AD 300: Pompeii, Rome
I looked out the portico on the verandah of the barracks. I sniffed the warm afternoon air, as a soft zephyr blew past. But something was wrong. In the distance I saw thick, billowing smoke. I could clearly hear screams of terror, clearly smell the smoke in the air, clearly feel the terror; Ignis had struck again.
My name is Naesus Valerianus, but everyone just calls me Naesus. I am only sixteen years of age, but my father, due to excessive debt, had to sell me into slavery a couple years back. Emperor what’s-his-name, the emperor of Rome, bought me, said I had potential, good form, so he conscripted me to a group called the Vigiles Urbani.
“Naesus!” a voice yelled from behind me. I turned from the portico to see. It was my friend, my only friend in this stinking barracks, Aegayus. His bright, wide eyes, evidence of his youth, were filled with flat out terror.
“Naesus!” he yelled again “Ignis has returned, in crazy!.He has attacked the Emperor’s abode! We must go help him!”
“Yes yes, we must go save him” I replied sarcastically “because this is my job and I love doing it”. He smiled and turned as I ran and followed.
You see, I kind of hate my job. The Vigiles Urbani, Latin for 'watchmen of the city' are basically what you would call firefighters, although we battle an enemy greater than your average firefighter fights; Ignis. Ignis is a powerful, ancient force, hell-bent on just creating ‘masterpieces’ from everything he touches. I have never seen him though, and I believe that he is just metaphorical.
I also believe being a Vigile Urbani is stupid. We are basically just slaves who walk around the beautiful city of Pompeii, making sure any ‘masterpieces’ created by Ignis were squelched. It is very foolish concept, because by the time we overpower Ignis’ work, he’s offered at least two people as a sacrifice to himself.
We had reached the bottom of the stairs, and I began to hear frantic shouting.
“Get the water carriages! Load up the horses! Move move move!” The incessant yelling was coming from the commander of the Corps of Vigiles, Admiral Lussanitus. He leapt onto his horse with practised ease, and beckoned to me.
“Naesus, you’re with me” he declared, pulling me up to his horse, as we took off, I noticed every other carriage and horse ride off like the devil was after them. This was one of the more annoying thing about Vigiles Urbani; if by the time we arrived on the scene of one of Ignis’ masterpieces, what it wanted to destroy had been destroyed, then we, the Vigiles Urbani , got in big time trouble; punctuality was not an option- what a joke.
After a minute or two of riding, we arrived at the Emperor’s palace. I have heard that Ignis believes his acts are a work of art, like a painting you can’t really understand. If that was true about the palace, I really didn’t get it. Evidence of his work took up almost half of the complex. Swathing swirls of red, orange and yellow bathed the afternoon sky.
Did you notice something about this story? it was about fire, but the word fire was never used,except in 'firefighter'. You didn't notice, did you ?
Dunamis Williams
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