by Rob Steiner
Will they ever smile again? Will I?
Thankfully, the roof here seemed intact and had not suffered from the chunk Dariya had taken out of the temple.
Temple Custudii in dented ceremonial armor and uniforms stood near the doors, some with pulse rifles, others holding a ceremonial gladius that Aquilina doubted they’d ever been trained to use in battle.
Three Custudii jogged toward Aquilina and the others. One of them, a bald man with a bloody right ear and a centurion insignia on his chest, was red-faced with fury.
“You fools!” he shouted. “Why did you destroy that door? Now they can get in!”
“We didn’t know all these people were in here,” Aquilina said. “Gods, if the aliens come through that door…”
The Custudae gaped at Aquilina. “Aliens? I’m talking about the golems! They’ve gone crazy. Started destroying things and killing people. Most of the wounded you see here are from caccing golems.”
Aquilina flinched, knowing Cordus’s fears had come true. Destroying the Republic to save it...
“We didn’t see any golems outside,” she replied.
“Well they were pounding on the front doors ten minutes ago.”
Tarquitius said to Aquilina. “You go to the Consul. My men and I will stay here and hold the door.”
Aquilina stared at him. Hold the door with what? All of his Praetorians and Custudii were either out of ammunition or down to their last few pellets. But his tired eyes said he was well aware of the situation.
“Prefect Tarquitius,” the Custudae centurion said, calming himself, “I did not realize it was you, sir. My apologies. We have a gladius cache if your men need them. They’re ceremonial, but they’ll cut anything you swing them at.”
Tarquitius nodded to the centurion. “Get them.”
The Custudae centurion turned to his men and ordered them to gather the rest of the gladius cache.
Tarquitius said to his soldiers, “Now we fight like the Legions of old at the birth of the Republic. A gladius worked well for them, so why not us, eh?”
The men gave him grim, determined nods. They turned and jogged back down the hall to the doors Dariya had ruined.
Aquilina said, “Fortuna be with you, Prefect.”
“And you, Praetorian.” Tarquitius then jogged after his men.
She looked at Dariya and Daryush. “Ready?”
Daryush grunted, gripping his pulse pistol in both hands. Dariya said, “Lead on, Roman.”
Aquilina led the two Persians through the praying and wounded masses to a set of ornate doors on the other side of the altar area. Once through the doors, Aquilina was happy to see that the generators also continued to power the elevator. They filed in and she tapped the controls for the top floor.
As the elevator rose, Dariya asked in a quiet voice, “How is he?”
“He’s trying to save us all,” Aquilina said, glancing down at the com dish.
Dariya cleared her throat. “Our…sympathies on your mother.”
Aquilina clenched her teeth and stared at the elevator’s level monitor, watching the floor numbers rise. She nodded once. She didn’t want to move her eyes or blink, for fear they would fill with tears.
“Our mother died before our eyes, too,” Dariya continued. “Same day our old Roman master took ‘Ush’s tongue.” Her voice grew hard. “Same day I killed that Roman, and me and ‘Ush escaped.”
Aquilina shifted her eyes to Dariya. “Did it help? Killing your mother’s murderer?”
Dariya stared at her brother as he gazed at the elevator floor with a haunted expression. “It did not bring our mother back or ‘Ush his tongue.” She then gave Aquilina a level stare. “But yes, it helped.”
The doors to the elevator opened, and all three brought up their pulse pistols. Aquilina shifted the com dish in her left arm as she aimed down the hall. It was empty, just as it had been when she, Cordus, Ulpius, and Gracchus arrived. The Praetorian guards were gone, likely to answer Tarquitius’s earlier calls for all units to the roof. There seemed more dust in the air, though; unsurprising since a section of the temple roof had been removed nearby.
All three ran down the hall, Aquilina in the lead. When they got to the com room door, Aquilina shouted, “Ulpius, it’s me.”
After several long seconds, the door clicked open. Ulpius stood to one side, his pulse rifle in his right hand. He glanced at the com dish in Aquilina’s arms.
“Too hot up there for it?”
“You could say that,” she said as she pushed her way in past him.
“Why are you two here?” he asked Dariya and Daryush.
“Nice to see you too, Praetorian,” Dariya grumbled.
“Gracchus?”
Aquilina shook her head once.
“Cac,” he whispered. He shut the door behind Daryush and locked it.
Aquilina hurried over to Cordus, who was still strapped into the com chair. He still looked asleep, his features peaceful and calm.
But the drama unfolding on the holo-monitor seemed anything but calm. Cordus knelt next to the body of a dark-haired, bearded man wearing ancient Roman armor. A blackened hole the size of two fists ran all the way through his chest. The man appeared dead.
Cordus’s eyes—and the view of the holo-monitor—swung around and focused on what looked like Jupiter pulling a gladius out of his leg. Juno and Minerva sat on their thrones behind him, javelins through their hearts.
“Ulpius, what in the name of Dis is happening?”
Ulpius stood next to Aquilina. “Best I can tell, that fellow on the ground was Marcus Antonius Primus. He appeared suddenly, then conjured up some javelins to throw at Juno and Minerva there. Jupiter didn’t take that well, so he threw lightning at Primus and killed him.”
When he saw Aquilina’s incredulous look, he grunted. “Yeah, it’s like some godsdamned religious drama up there.”
Cordus faced the angry Jupiter. Juno and Minerva also began to move. Both regarded the javelins in their bodies, and then each pulled them out with one powerful motion. They tossed the javelins to the floor and then walked down from their thrones to stand next to Jupiter.
Cordus seemed to be fighting three gods.
An idea struck Aquilina. She set the dish down next to Cordus’s chair, then hurried over to the holo-monitor’s controls. She activated the interface and then scrolled through the options. She found the data feed she wanted, entered several passwords, and then verified the feed was active.
Ulpius said, “You sure you want to broadcast this to the world? What if he dies up there?”
“Then we all die,” Aquilina said. “But if he lives, and he saves us…not even Arrius will dispute his claim. Who would defy the man who can defeat gods?”
Ulpius grunted. Aquilina stared at the holo-monitor, but became aware of Dariya and Daryush standing on the other side of Cordus.
All four watched the drama.
49
Cordus faced the three gods of the Capitoline Triad, the most powerful in the Pantheon.
That’s what they want me to think. They’re no more gods than I am.
“We do not want to kill you, young Antonius,” Jupiter said. He yanked the gladius out of his leg and threw it away. The wound and blood on his leg evaporated until Jupiter’s bare, muscled thigh was once again smooth and bronze.
The blood gushing from the chest wounds in Juno and Minerva had stopped. The blood on their white togas evaporated as well, leaving their gowns as immaculate as they were before Marcus attacked them.
“We want to help you,” Juno said. Kindness softened her eyes as she tilted her head, looking at him like a mother would a son.
“We can give you your heart’s greatest desire,” Minerva said. Her owl, now whole again, sailed from the floor behind Cordus and landed on Minerva’s alabaster shoulder.
“What is my heart’s greatest desire?” Cordus asked.
Ocella and Kaeso appeared beside him, just as Marcus had, and they both said at the same time, �
��Freedom.”
Cordus flinched, then looked at the two people he had loved most.
“I know, kid, I’ve been there,” Kaeso said, putting a hand on Cordus’s shoulder. “Everyone wanting you to solve their problems. When all you want to do is be free.”
“No more taking care of someone else,” Ocella said from the other side. “You can travel the stars, explore new worlds and old. Have new experiences that nobody has ever had. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”
Juno stepped forward, towering over Cordus by almost six feet. She knelt down on one knee, her eyes kind. She lightly touched his cheek with her fingers. “We desire peace. We always have.”
“Then why destroy Libertus? Why attack Terra?”
Minerva approached, her steps light despite her size. “Because of them,” she said, nodding toward the body of Marcus Antonius. “They, and all the other strains, are the infection that rots the soul of the universe. They upend the natural order by serving mundanes. It is the mundanes who should serve them and provide the experiences all the strains need to survive.”
Ocella took his hand in hers. “We can be together again, like it used to be. Only now we can go wherever we want.” She nodded to the three gods. “They encourage us to explore because it gives them new experiences.”
“It took me a while to accept it,” Kaeso said. “But once you do, you cannot imagine the freedom.” He shook his head with a smile. “It’s what I always wanted. And I know it’s what you’ve wanted, too.”
“The price?” Cordus asked Jupiter. The god stared at him from behind Juno and Minerva.
“Your faith,” he rumbled.
“Give up your body…” Minerva said.
“…and become immortal,” Juno soothed.
Cordus looked from Ocella to Kaeso. They both regarded him with all the love that proud parents would show their son. Cordus’s real mother and father had never looked at him that way.
Only Ocella and Kaeso had.
They had taken the time to get to know him, to teach him how to be a real human being. They had raised the real Cordus, the person he was beneath the Muses and the Consular Heir. They knew his dreams for the future.
He swallowed once, then said, “What do I need to do?”
Juno leaned forward, her beautiful face only a foot from his. “Tell us where you are in the Temple below.”
“What’s he doing?” Ulpius asked Aquilina. They all watched the drama unfold on the holo-monitor through Cordus’s eyes. “He’s not going to tell them where we are, is he?”
“No,” Aquilina said. “I believe in him. He will not abandon us.”
She glanced at Dariya, who returned a wary one of her own.
I believe in him.
Aquilina unholstered her pulse pistol and held it at her side. Dariya bared her teeth, but turned her gaze back to the holo-monitor.
But I am not a fool.
“I have friends near my body,” Cordus said.
“Your friends will not be harmed,” Minerva said. “Unless they try to stop us.”
“What will you do to me?”
“Enough questions,” Jupiter thundered. “Do you accept the offer or not?”
“It is generous,” Juno said with motherly patience.
The man-sized owl on Minerva’s shoulder shifted its head, its black eyes staring at Cordus. Minerva added, “You will have the freedom you desire above all else.”
Cordus glanced at Ocella, then at Kaeso. They both gave him encouraging smiles.
“Freedom,” Cordus said. “Like them?”
“It’s not what you think, kid,” Kaeso said. “We’re not chained to a single body anymore. If our golem body dies, we can leave it for another. Quickly, painlessly. That is freedom.”
“All we have to do,” Ocella said from the other side, “is give them our loyalty and our experiences.”
“But you’re golems,” Cordus said.
“We’re free,” Ocella countered with a gentle smile. “Tell them where you are so we can be together forever.”
“Come with us, kid,” Kaeso added.
Cordus looked from Ocella to Kaeso. “I want that so much,” he breathed.
Aquilina raised her pulse pistol and put the barrel against Cordus’s head. Dariya and Daryush looked from Cordus to Aquilina. Emotions warred on their faces. They knew as well as Aquilina that if Cordus abandoned them, humanity was lost. They could not let him join the Muses and give them the secrets of his abilities.
Tears clouded Aquilina’s vision as she watched Cordus’s sleeping form. Her pistol hand trembled.
I believe in you. I believe in you…
“I’ve always wanted that,” Cordus said. “I’ve told you both that since we first met. Do you remember what you always said?”
The comforting smiles of Ocella and Kaeso wavered.
“You said that was not the man I was meant to be.”
Cordus knew this temple, this world, these “gods” were not physical. This was all a dream world within the alien vessel inhabited by the Muse strain. And in dreams, only imagination and will limited what one could do.
At least that’s how Cordus prayed it worked here.
I need to be bigger, he thought. Ocella and Kaeso shrank away from him as his body grew to twelve feet tall. He stood eye-to-eye with both Juno and Minerva, their kind expressions turning to shock.
I need weapons. A pulse pistol appeared in his left hand and a gladius in his right. He thrust the gladius into Juno’s throat, while at the same instant, he shot Minerva and the owl in their heads with the pistol. Minerva fell to the floor on her back, blood pooling around her head. Juno still hung on Cordus’s gladius. Cordus knew they would soon heal themselves. He only had moments to defeat Jupiter.
But Jupiter was ready for him. The god had a fork of blue lightning in his hand and flung it at Cordus before he could remove his gladius from Juno’s throat. He ducked behind Juno, the lightning slamming into her back. It blasted a hole through her chest and then continued on toward Cordus. He rolled out of the way, but lightning singed the top of his arms when it surged past him. He scrambled away from Juno’s body and hid behind a nearby column that no longer seemed so wide now that he was twice as tall as when he arrived.
Jupiter issued a deep sigh, almost like a hum, that rumbled through the halls of the Temple. “So we finally battle,” Jupiter said. “It has been a long time for us. We missed it.”
More lightning slammed into the column Cordus hid behind, sending shards of marble everywhere. He reached around with his pulse pistol and fired several blind shots in Jupiter’s direction. Cordus tried to peer around the corner, but lightning and marble shards kept him pinned down.
I did not think this out well. Juno and Minerva would heal soon, and then he’d be surrounded. He was on their vessel; they knew their terrain better than he did. They inhabited the vessel like the memories of Ocella and Kaeso inhabited in their golem bodies.
Cordus looked around. This place was the center, where the vessel was controlled. It had to be. So where were the controls?
He saw the vacated thrones to his left. All three glowed a faint blue, but Jupiter’s throne seemed more vibrant.
Cordus needed to get to that throne and then…well, he wasn’t sure after that. Was it the real gods urging him on? The residue of Marcus? He didn’t know, but he felt it to the core of his being that the key to defeating these Muses was on those thrones.
Another lightning blast hit the column, and this time the entire thing shook. Cracks appeared all around it, and he didn’t think it could take another blast. He fired more blind pulse shots at Jupiter.
A humming sigh to his left. Cordus had no time to turn before a hand was around his throat. The hand lifted him off his feet and turned him around. He dropped his pulse pistol. Jupiter’s face was no longer that of a benevolent father. His skin had turned a sickly green, his hair hung in greasy black strands, his teeth were sharp points, and his eyes were completely black. Cordus
knew his Pantheon. This was Orcus, a god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths.
Orcus's breath was foul when he snarled at Cordus. “I will feast on your soul, boy.”
As soon as the battle started, Ocella had dropped to her knees and assumed a prostrate form before the Originators. Kaeso had done the same as they both awaited the inevitable conclusion of the battle.
Cordus will lose, she thought. He will die. My poor, dear boy will die…
Her body trembled as the shock of that realization roiled through it. This was not right. She should not feel these things. The Originators had assured her she would no longer be distracted by emotions. She was free, they said.
Why couldn’t Cordus see this opportunity? Why couldn’t he just accept the will of the Originators and do what he always wanted?
Lightning exploded against a column to her right. She risked a glance up from her prostration. Cordus hid behind the column, gripping the pulse pistol. Jupiter strode over to him, flinging lightning blasts upon the column. Cordus fired wildly at Jupiter, but the pulse pellets never got close. Jupiter’s body melted into the sickly form of Orcus.
He’s going to kill Cordus now. This couldn’t happen. She was his protector. She had been since the moment she met him seven years ago, and especially since she helped him escape Roma. And all the years since then, keeping him safe from bounty hunters, Praetorian assassins, and Umbra Ancile eager to avenge their losses in Roma.