The morning was freezing cold and although I was dressed warmly, my whole body was shivering while I walked to the Cohort Temple. When I finally arrived I pushed the enormous gates and found myself in the large hall. Mosaic floors, tall ceilings, statues, fountains, three staircases and countless doors. I reported to a young woman, sitting behind the counter.
“I’m Antonius Catero, pledge of the Diplomacy Division. I’m reporting back from my leave.”
She opened some book, looked for my name and then said:
“Room four. It’s behind the first stairs, on the left.”
I thanked her and followed her directions.
I opened the door and saw I was the first one to arrive. The room was warm, although there was no fire in the fireplace. I sat down at one of the desks and sighed. Just as I was about to doze off the door opened, which almost made me fall out of my chair. It was Kato, my master from the camp. He looked the same as I remembered him, thick black hair and short beard, his blue eyes ever sharp. He was dressed in his usual style, a black tunic, dark trousers, with embroidered silver wolf on his chest.
“Antonius! The guard told me a pledge had arrived and my instincts told me that it must be Antonius. Only he is so restless to arrive an hour early!”
“I couldn’t sleep!” I defended myself laughingly.
“That brunette keeps you up at night. That’s why you can’t sleep, ha ha ha! Am I wrong?”
“How do you know of Nicola?” I blushed.
“Oh, Nicola you say… That’s a pretty name. I saw you two roaming around the city. If you weren’t so in love, you’d have noticed me!” he kept mocking me and I again blushed.
“I’ll try to be more observant of my surroundings, Vicelord.”
“Ah! Yes! They’ll make it official today.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“It’s a thankless job.”
“Aren’t they all?”
“Perhaps,” he smiled. “Have you heard of your friend, Otho?”
“Heard about what? I haven’t seen him.” It was the first time in seven days that I actually thought of him.
“He left the Cohort. No longer a pledge.”
“That’s insane!”
“It’s unfortunate. He showed great promise.”
“I wonder what he’s up to now.”
“Oh, I know that. He’s shacked up with that girl Atia. I knew her parents, and her uncle is a very close friend of mine… Supposedly, Otho went to work for his father.”
My stomach was in knots and I frowned with disgust.
“As you say… Most unfortunate,” I almost whispered, enraged by Otho’s ill decision making. He came so close to letting everything go, yet the great unknown proved to be too frightening. Back to the cage made of pretend safety and certainty!
“What can we do? We win some, we lose some. He’s not the only one who left. Cecilia and Flavia… Whoosh, gone!”
“They as well?!”
“Yes. The Orc attack took a toll on them.”
“Honestly, I don’t even understand why they were chosen for the mission. I could name a few others who were more suited for the job.”
“You’re speaking of Antonia, I believe? It’s not optimal to only push forward people who are slightly better at harvesting their talents, Antonius. Cecilia and Flavia, like Otho, had much to offer, although they weren’t so outspoken and curious as you, or Antonia. And Otho, my gods, he was very well liked. He could have been an excellent Captain, even Lord! But they made their choices and we have to respect that. We still have you, don’t we?”
“Indeed you do,” I smiled and slowly nodded.
“And how are you feeling, Antonius? With Julia and everything.”
“I’m fine now, as much as I can be,” I reassured him.
“Good. We have no time to dwell within sorrow.”
“How is Tiberius?”
“Oh, he’s quite crippled by Julia’s demise… He doesn’t show it, but I know how much she meant to him. He and the Captains had a meeting a couple of days ago. They discussed what course Vetulonia should take. The Captain of coin was fiercely against the war, of course. He thinks only of revenues, expenses…”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“What about the others?”
“The others see things as they are. But even if they didn’t, Tiberius’s word is final. Come early spring, a general mobilization of the population will commence. Vetulonia will raise an army of one hundred thousand men. Eighty thousand infantry, twenty thousand cavalry. By summer, we will have this army trained at the sufficient level to be ready for what comes.”
“So many? Every fourth Vetulonian man a soldier?”
“We live in interesting times… So, be ready to receive a letter of mobilization in the upcoming weeks. Then the training will begin… I must leave you now. I have some business at the Dwarven embassy. You wait here, and someone will come fetch your report. See you around, Antonius. Oh! And if you have the chance, stop by the Temple and grab yourself a portion of the Elixir. In times like these it’s important to seek the answers from within.”
“I will do that.”
“Good!” He winked at me and left the room. He’ll be a good Vicelord, I thought to myself. Soon a young woman, not much older than me, walked in. She had curly black hair and black eyes, dressed in an orange toga-like dress. I noticed the ring of the Cohort on her index finger. A Knight.
“Hello! Antonius?”
“I am."
“Your report.”
I gave her the papers, twelve of them. She thanked me and told me I’m on leave for the next two weeks.
“Two weeks from today, dawn, report to the pledge in the grand hall,” she smiled. I nodded and left. I said goodbye to the guard at the entrance. He rolled his eyes. Stupid donkey.
I then stopped by the Temple and asked for an Elixir. I received a small bottle and went to my room in the tavern. Nicola was away visiting a friend in a nearby town, so it was a perfect opportunity to dive into myself. I waited for the night to come before drinking it. At first nothing happened and I wondered if I received the right potion. But then, all of a sudden, I was once again thrown out of my body, across the roof of the tavern, above Lux, above the clouds. Further and further, to the dark, star-filled void above. Again I felt like I had no body. I felt peaceful and serene. I heard a voice, coming from everywhere. It was her.
“Hello again.” She appeared in front of me, with glowing dark skin and hair of different colors, some I had never seen before. She smiled and led me further into darkness into a tunnel made of blue light. We entered it. I felt an odd weight pulling me forward. On the other side of the tunnel I saw countless iron buildings, flying towards each other through the black void. In the distance I saw a blue, cloudy ball and further away another ball which was yellow and bright, but it did not burn my eyes. Stars were all around. The floating buildings were shooting bright colorful lightnings at each other. Every once in a while one of them collapsed into countless pieces. When that happened I felt the dread of death.
“There are no winners in wars. None. Remember that.”
The woman pulled me towards another tunnel – this one was made of dark red light – and we found ourselves on a sandy beach. It was night, with a full moon, and the sea was calm. I heard singing coming from a nearby camp. I saw the glow of a campfire. I started walking towards it. Well, floating would be a more accurate word. I saw drunken men singing pirate songs. They looked scruffy and dirty and their singing voices sounded like growls. I slowly encircled the campfire, observing them while they sang and drank. Every once in a while one of them left, while another arrived. I followed one who got up from the fire and left his drunken comrades. We ended up in a hut, where a young naked girl was tied to a bed. The girl had dead eyes and at first I thought it was a corpse or a doll of some sorts. The man forced himself on her and only when she blinked I realized she was alive. Although an unpleasant scene, to put it mildly, something compelled me to step closer. Only then did I recognize her. It was young Julia. My whole mind was flooded with feelings of rage and disgust and immeasurable sorrow. I started screaming at the man while trying to grab onto something and hit him with it! But my arms went through everything I touched. Then, out of nowhere, the man froze, turned his head and looked straight into my eyes. Yet, he did not see me.
“You heard anything?” he asked Julia rather panicky. She didn’t answer. He then proceeded with his business. I couldn’t take the sight of Julia’s torment no more, but if I walked away I felt like I’d be abandoning her. So I stayed in the hut, looking away, until an arm touched me. It was an older man with Vetulonian features.
“You can go now. There is nothing you can do. I’ll be here for her to console her.”
“Who are you?” I asked dumbfounded.
"Someone who cares for her."
He smiled and tilted his head towards the hut door. So I left. I walked towards the second hut that was nearby. There I saw Titus and Tiberius, shackled and sitting next to each other on the dirt. A small campfire was illuminating their starved faces. Their eyes were horrifying! Empty, blank, depraved of any kind of spark. Titus raised his head towards me and said:
“Oh, hello, Antonius! You still have that wolf I gave you?”
“Who are you talking to?” asked Tiberius angrily. Titus’s body then shook and he didn’t see me anymore.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I saw a young man, standing here, right before us. I think I know him from somewhere.”
“You must have fallen asleep. Nobody’s here, except for monsters. Nobody’s coming,” Tiberius sighed and kept staring at the fire.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I thought and was thrown away, into a bright forest clearing with a creek nearby. Everything once again felt peaceful and safe. The woman was there and was washing her colorful hair in the blue creek water.
“Those iron buildings in the black void. Those were warships of some sorts? From somewhere far?”
She kept washing her hair, ignoring me.
“So war is everywhere?”
“Everywhere,” she answered.
“That is awful.”
“There’s also love. Love is everywhere as well,” she smiled and kept washing her hair.
“Did I travel back to the Island, or was that merely an illusion?”
“Everything is an illusion. But yes. You did.”
“How is that possible?”
“How is it possible for one to travel from Vetulonia to Megalopolis?” she mockingly asked. “You have to go now,” she added. “Just remember what you saw. It will help you on your journey. Come back and visit me when the time is right.”
“How will I know when the time is right?”
“You will know.”
She stopped washing her hair and stepped towards me. She hugged me. Her embrace filled me with feelings of peace and overwhelming love. She then kissed my forehead and I woke up in the tavern room. It was morning.