You awake to the sound of marching outside of your window. You immediatley know whats going on. It is sunrise and the 6th legion is already assembling. Three days ago, Emperor Augustus ordered the 6th to prepare to march north to Britian. Celts had become increasingly aggressive toward Roman control in the country. Emperor Augustus, disgusted with the barbarian tribes, choose to 6th legion, a force of some 5,000 heavy infantry and 1,000 calvery, to crush the puny Celts. You are a member of the 6th. You lay in bed for a few seconds and let your eyes adjust to the sunlight that is beaming in through your window. You then sit up and place your feet on the floor. You look around your house. It was a single room with hard wodden floors. Your Roman armor and weapons are sitting in the corner. You slowly walk over to your armor and begin putting it on. Your armor was known as lorica segmentata. The lorica segmentata consists of iron strips fastened to internal leather straps. The strips were arranged horizontally on the body, overlapping downwards, and they surrounded the torso in two halves, being fastened at the front and back by means of brass hooks, which were joined by leather laces. The upper body and shoulders were protected by shoulder guards and breast and backplates. This was the standard armor for the Roman heavy infantry. As soon as you fasten the last stap of your armor, you hear a knock on your door. You walk over and answer it. Standing before you is Cynthia, your long time friend. Cynthia was a beautiful young woman. She was 21 years old and had soft, fair skin. She looked ectremley lovely today. She was wearing a beautiful white tunic that really brought out her ocean blue eyes. Her dark brown hair flowed like waves down to her shoulders. She looks up at you with watery eyes and speaks.
"Hello Marcus." She looks at you from head to toe, "I see you are all dressed for war."
You can tell she is upset about you leaving. The two of you have been best friends ever since you were 5 years old. You reach out and take her in your arms. You feel her whole body quivering.
"We've been through this before Cynthia. I will be back in about a year."
Cynthia pushes you away from her just enough where she can look into your eyes. You see tears stream down her face. You reach out and wipe them away.
"Just promise me you will come back to me."
You look at her and smile. This girl was the only person in the world you cared about. Ever since your parents died, Cynthia has been there for you. You embrace her in a loving hug. She squeezes you tightly and you reasure her.
"I promise I will be back soon. Will you wait for me?"
Cynthia looks up and you with loving eyes.
"I will always wait for you."
You then here a loud horn. You know this sound. It is the assembling horn. You only have 15 minutes to get to your legion.
"It's time. I must be going."
You see Cynthia's eyes start to tear up again, but before you can say anything to her, she lunges in and gives you a long, passionate kiss. She then breaks away and runs down the street. You stand there in amazement. Cynthia had never kissed you before. He had always wanted her to, but never in a million years did you expect her to. You have little time to think about it though. You quickly rush over and grab your weapons and shield. You then rush off to join the 6th legion.
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