The Stratigos of Dark Magic

Ganzaya gazed ahead with his jaw dropped to the ground. He stood on the prow of The Emperor's Racer. Demetrius walked next to the Ulv with a blank expression. Theodora smiled as she leaned on the ship's walls.

"Is that..." Ganzaya pointed ahead.

"Yes," Demetrius nodded. "Those are the walls of Kostaspolis."

A set of walls loomed over them, twice as high as the tallest walls Ganzaya had ever seen. Beyond them was a second set of even taller walls. There was a third wall behind those walls, so high in the air that they made the first wall look small.

These defenses were coated in a wash of red. Their bricks had been painted to give an awe-inspiring appearance and protect them from the elements.

As the Emperor's Racer got closer to Kostaspolis, more ships appeared. Galleys, dromons, and even a few knarrs were on the sea. Though, most of the boats were galleys.

Soon, Ganzaya was gazing upwards. There was a grand bridge over him. It connected the mainland that Kostaspolis was on to an island where another part of the city was.

The Emperor's Racer moved over to the mainland side of Kostaspolis when they came out from under the bridge. There was a pier where numerous ships were docked. Ganzaya started counting but decided to not bother after he reached 250.

Ganzaya stepped off the ship, gazing at the walls ahead of him. There was a massive gate that was open. Countless travelers flooded through it. Two lion statues flanked the entryway.

"This is...amazing," Ganzaya said, awestruck.

"You will be even more amazed when you see the inside of Kostaspolis," Theodora smiled.

She walked past the Ulv.

"But this is where we must part ways," her expression was playful. "I need to report to my family and then Caesar Basil."

Demetrius stepped forward too.

"Good riddance," he muttered to himself. "I hope I don't see her at the palace."

He then turned to Ganzaya.

"I need to do the same thing. You will stay with my family for now. Follow me," Demetrius said.

The boy stepped forward with Ganzaya in tow. They came to one of the lion statues when Demetrius came to a sudden stop. He let out a low groan when he saw a set of letters on it.

Ganzaya leaned in to get a closer look.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Runes," Demetrius answered. "The Varangians use them to write things."

"Do you know what they say?"

"Yes," the Stratigos said.

A moment of silence passed.

"Could you tell me what they say, despotēs?" Ganzaya questioned.

Demetrius sighed before speaking.

"Thorsteinn and Einar cut these runes at the request of Ivar the Strong, even though the Grekkens told us not to."

A moment of silence passed.

"The Varangians carved that into a statue?" Ganzaya was dumbfounded.

"They have a certain...barbaric sense of humor. Though, I doubt anyone would try to stop them from making graffiti aside from telling them to not," Demetrius said.

"You Remens are okay with letting barbarians leave their marks on your capital city?"

"No," the Stratigos stated. "But Basil made these barbarians into his personal guard. He replaced the old Praetorian Guard with them. For minor transgressions like this, most people aren't going to give them more than a stern warning."

Shock coated Ganzaya's face.

"I've heard of the Praetorian Guard. They were made of fine Remen warriors, right?" he asked.

"They were," Demetrius answered.

"Why would your pri...Caesar hire barbarians instead of them?" Ganzaya questioned.

"Because the Praetorian Guard were a bunch of treacherous bastards who deserved their execution. They barely did their job of protecting the Basileus at all, and that's when they weren't murdering him. The Praetorians killed too many Basileus to be forgiven."

Demetrius then smiled, remembering seeing the massacre of the Praetorian Guard. Many people questioned why the Basileus would give Basil the title of Caesar despite being a child. None did after seeing his decisive action.

"But the Varangians, as barbaric as they are, are men of honor. They would rather die than dishonor themselves. If the Basileus is alive, protect him. If he is dead, avenge him. That is their mindset. And only an idiot would question whether the Varangians are great warriors or not. They have more than proved themselves in past wars."

Demetrius then started walking towards the gate.

"Come, now. We should get moving," the Stratigos said.

Upon entering the city of Kostaspolis, Demetrius and Ganzaya found themselves surrounded by thick crowds. Buildings of red and white towered over the two. In the distance, great domed churches rose even above those structures.

The scent of baked goods flowed into their noses. Various shops were crowded with people buying goods. Noises of horses walking, humans talking, and countless footsteps filled the air.

Ganzaya heard the sound of flowing water. He turned to see a massive fountain made of silver. It was in the shape of a tree and just as tall. A figure with a trumpet stood at the top of it, water flowing from the instrument and the branches.

Below, people drank the water that came from the fountain. Some men even gathered it in buckets. Numerous smaller fountains were scattered all over the streets that the Ulv and the Stratigos walked down.

"There are a lot of people here," Ganzaya looked around with amazement.

"600,000 people live in Kostaspolis," Demetrius said.

The Ulv's jaw dropped. He had never even thought that so many people could be in the same city.

Demetrius pointed to one of the large buildings that surrounded them.

"These are insulae. Several families of people will live in them. They can be as tall as nine stories high," he said.

"Stories?"

"Floors. Think of it as a building stacked on top of another building several times. Most humiliores in Kostaspolis live in buildings like this," Demetrius stated.

Ganzaya's mouth was gaping open.

"I've never seen anything like this before, aside from some castles. But even they just had the floor and the roof," the Ulv said.

"As expected, Ganzaya is truly amazed. Take a look at Kostaspolis, the capital of the Remen Empire, the light of the world," Demetrius thought.

"It's pretty amazing that the architects are able to get running water nine stories up," the Stratigos stated.

Ganzaya blinked in shock.

"They make rivers that go up? Where are they?" he asked.

"I'm not an engineer, so I don't know exactly how it works. But I do know that they use a system of pipes and aqueducts. Every building in Kostaspolis has running water because of it," Demetrius answered.

As the two walked, they passed by a building that stretched far in the distance. It towered over the tallest insulae, but the structure was far longer than it was tall.

"That is the hippodrome. Chariot races are held there. The hippodrome can seat up to 80,000 people," Demetrius explained.

Ganzaya opened his mouth. No words came out. He struggled to figure out what to say. After half a minute, Ganzaya spoke.

"Chariot races must be popular here."

"They are very popular," Demetrius replied before thinking. "Still, I think a stadium that can hold 13% of Kostaspolis' population is excessive. Kostaspolis wasn't even as populated as it is now when the hippodrome was built."

Demetrius and Ganzaya kept going before coming to a massive, domed building. It was taller than the surrounding buildings and had 4 obelisks next to each of its corners. The Stratigos stopped upon seeing it.

"We should go inside," he said.

"What is this place?" Ganzaya asked.

"It is the Church of the Divine Basileus. It is a detour, but we must not neglect the gods," Demetrius stated.

The boy moved forward with Ganzaya following him. They stepped through the stone entryway onto a polished marble floor. It was so shiny that they could see their reflections.

More than seventy faces lined the marble walls. The first wore togas and other primitive clothes. As the images progressed, the clothing became what people in the modern Remen Empire wore. There were numerous blank spaces after the last portrait.

However, Ganzaya's attention was drawn to the ceiling. It was gold in color and covered in breathtaking images. Scenes of soldiers fighting with short swords, cavalry charges, city construction, and countless other deeds were above him.

Demetrius looked around.

"There isn't much of a crowd, as expected of this time of day," he said.

Ganzaya's attention was drawn to their surroundings. The church was so packed that it looked like the people there were infantry in formation.

"What does this church worship?" the Ulv asked.

"The dead Basileus of the Remen Empire," Demetrius answered. "Because of the actions of the first Basileus, every Basileus becomes a god when they die."

Shock covered the Ulv's face. Demetrius then stood in a line. Ganzaya followed, standing behind Demetrius.

"We don't have any animals to sacrifice, so I'll have to kill one when I get home. The gods know I'm good for it," the Stratigos said.

"So, every one of your former Basileus is a god?" Ganzaya questioned.

"Yes. I'm certain that even barbarians know that there are only two known gods that weren't originally humans."

"I know. They are Dʰéǵʰom, who created the world and afterlife, and Izanagi, the creator of the Dread Lands."

Demetrius nodded, "The proper name of the 'Dread Lands' is the Sixth Heaven."

"My people know that, but no place with demons should be called Heaven," Ganzaya replied.

"It has a number of different names, depending on the culture," Demetrius thought. "The Demonic Realm, Pandemonium...it does not matter. Its proper name is the Sixth Heaven, so that is what I'm calling it."

The line advanced at a somewhat decent pace. Ganzaya looked back, seeing it get longer behind them. He then tried to see where they were going. However, the line in front of them was too long.

"Who are you praying to here?" he asked.

"The Basileus in general, but they have a convenient way that I can get my prayers to them," Demetrius answered.

"What is that?"

"I will pray directly to the Golden Philosopher Basileus, Marcus. He died almost a thousand years ago, and he will convey my prayer to the other Basileus," the Stratigos said.

Ganzaya pondered.

"So, the Basileus set up a system where you pray to all of them by just praying to one of them? What if you want to pray to a specific Basileus?" he asked.

"You tell Basileus Marcus that you want him to deliver a message to that Basileus," Demetrius replied. "Though, if you're not in the Church of the Divine Basileus, you need to pray as you would to any other god."

Ganzaya pondered that for a moment.

"Is there something special about this church, some holy artifact or something?" the Ulv asked.

"There is something special, but it isn't an artifact," Demetrius answered. "Basileus Marcus lives here. We are going to see him."