The Fall of Rome

I stared at my corpse, mangled as it was, as thousands of barbarians invaded my city, my home, and my world. They burned, stole, and destroyed, while I, a simple soldier, died on the front lines of the defense. I was one of the few who hadn’t fled, even most of the soldiers had done so, or worse, joined the barbarians.

The screams of civilians constantly assaulted my ears. Men and women, old and young, all plead for their lives, begging to be spared, or that their children and loved ones be spared. The most defeated among them simply asked that their deaths be quick.

It pierced my heart, stabbing me like a constant assault of knives. I could do nothing to help them. I had tried, and I was killed, struck down by the horde as they ran past the walls that had been breached. They turned Rome, the Eternal City, into hell on earth for anyone who was still within the walls.

I had expected Thanatos to come for me, or some other manifestation of Death that I had heard of from travelers. The one who greeted me was nothing like what I had expected. As she appeared, I saw that she wore a black tiara with a veil that fell over her face, though I could still see her perfectly. Her hair was a shocking pink, her face was soft and slightly angular. Her eyes were bright red, and her outfit was a black dress with a variety of strange pieces of metal that went down it in the style of a ribcage. Finally, she had a large scythe on her back.

Her manner of speech was nothing like anything I had heard before. It was as if she’d come from another world, and I don’t mean that in any positive sense. She was no ethereal goddess, rather, she was something… worse. “Yo, sucks, doesn’t it?” She gestured to the devastation in Rome, “I suppose this place was sorta begging for it ever since that time they banned bathing…” She scratched her cheek, “That one’s always been a big yikes, if you ask me.”

I stared at her in confusion and a subdued sense of fear, “Who… are you?”

She posed, crossing her arms dramatically in an effort to impress me, “Yo, yo! Calliope Mori in the house! Reaper rapper extraordinaire!” She uncrossed her arms and pointed at me, “You, my unfortunate friend, have died. Are you ready for the next life, my dude? We’ve got a life lined up faaarrr in the future for you, much better than this one. Should be cool-”

I shook my head and cut her off with a yell, “No! Not yet!” I clenched and unclenched my fists to try and control my anger and desperation, “I still have business to attend to!”

Calliope facepalmed and sighed, “Maaan… Why do I always gotta get these types?” She pulled her hand off her face, “Look, dude, you died. I can’t just let you come back. That’s against the rules.” To wit, she manifested a dense book into her hands, which she held up, it was titled ‘Rules of Dying’.

I shook my head and looked away, “I know there’s barbarians attacking my family villa right now. I can’t let them go unpunished!” I was pleading with her by that point as I clasped my hands together, attempting to make her understand, “I don’t care about the rest of the army… I just need the ones attacking my villa to answer for their crimes.” I unclasped my hands and clenched them into fists while lowering them, “After that, you can do whatever you want, I don’t care. Reincarnate me, send me to the afterlife, anything.”

She started to object, “Look-” Then, it seemed that an idea crossed her mind, as her objections died in her throat. She started to grin a devious grin that sent a shiver down my spine, “You know what? Today’s your lucky day, dude. I’ll let you live, I’ll even teleport you away from here so you can find those dudes easier.” Then, she held up her index finger, “On one condition.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat, feeling that I was likely going to regret whatever she had in mind for me. Yet, I couldn’t refuse, “Anything.”

She crossed her arms again, “I have a friend of mine, yeah? You’re going to meet them, and when you do, I’ll be watching. I need to see something. Depending on how it goes, I’ll decide how the rest of this shit is gonna go down, got it?”

She was speaking in riddles, and when that combined with her manner of speech, it made it even harder to understand her, “What…?” Then, I shook my head, “Okay, fine! Just bring me back!”

Calliope’s unsettling grin never faltered as she uncrossed her arms and rubbed her hands together, “Alright, this is gonna hurt.”

Oh, it did. More than anything I had ever felt before.

A white light enveloped me, and I was pulled back into my body. I felt my broken bones mending, fixing themselves. My wounds were stitching themselves closed, everything that was wrong with me was being fixed in the most painful way imaginable. I screamed in pain as I was repaired, and it was only when the pain began to die that I noticed that something else had changed. It was only later that I would discover that my body and mind had been restored to their prime, returning me to my twenties, physically. I supposed that that was part of the deal.

Yet, I didn’t have time to think about that. Instead, I drew my gladius and marched off to find the barbarians that were likely still occupying my villa.

I traveled within the brush, parallel to the road. I knew I couldn’t exactly go around picking fights with every Visigoth I saw, even if the thought was extremely tempting. I knew exactly where my family villa was in relation to Rome, all roads lead to it, the Eternal City.

As I continued along the path, I grimly mused that the Eternal City seemed at risk of vanishing. Yet, this was not the first time Rome had faced challenges on this level. I firmly believed that, even if the empire fell, the city of Rome would remain standing over us all, even at eternity’s end.

My musing continued even as I moved as quickly and as stealthily as I could through the brush and the trees. I wasn’t exactly in the right clothes for this, my armor was hampering my attempts at sneaking, but to abandon it now would be foolish. I continued, slow as I was. I didn’t stop for a few hours, I just kept moving. Yet, finally, about halfway to my villa, I saw something that gave me pause.

It seemed like some visigoths were harassing a confused looking woman with Roman dress on, despite their best attempts to terrify her, she just seemed confused. Brown haired with a strange nest-like outcropping. She was short and seemed fairly meek, large brown eyes matched her hair. I didn’t recognize this girl, not surprising I guess, Rome was a big city. However, I did know that she was in trouble, so priming myself and building up energy in my legs, I abruptly rushed out of the brush.

She was being harassed by two Visigothic raiders, I had the closest one, who also seemed to be the biggest in my sights to start. They didn’t notice me until I let out a battle cry, and even then they were more shocked than anything for the precious few seconds I needed to close the gap.

I braced my leg muscles and pushed hard off the ground, lunging at my target as he started to draw his sword. Lucky for me, he was just slow enough, I tackled him with my sword sliding into his chest. I was panting, but I didn’t have time to rest though. There was one more. As they drew their sword, I jumped off the corpse of the first one and entered a combat stance, now that the element of surprise was lost.

The girl looked shocked, although something was off about it. Like she wasn’t entirely new to this sort of thing happening in front of her. I didn’t have time to think about that though, instead I shouted to her, “Go! There’s nothing left for you here, the city has fallen! Seek shelter!”

The girl shook herself out of her stupor and nodded silently before starting to sprint off towards the treeline. Smart girl, that one…

Meanwhile the raider grunted a complaint, “Bastard, we were gonna have fun with her. I guess you’ll have to do!” Sword in hand, he and I began circling each other. Was he implying what I think he was implying?

Snorting, I held a lowered stance as I circled him, “What are you, a catamite? Sorry, I'm not interested. I always took your kind to be mentula!”

He didn’t take kindly to what I was saying, “We’ll see who's a catamite when I’m through with you!” Then he charged at me, spatha primed to try and run me through. He was much larger than me, but also much slower. I managed to roll out of the way thanks to my low stance. I had anticipated I’d need to do something like this. I capitalized on my positioning by slicing at his hamstring, his scream of pain indicated that my ploy worked.

“You Visigoths are all the same, you think strength will win you the day!” I growl out as the man falls to one knee, his sword clattered out of his hand due to the sudden intense pain atop of having missed his intended swing. Taking advantage of this, I plunged my gladius into his neck. “You’ll be disappointed when you learn that strength isn’t everything!” Then I yanked my sword out and got up to leave as he fell to the ground.

Panting heavily, I continued on my path. I needed to avoid more encounters like this, I wasn’t going to be able to avenge my family if I was barely able to lift my sword by the time I got there.

A lot of walking later, I reached my home. even if it took a solid day of walking to get there, avoiding Visigoth patrols all the while. The God forsaken Germanic horde… I’d kill them all if I could, anything to get my home back. To get Rome back.

When I got to my villa, I saw it was mostly intact. There was damage, some fires that raged and were put out. Yet, instead of my mother and sisters, I saw patrolling Visigoths, they looked no better than bandits. I would have to do this carefully.

I double checked my armor, Lorica Hamata, the interlinking iron rings hung over my chest and down to my legs, and atop that was a padded leather vest, and my standard issue Roman Braccae. A long time ago, Roman legionnaires scorned trousers, but in this day and age we could not afford to throw out something that could provide both good insulation and good protection. My sword was a Gladius, a bit beaten up at this point, yet it had served me well for this long, and it was all I had. I gripped it in my hand as I marched forward toward the first Visigoth I saw, a barbaric brute who had his back toward me.

He started turning towards me, “Hey- Who are-?!”

I slammed my glave forward, putting the full force of my body behind it as I stabbed into his neck. He had begun to draw his sword, but dropped it after I made my move. Trying to gurgle out a call for help, he flails his free hand out, “Y-You…HACK…. God damn… Roman…” Then, he fell backward, sliding off my blade.

That’s one…

I make my way forward, into my family villa. There didn’t seem to even be that many of them. From the voices I heard, I figured maybe three more. I followed the voices to another room, I think it was my mother’s room… As I entered her chambers, I didn’t see her, but I saw two invaders.

“Barbarians! This is the end for you!” I immediately ran at the closest one with my sword. He barely had time to react before I stabbed into his neck, before kicking his body backward off my blade. The second one had time to draw his sword.

Two down…

“Roman scum…!” The Visigoth took a heavy swing at me with his blade, it was sloppy, his form was like he was a lumberjack trying to chop wood. His swing was slow enough that I was able to sidestep him, and with another heavy thrust I drove my sword into his neck. His eyes widened in terror as he lost grip of his blade, I ripped my blade out of his neck, causing him to collapse to the ground in a pool of blood.

Three…

The final one seemed to be the raid leader, a large man, at least a foot taller than me. He wielded a large woodcutter’s axe. “You! Roman! You’ve killed the rest of my men! Not bad for a pup! This is where it ends for you!” He took a battle stance, seeming more trained than the others.

His first move was a broad horizontal swing, I scrambled to kneel down just to duck under it, narrowly the axe head missed my head. I was smaller and had a much less powerful weapon than him, I needed to be quick on my feet. Taking the initiative, I sprung forward from the kneeling position and tried to stab into his stomach. Instead, I merely scratched his sword. “Hah!” He exclaimed, “You’d have made a good Visigoth!” Then he raises his massive leg and slacks his foot forward into a kick that sends me staggering back.

With a roar, he raises his axe and quickly swings downward, it was all I could do to take cover behind a pillar, which his axe digs into. Growling, he tried to yank it free, but this was the opportunity I was looking for. I lunged forward with a defiant cry, “INFIRMUS!” My gladius plunged into his chest, piercing his heart based on the placement of the blade.

Falling backward off my blade, he was not dead immediately. Coughing up blood, the raid leader grinned with bloody teeth. “You are strong…. But now… You have to contend with… Her.” He trailed off, dying.

Who was he referring to…?

I looked forward to the last room, the room he was standing in front of. With four down, that would make this one number five. It was a woman, I was surprised at first when I heard that, but I reasoned that Visigothic women were used to combat, they lived like barbarians after all. So, I marched forward and kicked open the door.

Instead of an incredibly tall, blonde haired barbarian woman, I was greeted with… Something else. The woman I laid eyes on had an unkempt beauty to her, combined with ethereal otherworldliness… She had long, unkempt and flowing red hair, her skin looked clean, but also tough. She’d clearly had a lot of experience in combat before.

She was dressed in breeches and a tunic, much like the other barbarians, there was no real armor to speak of. When she turned to me, her eyes were wide with shock, they were violet. Like nothing I had ever seen before… Were she a maiden I was trying to rescue, I might have gotten lost in them, but this was not the case.

“Who are you?!” The mysterious woman scrambled to her feet and grabbed her sword, it wasn’t too dissimilar to a gladius, just longer. She held it at the ready, “You’re not with my raiding party!”

“This is my villa!” I raised my sword at her before swiping it to the side as I adopted a combat ready stance, “You bastards killed my mother and my sisters… As we speak, your kind are raping, pillaging, and burning down my city! Beautiful Rome… If I can’t avenge the city, I will at least avenge my family!” I gained a ferocious tone to my voice as my eyes widened in fury, “This is YOUR END!”

“I had nothing to do with your city, but if you’re ready to die, then fine! COME ON!” She adopted a similar fighting stance and fierce tone to her voice as her eyes seemed to burn with a fury similar to mine.

She was the one who charged at me first, going for a stab not dissimilar to the ones I performed earlier, aimed right at my head, I moved my head to the side, allowing the blade to slip right past me. I didn’t have the time or the space to stab into her yet, so instead I landed a hard punch to her gut. I heard her cough as a result as she staggered backward, “You’re not bad… But you’re still not good enough, Roman!”

She takes the initiative again, this time she reels back for a slash, when her blade begins to… Catch fire? I thought I was seeing things at first, but when she slashed at me and I backstepped to avoid getting caught by her blade, the flame’s heat licked against my body and I knew it was very real. What the hell was this?!

Once the blade was no longer in front of me, I took the initiative and quickly stepped forward, I was never this fast before… Yet I didn’t have time to think about it, instead I tried to drive my gladius up towards her jaw. Yet, she was just as quick as I was, stepping back and allowing the blade to sail past her face. The metal caught my reflection, I could see the fury in my own eyes, for the briefest of moments, before I tried to bring my blade down on the rebound, driving to slash at her head.

However, she caught my blade with hers, it wasn’t on fire anymore, but the heat still remained. I gritted my teeth as I felt the heat grow, was she going to…? Just as I had that thought, I reflexively yanked my blade back as hers caught fire. She used the break in my form to her advantage, she charged forward at me, “NOW DIE!” She screamed as she drove her sword forward and… Into my stomach. Yet the adrenaline masked the pain for a few moments, and as she stood there relishing in purported victory, I drove my sword forward into her own stomach.

“H-Huh…?” She looked down at her newly bleeding stomach. I coughed up blood as I stepped closer, which drove the blade further into my stomach as I felt the pain searing through my body all too clearly now. Yet this was sure to kill her too. I grabbed ahold of her shoulder with my free hand, and pulled her closer to me. I whispered in her ear, “If my life is to end here… I-I’m going to at least send you to hell first.” Then, losing strength, I let go of my blade and began to fall sideways. She followed, as my grip on her shoulder brought her down with me, while she let go of her sword.

I lay on my back, staring at the sky through the open roof of the ceiling. My breathing was heavy and slow, but quickly getting weaker. I think I heard her swearing at me, calling me depraved things in her last sputtering moments of life, and yet it didn’t register. If it was to end here, then I would be at peace.

Soon, I found myself staring at my own body. I don’t know for how long I was looking at it, but eventually I saw the woman’s body begin to catch alight… First it was just small smoldering cinders, but soon she very visibly began to start catching fire.

Soon, the same ‘reaper’ from before appeared next to me, as I looked over to her, I could see she was smiling. I grew annoyed at her smiling face and spoke up. “What’re you smiling about? Happy that you finally get to take me to the afterlife?”

She stretched out, arms interlocked over her head, “Naaaahhh fam…. I’m happy because my plan is working exactly how I want it to.” I quirked an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. Eventually, she did, “See, you defied the strings of fate by convincing me to let you live. Your fate is… Nonexistent now, the bureau of fate was not happy with me, neither was my sensei. I managed to convince them both to do me a solid though. See, this girl here.” She gestures to the burning corpse, “Her name is Kiara, she’s a phoenix. She gets to come back to life every time she dies. Never gets old either. She’s a friend of mine. I wanted you to come and find her here. I wanted you two to fight.”

I was… Confused to say the least, I put a hand on my waist, “If she’s your friend why did you send me here knowing we’d fight and possibly kill each other like this?” I looked at the corpses, from where I was standing, this didn’t look like something a friend would want for their other friend.

Calliope laughed, “I saw the whole thing, it was sick as hell, dog! See, Kiara’s always complained how she only has me to hang out with. She’s like my best bro, but I get it, she can’t have more friends cause she’d outlive them all, she can’t date anyone cause she’d outlive them all. She can’t have a rival to inspire her to better herself because they’d eventually just die on their own! SO! I came up with the perfect solution.”

“And that is…?” I crossed my arms, looking at her, “What’s your game?” This all sounded completely insane to me, just yesterday I didn’t even know if the Reaper existed, now I’m learning that fire women exist?

“See, Kiara is a phoenix! That’s why she’s all burning up and shit right now! She needs a counterweight, someone to challenge her, someone to improve alongside her! It ain’t gonna be me, I’m too busy with my job! So… It’s gonna be you.” Calliope seemed all too proud of herself as she began to take hold of my corpse, she seemed to be moving it away from the fire.

“A Phoenix…?” I was incredibly confused, and that confusion was only growing larger with time.

“Yep! Fire, resurrection, undying youth, all sorts of cool shit! Anyway, my point is - Since you had no set time of death anymore, you technically can’t die. I arranged so you have a fixed point of death in like… A completely impossible to tell point extremely far in the future. Like, trillions of years away. Instead, you’re going to resurrect every time you die! Cool, right?” She set my body down and moved to my feet, while I processed what she was saying.

After a solid second I blurted out, “Wait WHAT?! You’re telling me I’ll never go to the afterlife? I’ll never see my mother or my sisters again? I’ll live to see everything I’ve ever fought for and loved turn to dust?!” I was… Incredibly pissed, to say the least, as I clenched my fists and desperately resisted the urge to punch her.

Calliope cringed, “Ooohhh… Yeah…. Yikes… I didn’t think about that. Oops. Well! No take-backs! Time for you to get out of here before the explosion goes off!” She grabbed my soul, me, and yanked it back into my body, “This’ll hurt, but I’ll give you a boost!”

I gasped as I felt life return to my body, before gritting my teeth as I felt the wounds beginning to stitch themselves shut, all the way down to my internal organs. Calliope then unceremoniously grabbed me and tossed me into the air, shouting at the top of her lungs, “YEET!”

I gathered my returning strength to yell, “Mentula!” At the top of my lungs, calling her a cocksucker as my one viable way to get back at her for all of this. At least for now. I sailed through the air, before landing in a soft bush that broke my fall. I was still bruised and probably broke a few bones though… Bones that I felt painfully setting themselves and repairing any fractures. I swore a few more times to the heavens, and when my pain began to subside, I staggered to my feet and started to walk toward my villa…

Only for a massive explosion to knock me back on my ass. A pillar of searing hot fire exploded out and destroyed my villa in the blink of an eye. All I could do was push myself backward to try and get away from the heat. My voice cracked as I spoke quietly to myself, “My home… My life…” Even my mortality… It all went up in smoke.

“If it’s any consolation, your family died well before that.” Mori appeared next to me, rattling off yet another angering statement.

“Mori, just- For the love of- Go away!”

“Yeah, I get it, I get it, I’ll be chill.” Then she vanished.

I watched the fire blaze as my old life died in the flames of a Phoenix, and through the ashes not only was Kiara reborn, but so was I. No longer was I just a Roman soldier, I was an immortal. I would be the last Roman, I would be… The last of many things. But for now, all I could do was mourn what I had already lost.

With the fire now no longer a pillar of death but instead a bonfire lit in memoriam of my past, all I could do was stare at it as the walls caved in on themselves. The only thing that broke me out of my stupor was seeing the silhouette of my enemy, as she slowly staggered out of the fire. I realized something was off pretty quickly…

She was completely naked, everything was on display. If I were a more lecherous man, I’d take this opportunity to drink in every detail, but I wasn’t, nor did I care to indulge in fantasies about my enemy.

I heard her muttering to herself, “Ugh… Stupid frickin Roman, being all heroic, damn it all…” She laid her eyes on me after getting properly out of the flames, and stared at me for a minute, “Eh?” She looked at the flame, “Eh?” Back at me, “Eh?”

I raise my hand, “Ave.” Just sitting on the grass, watching her only half-attentively. Not like she was a threat anymore.

“EH?!” She covered herself with one arm and one hand, keeping the sensitive bits hidden. “You’re ALIVE?!”

“My name is Florus, for now at least.” I reached behind me, and with a strong tug my billowing Sagum, my cloak, I pulled it off my back and tossed it at her, “Wear this. Save your decency.”

Hastily, she began to cover with the cloak, pulling it tightly around her form. “How are you alive?!” She didn’t even thank me for my cloak, how rude.

“I met a reaper, pink haired, talks strange, she said I was… Functionally immortal. I’ll always come back when I die.” I went back to staring at the fire after I said that, just feeling extremely numb to the world right now.

“Calli?!”

“Yeah.” I responded in a monotone voice, watching the embers dance on the ashes of the past, “She told me your name, that you’re a Phoenix, that you’ve apparently been nagging her about having a friend. So… She roped me into your life.” I raise both my hands, “I’m your ‘eternal rival.’” I used air quotes to show just how unenthused I was about this, “According to her, at least.”

“Ugh, Calli… She would do this, wouldn't she.” She grumbles, “My name is-”

“Kiara, yeah, she told me that much.” I waved my hand dismissively.

“Figures. I’m not the only immortal you know. She’s there, and I hear there’s another out there. I dunno why she had to drag you into this.”

“Don’t ask me, what’s done is done. Some cryptic stuff about the ‘threads of fate’ and how she can see multiple futures or something. I don’t get it personally.”

“Ugh. Whatever.” She brushes her smoldering hair out of her face, “...Thanks for the cloak I guess. That doesn’t mean we’re friends though! You’re still Roman.”

“And you’re still Visigoth.” I quip back as I stand, “But there’s no point in fighting anymore right now. We could kill each other over and over again and we’d both just keep coming back. I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” She pulled the cloak closer around herself, her face had curiosity written all over it. “Where are you going?”

“East.” I point in that direction, “Rome is still alive. The Eastern Emperor might respond to these invasions, and I want to be there if he does.”

“Of course, figures.” Kiara sounded almost disappointed, “Once a Roman always a Roman huh?”

“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same for your people.” I turned towards her for a moment, “If you were in my shoes, you’d be leaving too.” Then I turned away and started to walk.

“...I would. It just sucks that one of the only other people like me is going so far away.” She looked downcast, her gaze turning away from me, “I… Only ever get to see Calli maybe once a century, and there’s nobody else I really talk to.”

I stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath. I should hate this girl… Why was she tugging on my heartstrings? I still didn’t think of her as a friend, just an enemy. I’m not a monster, though. How could I not feel bad?”

I guess I’d at least give her an option… I turned on my heels, the sound of grass shifting made Kiara look up at me. We locked eyes for a minute, staring into her violet eyes, I narrowed my gaze and extended my hand, “Then either learn to live with it, or come with me.”

“Eh?” Kiara blinked a few times, “Come with you…?”

“If it hurts that much, then I can’t just let you leave without giving you the option, so I don’t feel guilty.” I stared at her still, “So either come with me, or live with your choice.”

Kiara looked genuinely conflicted, wide violet eyes brimming over with tears, “I…” She shakes her head to regain her composure, “I would but… My people are here now, I can’t just abandon them, to the Romans no less.”

I lowered my hand. I didn’t feel angry at all, I would have said something along the same lines. “Fine, then.” I turned away from her, “Next time we meet, we’ll likely be enemies again. Train, get stronger, I’ll do the same.”

“I will.” She nodded, seeming to reaffirm her determination.

So, I walked away. Time to find a boat to Constantinople…

/-/

July 552, Roman Reconquest of Italy

It had been a century since we last held Italy. Under the Byzantines, we were finally pushing to retake our home. I had gone under several different names at this point, I couldn’t exactly show that I was an immortal. I was lucky to have not been killed again, since I only died due to outside forces, not old age.

The peninsula changed hands, the Visigoth tribes settled along the Iberian peninsula and parts of France, since then the Ostrogoths rolled in and formed a ‘Kingdom’ of sorts, if you could call a bunch of savages claiming land a Kingdom.

I had wondered for a while if Kiara had stayed in Italy or moved to Iberia or something. However, I heard rumors about a fire-haired woman who fought like a demon and had the looks of an angel. I chalked that up to Kiara having thrown her lot in with the Ostrogoths. I had no idea why, if the Visigoths were her people. Maybe she had ulterior motives?

I shook off the thought and focused on my task at hand.

I had been sent out on my own on a scouting mission, my skills meant I was the most suited to move quickly, scout enemy positions, and then report back. Through the trees and fields of what was once Roman land, I took notes of what I saw and after a solid few days of doing this, I was preparing to return to my general. Night had fallen, so I pitched camp and lit a campfire to make some stew out of some ingredients I forged and hunted for.

I was interrupted during my stew cooking by footfalls along with the moving and rustling of tree branches and the brush. I looked towards the source and called, “Who is it? You’re not exactly subtle, you know.”

Emerging from the brush was… Kiara, who looked more or less the same as last time, except she was actually wearing clothes now. A long tunic that went past her knees, as red as her hair, and a white shirt underneath it. Below that she seemed to be wearing regular trousers. On her back was a shield, at her hip was a Spatha, much like the one I was carrying now.

She smirked at me, “Good evening!” Her voice was sing-songy in tone. “Flower boy~!”

Slowly, deliberately, I looked up and over to her, not a hint of mirth in my face or my voice. “...Excuse me?”

Kiara smugly crossed her arms, grinning at me. “Your name is Florus right? So you’re Flower boy.”

I shook my head and turned back to my stew, stirring the pot physically, while I prepared to stir the pot metaphorically as well with my next words. “...Whatever you say, Fire Chicken.”

My ploy worked and she stomped her foot, seeming entirely indignant at my choice of nickname. “Fire Chicken?! You little…” She seemed to be searching for the proper insult.

Without looking up, I interrupted her. My stew was more important than a fight. “Listen, I’m cooking right now, can we save the whole fight to the death thing for later?”

Kiara grumbles, “Alright.” Instead of fighting me, she took a seat next to me. Silence fell as I tended to my stew. I knew telling her to leave would only make her more intent on staying, yet I couldn’t help but mentally question why she was staying. That was, until I heard her stomach rumbling.

I sighed, “...You want some stew?” I wouldn’t hear the end of it for the rest of the night if I didn’t make the offer.

Kiara actually seemed embarrassed by her stomach noises, as her face was dusted red. She looked down at her clenched hands, before nodding a few times, “...Yes, please.”

“You got a bowl?” I looked over to her, although based on the apprehensive look on her face, I think I could tell what the answer was.

Sure enough, she shook her head, “...No.” She seemed even more embarrassed by this fact.

I sighed and grabbed my pack, sitting next to me. I had packed light given the type of mission this was, so I only had one bowl. “You’ll eat first then.” I took out the bowl, the stew was ready now, I also grabbed the wooden ladle I brought with me and started making a serving for her.

She seemed grateful based on her facial expression, although she seemed a bit confused as well as she spoke a question. “...Shouldn’t you be the one eating first?”

I shook my head, “That’d be impolite, besides, you’re probably hungrier than I am if your stomach is that loud. How long have you been out here?” I held out the bowl to her. She stared at me for a good few moments as I held the bowl out, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking about, but in the end it didn’t matter as she took the bowl.

Before her first bite, she responded to my question, “I’ve been on a scouting mission for a few days now, but… I lost my pack, and my notes, so I’ve spent a lot of that time just trying to find it.”

I couldn’t help but blow some air out my nose at that, “The great fire chicken lost her bag?” I watched her face as it turned to an annoyed pout, yet she said nothing in response.

Heh.

She silently began eating the stew, first it was a cautious bite, almost afraid of if it was going to be bad, or poison. Afterward, she began rapidly devouring it, which honestly kind of surprised me, “I knew you were hungry, but…”

“S-Shut up.” She looked flustered as she lowered her face closer to the bowl to hide how red she was getting. “I haven’t eaten in like two days…”

Chuckling, I raised an eyebrow at her. “You lost it that long ago?”

Instead of responding, she focused on eating her stew, causing me to snicker and shake my head at her antics. For an immortal phoenix, she was obviously clumsy. I did have one question “How’d you find me…?”

As Kiara finished her bowl, she smiled, embarrassed, “...I asked Calli for food, she told me to just go looking for you. That you were around here.” I shook my head at that, Mori really put a lot of effort into this, didn’t she…? I still didn’t know what her game was.

Kiara asked me a question while I was filling my own bowl of stew, her voice was curious and cautious. “...Why are you helping me? You know we’re probably going to be killing each other again in the next few days.” It was a valid question, I guess. Why was I helping her…?

Finishing filling my bowl, I sat back down completely and thought it over in silence for a few moments. Rubbing my chin as I contemplated this, “Honestly I’m not so sure myself. To me, you’re still complicit in the murder of my family. I should kill you on sight. Yet… You’re also the only person I know of that’s in the same boat as me. We can’t truly die, and we never will… Besides, there’s no honor in killing an enemy who is starving and weak, no matter how pointless killing them at all really is.”

Kiara nods silently, although she mutters a soft protest, looking away from me. “I’m not weak y’know.”

“A hungry soldier is a weak soldier. My Centurion used to say that all the time. He’s probably dead now…” I took a few bites of my stew while I tried processing that thought on its own. “If that is the case, then I need to carry his legacy with me, like I will carry the legacy of my family and my city.”

“That sounds like a lot…” I couldn’t tell if Kiara’s tone was one of concern or confusion, she looked back at me, “Won’t that overwhelm you at some point?” She grabbed the wooden ladle and just began to eat stew she scooped out of it while it was still in the ladle.

A pregnant pause filled the air, only interrupted by the movement of my utensils as I ate the stew.

I only spoke up after I took a few hearty bites, staring at the half-empty bowl. “...It already does some nights. I wake up thinking I’m back in Rome on that day, or I see the bodies of my family, their spirits asking why I haven’t come to join them in heaven yet.” My voice started to crack, I swallowed a growing lump in my throat. “Thought I heard my sister asking if she and the rest should be waiting for me like they have been for the past century…Make no mistake, I think about everything I’ve lost every day, I just try not to show it.” With my piece said, I focused on eating my stew.

Kiara stared at her lap for a solid minute before she let off a small, “Oh…” It sounded like there was more she wanted to say, but she wasn’t able to muster up the strength to say it. Instead, she shifted her sitting position away from the pot, she seemed to have had her full, although looking closer it looked like she’d eaten the vast majority of what was in there. That was supposed to be for me, but what’s done is done I suppose…

Kiara shook her head at herself, seeming to be lost in thought. She spoke a few moments later, “...Do you want to talk about it?” She raised her head towards me, her eyes seemed to hold genuine concern. I didn’t know where this was coming from, but it was almost off putting coming from her. My enemy.

I shook my head, “...Maybe someday, but not today.” I finished my stew and set the bowl down, I’d need to watch it out in the river before I packed it up again, but that could wait for now.

“To be frank, sharing that sort of thing with my enemy is the furthest thing from my mind right now.” I stretched out, sighing as I felt my muscles releasing tension, “To me, Kiara, you’re still a barbarian. Remember that. I offer hospitality out of a sense of honor, not camaraderie.” I finished stretching and looked over to her, “Get it?”

Kiara seemed apprehensive about going along with this line of thinking, yet something must have clicked in her head because she gave a resolute nod, “I understand.” She went to stand, “...Thank you for the meal, it was delicious. I should be getting back to looking for my pack.” She gazed up at the stars, and I shared the view while she spoke further, “There’s going to be a battle in the coming days. We’re going to fight again.” She spoke with absolute certainty.

“Try not to get lost again, then. It won’t feel very sporting to fight you if you’re starving.” I moved to start laying out my bedroll so I could get some sleep before I had to break camp in the morning.

Kiara huffed, “Yeah yeah.” Then she started to leave, but first, she stopped close to the treeline. Not looking at me, she called, “Flower-boy?” While I didn’t want to acknowledge that nickname, I did look to see what she wanted. She turned her head slightly towards me, and offered a smile, strangely bright and cheerful. “Thanks.”

I finished laying out my bedroll, “Don’t get too used to it now.” Kiara just seemed to smile brighter at my words, then she hurried into the treeline and out of sight. With our encounter seeming to finally be done, I put out the fire and got into my bedroll. Today had been a long day, so sleep was quick to envelop me.

A few days later, I delivered my scouting report to the General’s Staff, leaving out my encounter with Kiara, I was commended for my bravery and diligence, and told to rest up for the battle to come. The day after was to be a bloody one, with the general hoping to rout the Ostrogoths and reclaim the Italian peninsula in one grand military endeavor.

When that day came, I was dressed in my armor once again, with a traditional straight sword and a shield serving as my tools of war. The camp was buzzing with activity, messengers bringing communications back and forth, troops eating their fill before possible death, camp followers hocking whatever equipment or extra food they could before the battle, with some of the women of the camp giving words of encouragement to the soldiers. Those women were usually prostitutes, but even a prostitute can raise morale in more ways than just sex. Words of comfort meant a lot to a soldier far from the comfort of their family.

I turned my attention away from that as I finished the process of preparing for the battle. I stood and walked to the edge of camp, we were on a hill overlooking the field that would serve as the battle that would decide the fate of Italy. We were almost certainly going to win, the Ostrogoths were outnumbered and on the backfoot, there was only one variable in their army that could have any hope of changing the tide…

I spotted that variable standing at the edge of the Ostrogoth camp. Kiara was looking right at me, it seemed she had much the same thought process as me. We both knew we’d be fighting each other, the other soldiers could worry about each other. If I let her run rampant, she could cause a huge dent in our numbers, moreso if she died on the field during battle and caused an explosion. I’m sure she was thinking much the same for me, minus the explosion part.

I had cultivated a reputation as a unique fighter among the ranks of the military. The Byzantine system of fighting at this point was still influenced by Roman tactics, with the addition of auxiliary cavalry and other irregular forces. I was one of those irregulars, told to go where I felt I was needed and fight as hard as I could while the main forces did the rest.

So when the formations began to take shape and the horns and flags started to fly to signal who should go where, I waited. Hanging back, I knew she would be looking for me too. I needed to find her first, or else she might get the jump on me. I didn’t have time to lay around resurrecting while she was killing the troops on my side.

The trumpets sounded, the formations marched. Soon the battle began and the clashing of steel along with the war cries of both sides mingled in a chorus of war. I focused on finding my quarry, ducking and dodging past any troops that tried to engage with me. I was faster than them, and my armor was lighter to account for my need to get to places where I was needed quickly.

Finally, through the fog of war and the haze of battle, I saw her. She was looking for me as well. Through the falling troops and clashing iron, we locked eyes. Her violet ones were burning with the same fire I saw the first time I met her, and I knew I must have looked the same to her. We charged simultaneously.

Her sword was sword high, it seemed she was going for a downward strike. I raised my shield and pushed forward all the same. As she brought down her blade, I caught it on my shield before reading back my leg and bringing it forward, kicking her in the leg. This caused her enough pain to cause her to take a step backward out of reflex, allowing me to get some breathing room.

“Sceneries different from last time, don’t you think, Flower-Boy?” Kiara giggled as she twirled her blade in her hand, “Not to mention how you were looking for me, that eager to fight me are you?”

“Please.” I scoffed, starting to circle her as she circled me. We were both searching for an opening in each other’s guard, or for an opportunity to try and make one. “The alternative was letting you kill swathes of my comrades before exploding like the glorified powder keg you are.”

Kiara snickered, “Glorified powder keg? Woooww, that’s a new one, Flower-boy! You’re getting creative.” She tested my resolve by feinting a step forward, but I held firm. The circling continued as I frowned at her attempts to throw me off.

I scanned her and her form, before spotting what I thought might be an opening. She was twirling her sword a lot, if I could go on the offense while she’s doing that, I might be able to gain the advantage. I timed my next words carefully, “I’ve got all eternity to come up with new ways to describe how annoying you are.” Then as she twirled her sword I charged at her.

I don’t think she was expecting that as she hastily tried to recover her form, but I was just a bit faster. My shield slammed into her torso as I raised my sword to try and deal a decisive blow to her neck or head. I must have knocked the breath out of her because I heard her cough as I started to stab forward. However, it seemed fate had other plans, as she tripped on a rock and fell backward. My sword planted itself into the ground next to her head while my shield was pressed firmly against her body.

Breathing heavily, I shook my head to get the sweat out of my face without moving my hands or arms. “Ready to admit defeat? I don’t have to kill you to beat you.” I glared at her, yet my glare faltered when I saw she was giving me a Class A shit-eating grin.

“Being a bit forward, aren’t you, Flower-boy? You know you should buy a girl dinner before pinning her to the ground like this.” Her grin only seemed to grow as red dusted my face, it was a mix of getting flustered on top of just being utterly confused. Kiara continued, “You know, Calli called me a Phoenix. That’s not just because of how I revive.” She closed her eyes, and when she snapped them open, they looked the color of amber flame. Then I noticed a rising heat coming from her, and all my senses were screaming at me to move.

I yanked my sword out of the ground and rolled off and away from her just in time for a firestorm to whirl around her. As she stood, I saw two burning wings of fire spread from her back. She raised her head to lock eyes with me and grinned, “It’s because I burn.”

I, Florus, who has been called the Last Roman, and the Ghost of Rome, felt… Intimidated. I didn’t want to let it show, but I could tell she knew. I swallowed a lump in my throat and gripped my sword and shield tighter. She wasn’t just a stupid chicken… In this moment, I could see what truly made her a phoenix. A being of eternal fire and burning strength, otherworldly and sublime.

And I was just a man given the unfortunate and impossible task of motivating her to better herself by the Grimm Reaper herself.

I tried to get my thoughts together while she stood, sword at the ready and priming to strike me down. “I may just be a man… I may not have any special powers…” I swallowed another growing lump in my throat, fighting to keep my voice from breaking. “...But every time I close my eyes I see the ghosts of the thousands of innocent people I couldn’t save. The ghosts of my past, trying to pull me into eternal rest. Pleading! Begging! They scream how I should be with them, that this wasn’t right!” I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing at this point, and Kiara looked almost confused. I continued, fear gave way to passion and heartbreak. It seemed that was all it took.

How fragile of me…

“My father… I saw him last night. He had never appeared in a dream of mine before. You know what he said to me?” The firebird tilted her head, still confused. I think at this point both Ostrogoth and Byzantine were watching us, the fighting was still raging in parts of the battlefield but here, all eyes were on me and the phoenix.

“Just live!” I was shouting now as my grip on my sword tightened. ”That’s what he said! He said to ignore the screams of the ghosts, and to live! That I was carrying the spirit of my entire family legacy, and the legacy of my entire nation in my heart! More than that! He told me…” Tears were flowing freely now, “He told me that he loved me, and that I would someday become the spirit of Man I was meant to be. So I will not back down!” I readied my sword through the tears, “Hear me now, Kiara!” I pulled my sword back while keeping it aimed at her and assumed a combat stance, “Today you fight not the Ghost of Rome, nor the Last Roman. You fight a man! A man charged with carrying the legacy of everyone he’s ever lost… And I will not let you win!”

Kiara seemed like she wanted to say something to me back, like she was genuinely reeling from how my heart just poured itself out all over the battlefield, in front of dozens of troops. Yet I didn’t give her the chance to respond, instead I let out a determined battlecry as I charged her. I started a stab, but feinted it at the last moment as Kiara raised her shield, I slid behind her from her side and moved to swing at her hip. I managed to get a slash in, causing her to yelp in pain. I had to avoid her wings - Those things would burn me to a crisp.

She tried smacking me with one of the aforementioned wings but I managed to duck under it. Then she swung her sword, burning hot with fire at me. I tried to get away from that too, but it was simply too fast and she caught my arm. I exclaimed in pain as the wound was cut then cauterized in the same swing. This was dangerous… But I had to keep fighting. I swung my sword at her and slashed across her stomach, another yelp of pain, then she smashed into me with a shield I hadn’t even noticed, she hit my head with it, and while that disoriented me and sent me to the ground, I wasn’t done yet!

I slashed at her leg, much like I did that Visigoth so long ago. My ploy worked as she momentarily dropped to one knee while yelling, “Damn it! Hold still!” Instead of doing that, I scrambled to my feet and went to strike her down by aiming a blow to her head. However, as I was bringing my sword down to her head, she brought hers up. Our swords clashed, hers burning with flame, mine just holding on for dear life. It was getting so hot, I was worried it’d start melting…

This time I brought my shield up and smashed it into her arm, which was enough to cause her stance to falter. I brought my sword down onto her neck… Right as she brought hers into my chest.

As we stood, staring at each other as we felt death coming to pay us a visit, I heard the trumpets of the enemy, then shouts from the Ostrogoth menace, “Retreat! Retreat! The battle is lost and we are routed!”

Forgetting about the grand display Kiara and I were putting on, the Ostrogoth soldiers began to flee, with Byzantine soldiers giving chase. Eventually, both of our grips gave out. Kiara started to fall backward, and seeing as I was not only holding the sword in her neck but also being pulled by the gravity of her searing hot sword leaving a burning hole in my chest that I felt should hurt a lot more than it did right now. Maybe it was because my body was just shutting off everything as a last line of defense…

I landed next to her, and before I knew it my body began repairing itself again. This time was the most painful one I’d experienced to date. Not only did my cauterized wounds suddenly start getting overrun as my body attempted to heal them beyond just cauterization, I felt my chest getting sewn up. I could only yell in pain as I felt the strands attach over and over again as they sewed themselves up and my organs began to get repaired, healed from their injuries. My body systems began to kick in again. When all was said and done, I gasped for air and rolled away from Kiara’s burning corpse  before the inevitable explosion. When that came, I turned away to avoid getting blasted by heat, even though I was a good fifteen feet away by the time it happened.

When I turned back, I saw her silhouette. Again, she was naked, her clothes having burned off. Her eyes were back to being violet, although her hair was still smoldering with cinders. Yet any sense that might have made me call this ‘cool’ went away when she saw me again and covered up with an embarrassed, “Oi! Are you trying to catch a peak at this point?! You know this happens every time I come back to life!”

I rolled my eyes, any sense of seriousness in this whole encounter boiled away like the puddles of blood that had formed around where Kiara exploded. “Don’t flatter yourself.” Once again I pull off my cloak and toss it to her, “Just cover yourself, save me the headache.”

Kiara snatched it and began to cover up with it, “You’re so annoying…” She grumbles just loud enough for me to hear.

I scoffed, “Yet you’re wearing it anyway.” I instinctively went to gather my weapons, only to realize they most likely burned to ashes when Kiara exploded so instead I turned to head back to the encampment.

Before I could take more than a couple steps, she called out to me, “Wait!” I stopped and looked back at her.

Kiara wrapped the cloak closer around her body as she strided over to me, “Are we going to talk about what you said back there? All that stuff about your family… Your father… Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

I shook my head, “What? Suddenly I’m your greatest interest? I let more spill out then I should have back there, that’s all.” I started to walk away again.

“Hold oonn! Where are you going?” She had concern written all over her face, was she genuinely worried for me? I’d have felt touched if it wasn’t coming from the fire chicken who just caused me to go through a particularly painful resurrection.

“I have a job to do. I need to meet with my commander and the General Staff and explain what happened. They probably already got word of it.” I looked up at the hill. Sure enough, the General himself was staring, waiting for me. He beckoned me with a single hand.

“One more question then…” Kiara started, “...Are we going to fight again?” That seemed like a stupid question to me, but maybe I had made her confused with all my grand statements back there.

“I doubt this is the last time we’re going to see each other.” I started to leave, my head was swimming with all kinds of thoughts relating to everything that just happened, I didn’t have time to have a sit down with my enemy.

“Fine! Then… I look forward to it!” When I looked back at her one final time, she gave me a close-eyed grin, before turning around and running off. I turned back toward my encampment.

When I got there, the general commended me for the fight and told me he’d heard about everything I said, and he had just gotten solid proof of my claims by watching me stand back up after I should have been dead. He told me that he felt God had sent me to help beat back the barbarians, and that once the Emperor heard about this he would want me to have an audience with him so we could discuss my future in his service.

So much for flying under the radar… All I wanted to do was help without drawing too much attention to myself. Now I was being told I’d have an audience with the Emperor of the Roman Empire himself, and that I was some beacon of hope for the reclamation of the Empire. All because I lost my cool due to Kiara going Phoenix on my ass. Damn that girl…

Why did she have to make everything so damn complicated…?