Without warning, the Somnia started running through the misty forest. Titus and Livia immediately dropped to the wet floor, hiding beneath the thick layers of mist. For a few tense heartbeats, they watched them run past them. As the shadow creatures reached the end of the forest, they began climbing the trees like a swarm of ants. Reaching the tops, they leaped with incredible height, snatching onto the floating islands above.

Titus and Livia looked at each other with fear.

“Caesar must be getting desperate,” Titus whispered, his eyes returning to the increasing horde of Somnia blitzing through the forest. “We need to hurry.”

“They’re going to see us,” Livia warned as Titus stood and prepared the rope and hook.

Titus nodded in agreement. He let his eyes linger on his woman dressed in glowing, enchanted legionnaire armor. The sight of her filled him with warmth. She was his woman. “You lead the way, I am much slower at this.”

She pecked him on the cheek as he leaned into his Titan’s Grip enchantment, which doubled his strength. With a mighty swing, Titus launched the roped hook with tremendous power up towards the floating island.

He missed.

Titus groaned in annoyance as the hook fell back down and smacked into the wet forest floor. The Somnia took notice. A collective, screaming whisper sounded all around them.

It was now or never.

“May Vulcan guide you!” Titus grunted, throwing it again to the clouds above.

This time it stuck.

Titus gave a quick tug on the rope to make sure it was steady. They didn’t want to make it halfway up only for the anchor to give. The anchor proved strong as he pulled.

“Go!” Titus said, giving Livia a boost up the rope. As soon as she left his arms, two Somnia broke through the trees next to them.

Titus took initiative and swung his Paterna Superbia as they neared. His might was so great that he hit them both in one swing, sending them flying into the trees where they crumpled. Though the blow did not kill them, it did buy him time.

More Somnia started to emerge in the near distance.

Time to go, Titus thought, sheathing his warhammer and starting his climb on the rope.

Had he not had his strength enchantments, this would have taken forever. Titus was a larger man than most, his years in the forge developing thick, ropy muscles and a stockier build, just like his father. In a normal situation, he would have struggled to carry his weight vertically. He was built for crafting and smashing things, not climbing like some rogue or assassin. But now, thanks to the Titan’s Grip enchantment, he felt as light as a feather as he pulled himself up with a rapid pace. The experience was thrilling as he practically flew up the rope.

This is what Maximus must feel like, he thought, smiling at the ease in which he climbed. His joy soon vanished when the rope beneath him became taut. Looking down, he glanced at the Somnia silently climbing the rope after him with greater speed.

There were dozens of them.

“They’re coming!” Titus shouted, pushing against his natural limitations to climb faster.

“Here!” Livia said, dropping a knife. Titus caught it by the hilt.

The first Somnia gripped his ankle beneath him, squeezing with terrible strength. Because Titus was stationary, his armor doubled in its protection, preventing the nightmare creature from crushing his foot.

However, something was instantly off. The moment the Somnia latched onto his foot, his stamina began to drain fifty points per second. As if that weren’t bad enough, he suddenly began to feel very drowsy, which, dangling so high above the forests was a bad combination.

With the other foot, Titus kicked down into its black marble face, repeating his fury three times to loosen the thing’s grip. He lost one hundred stamina due to the Somnia’s insufferable strength. Five began to crawl on their ally in desperation to attack him. For some reason, the drowsy spell that had begun with the first Somnia seemed to multiply by just as many new Somnia had drawn near.

With a shout, Titus severed the rope beneath him. The flood of Somnia fell without noise, disappearing into the misty forest below. At once, the drowsiness disappeared. Titus blinked his eyes to refocus.

“Titus!” Livia shouted, capturing his attention. Titus looked up just in time to see the first of the Somnia leaping at them from the tall trees. Keeping one hand on the rope, Titus backhanded the Somnia that lunged at him in the air. It was enough to deflect the creature, but more were coming.

“Keep going!” Titus said, a renewed urgency propelling him up the rope. “They will put us to sleep if they surround us!”

On all sides, the Somnia who weren’t rushing towards the Gate of Ivory were jumping at them from the trees.

Livia heaved on the rope, throwing her body weight violently in one direction. The sudden movement helped them swing away from a thick clumping of Somnia. Again, Titus’s body felt lethargic upon being so close to so many of them for a second. A few scratched Titus’s armor as they flew by, though their black fingers did not find purchase on him nor did their lethargic aura.

Titus pushed, or pulled in this case, with all of his might, flying up the rope with his enhanced strength and agility. Several more times did he backhand and kick at Somnia that leaped at them, frantic to stay away from their sleep curse.

“Titus!” Livia shouted from above. A Somnia had successfully caught her and was ferociously wrapping himself around her, trying to squeeze her beneath her glowing armor. Her stamina would plummet with each second.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Off you fiend!” Titus roared, snatching the creature’s bare ankle and squeezing so hard that the thing’s skin began to crack. With a shout, he yanked the creature off of his wife, though at the cost of more of his stamina. The Somnia dangled in his hand as Livia resumed her climb. Four more Somnia were leaping from the nearby trees. With a mighty swing, he threw the Somnia into the others, where they collided with one another before falling back down into the misty forest.

They finally reached the bottom of the floating islands. Livia scrambled up to the top, her enhanced strength making her fingers like little hooks as she scaled the rock bottom. Titus heaved himself off of the rope and followed after her. Several Somnia also latched onto the island’s base and chased after them.

Livia was the first to reach the top and she gave Titus a hand, pulling him up the rest of the way. As soon as Titus stood to his feet on the floating island, a dozen Somnia had joined them.

None of the dark shadows were happy about them. And Titus didn’t have the strength to fend them off. He had lost too much in his grappling with them. His stamina would barely recharge in time for an attack.

Livia didn’t give them the opportunity to express their anger. Thankfully, she still had some stamina left. Like a viper, she lashed out with arrows, firing two before the first of the Somnia could attack. With her blessings of Diana, her attacks did fifty times more damage against creatures of the night, dropping both monsters.

Titus activated the flames of his Paterna Superbia, increasing his fire damage and setting it fully ablaze. The sudden flame startled the rest of the Somnia who clearly despised the fire, backing away from it initially. This bought him just enough time for his stamina. Recharged, he delivered the Somnia their own nightmare of fire. He charged them as they ran and surrounded them on all sides, swinging his blazing warhammer in a long, sweeping arc that knocked them off the small island in one hit, such was the force of his might. Three of them caught fire as they tumbled to the misty forest tops far below.

“Titus!” Livia shouted as another tackled her.

Titus had no stamina left to attack, but he could use his body weight. Pushing against his limits, he threw himself onto the shadow fiend, fire hammer in front, letting the weapon sear into the black marble flesh of his enemy. The Somnia screamed and wriggled out from underneath them, catching fire as she did so and leaping off of the island to be free of the flames.

Titus extinguished the warhammer and let himself rest temporarily alongside Livia on the floating island’s short grass.

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before jumping to her feet. “Come, we cannot wait. I almost fell asleep with all of them. Maximus needs us to close the gate.”

Titus sighed but agreed. He was just so exhausted.

Livia helped him stand, and together, they pulled up the rest of the severed rope. She handed it to Titus once it was recovered, and he wrapped the rope and hook on his shoulder.

They both took cover again by the small shrubbery of their floating island. There must have been hundreds of different islands all around them, elevated and sized at different lengths. And there, a few islands away, was the largest set of ivory gates Titus had ever seen. They stood almost like a tower, looming higher than all the other islands and stark white in contrast to the forest green all around. And through the gates, which were opened, Titus could swear he saw a red dragon flying just on the other side.

“Cetus?” Titus said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Distracting him from pondering any further was the endless black horde of Somnia flooding into the Gates of Ivory, presumably to destroy Maximus.

“Come,” Titus said, grabbing Livia by the hand and running.

Initially, they met no resistance, leaping across the great gaps between islands thanks to their enchanted strength without challenge from the Somnia. Titus felt a burst of hope as they drew closer. But when the Gates of Ivory came into clearer view as they reached the bordering island, Titus immediately felt dread.

The Somnia decided to horde around the two ivory pillars that supported the gaters. There was at least a thousand of them waiting, and more were feeding through to run on the storm clouds beyond to chase after the dragon and—

“Maximus!” Titus and Livia said at the same time.

Titus almost buckled from the sheer joy at seeing his friend alive. He wore the reinforced obsidian armor he had stashed in Pompey’s Dungeon, along with a new purple cape that could only be of the famed Alexander. Titus only knew about it because Caesar had coveted it so much in their time together, starting from the arena to now.

But it couldn’t be him. This Maximus was performing Jupiter powers that he had only ever heard of in legends and myths, such as the shockwave he unleashed by just a clap of his hands, sending the Somnia on top of Cetus flying back into the clouds.

“We need to help him,” Titus said, strangling his warhammer in anticipation.

“We can’t. We will fall asleep the moment we approach.”

Titus knew she was right. It was a suicide mission to charge them. His free hand tugged on the rope hanging on his shoulder as he tried to find a solution.

His hand stopped on the rope.

“Livia, I need you to shoot as many of them that come our way,” he said, beginning to unfurl the rope. “We will not last once they swarm over her, but that is no matter. But if I can pull it down, Maximus will be safe.”

Livia took a deep breath, nodding. “I don’t doubt your strength, husband.” She drew closer, placing one gauntlet hand on his legionnaire chest plate. “I never have.”

They both embraced each other one last time. Titus held her close as he prepared to face what would come next: endless, torturous nightmares, unless Maximus saved the day. It would be maddening, but if it gave Maximus a chance, he was willing to do anything for him.

But most importantly, for Livia, who cleaved unto his strength at the end of the world.

“If we live, we will rescue your children, and when we’re done, I want to start a family with you,” Titus said.

Livia smiled, caressing his armor. “Let’s not keep Maximus waiting.”

At once, Livia set to firing off arrow after arrow onto the Somnia by his side. Titus wasted no time and threw with all of his strength the hook and rope. The hook caught and spun around the top of the ivory frame of the gates on the first throw, creating an unbreakable anchor.

The Somnia broke into a leaping sprint to their nearby floating island as Titus began to heave with all of his strength on the rope. Titus growled under the strain as he pulled, causing the frame to tilt in his direction.

The first of the Somnia landed on their floating island.

Livia had desperately fired a dozen arrows before the Somnia tackled her, instantly sending her to forced sleep.

Titus had seconds. His muscles were already draining of energy as they grew near, his mind becoming a darkening tunnel of fatigue. The Somnia attempted to tackle him, but he stood tall and strong like a defiant colossus.

Yet still, despite how tired he was, increasingly so, he pulled with everything he had. He thought of his first interactions with Maximus and Camilla, their adventures together, the gladiator games, labyrinth, civil war, and watching Maximus die, only to come back again to try and save Rome. Titus pulled. He thought of his father’s approval, of Livia’s love for him and he for her. Titus pulled more. He thought of how he longed to be a father, and being with Livia awakened that fire within him to be a good enough man for her, to earn her approval and to raise children together. Titus strained even more with the rope, causing the ivory frame to crack.

And Titus thought of Marcus Aurelius, whom he had read growing up in his first life and who had inspired him in Bulla Felix’s camp during their time together.

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”

Just as the nightmare darkness closed in on him and smothered his life, Titus heaved with heroic strength and ripped the Gate of Ivory from its foundation, shattering it into pieces.