1 Chapter 1

It's a beautiful summer day, the sun shines and the cawing of an eagle could be heard from somewhere in the sky. I tried to look for it but the sun with it's intensity proved quick to try and prevent me from doing so.

It, together with my bruised left eye proved disgustingly efficient at their self imposed task and I averted my attention to the screaming man that tried and was close to succeeding in his self imposed task of shouting his lungs out, somehow I doubt it would kill the 120 years old man and former soldier.

The man was tall, dressed in black robes and was standing at over 2 Rukars* tall and despite his white hair and frail looking body could still inspire the fear of Mithra in us."Aetius Agrippa and Septimus Severus! Just what in the name of the Caesar is going on !?" A pity then that despite his red face and shouts I would have once found intimidating, all I could feel at the man was annoyance.

I looked at the man directly in the eye, not giving my treacherous ex-friend to my left a single look. "Ask the damn traitorous cur to my left/to my right." We said at the same time.

This broke our unspoken agreement of not looking at each other and I looked at him in anger at being called a title it was obviously describing the person near me. The traitorous Septimus looked at me in a face full of anger I didn't want to admit but almost perfectly mirrored my own. One would normally be hard pressed to distinguish one from another as we both had the same facial features like the slightly large nose, thin now bleeding lips and even the same eye color.

The only difference one would find between us despite us being born in entirely different villages and families was the color of our hair, mine being a a normal Romuli black while his was a light brown unusual for a Romuli but all too common for a Greco, which was strange as I had more Greco blood in me than he had. Even our wounded eyes were similar and the hit that made them so delivered in the same eye.

"What did you say?" We both said at the same time as we prepared to lunge at each other for round 2 of our fight.

The ancient soldier turned priest, sick of our bickering stomped his right foot down and we could feel the mini earthquake the divinely fueled rage tempered by his legionary discipline focused solely on us. "Silence." He said, his voice In direct contrast to his previous tone and actions.

It was enough to make us forget about our animosity and give him our full attention. "Yes sir!" W both said in twin and scared voices.

We long since learned that going against his world meant a world of pain, one we weren't willing to endure for this little spat.

The man smiled and addressed us in a kind tone that was again in contrast with his previous actions"Good, now you know how this goes, give me a number between 1 and 10." He said, his tone light yet seemingly forced.

"Three/Three!" We said at the same time and glared at each other again.

"One." I said with gritted teeth.

"Six" Severus said, his tone once again similar.

This was an old dance between us, as Priest Maximus learned early on that going after one of us first when dealing with the both of us was a recipe for headaches.

The man just nodded at our answers then turned to me."Two it was. Aetius say your piece then." He said.

"It all started when this prick came and attacked me out of nowhere calling me names like trash and traitor! I have no idea what got into him!" I screamed and pointed at my brother in all but blood.

The man just arched an eyebrow but didn't comment on my words further."Septimus, your turn." He turned and addressed Septimus the same way he addressed me.

"Cecilia is pregnant and It's not mine, I managed to get her to tell me who did it with her. She told him it was him!" He said and I had to stare at him like he was an idiot.

"Are you an idiot?" I asked.

Cecilia is known as a liar and before she got with Septimus she was THE village's hooker. Half the village ,my father and sister included, fucked her at least once and almost got our village torched by the legionaries due to the disease she gave that half of the village.

I still don't know how the priest got us all cured and our village spared from the torch but ever since then he'd gotten a lot of apprentices to turn down.

From the looks of it, Priest Maximus thought the same as I did. "So you decided to trust The Hooker's words over that of your best friend?" The man said disapprovingly.

"I…" Septimus tried to say but trailed off as the stupidity of what he just did hit him.

The man came near me as he continued speaking."However your stupidity aside this could have easily been verified if you just came to me or the Village head, it's our job to deal with situations such as these." His voice was tired and resigned , but most of all it was disappointed.

"Indeed, here we can just solve this here and now. Young Aetius, did Cecilia EVER sleep or fuck with you?" He asked and I could feel a golden circlet of what I knew to be mana form near my neck.

The feeling was weird, neither cold or warm, neither was it comfortable or uncomfortable. It was truly something so different from normal it deserved it's own name.

'A truth spell.' I thought.

While immensely useful Truth spells cannot make you say the truth. There might be some Priests of foreign Gods that could do that but Mythra's priesthood doesn't. What they can do is almost as good however and that is verify if what you're saying is the truth as you know it.

I waited for a second then started speaking." No I've never slept with or fucked the disease bringer. I also can't see why you even wanted her as a wife, the damn woman is a hooker, you know that, I know that, the village knows that, all the villagers nearby know that and I'm sure there's people in Arretium that know this too." I said and circle retained it's original color.

"Satisfied now Septimus? The circlet is still yellow so you know what this means." Priest Maximus said indulgently.

*sigh*

I felt the warmth of foreign mana leave my immediate vicinity and sighed. While I knew the spell was harmless the feeling of foreign mana in close proximity would always be uncomfortable in a way I can't properly describe.

"Good, I'll actually do my job properly for once and get to the end of it Septimus. Aetius, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive your friend in his foolishness." He turned and spoke in an indulgent manner before smacking Septimus to the head.

Septimus took the clue and apologized. "I'm sorry Aetius, I just got angry and didn't know what to do except lash out. I should have trusted that you were my friend." He said, hist tone visibly remorseful.

"You are forgiven now go figure out what you'll do with your wife before I change my mind or before she gives us a new plague." I said and both of us laughed.

Both of them left after that and I decided to go where I was headed to in the first place.

"Now what did I have to do?" I asked myself.

I usually forget things when I let my battle lust take over and it takes a bit before I remember what I was supposed to do afterwards.

It took a few seconds and my growling stomach to remind me that I was in fact just heading home from my training so I did just that.

' Hopefully mother would not be angry that I came home later than usual from the training.' I thought as I headed back home.