[ WP ] The army of Mordor has been transported to our world at the height of the Roman Empire . Rome has assembled its army and it 's Caesar is about to give his pre-battle speech .

*Accidentally posted it before it was finished. Anyway, here it is, although, it's not a speech. * 
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 The mortal men clashed against the Legion of the Damned sent down by the Gods themselves. Steel swords crossed paths with the rounded blunt weapons of the enemy. The distinct shouting of Roman commanders over the grueling shriek of the Damned was a constant reminder to the soldiers that their world was continually fighting against the horde that threatened to take it away from them. 
 
 `` For Rome and for glory, legionnaires!'' I shouted over the shriek of one of the Damned, as I plunged my sword deep into the being's heart, a dark black blood sprouting from it as I did. `` Do not stop fighting!'' 
 
 My Legion was the first to clash into the Legion of the Damned, and our fight was far from over. But we had brought over much of the active Legions in order to support us, with this Legion able to defeat the entire barbarian hordes, Caesar was careful not to underestimate them. 
 
 And underestimate them, he did not. There were thousands of them, mortal men including, and since they arrived they had been recruiting mortal men and women to join their crusade. The slippery tongue of Fraus, daughter of Nox, was sure to have helped the Damned in their ways of gaining followers. Nox was declaring a war on humanity, and even Jupiter himself could not fight against her and siblings. 
 
 We mortals fought on our own now, without the assistance of the Gods, and without the heroes that we came to love. We only had each other and as the Damned horde took our Legions by surprise, we were forced into a battle we were not prepared for. 
 
 I was one of the first in the fight, protecting my small contubernium of Legionnaires as our Legion was slaughtered in battle around us. The Damned's surprise attack which took out much of our rearguard and our Legatus was planned perfectly. They knew exactly where to hit us, and exactly when, the foresight of the Gods being given to them, another fact that we were forsaken by the immortals we had worshipped. 
 
 We were being slaughtered, by the thousands, against little more than demons with swords and shields. The way they broke our lines, worse than the barbarian hordes of the North, and opening gaps between lines with ease. I did not know how, but they were doing all too well. 
 
 I could see their leader as well, an enormous Damned that wore an armor shroud and metal helm that covered much of its face. And their Demons from the sky that their leaders rode on, the shrieks and claws crushing both our heads and our bodies in swift movements. They were coming, for each of us, shrieking into the sky as they swept into the Legion and took out dozens in one run. Flying demons, I thought of them, what God gave them this? 
 
 `` Vel! We are being slaughtered!'' My legionnaire yelled to me as he struck down another Damned with a blow to the head. 
 
 I knew that, I thought, but I knew we could not abandon our other legionnaires. But I saw them routing, hundreds of them, throwing down their weapons and forsaking the rest of us to the Damned. They were running. 
 
 `` We must go to the forest! Regroup!'' 
 
 I shook my head, there would be no regrouping, but we could survive in the trees and in the land. So long as we stuck to what we know. We could get back to Rome and warn Caesar of the terrible battle that had taken place. Six Legions, slaughtered in a day. I had already lost two from my conubernium, I would not lose anymore and I would give Caesar the greatest gift of all, the advice to stay back and defend his Empire. 
 
 `` To the forest!'' I shouted as I swung my sword at another Damned, gutting it and its entrails falling to the grass and dirt. `` We must warn the Caesar!'' 
 
 I pulled up one of my Legionnaires, Secendus, and pushed him towards the forest, `` We will get home, I promise you that!'' I grabbed the five of them, making sure they were each with me as we ran to the forest. 
 
 And run we did. As fast and as hard as we could, carrying our weapons as the forests trees disguised us and the shrieking of the Damned disappeared into the wind. I could still hear the screams of my fellow Romans, being slaughtered by the Damned which seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. 
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 We ran for what seemed like hours until the screams subsided, but the scent of the Damned remained. And it was in that moment that I had realized we had been running North the whole time, rather than South, towards Rome. I knew in that moment that we would be trapped in Germania, with a Legion of the Damned between us and home. 
 
 `` What do we do?'' Opius asked me, as we helped Tiberius traverse the forest with his wound. 
 
 `` We must go to Rome.'' 
 
 `` Rome? It is on the other side of the world. The Damned will already be on their way.'' 
 
 `` Then we move quickly.'' 
 
 `` Vel, we will not make it.'' 
 
 `` We must!'' I shouted at Opius, making my decision final. `` We will not desert her!'' 
 
 `` He is right, Opius, we must go back.'' 
 
 Opius shook his head, `` We will die.'' 
 
 `` Then we will die for Rome,'' I nodded, `` for glory and for mortal men.'' 
 
 `` Aye,'' Tiberius said, `` I could die for that.'' 
 
 Then we heard the shriek again, the noise that the flying Demon made as it crushed dozens of our brothers. I looked to the sky and could see it, the black outline of a large creature with a long neck, and the Rider on top. The Rider that led its Damned to attack our Legion and destroy them. 
 
 I ducked down, `` We may be stuck behind enemy lines, but we must try and fight to Rome.'' 
 
 `` I will need time to heal.'' 
 
 The shriek persisted. 
 
 `` We do n't have any time.'' 
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 *I really enjoyed this prompt! I hope you enjoyed this story and you can check out /r/BlankPagesEmptyMugs for more of my work! *
