through the Tournament, but they soon realized that if they failed their battles, they were stuck in a never ending cycle of fighting day after day, month after month, year after year. To many Challengers, the Tournament was a prison, and they, gladiators, performing for the entertainment of the common people and the Summoners alike. Those lucky or clever enough to actually win the Tournament then had to fight each of the ten members of the Council. If they failed every battle, they were sent back to the bottom of the cycle, again fighting for freedom. Ousted Council Members were forced to retire and join the Custodians, who took care of the Synnians, or to join the Tournament and try and reclaim a spot on a Council.

The system was ruthless, but also effective. And Synn was a plane of peace and prosperity for all (except perhaps the Challengers) until a secret of the past came to light. A secret so destructive, that it would have been better to remain in darkness.

And the person to discover the secret, was none other than Jyke himself. Of course, Jyke doesn't know that he will discover the secret. Not yet, anyways. And so our story begins.

Jyke had just lost a battle. His disappointment was immense, but he was used to it by now. It had been 43 years and 1,024 battles from when he started, and Jyke was still losing. Sure, he'd won his fair share of battles, but the higher up in the Tournament he ascended, and the more dangerous his foes became, the more intense his fights became. He had contemplated leaving the Tournament somehow, but each Challenger was enchanted with a specific set of spells, preventing them from quitting the Endless War and stopping them from planeshifting unless they were in the Arena.

Jyke sighed. This wasn't working. He needed a new strategy. A new army. New warriors. His current army was great, and he loved his warriors dearly, but they were becoming worn from the constant battles. He would have to let them go.

Summoners, as the name suggests, can summon things. Be it energy, objects, or even creatures, a Summoner can jump from plane to plane searching for a suitable entity. The Summoners in the Councils could do this whenever they wished, as well as the Custodians, perhaps Summoning a wise sage to help with a decision, or a menacing soldier to help keep the law. These Summoned, though, were not just tools. They had real lives, real identities, each on their own plane. In order to marshal an army, a Challenger was required to request permission from the target. After all, it would be a little strange to be snatched from your plane of existence, suddenly learn there was a multiverse, then be forced to fight dangerous creatures and magic.

When travelling to other planes in search of a new army, after years of fighting and learning more about the multiverse, the Summoners found a way to bend the rules. They would search out a hero in their most desperate hour, then offer them the choice to join their army or be left up to Fate. Jyke himself didn't employ this tactic often, as he preferred to have a loyal and willing army then an enslaved and fearful one.

Whenever the entities weren't fighting in the Arena, they lived their normal lives on their planes. After bonding with a Challenger, however, the entity gains immortality. If they die in their plane of existence, they appear back to the place where they were born or created. It might be terribly inconvenient, but at least they can live to fight another day. As a consequence, Summoners often try to learn the place where the Summoned entity was created one way or another.

If they were to die in the Arena, however, they would only be sent back to the place they were Summoned from. The rules were extensive, the safety procedures were immaculate, and the sky was the limit.

And so Jyke revisited the many planes upon which his army resided. After solemnly meeting with all of his bonded Summoned, he broke the spell that connected them. After the last bond was released, Jyke returned to Synn. There were many, many planes. Too many to even be counted, much less visited. Summoners could spend their whole lives (which were rather quite long) searching for the perfect combination of creatures and items and spells, but few actually could find what they needed. And every day you spent amassing your army was another day you spent not fighting in the Tournament, getting closer to freedom. It would just take that much longer to get out.

But Jyke needed a vacation. His years had been long, though he was still considered a child by Summoner standards. The Synnians grew and died so quickly, Jyke mused absently. Why, they could only make it to some 80 years before expiring. Jyke himself was 139 years of age, having been tutored and taught in the Summoner schools for 50 of those years. Needless to say, it would do him some good to get away for a little while, see the multiverse, and meet new people.

Might as well get started, Jyke thought. Upon making up his mind, Jyke Summoned a new rift in space and time and hopped on in.