by Cyb3r
He spent his life studying the fall of Rome. Now, he has to survive it. Adrian Cross is a thirty-two-year-old Oxford academic who knows everything about Roman military doctrine—on paper. But when a freak tear in reality at a Lake District archaeological site plunges him into an alternate, ancient Britannia, his textbook knowledge is put to the ultimate field test. Saved from an indigenous tribe's spear only by a heavy-duty phone case and a paperback copy of Tacitus, Adrian finds himself stranded in a world where history has gone terrifyingly off the rails. This isn't the Roman Empire he read about. Behind Rome's brutal expansion lies The Serpent, an ancient cosmic parasite that feeds on human despair and the prayers of the conquered. Worse yet, the Corieltauvi tribe hails Adrian as a prophesied savior, bonding him to a magical, reality-warping metal torc. The artifact grants him supernatural reflexes and tactical insight, but it carries a chilling cost: it was left behind by a previous traveler who was actually an alternate-timeline version of Adrian himself—and the magic is designed to slowly erase his memories and emotions. Guided by a silver coin from his doomed predecessor and armed with a mysterious key gifted by the literal ghost of Julius Caesar, Adrian takes command of the tribal resistance. Trading academic debate for bloody guerrilla warfare, he uses his knowledge of future history to orchestrate a devastating ambush against a Roman cohort. But a minor victory won't stop the empire. With a full legion of 5,000 soldiers marching to crush them, Adrian must venture into the treacherous space between worlds to strike at the Serpent’s heart.
