Chapter 11: The Sword of Attila

Once they got back to the city, they turned back to normal.

"What are we going to do?" Argentum asked.

"I don't know. There's got to be a way to stop them from corrupting us. Anyway, he think he know where to find The Sword of Attila. Celeritas can explain it better then I can. Come on, he's over by Mars' shrine. Praying actually helps a lot" Caudus said, smiling. Articulos looked at him like he still had nine heads.

"I never thought I'd see him be cheery about praying. It's like he's been brainwashed," he whispered to Flamma, who smack him over the back of the head.

"Caudus...why have you gotten religious all of a sudden?"

Caudus looked at them, and then he thought about it. "I...actually don't know," he said, a puzzled look coming across his face. "I don't know if it's the fact that I don't remember how to use a screwdriver and that I need something to replace machinery, if it's that I'm really stressed out and praying helps calm me down, or that it's because we're now part of this timeline and that it seems to be something important to do. But it just...feels so right ya know?" he asked them, almost as if he was pleading for them to help him understand.

The others thought about it and nodded.

"Now that you mention it...religion does seem important," Articulos said.

"See. Anyway, Celeritas is this way," Caudus said, leading them to the shrines.

They nodded and followed Caudus. Once they got to the shrine, Celeritas saw them.

"Hey! Looks like Caudus found you...where's Argentum?" he asked, looking for the white hedgehog.

"He was corrupted."

Celeritas sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, Caudus said you had a lead on The Sword of Attila. What is this lead?" Flamma asked.

"The Sword of Attila is not far from here. It's located in a cave in the mountains."

"Well we could fly there, but I'm afraid Mars and the others might be waiting there with another Chaos Emerald. So we need to plan out how to get there without drawing attention."

The priest nodded. "We could ride in a chariot."

"Can a chariot climbs those hills?" Caudus asked.

"It can."

"Alright. Do you know a guy?"

Celeritas nodded. He walked out of Caudus' house and the others followed him. Soon they came to a stable with chariots drawn by horses. "Emi currus amo (We'd like to buy a chariot)," he told the owner.

"Very well. Why do you need one, if you don't mind me asking?" the chariot owner asked, raising an eyebrow at the priest.

"We're going on a trip to the mountains. People mostly walk in Rome but we thought it would be easier to use the chariot. "

The owner looked at him suspiciously. "You wouldn't be doing anything on The Seven Hills of Rome would you? You know people are banned from going up there?"

"Only priests like me are allowed to be there," Celeritas said. "But we're not going to the Seven Hills of Rome."

"Very well," the owner said, leading them to one of his best chariots.

They nodded and got inside, then rode off.

"What year is it, anyway?" Flamma asked.

Celeritas looked at her confused. "What is a year?" he asked.

"It's...a unit of time that is divided into twelve months...January, February, March, April, May...etc. I believe the year is 753 BC," Caudus told him. "Isn't the king that's ruling Rome now Romulus?"

"Yes, it is! Incredible!" Celeritas said, looking at Caudus in awe.

"What are you so excited about?"

"Well I've never met people like you guys, so it's interesting what you guys come up with. I mean between that and the thing that made you all into magnificent creatures, I really like all of you. And you say I'm your friend in this future you say you're from?" Caudus nodded, and Celeritas smiled again. They continued on the road that led to the mountain. It look a few hours but they finally got there. The priest jumped off. "The cave should be around here somewhere."

"There! I see it!" Articulos yelled, pointing at a massive hole in the distance.

"Good eye," Celeritas said. He led the way, followed by the others. They went inside the cave; it was long and dark. "We must proceed with caution," the priest told them. "There are traps everywhere that guard the sword." As if on cue, Caudus stepped onto a tile, and it sunk into the ground. Celeritas grabbed him, and pulled him down as a jet of fire blazed over their heads. "Inclinate aurem vestram (Pay attention!)"

"Lorem ipsum! (Sorry!)" Caudus said, feeling embarrassed.

Celeritas sighed, shaking his head in exasperation, and moved on. The others followed him cautiously.

"Why is this cave so big?" Flamma asked, after they had walked for fifteen minutes.

The priest shrugged. Eventually they came to the end. A large shrine to Mars could be seen. "The Sword of Attila is inside," Celeritas said. "It is really Mars' sword."

"Interesting. Let's hope Mars doesn't arrive to claim it," Articulos said, walking up to it. "Do we need to break it or something?"

"No, don't!" Celeritas said. "Just take it with you!"

"Yeah man, you don't go and break a god's shrine!" Caudus added. Articulos rolled his eyes at Flamma, and picked up the shrine with one hand. He opened it and saw the sword. It was magnificent. He chuckled and took it but as he did, a deep red aura could be seen around it and entered Articulos.

"Oh gods, not this again!" Flamma exclaimed.

Suddenly, laughter could be heard and Mars appeared. "This is almost to easy! You are all so foolish!" he laughed, as Umbra and Argentum appeared next to him. They were in their regular forms, but they were surrounded in a black aura and they had blank eyes.

"What do you mean?" Celeritas asked.

Mars laughed, looking at Articulos. The echidna was changing. A few minutes later, a wolf/dragon hybrid stood in his place, surrounded by the same black aura. He looked a lot like a wolf except he had scales instead of fur, horns grew out of his head, and he breathed fire.

"That is an abomination!" Flamma yelled at Mars, forming fire in her hands, which startled Celeritas.

The wolf/dragon hybrid snarled. It lunged at Flamma as the black dragon god watched in amusement. Flamma transformed into her griffin form and flew up to avoid the hybrid. Caudus turned into his hydra form to combat Umbra and Argentum, who had jumped into the fray.

"Mars!" Celeritas asked. "What have you done with the sword?"

The dragon god looked at him with a hint of recognition in his eyes. "Enyalius..."

"What did you say?" Celeritas growled. "You need to stop hurting my friends!" he yelled, and a wave of energy blasted out of the priest. All of Mars' servants were thrown backwards by the blast.

Mars was shocked, as were the mythical creatures and the servants. The dragon god smirked, and then laughed loudly, still looking at Celeritas. "Oh, there is so much that you don't know! I can't believe you have forgotten!" he laughed, causing everyone to stare at him in confusion.