Julius Caesar's personal diary, January 47 BC.
"A great menace is threatening the Republic, a menace which has destroyed many of my best legions in the northern provinces. The mysterious Frankensteins come from the North, from beyond the Rhine... They are completely barbarous and worship no god other than themselves. They have barely developed a primitive language which consists mostly of grunts; I question if it is more than a pseudo-language. In fact, I question their humanity. Their complexion is pale, even described by some survivors of their attacks as greenish, and they adorn strange metallic devices on their temple and neck. Since my legionaries are unable to stop them, it is I, Gaius Julius Caesar, who will stop this abomination to protect what remains of Civilisation. I..."
Caesar scratched out his last line: he was not quite certain if it was proper to refer to the Roman Republic as Civilisation. His diary was near sacred to him and he made a point to write in the most accurate manner. He stood up, opened the heavy, fortified door of his bedroom and screamed in the hallway.
─ Brutuuus!
His son, Brutus, was in the next room, practicing the bird's tail form, a very demanding fighting technique. He rushed to his father's door, panting.
─ Yes, Father?
─ Tell me: would you describe Rome as civilised?
─ I don't know, Father. I find most plebeians to be little more than animals, he responded with a contemptuous tone.
─ That's exactly what I was thinking... Hm... Anyway, I have orders for you. Tell your fiancée to pack clothes, rations and armours. We are travelling to the Gauls to investigate the Frankenstein menace.
─ Yes, Father.
Brutus' fiancée was of Han Chinese ethnicity; she was probably the only East Asian person in the entire Republic and her beauty was surely unsurpassed. Her skin was delicate like porcelain and her moves possessed a catlike grace. Julius Caesar had travelled to Parthia, in the Far East, twice. Once when he was a teenager and had learnt the art of T'ai chi ch'uan, which allowed him to rise in power as a general, for the Eastern art of fighting was much more evolved and powerful than Roman fighting techniques. And a second time because Master-Father Li Pu, his T'ai chi teacher, had made him promise that his firstborn would marry his daughter, Lien Hua, for he viewed Caesar as his son and wanted them to unite their bloodlines. That was not an uncommon practice because a Master-Father of tai chi often viewed his best disciple in such way. And few know that Brutus was actually of Caesar's blood, not an adopted heir as legends claim.
─ What is our battle plan, Father?
─ It's very simple. We are going to infiltrate their territory and assassinate their leader, and replace him with a decoy who works for us. "O divine art of secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands."
─ Sun Tzu, chapter 6, verse 9, Brutus answered promptly.
─ Good, good. You are a well applied student. You will make a great general, one day.
─ Thank you, Father, he said blushing.
The young man retired to his bedroom. His fiancée was resting on a triclinium, eating grapes and drinking expensive Alexandrian white wine. He bowed respectfully to her but she only threw him a black look back. He cleared his throat apprehensively.
─ Sweet flower of lotus, we are leaving.
─ LEAVING?!
In the blink of an eye, she stood on her heels, jumped on him, made him fall on the marble floor with a tai chi thrust, and slid the dagger that she was hiding in her sleeve under his throat.
─ Tell me one good reason not to kill you, she said furiously.
─ I... I'm sorry.
─ I don't care for sorry! she screamed.
─ I... We will get married soon, when the planets are aligned, for a most prosperous union... I have already explained that to you, dear.
She sighed and released her grasp.
─ I'm sorry, Love. I get insecure, sometimes. Where are we going?
Whilst still sitting on top of him, she kissed him forcefully. He grimaced. Brutus did not want to get married and have children: that would make him vulnerable. Taoist philosophy views sexuality as a waste of vital energy. Moreover, his hero, Sun Tzu, hated women and had not married, and it had made him strong. Hell, Sun Tzu had actually been slaying women. But his father had made a promise. Perhaps the only way out of this promise, he thought, is to murder both of them. But he quickly felt shame for this thought, for although they were annoying sometimes, he cared deeply for both of them.
###
Lugdunum, Belgic Gaul.
The moon was reflecting on the sticky, pale green skin of the beast. It was moving swiftly, jumping from shadow to shadow, circling the Roman fortress. It was an adult Frankenstein of 250 lbs at least. His vision was blurry, filled with rage and blood. In the distance, a wolf howled, but it did not distract the Frankenstein because he cared little for animals. All the focus of his hatred was on humans because they feared his kin, and Frankensteins couldn't tolerate the feeling of being feared and shunned. They hated to be viewed as monsters and, ironically, it pushed them to behave exactly like monsters.
Legionary Tertius, who was on watch duty, spotted the creature that was lurking in the shadows. I hope it's not a Frankenstein. He knew that if it was one, there would be a grisly massacre soon, and few if any human survivors. He reported the sighting to his supervisor.
─ Decanus, I think I might have seen something.
─ Something, eh? What's something, soldier?
─ I... I don't know, Decanus, he responded hesitantly.
─ Well, then. You're going outside to check it out, and you are not to come back until you can employ a more precise language and describe what you have actually seen.
─ Yes... Decanus... Sir.
The wide wooden gates opened for him. Tertius grabbed a torch in one hand and held a gladius in the other. Although he practiced every day, he was not very confident in his fighting prowess: he had never fought in a real combat situation. He penetrated the forest, his eyes nervously darting left and right. The silence was absolute and all he could hear was his clumsy footsteps and his heavy breathing. He glanced behind him, at the gates of the fort. Above it, two bored soldiers were watching for signs of intruders. My life is not worth 225 denarii a year, he thought. Perhaps I should just desert.
But he did not have time for more treacherous thoughts. In front of him was the Frankenstein, who had jumped down from a tree branch above him. The Frankenstein was an apex predator and had spotted his prey as soon as it had left the fortress. In fact, he had smelled its pheromones. Before the Roman could even do anything, the predator grabbed his blade with his bare hand, not caring for the deep cut it made in the flesh of his palm. He did not even feel pain, because the nerves of his dead flesh did not work properly; Frankensteins were made of mismatched body parts and their nervous system was not very effective. Tertius screamed as the monster turned the short sword around and dipped its tip violently inside his bowels. The sound of a bell shortly echoed in the distance: the Roman alarm. They had heard him.
─ Fuck you, he said labouriously. My friends will get you.
The Frankenstein was angry because he had planned to sneak on them and slaughter them in their sleep. He was so angry that he grabbed Tertius' frail head and bashed it on the floor repeatedly, and continued long after his victim had passed. The Frankenstein then pulled half of the skin from the soldier's face, with a bit of flesh hanging from it, and pressed it over his own face like a mask, which made a disgusting, wet noise.
─ I... Human... he said with an idiotic, guttural voice.
Behind him, in the darkness, another grotesque silhouette repeated:
─ You... Human...
###
"Love blossoms like a rose in Spring,
From this chord, I sing,
All the good in the world."
Lien Hua was singing and plucking lightly the strings of her pipa instrument. Her voice was soft and it was entertaining the men, Brutus and Caesar, on their travel to the Gauls. They were sitting in the front of the carriage and discussing Gaulish customs. All of them were disguised in the simple attires of traders so as not to catch unwanted attention. The Gaulish provinces had only been conquered recently and the locals were not too happy about it; it could have been unsafe to display their rank.
─ She's a good woman. You know that, son. She has good genes. A woman who sings like that is a woman who has a pure heart.
─ Yes, Father.
─ If I had not promised Master Li Pu to give her to you, I'd have taken her for myself, you know.
Lien Hua played a dissonant chord and stopped singing. She was aggravated.
─ You know, I can hear you. I'd never marry anyone other than Brutus, for I can love only him ever since I laid my eyes upon his handsome face.
─ Sorry, Lien Hua. My father was just joking, Brutus responded awkwardly.
─ I was not, Caesar countered. And her name is Claudia, not Lien Hua.
Caesar viewed himself as almost divine. He was used to take everything for granted and had little respect for social etiquette. He had decided that Lien Hua needed a Roman name, and he had chosen Claudia for her. She, however, hated that name, and thought it was an insult to her heritage. This is going to be a long travel, Brutus thought.
They stopped the carriage for a bathroom break. The men jumped from their seat and walked to the underwood. Little did they know that a spy from the Senate was hidden in the trunk, with their clothes. The Senate wanted to assassinate Caesar because his rise in power was threatening them. With the two men gone, the spy leapt out and grabbed Lien Hua from behind, with one arm around her slender waist and another around her neck. He whistled to catch the attention of her companions.
─ Caesar! If you don't surrender, I will slice your girlfriend's throat.
There were noises in the bushes, but the assassin could not see either of the men.
─ Caesar! Don't play games with me, he voiced uncertainly.
No answer.
─ Caesar? You mudraker!
As an answer, a bolt flew through his carotid artery, at the base of his neck. The spy tried to speak but could only making disgraceful gurgling noises, before he fell on the ground. Caesar was never going anywhere without his handheld arcuballista: he was not an easy man to blackmail or assassinate.
─ Are you OK, Claudia?
─ What was that? You could have killed me!
The dictator raised his shoulders. His pale grey eyes were shining mischievously.
─ I never miss. It is, after all, your father who has trained me. I don't aim with my physical eyes, but with my qi inside. And it is not I, but my qi which carries the bolt to the target's vital parts. I had absolutely no idea where the bolt was going to land.
─ Is that supposed to reassure me?
He pulled the bolt from the corpse's throat and wiped it off his shirt. Lien Hua rolled her eyes in disgust; she found the crude manners of the Romans quite unsavory. A Chinese zhan shi would have cleansed his ammunition in spring water.