第1章:莱茵河畔的苦夏（公元442年）

: Bitter Summer on the Rhine (442 AD)

As the Hun's horses' hooves shattered the ice of the Rhine, the 16-year-old Roman farmer Marcus knew only two things: run, and revenge.

On the day his village burned to the ground, his parents' blood soaked his sandals, his sister's cries were swallowed by the barbarians' wild laughter. From a slave in the army to a blood-soaked centurion, he grasped the old centurion's sword and tore his way through the corrupt legions: officers fed the barbarians with rations, the emperor watched the flames of Rome drunkenly, and even the swords of Gothic mercenaries were sharper than Roman standards.

When the Vandals sacked the Eternal City, he dragged his dying sister out of the pile of corpses, but his only response was "Don't let Rome rot completely."

In 476, the last Western Roman emperor stepped down from the throne. Marcus stood among the broken pillars, the rust on his sword redder than the setting sun. The empire was dead, but the smoke from cooking stoves crushed by iron hooves, the sighs of dying veterans, the faded word "Rome" on the pages of books—he wanted to let them breathe a little longer in the setting sun.

This is not an epic about saving the world, but a story about a small person who uses his life to protect a spark of light in an era of collapse.

当匈奴人的马蹄震碎莱茵河的冰面，16岁的罗马农民马库斯只懂两件事：跑，以及——复仇。

村庄焚作焦土那天，父母的血浸透了他的草鞋，妹妹的哭喊被蛮族的狂笑吞噬。从随军奴隶到浴血百夫长，他攥着老百夫长的剑，在腐败的军团里撕开生路：军官用军粮喂饱蛮族，皇帝在罗马城醉看火光，连哥特雇佣兵的刀都比罗马的军旗更锋利。

汪达尔人洗劫永恒之城时，他从尸堆里拖出濒死的妹妹，却只接住一句“别让罗马彻底烂掉”。

476年，最后一位西罗马皇帝走下王座。马库斯站在断柱间，剑上的锈比落日更红。帝国死了，但那些被铁蹄踏碎的炊烟、老兵临终的叹息、书页里褪色的“罗马”二字——他要让它们，在残阳里多喘一口气。

这不是拯救世界的史诗，是一个小人物在崩塌的时代里，用命护住一点星火的故事