Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome

by Edward Crichton

  People running around like chickens with their heads chopped off as they tried to escape possible danger and people stupidly trying to capture a possible imminent threat on video instead of running for their lives was all too indicative of the modern age. These were the denizens of the twenty first century. Not a survival skill or rational thought in their minds. These were my people.

  I was home.

  “Drop them! I will not tell you again!”

  The police officer was clearly rattled now, and as I finally gave him my full attention, seeing the beads of sweat running down his face. He, too, was panicked by what he saw, but instead of running, this brave man took cover behind his sidearm and sense of authority, and that made me smile too. There were plenty of people like this guy, as well. And this man had to have been considerably brave to stare down myself and a nine foot tall giant.

  I held my hands up, my smile affixed firmly to my face. “No worries, officer. We were just passing through.”

  “Drop the grenades!”

  The man’s gun was rattling now, his hands shaking in terror. I glanced at my hands, realizing that I was still holding the pair of orbs. I lowered them slowly and glanced up at Remus.

  He nodded. “It is time to return. Think, Jacob. Same as before.”

  I returned the nod and closed my eyes, thinking about Ancient Rome. I thought of Caligula and Claudius, Galba and Vespasian, legionnaires and Praetorians, but as my mind raced, something did not seem right. Something was keeping me from truly feeling where I wanted to go. There was uncertainty in my concentration and I realized that I hadn’t channeled enough uniqueness to differentiate where I wanted to go from all the infinite possibilities of where I wanted to go. Accompanying this thought was that I could someday sift through these possibilities, different dimension I assumed, but not now.

  And then I thought of Helena, the woman I didn’t have any right to be loved by anymore, but loved all the same, I was sure, and almost instantly the back of my eyelids went dark as though someone had turned out the lights to a brightly lit room. I opened my eyes and saw that we were back where we’d been, Praetorian escorts and all, and that’s when realization really hit me.

  I’d been home.

  Home.

  I’d stepped foot in the year 2021, in my very own timeline, right where I’d belonged. I hadn’t seen much to confirm that it was truly home, and, to be honest, the fact that there had been so many tourists in Rome made me question everything, but despite that slight oddity, there was nothing that could convince me that I hadn’t actually been home. I felt it in my bones. My gut knew it had been home. Whether it was some innate feeling or my connection with the orbs, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had been home.

  I turned and looked at Remus. “It’s really that simple?”

  “Traversing the Multiverse is considerably more difficult, and I do believe you sent us a bit further into the future than you’d intended, but with practice, yes, it is that simple.”

  “Where else can we go?” I asked excitedly, amazed at what I’d just done. “Can we visit The Source? I want to know more about it.”

  Remus shook his head. “Unfortunately, that is impossible. I may have simulated a livable environment in your vision, but to step foot there unprotected would mean certain death. Even to me. In any case, the orbs cannot take us there. The Source isn’t another Earth. It’s a parallel Mars.”

  I blinked, speechless, but then a quick laugh managed to cough its way out of my throat as I stood there flabbergasted. It had been Mars all along. Then I giggled. Then I started to chuckle, and it built and built until it was a flat-out, breathless, uncontrollable laugh, so loud that hyenas would have been embarrassed by my display. I reached out and gripped Remus’ biceps with my hands, and jumped up to throw a laugh right in his face before peeling away, twirling to his left and skipping toward the line of Praetorians. I jogged and hopped down their line joyfully, passing maybe fifteen, smacking each and every one of them on the cheek as I went. They didn’t react but turned to one another in confusion, but even their party pooper attitude couldn’t keep me from continuing on down the line, spinning away when I grew bored of their somberness so that I could stand in front of Boudicca and Agrippina.

  I was beyond happy, beyond ecstatic, beyond anything at the moment.

  I’d been home!

  I reached out and gripped Agrippina’s head in my hands and thought to bring her in for a kiss, but then our eyes met and I immediately grew disgusted at the thought. I pushed her head away and sidestepped to stand before Boudicca, gripped her head, and laid a lip-smacking smooch on her. She seemed surprised by my forwardness but certainly didn’t seem ready to complain either. Seconds passed before I pulled away, my face awash in happiness as I looked at her, her own face as impassive as the Praetorians’.

  “Now I’ve made out with two queens!” I announced before giving her another quick kiss, pirouetting away from her as I broke contact, performing a horrendous little jig with my feet as I returned to stand before Remus. Without thinking, I reached out to grip his crossed arms again, ready to force him into the dance with me, but before I made contact, his hand lashed out far quicker than I could track. It flew forward, thrusting itself directly into my chest, and then I was flying through the air like in a cartoon character, my chest bursting with pain and the air vacating my lungs as I sailed through the night sky. I had no way of estimating my flight time, my mind too frazzled with pain, the memories of elation, and a creeping feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.

  I crashed into a pair of Praetorians. They tried to catch me but the momentum of my flight was too much for even the both of them, and the three of us slammed into the ground.

  I lifted my head, my hands clutching my chest, but before I could search for Remus, I found him already standing above me, his face scrunched in anger. “You have no cause for celebration! Do you presume my use of you to be at an end? There is still much to be done.”

  “My use?” I asked hoarsely as I struggled to my knees, remaining there until my ability to sense the outside world focused. When my breathing steadied, I slammed a fist into the ground in a sign of defiance and anger, and pushed myself up to my feet, glaring at Remus as I rose. “What use could I possibly be to a centuries old historical footnote remembered as the victim of fratricide and little else?”

  If the human eye could combust into flames, I was certain Remus’ would as he stared down at me from his lofty height. I did my best to hold my ground under the intensity of his glare as the pair of Praetorians who had broken my fall scampered away. Agrippina and Boudicca, meanwhile, had barely even moved. Long moments passed and I felt my resolve begin to wither under his scrutiny, ebbing away until I was forced to look away, unable to develop further quips or insults.

  “Your childish attempts to ignite my ire are just that. There is nothing you can say or do that has not already been done to me a million times over. I am too focused to waste a single moment on your insignificance.”

  “Focused on what?”

  His stare never wavered as a predatory smile crossed his face. “Vengeance.”

  My eyes widened as understanding set in. “Wait, you’re not planning what I think…”

  “It is of no concern of yours,” Remus snapped, but the bite in his words paled in comparison to the pain that spread across the right side of my face when he backhanded me with his immense fist, or as bad as the pain that shot up my left elbow as I slammed into the ground. I tried to roll into a ball, self-preservation instincts kicking in, but I was never given the chance. Remus was on me in seconds, gripping the back of my tattered MOLLE vest and hauling me to my feet.

  “I had planned this another way,” Remus bellowed inches from my face as he held me up like one would hold a cat by the scruff of his neck. “But your barbarian interrupted the subtle approach when she destroyed the equipment I needed to harness your brain. I had hoped to implant instructions and memories directly into y
our subconscious, allowing you to do what is necessary on your own, but it is no matter. Even as we were conversing in your mind earlier, I was contemplating a more direct approach.” His nose wrinkled in disgust as his rant continued, his demeanor having changed so completely and so quickly that I was once again terrified. “Your mind disgusts me, Jacob Hunter. It offends me. You offend me. Such a weak, pitiful, maudlin mind you have, full of guilt and tiresome discontent for abilities you are so lucky to possess. I cannot tolerate such a creature: one who is so willing to throw away the power you have because you are too afraid of the consequences.”

  I held my breath as Remus went on, waiting for the other foot to drop in the form of his fist through my skull. But it didn’t come, and I was rewarded instead with the sight of Remus’ scowl turning into another malicious smile.

  “And then…” he growled, “…there are your memories. Of him. Of them both. Knowing through you the fate of my brother, I…”

  “Hey, asshole.” The words crept out of my mouth on their own, another self-defense mechanism, perhaps. I didn’t know why I had said them or how I even managed to form words at all, but I knew I couldn’t stop there. So I worked my jaw painfully left then right with a hand, and tried to act tough. “I appreciate that you’re taking the classic bad guy approach of explaining your master plan while Agrippina, I’m sure, is rounding up her entire contingent of Praetorians to contain your beefy ass, but, please, could you please get to the…”

  Remus started to laugh, but before I had time to understand why, he whirled to his left, swinging me with him. But I wasn’t destined to an endless cycles of revolutions around the Remus-go-round, because he quickly released me and I was again defying gravity and taking an unscheduled flight through the air.

  I slammed into the ground, which alone hurt plenty, but then I started to slide against the rough surface of the pavement. Nicked, scrapped, scratched, and gouged, I finally came to a stop a dozen feet past where I’d impacted, a loud gasp of air escaping my lungs as they managed to kick start themselves again. My brain finally caught up as well, and the combined pain of everything I’d endured hit me.

  I’d been shot before. I’d been stabbed before, sliced and diced more times than I cared to remember. Hell, I’d even been crucified once before. It had all hurt. Some of it had brought me to the brink of death, but none of it seemed that bad in retrospect when faced with the realization that I was actively getting the shit beat out of me – that I was, quite possibly, in the process of being beaten to death.

  But pain I could deal with. I’d been taught to deal with it. Trained to ignore it and push beyond it. Pain was little more than an inconvenience to overcome. It was a reminder that death was still only an option, and that survival was possible. But when I looked up, I understood why it all hurt so badly, because physical pain was nothing unless accompanied by an emotional element.

  Standing above me was Boudicca, as stalwart and imposing as always, but behind her was Agrippina, petite and tiny in comparison, her lean legs wrapped around Boudicca’s waist as though preparing for a piggyback ride. What really drew my attention, however, was the knife in her hand that was pressed against the larger woman’s throat.

  Betrayal.

  Betrayal always hurt.

  I should have known better than to trust her. I should have seen it coming. All the signs were there – had always been there. I’d known Agrippina for years, and known the kind of person she really was well before I’d even met her. There had never been any reason to trust her, never any reason to believe anything she said. But all that time spent with her while under the orb’s spell must have altered my perception of her.

  I rose to my hands and knees, every movement a painful one, every miniscule flex of my muscles dispersing new waves of pain through my body. Reaching up with my left hand, I gripped my right shoulder, feeling blood trickle through my fingers from a particularly nasty wound there. I spit out a glob of blood that had formed in my mouth as I had laid on the ground, and leaned back so that I could sit on my ankles.

  “You are such a fool, Jacob Hunter,” Remus said from behind me.

  I was about to reply when I was yanked to my feet by the collar of my MOLLE vest again and thrown against the wall of a nearby building. The back of my head slammed against it and stars flashed before my eyes. I fell to the ground in a daze and hadn’t the foresight to protect my head again. I fell to my side and it slammed against the ground, but before the pain could truly settle in, Remus had me up again and propped against the wall.

  My head swam, my body ached, and my eyes stung from tears and sweat, but still I managed to find Agrippina peaking over Boudicca’s shoulder.

  “And… you, Agrippina?” I croaked, my throat barely able to form words around Remus’ clenched hand at my throat.

  “Be silent, Jacob,” she said, cowering behind Boudicca, her eyes tense. “Do as he commands and he will stop hurting you.

  It was difficult to believe her, but there had been an odd shift in her eyes as she spoke, another suggestion that she was trying to say more than her words alone. It seemed possible that she had been duped by Remus as well, used for no other reason than to bring me here, but I didn’t think Agrippina would fall so easily into such a trap. She was always looking for new avenues to obtain power, and Remus was certainly a broad inroad. She’d have a way out, an exit strategy.

  I turned away from her and looked back at Remus, my vision blurrier than before, perhaps because my eyes were beginning to swell shut, but I wasn’t surprised to see that his rage certainly hadn’t diminished. His endgame was clear, his next move obvious, but I wouldn’t be a part of it.

  “I won’t help you,” I said. “You can have Agrippina threaten Boudicca all you want, but I won’t do a thing to help you. You’ll kill her no matter what I do, help or not. So you’ll just have to go ahead and kill us both. Just get it over with.”

  Remus leaned in close, only inches from my face. “Threatening you with her death is not my intention. She has proven resourceful and merely needs to be contained. Threatening you requires a focus on someone else.”

  I knew who he meant. “You’ll never find her. She’s trained to hide from shitheads like you. I don’t care how advanced you are; you’ll never find her.”

  He pulled back an inch or two. “You misunderstand me, Jacob Hunter. I have no need to waste time searching for your beloved sniper. She is irrelevant. There’s only one individual I need threaten to break your will.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  Remus smiled toothily, the first real sign of amusement I’d seen from him. “You.”

  He released me and I watched dizzily as Remus stepped away, bent over to retrieve the fallen orbs, and held them up like trophies for me to see, holding them both in just one of his massive hands.

  “You really are quite lucky you found the blue orb, Jacob,” Remus said as he gazed at them. “The red may have left you as little more than a smoldering puddle of flesh, blood, and bone by now, or turned you into something monstrous. It is a vile device on its own, and I am glad it was Romulus’.”

  His eyes flicked up at mine, but he wasted no time before hurling the red orb off into the distance, far beyond my ability to see where it had landed. It had been an impressive feat, effortless, like watching a teenage Clark Kent kick a football into orbit. In one instant it had been in his hand, the next, it was out of sight.

  What was more, the red orb’s disappearance left me alone with the blue orb. My orb. My lovely, beautiful blue orb. The orb that filled me with such invigorating and rejuvenating energy. Basking in its glow, I felt strength return and pain recede. I breathed in deeply and loudly, feeling my body straighten, my posture improve, and my mind clear.

  I opened my eyes and smiled at Remus.

  “Amazing, is it not?” He asked. “The energy emanating from this object is quite mystifying. Is it purposeful or a flaw in its design? Are we being bathed in the actual radiation of a star or, perhaps, one of the
infinite black holes it is connected with? Is it even possible for such a thing to control a man’s mind? Extraordinary…”

  I breathed deeply through my nose as though sampling a bouquet of flowers. “Certainly is.”

  Remus nodded. “But unlike me, you have no resistance to its power and have grown addicted to it. It consumes you. The red orb acted as a counterbalance… for a time, but now it is gone, leaving you connected with the blue. Have you any idea what will happen to you should you lose the blue orb now as well?”

  I shrugged, not caring. “Not a clue.”

  Remus sighed. “It would be so easy to control you in this state, but the desire to torment you remains appealing. So tell me, Jacob Hunter, are you aware of the term: cold turkey?”

  Of course I was aware of the term, but before I could answer, I watched as Remus flicked his arm again, sending the blue orb far and away from us. I watched it go, curious as to why Remus would throw away something so beautiful.

  And then, without warning, my world was engulfed in an inferno of pain.

  The ground flew up and smashed me in the face again, and I laid there writhing and wrenching in agony, convulsing, screaming, wailing, and shrieking, those very acts making the pain even worse. Every single action had a painful and equally violent reaction. When I screamed, my lungs burned. When I clenched my eyes shut, my eyelids felt like they were being sliced off. When I opened them, it felt as though my eyes themselves were being gauged out. When I clenched my fist, it was crushed. When I opened my hand, my fingers were torn off one by one.

  All this happened at once, and over and over. All this and more. Every pain was felt alone and stacked atop another. It was worse than a nightmare, it was pure evil designed to kill me through pain and pain alone.

  Somewhere in my brain I had the ability to rationalize all of this, yet, none of it made sense to me or seemed possible. I was barely cognizant of that fact, the pain working its way directly into my bones and every synapse in my brain. The very act of thinking seemed to bring on fresh and more creative ways to torment me.