Chapter 9 We are Legion

The Roman stood in front of me, his sword pricking my throat. He was dressed much like one would expect of an ancient roman. An Imperial helmet sat upon his head, which featured a sloped neck guard with ribbing at the nape and projected ear guards with a brass trim. His body armor was composed of broad ferrous strips fastened to internal leather straps.

An enormous square shield that almost ran the length of his body was held in one hand while the other held the sword pressed against my neck.

I eyed the blade that pressed into me. A Gladius, the weapon of choice of a foot soldier and the famous gladiators. Two-edged for cutting with a tapered point for stabbing during thrusting it was a highly versatile weapon with a blade length of around 18 – 20 inches.

I slowly raised my hand in the air as I lay on the ground.

“I am just a traveller, far from home,” I said. The Roman just grunted as he continued to stare me down.

“And the other one?” he asked. And I heard the sound of scuffling and a few meaty thuds outside of my field of vision.

“Futuo!” I heard a voice curse in pain.

“ahhh unfortunately, he is with me,” I said.

I was hauled to my feet. They bound my hands behind my back and took my sword. I looked over to see Ray’s bleeding face, his fists were clenched and he was in a hunched lunging position.

“Stop picking a fight with Roman’s you idiot,” I said. He was still hurt pretty bad from our escape.

Ray grimaced and let them bind his hands behind his back and they marched us towards the wall of a giant city. Unlike the other teleporter this city was no ruin, but a fully functioning walled Roman fortress.

I looked back over my shoulder to see where the teleporter array lay. There was a wall that looked recently built that surrounded it. Three towers stood outside the walls with archers stationed in them and the walls themselves had small round holes in them from which large spears were inserted.

I imagined a hostile person arriving for a moment. They would be turned into a pin-cushion by the archers first. And if that proved ineffective the enormous spears could be thrust through the walls to impale them.

“Have others arrived through the portal before?” I asked Roman who had questioned me originally. He seemed to be in charge. He looked at me indifferently before replying.

“Some of your kind has come before. Not many. Those that defied the Roman Empire all received the same fate.”

“My kind?” I questioned.

“Sleepwalkers.” He replied simply. “Or Users as you refer to yourselves.”

“You are not Users?” I asked shocked.

“You’re such a fucking noob Nakamura. They’re NPCs.” Ray sneered. The Roman did not look happy at Ray’s comment but remained silent.

We marched under a blistering heat for some hours before finally arriving at the foot of the enormous walls. Inside was an entire roman city bustling with life. I could hear the sound of blacksmiths at work and smell fresh food being cooked. Everyone looked as if they were part of the Roman Legions, armed to the teeth and moving in carefully ordered groups.

We wove through the city before ascending a large citadel. Eventually we were brought into a room that had an incredible view of the surrounding lands. A lightly bearded man sat at the end of the room, looking at a dozen maps that were sprawled before him. Behind him stood an enormous creature with the head of a bull and the body of man that I could only identify as a Minotaur. Clad in full roman armor with a massive axe in his hands and razor sharp thorns protruding from his head, it was the most menacing thing I had ever seen. 7ft tall and built with sheer muscle, its arms were like tree trunks.

“Sir, I have brought two Sleepwalkers who arrived,” the Roman said as he saluted. He brought my sword over to the man and laid it on the table.

The man looking at the maps looked up and took us in with a glance. His eyes were deep and piercing, like they could slice open my flesh and stare straight at my soul.

“Yes, yes, well unbind them, Septus and ask the boy to bring some wine. We should welcome our guests. And give the boy his sword back,” He said throwing my sword to Septus.

“But sir, what if they cause trouble – remember the last one?” Septus said. But the man simply laughed.

“I am sure you remember what happened to the last one Septus.” The man grinned and the Minotaur behind him made a sound that I could only assume was laughter but sounded like a roaring lion eating something.

“Yes sir. Apologies sir,” Septus said as his men removed our bindings and passed my sword back to me then withdrew.

I sat down at the table with Ray on my right and wine was quickly brought in and placed before me. I considered if it could be poison then discarded the thought. If they wanted me dead it would be easy enough.

I raised the wine to my lips and sipped it casually. It was delicious, a truly profound vintage.

“SPLAAAHHHHH” Ray suddenly burst out next to me spitting all the wine out of his mouth and onto the floor.

“Damn that tastes like shit. Did you assholes piss in this cup?.” Ray asked much to my horror.

Then I remembered he was 12. It was probably the first alcohol he had ever tasted. Not that I had drunk much either, but Uncle had been fond of wine and introduced me to its pleasures.

“HAHAHAHAHA,” the man roared with laughter. “Son your manners will make you fit in very well with the Legion. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Belisarius, my class is Emperor-General. I command all that you see here. Further to the north and to the east I am also in control of other cities and every day our influence and reach widens. But this is where we began, here in what we call New Rome.”

“You are an NPC?” I asked and saw him frown.

“We don’t particularly like the term NPC, it does not accurately fit what we are. Put simply we are the Native life-forms of the Great Game for this particular planet. When the Warden came its great machine generated this planet and the space surrounding it from the collective conscious and unconscious minds of all human beings on Earth. All the thoughts, dreams, cultural and intellectual history of Earth gave birth to the warp and weft of this world. Something unique. As part of that process many life-forms were created that are Native to this pocket of the Great Game, beings like myself – in history I was one of the greatest Roman generals to ever live. Now I have gained life once again, birthed by the strength of the human imagination. I am somewhat more and somewhat less than I was in real life. We were the first here, in this world. Users or Sleepwalkers were the second.”

“Are you saying your not controlled by the Great Game?” I said.

“Exactly. We are like you, only we do not log out of the game like you Sleepwalkers. I have no body, no existence outside of the Great Game. But in here I have a mind, I have a body. I think therefore I am.”

“Yah but your still a program, your still doing the Great Games bidding you just don’t realise it.” Ray said trying to wrap his mind around it. I thought Belisarius would be offended but he just gave a wry smile.

“What is real and unreal in this world? Perhaps the words of your immortal poet Shakespeare said it best.” He gazed slightly off in the distance as if pondering his words. “I am a Native. Hath not a Native eyes? Hath not a Native hands, organs,

dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a User is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Native wrong a User, what is his humility? Revenge. If a User wrong a Native, what should his sufferance be by User example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” Belisarius words echoed passionately through the chamber.

“Is that what the User’s who came before us taught you, Vengeance and villainy?” I asked softly.

“ho ho ho,” Belisarius laughed. “I’m a Roman. Vengeance was my mother who spat me out into the world cold and alone.”

“So what happens when you die then Belisarius.” I said.

“This is where we differ. While Users feel the pain of death they are forced to simply log out for 24 hours. Forcibly ejected from the Great Game as it were. For Natives such as myself our souls disperse into the underlying energy of the Great Game. It seeks to absorb us back into itself. The only way to respawn is through sheer will, to claw and bite and do anything you can do hold your soul together.

If you survive 24 hours like this you respawn back into the world. If you fail then you are gone forever. Some can’t face that battle more than once and others seek the embrace of oblivion. The only Native’s that you will see in this world as time goes by and the flame of war burns us, all will be left is the vicious and the strong.”

A cold shiver ripped through me as I considered it. Feeling your very self dissolve into nothingness while you clung on by sheer will.

“This is why we will always value life more than you Sleepwalkers. In your minds this is but a dream, a scarily real one, but a dream nonetheless.” He said.

Except for me, where my reality of the game was even more dire then a NPC’s. If I died, it was more than likely I really died. And no amount of willpower would bring me back.

“But come!” Belisarius said, clapping his hands together loudly and smiling. “Let us not dwell on these dark matters…..Braizo Nakamura.”

As soon as he said my name one thought thundered through my mind: He knows who I am, therefore he knows about the bounty.

I exploded out of my seat, drawing Qi Xing Long Yuan and thrusting the blade directly at Belisarius’s throat. My move was perfect, my speed exceptional, my technique without flaw. Just as the blade was about to penetrate his skin my sword as knocked away in explosion of force and shot out of my hand and embedded itself into a wall in the far corner of the room. My eyes followed the blade as it flew and I noticed Ray knocked unconscious on the ground bleeding again.

Despite myself, I couldn’t help but stand their motionless for a moment in shock. The Minotaur, that enormous being had somehow moved from the back of the room, knocked out Ray and deflected my sword blow in the space of a split second.

What’s more he had blocked Qi Xing Long Yuan with nothing more than his arm!

I waited to die, but nothing happened. The Minotaur just stood their gazing at me passively. That’s when I realized Belisarius had not so much as moved a muscle the entire time. He still had a bemused look on his face.

“Come now Mr Nakamura, please sit. There is no need for these unpleasantries.” Slowly I sat down back into my seat feeling completely foolish. I had played my hand thinking they were already going to kill me and instead I had been handled like a child.

“Let’s put our cards on the table. I am well aware of the bounty on your head by Zeus. Though the Roman God Jupiter was based on the Greek God Zeus the Roman Legions no longer worship him. In this world even the gods themselves are just powerful Natives, as they draw breath so can their breath be stilled. In a past time we bowed before them, but this is not the past and we bend knee to no one.”

I relaxed slightly as I realized I might just survive this.

“My humble apologies. My actions were rash,” I said, and meant it.

“Tis nothing,” Belisarius said with a wave of his hand. “Even without my friend here you lack the capability to cause me any harm. I was never in danger. Even if your friend had his gun it could not harm me.”

“And why is that?” I asked.

“Your level is simply too low. Perhaps you have not encountered this disparity yet. There is not a single soldier in my army under level 100. If you are a physical based class your body becomes incredibly hardy over time. Simple bullets cannot even penetrate your skin. It takes specialized gun classes with their added bonuses and special skills to bring one of us down. In this respect this world and your world are different. There are many paths to power here and technomancy is only one.

Consider it like this. In ancient human days there was always a race between defense and offense. New more powerful armor would be invented that would dominate until the technology of weapons improved to counter them. An endless cycle. In this world it is much the same though more complex. Technopathy, mana, Qi there are too many variables to predict. An armor strong against technomancy might be weak against magic or a Qi infused crushing blow.”

“What the fuuuuuuuuck.” I heard a groan to my right as Ray regained consciousness.

“Ahh perfect timing.” Belisarius quipped as Ray shakily climbed back into his chair.

“I was about to make an offer. Before things got a little out of hand. I would like you both to consider joining my Empire.”

“How would that work.” I asked intrigued. I was basically a pariah to be killed on site anywhere else and was in desperate need of allies.

“You swear an Oath to join the Roman Empire and become a part of it. If you betray that Oath you are hunted down and mercilessly killed. It is all really rather simple. The Roman Empire originally grew strong by not being insular. We absorbed soldiers form the populations we conquered.

Already in the armies I command there are Natives from several different species and populations all working together. Humans, Werewolves, monsters, Sages, Craftsmen, though they hark from different origins under the eyes of the Empire they are all Roman. Our philosophy has always been thus, take what works and make it better, discard what is useless.”

“I’m done being a slave.” Ray spat. “I won’t take orders so you may as well just kill me.”

I admired his words, but I could not afford them. If I died I was truly dead, perhaps I could swear an Oath and later forge my own path.

As if he could read our thoughts Belisarius saw right through both of us.

“Let me ask a different question. I do not want forced loyalty that is easily broken. Such commitments are useless to me. I want allies. There is a war coming, a great conflict few of us will survive. We have 100 years at most before this world is no longer protected and the hordes of sentient beings that are far more familiar with the Great Game will descend upon us to claim this territory as their own.

And thus the purpose of the Roman Empire is simple. We will conquer every inch of this planet over the course of the next 100 years and place it in our complete control. Then when the 100 years is up we will be ready. First we take this planet, next the universe.”

“You sure aim high.” I said. I wasn’t sure how realistic his plan was. I am sure Wolf had the same plan as did many others.

“I have said my purpose. What is yours? My purpose is clear and my mission defined. I know what I am and what needs to be done. The two of you, what is your purpose?”

“Simple,” Ray said. “I want to be the best. To fight the best and the world to know that I am the best.”

“And you Nakamura?”

I pondered. The answer was difficult. I had no purpose except to survive. Nothing deeper drove me besides the will to live.

“I feel no driven purpose except to be free,” I said. “To be free to make my own path. To comprehend what my path is. But freedom requires strength or you become a slave to another’s will. And so I seek to cultivate strength, strength to kill a man….or an empire. To be invicible under the heavens, nay to be mightier than the heavens themselves and to make them submit to my will. For me my purpose is thus. To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to listen to the lamentation of their women.”

“hah!” Belisarius said. “A noble cause indeed. Both of you can find what you seek under the wing of the Empire. I promise you this, join us for 10 years then after that time if you should wish to leave you may, but in the interim you will fight with us. Be one of us. You will be the first User’s to join our Empire.”

It didn’t take much thinking on my part. They could kill us anytime they wanted to. I had no safe haven anywhere else as everyone would kill me on sight. I was also intrigued by Belisarius and what he could potentially achieved. If the Users had cast me out and sought to hunt me down then I would join with the Natives and help them kill them all.

“I will join.” I said solemnly.

“Ahh fuck it count me in too.” Ray said, “that invincible under heaven bullshit sounds good.”

“Consider it done!” Belisarius declared and I felt something descend on me, a bind of some sort between me and Belisarius.

Bond of BrothersYou have been conscripted into the Roman Legion. This conscription lasts 10 years. The Legion is obliged to protect you from enemies and you are obliged to offer your loyalty. Should you betray the Legion then your stats will suffers an 80% penalty and your level a 50% penalty until the time left on the conscription is fulfilled

“My class is Emporer-General, now that you have agreed to be part of my Empire for 10 years a bond has been forged between us. This bond cannot be severed until the time is up.”

I was not happy about the bond but it wasn’t all bad. I could live with it.

“So what would you have us do?” I said.

“Currently you are too weak to do anything. You are a like flea on the backside of an elephant. You must raise your level and fighting capability. There is no point having either of you join a standard Legion unit because that style of fighting requires disciplined coordination within a unit line. Both of your fighting styles need to be free and improvised, so its best you join a unit of Irregulars. But before that you need some training. All our Irregular’s must graduate the Gladatorial school. Survive that training and then we can talk again.”

I nodded in excitement. There was nothing I loved more than training.

“You should continue to guard the teleporter array. Others will come for me Belisarius.” I said.

“Ho Ho. This I know, you are a rather troublesome person.” He replied. “Come it is getting late I am sure you wish to log out soon. My aide will see you to some room which you can use for tonight and tomorrow we will get you settled. Welcome to the Empire my friends.” Belisarius finished with a smile.

An aide came and led Ray and I to a simple but functional room and I trigged the log out function. I had survived and perhaps found an ally, at least for a time at least. I did not trust Belisarius, he was too intelligent for his own good and I could not fathom his intent.

Only time would tell. Either way my path remained as always, I needed strength and I needed it quickly.

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Belisarius

I watched Ray and Nakamura leave with a thoughtful look on my face. Moving back to my maps I dismissed my old friend for the evening and watched as the Minotaur lumbered out the door.

A shadow that had gone unnoticed detached from the wall and walked over to the table and poured some wine. Humanoid in appearance but with faint film of shadow sticking to his outline it was impossible to see any facial features.

He strolled over and looked at the maps and cast his hand across them. New shapes appeared on them with different colors signifying different armies.

“Wolf will be consolidating the western area. I anticipate in 2 years he will control the entire western third of the planet if his progress continues. You must not fall behind the schedule.” The shadow said.

“No Warden.” I replied.

“What do you think of the Marine?

“Hmmmm, he is narrowly focused, but likely to be a superior combatant in small group fighting. Once he is developed properly I would say he could develop strength at Alpha level. I have some ideas for his path.”

“And Nakamura?”

“A strong blade is useless without a strong hand to wield it. I do not question his will, which is considerable, nor his potential – which is the highest I have seen. He is fueled by a wish to become strong, but that strength he desires currently has no real purpose beyond survival. Until he finds a deeper purpose he will never reach his full potential.”

“After his training have him and the Marine join the siege of the current dungeon. For his final tempering send him to the old man.”

“Are you sure he is ready? Gladiator training and the dungeon are one thing….but the other? None have survived.”

“It is precisely because he is not ready that he must go.”

“Isn’t he needed for our long term plans, if he is dead then of what use is he?”

“No, there are others. Nakamura has seen into the abyss. Perhaps even dived within it. But he is not the only candidate that has the potential to do so. For now, we must keep him hidden from the other wardens. As for his path, he has but two options. Death or power.”

“And so say we all.” I said softly. And with that the shadow faded and disappeared.

I sighed as I sat back in my chair.

You had better keep your promise Warden. I thought as I reclined. Or I will salt the earth with your ashes and burn this world to the ground.