INVICTA: Hell's Last Gate

Moments ago...

Kotys stuck close to his comrades, forming a locked shield canopy; the muffled breaths and huffs between clacks of wood against metal surrounded him. There was an intense musk of sweat and testosterone exuding from the collection of raised, unwashed armpits.

"Argh!"

A soldier next to him let out a strangled cry and collapsed from an arrow that slipped through the shields and hit his knee.

Kotys grimaced and brought his shield closer to cover the soldier.

"Who is that?"

"A madman!"

He suddenly heard shouts from his companions and turned to discover a figure sprinting past the side of their formation.

"Who was that!?" He wondered out loud and a sweaty soldier looked at him with tense, reddened eyes and whispered.

"They unleashed the daemon."

*Clack!*

The ladder before them rose, hitting the wall, and Kotys felt a surge of anticipation through his veins and a swirling unease in his stomach. He felt like throwing up, but he didn't; he was blooded, young but experienced.

A few ghastly skirmishes and a day of siege warfare would do that to you.

"So fast!"

"His going alone?!"

"He's possessed of a daemon! Of course, he craves his death!"

Kotys let out an annoyed sigh from his position at the back of the formation.

'What are they yelling about?!'

He opened some space and peeked toward the ladder

"Who is that climbi— What! Rainer?!"

His eyes widened in shock, seeing Rainer run up the ladder like a celestial warrior, and maybe he was.

Below, Commius quickly began climbing after him. Kotys let out a breath of relief at this.

'At least, he would have assistance up there.'

Soon, Rainer stopped and arched his head as if looking for something, and then, he moved again but he slipped.

'Ancestors above!'

Startled, he instinctively pushed forward as if to go catch him but he was deep behind the formation.

Luckily, Commius was quick to support him, and for a second time, he let out a breath of relief, albeit a tad annoyed for losing composure.

'I haven't even confronted an enemy and my heart feels like I've dodged two javelins thrown at me!' He inwardly complained. But then, the unbelievable happened.

Commius tugged him aside.

Kotys' mouth fell open, and even as Rainer fell, his eyes couldn't believe it; even as gravity pulled him out of view and the silent thud filtered into his ear, he stood in disbelief.

Disbelief at the betrayal of one who might have really been the son of a god.

Wasn't that bad luck?

Apprehension flashed through his eyes.

'Wouldn't the Roman god of war seek vengeance?' He wondered before remembering that Rainer said he wasn't a god or the son of one.

Ahead, his comrades had begun scaling the ladder a few meters before him, without regard for Rainer. Kotys appeared lost in his strange but familiar, dull feelings, thinking Rainer had died.

Despite the loud horns and drums sending out signals, he stood transfixed. His thoughts were only broken by the cry of the one he thought was dead.

"Boiling oil! Disperse!"

Kotys smiled triumphantly.

'Good! He survived! Wait! Oil?!?'

Kotys' eyes swerved up in time to indeed see a large, steaming pot being tipped over, and he gasped in horror.

Some soldiers on the ladder hopped down to the side and the ones gathered at the ladder scattered, or at least tried to.

Many ran, but a majority in their panic pushed and slammed into one another, and the formation pushed back in one fell swoop. Many fell; even he had to stick a leg back to support himself.

Above, steaming oil came in a laminar flow, beautifully reflecting the sun as it streamed down without mercy on its victims below.

He watched Commius still on the ladder, too high to jump and too low to prevent the oil from being poured, hunched down and stabilized himself on the ladder while placing his shield over his head, but slightly angled back.

The bubbling oil hit his slightly inclined shield and splashed backward, now spreading over a wider area.

*Sshhh*

"Arrrgh!"

"Nooo!"

"Father!"

The force upon Kotys was even stronger now and he staggered back, almost falling on his butt.

The soldiers soon dispersed, and what remained was the muffled cries and smell, a nauseating smell of charred meat and burnt hair.

He brought his arm to his nose, eyes squinted amid the steam.

Mind now void of the threat of enemy archers, he dropped his guard and carefully walked forth.

Before him were spread horrors soldiers who had served ten times as long as he had, never laid eyes upon.

A soldier amongst the pile cried weakly, ignited clothing and armor now stuck to his skin. Many lay dead; grotesque, heat-ravaged bodies; limbs transformed into blackened, necrotic ruin.

The damaged survivors writhed in shock, the outer layer of skin sloughing off like parchment, revealing the cooked, glistening, and bubbling tissue beneath. Their metal armor and arms are now welded to their bodies by the superheated oil.

Kotys reached his breaking point, retched, and threw up.

He gasped, feeling panic grip him like a fabled monster of nightmares. His ears rang sharply as all other sounds faded, all except for his ravaged breaths.

*Bang!*

A shield hit the ground and he was startled out of his shock.

Kotys looked up to find Commius slowly continuing his climb, and then he looked down at the wailing men before him.

He couldn't help them, and that fact cut his heart like a knife. He looked up and his eyes reddened.

'I can only avenge them.'

His grip on his spear tightened as his sharp eyes scrutinized the battlements.

'My centurion once said I had a talent for warfare. It's time I put it to good use.'

He leaped over the bodies onto the ladder, gritting his teeth.

'I will make those walls bleed!'

–––

Rainer leaped over a few dead soldiers riddled with arrows and reached the ladder just before the Roman formation on his side reached it.

"Aarrrh!"

Suddenly, he heard a scream and looked up just in time to find a bulky Roman soldier falling to the floor. Rainer stepped aside and the soldier hit the ground hard, a long spear thrust through his armor into his chest.

Rainer smacked his lips in regret, looked up, and began his climb, shield up.

It turned out the Roman Syrian archers had done a great job; there was a noticeable lack of enemy archer fire, even from the windows. As a result, he hadn't rushed yet. This as well as the fact that he had hurt himself from that fall despite expertly falling flat.

When he got to the top, he quickened his pace.

A rebel with his funny pointed helmet peeked down at him. He then drew out a javelin to do the devil's work, but Rainer was quicker.

He changed the grip on his shield and frisbeed the small round reinforced wooden shield up at the rebel before he could toss the javelin down. It smacked him on the head, ricocheting upward alongside the man's helmet and the man fell back, unconscious.

He had reached the battlements now, he could hear, no—smell the fear and morbid anticipation of the rebels.

Spear at ready, he went up pointy end first.

On the wall before him stood at least ten armored, mean-faced soldiers with crazed looks in their eyes. They all stood ready to turn Rainer into a human kebab.

However, Rainer had a plan, a plan which had been in motion ever since he saw Kotys' sketch of the wall.

He jumped and pierced the spear onto the raised battlement, pole-vaulting expertly over their heads.

The world seemed to slow as their mouths fell open, gazing up at Rainer who looked down at them.

Both watched each other in disbelief.

The soldiers in wonder at the bizarre siege-breaking technique being employed, and Rainer was in shock at his burst of strength.

He had intended to land behind them, but at this rate, he was vaulting up and over to the depths on the other side.

"Nooo!" He yelled as his hand left his spear.

Rainer sailed past and his hands brushed the floor and slipped off the wall.

"..."

A strange silence settled over the rebels.

They looked from Rainer's handprint to each other, and then they shrugged, with one waving a finger around the side of his head.

"That one's crazier than us!"

"I guess the Roman auxiliary recruit anyone these days, scary."