When All is Null and Void

Chapter Eight

Summer in Trier, Germany wasn't always warm breezes and clear, cloudless skies. Today, the sun shined with wan light through thick, gray clouds. The town had none of the ancient ruins Titus might have expected. Alive and bustling, the Stadtmoved within the Roman Empire as the centuries old, well-oiled machine it was. He'd Hopped to the outskirts of town, knowing if he simply popped into existence in the middle of the marketplace, it might cause a disruption that didn't need to exist. Perhaps Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire, but it hadn't been too long ago that these very same people worshiped gods and deities who did the very things Titus was capable of. He didn't particularly have the wherewithal to stand up to a crowd of people wanting to put him on a pedestal and worship him.

Try though he might to feel natural in the tunic and sandals the ring had provided for him, Titus couldn't. Timewalkers studied in their selected time period. They knew it backward and forward, whether that be customs, proper dress, or even speech. The issue with Titus and his mom being the only ones able to close the Void leaks was his inability to learn anything outside of large details in such short amounts of time. He'd had a vague idea of the layout, the geography, the city, of Trier, but he hadn't known the citizens wore knee length garments with belts. He'd assumed everyone walked around wearing togas and shouting at each other, but as Titus came into town, he realized the people were calm, collected folk wearing similar attire to him.

Body odor hung in the air, heavy as fog. Titus gagged at the wafting fumes of sewage that had ripened in the afternoon air. He dodged around large groups of laughing people. The Latin around him was only vaguely understandable, as his ring hadn't yet started the translation process, and Titus was worried someone might try to speak to him. He knew basic Latin from when he was younger, but due to a screaming tantrum he'd thrown in sixth grade, his mom hadn't forced him any longer. Instead she'd told him he had to choose somethingto take its place. He chose the oboe instead.

Titus followed the cobbled roadway to the center of town, where he assumed he could find information on the Void leak. They never manifested among the people as it really was. Explanations of ghosts and plagues and murders were the signs to follow, and that usually meant Titus had to talk to common people. He hated it. They often smelled the worst, were the rudest, and didn't want to talk in the first place. Huffing a sigh more to expel the pungent scent of human feces than in annoyance, Titus came into the marketplace. The Latin was garbled for a short moment as the translating process kicked into motion, and it was a gift. The ring was nothing like a computer, but sometimes it took longer to adapt to the language--usually based on how deep in the past the Timewalker went.

Vendors sold everything from fruits and vegetables to different kinds of meats. To Titus, they all seemed a bit...rancid. They even smelled funky; some were even tinged a light green. Titus turned away from them to a few vendors who sold fabrics. This was as good a place as any to start. At least with these people he could open his mouth without turning as green as the meats, and his dinner would stay inside his stomach, rather than sloshing outward as it wanted to.

"How much for this?" Titus asked, holding up what couldn't have been more than a white sheet.

"Twelve denarii," the woman in the booth said. "Too expensive for you."

Titus scowled at her as she ripped the sheet from his hands and shooed him away from the stall. It was only a white piece of material. Who did she think she was, ripping it from his hands like that? He curled his lip, walking away to a corner far from the woman. As he surveyed the entire marketplace, thumb against his chin. Titus meandered behind a few people, listening in on their conversations, but no one was talking about anything weird. No one was talking about anything interesting at all, for that matter. All anyone was interested in was the gladiator match happening in a few hours.