Octavian the Great
It was a cool spring morning and Octavian awakened to the sound of a chariot coming to a stop outside the opening of his tent. Octavian threw off his sheep skin blanket and felt the morning chill crawl quickly down his spine. “Sir, it will begin sooner than expected,” said the messenger from outside the tent. Octavian rushed to put on his toga before stepping out and being further addressed by the messenger. “Our scouts have reported Hannibal to be about 4 kilometers away.” “Tell Flavius to get the troops assembled and ready to march in 20 minutes.”
As they finished talking Octavian went to the cook to get a bite before heading off. Octavian knew this would be the most deciding battle in Rome’s history, but he didn’t let that get to him. He never did.
The camp was packed and ready to head off shortly after Octavian finished his meal. All the troops formed neat lines as they were trained and were awaiting Octavian’s orders. Octavian rode smoothly up to the front line on his horse and gave the order to march with a simple wave of his hand and a “yaw!” as he turned and spurred his horse into a slow trot.
The march lasted only 30 minutes, but to the troops, it lasted for hours. They were eagerly waiting for this battle even though it would mean the end for most of them. They were ready to die for Rome and had complete confidence in their commander. Octavian’s confidence gave the troops confidence which is good Octavian knew. Confidence is what they would need if they were to win the battle.
Both armies stood at the ends of the field eyes locked on the other waiting for the other to make the first move. As the armies were waiting a fog as white as snow drifted slowly across the field. This fog caused Octavian to smile because he knew Mars, the god of war, was watching and that this battle will turn to Octavian’s favor. The fog was impenetrable and Octavian wanted to use this to his advantage. He would attack before the fog is cleared, surprising his enemy to catch them off guard. He yelled “Charge!” and everyone lurched forward by instinct and started running full speed at the unsuspecting enemy. The ground was shaking with the pounding of feet and the clanging of armor as it bounced on the running soldier.
All of a sudden -Crash!- the two armies met. There were yells of anger, screams of agony, and screams of terror echoing across the field. Soldiers were being cut down left and right and blood was being sprayed everywhere. The noise being created by the swords clashing on swords, swords clashing on shield, and the shields clashing on shields was deafening and disorienting. Despite being surprise attacked and outnumbered Hannibal’s army still caused massive casualties to Octavian’s and soon Octavian will need to put an end to it.
In the midst of battle Octavian and Hannibal meet eyes and begin to work their way to each other. The chance to end this battle could end now with the fight between Octavian and Hannibal. Enemy and friendly soldiers alike cleared the path between the two commanders and slowly halted their fighting.
“We end this now Hannibal!” shouts Octavian, but Hannibal is too intent on killing Octavian to muster a reply.

The fight starts without hesitation. Octavian ducks Hannibal’s head-level slice and bashes Hannibal with his shield. Octavian then takes a step forward and stabs at Hannibal’s chest with his sword which gets parried by Hannibal’s with a clang. Hannibal then quickly changes the direction of his sword and lunges towards Octavian’s chest. Octavian blocks the blow with his shield and sends an over hand diagonal slice towards Hannibal. Hannibal deflects the slice with his sword and bashes Octavian with his shield causing Octavian to take a step back. Both of them cease exchanging blows for a brief time while they circle each other looking for a weakness. After ten seconds they continue the process of exchanging and receiving blows which lasts for 10 minutes until Octavian disarms Hannibal. As soon as Octavian disarms Hannibal he lunges at Hannibal’s chest off balance. This is the last exchange these two will ever have again and the last exchange Octavian will ever have. Hannibal sees Octavian off balance and attempts to bash Octavian’s head with his shield. This is Hannibal’s mistake. Hannibal should have blocked the sword because Octavian still caught Hannibal in the chest, the heart, and killed Hannibal instantly while Octavian only got knocked out from being bashed in the head.

One day later Octavian woke up in his tent not far from Rome still wearing his armor. As he tries to get up and walk around he stumbles around off balance. “Let’s take off my armor” he says to himself. When he takes off his armor he is able to walk around fine, but always slightly off balance. The aftermath of the battle had taken its toll on his body.
Four days later when he has his strength back he attempts to walk with his armor on. As the armor comes to a rest comfortably on his shoulders he tries to take a couple steps. Those two steps were the hardest two steps Octavian has ever taken. He came to the most terrifying realization in his life he might never be able to fight again.

As Octavian was walking through the gates of Rome, cheers were coming from all directions. The cheers were for him. Women threw flowers at his feet, and the children mimicked his last battle with their wooden swords. When Octavian reaches the courthouse he becomes acknowledged by the senators as the greatest warrior Rome has ever seen. Octavian was happy knowing, that even though he would never be able to fight again, he was the greatest warrior Rome will ever know.