The Demon Tamer Read online

  «The Aestas is about to end, this warmth will disappear in the cold of September» Ascanio said.

  They got home in the evening.

  Agenore rushed out of the house and was happy to see the two safely.

  «I thank the Gods, you are finally here! How did it go?» he asked his son.

  «Father, I’ll explain later. We must celebrate!» Ascanio replied.

  They entered the house and Damian lay down on his couch, then picked up a small black bag, which he had tied to his belt, the Statue of the Dragon and began to fantasize about those creatures. The little dragon, with those fierce claws, seemed real. When he looked him, Damian thought of the gunsmith.

  «Weapons... gunsmith... dragon... dagger? Yes, dagger!» he exclaimed.

  He ran into the kitchen and said: «Agenere where is is my knife?»

  The old man was very sad, something troubled him.

  «I’ll go to take it, wait for me here» Agenore answered and left the house.

  Damian had a little pang, he smelled good from the kitchen where Ascanius was busy to cooking. The boy was happy, eager to celebrate for something mysterious. He brought a soup of lentils and carrots to the table. Meanwhile, Agenore returned to the house and lit the candles of three bronze lanterns hanging from the ceiling, then handed Damian his dagger. It was black as night, with a sinuous and sharp blade, twenty-five centimeters long. The handle was twelve centimeters long, was like the neck of a dragon and, in amazement, Damian noticed that the knife had the head of a black dragon with wide teeth, small nostrils and black eyes. He looked into his eyes and they shone, for an instant, a light blue color. “Dragon’s Claw”, those words were clear in his mind. Suddenly he remembered other things about the village and all that Dasmond had taught and told him. He even remembered the animals, his house and the river.

  «Dasmond, no!» Damian shouted suddenly.

  «Boy, that what happens?» Said Agenor.

  «That language!», After listening to the Latin language, he remembered the face of Lucius Furius Rufus , called “The Devastator”. Damian again had severe head pain. Something was still obscure to him, it was as if he had forgotten something important, but he certainly understood that the Dragon was related to him. Damian realized that it was time to leave that house and go elsewhere. He sat down at the table, after the meal he thanked the two and went to sleep on his bed.

  Meanwhile Ascanio and his father stayed at the table to talk.

  «They will come in the night, you must be ready, father! I know you are sorry, but it is the only possibility we have to save ourselves» Ascanio said.

  Agenore did not dare to speak, the words stopped in his throat. The old man, overcome with grief, lay down on his bed, while Ascanius remained on guard in the chair.

  Damian had a strange premonition, he decided to conceal his dagger into the pouch around her waist, along with the Statue of the Dragon. He tied it so hard that it prevented the rope from breaking. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. Ascanio turned off the lights and stood there waiting for someone.

  After several hours, in the middle of the night, a noise woke that house. The other houses were very far away and did not hear all that noise caused by a roman war chariot, the biga. It was red and had drawn up a black eagle. It featured two wheels and two white horses towed it. Aboard it there was a centurion who had arrived in that place along with five legionnaires, who were on a brown color rectangular wagon, pulled by two black horses. The centurion, with the shining golden breastplate and the helmet with the red plume, was proud of himself. They stopped in front of Agenore’s house and broke brutally into the house. Ascanio was there waiting for them and let them pass. The Romans entered and saw Damian on the bed. They took him from the pallet, the young man tried to resist when suddenly the forces failed him. He fainted without knowing the reason. The soldiers took him and put him in a sack, then loaded him on the cart.

  «How did you tame it?» the centurion asked.

  «Valerian, a powerful sleeping pill in the soup» Ascanio replied.

  The centurion complimented the boy.

  «Is the pact signed? Will we never pay tithing again?» Ascanio asked.

  «You did your job, the Emperor is grateful and gave you a lot with thirty golden coins»

  They got everyone on board, when suddenly Agenore awoke from a deep sleep, because his son had put the valerian in his soup too. He saw Damian’s empty bed and ran out.

  «Stop! Bring him back!» he shouted in vain to the Romans.

  «Old man you stand aside!» a soldier said while the eyes of the Romans glowed bright red.

  Agenore and Ascanio were so terrified that the blood froze in his veins. The Demons left and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night. That was the last time they saw Damian.

  «What did you do Ascanius! You sold that boy to the Devil!» Agenore said, crying, while Ascanius regretted his betrayal.

  03

  The Colosseum

  «The nightingales were chirping that day»

  The birds sang that morning, but what woke Damian was the sound of trumpets. He found himself lying on a stone bed, his back was in pieces and he was still stunned. He opened his eyes and saw the bars of what must have been a cell.

  «Where am I?» Damian said in Latin and, to his astonishment, a voice replied: «You are in a place you could never imagine, even in your worst nightmares! We are in the land of no return, between life and death. The Colosseum, this is his name».

  He was a young man who was in the cell with him. Damian got up from the bed and saw that boy sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. He had a slight scar on the left side of his face, which started from the eyebrow, crossed his left eye and reached up to his upper lip. Fortunately, he had not lost his sight. His black hair, smooth and halfway down his neck, gave him a regal tone. He had a thick but not very long beard, a straight nose and a threatening forehead. He had a roman legionary iron helmet in his hands, a circular bronze shield and a sword. He wore a lorica musculata above his gray tunic, bronze greaves that protected his ankles and roman caligae on his feet.

  «Who are you?» Damian asked.

  «I’m nobody, anymore. I used to have a house, maybe there will still be my brother waiting for me. I wonder if I‘ll ever see him again. My name is Diosmed, The Demon Slayer» he replied with his mighty voice.

  Following the pronunciation of that name and the vision of his face, Damian, unconsciously, pronounced the name of Dasmond. Something about Diosmed had made him remember his dear friend.

  «How do you know that name? Who are you?» Diosmed asked angrily as he jumped up at him.

  «Yilawid» Damian replied.

  Hearing the word “Life”, pronounced in the Language of the Gods, Diosmed hesitated for a moment and shook his head in disbelief.

  Damian compared the young man’s face with Dasmond’s and suddenly remembered the ancient language. He began to speak using the Language of the Gods, which his friend Dasmond had taught him.

  «My name is Damian, I don’t know why but I was brought here against my will. My memories are clouded, but I can tell you that Dasmond was my first and only true friend» he replied with a sense of gratitude.

  «How do you know this language? Do you come from my village too? Is this Dasmond, of which you speak, a trouble combination?» Diosmed asked using the same language, as he had done since the beginning of the speech.

  Damian was a little shocked by the question, then replied: “I lived on Mount Dragòr near the Village of the Gods. I can’t tell if he is a troublemaker or not, but for sure I can tell you that he is a brave hero, son of Zylien the legendary blacksmith, and that he uses a very powerful sword».

  Diosmed smiled.

  «I knew it, he is him! My brother! This sword, which you see, is the twin of Draghiria and is called Dragalòs. How is he now?» the young man asked with joy.

  Damian could not believe to those words. That sword,
however, had much in common with the Draghiria. It had a long, thin green blade and a black hilt with two dragon heads on either side. On the groove he had engraved the words: “Dragalòs King of Dragons”. Above the handle he had a hexagonal-shaped purple pommel. It was the same size as his twin, the blade was fifty-seven centimeters long, while the hilt was eight.

  «I don’t know... I remember everything about him, except for that night», Damian said touching his head that seemed to burst, «Dasmond came to Mount Dragòr, where my house was, along with a girl. The rest is still obscure for some strange reason».

  Diosmed laughed again.

  «A girl? He has finally grown! Well, you like me! If what you say is true, then I will help you and warn you about the dangers lurking in this place. It’s not how people want you to believe. For many it is a simple spectacle, but here people die fighting beasts. We are forced to fight among ourselves, but the Demons are hidden among the men and among the beasts, dark and powerful creatures that come from the Hell. They can take control of any living thing or disguise its appearance. You must be very careful and have alert eyes. You will need a very powerful weapon to be able to defeat them. Now you are unarmed, but certainly the Romans will give you something to fight in the Colosseum» Diosmed said very calmly.

  Damian, after the speech, took his black dagger from the bag tied to his belt and showed it to his cellmate.

  «It’s called Dragon’s Claw» Damian said.

  «Interesting. It is such a rare dagger, made from an unknown material» Diosmed noted.

  The young man, while looking at him carefully, was struck by the dragon’s head.

  «A dragon protected our village, but one day it brought death and destruction. My father lost his life in the business of taming him. The Draghiria and the Dragalòs derive from one of his limbs» Diosmed said, when suddenly the cell door opened and two roman guards entered and ordered to follow them.

  «You have been granted the privilege to see the Emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus I. I think that, for you two, it will also be the last time» the guard said, laughing with his comrade.

  The Colosseum was fifty meters high and had an elliptical plan. It was the most beautiful amphitheater in the world, built by the Flavi’s family. It had four floors, in pure travertine and white marble, where the first three each had eighty arches, with statues depicting deities inside them, for a total of two hundred and forty arches. Each set of arches was placed one on top of the other and each of the individual arches was supported by pillars to which were attached semi-columns with Tuscan capitals on the first floor, Ionic on the second, Corinthians and Corinthians with smooth acanthus leaves on the third floor. Above the three series of arches, there was an attic with forty quadrangular windows. Other materials that were used for the construction were iron, tuff and brick, which gave it strength and solidity. From the attic, supported by two hundred and forty poles, the Velarium, a huge cloth on which various animals were depicted, which protected the stands and the spectators from the bad weather. A thousand men from the roman navy trained the mighty sails that made it up. The Colosseum in its interior presented the cavea, the set of steps where the sixty-five thousand spectators sat, which had an elliptical shape. The access to the amphitheater was through galleries that had seventy-six accesses. Every citizen could enter thanks to his own tabula, a sort of wooden ticket bearing the number for owns access and the sector reserved for the spectator. Everyone had to reach their own place and for this reason there were soldiers on the outside who guaranteed order and control, avoiding the slightest mistake. After passing through the galleries, you entered a world full of colors. There were frescoes on the walls and arches, while along the street there were merchants who sold food, gladiator statues, souvenir, items and much more on their stalls. While all the others entered through these tunnels, the emperor, instead, reached the Colosseum through a secret underground passage which connected his palace to the entrance that led him to his place of honor. Even the upper classes had reserved entrances, while ordinary citizens and the plebeians, the poorest citizens, after having reached the cavea through the Vomitoria, the access doors, were forced to climb the endless flights of stairs and were often beaten by soldiers if they tried to reach a different sector from the one assigned. The cavea, in fact, was divided into sections precisely by ramps and stairways and presented a rigid division for seating. On the places closest to the arena sat the emperor, surrounded by senators, consuls, magistrates and priests. Moving away upwards, there were first the places for the equestrian class, then those of the patricians, then those of the ordinary citizens and finally, in the places higher up and away from the show, there were those reserved for the plebeians who sat in the stands of wood with separate sectors for men and women, from which the view was awfully bad. The statues depicting gods, animals, mythological creatures and emperors enriched and harmonized the entire structure. At the center of the Colosseum there was the arena where the Gladiators fought to survive, creating a violent spectacle that pleased the emperor and spectators. The whole structure, due to its beauty, was considered the pinnacle of Roman art.

  The two went out of the cell, which was in the underground of the hypogeum, with hands and feet tied with iron handcuffs, they crossed a long corridor where the cells of the gladiators were on the two sides.

  «Kill me! I want to die!» a gladiator shouted.

  He had lost an arm, a lion had fed on his flesh. Grief-stricken, he begs the other gladiator in the cell to receive his freedom.

  «It’s a grave! The only way to get out of here is death! Once we were men, now we are equal to the beasts and unable to live free, please let me die!»

  He kept talking and crying, that man was exhausted by battles, when the two young men entered another hypogeum plane and his voice was lost in the void. In that area there were the animals inside their cages. There were bears, tigers, lions, panthers and other beasts from all over the empire. It was hunger that led the beasts, the only food they could eat was the flesh of the fallen or those they killed. The two, always escorted by the guards, climbed onto a freight elevator which, thanks to the counterweight, allowed the prisoners of the Colosseum to ascend and reach the arena. The gladiators and the beasts, in fact, from the underground hypogeum suddenly appeared inside, almost as if they had come out of nowhere. All this happened thanks to an elevator system, wooden cages with iron bars, operated by means of winches that had a wooden pole with horizontal sticks placed at half height, which were rotated by the slaves and thanks to this rotate the elevators went upwards, leading the beasts or gladiators directly into the arena through trapdoors or brought into small rooms separated from the arena by iron bars. When Damian and Diosmed re-emerged, right in the center of the arena, they were struck by the dark look of the Emperor Constantine who sat on his throne of stone.

  The Caesar was astonished when saw Damian, who gave him his eyes and looked intently into his eyes. Damian felt a strange energy, as if something dark tied him to emperor. He tried to understand why, but he couldn‘t find any explanation for that strange feeling that he felt.

  The Emperor Constantine wore a white toga with a red drapery that started from the right shoulder, went down to the left side and then rose behind his back until he returned to the starting point. A golden band held the toga and drapery at waist level. He was tall and slender, with curly brown hair, green eyes, a curved nose, angular lips and a slight hint of beard. The emperor showed his beauty and at the same time his mysterious air.

  «Diosmed you are still alive! Even though you have fought a hundred battles in this arena, you’re still here. I am amazed and I thank you for the show offered to us. I see that you now have a cell mate, with strange blue eyes, too. Enjoy both! Today we will inaugurate the most spectacular tournament ever held before at the Colosseum. “The Hundred Men Tournament”. Only one will be the winner! I believe that you two will make things interesting. Bring them back to their cell now!» the Emperor s
aid in a threatening way and with an evil grin.

  The two were taken back to their cell, the soldiers gave to Damian a shabby weaponry and a sword that looked like a rusty iron. They also gave him bread and anchovies to eat.

  «Eat it, maybe it will be your last meal!» the soldier said, grinning. He locked the cell, then removed their both iron handcuffs, using another key, taking advantage of the space between the cell bars freeing their hands and feet, and then he left away.

  «Did you see that shadow that enveloped the Emperor?» Diosmed asked.

  «I’m not sure of what I saw. It wasn’t a simple shadow, it looked like a monster with a terrifying face, something that does not belong to this world» Damian replied.

  Diosmed was amazed by those words, but soon he smiled.

  «As I thought, your blue eyes are special. You can see things that others cannot. I thought I was the only one who could see those shadows. When a man or a beast presents that dark shadow or a black energy that envelops them, it means that a demon has possessed their body» Diosmed replied.

  «What are these Demons that you talk about so much? Why am I able to see them? Is it because I hate them?» Damian asked.

  Diosmed made a straight face, then looked into the young man’s eyes and replied: «You have this dagger and you can see the Demons. This means that you are endowed with great powers that are probably dormant within you, but I believe they will wake up soon. Your dagger gives off a particular energy, something tells me that you will find the answers to your questions thanks to a Dragon. What do you remember about your past? Why are you here?»

  «I remember the village and when I played with Dasmond in the stream. One day, I suddenly awoke in a farmer’s field, without knowing the reason. It is like I’ve been sleeping for ten years and I can’t understand who I really am. That damn boy sold me to the Romans, I am unjustly here! The Romans arrived and took me with strength in the middle of the night. You betrayed me Ascanio, you will pay me dearly!» Damian said screaming, while his blue eyes became clearer.