Hero of Rome

Olympias flails in the boiling blood that Cerberus drops her into, her screams barely audible over the dog’s dark laughter. Olympias quickly learns that there's no "off button" for their suffering in the Fields of Punishment.

“Max?” Camilla said, touching my shoulder and snapping me back into reality. I stood over the now headless Medusa, chest panting from exhaustion and adrenaline. I turned to look at her, seeing only concern and something else.

“I’m fine,” I said, looking back at the dark form of Medusa whose severed face was only covered by my pants.

Oh, that’s right.

I immediately blushed at the situation. “Close your eyes,” I said, lowering myself to uncover Medusa so that I could have pants again. Once Medusa’s head was turned over and my pants were on, her hand pulled me back with strength and forced me into a passionate kiss with her.

“Camilla,” I said between breaths, my mind growing warm and fuzzy and my stomach fluttering. She locked her fingers in my hair, pulling me ever closer to her and attacking me with her lips.

“Please…” was all I could manage as her tongue found mine. Against my better nature, I started kissing her back, grabbing her hair and pulling her closer.

It was so easy to want to give in. To resist meant pain, loneliness. To embrace a carnal desire I had for Camilla all along would bring pleasure, joy. I had always found her beautiful, even after she betrayed me again and again. Thoughts of fidelity to my marriage were almost drowned out by the torrential winds of these fields. All I could think about was the very lovely and seducing Camilla. The winds seemed to howl even louder, pushing us together rather than pulling us apart. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

Unless it wanted to torture me, to promise me pleasure when it would only bring immense pain to me and my wife. That would truly be hell. The thought of a weeping, lonely Cleopatra filled my mind, dashing all of the butterflies I felt in my stomach for Camilla.

“No!” I snapped, gently putting my fingers to her lips. We were both out of breath from kissing. If I didn’t stop us now, it would be impossible. Camilla bit her lip, looking disappointed but still holding onto me as she forced me against the boulder of statues.

“Why not?” she said incredulously. Now, in her hazel eyes, I could see a burning rage mixed in with lust. She lunged in for a kiss once more but I blocked her with my hand.

“Think of Sporus,” I said, looking away from her. “Think of my wife.”

That did it. Camilla loosened her grip on my chest and pulled away. For a few minutes neither of us said anything. Only the terrible winds from this place filled our ears.

“Forgive me,” Camilla whispered, shaking her head as tears formed in her eyes. She refused to look at me as she spoke. “I… I have always had feelings for you, Max. I think you already knew that. I have tried to bury it once you were married, but it’s still there. I didn’t realize you felt the same. The moment I saw that you wanted me, all I could think about was you.”

We both looked away from each other and let the silence resume for what felt like an eternity. While I was glad to know how she felt, it definitely did not help the situation, especially considering how weak I had proven to be. From the hundreds of thousands of books I had read, Seneca’s wisdom came to me in my weakest moment.

“Pleasure, when it has run its course, makes way for sorrow; and the regret which follows impure indulgence is more terrible than the pleasure it succeeded.”

As painful as it was between Camilla and I now, what we avoided would pale in comparison to our temporary uncomfortability. This was for the best.

Wanting to leave this torturous ring, I snatched the now motionless snake hairs of Medusa’s head, surprised when I received the following notification.

Item: Medusa’s Head (Legendary)

Description: The severed head of the Gorgon Medusa, still imbued with its fatal gaze. Her face is locked in a snarl of eternal rage, as are the deceased serpents she has for hair. The head, though severed, retains a malevolent vitality. The petrifying stare is as deadly as it was in life, turning foes into stone with a single glance.

Damage: None (Petrifies enemies instead)

Durability: 50/50

Weight: 4 kg

Special Effect: Upon activation, instantly petrifies any enemy it faces, turning them to solid stone forever, including their gear. Can be used once every minute.

Worth: 100,000 Denarii

“As disgusting as this is, petrifying any of our opponents will be a nice perk,” I said, wanting to break the ice.

Camilla blinked several times, looking at me as if waking up.

“Let’s get it covered so we don’t petrify ourselves,” she said, being careful not to look at it. I was about to ask her how we could cover it when she answered by ripping off the clothes of the decapitated Medusa.

“Oh,” was all I could say as I looked away from her work.

Camilla tore enough of the gorgon’s dress and tied it together to make a satchel. She helped me carefully set Medusa’s head inside it so that if I wanted to turn someone to stone, all I had to do was lift up the flap next to my hip.

“Ready to get out of here?” I said.

“Yes and no,” she said, grinning.

Well, at least she was honest.

We picked up where we left off, taking a measured sprint across the rest of the windy fields. The masses of lonely, lustful souls again tried to chase us, but there were far fewer than before. Slowly, as we ran for hours, jogging periodically to let our stamina restore, the crazed loners phased out.

Down ahead of us, covering the next field like a dark blanket, was a torrential black cloud that drowned the people in it with a freezing slush. As soon as the first of the icy rain slapped me in the face, I received a notification.

Location Discovered: The Eternal Feast (3/9)

To say it was a feast must have been a sick joke.

Most of the imprisoned here were too large to move. Almost all of them lay moaning on the muddy ground with huge bellies facing the rain. They reminded me of pigs feeding at a troth. They groaned like animals, turning their mouths to the rain for something to wet their tongues, only to recoil in pain and bury their faces in the mud.

At least, that was all I could see.

It was like a different world in this third ring, being much darker than the other ones because of the constant freezing rain. I began to shiver violently as soon as we entered it. With only a makeshift kilt for clothing, I would freeze in no time.

“L-let’s be quick,” I said, my teeth chattering like a jackhammer. Even the ground felt like ice to my feet. The insane cold began to burn not two minutes into this ring.

The only way I could tell we were going in the right direction was from the ever sloping ground, always pointing down. As much as I dreaded the next ring, anything would be better than those chilling punishments.

Camilla took my hand again, but this time there was nothing else attached to it. One look at her face and I could see she was similarly disgusted by the greedy slugs around us. The amount of mud and slush all over the damned made it impossible to tell who was who, but one man in particular received a more gruesome punishment than the rest. The man’s stomach looked unnaturally large, even for someone so big. There were ripples all over his belly, as if a bunch of fingers were trying to push out of his skin. What he consumed confirmed what it was. Something like a swirling, shadow demon hung over him and shoved rotting food down his throat, mocking him as it did so.

“Forever shall you eat your heart’s desire, Vitellius!” the shadow sneered, its voice akin to a shrill.

Vitellius, one of the most gluttonous emperors of Rome, screamed as he chowed down on more rotten sludge. I had to look away to avoid throwing up. Camilla couldn't’ hold it in though. Still holding onto my hand, she barreled over and wretched right onto another glutton sloshing around in the mud.

The windy spirit froze its duties, snapping its swirling head to look at us. Its dark mouth opened wide, hissing with rage.

“YOU MUST FEED!” it screamed, charging at us with rage.

My reflexives activated my Historical Insight before it could attack. I knew what I wanted to do, but I was so used to checking the futures that it came naturally now, even in death. I saw the success of using Medusa’s head on it. Simultaneously, I saw the miserable and brief future of if I did nothing. The freezing rain would direct onto me from the spirit, forcing me and Camilla down into the sludge where we would presumably be forced to feed like Vitellius.

Reality returned and I whipped out Medusa’s stare on the spirit. As soon as I raised her head, the spirit gave one final shriek and completely turned to stone, smashing onto the man Camilla puked on.

“At last,” Vitellius said after hacking out what was shoved in his mouth. “Now get me out of here you slave, I cannot bear another moment of this! Now! Move!”

Camilla and I looked at each other in disbelief. I planned to say something witty to him until a piercing, angry howl rippled across the third ring.

“Cerberus,” Camilla and I whispered at the same time.

We instantly dropped to a crouch and shuffled away from the now screaming Vitellius. I ignored the nasty names he called as we made a silent run for it. Just as the obese emperor was about to disappear from view in the slushy rain, the giant three-headed dog lunged at his many neckroles with its several sets of teeth. More spirits converged around Cerberus as the monster tore off the emperor’s head.

“Get down,” I whispered, leading her behind what I presumed was a frozen woman three times the size of us. The silent figure didn’t move, giving us some cover.

“Check every one,” a deep set of voices growled, coming from the huge monster dog. As the spirits departed, Cerberus lifted its three noses to the air and sniffed with rage.

If it weren’t for the rain, we would have been spotted by now. It seemed to cover our scent and our sight. We backed away as slowly as we could, daring not to make a noise. Once Cerberus and Vitellius’s corpse disappeared from our view, we broke into a sprint. There was nowhere to go in this ring, nothing to hide behind, but we needed to go deeper to avoid eternal damnation.

“This way,” I whispered, pulling Camilla by the hand around more slimy prisoners of this hell, seeing a clearing of the freezing rain ahead where golden light peaked through. Pushing ourselves to the limit, we raced out of the third ring and entered the fourth.

Location Discovered: Golden Hoard (4/9)

The feeling of freezing to death caused the instant we ran into the fourth ring. The heat from the next section was so intense and polar opposite of the previous one that it felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I was so disoriented from the temperature switch that I almost didn’t register who was glaring at me behind a boulder he was pushing. Standing atop a large pile of steaming gold, bracing himself from the other men trying to ram him off with their own boulders, stood a naked and angry Nero.

“Maximus!” he screamed, his eyes twitching with mania.

Not far behind us, Cerberus howled with excitement.