The Shadowbolts' Adventures: The Glory and Legend of Eternal City

Chapters

The Adventure Begins.
Visit to the Masoleum
Augustus Rises.
The Mission is Given.

The Adventure Begins.

Sunny Flare adjusted her shirt’s collar as she looked at her surroundings sitting on the bus’ back seats. A handful of students – like Indigo Zap – tired out by the jet lag and the long journey, were resting in their seats, somehow not disturbed by the ongoing chats about the destination and by some students chanting marching songs. Meanwhile, other students, busy with reading up on the city they were about to visit, hissed and whined at the noise.

“Eternal City... “ Sunny Flare muttered to herself, before slowly turning her head to Lemon Zest on her left . “Pretty fitting name, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is.” Lemon Zest said with a nod. “Two thousands and half years of history laying right there… and I’ve heard that it’s quite lively at night.”

“You don’t seriously hope that we’ll be able to go by ourselves around all the time, do you?” Sunny Flare grimaced a little and half-closed her eyes.

“Well, a gal can always hope.” Lemon Zest shrugged. “Besides, I didn’t mean just at night. Imagine how boring it’d be if we were to stay in a silent city made mostly of ruins.”

Sunny crossed her arms and grumbled before turning her head away, and looked out of the window, where she saw the fields of sunflowers and wheat at the side of the road, interrupted only by the occasional stone house. As the bus zoomed past them the fields got smaller and smaller, giving way to the clusters of more modern houses and patches of trees, until, finally, a green sign with a left-pointing arrow appeared, reading: “Eternal City, 15 km.”

No sooner than Sunny spotted the sign, she heard a loud sound of static, one that made the chattering and the singing stop abruptly, leaving silence and prompting everyone to look at the source of the sound: Principal Abacus Cinch standing at the end of the aisle like a statue.

“At last, we’re approaching our destination.” Cinch said holding on to a microphone. “Eternal City. While you brace yourselves for our entrance into the city proper, let me give a quick introduction about it. This city was founded more than two thousand years ago and since then, it has gone through many toils, standing high against them and prevailing. This city has resisted to the fall of the extremely powerful empire to which it was cradle, it has resisted sackings from mercenaries and barbarians alike, it has risen again after the last war’s complete destruction and it has shrugged off its incompetent wardens. Here, many great people have been born and just as many of them rest, and here immortal works of art and ingenuity reside for all to see. And it was here, under the inspiration given by the great literates and architects, that I began my path that lead me to become the principal of our Academy.”

Cinch adjusted her glasses and dusted her coat, before returning to her speech.

“I’m glad that so many of you have made the effort to pool the funds needed to pay for such an unique journey to such a magnificent destination.” Cinch inflated her chest a little and set her hands on her chest. “In fact, we have gathered so much money, we have managed to get a hotel close to the Square Colosseum and the ‘Million Bayonets’ monument, plus subscriptions for the metro and the bus lines for all the zones for everyone and dinners in acceptable restaurants every evening.”

A roaring cheer echoed briefly through the bus, supplemented with fist pumps and Lemon Zest joined it in a heartbeat. Cinch faked a cough to regain her audience’s attention.

“As for the actual program, we will mostly visit places of worship in a company of two guides.” Cinch said dryly. The cheers died down rather quickly as most groaned in annoyance, or let out disappointed whines. But unlike them, Sunny Flare grinned triumphantly and leaned onto her seat’s back.

“Told you so.” Sunny Flare smirked and Lemon Zest frowned deeply and crossed her arms. “I mean, did you seriously expect that we, as a class part of the Crystal Academy, were going to buy plane tickets just to go clubbing and wander around somewhere else?”

Lemon Zest simply scoffed and looked away from Sunny towards Sugarcoat who was intent in carefully reading a small book – one with a yellow cover and the title in bold red letters – and Indigo Zap, that was resting her head on her right shoulder, snoring lightly and drooling on her cyan t-shirt’s shoulder. Sunny, for her part, returned her attention to Cinch’s speech.

“And, since I am already there, I will go over the rules of this trip,” Cinch adjusted her pince-nez and dusted her coat once again. “I invite you to keep order and civility even when walking in your own groups around the city and inside the hotel we are going to spend our nights in." Cinch’s tone got a little more acidic. “Especially because it’s not a youth hostel or a rats’ cove.”

“Keep the armband you will be handed out at the hotel at hand at all times to ease recognition. And last, but not least, please ensure to be on time when the appointed hour. If you have any further questions, bring them to me or to Dean Cadence.” she said, back to her usual somewhat solemn tone.

After a brief stint of silence Cinch stomped her left foot on the aisle floor. “Was I clear?” she boomed, forcing everyone to jump up in their seats and salute and shout “Yes ma’am!” back.

Cinch slowly passed the microphone back and, just as if nothing had happened, the song was resumed and the chats were started up again. Sunny Flare to sighed and looked through the window again.

The farmland had completely disappeared, fully replaced by the three-story buildings of various lively colours, a handful of small industrial prefabs seemingly wedged into the empty spaces between other constructions, the tall and drab council houses. Trees and grass patches placed inside roadways and narrow traffic islands, adding a touch of natural green to the area.

The bus moved past all these, and soon they arrived to an oval-shaped plaza. The trees were placed in a checker pattern in front of a circular steel and glass building covered in banners advertising upcoming concerts and other similar events, attracting the attention of the onlookers on the bus. Then the arena also disappeared from sight. Now the shining façade of the Square Colosseum was the only thing to which the eyes could fall upon, for it towered over the buildings at the square’s edges. As the bus got closer and closer, the many apparent arches revealed themselves to be niches containing marble statues sculpted in a neoclassical style, all of them depicting allegories of virtues and talents.

Sunny Flare extended her neck towards the window, in the attempt to get a better look at the statue without leaving her seat, causing her to get a wide-eyed fixed stare as she tried to catch every single detail of the Colosseum.

From her point of view she could vaguely tell that the statues at the highest floors were depicting men and women in martial poses and clothing, with swords sticking out from the edges and the statues themselves having rather dramatic and aggressive poses. The lower niches contained more varied statutes, only some of which Sunny could recognize. There was Industry, depicted as a half-naked man kneeling over three gears. Then, below Industry, there was History, represented as a woman in a flowing dress, using one hand to hold a child’s, and the other to hold onto a rolled-up scroll. Next to her left there was Medicine - a naked muscle-bound man pushing away a skeleton in a robe. The final figure, on Medicine’s left, was Print as a robe-clad woman laying on her back onto a pile of books.

“Ehehe, I bet you’d marry it if you could!” Lemon’s sudden comment made Sunny snap back to reality and snap her head back to glare at Lemon. But before Sunny could say anything, the motor’s hum stopped altogether. The door hissed loudly and opened, letting inside a cool breeze inside the bus and, as if said breeze had given them life, the students started to slowly get up from their seats and wake up their sleeping companions, before beelining for the exit.

Sunny Flare snorted annoyed as she got up, shook Indigo Zap awake– who blabbered nonsense and shook her head as she woke up– and then put herself in line to get out of the bus and step onto the stone sidewalk.

She joined the line of students recovering their own suitcases and backpacks from the coach’s luggage compartment. Once she managed to get a hold of her large grey and purple luggage, she turned around and hurried to join the neat files the others had formed in front of the bus.Dean Cadence was already there, directing students with the usual calm.

“Alright, is everyone here and ready?” Cadence almost chirped, once everyone had positioned themselves, and raised her left arm up in the air. “Because our Principal Cinch is gonna introduce us to the guides for our stay here!”

Cadence turned around before pointing at Principal Cinch walking alongside a sulphur-coloured young woman with what yellow long messy hair clad in a white shirt with hanging sleeves and light grey tracksuit trousers. The younger woman’s walk was slow as Cinch’s, but, unlike the principal, the younger woman was clearly trying her best to keep composure.

Cinch stopped a few steps away from her orderly audience while Dean Cadence joined the front row and the young woman turned to Cinch to give her a small curtsy. Hk

“Hiii there!” The sulphur-coloured young woman said with a heavy accent once she had turned towards the students. “I’m Monda Candle and I’ll follow you ‘round the city to show you everything! Yes, everything! Oh the places we’ll go and see! You’ll just love every little bit of this place, I’m so, so, so sure of it! Oh, and we could go to a brewery a or a real good bar or a nice restaurant for a lunch or a di-”

“That will suffice, Miss Monda.” Cinch prossed her finger on Monda’s mouth. “Could you please refresh today and tomorrow's plans to them?”

Monda groaned and pouted as she pushed Cinch’s arm away.

“Today we’re not going to do much of anything, what with giving the rooms out at the hotel, unpacking, letting you have a nice hot shower,” Monda instantly returned to her previous tone.

“However, after that, we’ll be out again and we’ll check out this neighborhood, before going to have dinner. After that it’s up to you to either to go back to the hotel straight away or go for a walk with me and Dean Cadence. Tomorrow we will…” Monda froze and looked away, a slight shade of red overtaking her cheeks, which piqued the lines’ attention

“Did you forget to buy the tickets for the Stables?” Cinch rolled her eyes. Monda nodded vigorously and whispered an apology, and Cinch groaned loudly.

“We were supposed to go to visit the Quirinale Stables with pre-paid group tickets.” Cinch gave a sideways glare to Monda. “But apparently we have had a mishap along the way, which makes me suppose we will have to move the visit to the Ara Pacis to tomorrow in the morning instead.”

“Uh, yes, yeah, I’ve got those tickets alright, so we’ll visit that instead,” Monda frantically gestured. “Lunch was supposed to be packed or retrieved, so... yeah, that’s about the only change for tomorrow morning. Anyways, after that, you’ll be allowed to go ‘round the area ‘til quarter past three, when we’ll get back together in front of San Rocco and then have walk in the green inside Villa Borghese’s gardens to then visit its museum. Done that, it’s time for dinner in the same place as tonight’s, and after that it’ll be the usual nightly routine.”

“Was that clear enough?” Cinch asked. Mass nodding from the orderly lines came, which prompted Cinch to click her shoes. “Very well then, let’s go then.”

And so, with a small but loud cry, the students put themselves in column and started following Monda and Cinch through the narrow streets lined with tall buildings built after the canons of Rationalism

A few hours later, after a light dinner in the trattoria five minutes away from the hotel, the students had for the most part chosen to go back at the hotel.

Sunny Flare, who had already changed in her dark blue and purple pyjamas, was laying under the bed’s red covers, lazily browsing through the updates and posting statuses about her journey and what little she had seen of Eternal City on one of her social media accounts, her ears barely perceiving the sounds of pages turning coming from Sugarcoat and of water running down coming from the bathroom.

Suddenly there was a banging sound that made everyone jolt up and look at its source.

“Zest, are you done showering yet?!” Sour Sweet banged again on the door, causing it to almost cave in.

“Gimme a moment Sour,” Lemon Zest answered acidically from behind the door. “I’m just going to put a towel around me and get out.”

“You told me that five minutes ago!” Sour Sweet roared as she banged on the door once more

“Five minutes ago I was just getting in the shower, did expect me to be done in one second?”

“Please, calm down and be quiet.” Sugarcoat said with a hiss. “I am trying to read here.” Soon after, a series of loud groans and a yawn came from Indigo Zap.

“And I doubt the other guests would be happy to be woken up by your temper tantrums, Sour.” Sunny Flare said, as she discretely wiped sweat off her forehead. Sour Sweet turned around and glared, twitching visibly and slouching forward as she also gritted her teeth., only to lose that posture as soon as the door opened and Lemon Zest exited wearing a white towel tied around her.

“There, I’m out of the way.” She said irritated as she walked towards her bed. “Are you happy now?”

Sour charged forward and slammed the door behind her, causing Lemon to almost fall into the open wardrobe nearby and causing the other girls to jump up from their positions again.

“Just… what’s her problem?” Sunny Flare said.

“I dunno, she’s just… like that, I guess.” Lemon scoffed climbing up her bed and grabbing the neon green pail shorts and the black t-shirt folded at the bed’s end. “I mean, you do remember she’s been always like that, do you?”

Sunny Flare nodded as Lemon Zest dressed herself. “If we haven’t figured that out in three years, do you expect to ‘get’ her right now?”

“You could.” Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “It is just that she is hysterical.”

“As if we couldn’t tell…” Lemon Zest rolled her eyes as she threw the covers onto her and turned her back away. “Again, the question is why she’s so and the answer is ‘we may never know’ and so…”

“It is pointless to ask such a question, at least according to you.” Sugarcoat said. “Personally, I do not think so, but, considered you do not wish to seriously discuss this, I will not expose my points and just go back reading.”

“Yeah, that’d be better.” Lemon Zest said, accompanied by an approving grunt coming from Indigo and a nod from Sunny Flare.

“Turn on your lamp Sugar,” Sunny said as she went to the switch. “ Because I’m going to turn off the lights now.”

Almost as if they were synchronized, Sunny Flare switched the room’s lights off and Sugarcoat turned the red frau-styled lamp on her bedside table. With that done, Sunny Flare went back to her bed, turned off her phone, set it underneath her bed and dozed off to sleep.

But, seemingly after a few minutes, Sunny was shaken awake.

“W-what is… it?” Sunny moaned while flipping herself over, only to be shaken again.

“Sunny, Sunny, you gotta see this!” Lemon Zest spoke with an hushed voice. “There’s… there's..."

Sunny Flare groaned as Lemon Zest went back to shake her.

"What do you want?"

"S-sunny... I-I think a ghost marching band parading outside!" Lemon said panicky.

“Go… go to bed and leave me alone, I’m tired and I bet so you are.” She said. “You’re just seeing stuff.” Sunny Flare said as she turned around again and groaned, curling herself up and pulling the covers up to her head.

“No, I’m not seeing or hearing thing, there’s really something like a band of ghost musicians under our window and it’s playing… military music, I guess?” Lemon Zest said. “Look, one of them appeared right in front of me. At first I thought it was one of us trying to pull a prank or somethin’, but then it turned around and he… no, it, stared me riiight in my soul… and pointed at me silently. And he I… I just stood there, frozen. Then… it pointed at you and all the others, one by one, and, then, it left, flying out of the window and the music changed. I followed it to the window and saw the band playing music.”

Sunny Flare scoffed and turned around, undoing her bed’s covers and sitting up on her bed, rubbing her eyes open.

“Alright, I will come and look.” Sunny Flare said as she fluttered her eyelids open and got up. “But if it’s a trick, I’ll punch.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s not.” Lemon took Sunny’s right hand, assisting her in her wobbly walk to the window placed right next to the former’s bed, the sounds of drums and various brass instruments getting strong and stronger at every step. Setting her hands on the window’s border, Sunny peered out of it and her eyes goggled. Below her window, a vast stretch of the square was occupied by translucent figures of men in military uniforms and wearing either plumed caps or helmets, marching – or, better yet, hovering orderly – in circle around the pile of bayonets plus flagpole that was the ‘Million Bayonets Monument,’ with some of the ghosts playing various instruments.

Sunny’s drowsiness went away quickly, her mouth going agape as she stared down at the spirits below playing a music that was familiar to Sunny’s ears. Her eyes, fixed on the ghosts, could not stop pointing at the aforementioned, allowing her to basically catch every minuscule detail, from their military ranks obtained in life to their corps, and she noticed that most of them wore and were armed with equipment dating to the last war, with only a handful of them showing anything older or newer.

“T-they are playing Parata d’Eroi..” She muttered. “Ghosts… playing a triumphant march… under my hotel’s window.”

“Told you I wasn’t making that up!”

“I can see that, but…” Sunny followed the procession with her eyes. “Why did one of them point at you and why are they playing that marching song?”

“You are more worried about what song they’re playing than that they’re ghosts?!” Sunny Flare almost shouted. "What's wrong with you?!"

“Well..." Sunny turned her head around towards Lemon before going back to look down. "It's... incredible still."

Lemon replied, but her words were covered by a sudden chorus, one deep and monotonous, one that echoed on the walls and in the streets.

“Il pericolo è alle porte! Andate al mausoleo dell’augusto ed impedite che il nostro sacrifizio divenga vano!” They said. “Della guida vostra diffidate, perchè ella disia nuocervi!”

“What?” Sunny whispered. The spirits soon started to repeat themselves.

“Lemon, could you please grab a pencil and a sheet of paper?” She said, turning around towards Lemon. “I need to write all of this this down. It may be useful…”

Lemon nodded and quickly grabbed a block of sticky notes and a pencil from her bedside table.

“Here, take this.” She said as she handed those items out to Sunny, who grabbed them and started to scribble down whatever she was witnessing down, from the chant to the looks of the officers and a few soldiers. As soon as Sunny put down the sticky notes, the music stopped, the ghostly regiment howled and, soon after, it started to slowly hover towards the monument, entering inside it, leaving a small trail of ethereal green smoke behind.

“They’re gone now... they are gone.” Sunny looked up at the sky, seeing the first signs of dawn on the horizon. “And it’s almost morning. We better go back to bed and investigate properly tomorrow.”

Lemon Zest nodded and hopped back onto her bed, and Sunny slowly set herself back under the covers.

Visit to the Masoleum

In the hotel's dining room, Sunny Flare was looking down at in her cup, as she slowly dunked her croissant in her caffelatte. The lack of sleep caused by the previous night's events and the lingering shock had taken their toll on her body and mind.

"G'morning Sunny." Indigo Zap said, giving a pat on Sunny's back as she passed by -- almost sending the cup tumbling down on the table and making Sunny gasp. "How're you?"

Sunny Flare looked up at Indigo, glaring as she caught her cup. "I didn't sleep too well, to be perfectly honest."

"Oh? Why's that?" Indigo sat in front of Sunny Flare, a glass of orange juice in her hands. "Did some people start to make ruckus under the window or somethin'?"

"Uumm... they weren't exactly 'people,' at least... not anymore." Sunny Flare said somewhat flustered.

"Whadda mean?" Indigo leaned forward as she took a sip of her juice. "Do ya mean some old coots went to town in the square?"

"No..." Sunny sighed deeply, taking a large bite off her croissant. "I know, it'll sound incredible, impossible even... But you must believe me, when I say that a group of… things, started to play music under the window.”

“‘Things’? What kind of things?” Indigo Zap leaned forward.

“Uhm… I’m not sure if I believe myself on that.” Sunny Flare sighed, massaging her forehead. “It has been just that absurd and unexpected, you know.”

Indigo Zap tilted her head and squinted her eyes as she clearly tried to process what Sunny was exactly saying and trying to imply. Catching on that, Sunny flare took a deep breath, preparing herself to say it.

“Last night, Lemon Zest woke me up and told me to get to the window because she was seeing those things,” she said, massaging her forehead. “I reluctantly followed her… and I saw them. They were there, all slowly marching around the Thousands Bayonets’ Monument, playing marching music and, at the same time, reciting a… mantra, I guess? I’m not even quite sure of what happened, really.”

“Whatdda mean? Who are ‘they’?” Indigo Zap took a slap sip from her juice. “And why are so shaken about it? Were they apparitions or somethin’?”

Sunny Flare shrugged and grinned a little.

Indigo Zap spit-took the of juice all over the dining room's stone floor.

"What?! Are you serious?”

Sunny Flare nodded and, in turn, Indigo stared silently, eyes wide open and a frown.

“Are you completely, two-hundred-percent honest? Or are ya pullin’ my leg?”

“Why would I do that?” Sunny groaned, massaging her forehead as she nibbled on her piece of pastry. “I don’t exactly expect you to do anything about it. Well, actually, I kinda do...”

“What’cha need?”

Sunny Flare raised her head and pulled the scribbled on a sticky note she had fished out of her skirt’s pocket.

“They all were chanting a… mantra, I guess?,” she said while unfolding the note. “I tried to write it down it as best as I could.”

Indigo Zap unsurely took the note and placed it in front of her eyes, scanning it rapidly.

“What is this?” Indigo put the note down. “I can’t read it!”

“They probably lived here, of course they’re going to use the local language.” Sunny sighed and set her hands in her hair.

“Well, considered they’re dead, they could’ve spoken in English just fine.” Indigo said somewhat offended, to which Sunny glared silently, as she went back to sip her caffellatte.

“Anyways, we could ask Sugarcoat once she gets up.” Indigo continued after finishing her glass of juice. “She’s got one of dem pocket dictionaries.”

Sunny Flare nodded, before proceeding to down her caffellatte in one go to then get up and go fetch some more at the breakfast buffet close by. However, noticing the rather long of people reaching for the jugs of it, she sighed and turned around.

“Oh well. I’m going back to our room to put the armband on,” Sunny put down her cup. “See you soon Indigo.”

“See you.” Indigo said.

Around a hour later, Sunny Flare was sitting on the bus’ seats, placing her note on Sugarcoat’s knees.

“This is the note I was talking about earlier,” Sunny said. “I am quite sure you can translate it, considered that you likely know the language.”

Sugarcoat lifted up her glasses, as she took up the note and read it silently. She then extracted her pocket dictionary and started quickly browsing through it, stopping for a few brief seconds, before going back to reading.

“The first part is clear. It means ‘Danger is close, go to the august’s mausoleum and avoid our sacrifice to be in vain.’ Not sure about the second part, it seems to say ‘don’t trust your guide’ or ‘don’t trust your leader,’ depending on the context. The other words… don’t appear on this dictionary.”

Sunny Flare just stared blankly for a few good seconds, before shaking her head and sighing.

“So… we gotta go to a mausoleum… of a great person, is what this is saying?” She asked, to which Sugarcoat nodded.”But where that would be.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I know there is a mausoleum of the first emperor of this city. Perhaps we can start from there.”

“Good idea.” Sunny Flare said with a nod. “And let’s hope I didn’t waste anyone’s time with this.”

“At least it’d be something to talk about after this trip,” Indigo Zap barged in. “Like ‘remember when we started goin’ around the city, following the clues left by a gas leak?’ and have a good laugh about it.”

“Yeah, it being just mass hallucinations would make me much, much more comfortable with what I saw.” Lemon Zest commented. “But, hey, still something to tell.”

Everyone nodded, just as the bus abruptly stopped, almost sending Sunny Flare flying against the seat in front of her.

“Let us get moving everyone,” Cinch said with the microphone. “The altar is awaiting us right outside.”

After walking down the embankment’s streets with the shadow of ornate palaces looming over them, Sunny Flare and her classmates had finally arrived in front of the Ara Pacis, which was a rectangular low building -- its white marble walls clearly intricately ornate and its copper roof barely showing signs of greening -- placed atop a base made of dirty white marble, and with a small flight of stairs with large steps leading to the top. The only signs of modernity present were an unpainted plywood booth placed next to a mobile fence and a couple of meagre revolving small doors.

Once everyone was at the stair’s first step, Monda Candle gestured for the group to stop. Abacus Cinch for her part, compounded that with a “Stop and listen carefully to Monda!” and to which the group stopped dead in their tracks, causing most of the least reactive members to stumble forward and fall onto the ones in front of them, and Sunny Flare was unfortunate enough to be in the latter category.

“Woah!” She tried to quickly regain balance , as she felt three different sets of hands push onto her shoulders strongly, before retreating quickly, soon followed by an unanimous “Sorry!”

With a sigh, Principal Cinch gestured towards Monda for her to start with her exposition.

“I’m sure you’ve seen this one in History of Art class,” Monda said as she pointed at it. “But, just for the benefit of anyone who had their heads in the clouds back then here…”

Principal Cinch gave a death glare to Monda, which caused Sunny and a few others to snicker,

“This is perhaps one of the most famous monuments built by Emperor Ever Increaser, or, as he would’ve called himself, Semper Augustus. This is a monument built as some sort of propaganda on his efforts to bring about peace and stability to the former republic, by turning it into an empire, eliminating his rivals and essentially pacifying the border populations for the decades to come. On the northern side, there’s one big low relief about the foundation myth of Eternal City, with the legendary twins depicted with Ever Increaser own sons’ features and with a naturalist background that is considered Antiquity’s best; while, on the eastern side, there’s the procession of his entire family, and, on the western side, he is depicted while he is crowned by a crown made out of olive branches by the personification of both Peace and Victory, with the chains of the defeated people’s chains in his hands.”

Monda bowed slightly, then turned around.

“But this is only a brief introduction, let’s get moving to get a real taste of it!” She exclaimed, rapidly climbing the stairs.

Augustus Rises.

The marble walls were white with gray-blue veining of the likes common to the finest kinds of the stone; its engravings went from the poplar and oak forest framing the scene – a river and a tiny marshy inlet containing rushes and inhabited by three herons and the legendary twins holding tightly on a drinking bull’s back – on the back of the small temple, to the depictions of two winged Nikes with long flowing robes laying a fastoon made of an oxen skull encased in a wreath of myrtle, olive and laurel branches on top of the entrance’s tympanum supported by two Corinthian-style columns, and the left side’s low reliefs represented Ever Increaser in an armour – which itself depicted a battle – as a young naked lady and an old woman in military garbs laid a crown of laurels on his head, and as his hands held onto long chains tied to the collars of a prone tall and long-bearded nude man, a bald and rather short man wearing several pieces of jewelry – depicting wild animals and blooming flowers, and in themselves contained more detail than Sunny could think it was possible to fit on such a small space – over a tunic, and a short-haired man on his knees with his hands jointed in a dramatic plea covered only by a loincloth. The inside was a small room, decorated on the upper part of the wall with more festoons kept together by canine and ox skulls – all of this masterfully sculpted and preserved with nary a scratch – guarding a smooth, simple white marble rectangle-shaped altar with a bronze brazier decorated with embossed swords, spears and shields, plus a curved black granite kneeling-stool right in front of the altar.

“Wow…” Sunny Flare said, instinctively extending her hand forward towards Ever increaser’s simulacrum. “It’s… so lifelike…”

“Well, the armour’s very detailed, that’s pretty cool actually, I’ll give you that.” Indigo Zap mused.

“Ugh… why?” Was Lemon Zest’s comment, so Sunny Flare snapped her head around and glared at her, and Zest shrugged.

“What you’re seeing is Ever Increaser’s triumph over the Parthians, the Numidians and the Gauls. This is a low relief that you can see, albeit in a much smaller size, sculptured on his sarcophagus in the mausoleum, located right outside of here, proper.” Monda said, stopping the two girls dead in their tracks and forcing them to turn around to listen. “However, if you are superstitious, the other one may be much more interesting, because there’s the rumor that, if you touch, in order, Victory, Peace and Ever Increaser’s heads, it will bring you good luck to your business or to your studies.”

“If that is so, where can I find it?” A boy from the crowd asked. “It may be my only hope to pa--”

Principal Cinch cleared her throat very loudly, covering up his words, a reaction that was too late for avoid the rest of the group – Sunny and company included – to giggle and laugh.

“Pay no attention to him, miss.” She said. “And, please, skip over such silly things.”

Monda nodded and rose her head again.

“Anyways, what I wanted to say was, this larger version of the engraving…”

Sighing at Cinch’s interruption, Sunny Flare stopped paying attention to look at Lemon, Indigo and Sugarcoat.

“Shall we go there and try if that’s where we are supposed to go?” Sunny asked whispering, to which Lemon Zest answered with a nod, Indigo with a thumbs-up and Sugarcoat with a “Possibly.”

When the visit was over and when Monda had disbanded the group with Cicnh’s permission, the four girls walked their way towards the mausoleum, a circular bare brick-and-mortar structure with moss and grass growing everywhere inside and around it, aside from the pebbled paths that lead to the entrance and the most-visited parts of the building.

“For being the most powerful man in the most powerful empire of Antiquity, the guy sure was bad at designing his tomb.” Indigo Zap commented, passing underneath the scrawny brick arch atop of a massive wall made of the same material. “In fact, is this really his mausoleum?”

“Being stripped down of valuable building materials will do that to you.” Sugarcoat said.

“Indeed. Mind you, I do like the bronze canopy made out of the statues stolen from here,” Sunny said with a deep sigh. “But it’s undeniable we have lost a lot by melting them. I’m sure that, at its peak, it would’ve been very majestic and impressive to look at.”

“Quod non fecerunt barbari…” Sugarcoat added with a small sigh.

“I don’t know about you, but this looks pretty cool on its own, just imagine having a concert here, or make a skate park, or… I don’t know, something!” Lemon Zest let out a small moan. “Oh, such a sight would be…”

Shaking her head, Sunny Flare made her first step inside the mausoleum proper, with a brown sign with white letters reading “Ever Increaser’s Burial Chamber” affixed on a wooden pole by the entrance.

A short flight of stairs made in the dim light later, the girls entered inside the aforementioned chamber. Save for the white engraved sarcophagus, everything else was barren, from the walls made out of red stone to the floor, composed by sand and gravel. The only sources of light were two mining lights attached at opposite corners of the room, creating a suffused overall lighting, and a mere red velvet cordone separated the sarcophagus from the rest of the room.

“Everything here looks… almost fake.” Indigo commented a little surprised. “Must be the lights.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Lemon said as she hopped over the cordone. “Sunny… uuhh… do you remember which gal was which, and in which order should I touch the heads?”

“Victory, Peace and Ever Increaser’s, in this order.” Sunny said, pointing at each figure. “Victory is the clothed woman, Peace is the naked one and Ever Increaser is… well, the man.”

Lemon Zest turned around and, using her middle and annular finger, she brushed against each figure’s forehead, producing a slight harp sound and causing a green glow to come from the sarcophagus’ splints. Lemon jumped back and everyone else recoiled.

“W-what happened? W-what’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, but… I think it’s working.” Sunny stared at the increasingly strong light, a moment before hearing a booming sound followed by a flash of green light.

“Acta repetitur? Mehercule, mihi credere non possum!” An echoing, otherworldly and croaking voice spoke during the flash. “At princeps imperii Eternorum fuit, et civitati remeo in discrimines promisi. Loquimini, puellae.”

As he spoke so, the air filled with the smell of incense and roses, while the ground and walls shook as if during an earthquake, which made Sunny jump down on the floor and duck, to then quickly realize – much to her surprise – that the dust was gone, replaced by the familiar feeling of cold ceramic.

Gurgling, she fluttered her eyes open, seeing that she was was prone on a black and white mosaic floor, that the walls were covered in frescos depicting urban perspectives on the sarcophagus’ sides and a fresco of a horde of crying women just behind the aforementioned.

In front of his own tomb, Ever Increaser, appearing as a green-tinted spirit clad in purple and white robes and a golden laurel crown, was standing tall and proud like a statue of himself.

All she could do was stare in slack-jawed wonder, then quickly faint.

The Mission is Given.

Sunny Flare felt a strong slap hit her face, startling her awake and causing her to quickly flutter her eyes open.

"Get up, maiden. I may have lost my empire and my body, but that does not mean I take being woken from my slumber lightly." Ever Increaser said, appearing before her still in his ghostly form. Sunny Flare, trembling slightly, used her arms to get back on her feet, keeping her head bowed as she did so, while also trying to mentally recap what had happened in just one day inside Eternal City.

"Now tell me why you were sent here by your fathers to awaken me." He said, looking down upon her. "Sure they must know I am not one that has to be trifled with."

"Our fathers? What are you talking about?" Lemon Zest said. "Our parents didn't even want us to fly here, let alone wake you up!"

Ever Increaser recoiled, causing the flames in the brazier to have a surge in their intensity, which in turn made Lemon and the others jump up startled.

"Is the magic of the Elysium translating your barbarous speech into harmonious words defective, for it is causing me to hear of things unheard of? Am I hearing of a maiden showing no respect to my authority and to the power of her father? Alas the time and the manners!" He then quickly swooped over Lemon Zest, lifting her up with his ethereal hand by her shirt's neck, which caused her to get wide-eyed and squirm desperately. "You should be thrown off the Depraved Cliff, joining the traitors and..."

"Oh great Ever Increaser, stop trying to choke my friend!" Indigo Zap said. "We've disturbed you 'cuz some soldiers told us somebody's gonna mess stuff up."

Ever Increaser, still gripping on a flailing Lemon, turned his head around very slowly, glaring.

"As much as I desire to tie your tongue up until you shall learn proper speech in my presence, I cannot say I am insensitive to your plea." He said. "Tell what, what do my soldiers' descendants desire from their forefathers' commander?"

"I will be glad to explain, oh generous and magnanimous lord," Sugarcoat said with a curtsy. "So as long you free my companion from your appropriately powerful grasp on her neck."

Ever Increaser scoffed, throwing Lemon Zest onto the mosaic floor below and causing her to yelp and massage her sore bottom.

"I did it. Now speak up." He said, as he returned to his previous very composed stance. Sugarcoat extended her right hand towards sunny, who took the cue immediately.

"Well, my lord, as my disrespectful friend has said, some soldiers did beg us to awaken you from your rightful sleep, it is also true that technically the aforementioned soldiers were ghosts too." Sunny bowed a little as she spoke to him, forcing her knees to not make a move. "All they did say to us was to wake you up because you knew what to do about 'avoiding their sacrifice was to be in vain,' I assume in battle."

Ever Increaser slowly wafted towards his sarcophagus and mimicked sitting down on top of it, placing his right hand underneath his chin and hunching forward thoughtfully, silently staring down at the ornate floor for a couple of very tense minutes: no one and nothing but the crackling torches made any sound, nor the girls did make any movement.

"I remember now!" He suddenly exclaimed, raising his index up in the air triumphantly as he jumped up from his ornate improvised stool. "They may have joined the underworld recently, but that does not mean I do not know what you are specifically talking about, because they have earned my respect, since they laid their lives in the trenches the same way my soldiers would have. They desire for you to undo the steps done to bring about a darker future still for the citizens of this state by agents of ruin posing as them, and, since you are among the few ones that have experienced magic first-hand, you have been called to help them."

"Yes, but how, if you do not mind me asking?" Lemon Zest asked, causing Ever Increaser to groan.

"I was getting there. There are several steps needed to bring about full salvation: you have to gather Notary Bull's scattered dust in this place, following the rumors considered to be myth by the current people of Eternal City. You will have to make a sacrifice in order to bring back the duke of Victory. You will have to call upon the souls of great heroes with arcane wisdom which I lack. Finally, you will have to let the ghosts arm themselves with the weapons they used in life while clashing against the barbaric hordes invading the homelands."

"B-but we do not know how to do so, my lord!" Sunny said, looking at him pleadingly. "How are we going to gather ashes long dispersed by the wind, what are we going to sacrifice to bring somebody back from the dead, what shall we do to arm ghosts?"

Ever Increaser lifted his chin up, closed his eyes and slowly sank into the ground, his robes producing a light aquamarine smoke as they disappeared along with his body.

"You shall know soon enough. Goodbye!" He said just before fully dispersing.

Sunny Flare blinked, still staring at the spot where he disappeared.

"Uhuh. That salute was... creepy." Lemon said, her tone of showing concern and confusion at the same time. "I guess it was common back then?"

"No, but no matter." Sugarcoat said while getting up and walking quickly towards the exit. "We have a lot to do, we have to get back to Cinch and we cannot wast anymore time standing in here."

Nodding silently, Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest followed suit, with Sunny getting up and walking much more slowly than her companions, a bit due to the recent encounter, a bit because now the corridors she had gone through a few minutes ago were not bare, but covered in colorful frescos depicting still lives and fake (and very elaborate) city landscapes. The external walls of the mausoleum were almost blinding in their shininess, for the white limestone time and men had taken away had been put back in its place, while atop said walls granite and marble statues of armoured warriors and robe-clad women were alternated with cypresses. At the base, large rose bushes in full bloom had sprouted just next to the mausoleum's entrance, which now had two cyclopically large and perfectly intact bronze doors on the hinges. Looking behind her, Sunny saw even more limestone covers on the once-bare walls, and bronze statues of horses circling all around the circular structure.

She was forced to turn around by Lemon's poke.

"Be careful," she said, pointing at a large gawking crowd that had gathered before the mausoleum's entrance. "There' a lot of people 'round here now!"