Wow it's been awhile. First off I have to say sorry for the wait. I originally had this part split in two but I realized if I wanted the chapters to be done correctly it would have to be drawn out. Which is why I scrapped this chapter twice before this one. Meaning yes it's kind of two different pacings sadly. Cesar or Tempest here by the way. Anyways enjoy.
Jaxson P.O.V
First Night
After we saw the bodies the fort became quiet. In the silence we took the bodies out of the trees and gave them a proper burial. Everyone was on high alert even though I believe we won't be attacked again. I had a temptation tonight to use my powers to calm the crowd. But it would've only worked for so long. As ordered, the night watch doubled and rotated often. I volunteered for the first shift tomorrow night. Just so the first watch feels more comfortable.
We plan to have a search party tomorrow. But after what the Dacian Chief said none of us are sure we'll find anything. I plan to speak to him tomorrow. I want to find out more. The more we know the easier it will be to kill whatever that's out there.
I woke up early in the morning. I'm guessing not many had a good night's sleep considering so many legionaries were already inside. Some temporary tables were set up. None of the tables were empty. I noticed a Dacian K9 unit her wolf beside her. "You wouldn't mind if I join you both?"
"Of course not Augustus have a seat." She gestured to the open seats.
"How do you feel about this operation? Don't hold back your thoughts."
"I volunteered to come here. My brother was one of the first scouts that went missing. He had just earned the honor of receiving a wolf." She petted her wolf. "As soon as she was old enough to be in service they requested a mission. Scouting is generally a rookie's mission. Simple tasks. Tracking monster activity, maintaining forts, guiding legions and cohorts. But as you can see something sinister has happened here. His body hasn't been found neither has his wolf's. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty. It never is missions like these. But I didn't expect what we saw last night to happen on our first night. Predators watch their prey before striking. They avoid groups and herds. Whatever's out there isn't afraid. They are toying with us now."
"Thank you for telling me so much. I really do appreciate it and I'm glad you're here with us."
"Your welcome Augustus Aurelianus. And thank you for listening to me." I smiled and walked away. The monster is confident in their abilities and strength. They are not afraid of us. They're fast, strong and intelligent. I need to speak to the Tesserarius now.
I walked over to the Centurion barracks. There were two guards stationed outside. "Has the Tesserarius returned yet?"
"Yes, Augustus Aurelianus. He returned recently. His room is the third one on the right." One of the guards answered. They opened the door. The Centurion's barracks were decided in a hotel-like format. Outside of each door was the occupation of the room's resident. Reaching the door of the Tesserarius I knocked.
"Can I not have my rest?" I heard an old voice call from inside. I knocked again. The door swinged open.
"Hello." The man's face went white. He was the oldest person I've seen in the legion. His hair was almost a ghostly white. And his arm was filled with tallies of his years in service.
"My apologies Augustus Aurelianus. What is it that you need?" He asked.
"Do you have the records of the Gods and monsters?"
"Yes I do. Please come in." He opened his door wider and I walked in. It was a decent sized room not fully furnished. There were still bags on the floor. He opened up his bag and pulled out a thick book. "Here we are. I already know the reasoning on why you want it. I'd be a fool if I didn't. Good luck on your search Augustus Aurelianus."
"Thank you. May Sol watch over you." He handed me the book. It was considerably heavy. I walked out of the barracks and headed for my cabin. Time for some research. I still had some time before we began our search. I created a whiteboard and placed it on the wall before creating a marker. I divided the board into three sections. Possible, unlikely and definitely not where I would begin placing the monsters into each category. That way as more information arrives the list can continue to shrink.
I opened the book and noticed something. The monster's name was written in three languages. Latin, Greek and English. This would make it easier. The first monster called a Aeternae was a massive creature. Horns protruded all across the creatures body.
The Aeternae is a rare beast. First found by Alexander the Great during his conquests. It took thirty men to bring one of these behemoths down and it was suspected it had not yet fully matured. No Aeternaes have been spotted in the modern age.
Lethality: Extremely deadly
Aggression: Extremely aggressive
Intelligence: Low.
Habitat: Mountains with little to no trees and barren wastelands.
When sighted leave the area immediately. Do not attempt to go near it.
May have possible medicinal properties. Such as pain relief, increased sleep, and curing Erectile Dysfunction...
Erectile Dysfunction. The author sure had his priorities straight. Luckily this monster was a rare sighting and none have been seen during the modern age. Thus the description may be inaccurate. Well at least one is already off the list. We would've been able to hear and see it. On to the next one.
I got through three more monsters before I stopped. It was time to go search. We divided off into our search parties. Me and Jason went in opposite directions that way it's safer for the legionaries. We began where we found the bodies. The blood stained the trees and grass. Even the smell still lingered. "Do you have any clothing or belongings of the missing soldiers?" I asked
"Yeah we do. I'll let the wolves try to track them down now." One of the Dacians said bending over and letting their wolf smell the shirt. The wolf smelt the shirt and looked around for a second before beginning to move. "She might've got something." We began following the wolf. We watched around us for any movement. As we went, traces became more apparent. We saw broken twigs, crushed leaves and footprints. The wolf began to speed up and bark as we got closer.
There was a member of the night watch. He looked like shit. Had scratches from running in the brush and was bleeding. He was sitting down staring at a tree. "He's hungry… will eat… raw... alive… all kids… aren't asleep." He started muttering it again.
"Get him up, we need to get a medic to take a look at him. " I ordered. Two of the party picked him up and slung his arms around their shoulders and we began to head back to base. I need to figure out what this monster is soon. I'll get the Tessarius to help me tonight. Whatever it is is going to attack again. I might just stay the entire night watch.
We were the first to arrive back. We took the legionary into the infirmary. The medics looked over him. He had scratch marks on his chest and back. None of the damage was lethal. "He was lucky. It seems the monster was weakened and was scared away." I don't believe that. Something must've happened. Whatever caused this carnage couldn't be scared off. I definitely need to find out what this monster is. I kept my thoughts to myself.
"We need a medic!" Another search party came through with another one of the night watch.
"Put him on the bed right there. Hess, go take a look at him." Another one from last night. He had similar wounds at a first look. He was also mumbling. "If you excuse us Augustus we need you to leave so we can handle this."
"Of course." I walked out and went back into the woods with my search party.
We didn't find anyone else. But when we returned the entire infirmary was filled with Night watch members. All of them had similar injuries. This derailed any ideas I previously had. This monster was either not a killer or did something to the night watch. My thoughts going more towards the latter.
"Tessarius. I knocked on his door." This time he opened the door slowly.
"Yes my Augustus." He answered cautiously.
"I'll be joining you on the night watch tonight." He nodded. "And you'll be helping me find out what this monster is."
"Of course. Which shift do you plan on taking?" The Tessarius asked.
"The entire night. I plan on speaking to the Centurion next. During the day the Centurion will handle all activities. And at night I'll be available." He nodded.
"Well night shift will be starting up soon. You should go run it through the Centurion now and maybe get some shut eye before you're up with me all night." I nodded.
"I'll see you then." Time to run this through Jason. He's probably in the war room. It wasn't really a room, it was more of a tent. I was correct. He was standing over a cheap plastic table looking down on a map. "You know I can get you an actual table right."
"Hello Augustus if you wouldn't mind that would be nice." We moved the plastic table out of the way. Oak table with wheels. I opened my eyes and it appeared. Hey I'm getting kinda used to this now.
"Don't worry about it. Anyways I have an idea. I want to handle to night watch from now on with Tessarius. That way at least one of us is awake at a time. As of right now the monster has only attacked at night. So I'll handle the night so you can still command during the day."
"That's fine by me. But if anything goes wrong, get me out there immediately." He said sternly.
"Understood." Last thing on my to do list. Find the Chief. I'd have to assume he's either on guard duty or in Dacian barracks. I began wandering around the camp. It made me very self conscious like walking around school lost. Eventually I found him out in guard duty.
"A welcome surprise Augustus Aurelianus." He tossed a piece of jerky to his enormous wolf. It was easily the same size as the two of us. And had massive teeth.
"Hello sir. I came to ask you a few questions."
"Go on."
"When you stated we wouldn't find anything. Why did you say that?" He thought about it for a second then replied.
"It was an assumption. You see the monster marked it by mutilating those legionaries. The next normal action for a predator is to store and hide its food. Or eat it immediately. However it seems we are facing an intelligent monster. Allowing us to find legionaries broken concerns me. It means something else is at play." That confirms intelligent monster.
"I see that's all I needed. May I ask what your last name is? I haven't heard it." I asked as politely as I could.
"Daizus. It's the name of an old royal Dacian family. I am a descendant." Seems like everyone is a descendant of some kind of important family.
"Thank you Chief Daizus." I began walking off.
"Anytime Augustus Aurelianus." I heard him say behind me.
2 hours later
"Good luck tonight. Make sure your lights are on at all times. Batteries are in the ice chest at each of your positions." The Tessarirus told the legionaries as we settled for the first hour. "So Augustus, how far have you gone in the codex?"
"I've got to the Kynokephaloi." I said placing the codex on the table.
"I see they are likely candidates. Intelligent and fierce fighters. I've actually met a herd of them. They refuse to make weapons as it disregards the law set by their King. I can't pronounce his name since they speak in barks." He explained. "A child of Mars can speak their language. I was a part of a Contubernium that had one. If you ever meet a herd be prepared to drink the worst drink under Sol. My friend was sick for the rest of our tour. So what's the next entry in the codex?"
"Well, the next likely candidate would be Lycan." I asked, reading the next entry.
"The king of Werewolves. The rival of Lupa. Now that is a very likely possibility. Intelligent, powerful and it wouldn't be a surprise if he was here. It says if engaging is a must divide him from the pack. Keep a note on him, what's next?" The Tessarirus asked.
Second Night
Nothing occurred a couple of the legionaries in the infirmary began having severe pain but that is all. Me and Tessarirus have limited the list to just twenty possible suspects.
Third night
Some of the soldiers are beginning to function. Most are still in a fragile state. We may need to request evac if conditions worsen. Another quiet night however. The wolves couldn't stop howling however much to everyone in the barracks displeasure.
Fourth night
Jason requested more medics to arrive to help ease the workload. At this point we should just get them out of here. List has been cut to ten after a second look at the symptoms. We had one report of movement tonight. Not sure what it was might've been a bear.
Fifth night
"Listen to this one, me and my friend Eric walk into Clovers out in the Chicago outpost and we're already hammered. He asks for 4 shots of Blanco Tequila Johnny sets him up, and then he takes the second and fourth shot and down them. Then he starts talking about his son's math teacher. I ask him if he's gonna drink the rest and he replies, 'Go ahead, they taste like shit.' Now Johnny is confused and asks him what he means. The bastard says 'The first shot always tastes like shit and the last one always makes me want to vomit."
We all begin to laugh around the fire. I push my hair back and look up. A full moon huh. Full moon? I touch the Tessarirus on the shoulder and motion to the sky. His eyes widened. "Augustus get down there and get the armory open!" I didn't even answer back. I ran to the armory opening the lock. I could hear screams coming from the infirmary as it fell to ribble.
A horde of Werewolves emerged from the dust. They were over six foot tall and had huge teeth and bigger claws. "Fucking hell." The battle began as legionaries began engaging the Werewolves. I unsheath my sword and joined in the fray. They were able to slash through our shields like butter and any legionnaire without armor was easy pickings. "Anyone without armor fall back to the armory! The rest of you set a phalanx behind me!" The legionaries that heard me began backing away as I created a wall surrounding the Werewolves.
"Archers! Get to the fucking wall! Now!" Jason called from behind me. "Augustus, I want you with the Dacians protecting the walls. Our eagles have seen movement on the tree line."
I nodded and started getting back up to the wall. The Dacians and their wolves were already up there. The Dacian Chief and the Tessarirus were setting up the lines as I arrived. "Augustus I need a barrier to slow them down. We don't have enough manpower yet." Spikes. Concentrate. "Perfect." The Chief's wolf began snarling and scratching itself rapidly. White froth began pouring out of its mouth as it attacked the Chief biting his leg. I pulled out my sword and stabbed it releasing a whimper of pain. Other wolves began attacking their retainers. Jumping, scratching, biting as some fell over the walls.
Focus Jaxson. We need to get the walls cleared quick. I helped up the Chief and began fighting off the wolves. At first they were distracted with mauling their retainers. Then they attacking others. Grouped into a pack they began slaughtering anyone in their way. "The gates are breached!" Bang the gates bursted open with more werewolves surprising the defensive line on the ground.
"Tessarirus handle the wolves on the walls I need to get down their and help the others." He nodded. Concentrate. My armor began placing itself to me as silver twin blades replaced my gladius and shield. I jumped down joining Jason. "We need to push them outside the gate. Our weapons aren't effective against them, we need silver."
"Or we need blessed weapons." He pulled out a coin and flipped it, turning into a magical spear. "Let's push these fuckers out. Line hold this position move as we move forward! Do not break position! Roma Invictus!"
A testudo formed behind us as out of position legionaries shuffled back.
Jason let out a electrical charge through the werewolves freezing them in place as I began slicing through them one by one. They were wild. No technique. But it was a neverending horde of them. Every one I killed another ran through the gates. We'd be overwhelmed soon especially if Lycan arrives. Jason surely can't use electricity for long enough. 'Make a horde yourself Jaxson." A voice spoke in my mind. 'Use all the powers you have.'
Concentrate. "Terror." I let the word funnel out of my mouth commanding the broken minds of the werewolves and all surrounding me. Wake up. My thoughts left my mind. I ran purely on instinct. Annihilating the werewolves one by one with no hesitation. They began running from the sight of me as I pursued behind them. I created walls stopping them as they tried to climb away. But they were left dead on the floor leaving none alive outside the fortress.
"Well, well. Lupa has a very fine pup indeed. Fine job culling my pack." A man appeared from the trees with red robes bare chested. His face was rough, his eyes as black as night. I could feel my energy begin to drain. I couldn't use my voice against him. I'd collapse as I'm doing it. 'Use all your powers.' I imagined myself. Once. Twice. Three times. Over and over again till there were fifteen of me standing in front of Lycan. "Interesting idea pup let's see how well you do." He transformed into a collosal werewolf and charged at the horde of copies catching a copy and tearing it apart in a flash. We began surrounding him making a circle as we each began delivering blows. After a copy was destroyed, a part of my energy was returned. I began sending my copies out in a charge, slicing Lycan multiple times but destroying all the copies. I cut through his left arm as he recovered. "Too scared to fight me alone?" He asked out of breath. The silver was having an effect on him. Concentrate. I imagined a giant silver spear breaking through the ground and rising up to my height underneath Lycan. The ground began to crack as the spear rose from the ground. Impaling Lycan.
I had so little energy left as I walked over to Lycan who was slowly dying. "Not too scared Wolf. I just play smart. Trauma." I saw Lycan's eyes widen in horror as I fell to the floor.
The next day
I woke up in my bed sore beyond belief. It took a couple minutes for me to sit up and even more for me to stand. I walked out my room with my legs still wobbly. It was morning the memories of last night began arriving. The infirmary was still rubble and it seems there was still a watch on guard. Well no point of me staying up seems like everything is under control. "Augustus Aurelianus. Please come with me to the mess hall. Centurion Jason and Tessarirus Glaucus are speaking to the cohort." The legionnaire said. Well shit. Guess I have to go.
As we walked in the mess hall was packed with legionaries. They began creating a path for me as cheers started. I walked up to the front of the building where Jason, Glaucus and the Chief were standing. "Ave Augustus Aurelianus. Please join us. " Try not to wobble Jaxson. I joined them on the stage. "Augustus Aurelianus' first action as a part of the Tetrarchy was this mission. A mission many of you had personal motivations to join. As we all witnessed last night Augustus Aurelianus single handedly annihilated Lycan and his horde of Werewolves." A roar of cheers. I'm trying really hard not to smile right now. "As such Tessarirus Glaucus, Chief Daizus and I have spoken with Augustus Majorian and Trajan to award Augustus Aurelianus the honor of both the Grass and Oak crowns. The Grass crown for the act of turning the battle in an instant and the Oak crowns for saving Chief Daizus." He turned and looked at me. "Do you accept these gifts, Augustus Aurelianus?"
"Yes I do." I answered.
"In addition Augustus Aurelianus you will receive your first title. You will now be known as Remus Gaius Aurelianus Lupus Maximus." Jason concluded.
"In addition I would like to add. As some of you may have noticed our Augustus here has yet to receive his tattoo of Rome. With hat being the case. I Markus Daizus, Chief of the East Dacian bloodline, allows Remus Gaius Aurelianus Lupus Maximus to have the honorary tattoo of the Wolf of Dacia alongside his normal Rome tattoo. As a sign of good faith and a show of loyalty. Augustus Aurelianus if there is anything you ask I assure you I will have it done I pledge my blade to you."
"Thank you Chief Daizus. Now let us finish our job and rejoin Rome as avengers to all those we lost to Lycan and his Werewolves."
The crowd began to disperse. "There is one more thing, Augustus. Here is the pelt of the King of Wolves." Glaucus handed me a black fur pelt.
"Thank you Tessarirus." I threw it on and got ready to finish my job.
Two weeks later.
"So Aurelianus you ready to see your surprise?" Trajan asked. My arm still felt sore from the tattoo the other day. "Your very own protege!" He opened the door revealing a young girl with cinnamon brown hair. "Aurelianus meet Hazel. Hazel meet Aurelianus."
"Hi Hazel. Pleasure to work with you." I reached my arm out.
"Same with you Aurelianus." She said, shaking my hand.
Bam big unexpected reveal. This is the end of part one of the story. I'll be having an disjointed epilogue written soon hopefully. It'll be quite short. But yeah Jaxson's first actual win in battle. He's been getting his ass beat by practically everyone before this but now he's strong enough to hold his own rather well. Especially since his control over his powers is continuing to grow. As it says in the story summary. He will not be OP no further comments on power scaling. But don't worry I've been working on a chart alongside the storyboard.
Also Lupus Maximus means great victory against wolves. Just for clarification. And this is the same Hazel from Heroes of Olympus. This isn't my favorite chapter by far. I really wanted to make this section with Lycan larger but I didn't want to drag out the story so on to the next chapter.
Criticism and suggestions are appreciated Cesar or Tempest out.