Shownotes
Millennia after the Empire she represented was no more, Lupa, the Wolf of Roma wonders about the point of an Empire’s existence if it turned out to be destroyed in the end. But perhaps, some things still do live on...
Today’s story is “Remembering the Forgotten” by H.J Pang, a writer from Southeast Asia. This story was published in Symbol of a Nation by Goal Publications, as well as in Wolf Warriors V by Thurston Howl Publications. H.J. also has other stories published by Weasel Press.
Read for you by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion.
Transcripts
You're listening to the Voice of Dog.
Speaker:I'm Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,
Speaker:and today's story is
Speaker:Remembering the Forgotten
Speaker:by H. J. Pung, a writer from Southeast Asia.
Speaker:This story was published in
Speaker:Symbol of a Nation by Gull Publications,
Speaker:as well as in Wolf Warriors 5
Speaker:by Thurston Howl Publications.
Speaker:H. J. also has other stories published by Weasel Press.
Speaker:Please enjoy Remembering the Forgotten.
Speaker:By H. J. Pung ~ The square and its surrounding streets were as bustling as ever.
Speaker:The better part of a thousand years hadn't changed that.
Speaker:Tourists came and gawked at the pillars and marble facades,
Speaker:much the same expressions today as they were last week.
Speaker:So many faces, so many places,
Speaker:yet the mystique remains.
Speaker:Lupa lounged on the roof of the Pantheon,
Speaker:viewing it all with half lidded eyes, her tail
Speaker:flat against the warm marble.
Speaker:It amazed her how an empire that had fallen so many years back
Speaker:could still be revered.
Speaker:Sure, much of its legacy remained in the stone and marble landmarks that dotted this country,
Speaker:along with the marble likenesses of figures mortal and god.
Speaker:If Lupa cared to interfere,
Speaker:she would have pointed out that much of the gods features were
Speaker:exaggerated. She had known a couple of them first paw,
Speaker:not that she could have avoided it, having been a national being of an empire that spanned all the way
Speaker:to the eastern reaches.
Speaker:Has been. That was how she felt like these months.
Speaker:When one was around for over two millennia,
Speaker:time was counted not in minutes, hours, or days, but segments of a year.
Speaker:Though she was a great fan of the sun's constant gaze,
Speaker:Lupa was no stranger to walking the streets of the city,
Speaker:for, after all, wasn't there where things of note took place?
Speaker:A true wolf didn't sit idle.
Speaker:They went wherever they pleased.
Speaker:Lupa remembered a time when feral wolves could roam the city without fear or resentment,
Speaker:where they were seen as descendants
Speaker:of the divinities she was.
Speaker:There was even a cult
Speaker:dedicated to lupine worship.
Speaker:More an acknowledgement to her worshippers intentions than its entertainment value,
Speaker:Lupa had even partook in viewing the festivals put up in her honor.
Speaker:Too many animal sacrifices for her liking,
Speaker:but at least she got to eat them afterwards.
Speaker:National beings didn't need sustenance like mortals did,
Speaker:but when one's existence was repetitive to the point of being mundane,
Speaker:a good snack was always welcome.
Speaker:Which brought Lupa back to the present.
Speaker:These streets, so familiar, and yet not so.
Speaker:She had walked down it far more times than she could count,
Speaker:in different times and eras.
Speaker:She had seen paving slabs give way to cobblestones.
Speaker:Cobblestones to tarmac and concrete.
Speaker:She had seen bakeries, potters, and amphora makers replaced by cottage industries.
Speaker:And only a few centuries back, this city was the heart of a nation.
Speaker:Craftsmen of all specialties set up their workshops of glass,
Speaker:metalwork, and finery.
Speaker:It was even the center of religious fervor,
Speaker:with the great walled compound in the center of the city,
Speaker:epitome of everything spiritual.
Speaker:Luper had wandered within its walls a couple of times.
Speaker:Though the Roman gods of old were absent, the saints of more recent times always frowned upon her whenever she took a walk through the hallowed halls.
Speaker:Only St. Christopher and St. Francis
Speaker:seemed to be more welcoming to her presence,
Speaker:though Luper had never figured out why.
Speaker:But countless mortals thronged these halls
Speaker:such that often Luper felt
Speaker:she couldn't be alone with her thoughts.
Speaker:But now, all the craftsmen
Speaker:and their storefronts were gone,
Speaker:having either packed up,
Speaker:switched trades, or died out.
Speaker:For a being that could live forever,
Speaker:change was painful.
Speaker:When one got to know the details of each family,
Speaker:along with each and every member's hopes and aspirations,
Speaker:each passing was a dull hurt within.
Speaker:And all that pain was gone.
Speaker:gradually builds up,
Speaker:such that Lupa had to sever all mental bonds to the people
Speaker:and live the rest of her life in solitude.
Speaker:Not that Lupa would waste the rest of her life,
Speaker:however long, sleeping on a roof.
Speaker:She continued to prowl the street once in a while,
Speaker:if only to check out what's new in her old domain.
Speaker:A reenactor dressed as a centurion might be replaced by one resembling an Egyptian mummy,
Speaker:for reasons Lupa couldn't hope to fathom.
Speaker:And when she thought she'd seen everything,
Speaker:another oddity would present itself.
Speaker:Such as a sidewalk performance
Speaker:in which some guy sat upon a pole held by another,
Speaker:either seemingly asleep or in a trance.
Speaker:Why would anyone throw money at someone who did nothing but sit?
Speaker:Each era had their own oddities and quirks,
Speaker:but modern mortals never failed to surprise.
Speaker:Which led back to the fact
Speaker:that there's nothing left for her here.
Speaker:These thoughts sought only to tire Lupa,
Speaker:so she did what she always had for times like this.
Speaker:Reaching for her amphora across a sizable crack in the marble,
Speaker:the she wolf unstopped the jug
Speaker:and took a deep draught.
Speaker:The sharp sourness of long fermented grapes
Speaker:stung first across her tongue,
Speaker:then throat, copious amounts running down the matted fur of her once fluffy chest.
Speaker:Once, the beverage used to calm her
Speaker:and let her relax for a month or more, but the contents of her amphora,
Speaker:though ever full,
Speaker:now tasted worse by the day.
Speaker:At the height of her domain's power, the wine always tasted
Speaker:tangy and sweet, as well fermented as that in the finest mortal winery.
Speaker:It used to be something she partook
Speaker:in moderation, something to savour
Speaker:whenever she felt proud of her people.
Speaker:But then the empire of her esteemed people fell,
Speaker:quickly sacked by the very people they had invaded.
Speaker:And Luper's last link to the people
Speaker:had died with the fall of the Senate.
Speaker:But, national beings couldn't die.
Speaker:And so here she was.
Speaker:A washed up old wolf, reminiscing about times long forgotten.
Speaker:To think, she'd raised the very founders of the people with her own teats no less.
Speaker:For all the good it had done,
Speaker:she mightn't have bothered.
Speaker:She closed her eyes and slept.
Speaker:Sleep plagued by the countless events her people were a part of.
Speaker:Dreams that had repeated itself for
Speaker:over a thousand and a half years.
Speaker:The toppling of many an unpopular ruler.
Speaker:The endless march of the legions through countless forests
Speaker:and deserts. The battle cries of the barbarians
Speaker:as they laid waste to the city.
Speaker:Screams of men and legionaries,
Speaker:women and children,
Speaker:screams that died out into an uncomfortable silence,
Speaker:only to be broken by the settling of strange people in her lands.
Speaker:Changes that happened so quickly it registered as a blur compared to the centuries of her people's existence.
Speaker:She knew there were preparations for some festival or other going on at the moment,
Speaker:but she didn't see the need to bother herself with the details.
Speaker:There was a time when Lupa would prowl the streets to see what's happening,
Speaker:to walk among the people as she once had.
Speaker:But that time was long past, for she had already seen every festival and event
Speaker:the mortals of this era held,
Speaker:made deafening on the ears by over loud contraptions
Speaker:that broadcasted every song and shout.
Speaker:Hardly any cause for excitement
Speaker:when one had seen and heard it all.
Speaker:Lupa didn't need to open her eyes to know whether it's dawn or dusk,
Speaker:afternoon or night.
Speaker:She felt it, not by the absence of the sun on her belt,
Speaker:but by the tingle in her bones.
Speaker:But there was an unnatural tingle that had nothing to do with the rise and fall of the sun,
Speaker:but a presence near her,
Speaker:her eyes open, just a crack.
Speaker:She could have been looking at a reflection of her own muzzle,
Speaker:complete with amber eyes,
Speaker:were it not for the fact that national beings
Speaker:exhibited no reflection of any kind,
Speaker:save the image of humans they took the guise of.
Speaker:Happy birthday, Ma,
Speaker:said the reflection,
Speaker:and for the second time during her existence, Lupin jumped,
Speaker:fur fluffed up and fangs bared.
Speaker:The newcomer did none of that, however,
Speaker:confirming that he was no optical illusion.
Speaker:What was that? Lupa asked.
Speaker:Her voice was coarse, a consequence of not having spoken for far too long.
Speaker:Who would she speak to, anyway?
Speaker:The Roman gods were long dead, and the saints weren't exactly welcoming.
Speaker:She racked her throat hard,
Speaker:the better to clear out the remnants of wine,
Speaker:and repeated her question.
Speaker:I said, happy birthday.
Speaker:Confirmed the newcomer with a grimace,
Speaker:waving the air before his nose.
Speaker:He was a wolf, just like her,
Speaker:except that he was perhaps smaller in stature.
Speaker:One was never sure with national beings.
Speaker:Their sizes occasionally changed on account of their ego or their people's fervor.
Speaker:His fur was smooth and immaculate,
Speaker:almost giving off a soft glow in the fading evening light.
Speaker:His bright eyes and upright ears also carried an energy that
Speaker:would have Lupa up and prancing if it wasn't
Speaker:for the strangeness of the encounter.
Speaker:Lupa only stared,
Speaker:so the newcomer continued.
Speaker:I would have thought it calls for celebration, not fear,
Speaker:he smiled, reaching beside himself.
Speaker:Lifting a cloth off a basket,
Speaker:his paw rummaged through it.
Speaker:Loopa caught the whiff of fresh bread,
Speaker:cheese, and cured meat
Speaker:before a green bottle of red liquid presented itself,
Speaker:its bottom encased within a basket.
Speaker:Glass? That stuff was rare in Loopa's time.
Speaker:The she wolf shook herself.
Speaker:I think you've mistaken me for someone else.
Speaker:You're better off looking elsewhere.
Speaker:Loopa gestured to the side with her muzzle.
Speaker:The newcomer looked reproachful,
Speaker:his whisker skewing.
Speaker:How can one mistake you for the founder of this country?
Speaker:Besides, is it not the anniversary of Roma's birth?
Speaker:Your birth? Lupa laughed. A harsh staccato of barks that carried across the plains.
Speaker:Mortals looked around, wondering if they had imagined it,
Speaker:while feral dogs whimpered in their homes.
Speaker:The young wolf before her merely lowered an ear in questioning,
Speaker:his muzzle tilted.
Speaker:Found her, laughed Looper,
Speaker:gesturing at herself with a wine streaked paw.
Speaker:The newcomer's ears flicked.
Speaker:A washed up being, you mean.
Speaker:For all the good I'd done,
Speaker:I might as well not have achieved anything,
Speaker:she gestured at the cracked buildings across the expanse of the city.
Speaker:My people are long gone.
Speaker:Wiped out. And you still think what I've done matters?
Speaker:The wolf crossed her paws,
Speaker:eyes half lidded.
Speaker:The younger wolf smiled once more.
Speaker:There exists a saying that Roma wasn't built in a day,
Speaker:neither so was Italia.
Speaker:Lupa cocked her head to her side.
Speaker:Who are you exactly?
Speaker:Your son, Lupa sat back down.
Speaker:Goodness, to think I can't remember who I'd lain with,
Speaker:she breathed. It was through no fault of yours, madre,
Speaker:laughed the young wolf.
Speaker:The people of Italia had called for a symbol.
Speaker:It was birthed forth from their belief.
Speaker:He spread out his paws.
Speaker:Just as you were
Speaker:by the people of Roma.
Speaker:Good for you, but what has all that got to do with me?
Speaker:Lupa's eyes narrowed.
Speaker:Everything and nothing,
Speaker:said the wolf, waving his paw around him.
Speaker:Already the red hues of dawn were visible,
Speaker:bringing highlights to his sleek pelt.
Speaker:Without your guidance of the ancient people of Roma, the forefathers of my people wouldn't have existed.
Speaker:Without the Roman Empire,
Speaker:the knowledge that came with the Renaissance wouldn't have happened,
Speaker:giving rise to the people's enlightenment.
Speaker:In fact, here a twinkle appeared in his eyes,
Speaker:many domains benefited from your influence,
Speaker:even if they don't care to admit it.
Speaker:Like the many roads that lead from them to us,
Speaker:stated Lupa. Among other things, yes,
Speaker:said the young wolf.
Speaker:Your domain may have forgotten you,
Speaker:but not your accomplishments.
Speaker:Did you see the fair down below?
Speaker:The festivities taking place
Speaker:all around the city.
Speaker:The wolf stood, pointing in the direction of a street.
Speaker:Lupa looked, blinking her eyes hard.
Speaker:Re enactors, dressed in the togas and caligae of her people, stood
Speaker:The arms and armor of her legions.
Speaker:Performances
Speaker:featuring many popular Roman plays,
Speaker:both comedies and tragedies.
Speaker:Even from up high, the she wolf recognized one
Speaker:that highlighted Jupiter's earthly escapades.
Speaker:It was then, Luper realized it was not through her own eyes that she saw it all,
Speaker:but through that of her people.
Speaker:So long had it been,
Speaker:for so long it was since her people drew their last breath.
Speaker:Though her people were gone,
Speaker:forgotten, were they not?
Speaker:On this day, the people celebrate the founding of Roma,
Speaker:a city in which your people's legacy still lives,
Speaker:exclaimed the young wolf.
Speaker:So how about you partake in this food and wine, madre,
Speaker:and remember that no being's ever a failure.
Speaker:With that, the young wolf pushed forth the bottle with one paw.
Speaker:The basket with the other,
Speaker:Lupa licked her lips.
Speaker:Uncorking the bottle,
Speaker:she brought it up to her muzzle, a weight
Speaker:far less than that of her amphora.
Speaker:Visually, it told her nothing about what to expect.
Speaker:Scent wise, it carried myriads of distinctive flavors,
Speaker:flavors that she recognized,
Speaker:not just that of Roma,
Speaker:but would later know as those from the many states of Italia.
Speaker:Where Roma was but one domain,
Speaker:such was a united Italia.
Speaker:All under one flag,
Speaker:one guardian. She had to admit,
Speaker:this wine tasted damn good.
Speaker:This was Remembering the Forgotten
Speaker:by H. J. Pung. Read for you by Khaki,
Speaker:your faithful fireside companion.
Speaker:You can find more stories on the web at TheVoice.
Speaker:TheVoice.dog or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to The Voice of Dog