"Eternal damnation upon you!" He yelled into the void once more. He had been fuming in a near-featureless, black cell for over an hour now. Still reeling with anger and dismay after the small eyeless girl had banished him from her realm.

The only other feature of this void was a small rectangular plate that had slowly decreasing numbers spelled out upon it in a bright red light. All in all the light coupled with the black room gave the whole situation an ominous vibe.

55:34

Maximus slumped down in the corner and let his face fall into his hands. This is all a bad dream he thought. That's right I'll close my eyes and I'll be back in my hot stuffy tent in Arabia. He closed his eyes and opened them again.

Never had he wished to be back in the service of Rome more so than in this moment.

34:57

After a brief pity party, Maximus stood up, a grim determination written on his face. He drew his stout gladius and checked for nicks and chips from the previous battle. Miraculously there were none, he then checked his armour for any cracks or dents. There was some damage, the most glaring of this being his caved in pauldron having been hit by a glancing blow by a Mamluk cavalry soldier.

Maximus took of his pauldron and attempted to hammer out the dent with the pommel of his sword. That done he reattached the steel plate and took his best defiant pose. He held this for several seconds before laughing depreciatingly and slumping to the floor again.

"I'm going to die." He muttered to no one in particular.

25:17

Maximus was using this time to reflect on his life, knowing full well that he had just gone through a tiring metamorphosis of emotional states he chooses instead a much less draining activity, to look back on his past before his, what seemed inevitable demise. He closes his eyes and began to ponder. His mind wandered back to his childhood.

As a boy whose father was at war and his mother was sick Maximus had been left much of the day to roam the streets of Alexandria. Jumping from building to building along with a pack of other unsupervised children. He smiled in the dark. Good times.

His mind then went to a later memory, one of boot and flesh. He is on the ground and people surround him, boots and sandals come crashing in from each side. A job gone wrong, several of his friends had stolen from a wealthy Roman lady. As it so happened her husband was a Centurian. Maximus and his friends had received quite a beating that day.

Once more his mind wanders this time he is a young man, wiping sweat from his brow as he labours in front of hot coals. A man comes into the shop, well dressed and flanked on both sides by legionaries. He asks Maximus to work for half of what a Roman smith would be paid, Maximus refuses. He returns to his shop the next day to find it vandalised and his tools stolen. This was the last straw and what caused him to give up his dream.

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Maximus grimaces as he reopens his eyes. Pretty shit all things considered. He thought, no wonder I'm so bloody jaded. He chuckles once more, his musings lit only by the dim, red glow.

17:22

Maximus sighed, what he wouldn't give for some wine right now. Or a good woman. He laughed, wonder which other poor sods got chosen for this madness. Who was he kidding, Maximus didn't care. He had already given up hope. You didn't win against 4:1 odds, you just didn't. Maybe if they had the terrain and banded together... No! He staunched that flow of ideas angrily. No, he said more calmly in his head. This is the end, the enemy has trained for this. I'll just enjoy my final hours in peace before going down peacefully. He was just so tired, and fighting seemed like such a foreign concept.

5:06

Maximus had closed his eyes and begun to sing a tune in his head. He didn't know where he knew it from, just that he always had. Whatever the case its slow, melancholic tune filled the small chamber.

Maximus began to pray, silently in the dark.

God, if you can hear me then answer my prayer. I pray not for myself but for the rest of humanity. I pray that you can still hear me in this hellscape and if you can then I pray you give one of this fifty the strength to win. The strength to save the human race. They do not deserve servitude, no one deserves the boots of others. To be looked down upon. I pray you choose a proper hero to save us. Because it sure as shit isn't going to be me. Amen.

Maximus finished and smiled in a satisfied manner. His duty to his species was done and the pit of guilt that had settled in the bottom of his stomach began to recede, he could pass on without guilt now. Some would say his attitude was naught more than selfish cowardice, choosing to save oneself hardship at the cost of the human race. Maximus would agree with these men before kindly asking them to fuck off. Bravery and heroics were for men younger, more handsome and far more idealistic than himself.

00:03

00:02

00:01

Alright, world. Maximus thought, standing up in the final moments of peace he would be allowed.

Whats the worse you've got? Because I doubt it can make my day any worse than it is already.