Though the distance between me and the Cohort was only a few short paces, my sprint to close that distance felt like a day’s worth of marching, and the howling growls of the charging barbarians did very little to satiate my panic. Once I joined my comrades, Varis immediately slaps me in the head and garbles some angry words at me; I couldn’t hear any, thanks to the rumble of guns and the bashing of shields. I stay in the back ranks for a while, watching the barbarians slam wildly into our well packed ranks. So far, no casualties, though the breach in the wall was still flooding with our rag armored opponents. Miraculously, the fighting seemed to die down for a moment, that’s when Trosdig finally found some time to berate me. “By Loki’s Children! What is your job here Mallic?” “I I I am A Soldier of Remas!” I stammer, but with enough of the vigor and passion that I once ha
I was expecting the weather to turn dire and shower us all with some unneeded freezing rain, but surprisingly the weather stayed calm the whole day though, nothing wilder than a strong wind passed by. Varkii and I stayed at that supply tent till the next morning. I expected Trosdig to wake us up for the sake of Cohort solidarity but it seemed that he couldn’t care less, or perhaps he thought we were dead. … It wasn’t too long till I was awaken by a disturbing bright light shining brightening our resting spot, I expected it to be the Sunrise but instead it was just the one of the squads lighting up a massive bonfire for warmth. I look up into the sky and see the Moon shining brightly down upon us. “Serene isn’t it” I look behind me and see a woman standing behi
It was a sound that men of the 3rd Company rarely heard. The Company’s forces were meant for heavy infantry and slow attacks but that didn’t mean we had no idea what an arrow sounded like when it descended on its target. And that’s what happened, the barbarians had seemingly launched every arrow they could find at us. “Damn it” was the word in every soldier’s mouth now. “TESTUDO!” screamed every single officer; we immediately locked down our shields in place in anticipation of the terrifying onset of fear and anxiety that was already writhing and crawling in our bo
1322 AD-Three Hundred years into the Long WarA lone figure stands in the middle of the podium; he wears the bright red cloak of an official, and a medallion bearing the crest of the old war god, Mars. He takes deep breath and bellows to the crowd“CAPUA!!! ARE YOU READY!!!
The battle begins to clear a bit, I march forward searching for more foes but then an explosion rings out a good distance from me, an incendiary cannonball detonates in front of me releasing its payload of burning, the world goes silent as I immediately block the ordinance with my shield but the force from the blast is still enough to blow me back. I feel a powerful thud on my head as I hit the ground back first. My vision becomes increasingly blurred, I see other Legionnaires around me coated in flames, with their screams being slowly muffled by the effects of my own head slowly dying. Maybe this is my time, I will finally die. Again I am wrong as I feel myself being lifted on top of a shield as the world around me goes dark…“
This isn’t the first time I’ve just simply laid down to die when an explosion hits near me, the thing is it’s happened to me so many times I just thought it’d end up that way. Lurti knows I get his point so he doesn’t say anything else; instead he unties the blue strap tied to his wrist and smells it. It’s a memento from Aquilia his lady back home in Capua. “They’re saying the war is over, I’m finally going to see her again.” He says. I suddenly burst in laughter at those words, which is a stupid act since it turns out my chest has suffered some bruising from the explosion. But the annoyed look on Lurti’s face is completely worth it. “Lurti, they’ve been saying that before Uncle Servo was first Knighted. What makes you think it’s going to end this time?” Lurti curses and kicks my wounded arm; I curl back from th
Both sides face each other at opposite sides of the battlefield from yesterday, the stench of smoke and blood still fill the air to some degree. We hear that the officers simply named the battle, Final Eternity. Although I found the name a bit bland, in all truth I believe it didn’t matter. The ceremony was conducted by the meeting of Generals from both sides. When our own General Vaxides read the official Persian letter and inspected the seal for authenticity while the Persian Leader General Izari did the same with the Remanian letter. When both Generals returned the letters and saluted each other we knew the war was now over. The cheers of both armies are much more deafening than the fiercest battle cries or loudest explosion, the Long War was finally over and yet despite my happiness I find my heart beating really fast, my fingertips
It’s early in the afternoon when the Legion begins the march; everyone is much more cheery than usual after all we were going back to civilization. Some of these soldiers have been serving for at least 20 years now, our General Vaxides has been serving for 50 years straight. The smiles on everyone’s faces are clearly evident despite the terrible Northland cold, the Centurions even allowed loose marching formations. So Cohorts were allowed to mix ranks, with that I marched with Lurti and Varkii. I noticed throughout the march Lurti constantly smelt the blue strap in his wrist while Varkii and I talk about our plans to start our own business. Varkii was thinking of making deals with butcher shops at the tower levels in Capua where wild game was pretty much scarce. “We’ll be rich Pup! Imagine all those pompous senators an
The crowd’s roar becomes stronger when the Red Wolf draws first blood by hitting the Iron Ram’s head, the Ram spits out blood but isn’t down yet so he strikes back at the Red Wolf’s side. The Wolf immediately blocks it and kicks the Iron Ram in the chest and hits his face again with the sword. Killing isn’t allowed in Gladiatorial games anymore, the weapons are blunted and hollow but the attacks still draw blood and blood is all the crowd really cares for. As for me all I care about is the rush of the crowd and the thrill of watching the Champion Of Capua defeat his opponent. But all of my hopes of seeing victory turns dim as the Iron Ram sweeps the Red Wolf’s feet and kicks his face as the Wolf’s body hits the ground. The crowd’s thunderous applause turns into loud cries of fear and worry as the Iron Ram raises his 2 swords to finish off