It was early December of a remarkably warm autumn in Alexandria. The year of 185 was going to expire soon and Hero felt that the next one would be the most challenging in his entire life. He turned 15 today and was at the very end of his first master class in the Great Library. Hero was fluent in several languages even before he entered his teenage years and he knew that Alexandria had to be his next stop a day after he read Ptolemaîos' Almagest, the scroll he had lucky to stumble with in Antioch's atheneum. Today and after two years in the campus he knew that he was at the crossroads. Earlier this morning Hero realized the passion he shared toward the imperial history and the stories from the past was taking the toll with every passing day and the time has come for the next step. Here, laying on the small carpet just outside southern city walls and watching the starry sky he made a definite decision. As soon as his course is finished he would start traveling the world with his