He led me through the streets of his city. It was truly a majestic sight to behold. Stone buildings and monuments stood to show the majesty of such accomplishments, as much as it shows the arrogance of the people themselves. On the streets on each side o the stone pavement were greenery I would never have expected from a place filled in every inch with stone. Temples and pillars stood tall, as if to reach the heavens above. I stared in awe at the city that I was now walking through, were I not a slave, a servant, I would relish in it more.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" my master said. His sudden question startled me. He seemed to sound kind and sincere, if only for a moment. I had no response, no retort, just a surprised expression and a nod. We kept walking through the majestic streets of the city. I was anticipating my arrival to his home, anticipating maybe more slaves, Greek slaves like myself, scrubbing floors, cleaning the road, and other menial tasks. I even anticipated to see other slave women, indulging the men of the house, as these pigs would most definitely do.

As I was contemplating the numerous horrors that I could possibly witness upon arriving at my master's home, I was stopped by a sudden obstruction to my path. I fell to the floor and looked up to see a Roman soldier staring down at me with a malicious glare. "Watch where you're going maggot!" he yelled in my face. I pulled myself up and kept my eyes on the soldier, giving him a challenging glare to match his.

"Hmmm......You have a very alluring figure for a lowly maggot." he began to change his tone and expression, from one of malice and hate, to one of lust and malicious desire. I clenched my fist, ready to defend myself, even if the soldier was stronger than me in many aspects. I knew that it was either submission or death for me, from here on out.

He began to reach his hand for my body, until another grabbed his and bent it. "What do you think you are doing?" I turned to see my master, with a cold glare on his face. The soldier turned to him and began to stumble on his words, challenged to speak to say the least.

"Might I remind you that you have a duty, soldier. And I SUGGEST that you get back to it." my master said, seemingly growing in anger from his cold but calm manner of speaking. "...Or you will answer DIRECTLY TO ME."

As the last words left his mouth, the soldier stood straight, with his feet closing the gap between, and stiffened up. Before my master could say anymore, the soldier left in a huff.

I turned to my master, surprised and angry for no apparent reason. My blood boiled as I saw him, his fair skin, his brown hair loose and curled. I had no reason to hate him, no reason to despise him. He had saved me after all, but all my rage had now been directed at him.

He took my wrist and pulled me closer to him. His grip tightened as he looked me in the eye. "Stay by my side." I wanted to pull my hand back, defy him, but my body and I were not seeing eye to eye. My mind screamed to defy, but as I looked into his brown eyes, my body weakened. I hung my head and did as he told, letting him take me.

After the incident, my vision of majesty quickly turned to one of sadness. I see slaves of all colors, following their masters, beaten, and abused. I am a part of this world, and it will forever be my world. It is now my home, when all is said and done.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

We left the city shortly after and reached the outskirts of the city. To my surprise, we approached a small hut in the outskirts of the city. Crops surrounding it, a wooden fence in close proximity to the hut. An elderly man in a ragged tunic and barefoot, sat in a makeshift chair right in front of the entrance to the hut. As we came closer to the hut, my master waved at the elderly man, with a smile on his face, and while we were a fair distance away from the hut, I noticed the elderly man's joy from the distance.

We arrived at the fence of the house, and I began to notice the man clearly. His arms were thin and almost sickly, his skin seemed to have been wrinkling with the slightest passage of time. The hair on his face and his head were white as the snow in the coldest winters, and his slouched posture made him appear shorter than he should have been. His eyes were a brighter brown than my master's and kinder.

"Grandfather." my master said happily. He walked over to the man and hugged him, the man hugged him bag with a wide smile appearing along with tears dropping to his cheek. "My boy, you have come back to us." the man tearfully said as he hugged my master tighter. The door flung open to reveal an elderly woman in a similarly ragged tunic dress as the elderly man. "Pamphilus!" the woman gasped and watched my master hugging the man. "Hello, Grandmother."

–

My master introduced me to his grandparents. They looked at him concerned and asked him numerous questions about why he had me in his service. I was taken by surprise at their increasing concern at my servitude to him. I had expected them to be very happy with him for bringing a maid for their home, I had even expected a home fit for a man of status with numerous servants at their bidding.

I stood waiting in one room with a table and trinkets on it, while my master and his family talked. "My boy, why have you brought this woman here?" my master's grandfather asked. "I thought she would be in the house." my master said. "I had also intended to let her stay with you.". Stay with them? Why does he want me to stay here? Why would he want me to be in service to anyone other than himself?

Before I could form any more thoughts, the grandmother walked towards me and grabbed my hand. "Come dear, you're going to help me with the laundry." she said gently. She gently pulled me away from the room to the door. I walked with her around to the back of the house, there lay a basket full of clothing, recently washed. "Come dear, you take this basket.'' She bent down and offered me the basket. As I did the chore, my mind wondered to many thoughts that formed in that short period of time.

The master, that I thought had been a man of very high status and brute at that, had been a lowly class citizen. A Roman that has treated me more fairly than any slave or prisoner could have been treated in any other place in the world. "Forgive me, but.....do you understand our native tongue?" the grandmother asked. I simply nodded in response.

"If it would be alright with you, would you like to speak to me?" her voice was filled with concern, kindness, a warmth I was never expecting anywhere in this country. I did not respond, I was speechless at the treatment I have been given.

"You must have gone through so much, dear. Witnessing the conclusion of the war in your own home." she spoke, with sorrow in her voice. "Even being taken from your home to live in a strange land.....I could never imagine." "You are truly blessed by the Gods to have found my grandson."

What she had said infuriated me, how could I have been blessed to be placed into servitude?! If this was a blessing the gods, the gods can drown in the River Styx with this sense of humor of theirs. Without noticing, my hands were clenched, still holding a piece of clothing, wrinkling it in the process.

The grandmother noticed my small burst of rage, but gave me a soft smile. "I know you must hate him, for fighting for the armies that took your home, your family. But he is not the person he appears to be, nor is he the person that you expect him to be." What could she possibly mean by that? "...not the person he appears to be"? I contemplated frustratingly, as I continued the chore in silence.