'What was that?'
…
'It was just the wind…'
Marching. That's what he spent most of his time doing: marching and training with the other soldiers.
"Marcus Cornelius!" a higher ranking officer barked. He stepped forward, chest out, shoulders back, and not a hint of any sort of emotion on his face. The officer walked leisurely towards Marcus and looked him up and down.
"Take Gaius Aurelius and Publius Aelianus to the sparring grounds and train them." The officer ordered. Marcus saluted and the two other soldiers in question followed him as he marched away.
Marcus' muscles ached but he'd never say anything about it to anyone; he mostly kept to himself when he wasn't out drinking with the few friends he had, or sparring with other soldiers, honing his skills. He lived in a small villa in Rome, near the great temple of Jupiter. He was a Roman soldier, loyal to the emperor Julius Caesar Augustus.
He pledged his loyalties also to Jupiter, King of the Roman gods.
Marcus Cornelius was an ordinary man, formerly a farmer; he was drafted, however, when men were needed by the emperor for the battle of Actium.
That was three years ago.
He had seen much in his years of battle but it had not, somehow, made him a ruthless and heartless man; he still somehow found ways to be compassionate and to put his gods, country, and family before himself.
"If Julius Aelius has me spar with Publius or Gaius again, I might consider falling on my sword…" Marcus mumbled to himself, gazing out the window of his villa, watching the many new and unfamiliar faces bustle around and rush by; Emperor Augustus' new census was the cause of it.
'Marcus Cornelius…'
Marcus looked around, startled. No one was around. The only sound he heard, other than the hustle and bustle of the people outside, was the sound of his own heartbeat.
"Am I hearing voices now?" he wondered aloud, running a hand through his light brown hair.
'Marcus Cornelius…'
Marcus woke with a start.
"Who is there?" he called out.
He received no reply.
"A dream?" he asked himself, becoming unsure of his sanity.
'Not a dream, Marcus.' The voice said in his head.
"Who are you then?" he questioned shakily; he was very superstitious and he thought that either the gods had decided to speak with him or he was being punished with a voice in his head for something he must have done wrong.
'My name is Gabriel.' The voice informed him.
"Gabriel? What are you?" Marcus asked, looking around frantically but still finding no one around.
'I am an Angel of God.'
"A god? Which one?" Marcus wondered, confused.
'The God of the Jews. I need…something from you.' Gabriel's voice said.
"The Jews? Their God? What do you need from me?" Marcus was beside himself with curiosity and fear; what could this Angel want.
'I am in need of your body. As an Angel I cannot walk among men visibly on my own. You are my true vessel.'
"I am a vessel for a holy Angel?" Marcus asked in disbelief.
"I serve the god Jupiter, not the God of the Jews. Why do you ask me for my body?"
'I need your permission to use your body as my vessel.' Gabriel's voice explained, vaguely.
Marcus thought long about what the Angel had just said. His life was dull as a soldier and undesirable; there was no way for him to go back to being a farmer either in the countryside. He had no wife, and no suitable option for one; he saw no value in a life lived without a child of his own to carry on his name.
Besides, he was tired of living as it was.
"You need my permission?"
'Yes.'
"Then my answer is…"
There was one girl who'd caught his fancy…
Marcus was convinced she probably never knew of his existence.
"Yes." Marcus said.
Light filled the room and Marcus could feel another presence inside him.
The other being inside his head took over.
"Finally." Marcus said, against his will; it was as if he were awake, watching himself move around of someone else's will. He looked down at his hands and stood from his bed.
"I…can't bear the fighting, Michael…and Raphael…I'm sorry." He said; he could only assume that it was the Angel Gabriel who was talking.
"I'll hide and never look back," Gabriel said in a lost tone. Marcus felt weariness come over him and soon he saw nothing.
"Ever."