Recruit camp, Cisalpine Gaul — Night of Day 7
The rain had stopped. But the air inside the tent was still damp, as if the punishment from that evening had soaked not just the ground and the canvas—but their souls.
No one spoke. Not like before. Not like the first nights. Each man lay in his corner, eyes open in the dark, breathing slowly.
Surprisingly, it was Marcus who broke the silence:
"He didn't scream as much as I thought."
No one answered immediately. Then Titus murmured:
"He couldn't by the end. The voice goes after the body."
Gaius sat up, resting his elbows on his knees.
"What if it's one of us next time?"
"We don't steal," Marcus replied.
"Today," Gaius said.
Sextus looked at them from his corner. His voice sounded deep, almost like it wasn't his own.
"It wasn't about what he did. It was about what it could lead to. If one man steals and nothing happens, the next will try. Then another. And then the legion rots from within."
"So that justifies killing him?" Marcus asked.
"Isn't that what we signed up for?" Titus said."We haven't sworn the oath yet, but discipline is already law. If fear doesn't work, nothing will."
Silence returned—heavier than before.
Gaius whispered:
"I saw one of the men who hit him. He was crying while he did it. But he didn't stop swinging."
"Because he knew if he didn't, they'd replace him… and maybe he'd be next," Sextus said.
Marcus clenched his teeth.
"I don't want to become that. Someone who obeys without thinking."
"So you'd rather die with a clean conscience?" said Titus."This isn't school. It's Rome. It's war. And in war, the soul's often the first thing you lose."
Sextus thought of his mother, and of the little terracotta figure of Mercury he still kept in his bag.He took it out and looked at it under the dim oil lamp light.
"What if we come out of here… different?" he asked.
"We won't come out the same," Gaius replied."But if we come out alive, that's something."
There were no more words that night.
But as the lamp dimmed, and one by one they closed their eyes, each of them thought in silence about what they weren't yet……and what they would soon have to become.