From Warrior of Rome to Warden of Equestria

by Randomrusina

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Other, Princess Luna, Original Character, Comedy
Length: 6411

I was but mere days from receiving a blessing from the Emperor for a peaceful, restful life. A life in a beautiful villa, surrounded by my beautiful art. But here I am, now faced with two choices... both of them will lead ultimately to my demise.

I was but mere days from receiving a blessing from the Emperor for a peaceful, restful life. A life in a beautiful villa, surrounded by my beautiful art. But here I am, now faced with two choices... both of them will lead ultimately to my demise.

Complete the task given to me and plunge the realm I now find myself in into war that will destroy it, or fail to complete it and thus invoke the wrath of a goddess that can kill me with a simple thought.

Making my choice would be easier if I didn't have to deal with a new body and the group of idiotic nobles that make that moronic Heir that got me into this mess look intelligent.

But the worst part of all of this... apparently I'm a mother now!

Published 2015-06-16 23:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-06 14:53:46 UTC

Prologue

Ah Roma, the eternal city, the one place where all the roads lead to. The crown jewel and hearth of the mightiest empire on earth! Empire that I spend twenty five years of my life fighting for its glory and the honor of my family and then forty years of guarding its rulers. The friends I’ve lost and for what? To babysit this brat while I should be enjoying retirement at my villa?

Have the gods forsaken me… Again? I swear by the spirits of my ancestors If I have to listen one more time about how great he is and and how things will be run when he is the emperor I’m going to kill him, gods and the future of the empire be damned!

I did not fight my way to the Praetorians to get sent to this island even the gods themselves have forgotten about in the corner of the world, to slosh around in a swamp. Trying to find some druid so he can be the emperor who killed the last druid in britannia!

And now he is complaining about this swamp. Seriously, why of all the holy places these druids have, this one choose to hide in the only one located in the middle of a swamp? Why not the ones that are on the dry land? Like the rock circle on a hilltop or the forest clearing in that island? Oh, right the legions hunted down and killed all the druids that did so. This last one is much smarter in comparison then. Good for him.

I was drawn from my bitter thoughts by a yell at the front of the formation, apparently someone finally saw the place we’re looking for. It seems like the auxiliary we brought along as guides are some use after all. All the excitement I felt was crushed by what we saw. In front of us was a almost fully collapsed temple complex of some kind, this place must be older than the swamp if that piece of a road leading to it that just disappears into the swamp is any indicator. I swear this place makes me, a veteran of over twenty major battles and hundreds of skirmishes, to shake in my sandals. I don’t think that nothing good can be found in there.

As we stepped inside the ruins it became clear this was not built by druids or any tribe in these isles as far as we know for what I saw must have been once a welcoming hall of some kind that is too similar to our own buildings to be build by these savages. As I looked I saw that there were half broken statues of what appeared to be horned horses on the edges of the hall, what were they called again? Unicorns or something like that? But the condition of this place makes it impossible for me to tell for sure what they were meant to represent. But they were all dwarfed by the size of the largest statue, a winged unicorn rearing on its hind legs with its forehooves in the air holding a sphere between them. I could only look at it in puzzlement, is this one of their god, or is it just decoration? It’s too big to be normal decorationary statue but it doesn’t have the amount of detail a statue which describes a deity should have, but then again it is larger than the other statues in the hall so maybe…

“Stop looking at the statues and find that druid! Or are you truly so senile as to already forget why we’re here Centurion?” The uppity voice of the moron I’m supposed to watch awakened me from my thoughts, and as custom with this moron he first ordered me to do something and then insulted my intellectual capacity right after he stated he needs me to do something for him… I swear the first moment I get, I will teach him few facts of life that should woke him up to the reality before it is too late for him.

---~~~---

I can’t believe that it took us half an hour to search all of this place, all those empty rooms filled with art and treasury that would make even the emperor himself jealous, only to be left here to rot away. I was ready to call off the search and have us go look somewhere else when one of the auxiliary troops yelled in surprise and then let out a shriek of pain. I rushed to look what happened but it looked like the unfortunate soul just vanished as if he was whisked away by gods themselves.

“Centurion, what happened here?” Great, it’s the heir.

“I’m unsure, it seems if one of our auxiliary spearman just disappeared into thin air.” I said to him while looking around for hidden traps or entrances that could explain what happened.

“Well don’t just stand there looking around like some senile fool, old man, go find him!” If he won’t learn some manners soon, that man will lead the empire into ruin if he is ever allowed to take the throne. In fact we are alone at the moment so this would be perfect moment to teach him few things.

“I’m looking for hidden traps or entrances that would explain his sudden disappearance,” I said and looked him in the eye with almost pitying look.”If you do not learn some manners before your father passes away, you will find yourself at the wrong end of Praetorian sword.” I patted my still sheathed sword for emphasis.

“A-are you threatening me?”

“Me? Of course not, you are the sole heir to the imperial throne and I am the ever loyal servant of Rome. Why would I threaten you? I am merely stating the facts that every emperor has known ever since the time of Augustus himself as I feel it is my duty as Centurion of Rome and Primus Pilus of the Praetorian guard.”

“And what would those facts be?”

“That if the emperor does not hold the absolute loyalty of the Praetorian guard and the officers that lead it, he will not live very long.” I just love it when his face pales like that, there is no greater pleasure than teaching the facts of life to the next generation.

“The Praetorian guard holds no power over the personal guards of the emperor.” The moron still tries to hold that bravado of his, how adorable.

“Ah, yes the Germani corporis custodes, the personal guards of the emperor, five hundred strong.” I looked him in the eyes while shaking my head sadly. “The Praetorian Guard is ten thousand strong when you count the Equites singulares into its numbers. We have a fortress just outside of Rome, or did you forget Castra Praetoria?” I quickly looked around to see if someone was within a hearing distance and seeing none continued. “We choose who is the emperor, you should remember that or die young.” I’m of course retired by the time he takes the throne so I really don’t care who’s the emperor after my life is no longer at stake on the politics of the empire.

“A lot can change Centurion, when I kill the last of those druids who still defy Rome’s rule I will be hailed as a hero, and we both know that not even the Praetorians can get away if they murder a hero of Rome. Now be useful and find what happened to one of our guides.” the heir said while walking away, but before he walked out of the room he turned back and said arrogantly. “Oh and be careful not to break anything while doing so I would hate for you to sprain something important, old man.” After saying his last words to me, he walked out of the room while laughing as if he just told the funniest joke ever.

All of them are the same, you try to give them some advice and they insult you the moment they are out of the reach of your sword. I don’t know how he grew up to be such disrespectful piece of garbage, his father is the icon of what a proper Roman emperor should be, he is just, noble and honorable in all his endeavors, and yet his son is anything but. While I would love to spent more time reminiscing on the good old times when the emperor was still willing to go to campaigns and needed an escort from the Praetorians, I still have work to do.

“Decurion! Get your lazy ass over here, now!” I walked to the half collapsed doorway the heir used to walk out and yelled in order to be heard to the hallways where most of our expedition force were looking for any signs of the druid, a waste of time as far as I’m concerned.

“What is it now Centurion?” Marcelius, the Decurion of the first cohort and an old friend of mine, if saving my life and then blackmailing me to get him to Praetorian guard makes him a friend that is, asked while dragging his lazy ass over to me.

“I have a name you know, it wouldn’t hurt to use it every now and then.”

“Every time someone uses your name instead of using your rank you punish them for improper behaviour while on duty, so I’ll just stick to using the rank if you don’t mind”

Damn, I could have finally had the reason to flog this bastard but he is still too smart for his own good.

“I see that I still can't fool you old friend.” I patted him on the shoulder and pointed at the spear lying on the floor. “It seems that one of the local auxiliaries was attacked or activated a trap of some kind and I need you to search for him, take few of the men with you just in case.”

“Why do you think he was attacked, there is no blood or drag marks that would suggest so?”

“He is an enlisted soldier of Rome’s legions. And last time I checked if you lose equipment, you pay for it and I’ve never seen a member of a legion willingly parting from theirs.” I told Marcelius while picking up the spear and looking at the wall to see if there was anything that would trigger hidden traps or maybe even open an entrance that would explain the disappearance of the guide.

“Hey, what’s this horseshoe doing on the wall?” was all I heard before the wall in front of me disappeared and I lost my balance falling to my stomach quite painfully causing me to grunt and let go of my sword.

“You okay Centurion?”

“Yes Marcelius, I’m fine, however when one is looking for traps it is customary to warn others before touching anything that looks out of place or this might happen.” I said while trying to keep myself from doing anything I might regret later.

After seeing my face and the quite disturbing twitch that had developed in my left eye, Marcelius wisely kept quiet and merely nodded his compliance to my words.

Once I had stood up from the ground and looked around of the new path that was hidden by the fake wall I saw that it lead to somewhere open to a sky for a sunlight was showing at the end of this new corridor.

“Call the others and inform the heir that we found what happened to that auxiliary.”

“What, but we haven’t even found him yet?”

I merely pointed at the metal stakes covered in blood attached to the the fake wall and the auxiliary spearman still stuck to them.

“Oh, how did I miss that?” Marcelius asks while scratching his head in confusion.

“Because you're as observant and intelligent as pile of bricks.” I grunted to him while waiting for him to do as was told.

I watched as Marcelius left the room and I then looked over the auxiliary complementing over the fact that we haven’t even seen the druid and we have already lost a men and to some old trap meant to keep looters out no less.

“I heard you found that missing spearman Centurion, now can we finally resume our search for the druid?” It seems that the heir has no respect to the living men and even less for the dead, I have never thought very highly of him but this just confirmed my rather low opinion on him.

“Yes, and if the trap that claimed his life is any indication, we’re getting close if the druid is indeed hiding in these ruins then it would be most logical to hide somewhere well hidden and protected.” I’m happy that even though we have lost a life we are closer to completing our task and then I can go to my villa and enjoy my retirement as I should be doing right now, one last favor to the imperial family my ass, I should have declined the emperor but I didn’t and now I’m here… By the gods, I’m starting to sound like a grumpy old man always complaining about everything!

As we cautiously walked towards the end of the previously hidden corridor we started hearing weird noises from the end of the hallway but we could see who or what was making them.
Once we exited the dark passage we saw what seemed like a large courtyard, but what really caught our attention was the cloaked druid at the middle of it.

The druid was chanting in some language we have never heard before in front of a half collapsed arc of stone standing on a platform of stone gray with age, and while he turned to look at us he never stopped what he was doing… Impressive self control this one has if he is able to watch his executioners walk up to him and yet not to stop what he is doing, a pity we must kill him. Just as we step on the platform a portal appears on the arc blinding us momentarily and when could see again the druid is kneeling in front of the portal saying what sounds like desperate prayers.

And of course the idiot of an imperial heir runs straight to the druid the moment he could see again. Without contemplating the glowing portal the druid is kneeling in front of, hey anyway it’s not like his father sent us here with him to just look around while he gets himself killed I wondered as my fellow Praetorians and I ran after the idiot before he gets himself killed.
And would you look at that, he actually managed to kill the druid, now we can all go home for wine and… “By the gods, what is that?” I yelled to others when I saw some kind of horse with horn, wings and mane and tail, that flow like a twin rivers of blood, emerge from the portal… Wait a moment, half ruined temple with statues of weird looking horned horses? And then a chanting druid summons a creature that looks like those exact statues but has wings? Yeah, we’re dead.

“Thou hath summoned us mortal, now what is it that thou desire?” The creature spoke with its eyes closed only to gasp in shock once it opens them “What hath thou done? ‘Twas the last of his kin thy mongrel!” It then lowered its head letting us see the tip of its horn “Have at thee!”

And then the weirdest thing I have ever seen so far took place, the horn of the horse started glowing and before any of us could do anything the moron we were supposed to protect was flying through the air and not in a fun way, but in a way that promises pain and agony upon landing.

Of course it can do that, why not?

“Hold it back while I check if he is still alive!” I yelled to my comrades while running towards the moron of the year ‘future of the empire’ my arse if he ever takes the throne I hope it’s after I have died hopefully peacefully in my sleep, but the way this day has gone so far I’m probably not going to see my beautiful villa ever again and I just had it repaired! It was finally perfect! The yard, the murals, the coloured glass windows, oh the beauty of it all! Gone for good as far as I’m concerned.

And now I’m not going to see it because apparently the emperor couldn’t send his only heir without his ‘most trusted’ soldier. Why didn’t I just say I’m too old for this adventure business in the first place?

Because it was the emperor who asked that why… Why I was never able to say no to that man?

Oh yeah I practically raised him while his father was away in campaigns at the far reaches of the empire, and for that reason he chose to spoil his own son to ruin turning him to a self entitled brat thinking he is the greatest thing to walk on earth.

If I had know this would happen I would have kicked his arse when he was young to teach him some respect, now it’s already too late teach him anything other than ‘this is knife and it goes to your liver’ but of course he has to be the only heir to the throne. Killing him would only cause civil war, no matter how tempting that idea is, it would only cause suffering to the people I swore to protect to my last breath.

And I will not be remembered as the one who caused the third civil war, but I’m sure someone else will kill him and then I can either die happy or smile from the afterlife, afterlife that is calling me pretty loud right now. There is some kind of spirit or even a god summoned by now dead druid throwing my fellow Praetorians around like ragdolls and I have no idea how to beat it.

“Did anyone catch the bull that hit me?” And of course the heir chooses to wake up now, making him the highest ranking person here…

If we follow his orders we are all deader than dead, wait a minute. Is that things horn glowing the same color as the portal? Maybe if I push it back in there it will close, but that thing is the size of a horse I can’t push it. Unless I tackle it with my shield, causing me to be stuck in there with a creature that can throw grown man wearing armor like it’s nothing.

If I survive I will introduce my sword to the stomach of the imperial heir and rip out his intestines and strangle him with them.

And I really need to find better a way to deal with my anger than fantasize about brutally murdering the moron responsible for my anger.

While the creature was distracted by my fellow praetorians I moved to prepared myself. My shield in hand, I pushed off the ground and began to build up speed. I had one shot to stop this thing. Fortunately, it noticed me only after it was too late to stop me from doing probably the stupidest thing in my long life

“For the gods, for the empire!” I yelled and tackled that thing and evidently myself through the portal

“Art thou mad mortal, thy body won’t survive in the void!” was the last thing I heard before the largest amount of pain I have felt in my life teared my mind apart causing me to scream in agony before I began to lose consciousness, though at that point the comforting blackness was a much welcomed relief.

Author's Note

I welcome criticism, tell me what you think of my story, the good and the bad, that is the only way for me to improve my skills.

Chapter one

When I came to my senses I was laying down on top of my shield with the mother of all headaches hammering into my brain. I rolled to my stomach only to groan in pain, everything hurts, heck I’m feeling pain in places I didn’t even know I have. I did a quick check to see if I still got all my bodyparts attached and in right places. Let’s see, two eyes, two ears, mouth is fine, face is good. I got both of my arms and legs, all toes and ten fingers are… Wait, I only have nine fingers after I lost one in a battle against the parthians in the east. How is this possible?

“We see thou hath awoken Roman.” Wait, who said that? Was I really so distracted I didn’t hear someone approach.

I stood up in alarm and looked around only to gasp in wonder. I was standing in the middle of a great white hall with gigantic pillars made from stars on its edges. I looked closer to one of the pillars and saw that there was thousands of floating mirrors between the pillars and when I gazed on one of them, I saw the beginning and the end of universe, the birth and death of all gods, What I saw was amazingly beautiful in its simplicity and humbling and terrifying in its complexity.

“Thou would be wise to avert thine eyes from it mortal, for the knowledge they held is not meant for mortal eyes. Even some gods who hath gazed upon them for too long were driven mad. We would be saddened to see the life we hath spared to wither away before us, driven mad from things beyond comprehension.” I looked away from what I was seeing trying to locate the one who’s been speaking to me only to see nothing, I looked up, right and left but I only saw the never ending hall no matter the way I looked at.

I heard someone clearing their throat right behind me.

“We art behind thee mortal.” Of course they are always on the direction you didn’t look, how typical.

I turned around expecting to see the woman based on the voice I been hearing, only to be surprised as it was not a woman behind me but the creature that attacked the pompous prick I was supposed to look after, if that was not enough of a shock she was now huge! By the gods that thing is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen before!

“Do not be frightened Roman, we mean no harm to thee.” Her voice was kind and gentle, a far cry from the booming voice she used before in the ruins, but all I could concentrate on was how each and every one of her teeth was big enough to crush me, armor and all, not to mention the rest of her. She’s so enormous she could just swallow me whole.

“What, what are you!” Was all I could only ask it with my legs shaking in terror, I have fought barbarians who feast on the flesh of their enemies and wear their skin as a trophy, but I have never felt this much fear in my long life.

“We art Faust, the Goddess of Creation, Keeper of the Secrets of Immortality, Guardian of All Knowledge, the Warden Supreme of Equestria, and the baker of the tastiest cupcakes in the multiverse.” She told me while spreading her wings in proud display, all six of them. My jaw fell to the floor after hearing just who I’m standing before only for a sudden realisation making me close my mouth and ask her.

“What’s a cupcake?”

I watched as the goddess before me looked at me in bewilderment.

“Thou dost not know what a cupcake is?” Faust said in utter confusion.

“Is it some kind of a pastry?” Seriously I have no idea what it is, sounds like a small cake of some kind.

“Dost thou care for a taste?” She said and floated what apparently is a cupcake in front of me.

“Sure?” Hey, it’s a goddess who offered and it’s free food so why not?

As I took a bite I was amazed by the texture and the flavor of it, not to mention the delicious frosting on top! Imagine me, a veteran warrior of Rome, the best of the best, moaning in utter bliss over a simple pastry! If my fellow Praetorians ever found out I’ll die out of sheer shame and humiliation.

“‘Tis good is it not mortal?” I looked over to the goddess only to watch as she eats a cupcake the size of the alps as it was nothing, though in her current form it is no wondrous feat really.

“I have never eaten something this good in my eighty two years of life, oh great goddess, I thank you for gifting me one of your cakes of cup.” I bowed in reverence while removing my helmet, after all I am standing before a goddess.

I heard only a titter of laughter and then I feel a great power take a hold of me straightening me up and making me look her to the eyes.

“While we art a goddess, thou needst not to bow before us mortal. Any being brave enough to do what thou did is most verily worthy of standing in our presence.” Her tone once more shifted to a kind, motherly one and her smile could outshine the sun itself.

I could only scratch my head in confusion “Eh, what exactly did I do?”

“Thou dost not even know the extend of thy sacrifice, what hath been lost?” And I saw how her beautiful smile wavered a little and sadness entered her eyes.

“What sacrifice?” I asked her while looking myself over in order to see if my initial survey missed something, nope still got everything right where they should be.

“We see thou looked over thine body in a search for answers but thou wilt not find any by doing so.” And what does she mean by that?

“What do you mean, my body looks just fine!” I’m starting to panic again here!

“Little one, we need for thee to understand that no mortal can enter the void eternal without losing what makes them mortal in the first place.” Faust said to me while shrinking to the form she appeared as in the ruins and holding me consolingly to her chest. “Thy body is no more, it was torn apart by the powers of the in between, or the void eternal as most call it. What thou sees as thine body is naught but a projection thy soul created to protect what little mind thou still have left.” She told me while gently nuzzling the top of my head with her muzzle.

“W-what does that mean, m-my body is gone… Am I dead?” I stammered while looking at her only to finish with a quiet whisper as the reality of the situation and the cost of my actions finally hit me.

“I’m not a larvae am I!” I asked her in panic, to become a restless spirit bent on bringing misfortune upon the living is not a existence I want to live in.

“No, thou art still among the ranks of the living whoever barely that is, we anchored thine soul to our own after thy body disintegrated upon entering the void.” Faust said and stood up, trotting towards one of those weird floating mirrors I saw earlier and touched it with a tip of one of her wings causing the image it held to change from a great variety of rapidly shifting colors holding, what I gathered from the small peek I got before Faust warned me of it's dangers, the secrets of all creation. To an image of the similar temple complex that we found in the swamp.

Except this one was fully intact and it was bigger and was build to a base of a mountain instead in the middle of a swamp and full of what seemed even smaller versions of Faust’s current form, but with either the horn, wings or neither of those and never all of them at once. These must be her creations if that smile is anything to go by.

“This is the Memorial Temple of Valiant Heroes in the Isle of Unshed Tears that is located in alternate version of Equestria, realm of our personal design, that we require thou to travel and complete a task of great importance.” Faust explained to me while beckoning me closer with her hoof.

Once I was standing right next to her she touched the surface of the mirror with her wingtip once more, this time the image shifted to the back of the temple, but instead of arc of stone, like in the ruins, the courtyard carved to the mountain held a coffin made from the purest marble I’ve ever seen, held in a pedestal of darkest stone, in a beautiful contrast to the whiteness of the coffin, giving it almost divine air while not taking the attention away from the natural beauty on the coffins engravings, displaying what seemed the life story of some noble. Wait, the horse on the engravings looks just like... I turned to Faust only to see a sad smile on her face.

“If thou remembers, one of our titles is; The Warden Supreme of Equestria, this is the grave of Warden number 63,” She turned to look me in the eyes, “all wardens are our creations. We used a shard of our own divinity to forge them a souls of their own, similar to how you mortals use your own flesh and blood to reproduce. We gods use our divinity to do the same. While they look like us and sound the same, they are naught but children when compared to us and what we have experienced in our long, long existence. Many of them even use our name, others chose a new one for themselves, a selected few went as far as to change how they look in minor ways to make themselves more unique”

“So, how did she die? I can’t imagine anything that could kill an immortal.”

“All we know is that she fell to an enchanted blade, blade forged by the local god of death, but we know not what it did beyond the fact that it separated her soul from her body, thus making it impossible for us to enter the realm and punish those who thought to harm one of our own.” Faust said while she looked like she wanted to rain death and destruction on the fools who harmed her daughter.

“Why can’t you just go there now? I mean if they had time to build a temple, she must have been dead for a while, right?” I looked at the image in the mirror, besides the disturbing similarity the temple held with the ruins where this all started, it looked fairly old even though well kept, so why can’t she just go there and bring her daughter back?

“Because only one goddess of creation can exist in one realm at a time, otherwise the paradox would rip the fabric of reality apart. And because her soul and body both still exist in the realm, I cannot enter it without dooming all whom doth dwell within. We have waited for nearly one and a half thousand years for an opportunity to send someone worthy of the task to find the shard of our divinity, allowing us to enter this realm and bring our daughter back to life,” Faust stopped to wipe tears from her eyes and looked at me before continuing, “while she is naught but one of the many thousands of wardens we created, she is still one of our own and the thought of how much she must suffer, being trapped in between of life and death, is causing us such pain we cannot even put in words.”

“Wait, she is trapped in between?” Who could be so cruel as to trap another living being like that?

“It is a natural reaction of an alicorn who are in threat of dying to protect themselves by creating a coat of crystal armor around their bodies that gives them time to heal, but because of the separation there was no body to heal and thus she imprisoned herself inside a large pillar made from crystal known to the inhabitants of this realm simply as the Pillar, or to some more zealous individuals as the Pillar of Torment for the when the wind blows through the top of the pillar they claim it carries with it the tormented cries of our daughter.” Faust explained to me and walked over to another mirror, this one showing a gigantic pillar made from blue crystal surrounded by raging storm clouds raining water to the gigantic lake below.

“Because she no longer had a physical body to limit the reactions power, it expanded until all of her magic was gone, rendering her conscious mind inert, creating not only the pillar but also what is called the Sea of Divine Tears in the process. The way the water drops to the lake below is seen as mine daughter weeping over her fate by the same individuals that call the Pillar that of Torment.”

Faust stepped away from the mirror and turned towards me with a serious expression on her face. “What we require of thee is to travel to this realm, locate the Pillar, free her soul from within and then travel to the Tree of Harmony where our power is allowed to influence the realm.”

“And how I’m supposed to do that? If you don’t remember, I have no physical body of my own!” I’m barely even alive if her words are anything to go by and she wants me to go looking for some pillar?

“There is a body empty of a soul just ready to be inhabited in that realm mortal, dost thou remember how we spared thee of an untimely death?” Faust said while pointing her wing towards the mirrors once more.

“Yes I do, you anchored my soul to your own, but what does it has to do with me going to this Equestria you speak of?”

“Because thine soul is anchored to our own, we can send thee to inhabit the body of the fallen warden of this realm.” She told me while changing the image of the mirror to show the white coffin once again.

“Wait, you want me to use the body of your dead daughter to save said daughter?” I don’t know what to think or say here.

“Yes, for we would have builded her body anew regardless of the fact that her body is still intact for the manner she was separated from it made it impossible to return to it without complications.” Faust looked at me and said. “And thine soul cannot hold itself together without a physical body that much longer, if thou completes this task we can regain our daughter and thou wilt not perish in utter agony.”

Huh, so I either save her daughter, or die in agony? … Let me think for a while.

...

“So, when can I begin?” Anyone can call me a coward, but when given a choice between doing a task in a realm you have no knowledge of in behalf of a goddess, or die in pain unrivalled. I’ll choose the task, thank you very much. I may be old but I like being alive… Even if it means that I must turn into a horse… I knew this was going to be one of those missions when emperor asked me to watch his son while hunting a druid.

“Right now, but before thou depart, is there anything we can grant thee to aid in completing this task?” Faust said while a portal opened behind me after a wave of her wing.

I looked myself over and then looked at her. “If you could fit my armor, weapons and clothes to my new form, I would be grateful.” I asked her and finished with a small bow, never hurts to be polite after all.

“When thou awakens, thine armor and clothes shall still be upon thee,” Faust says, “if there are no wards to prevent magic in the temple that is.” Faust then adds almost as an afterthought and touches my head with her horn.

“The spell we casted should allow thee to walk with thy new body without complications, after all ‘tis a folly to send a warrior there only for thou to stumble around like a helpless newborn,” Faust said while standing tall and proud again, “Now we must fare thee well little one, for the next time we shall meet in person shall be after thou completes the quest.” Faust’s horn and my belongings glowed for a while and then stopped as I stepped towards the portal.

I stopped just before entering and turned towards my strange and surprising benefactor.

“Is there anyway I can contact you for advice in case something goes wrong?” I asked her still a bit unsure if I can do this on my own in a realm I have little to no knowledge of, not to mention a new body.

“The realm of dreams is open to us, merely say our name while thinking of this place and we shall appear before thee and thou may ask whatever thy heart desires to know.” Her words were the last thing I heard before entering the portal, but this time I only felt in peace when the first time was agony beyond comprehension.

Unknow to the Praetorian, after he walked through the portal, Faust was looking thoughtful, like she was trying to remember something.

“Did we remember to warn him of the Warden 63’s two sons? … Oh well he will find out on his own soon enough.” Faust thinks out loud while looking at the empty space where the portal was just a moments before.

Author's Note

Again, tell me what you think of my story, the good and the bad, that is the only way for me to improve my skills.