Becoming a Gladiatrix

According to the man I would come to call “Father,” my mother abandoned me as an infant. She wrapped me in a blanket and floated me down the Sarnus River in a basket with the words “Greatness” carved into the edge. Lucky for me, I was found by a man named Grumio before I could be eaten by predators or succumb to my hunger. Grumio raised me as his own daughter and showed me love and guidance. Unfortunately, just after what we believed to be my 10th birthday, my world would become disheveled, and I would lose the man who showed me so much kindness and compassion. Upon Grumio’s death, his brother Augustus would take me in to live with him.

Augustus was nothing like Grumio. He was cruel and treated me just as terribly as he treated his slaves. This harsh treatment led me to run away at age eleven. In order to survive, I worked odd jobs for many different people and sometimes stayed with them for short periods of time. Despite the generosity of these people, I never had a true home or a family to help care for me. This pattern lasted for about three years, and then, a few months after I turned fourteen, I realized that it was becoming harder for me to find work that didn’t require me to become a slave. Though I technically had my freedom, I was not free from the need for survival and a steady promise of that, so I decided to return to Augustus.

When I arrived at Augustus’ home, I found only a pile of rubble. To this day, I have not found a person who can tell me what happened to Augustus, his home, or the people who lived there. Having nowhere to turn, I realized that my freedom was not worth my survival, and I made the hard decision to allow myself to become a slave.

After making this decision, I found myself in the home of Caecilius for whom I worked for just over ten years. Caecilus and his wife Mellisa were the most kind people I had met in quite a while. Living with them seemed like living in a home with a family where we all belonged. And though we slaves knew our place, we never felt as though we were treated like slaves. They never asked too much of us. They were never cruel. They never even raised their voices at us. After many, many years I finally felt love like I had when Grumio saved me. However, this too would fall down around me. During my twenty-fifth year, Melissa passed and, not bearing life without his true love, Caecilus passed just after I turned twenty-six. In their will they left us freedom, and all of their money to be split between the seven of us. This inheritance would not last me a full year, and even though I knew what hardships awaited me as a slave in another family, I also knew that I had to survive. I decided to sell myself back into slavery.

Luckily for me, this time would be far different from all the other times before. This time, instead of being purchased to perform chores and duties within a home under a master and mistress, my ability to be a fierce gladiatrix would be recognized. This time, I was able to sell myself as a gladiator and serve with honor and respect. As it turned out, I was destined for this. My body and mind were sculpted for the service of battle, and I had finally found the greatness my mother thought I should be.

BySavannahDurden