Sparta's Iron Messenger

During a counter-terrorism mission, Special Forces Major Roken touches the Eye of the Sun. Apollo appears through it and sends him to ancient Sparta, a city under the Holy Empire. Apollo sends him to save the Spartan people, with the totem promised as his way back.

Balen, the son of imperial elder Torth, leads imperial soldiers to abduct Princess Leah. Roken shoots Balen dead with his pistol and saves Leah. Balen's men call the pistol thunder, and Leah names him the Sun God's envoy. A soldier runs off to report. Torth arrives, but Roken's pistol is empty, so he defeats the imperial soldiers with his bare hands. Torth swears revenge for his son.

Leah brings Roken to her father, Sparta's leader. Her father has kept his people alive by trading his niece to the empire, and he is ready to hand Leah over too. Roken rejects the trade and calls on the Spartans to stand.

Lord Viktor, an imperial commander, arrives with imperial knights. He offers a public test: Roken must beat his lion bare-handed, and Leah goes free. Roken accepts. Leah tells her father the Sun God's envoy is bleeding for Sparta while he kneels. Her father finally refuses to kneel. Viktor declares he will take Leah and feed Roken to his pet, then names Torth governor of Sparta and orders every Spartan who forgets their place to be crucified. By the end, Roken is pinned under the lion and begins to grip a grenade.

The larger war is already set: the Holy Empire has 30,000 troops, Sparta has 3,000 warriors, and Roken turns to iron, gunpowder, and modern tactics—saltpeter for explosives—to turn slaves into a fighting force. Later, Roken learns his arrival may not have been an accident. Victory could trap him in this era forever. Three thousand years later, archaeologists uncover a rusted firearm bearing four words: "Major Roken was here."