The Champion Saga. Prelude

The Champion Saga

By

S.P. Jayaraj

www.spjayaraj.com

My name is Jahnhassen, and this is the story of how I met those who became my family, and how we saved Adijari from an ancient evil.
The story begins when I went to see Saljigah. Also known as the Matriarch, she is the the matron deity of my people. but first a little about me so you know why I went to see her.
I am an Elephant-Lahk from Gaja . Gaja is proud to be one the most recognized and oldest lahk nations. Most of our traditions originated here itself and have become central ideas in other nations.
We are a people who value information. Many of our lifestyles revolve around gathering, remembering, and storing it. This relationship with information comes naturally to us, and we have further enhanced this ability through our culture.
Of the three information disciplines, storing information is my primary passion. At the education institutions of Gaja I studied scripture, language, and storytelling to develop my craft of orating stories. We are also unifiers in the region. I studied diplomacy, and for the past thirty years I’ve been travelling to neighboring nations to create beneficial trade and promote peace.
Peace doesn’t always come easy. There are always self-centered people who favor their own ambition over the good of all. For this reason I also studied nagamalla , a Gaja martial art and defensive war philosophy that has honed my talent as a peacemaker.
A principle of Nagamalla is to find balance between being ready for conflict, but not to expect it, for that itself can lead to a mishandling of information and lead to violence. Yet for many years now, I have felt a terrible war coming. I've meditated on this to see if my senses are such because of a malpractice of Nagamalla. I needed to make sure that my sense of the war to come is not birthed from expectation. I don't see this war coming tomorrow, months, or even years from now. I see it coming happening my lifetime though, and I know that it will be devastating.
As a storyteller, diplomat, and warrior, it is my duty to use my talent to understand and hopefully prevent this calamity. My life journey is about to change. I need to answer this call to rise to my destiny.
I knew that the matriarch goddess, Saljigah, would help me understand my foreboding born from knowledge. Though she visits Gaja occasionally, it is on unannounced whims where she comes with her own purpose. To get the answers, and help that I need, I must go to her by making my way up the mountains to where she lives.
Vainly, I prayed before my journey to her that she would dismiss my anxiousness. I hoped that her near infinite knowledge would squash my less informed fears. She did not. Instead she reaffirmed everything I was worried about. Furthermore, she told me who I really was. She gave me gifts that were more amazing than I expected them to be, that came with an equal awe of responsibility.