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

Claudius marched angrily into a hallway and slammed open a door, he dashed into the room and flipped every furniture along his way. The Caesar was furious.

“Where’s Nero? Where is that evil creature?” He shouted, with his reddened face, panting for air. Fire was burning in his eyes.

The maids and servants all kneeled and facing the ground, in fear of the furious Caesar, they kept their silence. Sporus was shaking, hiding under the bed, he held his breath, she knew Caesar was looking for her.

“Father, why are you here?” Nero entered his room to encounter the angry Claudius. Without hesitation, Claudius laid a punch on his face.

“Where’s that evil creature?” He shouted, loud enough to cause a tremor.

He pulled Nero up by the cape around his neck, and brought his son close to his face.

“You… Only had one job! One job! That is to make me my descendant!” Claudius spoke with a trembling tone into Nero’s ear… “You may sleep with whoever you want, including your sisters… YET YOU CHOOSE TO FUCK AN EUNUCH!!!” suddenly raising his voice, the wave of angry roar prick painfully into Nero’s ear. Claudius then pushed his son away from him, and continued.

“The one whose name is Sporus! I order you to surrender yourself within three days! Else your father, whoever related to your family, shall be granted a cup of delicious honeyed wine.” He left the room with his royal guards.

Still trembling in fear and covered with cold sweat, Sporus suddenly felt she was pulled out from her hiding place. She frantically retaliated, until she realized Nero was the one who pulled her out. Gently, he brought her into his embrace. She was still in fear, but she felt a sense of strange safety within his embrace.

"Don't worry, my love. I will not let him do you any harm." Nero whispered to her ear. Claudius will not kill his one and only son. She knew her aggressor was her one and only refuge.

Hugging him tightly, Sporus cried.

“I’ve lost my honour as a man!”

With his body full of bruises and bloody bandage wrapped in between his thighs, Sporus lay on the large luxurious bed with his soulless eyes gazing at the high ceiling. He knew at that moment, he has to denounce his own family name to protect their privilege. And he knew that there would be no future ahead of him. Moving his head to the side, the empty jar in black and brown decoration was like calling to his duty. He would be a cupbearer for his entire life.

Dragging the empty jar to the nearby fountain, he filled it with fresh clean water. Digging in his tunic, he took out a string pouch full of dried plants. He crushed them by rubbing the pouch and soaked the whole pouch into the jar, squeezing it to release the essence. Those were hemlock. He either used it to soak his arrows or took it by himself when he felt hopeless.

When Sporus was about to put the poisonous water to his mouth, one of the Elders tapped his shoulder.

“What are you doing? cupbearer.” The elder was the one with a woman’s voice.

Sporus stood in silence.

“What a pity…” she pulled down her hood, revealing her face, an old wrinkled woman with pure white messy hair.

“Come with me, my poor child.” She gently grabbed Sporus’s hand, walked him to an olive tree.

“Sit down, my child.” Sporus followed whatever she said.

“You may call me Echidna. What is your name, my child?” she asked.

“Sporus.” He answered

“Sporus, what a beautiful name…” she touched his face.

“And what a beautiful face you had here. Sigh… what a waste of such beauty.”

“You still have a bright future, my child. You were born a freeman, but not from a powerful family bloodline. If you were still a man, what future do you think you were able to achieve?”

“A general? A consul? An official? They are all mere servants of the emperor.”

“Imagine, if you are a woman, where your future will be?” She lay both of her hands on Sporus’s face. Suddenly, flashes of images played in his mind. Where the whole nation bowed down to Sporus and addressed her: “Your highness, the Empress!”

"Why?" Her tears flowing, failed to understand what Nero meant in his words.

He hugged her tightly without replying her question. A strange affection he had for her ever since she became his cupbearer. He was supposed to hate her, supposed to see her as a lowly servant. He failed.

"Don't worry. My love, I've ordered my people to send your family and relatives far away from Rome. No one shall ever know who they are." He failed to explain why. Perhaps it was his sense of guilt that he felt for taking away Sporus' honour.

"Would you marry me?"

The question came from Nero, stunned Sporus in surprise. A pomagranate fruit was given to her. The blessing of Hera, the goddess of marriage.

How irony! Is that even a question to begin with? Marrying a man who took away my honour? There is no option at all! Non whatsoever! Reject, and I shall perish!

"Accept, and you shall rise!" Echidna's voice lingered continously in Sporus' mind, like a sweet addictive honey laced with hemp, forcing an ecstacy in her mind.

She laughed but with hopeless tears.

The jar dropped to the floor and broke into pieces. The wine spilled all over the places. Claudius held his hands on his neck when the poisonous wine burnt his throat. He fell down, with his head jerking and his eyelids wide open, almost popping the eyeballs out from his sockets. The servants were all shocked, holding their mouths, nobody dared to make any noise. Until Claudius took his last breath.

“After the matrimony of that beautiful eunuch, the consuls brought in a woman gladiator for their celebration.”

“A woman gladiator? That’s rare, is she going to play the victim?”

“No, it’s an insult to that eunuch…”

“Shhs! He’s the empress now! Stop using that term!”

“Ah, what’s his name again? Yes, Sporus.”

“We all know the new Caesar loves a gladiator fight, but what’s with a woman gladiator having to do with the new empress?”

“Great Zeus! How could you not get the satire? A man made into a bride and a woman playing a man’s role!”

“Ouch! Now I get it. So this gladiator is going to win the play?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure about it. Mevia, she’s famous for putting up some very brutal torture.”

Behind the amphitheater stage, a woman wrapped herself tightly around her breasts with rough linens. A man suddenly dropped a piece of armour with a lion's mane in front of her.

“It’s your once in a lifetime opportunity, Mevia. Put up a good show and the Empress might grant you freedom.”

“Fuck that heavy shit and those fur is itchy!”

“Don’t give me trouble! Those consuls want you to dress up as fancy as possible!” He pointed his thumb toward a group of well dressed noble men who gathered at a corner. They were laughing yet controlling their posh composure.

“It’s a Hydra’s head trap. Hu hu hu… Don’t you all get it? If the woman wins, it means the eunuch better be a sissy, cuz if a woman can win in a man’s arena, it insults the eunuch who lost his honour on the bed of a man. If the woman loses, it also means the eunuch has no position in a place supposed to be for a woman.”

“Hahaha… oh you smart little cockalorum!”

She did not understand their words at all, she only cared about her own survival, freedom is her ultimate goal. From being a noxii to a full gladiator, her body was covered with scars, but she did keep her face well intact. Afterall, the gladiator show was simply an entertainment business, with blood and gore. Picking up the heavy armour and the decorative pieces, she put them on and dragged a sword with her and walked towards the arena.

To be continued…