It was in the late evening when the two returned back to the barracks. Although the torches were still glowing, no one challenged them at the gate of the stockade but since they felt that the hour was late, they figured everyone was asleep. Although Decian was the shorter of the two, he was a veteran legionnaire compared to Gallio. When the young man was first posted in the province of Judea, it was Decian who taught him the ropes and the two became inseparable friends.
"Pity we only got nine pieces of silver for those garments." Gallio said as the pair continued to walk to their barracks. The night was warm but a resinous scent of pines was apparent. Spring had come.
"You take what you can get, boy." Decian replied. "We always divide garments by lot. We got our share fairly."
"Yes, we did. There is one thing that bothers me, though."
"What?"
"Why do we have to break their legs with a sledgehammer? They are already crucified, why don't we just let them die?" The younger man asked.
"Listen, boy," Decian said, "it sometimes takes days for the condemned to die on those crosses when we nail them to it you know. When you are in that position, with your wrists impaled on the sides of the cross while both your ankles get twisted to one side and a nail is driven through, it doesn't necessarily mean you will die immediately. In that position, you can still breathe in but breathing out is another matter- one must continually raise himself up to expel his breath or die from lack of air."
"Surely no one could continually raise his body up and down for days could it?" Gallio asked.
"You are but a novice, boy. You have not seen as many executions as compared to me. I once saw a man who kept at it for three days before we became merciful and lanced him to put him out of his misery. People do anything to stay alive." Decian explained. "When we use the sledgehammers, we are merely accelerating one's demise for when you break their legs, they will no longer have the strength to lift themselves up and breathe."
"I see." Gallio said as he opened the door to the main hallway. "I'll think about that tomorrow."
As both legionnaires ventured into the main hallway, they were greeted with a most unholy sight. Gallio retched and nearly vomited as he swayed in near delirium while Decian steadied himself and began to examine the great room, his experience coming into play.
Where the hall once meant to be a place of gatherings among the soldiers of Rome, it now resembled a charnel house of torture and pain. All along the stone walls hung flayed corpses of men who once belonged to the most prestigious legion in the Roman military. Their bodies were cut open like slaughtered cattle and their skins carefully peeled back so that the innards could be taken out quickly. The floor was awash with blood, intestinal fluids and excrement. Great braziers of fire burned fiercely, illuminating the great hall and giving it an eerie effect of being in a crimson hell. A large bonfire crackled in the massive fireplace where meat once roasted for the celebrations to the gods of victory.
As Gallio looked at the massive fireplace, he noticed something roasting on a spit. As the young soldier looked closer, he noticed that little babies had been impaled on the metal rods as their skins sizzled and crackled in the fire. The smell of charred meat that belonged to no animal filled their nostrils and made them want to vomit.
Decian kept looking around, hoping to find a logical explanation to this grisly affair but he could not. The grizzled veteran of many campaigns was about to get out of the room in order to alert the other garrison situated near the governor's palace but the great iron doors suddenly closed shut as if guided by some unseen force. Decian still had his gladius as he drew it when the younger man tugged at his arm and pointed towards a tall wooden chair situated near the fireplace.
They did not notice his presence at first but now that their eyes were trained on him, the figure in the chair stood up and walked towards them. The man was tall and well built, having been himself the veteran of many campaigns and had even risen to the rank of Centurion. He was respected by all, having earned everyone's trust. They could see that his toga was wet with blood.
"Longinus," Decian gasped for breath as he spoke to the man standing in front of them, "what happened here?"
Longinus' eyes were downcast. "He came." He said softly.
"Who came?" Gallio asked incredulously.
"Do you remember three days ago?" Longinus' eyes were gray, it seemed that from his deathly pallor even his very skin had turned gray. "A man that we crucified?"
"We crucified three men that day." Decian said. "Two thieves and a man claiming to be king over all men."
Longinus stretched out his arms. They were covered in blood. "He did not die as quickly so I thrust a spear through his heart."
"The man they called Jesus." Gallio gasped.
"Yes, the man called Jesus." Longinus stated. "He came to me tonight."
"Impossible!" Decian exclaimed. "He is dead! You have gone mad!"
"Mad?" Longinus said as he strode over and walked beside a long wooden table. The table had wooden bowls and plates, all contained bloody entrails such as liver, eyes, intestines, kidneys and hearts. The buzzing of thousands of flies was nearly deafening as the little parasites gorged themselves. "Perhaps."
"Did you kill all these people?" Decian asked softly as he made his way towards a chair. He had noticed a pilum, the standard legionnaire's javelin, on the bloody floor beside it.
"He came to me." Longinus repeated. "He came to me tonight and said that because of my cruelty, I have been eternally damned and will walk the earth until the day of judgment." He pointed to a dead child, roasting on a metal spit. "That was my son, I had to kill him. He was my little angel and now he is being cooked like a wild boar."
"No, you must have been dreaming," Gallio pleaded, "this is all just a bad dream."
"No dream, Gallio," Longinus said as his gray eyes stared at the younger man, "this is my reality."
"Die, you lunatic!" Decian shouted as he flung the pilum towards Longinus.
As if by some unholy power, Longinus easily sidestepped the hurtling javelin, caught it in mid-air, turned the tip around, and threw it back towards Decian. The veteran legionnaire gasped as the pilum plunged into his ribcage and he slumped onto the bloodstained stone tiles. As Decian began his death rattle, Longinus strode over to the terrified Gallio and grabbed the young man by the hair.
"Please!" Gallio pleaded. "Have mercy!"
Longinus had a pitiful look in his cold, gray eyes. "In our case, he has already made his judgment."
One last scream erupted into the night before all was silent once more.