Legion of Mars

Blood.

There was blood everywhere on the battlefield......

"Lucius....."

The sound of clashing blades filled the battlefield as he struggled to stay alive.....

"Lucius?"

The Iceni tribesman, blood painted on his face, yelled a vicious warcry as he charged him......

"Lucius, wake up!"

One of his friends had a sword through his throat, blood dribbling from his side as his eyes twitched, begging to the gods to not take him so soon.......

"Master Lucius, you have to wake up!"

The Iceni Queen, Boudica, loomed over him with a vicious glare directly at him. With her spear in hand, she plunged it right down his-

"SIR, WAKE UP!"

Lucius opened his eyes as he shot up from his bed. He was in his red tunic, his armor standing upon a pole that made it look like a guard was stand watch over him. He was sweating, but not from the heat.

"Good sir, you're awake." He looked to where his free slave knelt beside him, a look of worry on his face. He was about to say something, but he closed his mouth when he saw the state of Lucius. His face held a sense of worry for him. "You had that dream again, haven't you?"

Lucius wiped the sweat from his forehead and brow, his mind foggy from all the drinking from last night. His servant knew him too well. "Yes." He simply answered. There was no use in lying to his old friend. He had always had that dream ever since taking command of Legio Caledonia. He didn't know whether the gods were fucking him in his dream or some demonic possession. "Though this time Bolucdia killed me in my dream."

"The gods may be telling you something." Albinus looked at him for a second. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm alway's eager to listen."

"No. It's.....fine." Lucius said as he rubbed his eyes, trying to get those accursed yellow things out of his eyes to focus. He looked to his servant. "What is it that you would want to wake me up?"

His eyes widened as if he remembered what he was about to say. "Sir, it's about Trevororium."

"If it's about governor Borius trying to trick us into another deal, tell him he can shove whatever he is offering up his fat ass." Lucius stated bluntly. If he ever saw that fat sack of shit one more time......

"That's the thing, sir." Albinus said. "There is no Trevororium."

Lucius looked at his servant with a look of annoyance. "What?" What does he mean by 'no more Trevororium?' "I am not in the mood for jokes right now, especially since I got out of a bad dream."

Albinus shook his head. "I wish that was the case, sir." He gestured towards the flap of his tent. "I really am speaking the truth. The town, the valleys, everything disappeared overnight. We are in the middle of some kind of forest." Albinus told him. He had never seen his servant freaking out before, not even when he was once a slave to his family. "The legion is in total chaos and waiting for your instructions."

Lucius got up from his bed, his servant backing away from him. "Tell them I will assess the situation."

Albinus nodded and went directly outside.

Lucius sat at the foot of his bed with groggy eyes. He rubbed them to get a more clear mind. 'The entire town disappearing overnight?' He thought as he got up and went to a stand that contained a bowl of water. 'And stuck in some forest?' He splashed his face a couple of times, feeling the cold water sweeping down his face. He grabbed a rag and wiped his face off. 'If this is some sort of sick joke, I swear I am going to castrate the man behind it.' He didn't believe for one second that the entire camp, as if by MAGIC, got transported in some gods-forsaken forest. He thought for a second that Albinus would pull a prank on him.

He then realized that Albinus was more loyal to him than a dog.

With his face washed and him being wide awake, he dawned his Legate armor passed down from his family since the days of the Roman Republic. With his gladius at his side, Lucius opened the flap to his tent and went outside.

His eyes were almost blinded by the sun that shined down on him. What was strange was that the sun itself seemed brighter than usual. He could count that out as just his imagination. He had to shield his eyes to adjust to the brightness. After a few minutes of blinking and adjusting his eyes, he finally adjusted his eyes.

The camp was in total chaos. Centurians were shouting orders left and right, some even threating their fellow soldiers. He swore he heard a centurion say that "I'm going to rip off your ass and throw it in a stew and make you eat it." The rest of his legionnaires were going left and right, most of them excited for some action. Some of them were carrying equipment or weapons in their hands. Lucius's eyes focused on the outside of the camp. Albinus was right.

All around him were strange trees that bend in ways he never felt possible. He could have sworn that there were no trees when his legionnaires set up camp. He could also feel the cold wind pressing against his skin. There was barely any wind for weeks, only the hot summer sun of Solarises. He could deduce that they were somewhere in the east. There was no desert next to them, so he ruled that one out. He could guess that they either somewhere in Germania or somewhere north of Scythia or Sarmatia, or even in Gaul or Iberia.

It was only a hunch at this point.

'We aren't attacked yet, so that is good news.' Indeed, if they were deep within enemy territory, some scouts would have found them out by now and sent for reinforcements from a local tribe. So far, nothing seems to have happened. Either the local Germanic tribes or bandits are watching them for any signs of weakness, or playing with them. 'They would have attacked us right now if that was the case.'

He saw one of the centurions giving orders to a group of legionnaires before they went on their way. He calmly walked on over to the Centurion. As if he since someone was coming, the centurion turned around to see his general coming. He soon saluted, his fist clutching his armor before releasing it in mid-air. Lucius did the same. "Statue report." He said.

"Sir, The rest of the campsite is chaos. We don't know where we are or how we got here." The centurion answered to him.

"Did anyone see anything out of the ordinary?" Lucius asked. Someone must have seen something if they were transported to some forest in the middle of gods damned nowhere.

"We suspect the guards who were stationed outside of the camp, but had fallen when we found them." He said. "They weren't dead or anything like that, sir, but they are unconscious and unable to respond. Doctors say they might be like that for some time."

"How?" Lucius was now more curious about what was going on.

"We don't know, sir." He snappily said. "We suspect that something must have happened to them."

"And the slaves?" The slaves, the ones he sent away, might have seen something that might have lead to this predicament."

The centurion shook his head. "We can't find them anywhere, sir." He said. "We suspect that they might have escaped while the guards were unconscious."

"Damn." He murmured. He was now more worried about reporting this whole incident to the Senate than staying alive. Stuck in some forest in the middle of nowhere with several guards unconscious and slaves escaping. It could be a stain on his military career if anything.

He right now wished that the Germans would just attack him now than suffer humiliation at the Senate.

"Sir, what are your orders now?" He questioned. That was the question that ran through his head; what was he going to do? They were somewhere in some forest, most likely in Germania if anything, with no way of know which way is Rome at. Worse still, the supplies he asked for hadn't even arrived yet. They had only a weeks worth of food and drink, but he didn't know how far he or his legion had gone.

In short, it was a pretty grim situation.

With a calm cast, he said. "Reorganize the legion, and tell them to wait for my orders." The centurion saluted and started to bark orders any nearby centurion he saw.

"Well isn't this just one fine fucking morning." He heard Validus say. He turned his head slightly left to see him and Oriana walking towards him, the former looked like death warn over, if death was more of a drunkard. "I can't even get a fucking shut-eye without someone kicking me in the stomach." He soon glared at Oriana, in which she just smirked at him. "Your lucky I didn't pour a sword through your gut, you Germanic whore."

"I see you're as bright as ever." He joked. Despite the grim situation they were in, Valdius was calm and collective about the whole thing. Emphasis on "calm and collective."

Validus glared at him. "I was just having a nice dream until this bitch kicked me awake." He soon glared at Oriana with all the hatred he could muster. Oriana merely rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, I hope you had enough sleep," He gazed at the camp, in which his legionnaires were already organizing themselves into a line. "because it's going to be a long day."

The sound of a horn blowing was enough to make Ulaf want to go outside and shove however was blowing that damned horn up his arse. However, he was too tired to even do that.

"Fucking Roman's and their fucking horns." He murmured as tossed and turned on his bag. He tried in vain by cover his ears with his bag, but the sound wouldn't go away. He was just having a nice dream about Fedjia coming to him and demanding to make love to her. He almost had his hands on her massive tits when the horn sounded not far from the Legionnaire camp.

"Ulaf, wake up you lazy fuck!" Ganoz shout from outside his tent. 'Now the annoyance is twofold.' He thought. "Can you get the fuck up for once?!?!"

"Piss off, Ganoz!" He said while rolling over on his sheet, opposite away from the flap of his tent. "Go fuck someone else." He tried to close his eyes and sleep once more, but the horn being sound is making it difficult,

He heard the sound of a flap being pulled open and the feeling of sunlight hitting his back. He then felt a hand shaking him awake. "This isn't the time to lazy about, so wake the fuck up!" He said, each shake feeling more violent than the last.

"Ugh, fine." Ulaf said as he swiped his hands away. He stood up from his spot, rubbing his eyes so he can focus. He then glared at Gunaz. "What the fuck do you want this time?" He asked with a grumpy voice. That horn hasn't stopped in a while. He was getting ready to kill the Roman fucker blowing it.

The one thing he noticed from Ganoz was the worried look on his face. "The legion is getting ready to march out, so you have to get ready. This place is cursed."

"What's so cursed about a Roman town?" He questioned. His muscles were still sore from chopping down trees yesterday. "Is the whores not to your liking?" He joked at him with a toothy grin.

"This isn't funny, Ulaf." He said in a serious tone. "This is so fucked up right now."

"What's happened?" Ulaf questioned. What was wrong that made Gunoz so jumpy?

"The Roman town we stopped at isn't there anymore." Ganoz finally said. "We're in some kind of forest."

Ulaf raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Your joking, right?" He said. It has to be some kind of joke. He bet on his silver earnings that Beloz put him up to this.

If so, he was going to wrangle him.

He shook his head. "I wish that were the case. Hell, I wish this was all some sort of dream." He said. "Something has transported us far away. What's worse? Walo says that there is dark magic behind this, and that the forest we're in is full of vengeful spirits that are not our own. He also said that the gods are silent. He even tried to pray to Wodan for guidance."

He blinked as he tried to take in what he just said. Walo was the German's only way of communicating with the gods. Walo had never been wrong before. Hell, he was the one that predicted Hilgar's death. If what Gannus said is true.....

"Shit." He murmured under his breath.

"I know." He said. "Shit is really fucked up right now. The rest of the Romans are reorganizing. We should join them to find out what is going on." He turned around and went to the entrance of his tent. He opened the flap of his tent before turning his head back towards him. "So get your ass in gear." He then disappeared into the brightness that is the outside.

Without a word, Ulaf started to put on his armor, hoping that this was some kind of sick joke.

"All Legionaries are accounted for except one, sir." He heard the Centurian from before said as he sat on top of his horse.

Lucius inspected the Legionnaires and the auxiliary units that are lined up before him, the show of perfectionism and discipline seen on the faces of these soldiers. At least, for those that call themselves Roman. The campsite had already be cleared, looking like some sort of storm had come in and taken everything. He was preparing to move the legion out. It wasn't the smartest idea he had, with the entire legion being stuck in the middle of gods know where. Staying here wouldn't be good either. "You said one was missing?" He questioned the Centurian.

"Yes, sir." He said. "A man by the name of Felix Gladius Calvius of the Sixteenth Cohort."

"I see." He said as he examined the long lines of his legionnaires. "Does the Sixteenth Cohort know where he is?"

"We asked Centurion Gallus Tadius Rufinianus about him. He said the last time he saw him, he was going into town for something."

"Damn." He cursed under his breath. They were down one man in a unknown territory. He turned to the centurion. "You are dismissed." The centurion saluted and went back to his cohort.

"I don't think one missing man could be that bad." Validus commented as he stood by his side, along with Oriana and Albinus.

Lucius turned to his companion. "We are in unknown territory here." He said. "We need all the manpower we can get. If anything, we could be in Germania, surrounded by tribes as we speak."

He scoffed. "Let them come, I say. I can take down at least twelve thousand of those motherless sons of whores before I go to the afterlife."

"Don't count on it too soon." Lucius said to him. Validus was.....more headstrong in some decision than he was. There was one time when his legion was transferred to Anatolia to deal with some eastern hill tribes that still roam the province. "Unless you're the son of Herkules, I'd advice to at least stay alive until we are out of this mess."

"It is.....unsettling, to say the least." Albinus said. The old man who had been around his family for years wasn't wrong. "How could we have just......appear out of a forest without us knowing?"

"I have talked to the men who were guarding the camp." Lucius remarked to Albinus. "They said that the last thing they remember was some sort of pink mist." It was ridiculous when you thought about it. He talked to some of the guard's from last night. He wanted to dismiss those ideas as preposterous, but given the circumstances, he has to believe it. "It does not matter. We'll move out right now."

"But to where?" Albinus questioned. He looked around seeing nothing but creepy trees. "We still do not know where we are."

"I know." Lucius informed him. He didn't know where he was at either, but he knew he couldn't stay here forever. "But the first thing we need to do is get out of this god's damned forest." There was something about the trees that didn't sit well with him.........

"Right on that. I was about ready to cut those fucking things off." Validus said in agreement. Oriana nodded in agreement with him.

Lucius turns to his men. "Legionnaires, listen up!" He shouted to his standing army before him. He was thankful that the clearing they were in was big enough to see his entire legion. "I know some of you are confused as to where we are at or how we got here." He examined the faces of the legion. They were stoic, though he did see a little concern in them. "To tell you the truth, I do not know either. I do know this: we are in enemy territory.

Whether its the gods mocking us for the legions existence or the cause of some cursed Germanic magic, it matters little to us. We are Legio XV: Caledonia. We have faced barbarian raids before from the Britons and the Picts before. I have faced barbarians before. We have seen some of the weird things they do. To us, this is but a minor nuisance. We will find our enemy, and we will crush them in the name of Rome. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Legate!" The entire legion yelled in unison.

"Good." He said, happy that his legion has at least a clear head after hearing his speech. At least, for now. "Now get ready to pack up. We are moving out soon." With a wave of his hand, he said: "Dismiss."

The entire legion dispersed after that little speech. The Centurions started barking orders as usual while the legionnaires did whatever they would do. Already he could see some tents being taken down and supplies being packed up. They were lucky that they found some of the oxs from before.

"So what do we do now?" Validus said as he trotted next to Lucius's side.

"Now." He looked at Valdius. "We move somewhere safe. Somewhere away from here." Validus nodded and went on his way, his horse trotting him back camp. Albinus and Orania did the same.

Lucius looked around the area they were in. Trees lined in every corner of his vision, some of them have scary faces on them like they were right out of some stories he was told at a younger age. He spotted no road or dirt path to follow on, though he might suspect that he could come along it soon. Rome is very far away from here, and tribes or whatever inhabited this forest surrounded them like wolves surrounding sheep. To make matters worse, he had this constant feeling that he was being watched. He was never wrong on his senses since he was stationed on the Brittiania Frontier and Anatolia.

To say that they are in the shitter was an understatement of the century.

'This day just keeps getting more interesting.' He thought as he heads back towards the camp.

Unkown to the Legate, two pairs of colorful eyes were watching the entire set, seeing the strange creatures before them. They soon disappeared into the bush a moment later.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"On a scale of one to ten, how fucked are we?"

Steel Heart rolled her eyes as she continued to spy the huge army in front of her. "I'm sure it's not that bad." She said to Color Scheme, the stallion she was assigned to on this scouting mission. He had a blue coat and neon red mane and tail that made him stand out. If one were to peak at the non-conspicuous sure they were hiding behind, one could see a faint hint of blue and red. It didn't help that they were close to the camp. To her, she was just ready to punch him in the face and leave him alone in the woods.

it had been a couple of months since Equestria was taken over by a species called the caribou, led by a misogynistic leader called King Dainn. She didn't know how they had done it, but they have managed to sneak into Canterlot and overrun the city in the first hour. By Tartarus, the Royal Guard couldn't even hold their own against the caribou. She wasn't there when that happened, as she was visiting her parents at Hallow Shades when it happened. A fellow guard came to her door saying that Canterlot has fallen and that the princesses were captured. She and the rest of the guard were to mount up an assault and try to recapture Canterlot.

They would have won the battle if the brainwashing didn't start.

After capturing the Crystal Empire, they used some sort of artifact they made called the "Crystal Cock" to maximize the brainwashing spell. She didn't understand how it worked, as she was only a pegasus within the remnants of the Royal Guard, but she knew it was bad. The male members of the guard quickly turned on her female companions and started to either kill them or rape them. She barely made it out alive as it was.

Within days, they took the entirety of Equestria. Any stallions were brainwashed and every mare was enslaved. Except for a select few that escaped.

That was only a few months ago. During those months, she did everything she could to survive out in the wild and had a run in with some of her colleagues who survived Canterlot. The former guards created a resistance group in the Everfree Forest.

She and another stallion, Color Scheme, were patrolling the woods outside of the makeshift campsite the resistance was at when she heard some incoherent language being yelled at somewhere near them. She and Color Scheme went to where the voices were and saw the campsite before them. They were wearing some old guard armor they have managed to grab at a slaver campsite they were scouting earlier.

"Really, an army full of armed.....things, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, which we are AT by the way, that mysteriously came out of nowhere just as we escaped from an army of caribou soldiers last week?" Color Scheme said "Nope, its not bad at all. IT'S A HUNDRED TIMES W-" Before he could finish his rant, Steel Heart covered his mouth with her hand, shutting him up.

"Could you keep it down, Scheme." Steel Heart hissed to her partner while giving him a fierce glare. "Unless you want your head chopped off, you'll stay quiet and do as I say. Go it?" He swiftly nodded, his eyes still betray a hint of uncertainty. Honestly, who could blame him? The caribou have already overrun Equestria and taken the princesses hostage. Seeing an army already close to the resistance base is already worse enough. If they discover the location of the camp of the resistance.......

She shivered at the thought. It wouldn't be good, that was for sure. She wanted nothing more than to abandon their mission and warn the resistance what was coming.

However, looking at them, something was different about them.

For one thing, the creatures in front of her didn't look the barbaric caribou that hunted them relentlessly. The things in front of them almost look like ponies for a second, if it weren't for the furless skin they have. Indeed, they have no fur on them other than that whitish skin. She almost wondered how they would stay warm int he winter. The red armor they wore that was strangely foreign to her. A few of them wore what looked like ceremonial armor to them. They wore red capes and had their war manes sideways. They carried a rectangle shield that seemed too big for them, yet they wield it like they had been trained to before. Another company of these things were riding what she assumed was a reverted version of a pony. She felt pit for those four-legged creatures, being forced to carry around their masters without a word. She shivered as she saw them gallop on all four hooves, their eyes displaying no intelligence at all. Have they enslaved other creatures to do their bidding? If so, what would happen if they caught her?

She really, really, didn't want to find out.

The swords they had were small and would be mistaken for a knife in some cases. She noticed some of the banners that a few were carrying. One had a picture of what she assumed was an eagle with its wings outstretched. Surrounding the bird was a wreath. It's standing on some branch or something with four arrows intersecting against the talon itself. The words 'SPQR' was written on the bottom of the branch. Another banner had a picture of a Griffon on all fours with one of its claws reaching out, as if to grab something. Written on the bottom of the Griffon were the words 'Legio XV: Caledonia.' Did these creatures work for the griffons in some way? And what the fuck was a 'Caledonia'?

As they continued to watch the army forming a line around the big area they occupied, she saw what he assumed was the commander of the forces.

Like the many creatures in line, this one was riding the same pony creature as the rest of the company she saw. He wore a more fashionable helmet than the troopers, with a red war mane over its head. He wore a long red cape that came down from his shoulders. She saw some wrinkles on his skin, meaning that he was old, but not too old to lead an army. Right beside him were three other individuals. The first one was a bit younger than the commander but held an air of brashness. He had a short beard and had a fire in his eyes that many young recruits have when they join the guard. Another one didn't wear any armor but had a red tunic with a sachel around his person that was full of scrolls. He had no mane on his head. He was at least the same age as the commander but looked far older to her. The last one looked different from the others. While the other creatures looked like males, the other one had a female look to her. Her mane was blond and had a set of braids coming down her shoulder. She had a set of scars on her that looked ugly to her, but her face did retain its beauty. She wore chainmail armor and had a wolf pelt wrapped around her neck, the wolf's head showing her face.

"This is bad. Really, really bad." Color Scheme said as he looked at the army in question. "I count at least a thousand if more. We have to warn Zecora and Commander Tempest about this."

"Yeah, no kidding." She said. She saw one of the soldiers marching up to the leader. "They could outnumber us if they wanted to." He turned to his partner. "Let's go before they spot us." With that, both of them sneaked away from the bush and disappeared into the forest.