Albonium

Volume XXII - On Trophies

Book XLII - Death of an Overhuman

I - Two States of Rome

So this was Rome: the revived state, the eternal state, the champion of Mankind, the legacy of divine Caesar that was now led by the godly Sura, restorer of Caesar!

What was Sura? He had been Emperor for less than a year, but so far he seemed to have all the virtues of Aurelian and Scipio Africanus within him. He had recovered Rome in several great battles, two of which plays and poems would commemorate forever!

So now Rome was returning, so now Rome was reflourishing! It had been bruised and bloodied by the Grecian Elven and the Fell from the North, and it had lost Britannia. But soon it would conquer them all!

Thus were the words of Sura. Were the Romans tired of war? They were, but wished to end with a victory, for they saw themselves as far weaker than from the beginning. Now there were demons and orcs and unfeeling beasts around them. So Sura spoke to them, "We must be the hammer of Man against that which is against us! We must destroy them. We must be the greatest race on the continent!" Thus was the promise of Sura!

So this was the state of Man and Rome, a nation that had suffered and bled, that was tired and weakened, but wished to fight only for its legacy! And it was poised to win!

Already a comet had passed, said Terentius, and it would mean the ascendancy of Rome!

Already had the gods spoken to the new Pontifex Maximus, Sura, and they told him of the eventual victory of Rome!

Already there had been a rumbling in the ruins of Alba Longa, and thus Rome was being founded again!

Troy and Constantinople had fallen as Illiusbur to the Elven, but still there were hopes to reconquer them! And these were not simply hopes, but expectations, for now Sura was as great as Caesar, and so Rome looked to the Elven as Trajan looked to Persia!

Thus was the first Rome. But what was the second Rome?

Was Rome full of endless legions and men? Nay, for hundreds of thousands had perished already.

Was Rome full of wealth and resources? Nay, for the Fell were strong and multiplied easily, and for they lost all of Graecia to the Elven. Thus they were weakened!

Was Rome of the greatest leaders? The greatest orators? The greatest generals? Yes, they were, but what was their opposition? The demons of the Fell, who were once weak without the support of Man but now could do without them in the legacy of the great Mageor, the prophet and king of Britain who commanded the zealous state, and the soulless Elven! They were dead and could no longer feel, but they were a menace to all, and in each and every one of them was the genius of Troseus or Ephialtis! And so they were as great in generalship as the average legate and as great an orator as the senator, for they had mastered everything of Man except that which Man had not mastered, his brilliancy.

So this was Rome, better than the rest in only the command of Sura, Terentius, and Caracalla. They had more land, yet was their state, ever-tired!

Did the Roman gods tell Sura that he would win? No one spoke to him, and so when Caesar spoke of his lineage to Aeneas, no gods spoke to him.

Was there a comet in the sky after the great Battle of Hispania? There was not, but Sura had made the magicians of Rome form a fireball in the sky! Thus was the divinity attached to the firework!

But what if the people knew that Sura was playing these tricks with them? Did they care? No, for they saluted Cicero and Virgil, who had shifted the form of good towards themselves! And so was Sura, and they trusted him, for he was the source of their good.