Semper Invictus Ch. 01 - Drawn

"Of course, Excellency," I said. I pulled out the old sword and handed it to him, hilt first. He took it and examined it closely, his brows furrowing. He looked at me before speaking.

"It looks to be fairly old. Where did you find this?" he asked.

"My father made it," I said. "It was his desire to present it to the King in honor of his bravery. He died some time ago." The prince nodded his head. "I just recently recovered it and thought I would present it myself."

"Your father made this?" he asked.

"Yes. I come from a long line of sword-makers," I said.

"I see. And you are also a sword-maker?"

"I am, Excellency," I said.

"Well, I'm afraid you won't be able to present it to the king, as he has already gone to his eternal reward," the prince said.

"Then perhaps Your Excellency would like to keep it, as a gift," I said.

"It is a bit heavier than I am used to, but I like the way it feels. And the handiwork is exquisite. Yes, I would very much like to keep it," he said.

"Thank you," I said.

"It is I who should thank you, young Celt," he said. "Perhaps you can stay, make swords for me. Perhaps train my soldiers to use them."

"I would be honored," I said.

"Good," he said. "I'm sure Noei has room in her quarters. You may stay with her if you wish, and that is if she consents."

"I do," she said.

"Then it's settled," the prince said.

"Thank you, Excellency," I said.

...

I stopped my narration and looked at the woman sitting across from me. Her eyes were wide, and the color seemed to have drained from her face.

"Are you getting all this?" I asked. "There may be a test later," I added with a smile. She shook her head and looked at me. "Would you like me to refresh your drink, perhaps?" I asked. She looked at her glass.

"Yes, please," she said. I poured her another glass of wine and poured some for myself as well. "I'm sorry, I know you warned me, but I wasn't expecting... this."

"I understand, Noemi," I said. "But I did say my story would be hard to believe. You promised me an open mind and a fair hearing."

"I know, but... I just don't know what to think. Did you... sleep with this... I'm sorry, what was her name again?"

"Noei. Very similar to your name, in fact. Yes, I slept with her. She was my wife, and I loved her. But that was all that happened. The spirit was willing, but her body was simply too frail. I was content with holding her in my arms," I said.

"But she wasn't really all that old, was she?" Noemi asked.

"Around 60, I guess. Maybe a tad bit older," I said. "You have to remember, though, that in those days, commoners like us didn't live very long. With war, disease, the lack of medical care, clean water, and sanitary facilities, most of us were lucky to live much more than 30 to 35 years or so. Sure, a few lived to be older, and the wealthy often lived to be in their 60s. But those were often the exceptions."

"How long after that were you two together?" she asked.

"She died a few months after that day," I said. "After the death ritual, I stayed in Noreia for another 15 years. I made the prince's weapons, trained his soldiers, fought his battles. I was never defeated. Not once. That's how I got the battle cry, 'Semper Invictus.'"

"That sounds like Latin," she said. "What does it mean?"

"Literally, always undefeated," I said. "I remained with the prince until he died. He called me to his chamber just before he passed away. He asked me about Noei. 'She wasn't really your mother's sister, was she,' he asked. I couldn't lie to him, and he was in his death bed, after all. So I told him the truth. That she was my wife."

"How did he take that?" Noemi asked.

"He nodded his head and smiled," I said. "Told me she had been approached by several eligible men since she arrived -- including him -- but she refused them all. Said she was keeping herself pure for her husband, who she knew would return to her one day. He told me he asked her how she knew I was still alive, and she said that she could feel it in her spirit."

"That's so sweet," Noemi said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Yes, that describes her perfectly," I said.

"Did he say anything else?" she asked.

"He mentioned that I hadn't aged since arriving. He wondered if I had been bewitched or punished by the gods. I told him, no, at least not as far as I knew. He suggested the gods had a purpose for me that I was unaware of. A goal that could not be fulfilled in Noreia. He gave me a bag of coins and my father's sword. Then he released me from my duties and said I should go and find my true purpose.

"After his death ritual, I left Noreia, never to return," I said. "After a major battle with Germanic tribes, it crumbled back into the dust from which it sprang. As far as I know, no one has ever located it."

"That's sad," Noemi said. "What about your sons? Did you ever find out what happened to them?"

"No, never," I said. "I assumed that since they were fighting for the Romans that they had met their fate on the battlefield."

"Did you ever remarry?" she asked.

"No, never," I said. "That's not to say I was celibate for 2,000 years. I do have needs, you know." She smiled at that.

"So, what did you do? Where did you go?" she asked.

"I traveled. I learned. I exposed myself to as much as I could. I learned to use weapons of all kinds. Learned different languages. Mostly, I tried to stay out of history's way. I wasn't always successful, though. History caught up with me more than once," I said.

"Oh?" she asked. "How so?"

"Well, as a French soldier serving with Count de Rochambeau, I watched Cornwallis surrender to General Washington at Yorktown," I said.

"Wait, you were a French soldier once? You speak French?" she asked.

"Oui, mademoiselle," I said with a smile. "Along with about 100 other languages. Some of them haven't been spoken in hundreds of years."

"But how is it that you haven't been discovered? I don't understand," she said.

"My benefactors -- that is, our benefactors -- have done a remarkable job in that area," I said. "Early on, it was pretty easy. But they've had to... adjust over the last couple of centuries. You have to remember, time doesn't work for them the same as it does for us."

"But what happens if you get hurt or injured? What if someone were to shoot you? Wouldn't you die like anyone else?" I smiled at that and shook my head.

"No," I said. "Again, you can thank our benefactors for that. You see, about every 80 years or so, I... hibernate if you will. It's almost as if I'm drawn to it, like a bear in winter. It is during that hibernation period that my body is refreshed and updated. That could take anywhere from 10 to 35 years in the early days. The first time took the full 35 years -- at least from my point of view. These days, it doesn't take anywhere near that long. A couple months at most. Our benefactors use that time to prepare for my continuation."

"This is all so incredible," she said. "Wait, you said, 'our' benefactors. You've used that term more than once. What do you mean by that? Who are they?" I smiled at her. Perhaps now was the best time.

"I'll get to that. But I can tell you have other questions. Why don't you ask them?"

"Okay. First, did you ever learn your purpose?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. It took about 700 years for me to learn and another century to come to grips with it. But I did learn."

"Are there others like yourself out there?" she asked.

"There are four others like me that I know of," I said. "And a fifth is about to emerge. Now, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself," I said.

"If you insist," she said. "My name, as you already know, is Noemi Schlager. I was named after my grandmother, who was named after her grandmother. My family came here from Austria just after the First World War. My ancestors came from Salzburg, where they lived for many years. My grandfather once told me they had been there since Roman times. I don't know if that's true or not, though.

"There's not much more to tell. I was a cheerleader in high school, then went to college at the University of Texas. After I got my degree, I became a corporate lawyer. And no, there isn't a significant other. Anyway, you know the rest. So, what's this about 'our' benefactors?" she asked.

"Come with me," I said, standing up. "I want to show you something." Confused, she followed me down a set of spiral stairs. When we got to the bottom, I punched a code into the panel next to the locked door, then turned to her.

"You must promise that you won't touch anything in this room unless I say otherwise. Understand?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," she said. I opened the door and flipped the switch on the wall. When the lights came on, I entered the room, and Noemi followed. Pictures inside wooden frames lined the walls, and display cases sat on the floor under the pictures. We stepped in front of the first picture, and her eyes grew even wider than before. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Wh... What is this?" she asked, shocked, as she looked at the ancient drawing in the frame. The drawing was of a young woman -- Noei, my wife, and it was obviously very old. Moreover, the woman in the picture looked almost identical to the woman standing next to me.

"About 1,000 years ago, I realized that I had developed the ability to draw," I said. "It was something our benefactors somehow programmed into my DNA. At the time, I didn't understand all that, but I understood the ability to draw. I began making these images about that time. This is the first image I thought was good enough to keep. It's about 850 years old."

"This... is amazing," she said as we walked down the corridor. "These are all of your wife?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "I could never get her image out of my mind. So I drew it. Over and over again. It became... therapeutic. I've drawn this beautiful face hundreds of times. I know every line, every curve... everything. I got to where I didn't even have to look at the canvas. Of course, the more I drew, the better I got. Notice anything about them?"

"It's almost like looking at myself in a mirror," she said. "How is this possible?" We got to the end of the corridor, and she nearly fainted when she saw the last portrait.

"I painted this about 10 years ago," I said. In terms of quality, it was the best of the bunch and almost appeared photographic. It was a picture of a nearly naked Noei, holding a baby at her bare breast. It was erotic, but not pornographic.

"It's so... beautiful," she said as a tear fell down her face. "You must have really loved her very much."

"More than life itself," I told her. "I still love her. And I always will." Noemi looked down at the display cases.

"And what is all this?" she asked.

"Mementos of a long life," I said. "This is the sword my father made," I added, pointing to a long sword that sat in a case by itself. "All of the air has been removed from the case. It hasn't been touched by human hands for over 100 years."

"And what's this?" she asked, pointing to a piece of old folded cloth sitting inside a plastic bag.

"That's a cloth I used when my wife died," I said. "She was coughing blood as I held her in my arms. Our benefactors said I should keep it and told me I would need it at some point in the future."

"And that dark stain on the cloth is her blood?" Noemi asked.

"Yes," I said. I had been told the blood on the cloth would be used for DNA comparison, but I didn't tell her that. At the time, I was told that I had no idea whose DNA it would be compared to. But now, I knew. She was standing right in front of me. "There's another question I know you want to ask." She nodded her head as she looked at me.

"What was that thing in my apartment last night? Really?" she asked.

"Thing is a pretty good description," I said. "That is why our benefactors have spent the last two millennia training me. Some would call it a demon, but it's not. Are you familiar with the theoretical multiverse?"

"I've heard the term, but I can't say I know that much about it," she said.

"There are theories that say we live in just one of many parallel dimensions, or universes. It turns out those theories are true. But there's more. The dimension we know as reality is occupied by another -- one in which the rules of time and space we know do not apply.

"The beast that occupied your body last night is from that dimension, and it is one of many that have found a way to bridge the void between our dimensions," I told her.

"What?" she asked, shocked. "What kind of creatures are these?"

"Let me put it this way," I said. "When you were a little girl, did you ever feel like there was something under your bed or hiding in your closet? Like a monster?"

"Yeah," she said. "But don't all kids go through that?"

"I'm sure they do," I said. "These beasts are like those imaginary monsters. They're corruptible things, with no sense of morality or right and wrong. They find targets here they can undermine and corrupt. Their goal, simply put, is to seek out and destroy anyone they can."

"Why can't these benefactors deal with them?" she asked.

"They cannot remain in our dimension for long -- only a few minutes at most, and that's why they recruited us. But to adequately deal with these creatures, we have to be prepared. The initial preparation takes over 30 years, and that's why I was gone so long the first time."

"You never told me. Who ARE these benefactors? Are they... aliens or something?" she asked. I shook my head.

"You mean extra-terrestrials," I said. "No. They are human, much like us. Only, they have been enhanced. They come from one of the many dimensions in the multiverse. They call themselves the Errnocht. In their language, it means 'guardian.'"

"Guardian of what?" she asked.

"The space-time continuum," I said. "They work mostly in the void between the dimensions. Their DNA was enhanced to remain in the void, where they could best monitor the other dimensions. As a result, their life-spans were greatly increased. But that came with a price. They can not spend much time in any one dimension -- even their own. So they recruited and trained men and women like myself to confront and defeat the creatures." Just then, my phone buzzed. I looked and read the message: "Analysis complete."

"Please, come with me," I told Noemi. I went to a door at the far end of the corridor and placed my hand on the reader. I heard the latch click open and went inside, holding the door open for Noemi to follow.

"What is all this?" she asked, looking around at the strange equipment in the room.

"Equipment provided to me by the Errnocht," I said. "Most of it is for tracking the creatures, but some is for analysis." I pulled a sheet of paper lying face down on a printer. I read the report and looked at Noemi. "I have a slight confession to make," I told her.

"What's that?" she asked, concerned.

"Last night, I took a sample of your DNA while you were unconscious," I said. "I apologize for intruding upon you like that, but with your resemblance to my wife, I felt it was necessary."

"I understand," she said, although her expression said she wasn't too happy. "You could have just asked, though. So, what did you learn?"

"I ran a comparative analysis between the DNA sample I took from you last night and the blood on Noei's cloth," I said. "You can see for yourself," I added, handing her the paper, and she took it and read through it twice.

"This says there's a 99.75 percent match between the two samples," she said. "How is that possible? The blood on that cloth is over 2,000 years old."

"I cannot fully explain it myself," I said. "I know the Errnocht engage in DNA manipulation, and that's what they did to me and the others they recruited. But I wasn't aware their work went beyond their recruits."

"Are you saying I was... genetically altered?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "It's more likely they somehow introduced various genes into your ancestors over time."

"To what end?" she asked. I looked at her carefully before speaking. She reminded me so much of the woman I married so long ago, the woman who held my heart and bore my children. If that analysis was correct, the woman in front of me was, for all practical purposes, my Noei.

"Perhaps to eventually reunite me with her," I said quietly. Just then, I heard a ping from another device and realized it was my communication station. I looked and saw the round monitor light up. Colors swirled on the display, much like the old television picture tubes did when degaussed.

"What's that?" Noemi asked.

"The Errnocht. They wish to communicate," I said. I knew the DNA analysis had triggered communication, so I wasn't surprised they would contact me. I went to the station and performed the necessary adjustments. Soon, we were looking at a man wearing a gray jumpsuit.

"Svan," I said, addressing the man by his name. "What can I do for you?"

"It is good to see you, Steve," Svan said. "Is this her?" he asked, looking in Noemi's direction. I turned to look at her before answering.

"Yes," I said. Svan nodded his head.

"She looks very much like your Noei, doesn't she?" he asked.

"Yes, she does," I said. Noemi stepped up to the monitor and spoke up.

"'SHE' is right here, and you can speak to me directly," Noemi said. "What is the meaning of this report?"

"The report verifies that your DNA is a match to the blood on the cloth once owned by Steve's wife," Svan said.

"I figured that," Noemi said. "Was I genetically modified?"

"No," Svan said. "You are the direct result of a union between your father and mother."

"How does that possibly explain this?" Noemi asked, holding up the report.

"You appear to be upset," Svan said. "There is no need. Yes, we introduced individual genomes into your ancestors over the years. Still, as it so happens, both of your parents were in Noei's bloodline, and that made our job much easier."

"So you knew this would be the outcome?" Noemi asked.

"Yes," Svan eventually said. "Although, to be honest, we did not expect such a close match to the original for at least another two or three generations. Perhaps that is why the creature Steve tracked targeted you in the first place."

"You mean, I was targeted by that... thing?" she asked. Svan nodded his head.

"Yes, Noemi," he said. "It hoped to use you to get to Steve. And others will follow once they learn the first was destroyed."

"Terrific," Noemi said. "So now what do I do?"

"Follow Steve's lead," Svan said. "Or better yet, join with him. You are... drawn to him, are you not?"

"Well, yeah, I guess you could say that," she said.

"Of course you are," Svan said. "It's in your DNA, and you cannot help but be drawn to him. And he to you."

"But, I have a job. A career and I can't have Steve follow me at work," she said. "No offense," she said, looking at me.

"None taken," I said.

"You are a lawyer with McMaster and Howe, is that right?" Svan asked.

"Yes," she said. "How did you know that?"

"We know a lot about you, Ms. Schlager," Svan said. "You were turned down for a partnership not too long ago, weren't you?" Noemi looked down at the floor for a moment, her face red.

"Yes," she finally said.

"Would you care to explain why?" Svan asked. She closed her eyes for a moment and wiped a tear as it fell down her cheek.

"I really don't want to get into that," she said quietly.

"Isn't it because you refused to have sex with Derek Howe, one of the senior partners?" Svan asked. She looked up, and her face was red with embarrassment.

"Yes," she said. "How did you know?"

"As I indicated, we know much about you," he said. "In fact, he laughed when you threatened him with a sexual harassment lawsuit, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did," she said.