Lasko123
Kraken
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History was always my favorite subject. I had always known that I would pursue a degree in it once I had finished Highschool. After four years I finally graduated and began working in a field research team.
It was absolutely overwhelming to be the frontline between the modern world and the ancient. We would always assess research from Historians and pin point locations of potential sites, where we would conduct excavations to uncover anything that could be of use.
Me and my colleagues were so eager to find groundbreaking finds, like the Rosetta stone or the dead sea scrolls, but we were happy enough to find pottery shards.
Anyway, the purpose of this text is to explain and reveal to you all one of the biggest discoveries I had found. It was so big that I fear it could have great implications on the world we live in today.
We were excavating a site in the Italian city of Volterra, where the remains of an ancient Roman villa had been spotted by farmers plowing the fields. They had uncovered evidence of the foundations, as well as finding a few coins dating to the reign of Emperor Vespasian.
I happened to be in Italy at the time and I was called to join in the excavations.
What we found was largely typical Roman household items, as well as a few weapons and a lot of damaged infrastructure. It was as if the villa was destroyed by fire and there was a slight skirmish here before it became lost until now.
By far the best find of this site had to be the partially burnt, yet perfectly readable scroll. Surprisingly, it had survived all the years underground, and no effects of moisture had given it any sign of deter.
It was written primarily in Greek and all of us were so eager to have it translated. Some words could not be made clear enough, as the author must have had messy writing.
We immediately sent it off to an expert to have it properly examined and deciphered, and for the scroll to be properly preserved. We would have to wait a few months before we could hear any word from the researchers as to the contents of the scroll.
The months slowly progressed into years, and any excitement I once had for the scrolls was soon forgotten. I had all but forgotten about them, until I was invited to a special lecture by the professor who was put in charge of reading and studying it. The excitement had once again sparked up in me and I was certain that we were to be given an exclusive look at the contents of the text within.
The lecture was only attended by myself and ten others who were present at the dig. He gave us all printed copies in English, of the full text for us to read at our own leisure before he quickly summarized what the scroll was about.
Apparently it was written by a Roman named Gratus. In it, he basically gives an eye witness account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This was definitely quite big. It was carbon dated to be of origin from at least 80AD, so the viability of the Author being present at the crucifixion was quite high. There have been many other accounts of the passion of Jesus told through less reliable sources written much later, in further centuries. There was only one reliable source to Jesus’ life and that was the gospel of John, which was written by one of his own disciples. Possibly biased, but it was at least written by an eye witness.
These scrolls were very interesting, the professor pointed out, as they were written by one who was not present with Jesus and one who had no ties to his ministry at all. It is basically an account of a Roman who was overseeing the whole crucifixion, and the strange events he witnessed through his non believers eye.
The professor was adamant that it was very interesting, and that this could really have potential to be a huge find and an outside source from the church as to the life of Jesus Christ.
I was determined more than ever to read it.
When I returned home I delved straight into it. It only consisted of six A4 pages, so I could easily get through it all in one sitting.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The things that this Gratus was saying.
He must have either been very much against the Christians at the time of writing, or, based on the pleading nature of his writing to make the reader believe him, he was truthful.
I had to read it again. Once I finished, I read again, and again until I had gone through it nearly eight times.
What Gratus had written down; What he described of the events of that day, could very well change everything. The whole fundamental idea of the Christian faith could very well be put in jeopardy by this one eye witness account. And it is terrifying if it is true!
For your own benefit, the contents of the scroll will be attached to this text. Please be advised that this has not been altered at all, and what you are about to read is one hundred percent the authentic account from the scrolls.
I truly hope that you don’t need to read it as much as I did to fully comprehend the ramifications of it.
I really do hope that what is mentioned is not true.
My name is Gratus Cassius Longinus. I was born into a renowned family, being a grandson to the infamous Cassius who helped orchestrate the assassination of Julius Caesar. We were a patrician family, with my father Quintus, a renowned General and senator with a vast portfolio of Agricultural assets scattered throughout the Empire, as my role model.
He and my two older brothers had a significant presence in the senate. It was obviously my destiny to follow in their paths and continue my family’s century old traditions, and eventually become a part of the senate as well. It was always my dream to climb the Cursus Honorum and become a Consul of Rome. Even if it was just for a single term. It would be the closest I could ever get to the power of the Emperor.
The purpose of this work is not to describe the Roman world or my family. Nor do I intend to boast many exploits and achievements during my time. I wish to recount a very significant event that happened when I was a twenty-three-year-old Tribune in Syria.
One of the first steps any Patrician Roman must accomplish to climb the Cursus Honorum was to serve some time as a Tribunus laticlavius. Basically, this role was for three years, where I was to work closely with the Legate of the Legion and be the second in command. Once this had been completed, I was eligible to return to Rome to become a Questor and officially begin playing a role in the Senate.
It was my final year as Tribune for the Gallica legion under Lepsus. Gallica and the Ferrata legion were the only two garrisoned in Syria at this time, and we worked diligently in preventing any incursions from the Parthians to the East. Due to this, our aid and presence in the province of Judea had become very minimal.
Judea was what you could call a satellite of the Syrian province, in which all of its jurisdiction fell under the governor of Syria. The distance between the provinces was too hard for one man to cover, so a prefect was elected to represent the governor. In this case, the Prefect at the time was Ponticus Pilatus.
He was desperate for more Roman military presence in Judea, after the numbers of Jewish patriots began to rise. These Zealots were always a nuisance to the Romans in Galilee, but now they had begun to spread South into Judea and began to threaten Pilate himself.
Seeing that we were at a relatively peaceful time with the Parthians, Lepsus ordered me with a detachment of a cohort to go to Judea and meet Pilate in the Capital of Caesarea. It took us nearly a week, with a few hassles from local bandits before we arrived.
Upon arrival, I met with the prefect who told me of the situation in Judea. It was coming close to the festival of the Passover, in which Jews from all over Palestine would flock into Jerusalem to pay their respects at the Temple mount. As Prefect, it was his duty to travel to Jerusalem and be present during this festival in order to remind the Jews who was in charge of them and to keep order. Since he has been Prefect, the number of incidents during this densely packed event had grown every year. Last year there was a particular incident where Pilates life was directly put in danger.
I knew straightaway what my cohort was to be doing. We were to accompany Pilate to Jerusalem.
We had been in Jerusalem for nearly two days. I was out on patrol with some of my men when groups of Jews began to move frantically towards the northern Gate. They kept screaming out
"Hosanna, Hosanna!"
In a panic, I ordered the men to the location of the temple courtyard where the crowd was heading to. A large group of Jews could only mean trouble.
We shoved our way through the multitudes, all holding Palm branches in their hands and cheering on some individual.
As the source of the commotion came into my line of sight, I was able to paint the full picture. A group of rugged looking men, made a path through the crowd, holding the reigns of a donkey that was mounted by something. And I strongly have to emphasize the word Something.
It was a human figure……. But it wasn’t human. It was not Someone, but rather Something I could not understand. Its skin was of an unnaturally pale tone, and its eyes were similar to that of a spider; Dark and empty, with small eyes all around its head. Its hair was a blackish red with long dreads running down its shoulders. It was also lacking a human nose, and had no mouth.
I had never seen anything like this.
Surely any other sane person would share the same fear and repulsion that I had. I turned to one of my soldiers and asked him what on Earth he thought this thing was.
“Well, he does look like some great leader of the people sir” the soldier replied
In frustration, I emphasized what I meant in terms of its appearance.
The soldier looked at me puzzled.
“Well based on his filthy long hair and beard, and the rugged clothes he wears; Not to mention the dark complexion of his skin, I Dare say he must be a man from the country.”
This didn’t make sense. Was this soldier blind or what? This creature had no beard. Nor did it have any resemblance of a dark complexion.
Fear now began to take hold of me. What plague has possessed the minds of these peoples to praise such a vile creature? I had no explanation for what I was seeing and needed someone else to see eye to eye with me. I began to ask more of my soldiers what they saw, to which they only confirmed what the first one had described.
I Must had been going insane. How could no sane Roman see this? I turned to a Jew who was in a trance, yelling out praises to the man, jumping up and down in joy as he waved his palm branch. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I forced his gaze to my eyes, and ordered him to explain what this thing was that he was worshipping.
The man did not loose his look of joy and happiness. He must have been under some spell of this creature.
He went on to explain that this was the Messiah, and his name was Jesus. He was a great prophet and teacher of the Jewish scriptures and was said to have even had powers to perform miracles.
I yelled at the top of my lungs, asking what that REAL thing was on top of the donkey.
As I did this, I was startled by the presence of my men who proceeded to grab me off the man and arrest him, thinking that I had been attacked. The poor Jew was innocent, but throughout the rough handling of my soldiers he still stood there with a smile of peace. He was not affected at all by this. By the time the soldiers had finished the arrest, the Jews in my immediate area began to disperse, allowing a clear view of the thing on the donkey.
As I looked in its direction about one hundred meters away, I froze. I was met with its dark empty eyes staring deep into my soul. It was as if we were the only two present at this very moment, and all the crowd was not there. For what seemed like an age, our eyes did not depart from one another, and I was drawn to its stare. It kept on moving through the crowd and made its way into the temple complex, still locked into my vision.
When it finally left my sight, I was brought back to my senses where my soldiers awaited my command on what we were to do next. I told them to stay, while I would hastily return to Pilate to tell him of what I had seen.
As one might expect, Pilate thought I was surely going insane. How on Earth could such a vile creature as I described to him exist? I was adamant however and continued to emphasize my side of the story, but Pilate became impatient and dismissed me, saying that he would see this man for himself when the time would come. Not wanting to ruin my reputation as a tribune so close to my return to Rome, I acknowledged the prefect and awaited further developments with this whole thing. This situation was on everyones radar anyway due to the large gathering that followed.
Eventually the time did come for Pilate to see the man for himself. Having been arrested by the Jewish High priests, This creature was brought before Pilate to be tried. I stood by Pilate throughout the whole ordeal trembling in fear. Just like when I last saw it, its empty eyes locked onto my soul for the whole ordeal. I just wanted to yell out to it as to why it singled me out, but my reputation held me back. When it was dismissed for further trial, Pilate came up to me and laughed, saying I must have a very high standard to look at common people as hideous monsters.
I could not understand. Why was I the only one who could see this horrid thing? I was beginning to think that maybe I had something wrong with me. Perhaps I was going insane. But I honestly couldn’t have been. That thing was as clear in my vision as the very ground it stood upon. It was no fixture of my imagination. It was there! In flesh and Blood!
Now what happens within the next twelve hours, is this Jesus gets given back to Pilate to make the final decision to his fate. To keep the crowds happy, he resorts to have him sentenced to death for Sedition. He was taken up to Golgotha to be crucified, and I was to be the overseer of the whole execution. Throughout the whole ordeal of carrying the cross through the streets, this Jesus did not loosen the grip of his gaze upon me. Whether it was his main frontal eyes or the eyes on the back of he’s head, they were always fixed on me.
When we arrived at the place of the crucifixion, we began to place him on the cross. I was afraid to step too close to this thing, but duty beckoned me to do so. We laid him down onto the cross, and I grabbed one of his pasty pale arms where I was to nail its palm to the cross.
That is when I heard it
A strangers voice in my head. It was coming from this creature. It was very crispy and sounded nothing like any human I had ever heard. He spoke these words to me.
“Nailed to the cross, Gods plan shall be
Yet idle on Earth, you shall live to see
When he will come to smite those of thee”
I had not the slightest idea of what he was talking about and stepped slowly away from it. These words kept on echoing in my head. What on Earth did it mean?
The soldiers raised him up and the creature was now hanging upon the cross. Many of its followers all stood around crying and wailing in utter mourning. One woman particular, who I learnt was its mother was absolutely broken to see her son hanging on the cross.
But why? This thing was not human. Better off it was dead than alive.
Going by everyone’s emotions, the human form that this creature had for all these followers must have been severely beaten and close to death. But the true form of it was without a single scratch. It hung there alive as ever, with those dammed horrid eyes locked onto me.
Six hours passed, and the human form of the creature, let out a cry and some words that I was not able to hear as I was not a part of the ensnared. He died. But the monster that I had become too familiar with by now, was still alive.
Some close followers, carried the body down and took it to a tomb. All present were deeply depressed and upset for loosing such a inspiring role model. The mother was the last to leave the tomb, emotionally dead from all the trauma of the day.
As they rolled the stone into place to seal the tomb, I saw in the shadows of the carved out rock, the figure of that creature, standing upright, still looking into my soul.
Now due to the severity of this Jesus’ actions against the Jewish authority, they all feared that the followers of him would come some time in the next three days to re open the tomb, and steal the body and go about proclaiming that he had risen from the dead, as he supposedly had prophesied himself doing.
To keep the Jews happy, Pilate ordered a detachment of soldiers to stand guard at the tomb for the next three days. A Centurion was given the task of commanding the soldiers, but I knew they would all be in danger, not knowing the true identity of what lay within. I insisted that I go with them and watch over them for the duration.
I would soon come to regret that decision, for what I write next is the biggest warning I can give to all those who follow this man and call themselves Christians.
It had finally come to the third and final day of our guard duty, and it was dark in the middle of the night. We had had no hassles from common folk the whole time, and I was certain that people weren’t going to be the problem. I knew, however, that that thing was still alive in the tomb.
I drew my Gladius and stood next to the rolled stone. To think that that thing was probably standing on the other side of it less than a meter away from me on this cold dark night, terrified me. I just wanted to go in there and slay it if it was even possible for me to do.
Then something strange happened
The sky turned into a red haze, and everything went still. Everything! The slight breeze that kept the olive trees moving lightly had stopped. The silence of the evening suddenly became more silent than death itself.
I turned to my soldiers who remained frozen in their sleeping state.
To my horror something got my attention. There was something standing directly behind me. I turned around, only to be standing face to face with the creature that had been haunting me for the past week. Somehow it was able to roll back the stone and free itself.
I was speechless.
I was certain that I was going to die.
“This is the beginning of the Victory” That same crispy voice I heard in my head.
“What victory? Against who?” I Thought to myself, not realizing that the creature had access to my thoughts.
It replied
“You will see for yourself”
I had enough now. I was going to end this. I positioned my Gladius and took a stab at the things Gut.
It did not flinch. Nor did I penetrate any flesh. My sword was through him, but to no effect did it make on the creature. It was as if I stabbed through a ghost. But this thing was right there in front of me!
I took another swing towards its neck. This time, I was met by the quickest reflex I had ever seen. It managed to block my blow, holding tightly to my sword arm, and in a sudden movement I was thrown across the courtyard. I had never felt such supernatural strength before.
As I regained my composure, I looked back towards the creature only to be met by hundreds of those dark black eyes, staring back at me. Many figures of this same creature all stood next to the original one. They moved in unison as one large organism.
Slowly, they made their way past me and disappeared into the darkness around me. Lastly the original creature came, looking at me one last time it said
“we will meet again”
And it too, faded off into the dark.
At the instant it left my line of sight, the red haze disappeared and the night returned to normal. My men were still asleep as if nothing had happened. But there before me, the tomb was wide open. I had no idea how I would possibly explain this.
I couldn’t believe what I had witnessed, and to see that there were hundreds of these things, chilled me to the core. What on Earth did they have planned for Humanity? And why Did I have to be the one to see their plan grow?
What would happen next would completely snow ball out of control. From what started seemingly as a cult of the Jews, quickly began to spread across the Roman world. The followers of this creature, the man they called Jesus, preached his word all over the Mediterranean. It wasn’t long until it eventually made its way to Rome.
I was very eager to investigate this cult, and was utterly shocked upon hearing what the principal teachings were. To love one another as you love yourself. It was a cult based around universal brotherhood and peace. To be honest, it was almost revolutionary in the Roman world, though highly unlikely to take off anytime soon, due to the presence of slaves and lesser plebs.
As I write this now, the cult of Christianity continues to spread and its followers continue to grow. I do not know to where it will end up, or if it will become even bigger than it has become.
All I know is that there is something sinister driving this new cult. Its good teachings and peaceful words are a mere disguise to a larger plan. What that is, I cannot say at this stage. What I can say, is that whatever the creature was that I watched get crucified, it was not something I would like to call my savior. It was the embodiment of something far darker than I could ever imagine. It is my greatest hope, that this cult will die off sooner rather than grow any more than it already has.
Finally to end this text, I must mention the bizarre phenomena that happened to me. The next few years after the crucifixion, life continued as normal. I was married to a beautiful girl, and I began my climb up the cursus honorum. But the years turned into decades, and a strange thing was happening to me. For some reason, I was not aging. My body remained frozen in time as my twenty-three-year-old self. I did not understand this. My wife aged into an elderly woman until she succumbed to old age.
Yet, here I remain, at the age of ninety six, not a wrinkle on my face, and still as fit and handsome as ever. A blessing some could say, but I consider it more of a curse.
It is their plan after all. I am supposed to witness it come to pass, whenever that might be.
I sure hope and pray to Jupiter that when someone reads this, it is not too late.
Find me.
If the world has not ended yet, than I am certain I will be there somewhere. We need to stop them. You know the truth now, just like me.
It is only a matter of time until they return.
It was absolutely overwhelming to be the frontline between the modern world and the ancient. We would always assess research from Historians and pin point locations of potential sites, where we would conduct excavations to uncover anything that could be of use.
Me and my colleagues were so eager to find groundbreaking finds, like the Rosetta stone or the dead sea scrolls, but we were happy enough to find pottery shards.
Anyway, the purpose of this text is to explain and reveal to you all one of the biggest discoveries I had found. It was so big that I fear it could have great implications on the world we live in today.
We were excavating a site in the Italian city of Volterra, where the remains of an ancient Roman villa had been spotted by farmers plowing the fields. They had uncovered evidence of the foundations, as well as finding a few coins dating to the reign of Emperor Vespasian.
I happened to be in Italy at the time and I was called to join in the excavations.
What we found was largely typical Roman household items, as well as a few weapons and a lot of damaged infrastructure. It was as if the villa was destroyed by fire and there was a slight skirmish here before it became lost until now.
By far the best find of this site had to be the partially burnt, yet perfectly readable scroll. Surprisingly, it had survived all the years underground, and no effects of moisture had given it any sign of deter.
It was written primarily in Greek and all of us were so eager to have it translated. Some words could not be made clear enough, as the author must have had messy writing.
We immediately sent it off to an expert to have it properly examined and deciphered, and for the scroll to be properly preserved. We would have to wait a few months before we could hear any word from the researchers as to the contents of the scroll.
The months slowly progressed into years, and any excitement I once had for the scrolls was soon forgotten. I had all but forgotten about them, until I was invited to a special lecture by the professor who was put in charge of reading and studying it. The excitement had once again sparked up in me and I was certain that we were to be given an exclusive look at the contents of the text within.
The lecture was only attended by myself and ten others who were present at the dig. He gave us all printed copies in English, of the full text for us to read at our own leisure before he quickly summarized what the scroll was about.
Apparently it was written by a Roman named Gratus. In it, he basically gives an eye witness account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This was definitely quite big. It was carbon dated to be of origin from at least 80AD, so the viability of the Author being present at the crucifixion was quite high. There have been many other accounts of the passion of Jesus told through less reliable sources written much later, in further centuries. There was only one reliable source to Jesus’ life and that was the gospel of John, which was written by one of his own disciples. Possibly biased, but it was at least written by an eye witness.
These scrolls were very interesting, the professor pointed out, as they were written by one who was not present with Jesus and one who had no ties to his ministry at all. It is basically an account of a Roman who was overseeing the whole crucifixion, and the strange events he witnessed through his non believers eye.
The professor was adamant that it was very interesting, and that this could really have potential to be a huge find and an outside source from the church as to the life of Jesus Christ.
I was determined more than ever to read it.
When I returned home I delved straight into it. It only consisted of six A4 pages, so I could easily get through it all in one sitting.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The things that this Gratus was saying.
He must have either been very much against the Christians at the time of writing, or, based on the pleading nature of his writing to make the reader believe him, he was truthful.
I had to read it again. Once I finished, I read again, and again until I had gone through it nearly eight times.
What Gratus had written down; What he described of the events of that day, could very well change everything. The whole fundamental idea of the Christian faith could very well be put in jeopardy by this one eye witness account. And it is terrifying if it is true!
For your own benefit, the contents of the scroll will be attached to this text. Please be advised that this has not been altered at all, and what you are about to read is one hundred percent the authentic account from the scrolls.
I truly hope that you don’t need to read it as much as I did to fully comprehend the ramifications of it.
I really do hope that what is mentioned is not true.
My name is Gratus Cassius Longinus. I was born into a renowned family, being a grandson to the infamous Cassius who helped orchestrate the assassination of Julius Caesar. We were a patrician family, with my father Quintus, a renowned General and senator with a vast portfolio of Agricultural assets scattered throughout the Empire, as my role model.
He and my two older brothers had a significant presence in the senate. It was obviously my destiny to follow in their paths and continue my family’s century old traditions, and eventually become a part of the senate as well. It was always my dream to climb the Cursus Honorum and become a Consul of Rome. Even if it was just for a single term. It would be the closest I could ever get to the power of the Emperor.
The purpose of this work is not to describe the Roman world or my family. Nor do I intend to boast many exploits and achievements during my time. I wish to recount a very significant event that happened when I was a twenty-three-year-old Tribune in Syria.
One of the first steps any Patrician Roman must accomplish to climb the Cursus Honorum was to serve some time as a Tribunus laticlavius. Basically, this role was for three years, where I was to work closely with the Legate of the Legion and be the second in command. Once this had been completed, I was eligible to return to Rome to become a Questor and officially begin playing a role in the Senate.
It was my final year as Tribune for the Gallica legion under Lepsus. Gallica and the Ferrata legion were the only two garrisoned in Syria at this time, and we worked diligently in preventing any incursions from the Parthians to the East. Due to this, our aid and presence in the province of Judea had become very minimal.
Judea was what you could call a satellite of the Syrian province, in which all of its jurisdiction fell under the governor of Syria. The distance between the provinces was too hard for one man to cover, so a prefect was elected to represent the governor. In this case, the Prefect at the time was Ponticus Pilatus.
He was desperate for more Roman military presence in Judea, after the numbers of Jewish patriots began to rise. These Zealots were always a nuisance to the Romans in Galilee, but now they had begun to spread South into Judea and began to threaten Pilate himself.
Seeing that we were at a relatively peaceful time with the Parthians, Lepsus ordered me with a detachment of a cohort to go to Judea and meet Pilate in the Capital of Caesarea. It took us nearly a week, with a few hassles from local bandits before we arrived.
Upon arrival, I met with the prefect who told me of the situation in Judea. It was coming close to the festival of the Passover, in which Jews from all over Palestine would flock into Jerusalem to pay their respects at the Temple mount. As Prefect, it was his duty to travel to Jerusalem and be present during this festival in order to remind the Jews who was in charge of them and to keep order. Since he has been Prefect, the number of incidents during this densely packed event had grown every year. Last year there was a particular incident where Pilates life was directly put in danger.
I knew straightaway what my cohort was to be doing. We were to accompany Pilate to Jerusalem.
We had been in Jerusalem for nearly two days. I was out on patrol with some of my men when groups of Jews began to move frantically towards the northern Gate. They kept screaming out
"Hosanna, Hosanna!"
In a panic, I ordered the men to the location of the temple courtyard where the crowd was heading to. A large group of Jews could only mean trouble.
We shoved our way through the multitudes, all holding Palm branches in their hands and cheering on some individual.
As the source of the commotion came into my line of sight, I was able to paint the full picture. A group of rugged looking men, made a path through the crowd, holding the reigns of a donkey that was mounted by something. And I strongly have to emphasize the word Something.
It was a human figure……. But it wasn’t human. It was not Someone, but rather Something I could not understand. Its skin was of an unnaturally pale tone, and its eyes were similar to that of a spider; Dark and empty, with small eyes all around its head. Its hair was a blackish red with long dreads running down its shoulders. It was also lacking a human nose, and had no mouth.
I had never seen anything like this.
Surely any other sane person would share the same fear and repulsion that I had. I turned to one of my soldiers and asked him what on Earth he thought this thing was.
“Well, he does look like some great leader of the people sir” the soldier replied
In frustration, I emphasized what I meant in terms of its appearance.
The soldier looked at me puzzled.
“Well based on his filthy long hair and beard, and the rugged clothes he wears; Not to mention the dark complexion of his skin, I Dare say he must be a man from the country.”
This didn’t make sense. Was this soldier blind or what? This creature had no beard. Nor did it have any resemblance of a dark complexion.
Fear now began to take hold of me. What plague has possessed the minds of these peoples to praise such a vile creature? I had no explanation for what I was seeing and needed someone else to see eye to eye with me. I began to ask more of my soldiers what they saw, to which they only confirmed what the first one had described.
I Must had been going insane. How could no sane Roman see this? I turned to a Jew who was in a trance, yelling out praises to the man, jumping up and down in joy as he waved his palm branch. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I forced his gaze to my eyes, and ordered him to explain what this thing was that he was worshipping.
The man did not loose his look of joy and happiness. He must have been under some spell of this creature.
He went on to explain that this was the Messiah, and his name was Jesus. He was a great prophet and teacher of the Jewish scriptures and was said to have even had powers to perform miracles.
I yelled at the top of my lungs, asking what that REAL thing was on top of the donkey.
As I did this, I was startled by the presence of my men who proceeded to grab me off the man and arrest him, thinking that I had been attacked. The poor Jew was innocent, but throughout the rough handling of my soldiers he still stood there with a smile of peace. He was not affected at all by this. By the time the soldiers had finished the arrest, the Jews in my immediate area began to disperse, allowing a clear view of the thing on the donkey.
As I looked in its direction about one hundred meters away, I froze. I was met with its dark empty eyes staring deep into my soul. It was as if we were the only two present at this very moment, and all the crowd was not there. For what seemed like an age, our eyes did not depart from one another, and I was drawn to its stare. It kept on moving through the crowd and made its way into the temple complex, still locked into my vision.
When it finally left my sight, I was brought back to my senses where my soldiers awaited my command on what we were to do next. I told them to stay, while I would hastily return to Pilate to tell him of what I had seen.
As one might expect, Pilate thought I was surely going insane. How on Earth could such a vile creature as I described to him exist? I was adamant however and continued to emphasize my side of the story, but Pilate became impatient and dismissed me, saying that he would see this man for himself when the time would come. Not wanting to ruin my reputation as a tribune so close to my return to Rome, I acknowledged the prefect and awaited further developments with this whole thing. This situation was on everyones radar anyway due to the large gathering that followed.
Eventually the time did come for Pilate to see the man for himself. Having been arrested by the Jewish High priests, This creature was brought before Pilate to be tried. I stood by Pilate throughout the whole ordeal trembling in fear. Just like when I last saw it, its empty eyes locked onto my soul for the whole ordeal. I just wanted to yell out to it as to why it singled me out, but my reputation held me back. When it was dismissed for further trial, Pilate came up to me and laughed, saying I must have a very high standard to look at common people as hideous monsters.
I could not understand. Why was I the only one who could see this horrid thing? I was beginning to think that maybe I had something wrong with me. Perhaps I was going insane. But I honestly couldn’t have been. That thing was as clear in my vision as the very ground it stood upon. It was no fixture of my imagination. It was there! In flesh and Blood!
Now what happens within the next twelve hours, is this Jesus gets given back to Pilate to make the final decision to his fate. To keep the crowds happy, he resorts to have him sentenced to death for Sedition. He was taken up to Golgotha to be crucified, and I was to be the overseer of the whole execution. Throughout the whole ordeal of carrying the cross through the streets, this Jesus did not loosen the grip of his gaze upon me. Whether it was his main frontal eyes or the eyes on the back of he’s head, they were always fixed on me.
When we arrived at the place of the crucifixion, we began to place him on the cross. I was afraid to step too close to this thing, but duty beckoned me to do so. We laid him down onto the cross, and I grabbed one of his pasty pale arms where I was to nail its palm to the cross.
That is when I heard it
A strangers voice in my head. It was coming from this creature. It was very crispy and sounded nothing like any human I had ever heard. He spoke these words to me.
“Nailed to the cross, Gods plan shall be
Yet idle on Earth, you shall live to see
When he will come to smite those of thee”
I had not the slightest idea of what he was talking about and stepped slowly away from it. These words kept on echoing in my head. What on Earth did it mean?
The soldiers raised him up and the creature was now hanging upon the cross. Many of its followers all stood around crying and wailing in utter mourning. One woman particular, who I learnt was its mother was absolutely broken to see her son hanging on the cross.
But why? This thing was not human. Better off it was dead than alive.
Going by everyone’s emotions, the human form that this creature had for all these followers must have been severely beaten and close to death. But the true form of it was without a single scratch. It hung there alive as ever, with those dammed horrid eyes locked onto me.
Six hours passed, and the human form of the creature, let out a cry and some words that I was not able to hear as I was not a part of the ensnared. He died. But the monster that I had become too familiar with by now, was still alive.
Some close followers, carried the body down and took it to a tomb. All present were deeply depressed and upset for loosing such a inspiring role model. The mother was the last to leave the tomb, emotionally dead from all the trauma of the day.
As they rolled the stone into place to seal the tomb, I saw in the shadows of the carved out rock, the figure of that creature, standing upright, still looking into my soul.
Now due to the severity of this Jesus’ actions against the Jewish authority, they all feared that the followers of him would come some time in the next three days to re open the tomb, and steal the body and go about proclaiming that he had risen from the dead, as he supposedly had prophesied himself doing.
To keep the Jews happy, Pilate ordered a detachment of soldiers to stand guard at the tomb for the next three days. A Centurion was given the task of commanding the soldiers, but I knew they would all be in danger, not knowing the true identity of what lay within. I insisted that I go with them and watch over them for the duration.
I would soon come to regret that decision, for what I write next is the biggest warning I can give to all those who follow this man and call themselves Christians.
It had finally come to the third and final day of our guard duty, and it was dark in the middle of the night. We had had no hassles from common folk the whole time, and I was certain that people weren’t going to be the problem. I knew, however, that that thing was still alive in the tomb.
I drew my Gladius and stood next to the rolled stone. To think that that thing was probably standing on the other side of it less than a meter away from me on this cold dark night, terrified me. I just wanted to go in there and slay it if it was even possible for me to do.
Then something strange happened
The sky turned into a red haze, and everything went still. Everything! The slight breeze that kept the olive trees moving lightly had stopped. The silence of the evening suddenly became more silent than death itself.
I turned to my soldiers who remained frozen in their sleeping state.
To my horror something got my attention. There was something standing directly behind me. I turned around, only to be standing face to face with the creature that had been haunting me for the past week. Somehow it was able to roll back the stone and free itself.
I was speechless.
I was certain that I was going to die.
“This is the beginning of the Victory” That same crispy voice I heard in my head.
“What victory? Against who?” I Thought to myself, not realizing that the creature had access to my thoughts.
It replied
“You will see for yourself”
I had enough now. I was going to end this. I positioned my Gladius and took a stab at the things Gut.
It did not flinch. Nor did I penetrate any flesh. My sword was through him, but to no effect did it make on the creature. It was as if I stabbed through a ghost. But this thing was right there in front of me!
I took another swing towards its neck. This time, I was met by the quickest reflex I had ever seen. It managed to block my blow, holding tightly to my sword arm, and in a sudden movement I was thrown across the courtyard. I had never felt such supernatural strength before.
As I regained my composure, I looked back towards the creature only to be met by hundreds of those dark black eyes, staring back at me. Many figures of this same creature all stood next to the original one. They moved in unison as one large organism.
Slowly, they made their way past me and disappeared into the darkness around me. Lastly the original creature came, looking at me one last time it said
“we will meet again”
And it too, faded off into the dark.
At the instant it left my line of sight, the red haze disappeared and the night returned to normal. My men were still asleep as if nothing had happened. But there before me, the tomb was wide open. I had no idea how I would possibly explain this.
I couldn’t believe what I had witnessed, and to see that there were hundreds of these things, chilled me to the core. What on Earth did they have planned for Humanity? And why Did I have to be the one to see their plan grow?
What would happen next would completely snow ball out of control. From what started seemingly as a cult of the Jews, quickly began to spread across the Roman world. The followers of this creature, the man they called Jesus, preached his word all over the Mediterranean. It wasn’t long until it eventually made its way to Rome.
I was very eager to investigate this cult, and was utterly shocked upon hearing what the principal teachings were. To love one another as you love yourself. It was a cult based around universal brotherhood and peace. To be honest, it was almost revolutionary in the Roman world, though highly unlikely to take off anytime soon, due to the presence of slaves and lesser plebs.
As I write this now, the cult of Christianity continues to spread and its followers continue to grow. I do not know to where it will end up, or if it will become even bigger than it has become.
All I know is that there is something sinister driving this new cult. Its good teachings and peaceful words are a mere disguise to a larger plan. What that is, I cannot say at this stage. What I can say, is that whatever the creature was that I watched get crucified, it was not something I would like to call my savior. It was the embodiment of something far darker than I could ever imagine. It is my greatest hope, that this cult will die off sooner rather than grow any more than it already has.
Finally to end this text, I must mention the bizarre phenomena that happened to me. The next few years after the crucifixion, life continued as normal. I was married to a beautiful girl, and I began my climb up the cursus honorum. But the years turned into decades, and a strange thing was happening to me. For some reason, I was not aging. My body remained frozen in time as my twenty-three-year-old self. I did not understand this. My wife aged into an elderly woman until she succumbed to old age.
Yet, here I remain, at the age of ninety six, not a wrinkle on my face, and still as fit and handsome as ever. A blessing some could say, but I consider it more of a curse.
It is their plan after all. I am supposed to witness it come to pass, whenever that might be.
I sure hope and pray to Jupiter that when someone reads this, it is not too late.
Find me.
If the world has not ended yet, than I am certain I will be there somewhere. We need to stop them. You know the truth now, just like me.
It is only a matter of time until they return.
