“It is the 2nd Century CE and Rome is the center of the known world. A machine of war and slavery, insatiable and blood-thirsty. But within this chaos grows a genius child of Greek pastures, Novos of Zankinthois, gifted with a voice of the gods. It is a time before serpents and masks of gold. Before flight and oracles. A time before hearts to malign. Before demons of stone and temples of gleaming white.”
The wind blew cold on the hills of Rome.
It hadn’t snowed here for the past three years and much of the city would welcome the relief from the stench of death. Dark clouds above threatened like so many angry voices of the past. Churning, twisting towards heaven and then down again. Did the gods still smile on this, the Eternal City, or was it too late?
Just one good storm. White covering the Colosseum, white purity on the Forum- white, white falling white. Wash away the common blood, cover the filth in the streets. Ages and ages of corruption, greed and murder to be cleansed away. From those perilous days before the Republic through the time of the emperors Rome still stood, for better or for worse. Maybe, there was a chance to start anew.
But Novos knew differently. He wrapped his thick black woolen scarf around that famous neck of his to keep out the bitter chill. He hadn’t been back in Rome in many months, since the time he came to search for Caesar, to speak to Caesar. Now it was all too late. He was less than nothing in the eyes of this palace, the only kindness coming from Miranthum Germana, who helped raise Hadrian. Now she was in her nineties, kindly allowing Novos back. She had been part of this palace and cared for Hadrian since he was a boy, and had always been a friend to Novos and cared for his safety and wellbeing
Novos returns to Rome to honor Emperor Hadrian, the man who shaped his fate. As snow falls over the Eternal City, memories of love, power, and loss resurface. Once a Greek outsider, now bound to empire, he reflects on devotion, identity, and the cost of greatness.
Before Rome, Novos was a shepherd boy in the hills of Greece. Surrounded by wheat fields and sea air, he filled his lonely days with songs and imagination. A tragic loss and a mysterious prophecy begin to shape a destiny far greater than he can understand
When ruthless raiders destroy his home, Novos’ childhood ends in fire and blood. His world is shattered in a single day, forcing him into a harsh reality. From this devastation begins the journey that will lead him toward empire and transformation.
