Chapter 10

Koga: The Town of Li-Jien

Seneca Gracchus, Parthian Prisoner Camp, Talas Oasis, 53 B.C., 23:00 local time

Seneca Gracchus awoke to muted sounds of fighting. His head was pounding and his burned back hurt more than ever, but it seemed to him that the fighting was further away and smaller in nature. Perhaps the Parthians were fighting amongst themselves, he reasoned.

That was when all hell broke loose. Out of nowhere, explosions thundered across the camp. Gracchus had never heard a sound like that before. Neither had the Parthians, apparently. Panicked cries and yells to stay calm struggled with the explosions for dominance. Spahbod Surena spared a glance at him as he left the tent, but no more than that. He had a counterattack to orchestrate.

The explosions did not die out for some time. Gracchus was wondering what was happening when the golden man stole into the tent.

Gracchus did not understand how this man made his way to the tent undetected. This newcomer radiated golden light from every pore of his tall, well-built frame, as if the sun had decided to be rude to the moon and light up the night sky with pretty colors. He shined so brightly that it was impossible to tell what kind of clothes he was wearing. The only part of his body you could look at without consequence was his eyes. They too were bright golden, but didn't emit light like the rest of his body. Pupils were visible, only they were just a lighter shade of gold. All in all, Gracchus found it unthinkable that this man strolled across the Parthian camp without anyone noticing.

The man with the golden eyes walked casually across the tent and observed the cage that Gracchus was contained in. He circled it once, and picked one wall to focus on in particular. He began to undo the knots that held the roman spears, the bars of his cage, in place. The golden man's hands were quick and skilled, and the top two lashings were untidy coils of rope on the ground in the blink of an eye. Gracchus watched dutifully and was astounded that he thought the knots were confusing. They looked so easy to untie, as if the man with the golden eyes knew exactly what to do and had spent all his life practicing to untie these particular lashings.

In short order, the work was finished and one wall of Gracchus's cage fell neatly to the floor. Gracchus stepped out gingerly, still in pain from the burns on his back. The man with the golden eyes was also prepared for this and placed his hands on Gracchus's shoulders. Abruptly, the pain ceased.

"I apologize," the man said, his voice reverberating in Gracchus's ears, "I cannot heal your wound, I have only taken away the pain. In time, it will heal improperly, and you will find it harder to move your upper body."

Gracchus finally found his voice. "Who…who are you?" he asked incredulously.

The man with the golden eyes ran his hand through his shoulder-length hair. "Well, I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you. I have had many names over the years. For now, Savior will suffice."

Gracchus seemed to accept this. "All right…Savior, what do we do next?" he asked.

Savior looked back, smiling serenely. "We leave, of course." He said as if there was nothing simpler in the world.

"No offense, but you don't exactly seem like the discreet type."

Savior laughed. The sound was clean and pure. Gracchus felt safe, protected. "Perhaps," Savior relented "Perhaps. Nevertheless, we won't be seen." He said it with such confidence that Gracchus felt he had no choice but to agree.

They walked out of the tent, Savior smiling serenely, Gracchus slightly more apprehensive. Savior's prediction turned out to be true. Outside, the explosions were deafening. Some of the tents caught fire. Parthians ran to and fro, but none seemed to notice the duo, even though they swerved out of the way if they were about to collide. Looking around Gracchus saw other pairs just like them stealing away from the camp. The prisoners were all captured Romans, still in uniform, so they were easily recognizable. Their guardians were nowhere near as flashy as Savior. They wore hide armor, painted black to better conceal them in the night. Unadorned black masks covered their faces. With a jolt, Gracchus realized that it wasn't just him, but dozens of prisoners were being freed while the Parthians were distracted by the explosions and fire.

The procession of freed Romans gathered in a clearing about a mile outside the camp. Gracchus was among the first to stop and waited for about 20 minutes. Finally, the steady stream of prisoners began to dwindle. Gracchus assumed there were about 100 pairs, 100 prisoners that had escaped.

Savior was standing on a rocky ridge about 5 feet off the ground, overlooking his plans come to fruition. "Is everybody here?" he asked in Roman, with the subtext that he knew perfectly well that everyone was here.

The Romans were still too stunned to make a sound, but Saviors followers saluted.

Savior smiled. "Excellent!" he exclaimed, and clapped his hands. The following sound was too loud and too sustained to be a clap. Gracchus put his hands to his ears, closed his eyes, and supposed that every Roman soldier was probably doing the same.

The sound stopped without warning. Gracchus slowly opened his eyes. They were someplace else. They were in a forest before. Now, they were on rocky, mountainous terrain, next to a pool of running water. Gracchus slowly took in his surroundings. On one side, there was desert as far as the eye could see. The other side looked much more inviting, the beginnings of a village just visible in the distance.

Savior seemed to notice Gracchus's scrutiny of the village. "Yes, that is where we are going."

"What is the name of that settlement?" Gracchus asked without taking his eyes off the village.

"Currently, it has no name. It is very small, and only just beginning. In fact, your ragtag group of legionaries outnumbers them. Now, you are the highest ranking officer in the group. What happens next is entirely up to you." Savior explained calmly.

Gracchus considered his options. It did not take long. "No more violence." He said after a short pause. "We go down there, and meet them peacefully."

Savior grinned. "I had hoped you would say that." He said triumphantly.

As it turned out, Gracchus and his Romans could not have come at a better time. Bandit attacks and famine had driven most people away, in search of safety and prosperity. The Romans were a godsend to the village. They had the manpower to till the fields during the day and keep vigilant watch during the night. There was some suspicion from the villager, but the Romans finally proved their worth when they helped defend a man named Zhizhi from Han forces about 20 years later. The villagers and the soldiers learned much from each other, and eventually the town was named Li-Jien or Liqian in the Chinese tongue, in honor of the mercenaries who had saved their lives. Seneca Gracchus settled down comfortably with a wife, fought with his sons to defend Zhizhi, and eventually became a great-grandfather to 15 children. To his dying day, he never forgot about the man with the golden eyes who had made all of this possible.

60 years later, Jie Zhang, Liqian, China, 0 B.C.

Other descendants of Seneca Gracchus were proud to honor his name, usually by adding Gracchus after their family name. It was a little difficult for the Chinese to say, but it was a fitting symbol of gratitude to the savior of their village.

Jie Zhang, however, stubbornly resisted. Even though his father had the name Gracchus, and his 3 brothers were overjoyed to bear the name. Jie clung to his mother's family name like a lifeline. He had heard the stories of his great-grandfathers pilgrimage to China, but interpreted it slightly differently.
"My great-grandfather was a weakling and a coward." He would say when asked about it. "If it weren't for the golden man, he would have met his end as a craven and a freak. I don't see why you think he's so great."

No matter how hard the other villager tried to convince him of his ancestor's bravery and heroism, Jie would shrug it off and find some corner to skulk in. His scorn of his grandfather put him at odds with the rest of the village, and he typically left, preferring the scenery of the bamboo forests to the east. He would be gone for days at a time. Both of his parents had fallen early to disease, so no one really complained. Jie would usually return with his own food and some small amount of money that he seemingly conjured form nowhere. In truth, Jie was a skilled hunter and sold pelts from his prey at other villages, cooking and eating what he could not sell, but the townsfolk of Li-Jien thought he had joined some bandit group or other, and gently but firmly tried to steer him on what they called the path of righteousness.

Like all of his other brothers, Jie was aware of his great-grandfathers strange powers, he had even used them once or twice. But along with his kin, he abandoned it to live a life of normalcy, or what passed for normalcy at a glance.

Jie had never learned to embrace his power until the other stranger came along. It was an overcast day in the fall, as Jie approached the faraway village. Jie didn't come here often, so he didn't remember the village's name, but he brought a peace offering in the carcass of a pheasant.

The townsfolk received him well enough, and after some fierce haggling with a sly-looking merchant, he was paid generously for his bounty. Jie quite enjoyed winning the argument, but for some reason, the merchant smiled as Jie walked away with the money. With nothing else to do, he explored the village. He explored for a while, until the sun was setting and he came across the studying boy.

The boy looked slightly younger than Jie, perhaps twelve or thirteen. He clearly had an exceptionally strong build, lean muscles easily visible through his robe, yet he was studying, poring over a scroll with a frustrated expression on his face, slowly mouthing the words that he read. The overall impression that Jie had was that this young man had a great future ahead of him. For reasons he could not place, he silently encouraged the boy to keep at it.

However, finally fed up, the boy flung the scroll to one side. Jie was horrified that the boy had such gifts and chose to give up on them.

A voice butted in on his thoughts. "Yes, it's quite frustrating to see someone squander their gifts, isn't it?"

Jie whirled around. It was the merchant from before, the one that was happy to lose his money, as if meeting Jie was worth it. Jie pondered for a moment about what to say. "Yes. That boy could be so much more, but is throwing it away." he responded evenly.

"So what about you?" the merchant asked. Jie stared, understanding eluding him for the time being.

"Let me clarify" the merchant went on. "I know all about you. You and your powers, handed down to you by Seneca Gracchus."

It dawned on Jie that the merchant didn't have the pheasant with him. Of course, it wasn't about the pheasant; it was never about the pheasant. It was about him. Jie was a little intimidated at how much a total stranger knew about his roots.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" he asked, panicked.

"Calm down; I'm not here to hurt you," came a measured reply.

"My name is Logos."

Told you it'd be shorter this time! As always, feedback is appreciated. I've got a couple of papers to work on, but I expect that the time between chapters will be about this length.

Quick question: What do you think about me starting another project? I've got ideas about stuff on One Piece or maybe League of Legends and I want to publish them before someone else comes up with something similar. I'm really leaning towards One Piece. Great series that deserves some Sagelabo creativity! But I want to hear your two cents first, so feel free to offer your thoughts in a comment or PM.

Until Next Time, Farewell,

Sagelabo