Roman Darkness

Where to start. . . There are so many things you need to be brought up to speed on. People have died, monsters have been slain, and, the ones you know as the Romans are going extinct.

So, what do you want to hear first? The Roman downfall? Or the very beginning of creation? Well, you all have theories about how the universe was made, but, whatever you are thinking, it's the wrong idea. See, the universe wasn't supposed to be created, it was a mistake by Vulcan, god of fire and blacksmithing, and Jupiter, god of the sky, god over all gods. As you know, these gods known as the Olympians were at war with the Titans, a ruthless higher being that loved to kill and maim. The Olympians, or the children of these higher beings, were forced to act.

So, after two millennia, the gods realized they were losing. Hundreds of minor gods have been killed. There were only twenty gods left. The Titans could smell victory, they could taste the blood of the gods. The gods, needed a fallback plan.

With haste, Jupiter and Vulcan put a hundred and fifty years into their creation. The gods would not win this war, not without help. They needed something, someone, to thwart the Titans. The mankind was created. They were built to fight, to conquer. The gods relied heavily on mankind were unable to make this new being though. Until, the god Venus became involved. Vulcan and Jupiter were focused on courage, muscle if you will, that they forgot about the strongest force: love.

With the help from Venus, the hoped to make a beast, a beast to end the titans. Maybe there was too much life in the creation, maybe too much love. But for whatever reason, the gods mistakenly made a man. Outraged, Jupiter wanted to slay the new creation, but Mars took pity on it. He convinced Jupiter to let him help.

Mars gave man something that was missing, rage. It was perfect, man could now fight back. After they had been fighting a long time, and man was tired of it. They wanted to relax, to be fruitful in fact.

With the Titans destroyed, their remains cast off to Tartarus, a void in the depths of the universe, the gods also sought out love and peace. At least for a while. Soon though, the gods grew tired with each other. War was soon upon them, so, the gods called upon man once more, to chose their allies in the war. My job, is to write this, to lure you readers to pick a side. Some are going to die in the chapters ahead, prepare yourself for the Darkness of Rome.

Dreams. Dreams are the source of feeling, the source of humanity. Gods don't dream, they are immortal, but humans, humans dream. Does this make them mortal? No. But, dreams are only for man. Some dreams are really nice, others, not so much. My dream, is under the not so much category. I was in a dark room, walls, made of clay, on all sides but one. A torch hangs on the wall creating a small glimpse of the tunnel ahead. In my dream, i pick up the torch and do the natural thing, I walk down the tunnel. The air is musty and damp. The walls in the tunnel have sketches in them, shapes I can't recognise, tormenting my curiosity. I keep walking. The tunnel doesn't end, It is like I'm traveling in a straight line, there were no curves, no turns and I see the same markings over and over again. What does this mean? I ask myself.

Looking ahead, I can see that the walls are getting narrower. Still, I keep walking. I walk until the walls are so narrow, that a chipmunk couldn't fit through them. Now what? I ask myself.

I am about to turn around, but suddenly, I hear a rumble. I look up and see dirt falling from the roof.

Uh-Oh. I drop my torch, and sprint towards the way I came. The rumbling gets louder, the entire tunnel starts to shake. My lungs start to hurt, I can feel the oxygen getting thinner, like I was climbing Mount Everest. Still I don't stop. I can see the exit only twenty yards away. My adrenaline goes nuts, reaching maximum capacity in seconds. But, through all my efforts, all my running, The roof collapses, burying me in hundreds of feet of earth.

I am suffocating now, dirt is in my mouth and my nose. I try to gasp for air, but the dirt is to heavy on my mouth for it to open. I am going to die. I am going to suffocate, then I am going to die. "General." A voice is in my head. "General, you awake?"

I open my eyes, it was just a dream. I look up and see Drew, my second in command looking down at me, his purple toga glinting in the candlelight. "Drew," I say, "What's wrong? We under attack?"

Drew's eyes harden, "No General, but the scouts report an army of Strilivan coming this way." His words are quiet in fear, "They say there's at least thirty thousand troops, sir."

I think about this for a moment, "Well, tell the men to suit up, I want the archers on the hill and the cavalry behind them. Split the infantry into two groups, put one of them in the front of camp, and the other hidden in the tents towards the back."

Drew looks shocked, "You want to fight them?" His eyes were wide with fear.

I laugh at his cowardice, "But of course, we are Romans, are we not?"

"Yes but-"

"It is our job to stand up to our enemies," I interrupt, "to the death, remember?"

Drew takes a breath, his voice soft, "Yes General. My apologies." He looks at the ground.

"Now go," I tell him, "Relay the orders just how I told you." Drew raises his hand to his chest, in a fist, as a salute and walks out of the tent.

The tent. I've spent the last three years in this tent, being a General for the Roman army. It was a good six feet long and five feet wide. There was a bed at the back, with a nightstand to the left, closest to the tent doorway. In front of the door, is a table, consisting of a map and some pens. It was used to see where our troops are, as well as where the Strilivan army is, as far as we know at least.

Anyway, I got out of bed and god dressed in my usual battle gear, chest plated armor, a golden sword made of enchanted metal, strapped to my left hip, and a assault rifle slung over my back, underneath a twenty pound circular shield made of the same metal as the sword.

I tied my boots and walked outside. The sun was the first thing to hit my eyes. It was bright, as bright at, well, the sun. I had to squint for a while until my eyes got used the the knew lighting.

Now let me tell you about the camp, it had about a hundred tents in it, each with roughly twelve men. They were close knit together, and each were the same height of seven feet. The tents were perched on top of a grassy valley, below them, was a spring that smelled like sulfur which quickly grew into a roaring river.

On the other side of the valley, I could see a thin stream of smoke and I knew the Strilivan army had arrived. "Drew!" I called into the army behind me.

I hear the shuffling of feet as my second in command walked forward. "Yes, General?"

I look at him, "Are the men in their positions?"

"Yes, General."

A smile plants on my face, "Good." as I look at the hill that is behind me, I can see my archers ready. I look at the men in front of the tents Their eyes were wild, they knew what was coming. "Relax men," I order. "For the Strilivan army to reach us, the need to cross the valley." I point to the valley below. "That is the dead man zone," I show pride on my face. "indeed, it's where they will die!"

A cheer rises from the crowd of my army. We knew what to do in the battle ahead, this war has been going on for almost five years, and we've trained together for the whole thing. We knew the right tactics, the right maneuvers. "Well then," I spoke," Who wants to grab the medallion?"

Silence came upon the group. Everyone wanted to grab it, but they all knew it wasn't their place. Heck, it wasn't evenn my place, this item was more powerful than me or my army.

What is the medalion? It is our legions symbol, every legion has one whether it be a staff, a shield, or a medalion. I looked at Drew, "Send a messenger to the Strilivan army, I'll be right back."

"Yes sir." Drew walked into the crowd to find a messenger as I walked back into camp. The grass was still wet from last night cold. I passed rows of tents, heading for an altar that was towards the back. ten men stood guard, protecting what lies on the pedestal.

"Ho, General." One of the men said, putting his hand out. "State your business." His face was covered by a purple plumed helmet, but I recognised his voice.

"Well done, Marcus." I smiled, these guys like to pretend they had control, but it is amusing sometimes. "I'm here to bring the medallion to battle. You guys are also needed in the front lines."

The two men in the front parted, "Yes sir."

I walked up to the pedestal, it was made of a stone that is very rare, obsidian. The medalion was made of bronze and gold, but it was blest by Vulcan and mars. We take it with us to every battle, and, even though it was made of metal, it was as light as a a coin of regular size. The first time i saw it, my heart leapt. When I was about four years old, I had a dream about me trying to find a medalion, it was lost somewhere in Egypt, and in my dream, I had to find it. So far though, it's been just a dream. I kneeled before the medalion, getting my knees wet on the grass, and prayed. This was custom, to give thanks to the gods, and pray they will be with us.

That is, the gods on our side. You should know, war has begun. Mars, Venus and Apollo are fighting against Jupiter, Pluto and Minerva. A few gods, Neptune, Diana, Juno and Bacchus aren't fond of war and are staying to the side.

And who am I teaming with? This is an interesting question, my army belongs to Mars, so I'm fighting with them, but my heart, my mind lies with Jupiter. He has more power and, I like the old ways.

I didn't think Mars and his allies stood a chance, but who knows? Anyway, after I finished my prayer, I slowly got up and reached for the medalion. "Be with us," I whispered to it as if it were a god's ear. I turned to the men behind me, "Let's go," I ordered, putting the medalion in my pocket. "We have a battle to win."

On our way back, I thought about the chances of our survival, my scouts said the enemy has outnumbered us three to one. Should I order a retreat? It is not the Roman way. Then again, it isn't the Roman way to fight each other to the death. These thoughts troubled me as I walked to my army.

"Drew," I called. He came towards me. "Should we retreat?" I asked him in a low whisper so no one else would hear.

Drew thought deeply for a moment, struggling to find the right words, he said, "With all due respect sir," He licked his lips, "Our army is well trained, but we are horribly outnumbered. Retreat is our best option." His eyes were stained with fear.

I took his advice into consideration, but before I could decide, someone shouted "Look out!" I looked around, thinking the enemy was upon us. They were. We were surrounded. How? There's no way they just crept up on us.

Slowly, I drew my sword, my men did the same. I was about to sound an attack, but a thousand arrows darkened the sky, impaling the enemy around us. I looked up, and saw a golden chariot, pulled by golden horses, it was as bright as the sun, and I could feel its heat touching my skin. "Apolo." I stammered.

I could see the human figure standing comfortably in the passenger side of the chariot. Another god was driving. Mars, god of war, had a spear in one hand and the horse reins in the other.

My army let out a booming applause, then we remembered the enemy was still alive. I ran straight into the enemy crowd, my army right behind me. It only took three seconds to clash into the enemy army, their shields flew out of their hands on impact. I slashed the first man's arm off and plunged my sword in his chest. Using my boot, I kicked him off my sword and sliced another warrior in the chest.

His body fell and Drew ran forward from behind me and took out a spearmen in three swift moves. He turned to me and grinned. Then, I gave the signal to the cavalry, making my sword glint in the sunlight. I looked behind me and saw Apolo leading my arches and Mars Walking into the fray, slashing enemies left and right.

I turned my attention back to the army in front of me. Giving a battle cry, I kicked a helmet off a man and sliced his throat. A few men were lit on fire, and Mars was at my side. He had an arrow in his shoulder, I pointed it out to him.

"Ha," he sneered, "doesn't affect me." He walked off, not waiting for a response. More arrows flew into the enemy. And, after another ten minutes of fighting, the enemy ordered a retreat.

I ran up to Mars, "Should we pursue?" I asked, kneeling before him.

Mars looked down at me, "But of course." He gripped his spear and threw it into the retreating enemy. The spear split into fifty smaller spears, and exploded on impact.

Only thirty enemy remained of the thirty thousand. "That was fun." Mars had a smile on his face. "Come," He lead me to the hilltop, where Apolo was waiting. The grass was lit on fire where the sun god stepped.

"Apollo!" Mars clapped his hand on Apolos back, "Mighty fine shooting."

Apollo nodded his thanks. "And, who is this?" he asked looking at me.

I kneeled, "Lord Apollo," I spoke proudly, "My name is Tormen, son of Pluto."