Initium novum [Completed - being edited/rewritten]

Chapter 26

Octavia fell asleep, yes but not for long.

After about an hour of sleeping, she woke up, shouting and crying.

"Mother, mother, where are you? No, please not..." she was shouting.

I was woken immediately, I looked at her and tried to calm her down. She was sweated, tears were dropping from her eyes as she was crying asleep.

"Hey, it is okay, everything is okay. I am here Octavia," I said but it didn't have much effect.  "What was the dream about? You can tell me."

It was about mother, about what we used to do together, and now she isn't here. Why isn't she here? Why cannot she be with me? I don't understand," Octavia said, still crying.

"I know that it is very hard, thanks to her, we are here. She is a hero Octavia and we will tell everyone what she has done. They will build statues of her in Apollonia. She will be the greatest hero who has ever lived."  

"Really? You mean it?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah, I mean it. Can swear it if you want."

"Alright."  It seemed that Octavia calmed down but then she started to sniff again. "I just miss her, I miss her very much. I want her to be with me."

"I understand that sweetheart, I do," I said. I was thinking for a moment what could I do to entertain her, then I asked, "Do you want me to tell you a story about my father?"

"Alright," she said.

"Well, my father was a normal person, who since childhood dreamt only about one thing, becoming a soldier of the Imperium. When the Ceremony was about to be performed the made a choice, he joined the army...," I started, "...After he found me, he took care of me, taught me everything I know, he was the one who made me who I am, and I am proud of it. He was the best person, who I have ever met."

"He must have loved you, so much," Octavia said.

"Yes, he did, even though I was not his own. He did not care about it. He loved me and I loved him, more than anything."

"I love you, Antistia," she said and hugged me, whispering, "promise me that you will never leave me."

"Never honey, never," I said and hugged her.

Then she lied back on the bed, I was holding her hand, she closed her eyes and fell asleep again.

I went outside the wagon, where the soldiers were standing and told them to go to the front and tell others that I will be staying with Octavia. When they left, I went to the small bookshelf and looked at what was in it. There were a lot of books, many about myths and legends, some poetry, even some biography of someone called Elisabeth Caecus, the book was illustrated by Elisabeth herself, she seems to be a great painter. But what caught my interest, even more, was a book called 'Pandora's box'.
I knew something about the story, it was a story about a woman, who was created and gifted by gods and then sent to the ground to destroy humans, who became too proud, too selfish and too arrogant. Gods gave Pandora a box, which contained all diseases, suffering, and end of all humans. In the myth, Pandora opened the box and unleashed those horrors onto people. After she realized what she has done, she created a new breed of humans and created the civilization anew.

I took a book and started to read it.

I spent a long time reading it, it was a fascinating story and it made me thing. I was thinking a lot. Because after I read it I realized something (about) myself.