The Ides Were Foretold
A soothsayer watches as Rome walks calmly toward the Ides of March.
We mark the Ides of March today, when the great Caesar met his fate.
Like many with power, the great Roman Emperor probably didn't listen to them.
A soothsayer watches as he walks into the senate.
Some warnings echo. Power rarely hears them.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 🐦⬛
Rome stretched its limbs and rose beneath a pale morning sky. The city drew its first breath, as it did each dawn. Yet the air seemed to haul a weight none could describe.
The words I had spoken to Caesar were in a minor key, haunting the labyrinthine corridors of my mind.
Beware the Ides of March.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 🐦⬛
The crowd parted, a Red Sea, for the approaching ruler. For just a second, our eyes met as he crossed the street.
He knew the look in my eye, that I forewarned danger. His acknowledging grin, half-amused, half-dismissive, as if the shadows in my mind didn't matter. That they were unwelcome.
Great power coursed past a sea of soft, awe-struck whispers.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 🐦⬛
Caesar strode past the heavy, stone doors of the senate walls, and they shut.
Locked with finality.
The surrounding silence greeted him with bated breath.
The street waited, without knowing why.
Fate had stepped quietly into the room, his decision sealed with a knife.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 🐦⬛
"Caesar is dead! Caesar is dead!" Disbelieving whispers turned quickly into an uncontrollable gust of wind. Its resounding howl burned Rome like wildfire.
The city shook with disbelief. I had seen it.
I had forewarned.
But warnings hardly changed life's course.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 �
Fate arrives, a noiseless predator that barely speaks.
It waits in the darkened shadows of corridors.
Those who hear it seldom wield power. Those with power have deaf ears.
And the day continues.
🔮 🏛️ ⚔️ 🩸 �
Original microfiction for Ides of March day by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.
For Mikeydred's March prompt:
About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
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Comments (2)
Soothsayer is such a cool word. Thanks for the reminder of such an important moment in history, Michelle!
Great job! lol iced that last stanza on Fate especially, brought it all home.