Jason and Reyna: The Praetor's of New Rome - Truth

The Amazing Tour

Gwen was right. New Rome was greater then anything I could think up. When Justice pushed me past the lobby door, I seriously forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.

New Rome is a paradise. The infirmary we had stepped out of was set atop a hill that provided the perfect view. Down below I could see what looked like a fortified camp. The Camp was surrounded by tall walls that were lined with barbed wire. On either corner of the walls were sentry towers. Within the walls themselves there were four large buildings rested on each corner of the Camp. A building similar to the others rested on the back end of the Camp, which was directly in front of my position. The center of the Camp had a tall building made of white marble. The spaces between those main buildings held multiple smaller buildings that were neatly lined up together. Just a whole bunch of buildings.

That was just the Camp. A small part of the larger valley. To my right, a river flowed through the hills quickly and under muiltple bridges and emptied out into a massive lake. On the banks of that lake rested a small city. The city somehow blended modern and classic architecture. The outer parts of the city reminded me of the neighborhoods we had seen when we arrived at Berkeley. The more I looked towards the center of the city, the buildings grew larger until they were almost scraping the sky. Finally the center of the city reminded me of some of the pictures I had seen of Rome in books I read back at the library in Glen Ellen. Classic Roman buildings rested in its center, probably as a reminder to the campers of their history. Even from here I could see the city expanding along the lake.

"This is........ this...." I had a hard time finding the words to describe how I felt.

Justice patted my shoulder. "You don't need to say it. It's amazing. Sam had the right idea when moving the hospital up here."

I turned my head to the left. A large part of the valley seemed to have been ravaged by a war. "What happened there?" I asked Justice.

Justice followed my gaze. "Oh, that's the Field of Mars. It's a battleground we use to fight amongst ourselves. It's the best way to give the legionaries experience on the battlefield. We mostly hold war games there."

Justice smiled, her eyes looking moist. "This ins't even the best view. Let's go, before you know it the day will be done and I want to show you the best view."

And she wasn't lying, the day went on super fast. We explored Camp Jupiter first. Those five building along the walls of the Camp were the barracks holding the members of each cohort. The building at its center was the headquarters of the Praetors. Justice called it the battleground, where Sam and John would argue all day. Those smaller buildings were shops. Cafes, clothing stores, and weapon dealers made up the bulk of the shops within the Camp. However the armory's seemed to have a short supply and all looked close to barren. It's an issue that has plagued the Camp for years, according to Justice.

"The weapon dealers used to thrive off of retiring legionaries trading in their weapons. They would restore them to their former glory and be resold to the fresh faces that have joined the legion. At decent price too. Now the weapon dealers have to scrap up anything they can. It will take you years to gain enough money to afford a weapon from them. They stay afloat now by acting as repair men." Justice told me as we walked past one of the shops.

"What happened to all the weapons?" I asked her.

I couldn't see her face, since she was pushing me on my wheelchair. Yet I got the feeling that her expression had harden."Don't worry about it. I'll tell you another time."

Just before we could turn the corner, Justice and I ran into a man. What really threw me off (both literally and figuratively) was how we past through his body.