The Demon Tamer Read online

  Diosmed touched his right shoulder with his hand and Damian calmed down in an instant.

  «You have to undress, take off your tunic and put on your armor» said Diosmed.

  «But I will remain alone with the subligaculum!» Damian replied.

  «You have to do it if you don’t want them to take it off».

  Damian undressed and remained alone with the subligaculum, a blue pant. He had a mesomorphic body, his whole body was balanced. He put the black belt around his waist and tied the bag containing his belongings, then put on an iron helmet that covered his entire face, except for the two eye holes. His armor, unlike that of Diosmed, was extremely poor. It presented only a lorica segmentata on the right arm with a belt that kept it fixed to the body. The chest and abdomen were uncovered. He wore the caligae and a single gamble on his left leg. He had received a bad spatha as a weapon.

  «Why are you wearing a tunic and special armor?» Damian asked.

  «I have been here for a month, the Emperor organizes events almost every day and thanks to my victories I got these rewards. The demon that own him is plotting something dark. We must act, we must do something! I’ve been fighting in this place too long, I want to leave! We must win the tournament and free the Emperor from control of the demon, just so we can get away from here! If you’re telling the truth about Dasmond and the Village of the Gods, I’m sure we can win together!» Diosmed urged.

  «I’m not lying, unfortunately they are the only things I remember. I’ll look for the answers to my questions and fight for them!» Damian added.

  Damian was ready to give all of himself to win, he felt that only in this way could he shed light on his past and on the Demons. There had to be a specific reason that had led the Romans to take him there.

  «In us flows the essence of the Tree of Life and the Language of the Gods belongs to us, both will help us in the enterprise!» Diosmed said.

  The two young men lay down on those stone beds and rested at most two hours, when suddenly the sound of trumpets woke them. The tournament was about to begin. It was time to go into battle and neither of them knew what the fate was going to reserve for them, but they didn’t feel afraid. Their only goal was to win. The soldiers opened the cell and asked to follow him, then they were brought near the elevator that led them in front of the iron grate that separated a square room from the elliptical arena. Within those four walls were the gladiators, who were not all experts in combat. Many of them, in fact, were slaves, ordinary people who had been subjected by the powerful Roman Empire. Others, however, were thieves or skilled murderers who had escaped from the classic death penalty and that they had received by the emperor’s grace the faculty of being able to fight in the Colosseum and that, in case of victory, they could obtain freedom. They were all men and came from all over the empire. Now they were forced to fight each other for survival. It was a grotesque natural selection not designated by mother nature but wanted by other entities.

  The Gladiators had the names of the enemies defeated by Rome or those of some mythological beings, they wore the subligaculum and a typical armament, but often they were discovered on the chest and on the abdomen. Among them stood the Mirmillone, a human tank, which possessed a long gladius and a rectangular shield called scutum, a large helmet, on which was painted a fish called murma, which covered his whole face and allowed the gladiator to see thanks to a series of holes. He wore his manica, a lorica on his sleeve, formed by curved and overlapping metal plates, which protected his right arm, while at his feet he had caligae or solae, like the rest of the gladiators, and one greaves in the left leg. Then there were other gladiators like the Retiarius, who had a net to trap his enemies, a trident to pierce his opponent as if he were a fish, and a pugio, a small dagger. He had no helmet and wore a manica on his left arm, a subligaculum like the other gladiators and a leather belt called balteus; the Trax, on the other hand, wore the typical helmet of the Thracians, a people defeated by the Romans, with the hemispherical cap adorned with griffin feathers and with a visor like a grate. He had his manica on his right arm, greaves on his legs, a small, rectangular scutum and he used the sica as a weapon, a sword with a curved and angled blade; the Provocator, the one who provoked the adversaries and made the struggle compelling, wore a helmet that had two long feathers on the shell and a visor that covered the whole face and with two holes to see. He was the perfect opponent of the Reziarius because his helmet was smooth and without hold for the net of the enemy. He had a rectangular scutum, on his right arm he wore his manica and on his chest he wore a metal pectoral. Finally, he had a gladius and greaves that protected his legs; the Hoplomachus, another gladiator, held a spear, called hasta, with the right limb protected by the manica while with the other, to which he held a small round shield to the forearm, he held a sword. He had bands of protection on his thighs, tall greaves and on his head a helmet with a plume; finally, there was the Secutor, the most armed and powerful of the gladiators, he had a round helmet with a smooth ridge called a galea, which prevented the Retiarius, his archenemy, from setting his mortal net upon him. He had a shield, rectangular and concave, which protected him from the feet to the face where he left the two holes for the eyes uncovered. He had his sleeve on his right arm, some protective wool bands on his thighs, greaves on his legs and he used a small sword.

  Inside that waiting room a mustachioed man with thick brown hair, like a lion’s mane, appeared before Damian. He was two meters tall, had a big nose, very dark black eyes and very long nails, similar to the claws of the noble feline.

  «And who would you be sissy? Do you think you can get out of here alive?» he said boldly and then began to laugh with his cronies, other gladiators present at that tournament.

  «He is with me. It’s under my protection!» Diosmed intervened.

  «Son of demon, you’re still alive! In this tournament you will not get away with it, I will take your head once and for all!» the man said and after those words he left with his henchmen.

  Diosmed looked straight into Damian’s eyes, stopped him putting his hands on his shoulders and warned him of the dangers: «Listen to me, even he is a man, I guarantee you that he has the same power as a demon. Stay away from him, leave everything else to me! Now let’s go and let’s get on the scene! People die in these tournaments so fight and survive!»

  The iron grate was raised together with the drum roll and the trumpet blasts. The participants entered in the arena of the Colosseum and the crowd was delirious. The entire amphitheater was filled with every social rank, both the patricians and the plebeians were present during that event. The Emperor was in his place of honor surrounded by guards and, when the gladiators entered, he turned his eyes to Damian. His mind was plotting something dark, the demon was hidden in his body and only the two young men knew his secret. Damian managed to see him, his image overlapping that of the Emperor. The demon was all red, had yellow eyes, white fangs protruding from the mouth, two pointed ears, a curved nose and finally a black goatee on the chin. He had two big wings, similar to those of a bat, a long thin tail that ended with a triangle shape. Damian looked at him and soon the monster disappeared.

  «How strange» he said with a sigh.

  The presenter shouted in a loud voice: «Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! Today you will watch a legendary event! The Hundred Men Tournament!»

  The crowd cheered, Damian would never have thought that the tournaments were so popular with the people, even though it was a fratricidal struggle.

  «The fighters come from all over the empire! Today you will see slaves, mercenaries, thieves, assassins, warriors and enemies of Rome who will fight each other to the death! The first phase of the tournament, the Venationes, will begin soon! Gladiators will face tigers, lions, bears, leopards and rhinos. Many of them will die in this fight against a hundred beasts! Only when all the fairs are killed will the first phase of the tournament end!» the fat presenter continued.

  The folk screamed happily for th
e battle with the beasts and Damian could not understand why. The grille opened and all the participants found themselves in the center of the arena. The Gladiators armed with helmets, shields, swords and spears were ready to give their lives in that deadly battle. A hundred men against a hundred beasts, a huge battle was about to begin. Cages and trapdoors opened, and tigers and lions came out first, followed by leopards and panthers, then bears and finally rhinos. The felines were in the majority compared to the others, but the rest of the animals should not be underestimated. The beasts lived to kill, they were trained for combat every day by the romans who worked at the Colosseum. Those animals had something special, not all of them seemed normal. They were scary, they looked like unclean monsters as if something dark had changed their nature.

  The first fight began, five slaves coming from the Iberian Peninsula rushed against a bear. The Retiarii with their nets tried to capture him, it seemed an undertaking not so difficult until two tigers jumped behind them. A white tiger snapped into the head of one of the Iberian participants and forcibly destroyed his skull. Later, both tigers attacked the other Retiarii, while the bear, much more violent than the tigers, attacked the last two remaining. They were the first deaths of the tournament, but people loved this horror. The One hundred Beasts had shown their power. Something unnatural hovered in their red-colored eyes. Those beasts, with so much hatred in their soul, pounced on men considering them not only prey, but goals to kill. It was their job, but that day something strange drove them to complete their job with more fervor than usual. The bodies of the fallen were left on the ground.

  On the other side of the arena the rhinoceros, with its hard horn more than the rock, threw itself against the participants with great force. He swept away a dozen Thracians and two of them died instantly. None of them could hurt the animal. There were three specimens of rhino in the arena, but the latter was distinguished by the dark energy that he gave off. Not all the beasts could throw ten men into the air at once, as did that anomalous specimen. Diosmed looked straight into his red eyes and then flung himself against him, brandishing his sword, the Dragalòs. The horn and the sword repelled each other and Diosmed, taking advantage of that moment, climbed on the back of the animal. With clever mastery he resisted the animal’s attempt to make him fall and, in the end, with his blade, pierced the rhino’s head. The animal collapsed on the ground and a dark shadow came out of his body and Damian, with great astonishment, saw her disappear into thin air.

  Suddenly Damian felt a cold shiver on is back, behind him this time there was no animal beast, but a human beast. He was a Secutor who with an ax attacked him from behind, but thanks to his quick reflexes he avoided the blow. He gripped the simple spatha given to him by the Romans, turned and saw something so frightening that it made his legs tremble. It was a huge man, a little over two meters tall, muscular and powerful, with a shield bearing a tiger on a red background. An inhuman beast with a powerful armor that made it nothing short of invincible. He was blabbering against Damian some incomprehensible words. That man gave off an evil essence stronger than the rhinoceros and Damian realized that this man was also under the control of a demon. He was bold and many scars covered the emptiness of the scalp. His red eyes lit up intensely. Damian heard a voice scream: «Save me! Please save me!» He could not understand whose was and, at that moment of distraction, that beast began to attack him with his ax, using all his strength. The Emperor surely had changed the rules of the game so that a secutor could use an ax instead of a gladius. He had his sleeves on both arms and greaves on both legs, but despite all the weight he could move with agility. His face turned purple and full of pulsating veins, his red eyes full of anger lit up with an intense light. The enemy wore an orange subligaculum and a balteus brown bearing a medallion with a tiger’s head in the center. He kept attacking him and Damian nimbly avoided the ax, jumping left and right. During the battle he looked at him and noticed in his eyes the vermilion red color of the demons, then inside them the image of man appeared and he heard again a voice that told him: «Save me! Save me, please!»

  Damian realized that what was happening was not normal. He thought that that voice was that of the man whose body had been possessed. Full of courage, he set himself the goal of saving and not killing the possessed man, but only the beast he carried within himself. It was a difficult challenge to face and he had to do it alone, as Diosmed was busy fighting against other wild beasts. He decided to lure him into the area of the felines, lions and tigers, thinking that even if both animals had attacked them, they would have succeeded in weakening the enemy, so he could attack him at the right moment and finally defeat him. Tigers, lions, leopards and black panthers simultaneously attacked that titan, while Damian managed to escape. The man was submerged by the beasts and disappeared beneath them, but after a brief time he heard a loud roar and with his unprecedented power the colossus threw the felines into the air, making them fall to the ground lifeless. From the outside it looked like they hadn’t suffered any damage, but in reality, something from the inside had completely devoured them, as if they had lost their life force. The crowd was puzzled by that event. The presenter incited the public: «An unprecedented power of the beast Dumnorix, former head of a Gallic village, now reduced to slavery. With his ferocity he knocked down ten beasts of the arena! The real danger is no longer the animals, but this man of brutal strength!»

  Damian did not know what to do, the blood froze in his veins. He could not find weak spots in the enemy. He was a demon with a powerful ax, almost impossible to defeat. Suddenly Damian closed his eyes and thought of that man who had asked for help and decided to give his best to save him once and for all. He opened his eyes and focused the target. He began to feel the force flowing inside him and with the sword, which he held with his left hand, he hit Dumnorix. The two weapons collided and generated an immense power that gave off a powerful wind in the arena. The public was also hit by it and an old plebeian, with a cough, lost two of her four teeth. A series of blows began that also affected the other opponents present near the fight.

  Some men and beasts were thrown against the walls of the arena and never stood up again. Damian jumped on the titan’s back and tried in vain to wound him with the spatha, his skin was harder than steel and so, with another jump, he came back and did not notice a new danger lurking. Some other gladiators took him by surprise and threw nets at him that usually were used by Retiari against the enemy. Damian fell to the ground trapped.

  The Titan had his chance and with all the strength he possessed, he took the ax and threw the decisive blow against Damian. Just in time Diosmed arrived to protect his friend and take the shot of the enemy. The young man suffered a wound in the abdomen despite wearing a lorica musculata. Damian, at that moment, saw the figure of Diosmed merging with that of Dasmond. In an instant he remembered that sad night, the death of his friend and Yulia caused by the hands of the romans. And at that moment his dark power, dormant inside him, woke up even stronger than before. A black energy began to wrap around his left arm.

  «Stop!» Diosmed shouted, «Placate the evil in you and bend it to your will!»

  Diosmed had been wounded, but he was not dead. His words swept deep into Damian as he shone again as the darkness cleared. He managed to free himself from those nets and stood up, ready to fight his opponent again. He felt a wave of heat run down his body and a different force pervaded his right arm. He emanated a blue energy that enveloped the whole arm, arousing even more the astonishment of Diosmed. Damian began to attack the possessed man with the spatha, this time held in his right hand, and thanks to his power he managed to wound him in one hand, causing the enemy to lose his temper. Dumnorix unleashed all his dark power, an even greater black energy enveloped him completely. The other gladiators were petrified, while the audience was delirious as usual. Suddenly the man changed his features, turned into a beast a little over two meters high and surreal in appearance. He was no longer a man, but a very muscular animal demon w
ith ten heads and ten arms. His armor shattered into a thousand pieces. He was very large, his skin had turned into the mantle of an orange tiger and without black stripes. Each head was positioned in the space between the two shoulders and on the upper part of the back. He stood up thanks to four tiger legs. Each of the heads had the features of a beast. The main one, placed in the center, was the head of a tiger, while the four heads on the right side were, in order, those of a black panther, a blue wolf, a cheetah and a leopard, instead from the left side the first head was that of a lion, the second of a black snake, the third of a green crocodile, the fourth of a brown bear and the last of a gorilla. He had ten arms, five on each side, which came out laterally from the body and each of it belonged to the head of the aforementioned beast. His breastplate had shattered and therefore remained only with the orange subligaculum he wore. He seemed to have been exposed, but in reality his down was more resistant than any man-made armor. The beasts and demons perceived that dark aura and trembled in fear. The demon hidden within him had finally come out into the open. Diosmed ran to help Damian.

  «Listen to me, Damian, we’re the only ones who can stop it. Even if others are unable to fight against him, we need all possible help. I will try to get his attention, although unfortunately they are not in very good physical condition» Diosmed said, spitting blood on the ground, then wiped his lip with his right hand. The wound in the abdomen was no longer bleeding.

  «Diosmed what is this creature? I recently saw the soul of a man in his eyes! The demon possessed him!» Damian replied incredulously.

  «He is a demon who has taken on his true form, his red eyes shining more than ever. Nothing to do with that rhinoceros before, this is much more powerful. I know who he is, in fact I thought he was just a legend! I heard many stories about him, they spoke of beings with heads of wild beasts and with a mantle resistant to human weapons. It’s a Rakshasa!»