A Tale Of Fort Box

By: Jet Ochoa

My name is General Ren, Commander of Romes Northern Garrison. Today my legion of
Roman soldiers are to siege the Greek stronghold, Fort Box. A few weeks ago, it was leaked in
the newspaper Roman Times that Fort Box, located in Athens, Greece had a precious artifact
hidden within its keep. When I received this information, orders were given to me straight from
the emperor himself. Our legion was sent into the battlefield of Fort Box, to confront these
eastern barbarians at their castle stronghold.
Archers, mounted atop the castle walls, shot major flocks of fire tipped arrows at my
advancing army.
General Ren, Lieutenant Maximus said.
Yes Maximus, I answered back.
Our soldiers are ready to unleash hell on the barbarians, General Ren, he stated.
Fire at will, I hollered, wearing my battle tarnished armor, watching as thousands of
fire-tipped arrows burst from the ground, sending hells fire arching into the sky, setting the outer
walls ablaze. At my orders, Lieutenant Maximus instructed a small group to infiltrate the fortress.
The goal was to open a pathway allowing my legion to enter the fortress.
Maximus yelled,legionaries attack! Unfortunately the loud noise attracted barbarian
archers and they immediately rained arrows down at Maximus. With no way to protect himself
from the onslaught, fell to the ground and died a sad death. It was then I realized, I would need
to infiltrate the fortress with the remains of my legion.
For Maximus! I screamed as I ran towards the fortress gate. As the rest of my legion
and I ran to siege Fort Box for a final blow, I saw wild barbarians charging though the main gate
meeting our attack and cutting down our first wave of the siege.
General Ren, the front lines have managed to create a weakened area in the western
wall! a soldier screamed at me. I pointed out that we would still need a force strong enough to
pierce the thick stone wall.
Then I spotted the large barbarian. In his hand he wielded a large club with many
spikes running down its length. I charged the barbarian, knowing that if he hit the wall with all of
his might, he could theoretically breach the weakened load bearing beam in this section of the
wall. As the barbarian laid eyes on me, he realized I was the general leading the attack. He
charged me like a ram on fire, as I ran toward the weakened area in the wall. I took up a
position where it appeared is if I was defending the spot, but once the barbarian caught up he
swung his mighty club at me. Just in the nick of time, I jumped out of harm's way with my
shoulder armor deflecting the clubs dreadful spikes and powerful blow.

With the painful and narrow miss, the colossal barbarians club smashed through the
beam, opening up a massive hole with multiple large stones falling and killing the barbarian.
With the wall breached, my legion was able to enter the fortress. After laying in the dirt making
dirt angels, since I was so happy to be alive, I jumped to my feet and yelled, Attack!
The legionaries quickly responded and continued the onslaught.
On my command, enter the fortress and begin siege of the central tower! I screamed,
with blood glistening from the tip of my sword. The battle-weary men responded quickly and
moved a few tall siege towers towards the central tower. The siege towers locked themselves in
place, my battalion ran up the siege towers and began the bloody assault of the stone tower.
The remains of Lieutenant Maximus battalion was storming the front gate of the tower.
The men were equipped with a large stone battering ram, mounted on a wooden frame.
Barbarians on the opposing side of the front gate, were attempting to reinforce the gate with
giant wooden timbers. A moment later I noticed my legion dropping down on the barbarians,
cutting them down from behind. After the barbarians were finally slayed, Lieutenant Bobamus,
who had taken over Maximus legion, told me that it was time to enter the keep. I hustled to the
front gate, which the legionaries opened for me. Once inside, I heard the steel gate slam down
upon the dirt battlefield and spotted a brown wooden trapdoor beneath our feet.
This must be the precious artifact they are hiding and defending! I voiced out loud to
the legion. It must be. Lets check it out! Lieutenant Bobamus exclaimed.
Examining the door, I noticed it could be a trap and immediately ordered Lieutenant
Bobamus to open it. As Bobamus opened the trapdoor, listening to the creak of its steel hinges,
a flash of metal came flying through the opening, taking the Lieutenant's head off his shoulders
in a blinding flash of movement.
Horrified, I pushed the decapitated body out of the way and jumped down into a room.
In the dim light I discovered there was an abandoned underground ancient city. The buildings
surrounded a citadel. The town was surrounded by a massive, thick white wall surrounding the
town on all sides. I spotted a large grand entrance on the left side of the front wall. I looked up
and told the legionaries it was safe to come down into the underground death pit. The soldiers
looked at each other remembering what had just happened to Bobamus, shrugged their
shoulders and said its a good day to die and jumped in.
Thud after thud, I heard as the soldiers descended. Most soldiers wondered how a town
could thrive down here and better yet be built underground. I commanded another soldier to tell
his battalion to scout for evidence, to what happened here and set off toward the entrance gate
with a small portion of my battalion. The gate had golden statues of a wizard-like person who
wielded a staff with a gemstone. Below the statue was a plague that read,Vortech. Upon
entering town, I was interrupted by one of my scouts wearing battle worn, metallic plated armor.

Sir, I have something you might want to read, The scout beckoned as he gave me a
leather journal that seemed hundreds of years old. I opened the book carefully not wanting to
damage it in any way. Trembling, I turned the pages, fearful of the power and glowing words as I
began to read from the journal written by the wizard Anonymous, It read:
The earth began to shake beneath me as I entered the dark tower. Columns of statues
of warriors stared at me, as I prepared to duel, with the dark wizard Vortech. As I entered the
central room, a large dial made up the rooms floor and was ticking with every step that I took
toward the center of the dial. Then I realized what this dial represented and the truth hit me with
horror. The dial was the countdown clock until the final duel with Vortech. I kept moving toward
the center of the dial. Within a split second the center circle lowered and out emerged a dragon
with eyes of fire and scales of scarlet.
Vortech was mounted atop the beast and said, Why, who do we have here?
You cannot destroy the citadel, I replied.
Why not?
The dragon roared as his scales began to glow a fiery red and then a flash of flames
emerged from the dragons mouth engulfing the wooden tower in a blazing inferno, as the beast
rose his wings and smashed through the towers walls. Meanwhile I was stuck in the central floor
surrounded by a fire as far as I could see. There had to be a way to escape, I thought, as I
glanced at my staff. I then cast a spell summoning a large dragon. The dragon gleamed gold
with highlights of silver. The eyes shined a fluorescent green as it stared at me. I quickly
mounted on the blazing saddle and off we flew onto the battlefield surrounding the citadel.
After reading the battle entry in the ancient journal, I stopped and looked up and saw
what was left of the citadel. It was in ruins and I wondered if this was the town that was attacked
that day when the journal entry was written.
I closed the book and entered the city gates. The town had a pebbled stone path that
had moss glowing all over it. I continued to walk, spotting many houses that seemed burnt and
run down. I kept moving until I stopped in front of what appeared to be a massive tower. I called
over Lieutenant Romulus to examine the front entrance of the tower. Romulus carefully opened
the ancient wooden door, remembering what had happened to Bobamus and Maximus. A
magical beast was summoned the moment the wooden door opened, emitting a blinding flash of
greek fire pouring upon Romulus. Run! I ordered as loud as all could hear. I ordered Romulus
who was on fire, to stay and hold back the beast, like a loyal Roman soldier. As I ran back to the
entrance I exclaimed, We will make songs about you! Maybe even a city!
The legionaries let me get out first. Once everyone was safely outside, we sealed the
entrance. In the days that passed we decided to honor lieutenant Romulus, and built a
permanent barrier to the underground city. I decided to build a fountain named Romulus Glory.

But those barbarians later re-named it Metaxourgeio, or the silk mill. (Those Greeks have no
vision.)