Welcome

No entourage nor private army send him to the academy. Vincent walked there in black, plain cotton clothes.

Only a quiet guard in armour walked next to him, helping to find the way. Arminius taught him many things, but the layout of the metropolis was not one of them.

An ox driven chariot ran across the street next to them, the driver shouting away with fury.

Behind him stood a rather old man, holding the hand of his child, both wearing a white toga.

The Academy was nearby.

Two enormous statues greeted them, one of a strategist, mulling over the battle maps with deep concentrated sapphire eyes. The other depicted a fighter and leader, standing tall with broad shoulders and a muscular frame, his ruby eyes were staring into the horizon.

Both were ten meter tall and smooth as if made out of a singular slab of marble.

In the middle of them was a walkway, stairs leading up to the broad campus in the center of the city. The empire spend almost as much money on the mages and ther research and education as they did on their countless wars.

As they acendet the stairway, Vincent saw small parks and large auditorium. He even spotted one of the famous Roman arenas. Shouts and cheers could be heard inside. Young mages were betting, drinking and discussing with frevent vigor.

"Look, over there."

The deep voice of the guide made Vincent look towards a plaza surrounded by brick houses.

Each of them were rectangular buildings encircling a dome. In between, paved roads, statues and greenery filled the space. They sundered there in no hurry, getting overtaken by other less calm new students. Some of them, talking with their parents, others surrounded by entire entourages. Most of them were clothed in expensive toga. Something he had tried once, but found horrible unpractical.

Vincent even noticed a few older students, mostly in normal clothes, walk towards the commotion. They were chatting and laughing among themselves.

What they found in the middle of the small complex stunned him briefly. A great theatre build under clear sky in a Greek way.

Both Vincent and his guard quietly sat themself next to the chattering mess of students, at the very edge.

For a moment he tried searching for a familiar face, jet he gave up when he counted about three hundred students and their many guardians and private mentors. All of them were from different parts of the empire, some from Africa and Asia. Ten years, born more or less at the same time as him.

'It will be the year of the reincarnated freaks.'

He had no fear however, these people were unlikely to cause conflict, what would they gain?

After half an hour, and roughly a hundred more students rushing to get here, the plaza became quiet all of a sudden.

A man stepped on the stage, his aura stunning everyone. 'He should be as powerful as my brother, man both of them are monster.'

Vincent squinted to get a better look. He could make out the armour of a general, his grey hair and proud composure.

"My name is Nero Claudius Drusus, I will be the professor task with teaching your year, and will remain your instructor in your entire twelve years at this university."

Vincent leaned to the side and whispered to his guard, confused.

"I thought Nero was the emperor." He had a bad impression of the man. Well actually he knew nothing. It was foolish to rely on the pop culture representation of a two thousand year old corps from another world.

His guard slightly raised his eyebrows, his lips curling into a smile. He whispered back.

"The emperor is called Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and he is a young man. Nero Drusus is a famous general of his time, he pushed the Germanic front into their land and first came as far as the Rhine."

He gave Vincent a knowing look. 'What?'

Before he could ask however, the loud voice of the general once again boomed through the theatre.

"We will conduct the entrance exam soon, before that however I want to remind you of something."

His piercing eyes seemed to stare at a few individuals with bigger entourages.

"Rome does not care for your parents, your talent or your money." He took a small dramatic break.

"ALL THAT ROME CARES FOR ARE YOUR RESULTS. Most will fail, so any further words are wasted."

He walked back, a short young women taking his place.

"Aelia Flavius" Her voice was loud, and her aura powerful, jet it paled to the old man who almost ruptured eardrums.

One by one students were called to the front, checked and send towards one of the twenty buildings in the surroundings.

After you were given directions, the Invitation that they recived from the school was returned to instructor with a formal bow. It was merly simbolic, they knew who was invited and who was not.

"Vincent Horatier" The loud voice snapped him out of his power nap. The name was not his original family name, it was the name Arminius recived after his greate contributions in the army.

It was not a noble name, as there was no such thing as nobility to start with. One of the traditions preserved by the ancient mages, from the time it was still a republic, people were horned based on their current status.

Still many young men of high birth called themselves such.

Vincent walked forward, through the almost empty ranks of people. He was one of the last to be called.

"You will be in dorm three."