It was then that I first set my eyes upon the fierce gladiator. His cocky smirk enough to anger the gods and a fighting spirit to rival anyone I was ever yet to meet. There was something in his eyes, a softness that made my knees a little weaker. He knew he was a good fighter and he knew he could beat anyone. Maybe that was why I always held a candle for this beast. I watched him fight that day, it was the first of many to come. He didn't wear a helmet or indeed any sort of bodily armour. His arrogance though proved accurate on this day, would leave him with many scars in days to come.
I looked slowly around the grounds. It was strange to see how people reacted around a slight of blood. Like sharks. It drove them wild, made them hunger for the kill. Sickening but it played into Gannicus' strengths, what could I possibly say to give it justice? He loved to be hated. I remember looking at Melitta and wondering of the expression on her face, of awe I thought at the time but now I know of a lust, a deep wanting that made them both blush and would send them both to hell. What a fool I was not to see that.
There were women screaming and exposing themselves to him and he continued, as he always did, to laugh and smirk. He loved to be loved also, but only by the women. He laughed all the way through the fights, I remember that coarse laughter as if it were yesterday.
In this particular fight, he got a little too cocky and laughed his way to a deep cut on his upper bicep his face changed and the anger would replace laughter, he then dropped both his swords and turn to face the man with his fists. Such was the way of the warrior, not content with steel.
"To truly hurt a man is to feel the pain yourself" this was a quote I was told a few years down the line by a wise man indeed. It was a quote I used time and time again. But, that was many years later.
It was in the house of Batiatus that I was to grow and learn the harsh lessons of the world. I began as a second body slave to the Domina, "a true Domina cannot have less than 2 slaves, it is simply a mark of true greatness" she said as she purchased me, within days I was given adequate clothing and taught the ways of the house by Melitta. I came upon my name in this very house, I was asked when purchased "what is your name slave?" I was surprised at this question but the Domina even more so when I conceded that I did not have a name, "you shalll be Alyssia" she had said with a sharp smile and it was so from that day forward. It was also within this godforsaken house that I came upon my first downfall. A man by the name of Ashur a cunning Assyrian, he had the tongue of the devil and yet it was within his arms that I first found comfort.
I would watch the training sessions for as long as I was able. This was how my dear friend Oenomaus the husband of Melitta and a noble, proven gladiator was to discover my fighting ability. He would later coach me at nights to allow me to fend off anyone that came to try and claim me, they would think twice when I had ripped off their cock with my bare hands.
Gannicus was often missing from these sessions, just after fights, busy claiming his reward which would consist of a blonde and brunette on each side.
I lived in that house through some of the most exhilerating and devastating times of my life. I saw people come and go and those that remained constant. Until the fall that is. I made brothers and enemies alike, fell in and out of love again and again until my heart was left in little pieces in my chest. I tasted success and failure at so much. My life began in that place and I was under the impression it would eventually end so. How wrong I was.
It was on one dark night that I came face to face with a man I was to call brother for many years to come, his long matted hair a symbol of the past and his smile a symbol of the future. Of course he was desired by many though I was never amongst them, his thoughts of me as a sibling were fondly reciprocated. Crixus. He dreamt of becoming a famed gladiator and we sat many a night discussing how he set about doing such things.
The house of Batiatus though unpleasant as it was to become, did contain some sort of a love. That between it's Dominus and Domina, Batiatus and Lucretia. They did share a love, uncommon amongst many households. If she had asked for the moon he would have reached into the heavens and picked it out of the sky's bloom for her. He believed her a gift from the gods, I know of another who would also say the same much later on. Again, how things can change.
As of Ashur, how did I come upon meeting such a man? By a total chance occasion. He happened to glance up at the balcony as I watched a sparring session. I saw something change in his eyes, like a blind man seeing light for the first time. Then it would change as the fighter in him took over once more.
He caught me in a corridor later that day, asked if I would share a drink with him on the roof of the house after hours. I did go, and waited all night, he did not show. I should have known then.
Oenomaus though a man nonetheless, was noble and worthy of more praise than it possible to spill from the lips of the gods themselves. He longed for the day when he returned to his arena, yet when I was there at least, that was never to come.
The fight in the marketplace was quite something to behold, it was within my first couple of weeks at the house and I knew it would be an experience quite unlike any other. Quite a shock was the blindfold trechery. A political manourvre no doubt. Bittersweet I remember my heart in my mouth as the blood poured underneath the blindfold. I remember vividly my stomach in knots with each blow. Only bittersweet as Gannicus did indeed win this contest, not without injury but a win nevertheless. One appreciated by the men if only for the wine it gained them for the night.
The same cannot be said for Batiatus, whom I found earlier the following morning whilst purchasing goods for the house. He was broken and bloodied on the floor, it took a while but I managed to haul him back to the house, earning a debt of gratitude from Lucretia, a debt that proved fruitful and yet not intended.
Absent animosity, Crixus and Ashur might have once been brothers. Sadly Ashur cared only for himself, unable to look past any other obstacle. Still, Crixus continued to prove himself in the eyes of the ludus. He took onboard the instruction and weighed heavy against opponent.
The blessing came when an influential roman came upon the city. It also led to the killing of one of our ludus in a plan heavily weighted on the success of Ashur. He had to kill a brother. He came to speak to me that night. This was the night I had to forgive and forget any past misdeameanors. A night I will take to my grave.
"I had to kill him" he cried silently into my arms. My hands wiped the tears that fell to the floor. He spent a good few hours in my arms until such time came that I knew I had to leave. He slept alone and yet I felt as if I could reach into his very soul.
Crixus was chosen that day to face Gannicus. He did not win, as was expected and I had another angry, troubled man to deal with that night.
It was also a night of a new start. Oenomaus was made Doctore, a fact he himself did not appreciate as much as a champion.
It was a night of great importance in my life. The first night I spoke to Gannicus adding to the tally. He was worried. Asked to please the influential man of Rome. In any way possible. "Take a deep breath and think of a time in which you are free" those were my first spoken words to the gladiator, advice and that in which he held faith for the rest of his time here. Little did I know that he would end the night fucking Melitta, though through no choice of their own.
I had many angry and upset men. And a very angry and devastated young woman that fell to her bed and woke with terrors of the night almost every hour.
Unfortunately from that night onwards, Gannicus had lost the smirk and arrogance that gained him his position. Even more so when he learned it was for nothing. As we all were.
The night Crixus joined the ludus was truly the only night filled with a slight of happiness. His smile was infectious. This was one of the only truly happy moments I had in the house. A house filled with such sadness and unhappiness. I believe it was all sparked by Gaiu, the witch with a silver tongue, the afterlife treasured her. Though it was an unfortunate affair, the manner in which she was ripped from this world would serve it's purpose as eventually the house began to unravel.
Melitta saw herself into Gannicus' arms one too many a time and as she shared wine with him to say her goodbyes, he was to join another Ludus, she drank a fatal sip. The wine had been poisoned by Lucretia, intended only for her husband's father Titus, whom it also claimed victim, it aided Melitta to the afterlife. In the arms of Gannicus. I had once told her it would take her to the afterlife to be as one with that man. She did not heed my words.
It would spark a true motive for Gannicus to fight, he was never to discover that it was Lucretia who had poisoned the wine, instead focussing all his efforts on a roman man that he would aid all others in encompassing in the bowels of the new arena itself.
The opening games were truly a spectacle to behold. They were as bloodthirsty and callous as ever and I could not help but wish my men to victory. We would celebrate that night. A profound day for all in the house of Batiatus. And as for Gannicus? He earned his freedom and yet would find himself taking up arms again, for my story is not finished with this man.
It was the beginning of a new chapter for the house of Batiatus. Crixus was champion and Ashur, was injured, he grew to hate all that stood for what is right. He grew to hate humanity and in turn though my story with him also does not end, my love for him did.
There begins my story, the end of an era was the start of a new one. My year was yet to come. My brother was yet to arrive. And my evolution had just started it's motions.