#fentrix

In the age of Ancient Rome, there was a royal family, who’s records were lost to historians, and who’s story was never told. Even if it were to be found, the modern day person might have assumed it to be myth, or folk lore, as the family had ruled over the age of Rome that held the most magic of all. It was also the darkest.

They were known as the Black’s, a family so powerful, they were deemed as Gods to the common people, and were considered untouchable.

All, except the young heir, Sirius Orion Black. 

He would be of age in a year, and would soon take the throne. All of this would be fine and dandy, if the boy had already found a wife.

As the family walked in parade with the elite’s on their way to the grand Colosseum for a gruesome show, he and his passionate mother had a whispered, though aggressive conversation on his bachelorhood.

“You’ve met every girl who’s worthy of the throne, not only in the city, but in the whole region!”

“Perhaps the woman I seek is not apart of the elites.” Sirius responded smugly to his mother’s bereavement.

“I would rather die than see you married to an unworthy, commoner.” The Empress hissed.

Sirius chuckled humorlessly, and thankfully the rest of their walk was held in silence. 

The show they were on their way to see, was mostly a show for those participating in it. In the last week their had been an uprising in a community of creatures known as Beasts. The Beasts look identical to other townsfolk during the daytime, but once a month on the full moon, their true nature was shown in full. They were also known to be particularly aggressive during other time of the month as well, in fact, it took most of the standing Roman army to combat them.

Typically, Beasts were used as slaves, or weapons. In fact, Sirius knew of many Beasts who worked both in the palace, and in the fields that grew the families own personal food - untouchable to the public.

The pack of Beasts had been thriving just under the noses of the the Emperor, and had managed to start a full scale takeover of the city. However it seemed insignificant, as the army had massacred over half of their already small population. The survivors were meant to battle to the death in the arena, overlooked by the elites and the royal family, so that they knew their place even as they were slaughtered.

Sirius had found this a rather cruel fate, as he had been silently cheering the Beasts on. The Gods only knew had badly he wanted to see the end of his parents reign. Sirius saw how cruelly they treated their own people, and while he wanted to help them, he had no interest in becoming Emperor.

He had no interest in watching the bloodshed either. Sirius had spent his entire life in the palace, where on more than one occasion he saw slave being whipped, or simply saw them being dragged away, kicking and screaming, towards the Colosseum, or to some other cruel form of death.

Not to mention, what his own family did to one another when no one was looking.

They entered the grand arena, and were immediately greeted by a man Sirius knew to be Fenrir Greyback. He was a Beast as well, but he had long ago made an alliance with the royal family, and had lead the army against his own kind himself.

“Good morrow, Your Majesties.” He said with a toothy grin that made Sirius shudder in both horror and disgust.  “I’m sure this will be a fine show.”

“How many are there?” His deranged cousin Bellatrix asked with an obvious tone of joy.

“Twelve. All had been close in the pack. Now we watch them fight to the death.” Fenrir said, a taunting laughter was evident in his voice. Bellatrix let out her own bark of twisted laughter, and that was all Sirius really processed before he started zoning out the world around him.

The royal family took their seats in their box, waiting for the show to begin. Sirius wanted to be anywhere but where he was. He hated these public displays of murder a backstabbing. The thought that some of the elite brought their young children to these events made him sick. He knew that for the next few weeks, he would have nightmares of the arena, the tigers and lions that came from who-knows-where, the gladiators and the beasts who mercilessly beat already dead bodies just to make sure they would still get out of there alive. The blood that splattered the floor, the walls, and the warriors themselves.

Before long, Sirius noticed the tall, almost regal looking man who was being lead to the center of the arena, hands tied behind his back, by a guard who wore a uniform that covered their whole body, so that no one would notice their true identity.The heir of Rome knew who this was. The leader of the group, who was going to be made a public example of. Sirius hoped that since the man had some rank, the execution would not be so brutal.

He was sorely mistaken.It was the longest, bloodiest, most painful looking execution Sirius had ever seen in the arena, and that’s saying something. The man was repeatedly stabbed until no inch of his body was left unbloodied except his head, before that too was walloped off with one stroke of the guards sword.

Sirius grimaced, he closed his eyes but that did not block out the sounds, and if he covered his ears it would be too noticeable, and his family would ridicule him for months, and inevitably force him to go watch more of these events.Instead, Sirius thought it best to try and concentrate on other matters.

He turned to look at his mother, who had her eyes locked on the arena, he expression calm as she slowly fanned herself with the ornate, lacy hand fan his cousin Narcissa had gifted her with just hours before.

“Mother,” he started softly so that no one else heard. “I’d like to make a deal with you.”

The Empress turned to face him. “Oh? And what might that be?”

“I’ll let you pick who I marry, so long as I am allowed to have affairs of my own.”

His mother narrowed his eyes. “You want me to turn a blind eye on your disloyalty?

“It wouldn’t be disloyalty if she knows I’m doing it,” Sirius insisted casually. “Besides, I wouldn’t mind if my future wife had her own affairs.”

She seemed to ponder this. “If I let you do this, you must produce an heir and carry on the reign of Black.”

“Of course.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

Just then, gongs rang throughout the stadium, and the gates that lined the arena slowly raised open to reveal the chained Beasts.

 The fight to the death had begun.

Remus was in chains. As one of the few Beasts who survived their failed revolution, he found himself prepared to face his death at the hands of his allies.

The chamber was dark. The only light came from a tiny eye flap, which had been opened so that he could see his leader, the only father he ever remembered, one of the few people he still respected, brutally executed.

Remus had never felt so scared before. He prided himself in being extremely brave, but the prospect of having to fight the vary people who had practically raised him, until they were all but one dead? That terrified him. After Romulus’s death, Remus found himself freed from the chains, but not the chamber. He didn’t remember anyone coming into unfasten the shackles, nor did he remember them even simply falling away. But then, he heard the mighty ring of gongs echo loudly through his small, temporary room, and the gate in front of him began to open. He was pushed by an unseen force into the arena, and the gates slammed shut again. He looked around. He recognized all the remaining survivors. The woman who watched over the little one’s while their parents trained, the man who had taught him how to fight, the man who did the night watch, the woman who had beat him once during training. Out of all of them, he was at the most disadvantage. He was the youngest. but Remus doomed himself to his fate already. One of these people whom he had once loved, would become his murderer. He told himself that he would only fight in defense. He thought all of this in the span of two seconds, because before he knew it, they were charging at each other, and the killing had begun. The rest of his time in the arena was a blur. He defended himself when he needed to, at one point killing one of the men. He vaguely recognized a feeling of disgust welling up in his chest. Remus had hoped that they had all thought like him, that they all were wary of killing each other just for the entertainment of the Roman public. But instead they had fallen for the bait, they were killing each other, scratching each other, ripping each other apart with their own hands. They kicked up so much dirt and dust that he couldn’t see two feet in front of him. They were becoming the animals they had fought to show the world they weren’t all of their time together had fallen to pieces right before Remus’s eyes. Then, when the dirt and haze cleared, he realized that nine out of the twelve were dead. How long did it take? Only thirty minutes? An hour? Two at most, though Remus knew in his heart it didn’t even take that long. He watched the other two fight, tired out, weakly wrestling each other. One of their hands tightly around the other’s throat and then - Blood splattered the arena floor, and Remus’s face. He blinked, wiping away the blood to see that the other two were skewered together with a spear. They fell to the ground dead. Remus turned to see who had thrown the spear. His face hardened. Fenrir Greyback.

Remus felt hot anger well up in his chest. This man was just like the rest of them. He had come into their pack saying he wanted to join their cause, but really only wanted to destroy them all for the Royal family of Rome. Remus had suspected him from the beginning, and yet he had been too late to act -

Greyback turned to face the royal box, bowing before he spoke loudly so the entire Colosseum could hear.

“I’m sparing this one.”

Sirius admired the Beast who did not engage of any of the fighting. He kept his eyes on him, hoping that his inevitable death would be less painless than the ones happening all around him. Sirius liked that the boy still had his dignity.

Although Sirius was hoping he would come out on top, he doubted the young man would make it to the end of the fight. His defensive skills were a sight to be seen, but if he attacked no one, he would never win.

When there were only three Beasts remaining, they sent Fenrir to finish them off. Sirius felt a pang of pity and the boy he’d been watching watched the other two battle it out, his face an expression of shock and horror, which doubled when they were both speared through the middle.

When Fenrir turned to kill the last of the Beasts, he did something that surprised them all thoroughly.

“I’m sparing this one.”

It wasn’t like Fenrir to give up the chance to kill anyone. Though some part of Sirius was happy the boy would live, there was a spark of fear that flared up in him when he caught a glimpse of his mother’s face. She was livid.

She stood, and looked as though she was going to shout back at Fenrir to finish the boy off, but Sirius stopped her.

He didn’t know what compelled him to do it, but he grabbed her by the skirt of her dress and whispered privately to her.

“I choose him.”

She stared at him for a moment, then turned back to Fenrir in the arena.