Ten years ago, the Year of Claudius, the Empire of Rome, under the reign of Caesar Claudius.

“He is the only son of a noble freedman…”

“But look at his face, so delicate, so elegant, such a beauty…”

“With that pretty face, he might not survive the freshmen initiation day…”

Sporus in his 17, put on his new armour, a bow with arrows, and a short sword, he was ready to join the military, as required by Emperor Claudius: all young men must go through military training.

But what he feared was the freshmen initiation day. A day where the senior soldiers would hunt down and abduct their favourite freshmen. Those who got abducted will be raped, castrated, and become the cupbearer of the ones who abducted them. The ceremony was a process to eliminate weaker men from the empire, preventing them from having offspring. It was simply part of the organized selective breeding process. Only those who survived protecting themselves would be trained as soldiers.

“Hey hey… look at that new boy, he looks exactly like a girl!”

“Gorgeous! That face is prettier than most of the ladies!”

“This boy is gonna be mine! Hehehe…”

Sporus’s pretty face soon gained a lot of attention from the lustful seniors. They had been prohibited from getting married, and the only gratification available to them were prostitutes and war slaves. Sporus however, had prepared for the worst. He had been training to master both arrows shooting and short sword. His survival plan, without hesitation, was to kill all seniors who targeted him! If he succeeded, he shall be given the Crown of Bravery.

“SOLDIERS! You only have ONE night to enjoy yourselves; you may do whatever you want! Humiliate them, penetrate them, but don’t kill them! And you are only allowed to abduct one freshman!” The officer briefed the senior soldiers who gathered in the jungle.

“Hey, Master Nero, you heard about the pretty boy named Sporus?”

A senior soldier asks… Nero is in his 18, training as a soldier, as it was his first time taking part in this infamous ceremony.

“The objective of this freshmen initiation day is to eliminate the weak! That’s all that I care about.”

The other seniors were muted by Nero’s serious reply. He was the only son of the Emperor Claudius, known to be the eugene born, the most well trained and strongest soldier among them. Setting his eyes on that delicate looking young man, Nero knew right away, he must be Sporus.

“Freshmen! You are given 10 counts to hide! Starting NOW!” the officer announced. Sporus and the other freshmen ran into the jungle to hide.

“TEN!”

“NINE!”

“EIGHT!”

“SEVEN!”

“SIX!”

“FIVE!”

“FOUR!”

“THREE!”

“TWO!”

“ONE!”

He moved fast, jumping and climbing up to a tree, where he hid and prepared his bow and arrows.

“The hunt starts NOW!” The officer shouted. All the soldiers ran towards the direction where Sporus was headed. Their behaviour triggered Nero’s attention, something wrong might happen.

They all dashed into the jungle, one of them discovered Sporus who was hiding on top of a tree. He tried to climb up to him, but he got shot by an arrow through his head.

But this kill alerted the other seniors, they soon found out the location of Sporus. And they all gathered and tried to climb that tree.

“HE’S MINE!!!” A senior kicked the other soldiers at the bottom, and they started to fight against themselves. Nero arrived, pulling out a sword, he kicked away the other soldiers and decapitated the senior who started the fight.

“YOU ALL SHOULD NOT FIGHT AGAINST EACH OTHER!” Nero shouted.

“Don’t you know about the core objective of the day!?”

“Because of one pretty boy, you fight against your own peer?!”

“You are supposed to go against all the freshmen! Remove the weaks amongst them!”

Sporus smirked and leered at them with a discerning face, he jumped to another tree, trying to run away.

“He is running away!” A soldier shouted.

And they all ignored Nero and ran towards Sporus. Angered by the situation, Nero decided to abduct Sporus to himself! He tied a piece of rock to the rope, sprinted to the front of the other soldiers, and knocked them down with his self-made bolas.

Sporus kept on shooting towards the soldiers who were after him, soon he ran out of arrows. He pulled out his sword and fought the soldiers, he took them down easily for the soldiers were weakened when they saw Sporus at a close distance. His beauty charmed them, and they were unable to fight him.

Suddenly the bolas hit Sporus’s leg, it tied his leg when he was trying to run, and it caused him to trip. A large woven bag suddenly covered him, his arms and legs were immediately tied by ropes, he felt that a man had successfully abducted him! Screaming and wrestling, he was in panic, trying as hard as he could to escape.

Nero raised the captured Sporus by his waist with one arm, and he shouted, “HE HAS BEEN ABDUCTED!”

“You all better go find other freshmen if you still want a cupbearer for yourself tonight!”

The other soldiers stopped their fight and ran away.

Sporus continued to shout and struggle in the bag, but Nero threw him down to the ground and uncovered the top of the bag, uncovering Sporus’s face.

“You must be the incarnation of Helen the Troy!” Grabbing on his well-defined chin, Nero examined his face. A natural, perfectly beautiful and delicate face, without powder. Perhaps there was some dirt and some blood stains. Those large green eyes stared angrily at him, mesmerizing but with a hint of fear. Nero felt as if his eyes were casting a spell on him.

“Your pretty face might bring a great disaster to our empire! You do not deserve to live!”

Nero wielded his sword towards Sporus, he rolled to dodge the attack.

“THE RULES SAYS YOU CANNOT KILL ME!” Sporus shouted in fear.

“A soldier must follow the orders!” Sporus added, he tried to act innocent, as he knew that his charm may work on Nero.

Nero pushed him down and stabbed his sword to the ground, the blades sat close to his neck.

“Yes, you’re right! A soldier must follow the order!” Nero replied, staring into Sporus’s eyes.

And Nero did as according to the order.

After the Three Elders released the hydra, Sporus was able to escape from Eretria. She layed on the bed inside the carriage which was on its way back to Rome. With her shoulder wound treated, her pain is not on the shoulder, but on her face… the face that brought her up from being a cupbearer to an empress. She touched the dressing on her wounded face, and she screamed in anger.

To be continued…