In the year 97AD Emperor Domitian dies by his own hand following a failed attempt on his life. At the same time a young General named Trajan is seriously wounded but not in battle; he is fighting in the arena under the cognomen Kaeden the Fair, a professional Gladiator. It is then his identity is discovered by Domitilla, his former mistress, and sister to Domitian. She is a ruthless, ambitious woman who wishes to put her son on the throne as a boy Emperor allowing her to rule Rome through him. Trajan finds himself in Elysium and is asked to make a choice, Elysium or Rome. He agrees to return to save Rome and to protect Domitilla and her son Licenius by marrying Domitilla. For agreeing to make the supreme sacrifice he and a person of his choosing is promised the choice of time to return to Elysium. He chooses his friend and former Gladiator, Decius. Having seen the profile of every Emperor to come whilst in Elysium Trajan decides to wait on earth for several centuries; possibly until the end of the Empire. Decius agrees to stay with him; no one must ever know their secret. Both will retain the strength and vigour of young men thus allowing Kaeden the Fair to carry on with his passion and secret life of a professional Gladiator. His life, once he has regained his full strength, is strewn with deceit, betrayal and the battle to save a Rome near bankrupted by Domitian. He will succeed through discovering the hoard of gold bragged about by Sextus, the head of the Praetorian Guard. The gold is in Dacia which is ruled by Decebalus the villainous client king who Domitian was secretly treating with in the east. Trajan will eventually conquer Dacia and bring it in under the Empire. Following his marriage to Domitilla he subsequently finds she has tricked him by publicly announcing in the Senate he is to be her Consort and not the new Emperor. The marriage is doomed through her deceit. With the help of Senator Fabius the young Licenius chooses Trajan as his secret co- Emperor. When he meets Roma Julia Fabius the winner of a chariot race in the Circus Maximus Trajan falls truly in love for the first time. Now he feels his life is going to be complete at last; how wrong he is, Domitilla and Sextus have other ideas.