"Ow ow ow! Too tight!" Jordan gritted his teeth in pain as he felt his chest being painfully crushed.

Tom clicked his tongue at Jordan.

"Armor is supposed to be tight, ya spoon."

Jordan looked down at the light-haired man beside him, questioning the sanity of his friend. He inhaled sharply as Tom pulled another strap tighter.

"Just...loosen it, or I swear I'll-." Jordan spoke through clenched teeth, swinging his entrapped arms uselessly towards the straps, gasping for breath.

Tom pretended to look shocked at the harsh command, then smiled, amused by Jordan's pitiful attempt to free himself.

"You'll what?"

Jordan glared angrily at Tom who raised his hands defensively.

"Hey! I just was curious as to what kind of horrible tortures you had arranged for me because I have something to do at two and I'd like to be able to have use of my limbs." He smiled innocently.

"Thomas." Jordan hissed.

Tom rolled his eyes, stepping forward.

"Alright, your majesty." Tom grinned, sweeping into a mock bow.

Slowly, he loosened the straps on the chest piece, as if taking his time, making Jordan want to scream if only he had enough air to. Finally, just as Jordan felt as if he was going to throttle the man, he felt the straps fall loosely to his sides. He exhaled deeply as the pressure lessened around his chest, breathing in deeply as his head began to clear.

Tom stood in front of him, his suit still as pristine as ever against his pale, green skin.

"There ya go princess. Need anything else? A foot massage maybe?" Tom said innocently, his eyes wide and mischieveous as he looked up at Jordan who glared back at him ruefully.

"A better host would be great." Jordan mumbled, pulling the armor off completely.

"Oi, I heard that, boy."

"That's why I said it out loud." Jordan replied, not looking up as he massaged his sore shoulders, rolling them and wincing as they popped.

"Ooooo someone is feeling sassy today!" Tom wagged his finger at Jordan.

Jordan rolled his eyes as he attempted to smooth his crinkled clothing, a small smile playing on his lips.

He stepped towards the table and curiously observed the armor-plated boots Tom had laid out. He flicked the metal with his fingernail, listening to the musical, hollow ring and somehow annoying Tom in the process as a bonus. He quickly compared the size of the boot to his own shoe before plopping his off onto the floor and tugging them on.

He was surprised to find them comfortable, unlike any other armored boot he had ever had. He twisted his foot around, side to side, and took a few experimental steps with them around the room as Tom watched. He marveled to find them not only containing a rare comfort, but an even more rare flexible quality.

"Nice, aren't they? Those'll deflect almost any arrow or sword blow in a bad situation."

"Where did you even get these? They're freaking knarbuckle, bro." Jordan admired the boots as Tom raised an eyebrow at his vocabulary.

"Well, Champ made them as he does pretty much everything useful around here. He's got mad skills, dude." Tom grinned.

"Champ?" The name was unfamiliar to Jordan.

"Champwan, really. You'll see him sooner or later, no doubt. Around here, we lovingly refer to mister Champ as the priest's b*tch since he basically does whatever Dec wants him to. In fact, he probably made the get up you're wearing right now." Tom explained, pointing at Jordan's outfit.

Jordan looked down at his clothes, smiling with new respect towards this stranger.

He looked up at Tom, and his smile dissolved into a frown.

Tom's face mirrored his as he caught Jordan's stare.

"What? Is something on my face?" Tom grinned jokingly, but it did nothing to improve Jordan's expression.

"You know," Jordan began, "I've been meaning to ask you, and I don't mean to be rude...but- well...uh.. what's wrong with your skin?" He blurted out the last part quickly.

For a moment, Tom's expression was frozen, still in a goofy grin, but then it dissolved into something sadder and darker.

For a moment, Jordan thought of apologizing and dropping the matter all together, but he had said it and curiosity won over his thoughts as he waited for Tom's reply.

Tom took a long, deep breath before building up the strength to reply.

"Well, it's a long story, really. Do you remember...how Declin spoke of the... 'humans' that Dianite made immortal?"

"Yeah, the immortal monsters that had decaying skin and such, right?

Tom winced.

"Right. They're monsters." He grit his teeth.

Jordan's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Wait, they still exist?" Jordan asked incredulously.

Tom took a deep breath, turning his back to Jordan as he leaned on the table, gripping it tightly in his hands.

"Well obviously the first few eventually crumbled into dust, but their species only grew.", he spat the word 'species' like it was poison, "They could spread their affliction through their saliva. For example, if they bit you, their saliva would seep into the wound. And once they had lost their minds, all they did was try to eat people as eating was the only instinct the body had left, causing a mass outbreak of crumbling flesh-eating bastards." Tom was gripping the table tightly, his eyes wide as if he was looking at something Jordan couldn't see.

"They would attack cities, homes...they attacked my home. My family." He took a deep, shaky breath. "The city watch didn't make it in time to save them. Only I and my sister survived by hiding in a closet while they were focused on...their meal." Tom released the table edge, spinning to face Jordan, his eyes lit with something that scared Jordan.

"But they left me this." He tugged down his collar.

Jordan sucked air in sharply as he stared at the dark red teeth marks ingrained at the base of Tom's neck right above his shoulder blade, the skin around it a sickly, yellowish-green.

Realization flooded Jordan like an icy cold bath, his eyes widening.

"You... you were infected?"

Tom nodded stiffly as he tugged up his collar, hiding the scar, though his greenish palor seemed only the brighter now that Jordan understood its meaning.

"But how-"

"How am I still sane? Don't be embarrassed it's a valid question." He gave Jordan a small, forced smile to which Jordan didn't respond in kind.

Tom cleared his throat as his smile evaporated back into a haunted nostalgia.

"Well, to tell the truth, I nearly went mental. You don't know the pain of having your skin slowly rot like a corpse. The pain of being forced to live through it and watch." Tom shuddered.

"But what made it worse was that my sister had to watch me, her last family member, dissolve into the same monster that killed her parents." Tom's face was blank as he seemed to stare through Jordan, his mind elsewhere.

Jordan felt his blood run cold. Of the few days he'd been with Tom, he'd never seen him show any expression other than happy or hyper, maybe a little salt every now and then, but this....this was terrifying.

"So, without my knowledge, she had begun going to the temple to pray to Mianite for my life." His face hardened. "And that dick wouldn't even look her way."

Jordan's eyes widened.

So that was why Tom hated Mianite so much.

"My sister grew desperate and even went so far as to pray to Dianite whom we had been raised to believe was the devil. Everyone in our village began to scorn her as a devil worshiper, a witch, but she kept going back despite my protests." Tom's voice was quiet, but there was a hint of affection in his voice for his sister.

"And Dianite answered." The pieces clicking together in Jordan's head.

Tom smiled, this time a little less forced.

"Exactly. He answered her prayer when the b*tch wouldn't. Dianite saved my life, Jordan. He had never meant to release those abominations onto the world and he saved me as an example!" Tom held his arms open, eyes wide and pleading for Jordan to understand.

"But you're still..you know.."

"Green?"

Jordan nodded.

"Well I never said he cured me exactly. Even that was beyond his power. No, he basically stopped it from spreading."

"Stopped it?"

Tom tapped his chin, as if speculating on how to explain.

"You see, there's a perk to being a champion of a god. Call it a part of their gift to us, but once we enter into this world, we dont really... change."

Jordan's eyes widened. If this kept up, they were going to pop out eventually.

"Wait, you're saying we don't age?"

"Well, our bodies don't, to be exact." Tom smiled thinly.

"So if your body doesn't age, the disease doesn't spread?"

"Bingo!" Tom gave Jordan two thumbs up.

Jordan sat down, letting it sink in.

So he would never age, huh?

"You say that's the benefit of being a champion... is that what we are?" Jordan looked up at Tom, hoping to change the subject.

Tom's face flooded with relief at the topic change and nodded.

"Yupperoni."

Jordan scratched his chin, questions milling about in his head one after another.

"What does a champion do exactly?"

Tom opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it as if lost on how to answer it himself.

"Well we... we represent our gods." He stated simply.

Jordan raised his eyebrow at that.

"You represent your gods...to each other?"

"Look, it's not as simple as it sounds." Tom spoke defensively.

Jordan nodded.

"Hopefully, because it's sounding pretty simple to me."

Tom frowned, looking thoughtful and slightly peeved

"Well we help people in the world we came from." He folded his arms as if waiting for Jordan to knock that one down too.

Jordan froze.

Does this mean that-

"Wait...we get to visit the old world?" Jordan leaned forward in his chair, his hands gripping its arms in anticipation.

Tom rubbed his neck absentmindedly.

"Well..."visit" is a good word, I suppose. Since we can't technically be seen by anyone there. No one said a gift comes without a curse." There was a sadness in Tom's eyes, though his voice betrayed nothing.

"Oh." Jordan slumped back in his seat, disappointed.

But at least as a champion he could go see his tree.

..champion, huh?

So he was going to be a champion of a god.

But he was still confused as to who that god would be.

A/N

I'm such a freaking hypocrite. -_-

I've been lazing around mentally screaming at people I follow to update when I get a notification of someone asking me to update.

And I'm like, oh yea, I have a story to update, huh...

On another note... OVER TWO THOUSAND REEEEADS? WUUUUUT?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING SOMETHING BY A WORTHLESS PERSON LIKE ME. ;-;

Well anyways, stay whelmed! (If you get that reference, I'll freaking love you forever. ;))

~SaRaH