Hero of Rome

Chapter 1: Antiquitus

I slammed the computer shut, apathetic to the depravity glowing inside of it. My eyes closed in shame as they had so many times before.

I hate myself, I thought as my eyes opened to see the plastic Roman bust of Emperor Augustus next to my computer. A reminder of what a real man was. A man of consequence.

It was certainly not myself.

Rising from my computer chair, I walked to my bed like a zombie. It was well past midnight and I was going to be tired for my morning shift at the distribution center tomorrow. Another pointless day, going absolutely nowhere.

The only thing I was looking forward to was listening to another history podcast. Something to get my mind off of the existential crisis I found myself in. Loneliness and purposelessness threatened to remove the will to live. It was best to be distracted from it.

But when I closed my eyes, I found a glowing text painted blood-red humming across my line of sight instead.

Loading world…

Analyzing subject…

Determining place of origin…

System Message: “Welcome Maximus D'Ambrosio! You’ve been summoned to the World of Antiquitus. The most notorious empires, men, monsters, and mythologies await you. You are tasked with one task: survival. Let’s see if you have what it takes! Don’t worry, this is real life, so if you die you will not return to your homeworld. You will now be spawned at the capital of the Roman Empire. You may encounter others from your world as well. Good luck!”

New Skill Unlocked: Translator [Roman]

“Congratulations! You've unlocked the Roman language for the Translator skill, granting you the ability to understand and converse with diverse ancient Roman tongues like Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian. Use this skill to decipher texts, negotiate with cultures, and uncover the mysteries of Antiquitus. Just remember, with great linguistic power comes great... well, more linguistic power, I guess.”

What? I thought as the red text disappeared into darkness. Before I could persist, something wet seemed to wrap itself around me, like a snake coiling around its victim. For a moment I even heard a serpent hissing and could sea massive scales and wings swimming around me. But then it was gone, though it still felt like I was suffocating.

The water became visible as light shone through above.

I am suffocating!

My lungs screamed for air as water trickled into my mouth. I kicked myself to the surface as hands reached down to grab me. Air smacked me in the face as I was yanked out of the water and placed on the ground, coughing the water out.

After I could catch my breath, I turned to look at my rescuer. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the purple cloak and ornate Roman armor.

“A Praetorian Guard?” I said, completely bewildered. The guard looked me over and grunted with disapproval. My eyes followed his and I was immediately embarrassed from my lack of clothes. A dark-robed priest beside him chuckled.

“And who might you be?” an airy voice said behind the guard and priest, causing them to step aside.

My eyes were almost blinded by the sheer amount of gold coming from the boy’s dress. I had to blink twice to confirm I was seeing a boy wearing a dress. He must have been no more than fifteen years old by his soft face which sported makeup. His hair was dark and curly with gems fastened into it, surrounding a diadem at the center.

With the guard and priest aside, the boy’s dark eyes devoured my exposed flesh. I lashed my hands to my private area to keep it hidden but not before the boy smiled. His eyes betrayed that I was only an object to him. A sickening feeling soured my stomach.

“My name is Max,” I said as the boy dropped to his knees before me, coming inches before my face. Fear crawled across my skin like spiders.

“Max,” he said, looking over my body again. Sweet perfumes rolled off of his oiled skin and suffocated my nose. “He must be foreign. Are both of your parents alive, Max?”

I nodded fearfully, hoping they were spared from being brought to this strange world like I was.

The boy’s teeth flashed wickedly. “And do you know who I am?”

There could only be one guess about how he dressed and carried himself, and I hoped to be wrong. “Emperor Elagabalus?”

Something dinged inside my head.

The boy pulled away slightly, his face contorting to both surprise and joy. He turned to his priest with a smile. “What a gem! He knows his Queen after all!” Elagabalus turned back to me before looking over me one last time. “Unfortunately, my dear Max, you do not possess the qualities of a man I am looking for. You don’t even come close to some of the real men I know. Look at you! So flabby and pathetic. A shame, really, the System could have chosen a man instead. But I will have pity on you for your great knowledge of me. Priest, have him gelded and bring him to my court. I will play with him later, and once I am through, you can send him to the serpent. Cetus has been demanding more sacrifices lately. Until later, dear Max, I am late to my party with Emperor Nero.”

“Gelded?” I said as Elagabalus withdrew with his guard, leaving me alone in what looked like a bathhouse with the priest in dark robes. A servant in dark robes behind the priest came out from behind him and immediately held my arms to the ground.

“Oh yes, foreigner,” he said without emotion as he descended on me with a fine-tipped spear. “A mercy in comparison to what his majesty usually performs. You are lucky to be brought into his service for now, rather than be one of his… experiments.”

“And who exactly are you?” I said as he lowered the spear towards me.

The man paused, his face darkening. “I was once Emperor Diocletian. I had achieved much for Rome, and now I serve as a flamen for Jupiter in this afterlife.” Diocletian shook his head as if remembering a dream and placed the tip of the spear in the worst place imaginable. “There is much I do not understand, such as our new god Elagabalus, and how we are here. But your progeny will make a pleasing sacrifice to him.”

Without hesitation, Diocletian swiped his spear. The instant pain slammed into my face like a brick wall. Darkness smothered my mind, and all went black.

Something violent shook me awake from my slumber. The pain was still wreaking havoc over my body, but a red text alert was flashing wildly in my mind, like some sort of missed notification.

Character Status

Name: Maximus D'Ambrosio

Level: 1

Skill Points: 0

Title: Slave of Elagabalus

Glory: 0

Honor: 0

Health: 20/50

Stamina: 10/50

Inventory (focus on individual items to see their stats)

Item: Slave Robe (Common)

Description: “A simple, worn-out robe made of coarse fabric. Provides minimal protection and comfort. Perfect for blending into the background and avoiding attention. You'll fit right in with the rest of the downtrodden masses.”

Worth: Nothing, slave

New Curse: Emasculated

“Oh dear, Max! Seems like someone decided to play a little snip-snip with your physical prowess. Your Strength attribute took a nosedive, thanks to some unfortunate circumstances involving your... ahem... manhood. Unless it is restored, leveling up your strength will take 3x the normal amount.”

There was one more notification left as I slowly awakened to my hellish reality, but I couldn’t move on from the last one. Diocletian’s uncaring brutality flashed into memory, the severe pain a reminder it wasn’t a dream.

All of this was real. This insane and nightmarish world was not a fantasy. And whatever this System was seemed to be amused by my suffering.

A violent storm of tears overwhelmed me. I was no man in my previous life, just a college dropout with no future or ambition. And it looked like I wouldn’t be any more of a man in this world, especially after…

No, I thought, not wanting to accept it. I couldn’t even think because of how much my body convulsed in agony.

The image of Emperor Elagabalus burned in my mind. He was responsible for this. And now I would just be his plaything until he was satisfied, only to die by a monstrous sea dragon. As much as I didn’t want to admit, he was right about my manliness. I was just another nobody in the previous world going nowhere. No confidence in myself and no striving like the other real men in society. A slave’s outfit seemed morbidly fitting.

But for the life of me, I did not want to be some toy for Elagabalus! Nor eaten by a dragon.

That’s when I noticed the last notification below.

New Power Unlocked: Historical Insight (1)

“Congratulations, Max! Due to your love of history from your previous life, you've unlocked a perk that lets you peek into the future of any choice you think of making by a whole second! Yes, you heard that right. Now you can see what's coming just in time to say, ‘Oh, that's happening!’ Just don't let it go to your head. After all, knowing the future doesn't make you any less of a slave.”

To level up: “Read more books! Each book you read to completion will grant you an extra second. Who knew reading could be so rewarding?”

Limitations: “Historical Insight only applies to decisions you are making, and the future can only be seen from your eyes from what is right in front of you, along with other possible decisions you could make. However long you look into the future, the cooldown time for this power will be just as long. The future's a mystery, and your crystal ball's a little foggy.”

Seeing into the future? That was extremely beneficial. Yes, it wasn’t overpowered in that I would see everything, but knowing what would happen depending on any decision I wanted to make could help me escape this hellhole. Especially the aspect of seeing other possibilities. I would be able to carve a narrow path of survival through the sheer power of the mind.

Another jolt forced my eyes to open. It was dark, and I was in a barred cage along with a few other boys. They were all scared and trembling like me on the ground. A tarp covered our cage, but it was thin enough that I could see it was night-time.

Whoever was driving our wagon began shouting but was quickly cut off by a violent, piercing screech.

The smell of urine and blood slammed into my face as the wagon came to a shuddering halt. Before anyone could react, the door to our cage was torn off like paper, with a nightmare standing in its place.

A bloody harpy.

Tunnel vision overcame me as the slaves and I backed up as far as we could to the other side of the cage, our shackles clinking together on our hands and feet. I could hardly hear anything as my heart beat wildly from my chest. The demon advanced on us, its talons poised to strike as it inched forward, step by step. My flimsy retreat stopped as my back pressed into another boy; I was at the front of the line and rising to my feet was not an option.

I was to die first.

“Pathetic,” the female creature hissed as she approached.

The harpy opened her rotting jaws to end my life, and in that stress-induced moment, a simple thought passed through my mind. From the fear of death, I thought of throwing my chains before my face in defense. As soon as the thought was made, the harpy lunged at me with her teeth which broke on the chain link. From the corner of my vision, I could see another future where I was a second too late and where I had not done so at all; my vision was crushed in its terrible jaws in those.

And then I was back to where I was before, the harpy about to lunge as if it never happened. Survival screamed inside of me, igniting the smallest flicker of resilience despite my weakness. While time was slow from tunnel vision, I thrust my hands before the harpy, and the beast bit into the metal chain as I had previously seen, breaking her teeth in a snap.

A feral scream almost tore my eardrums apart. There was a violent flapping of wings and then the harpy was gone.

It had fled.

My heart was aching from how fast it was beating. This nightmare truly was real and I was almost eaten on my first day. Something wet ran down my leg, confirming the other slaves weren’t alone in their fear. I met their eyes in the dark of the cage, unsure of what to say. One boy in particular looked at me with fear and awe.

Before any of us could speak, a man’s voice from outside captured our attention.

“See what’s inside the cage, if they still live,” the commanding voice said. “Let’s see who the Emperor has for us.”