10 YEARS OF NOBODY THE BLOG

I started this blog 10 years ago to write down my frustrations, to express my emotions, to create an explosion of passion and an outlet for my creation and imagination. My first story written on here was one about someone I loved and our experience together not sleeping and just spending nights doing whatever we could to have fun without any curfew in pure freedom. But as any love when young, it ended, and I grew more and more introspective. With the lack of direction in life, with the abuse of all freedoms and the fun that it came with, my spiral was a sight to behold as life turned into a roller coaster. And my writing on this blog reflected it. But those times too have to come to an end, and they did, when I hit a wall and I had remained with myself and a two year depression after a failed attempt at running a coffee bar.

During this time of depression, I delve deep into anything I could to keep my mind busy. Yet I was in denial, as I was searching for answers. And so I also delve back into writing, but this time on a daily basis on this blog, as I couldn’t find any of the answers I needed or wanted from any reading, deciding to find them on my own. This also spurred my desperate need to find an answer to what I want to be in life, as nothing had satisfied me to that point in time. This grew my passion for writing as I began experimenting by trying different types of stories, subjects and styles. Some garnered views, likes, shares and had eyes on them, others not so much. As time passed, the depression went from seasonal to a two year stint where I had hit my head on the proverbial wall as many times as I could, until I had realized something…

At that point I have been writing short stories, lyrics and poetry for over three years and daily for over two years out of the three. During this period I also tried the first of the short story series called A Misery’s Romance, about a bunch of high school boys and their take on love. Also during this time there were a few segments on the blog, the one that you can also sometimes find on this iteration of NTB is The Rant. The others were about news and virtues. And as I found out that I wanted to become a writer and write more than just short stories, I also wrote a short story series on here, this one named Trapped in Autumn, which as you guessed I turned into my debut book Trapped: Autumn. Another series I wrote during that time was 20 Questions, which you can still read the first chapter of it in The Pilot Program 2019. All this while I started going to college and pursuing becoming an author. As I wanted to find guidance, learn and become a better writer. Yet, sadly, all I found was frustration, closed doors and a lack of enthusiasm and nepotism. And all that can be found in all four Trapped: Seasons books. The more I wrote, the better I got. And the better I got, the more I experimented. And the more people visited and read what I had written. The better I wanted to get and the higher the standers and things I wanted to produce and give to the world.

And with that said, I’ve learned a lot and I thank you for reading my stories, for liking, commenting, sharing them. So let me tell you what is to come from me, a nobody, this year: The Pilot Program Continues, I Write Sins… Not Tragedies is getting sinnier. I am going to release two books this year, one this late spring, one in winter. But, writing this fifth book has been a challenge. As I said, the better I become, the higher the standards I have, which is a bit of a hurdle to overcome when you want to put out quality content. But, it is going to come. The cover is almost ready and the first 14 chapters are done. So we’re over 25% done with writing it. And for the next 10 years, I want to continue to provide amazing free short stories for you to read, to continue to publish interesting books of changing genres and to always try to bring something new to storytelling. And of course, to have you along with me on that journey.

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Attropolis LII - Finalem

As the Roman army regroups between the arrows that are fired by the archers on the walls of Creetus. The Caesar is absolutely furious with the incompetence of his army and their absolute failure to secure a way inside the city. It is a matter of time before they fall! And they will fall! Says Caesar annoyed. Arrows and behind the Caesar, killing one of his generals. They turn around to see a thousand strong Greek, Macedonians and Spartans and a few wounded from the battles they had along the way here. The Caesar takes a deep breath, turns around to his army, notices a few Greek and Spartan ships on the sea approaching Creetus. Hairs on his arm rise, goosebumps all over his body, fists clenched, the most stern look on his face he says… Men! Be ready! Today, we are going to be victorious! And crush these rebellion for the glory of Rome! The army turns around, shields above their heads, they march towards the Greeks, Macedonians and Spartans.

From the wall, one of the men screams at Anus, telling him that they are running towards another army. He realizing this, turns towards his men and tells them to stop burning as they need to help fight the Romans. With spears, shovels and by throwing boulders they take down the fire on one of the streets, to make a passage towards the sea. Anus instructs the archers to remain on the wall if anything happens, he takes a man, whispers in his ear something. And screams at the men he told to keep watch on the wall, now to tell the men he just whispered something to if the Romans approach the doors to the city. They start running through the opening they made.

On the wall of Creetus, the archers fire towards the Roman army as they move towards their opponents. But the Roman army undeterred moves forward attacking the Greeks, Macedonians and Spartans. The horses meet first as they clash in the middle of the battle field. Clashing, dying, falling, grunting, the Caesar was in the middle of it all, feeling alive again after years of peace and serenity. His anger turned into pure fighting energy with a smile on his face he plunges his sword in the meat of those uncivilized enough to fight him and the empire. Two thousand and some more men clashing in the battlefield at Creetus, swords gnashing, dead bodies start to pile up, horses unable to move. All now on equal footing, sword, spear or ax in one hand, a shield in the other launching at each other in their freest moment of their lives for their lives.

In Creetus Anus and his soldiers arrive at the beach, where Roman soldiers are ready to welcome the Greek soldiers. Seeing this opportunity he launches with his men killing them a few of them as quickly as possible, before they turn around and start counter-attacking. But this gives the Greeks the chance to touch down the beach and ambush the Romans. With all their tactical prowess the army of the empire falls short when cornered and surrounded. And after a few hours they surrender and are taken hostage. Anus thanks the Greeks for their assistance and they in turn admire him for his courage. Now with this dealt, he and the Greeks start marching towards the wall of the city to assist the rest of their allies.

Upon almost a thousand dead bodies, under the hot sun, with blood flowing through the ground, tall above them with a sword in his hand, a sweat on his brow, stands Caesar Augustus. With all their might they had pushed back the Greek, Macedonian and Spartan armies. With an adrenaline rush, The Caesar pushes to surround and decimate the rest of their forces, so they can finally focus on the city and the men that had started it all. Standing together with a few hundred Spartans, a few Greeks and Macedonians are fighting for their lives as Augustus is showing no mercy killing whoever stands in his way. Soon the Romans stand victorious. The Caesar without a breath tells a few of his men the men the siege equipment and start firing, as the rest of the army takes a moment to breath and get back into positions.

Anus reaches the wall, a men briefs him on what happened and tells his that the Romans have reached the walls and doors. He instructs a few men to look from the wall where it’s being targeted and take men there to hide and ambush the Roman army. He then instructs the rest to take a breather and get ready, and another to get onto the siege weapon and to be prepared to shoot at the general direction of the door. He then goes to the wall to pull on a giant thick rope that collapses the floor under the Roman soldiers that are at the doors of the city. From over the doors, a few men are pushing down giant boulders to crush the Romans. A few minutes later, the walls start to crack. A few more shots the walls on the side fall.

The Empire’s army comes through, the Creetin army tries to ambush them only to be surprised by a full testudo. In their shock, their adversaries doesn’t hesitate, takes them out quickly. and are now trying to make their way towards the center. But a wall of fire greets them as soon as they start marching. From the wall, Anus is brief that the sides have been compromised, but that they also have stopped sieging. This surprises Anus as he asks for more details. The man on the wall can’t give him any as he can’t see too much due to the smoke that surrounds the city and the battlefield. An hour later from both sides sounds of crashing is heard.

Anus realizing what happens tells his mean to burn down everything and retreat. As he gives the orders, a bolt files by kills a few of his men in front of him and their siege weapon too. With a few over a thousand men, Anus feels trapped in a device of his own making. As he looks to the left, he sees legionnaires, to the right too. He turns back, the soldiers he captured now are free. He is surrounded on all sides. The Romans wait, Anus and his men with spears, axes and swords in hands are shaking as they are standing their ground. The silence is deafening.

Arrows start flying towards the ones defending, between those arrows, bolts and boulders that kill many. Seeing this Anus takes charge and attacks. With a brave scream he charges at the Roman army. They all follow him. Spears meet them followed by their shields. With every push back from the empire, more men die. With every death, the more they pushed. And the cycle as soon as it started, it also ended. Winded, Anus stands with his soul crushed hunched over looking at the spilled blood and wonders to what end. The Caesar comes, looks at the men. Anus raises his vision from the ground, looks at Augustus. Without any hesitation Augustus puts his sword through the man’s heart and tells him that he wasn’t worthy of the death he got. Turning around, he starts speaking… Men! I have promised you glory! And glory is what we got here today! To those that were brave and had died, we owe them gratitude as they died for the glory of Rome! To those still standing with me, brave men, you took upon this journey with me and thus I salute you! Now let the glory of the empire set over these barbarians as we set up north!

The end.

Thank you very much for reading this. It’s been an amazing year, and writing Attropolis has been one of the most fun things I have done. Especially since this is the first year I am doing such an experiment with writing every week a short story. I hope you enjoyed it, I thank you for the thousand of eyes that you have laid on this work. I promise you, next year I will publish new books, new short stories and hopefully more. So stick around. I hope you have an amazing 2020. And again, a big thank you.

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Attropolis LI

Men start trying to drag friends, family and others that were wounded or killed back into the city. Blood flows down, panic spreads through the city. The Romans approach the city, as the now stand before the wooden spikes. From underneath, spikes fly right through the ground into the Roman soldiers and horses. The Romans try to regroup but, to no avail as arrows started flying down the skies and spears were annihilating them from behind. As they fall down, the Caesar is left speechless. Anus climbs on the wall to witness the destruction below. The Caesar’s generals that had remained with him, question what had happened down there. Anus’ men once again leave the walls in a hurry. Augustus orders his troops to ambush them. The soldiers start running down screaming, the archers start firing arrows towards Anus and his men.

A Roman soldier takes a deep breath, wide open mouth screaming, a bolt flies through his mouth and into the soldiers behind him dragging him back. And more bolts and arrows fly towards the Roman army, taking them down. Anus tells his men to try and retreat with the siege equipment, but before they could the legion makes its way to him and his men. They start clashing swords, axes and try to impale each other with spears. From below the earth, again spears rise into soldiers. Anus with a swing of his sword cuts a man down and hits another three. The arrows from the wall stop, when he notices, concerned he turns around and sees on the sea Roman ships anchoring down on Creetus. With this Anus screams and shouts at him men to retreat back behind the wall, as they will be ambushed. The men with spears beneath the earth manage to hold the Roman army back, before they themselves retreating and collapsing the tunnels behind them. From behind the door, bolts start shooting outwards. Men run on the sides as to let the bolts hit the Romans.

After killing the few Roman soldiers that had made in and closing the doors. Anus tells his men to go and take down some buildings and burn them. So they block the streets and access into town and keep burning until there’s nothing left to burn. He then turns to the archers and tells them to start shooting again, so they won’t have time to breathe and regroup. The men from beneath the earth all come and ask Anus what they should do. He asks them to get ready and stand by, but stops one of them and tells him to go up onto the wall and tell him when the Romans approach the doors to the cities. Within a few minutes Creetus started burning and the wall of smoke and fire now had turned them into sitting ducks in the midst of the Roman army.

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Attropolis L

The sun high above, shinning upon the calm battle field. On the one side, a few hundred men of Creetus with Anus leading them in the front line. Tall, right hand on his sword, armor on, looking with stoicism ahead. Behind him, to the sides, giant wooden spikes, defending the thin wall that fronts the city. Behind the spikes archers with a few with swords to their hips as a second like of defense, they are armed to fight after they exhaust their arrows. On the walls, long bow archers and soldiers ready to throw boiling water and boulders down when the front line retreats. On the horizon, as he looks ahead, Anus sees a thin black line creeping up slowly. As the line drew closer, his blood started boiling, a smile appears on his face, but he did not know whether it was from excitement, fear or impatience.

Caesar seeing just a few hundred men lined up stops in awe. As he frowns and has its eyebrows bent in anger, he stops. The army soon stops too, the generals approach him and ask him what he thinks it is wrong with the picture they have in front of them. Furious, the Caesar thought he could have had a challenge, but this disappointed him. I will keep my promise, no matter what, he says trying to calm himself down. Deploy a battalion and the siege equipment. And about hundred archers and a few cavalry. The generals dumbfounded ask him if that is a good idea, as they’re breaking formation. They are a couple hundred people. Just ruin them with the equipment we have, and let’s be done with this. I am not going to sacrifice two thousand men for some no good coward. The general oblige.

Anus is expecting a full attack by the Romans, telling his men to be prepared for whatever is coming. But he looks to the left, nothing is moving, he looks ahead, nothing. He is now anxious of what they’ll be doing. From the line upfront a few figures appear to get closer, what looks like a testudo and some siege equipment. He is wondering what they are doing dispatching only so few men. His eyes grow wide and he starts screaming at his men to run inside the walls. As the men start running inside, bolts fly by Anus killing his men and impaling them into the ground or the wall. Run! He screams with all his might. Now arrows appear on the sky as they fly towards him and his army. Shields up! He shouts trying to protect them. They turn around, raise their shields, the arrows hit them and they continue running inside. The Roman army is getting ever closer to Creetus…

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Attropolis XLIX

The Giant wakes up to a new days, he knows that what’s to follow will be the end of his life. He had realized this when that soldier had escaped. Then he thought to warn the people about what was to come, yet they all were cheerful, they all believed in their freedom. Unable to speak to their happiness, Anus had decided to defend their freedom, no matter the cost. Now with almost a thousand armed men at his disposal, he dares to dream big of respect and a deserved ending to a violent life. Yet between those feelings, the disappointment and pain of letting Hippos die, was immeasurable as he feels that he couldn’t protect someone that dear to him. Now the regrets start flooding his mind, as he ponders death without a love, without a child, without leaving something meaningful behind. As he knows not what he has done wrong in this life to deserve such punishment.

After all that sorrow, the workout and breakfast help him regain his focus as there are people betting their life on his leadership. He gets out of the house and is greeted by a few men, they start briefing him on the troops and ask him if they can do any last minute adjustments. He stands tall, looks around, smiles at them and tells them to got to their troops and get ready, because hell was about to arrive. Going towards a table, there his armor and weapon is ready. Putting the body armor on first, strapping his sword to his waist, helmet under arm, without a red cape, he starts marching towards the edge of the city. Passing by the empty houses, he reminisces about his fondest times there. The years of friendships and peace he managed to have with the lovely people of Creetus. Yet now it’s an empty town he looks upon, as the elderly, the children and most women had left and died in vein.

The troops fall quiet, Anus now standing in front of them. Men of Creetus, Macedon and Greece! Brothers! I look upon you all with trust, just as you trusted me to bring you here to this day! And I trust, that we can be victorious! And I trust, that we can defy the Empire! And I trust that what we do here, is important! Today we stand here as a symbol of freedom! Just like the Spartans before us, today, we have the change to write a legend that will be passed on for generations! We will be known as the Creetins to defy The Roman Empire! The soldiers burst into a cheer as they start chanting his name.

Boots on the ground, Caesar regains his place, as the troops start moving towards Creetus.

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2019 In Review. (A short story of the 2010s)

Well, we are at the end of the 2010s. And this feels right, somehow. It’s been a wild decade. I started this decade as an absolute naive dumbass, that was making mistake after mistake after mistake. But it was the year I started writing on this blog. And just like any writer or artist, boy, t’was cringe. But, I started this decade in love, and I am ending it in love, which is sweet and gives it a mirroring effect. I also didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself, who I was or what I wanted. This then transitioned into the wildest years of my life, where I ran a coffee bar, together with a friend. Which, obviously failed, due to our lack of experience. Then the two years of pure depression and a sudden realization of what I wanted to do. Followed by determination, attending college, hype due to said college, disappointment, frustration, anger, and spite.

Which brings us all to 2016, when I publish my first book whilst in college. Trapped: Autumn, a bold first step into the publishing world. Six months later, I publish my second book. A sequel named Trapped: Spring. The two a few months later break the top 100. And seeing that being at a literally college, no one cared about someone that actually published books, I dropped out. In 2018, the two books sell copies every single month of the year. While writing Trapped: Summer, I develop panic attacks and a severe general anxiety disorder. I stop writing. After months of focusing on my mental health that year, I restart my passion, by launching my own website and re-writing some of my old content and slowly getting back into writing. After changing day jobs in October, I also manage to quit smoking after almost 10 years. Towards the latter half of the year, I start writing again, finishing with a few new short stories, and announcing the biggest project on this Blog, Attropolis.

But 2018 ends with an idea about the order of the last two books in the Trapped: Seasons series. Thus I start writing a new book, Trapped: Winter. So, 2019 starts with me publishing Trapped: Winter in January. A new fantastic chapter in the series. But due to burnout, panic attacks and anxiety, my efforts to market it or sell it are zero. The next few months, I re-write Trapped: Summer from zero and that first summer day I publish it. But again, due to severe stress, anxiety and burnout, my marketing and selling efforts are close to zero. Yet, I kept writing, as people were reading the blog. Whether they were keeping up with my first 52 week story on this blog, Attropolis. Or they were engaged into The Pilot Program and those short stories. With a few thousand people visiting the website this year. This October I also had the chance to write an interactive story for an app named Questo for my hometown. And seeing over 800 people gather at once place to play an interactive game in the real life, was simply awe inspiring and humbling. In 2019 I also managed to rectify some of my biggest regrets and mistakes that I had made at the beginning of this decade. I also started following my dream job as a full time job, as now I am writing full time and not sacrificing anything for it. Which is rather stressful. This year, I also started writing for the fifth book. With almost a hundred pages written and edited, together with the cover of it being almost done. Here are some impressive numbers:

Story of a Game in 2019: 1 (Questo App)

Books Published in 2019: 2 (Trapped: Winter, Trapped: Summer)

Short Stories Published in 2019: 62 - 52 (Attropolis) + 8 (The Pilot Program) + 2 (Rants) (That’s 1.19 short stories per week)

Total Pages Written in 2019: 815

Words Written in 2019: 275.000

Characters Written in 2019: 1.3 Million (It’s just weird to think about this one, that’s why I am including it)

What’s to come in 2020?

Well, another at least 2 books, another 52 weeks of short stories, another season of The Pilot Program. And much more. Believe me, I am just starting.

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Attropolis XLVIII

Clanks and clinks echo throughout the camp as soldiers are preparing for war. Swords, spears, shields and helmets to be clad by some of the soldiers. For others bows and arrows, and for some horses too. The shine of the sun goldens the plains as Caesar looks with full confidence towards Creetus. Between the tents the soldiers barely speak, only passing the necessary information to each other. Man by man, little by little they gather in formations around their generals and their commanders, and their general’s general and their commander’s commander.* They start briefing their soldiers on what they had discussed with Caesar on how to win this war as efficiently as possible. Once the commanders and generals finish their speeches, the soldiers start looking at each other and salute with the utmost respect. As this is the most important day in their life, since they might die.

Once they all set into their positions, the Caesar starts walking from his tent towards the front line, looking at his men. Silence has set between the troops as he walks, with the only noise accompaniment being nature and his footsteps. He breaths in, his muscles start to tingle from excitement, a smile appears on his face as he looks at the troops surrounding him. The pain of losing one of his best friend will be avenged by his glorious victory, is his thought as he looks again towards Creetus. A soldier on a horse starts riding as quick as he can and disappears into the woods. The Caesar arrives at the front line, where on horses, his most trusted generals await him together with a soldier with a horse for him. Augustus mounts the beast and looks at his army.

Romans! Friends! Family! Our dear friend, Olanus was killed by a monster. A monster that killed our governor. And instigated us with violence! These barbarians attacked us, a peaceful kind! We dath showed them mercy, but they did not yeld! We, the free of hatred, pity, anger and friendship, have seen now the truth! These barbarians are cowards! And as they die once more, we will make sure to put them out of their misery! Now, to those foolish, we must teach, as they lack knowledge, they lack civility, they lack humanity and rational thought! To you, my soldiers, my commanders, my generals, know this! Beware the barbarians, as the greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would even look! But the fault is not in our stars! It is within us. And to win by strategy is no less the role of a general than a win by arms! As we have not to fear anything, except fear itself! Inspired by the speech the armies explode: Hail Augustus Caesar!

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*Author’s note: Even though this series is historical fiction, most of the beliefs, politics, army structures and most everything is based on actual real beliefs and facts we have. And here too I wanted to stay really true to the hierarchy of the Empire Army. But, that would have meant a segment on just repeating the same hierarchy of the army over and over again from the highest position to the lowest. Since more or less it would be the same, except some special roles within each level. And of course, the naming would be different.

Attropolis XLVII

The golden rays of the sun bestow upon this land a shine that brightens everyone’s day as the Caesar opens his eyes. A gentle breeze passes through the camp, a nice fresh scent of earth, grass, moss and everything nice the world has to offer under his feet. At the entrance of his tent, two guards standing tall and proud, watching over him. Augustus gets out of the warm bed, lays his feet upon the cold refreshing grass, takes a deep breath in and goes to urinate. He takes a cloth, wets it, and starts brushing his teeth. Done with both with a smile, he heads over to his table where slaves prepared his breakfast, a pancake and some cut fruit. He starts eating, pondering about the greatness of the day that was about to unfold. After the breakfast, a quick workout to warm up and get his muscles started.

With his fresh clothes and threads on him, pumped up, ready and happy, Augustus gets out his tent. Looking around his face lights up even more, seeing the beauty in the world and the manpower he has laying in the camp, waiting to crush their enemies. A maimed soldier breaks in through the camp screaming, waking up everyone and putting them in fighting stance. Looking to find an enemy following the soldier, yet finding nothing. The soldier runs and falls to the feet of the Caesar, out of breath. Blood flies on his feet, as the soldier looks up to tell Augustus what had happened, he spits blood on his white threads. He slaps the soldier, and tells him to calm down because they can’t understand him. One of the guards gives the soldier a flask with water, as he sits and tries to calm down. The Caesar’s generals gather around the tent, wanting to see what happened.

The soldiers tells them in detail everything that had happened, the graves, the tall giant, a bunch of pointy logs surrounding the small city and a bunch of archers. The Caesar thanks him and tells him to sit and take it easy. The generals ask him what they will do next. I will destroy them! A massacre! I will wipe them off from the map of this glorious earth they are tainting! August fuming with anger, frustration and regret that he didn’t stop him from going when the oracles had warned him. The generals once again ask if they should prepare for an assault. He turns around, smiles and tells them to wait…

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Attropolis XLVI

A bloody sword, a giant man over two graves, a small girl talking, the red skies dawn and with bated breath I turn around. An arrow lands at my feet, I run, the blood rush makes my skin feels like its burning, sweat rolls down on me like my body is crying. Every breath of cold air fills my lungs and energizes my every running step as I stomp down. Tree after tree passes me, as the brown of the earth beneath my feet is covered in last’s autumn leafs. The green, lush, crowns of the trees let cover me from the blinding sunlight. My sandals bury into dirty, but my arms pull me forward, and the fear of death thrusts me further into the woods. Everything starts to look the same, the noises of the forest start to overwhelm me, as I stop to try and guide myself in the right direction. Nothing looks familiar, nothing hints at the place I should head towards, because I ran, and I ran out of fear and without thinking too much, but where it felt natural.

The sun will set, the night will take over and I will be alone in a pitch black forest without any help, lost to the gods of nature. Now I ponder what I did to deserve to be punished by them, when all my life I had followed laws, thanked the gods and lived a peaceful life. Panic settles in my heart, hand on my sword, on guard from the movements and sounds of the environment, the trees seem to grow by the second as the close out the sky and hold me prisoner. The end of the forest is nowhere to be seen, left, right, ahead are my only options. Afraid to look back, because they might be after me, because they might be there and I don’t want to know. I start running again, trying to tempt fate, the gods, and with hope that no forest is infinite and has an end to it, any end to it.

Blue hues start to appear on the sky, signaling my demise getting closer and closer. So, I run and I run, the palpitations of my heart make me feel like I am burning and getting near to the end of my powers. In my haste, my eyes pick up a red color, like that of blood dried on the earth. I stop. The mane of a horse, yet built like a bull, inward curved horns, pitch black eyes like that of a monster, and a furry lizard like tail, a monster! I thought I was hallucinating from all the panic, I thought I was seeing the impossible, the Bonnacon. Out of desperation, I throw myself towards it screaming like a lunatic with my sword erect. The monster turns, raises its tail and a nasty smell hits me in the face, it burns. It burns so horribly, it smells. I faint and wake up in the arms of another Roman soldier that found me laying face down in a turd. I am safe…

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Attropolis XLV

As the blood flows, as he screams, the sky turns orange and red. The pain of losing the woman he loved and thought he had a child with is immeasurable. Dropping his sword on the ground, grasping for her, yet he can’t touch her, feeling like he doesn’t deserve to even look towards her. Anus stands up, picks up the sword and looks at his brother. I’m going to put you out of your misery, brother, you won’t have to suffer, says Anus as he pushes his sword through Olanus’ chest. Crying and bleeding, Olanus puts his hands on the sword that was sticking out through his chest, before collapsing on the ground, looking at Alicaria. Anus kneels to hold his hand, I wish this wouldn’t be the end. I wish this wouldn’t have happened like this. I wish we could have lived in harmony. I am sorry, brother.

Anus calls for some of his men to help him bury them there on the field together. Thinking it is the least he could do for his brother. Shovel of gravel after shovel of earth after shovel of dirt thrown on the two bodies, Anus is now thinking about what’s to come, the fight, the war, the death toll. The Caesar will march and death will follow, he knows that much. A small fort, thin city walls, around thirty decent archers were their defenses. Stones, boulders and some boiling water were carried for the rest of the soldiers to throw down the walls during the siege. A few letters sent North, South and East for help in their rebellion against the Romans, maybe someone would be crazy enough to join them. The few hundred that had come before the letters were wrote had heard by chance and were already fed up with the empire. Anus still hopeful that from those letters months ago, someone would respond before it would be all too late.

From the forest by the mountains a girl arrives at Creetus, once she sees the Giant, she runs towards him. He had finished burying them and now was looking East towards the Roman army. The girl gets to him and starts crying, he looks down and picks her up. She hold him tight, he looks for Hippos if he came back running too. And he asks her if he’s on his way here too, or if it is just her. She tells him that they were found by Romans and they were slaughtered, but she was the only one to get away. Anus now in pain, thinking about Hippos and the fact that his corpse now lays somewhere by the edge of a forest, killed by monsters. A Roman soldier arrives at edge of the forest, from where Adpetentia had come, seeing that Olanus was nowhere to be found, he runs back towards the Roman camp. It had happened once more…

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