War had always been considered an unnecessary act where men and women killed each other just because some upper-class members had disagreed with each other; an act where the poor were prejudiced the most, whereas the wealthiest saw their pockets filled by its monetary benefits. In other words, it could be said that war was nothing but a good business; a business from which the few took much profit and the many got nothing but suffering, poverty and, if the worst came to the worst, death.
In 2499, after much controversy, the violent voice of the masses got to overthrow an unstable government which existed thanks to a more than questionable electoral pact that did not last for long. President Alabama could barely propose some laws and initiatives which had nothing to do with their original conditions, since the constitution did not allow the new laws to be approved until all the members of the coalition agreed on the final result; something that did not occur because there were too many parties with very different ideals.
As a consequence of such governmental instability, the government was overthrown and all parties were dissolved. But in 2500, a new way of government arose. After the incapacity of understanding and lack of empathy that politicians had shown during the last legislative period in relation to both national and international affairs, it was time to try a new system in which diplomacy or bureaucracy would not be a barrier to progress; a system in which a single ruler could take all political decisions without the need to consult anyone else or meet with their approval. It was agreed that, in principle, such an individual would be in charge of political affairs only, leaving judicial and military matters to other bodies. The political leaders would be elected according to their marks after passing a series of state tests, which would demonstrate who was the most suitable candidate for holding such an important and delicate office. The candidates would be tested in terms of politics, economics, ethics, sociology, law and history. The candidate who achieved the highest mark would hold the title of leader of the country for the following five years.
All Sapagnist counties—Whiteland, Rockland, Windland, Mercyland, Seashoreland, Scentland and Dryland—agreed on those conditions as they believed in the efficiency of the new system. Therefore, each county proposed its own candidates, hoping that one of them would overtake the rest and become the new leader, holding his county in high esteem during his tenure.
After the close of a five-year term, the man who had been the leader during that period could sit the tests again, holding his office unless someone else got to best his marks. Thus, for instance, Mark Evergreen, from Seashoreland County, stood as the leader for fifteen years—from 2530 to 2545—until Frank Hooves, from Rockland County, surpassed Evergreen's marks in the competitions celebrated that year.
Dennis Newman (2500–2505), the first leader of that new system, established two important rules that completely changed the essence of the country and no subsequent leader repealed. The first rule established that all frontiers had to be closed, banning both the importation and exportation of products, and eradicating all international relationships, which included the trading of goods such as energy either inwards or outwards. The same rule was established in terms of migration: people could not leave or enter the country without government approval; and the government barely approved a couple of extraordinary cases. The other unexpected new rule regarded religion. Newman did not understand why a whole country should identify with a unique religion since every person was free to choose their own beliefs. Nonetheless, as religion had always been a cause of conflict, Leader Newman ruled that all churches, mosques, synagogues and Buddhist temples should be demolished, prohibiting, too, public ceremonies and processions so that nobody could feel offended and no religious conflict could arise. The leader stated, however, that every person had the right to pray and express their beliefs in the private sphere.
Contrary to these new laws, Dryland County, the most southerly county, was declared independent in 2518 after a long, complicated independence process. Drylanders wanted to go back to the old system as they valued democracy, diplomatic relations with other countries and international trading. Nonetheless, no countries got to reach any agreements with Dryland after it became independent, since almost nothing grew in those lands, which did not contribute to foster trade deals with its neighbouring countries, for the dry weather conditions did not help it produce substantial harvests or benefit from big water reserves. Hence, Dryland became more a desert graveyard than an inhabited country.
Meanwhile, in Sapagna, the new system worked really successfully for more than a hundred years. The word war was not heard or read in any pieces of news; in fact, it had almost disappeared from everyday conversations. Sapagna had turned into a peaceful land, and it was rumoured that its army was about to disappear due to its little utility. However, nobody could imagine that the events that were about to occur would change the course of history.
A new political leader called Christopher Oldus, from Scentland County, was elected on the 2nd of August of 2620. He had passed all tests obtaining the best results ever in the history of such a system. At the age of twenty-seven he was also the youngest leader ever. His career included degrees in law, economy and history; besides this he had a doctorate in the History of the Roman Empire. Oldus was a fanatic of the Roman Empire. He loved everything Romans did and how they did it: their military strategies, the way they managed their economy, their architecture and, above all, their pastimes. Oldus was obsessed with gladiators and the glory they earned in the arena; and he managed to instil a similar spectacle in his society.
As time passed by, the new sport attracted more and more fanatics who spent large sums of money on bets on such a sport. Who would win? Would the loser die at the end? How long would the fight last? These and other questions might be found on different websites, run by betting agencies, where fans could log in and invest as much money as they felt like, expecting a greater refund if they were right on their choices. Unfortunately, as always, those who bet, in the long run, always lost; and all businesses involved in those fights that took place in the arena benefitted from the ignorance of the people.
Moreover, the State started to invest public money in everything related to such a sport and, consequently, there was no money left to be invested in other issues which were more necessary. Health, education and other public services became less and less efficient, and people could not afford any private services due to the low salaries they earned as the government had not established the minimum wage. Meanwhile, a very high amount of public funds was spent in the world of the so-called black stings, whose job was to face and kill each other in the arena in exchange for money and glory. The worst consequence of such a fact was the closure of more than half the hospitals and state schools throughout the country, which meant that most children would have no other choice but to work in fields, helping their families work the lands, or factories, producing the goods that the country needed.
That situation was neither ethical nor sustainable. Families could not earn a living just farming their lands since the quantity of water they could use was strictly restricted by the government, and the money they earned or had saved could not pay for all the farm machinery and tools needed to work the lands properly. After considering all this, many families agreed that encouraging their sons to become black stings was the only way they would have a chance to survive and live worthily. Furthermore, a part of their sons' pay could be sent to them so that they could buy basic things to live on and keep owning their lands.
However, not all boys who dared to face the trials to become a black sting could pass them. Unfortunately for them and their families, their lands had to be sold to the State since they could afford neither their maintenance nor other expenditures. In such a case, although they could stay there and hold right of usufruct, they had to give 60% of their produce to the State.
In contrast, those who succeeded in the trials became black stings, which would change their lives forever. The black stings were those men who dared to fight in the arena. They used to wear very similar clothing to Roman gladiators, but all in black. Stings needed to pass several hard trials in order to demonstrate that they could get to be decent fighters and, after that, they underwent very long and stern training before being allowed to fight publicly. During the first period of their preparation, black stings needed to become skilful in managing a single sword. They combined sword-fighting techniques with pure physical training, and spent many hours practising with their ludclub's champion. The second period began after they had proved their skills in the arena. Then, they had to choose which weapon they would be utilising in their performances from then on. From that moment, they would train with their ludclub's coach, who was specialised in managing each of the weapons. In addition, they kept on practising with the champion utilising the weapons with which they had chosen to fight. Physical training continued to be a part of the preparation, although the exercises that stings carried out were more personalised.
The so-called ludclubs were companies that employed black stings. Leader Oldus had chosen that name because the place where gladiators lived and trained was called ludus and, actually, although black stings did not live in the ludclubs, they spent their leisure time there playing, drinking, chatting and having sex with prostitutes. All these activities must have been previously approved by the lords of the ludclubs, who kept their employees' pay and invested it according to each black sting's preference—if the lords agreed on such preferences, of course.
A ludclub was equipped, at the very least, with a gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool and a courtyard with a battlefield; however, the richer the ludclub, the more equipped it was. There were several ludclubs throughout the country where hundreds of black stings were trained; but only the best ones got to sign for a ludclub in the capital, Mentrish.
The official combats, where the black stings employed by the ludclubs in the capital performed, took place between September and January every year; whereas the rest of the year there were fights in the arenas of all counties so that the citizens kept on being entertained. The greatest combats used to occur in the arenas of the county capitals, where not only the black stings who fought for the ludclubs of those cities participated but also other black stings from smaller towns who looked quite promising, who were given the opportunity to show their skills by facing the black stings of their county capital.
There was only one ludclub in each county capital, but there were two in Mentrish: John Lawyer's and Ben Centric's. John Lawyer used to have the best black stings in the whole country before Centric built his ludclub, but seasons became a little monotonous since there was not real competition due to the fact that all the black stings in Mentrish knew each other and trained together. It was like a kind of Brotherhood, so not many deaths were seen in the arena; a thing that people did not like at all.
Such a fact changed when Ben Centric founded his own ludclub. At the beginning, he could only sign a few stings. They were cheap men who were not exactly top-quality stuff; but little by little, Centric's name began to be much talked-about thanks to his gift to find, by chance, capable boys who proved to be better than Lawyer's men. Winning such a competition meant a very substantial monetary reward for both the champion and the ludclub, and it also meant popularity and a high probability that the champion would be contracted to star advertisements and promote products in exchange for substantial pay.
Centric's style was based on signing a few but very promising men; whereas Lawyer preferred quantity before quality. Lawyer's philosophy led him and his men towards glory for years; but the tables turned after David Todd's signing, since Centric's ludclub won four consecutive competitions. David was the champion in 2663; Charles Alnay won the two following years becoming the first bi-champion in history; and Exeus Wildfred repeated the exploit in 2666. Centric's wish for season 2667 was to see Exeus win again and be crowned a bi-champion in order for his ludclub to keep on breaking records and for him to keep on increasing his wealth.
Exeus Wildfred, the main character of this story, was Ben Centric's golden goose. His physical aspect called everybody's attention for being very good-looking, around 1.90 metres tall and well-built. His eyes were blue, and he had grown a meticulously trimmed blond beard that matched his hair, bathed in silver, and dazzling with the reflection of the sun on it. But the fact that led Exeus towards glory at 25, besides his indisputable skills, was, undoubtedly, the weapon with which he fought, since nobody had fought with that kind of sword in the arena before. It was an ancestral Japanese sword called katana, which was very difficult to find, at least in Sapagna. It was a real challenge for Centric to find someone who could make a katana worthy of a champion; but when he finally fulfilled his sting's petition, he never regretted his decision.
However, Exeus' story did not begin in Mentrish but in Scissors, the small village where he was born. It was located north-east of Windland County, and he lived there along with his family until the age of sixteen. He used to work as a farmer on his parents' lands, which were planted with olive and almond trees above all, even though there were also some vineyards. Considering that the climate in Windland County was always very windy—hence the reason it was given such a name—and it did not rain much, it was not very profitable to plant any kinds of fruit trees since they need plenty of water, a resource that was scarce and, thus, limited by the State except for those who could afford extra supplies. Thus, Exeus' family sold almonds, grapes and wine in the late summer, and olives and oil in winter. The gains that they earned were barely enough for them to live on, so, one day, Exeus suggested his inscription on the trials in order to become a black sting after a casual meeting with two boys who fought as black stings in the little ludclub of Scissors. He asked them about the trendy expensive clothes that they were wearing, and they told him that they had earned enough money to buy them by fighting in the arena of Windswept City, the capital of Windland County. Furthermore, they said to him that they were helping their families economically thanks to the gains that they had obtained from bets. After listening to those boys, Exeus saw the option of becoming a black sting as the only one to help his family.
When he turned fourteen, he faced the tough and cruel task of taking those trials after having been preparing himself for them for more than a year. Successfully, he passed them and got to be part of the Scissors ludclub, where he trained hard enough for the ludclub's lord to finally decide, one year later, to bring Exeus to Windswept City, where he did his best in his first combat in that arena. He had triumphed there five times only when Chester Bloomfield, Windswept City ludclub's lord, decided that Exeus had to sign for his ludclub.
At the age of 16, he had already shown real promise as a black sting. Bloomfield used to tell him that he would fight in the arena of Mentrish one day if he kept on going like that; but first, he needed to become the champion of his ludclub because it was the only way of calling a Mentrishian ludclub's lord's attention. Therefore, Exeus did not surrender and earned respect from the citizens of Windswept City, being recognised as the champion of that city when he was 20. That new position gave him the chance to opine about the ludclub's facilities and staff, as well as to assess and instruct his colleagues. There started to be a more direct relationship between him and Lord Bloomfield, the trust of whom Exeus had gained and whom he convinced should bring his brother, Severus, to his ludclub. That way, Exeus' and Severus' gains could give their parents a good quality of life without the need for them to sell their lands to the State.
Exeus' main purpose had been accomplished, and then he started to focus on a new goal: to sign for a Mentrishian ludclub. Three years later, he saw it done. The champion of Windland kept his status by letting nobody beat him in the arena. No sting of Windswept City ludclub or any other Windland County ludclub was able to defeat him—not even once—and such a fact led Ben Centric to Chester Bloomfield's ludclub in order to make a good deal out of the champion of Windswept City.
Exeus signed for Centric's ludclub and he was very excited during his first days in Mentrish as a trainee, since he had passed all the tests getting praiseworthy results. In addition, his relationship with his new colleague, Chap, improved every day since they ran in the mornings and, then, they swam or went to the gym together. Some afternoons, they grabbed a couple of swords and practised at the ludclub's courtyard for more than two hours. Oftentimes, they had dinner together in a restaurant called The Blocks, where they discussed the day and told each other past personal stories.
Both Exeus and Chap were under Charles Alnay's command. Charles was the national champion back then, and he had earned his title by letting no rivals live after fighting them. His colleague, David Todd, had been the only exception, for Charles had spared his life after beating him in the final combat of season 2664. Nonetheless, Alney was not that merciful when they met again in the arena in the final contest of season 2665. Undoubtedly, Charles was the most amazing black sting back then, for he had many strong points and very few weaknesses as a fighter, not to mention his lack of sentiments as a person. Charles' philosophy began to change Exeus' view in terms of what 'success' really meant. Charles' perspective defended the idea that a black sting's career was only the path towards glory and wealth. Real life, according to him, began once a sting had the chance to retire and keep on living in real style thanks to all the victories that he had achieved and all the money that he had earned during his career, and for that, a sting needed to win the national black sting contest at least twice; something that had never happened before, until Charles got it in January 2665.
Exeus used to see black stings' careers as a way to survive; a way to earn a good living for themselves and their families. Nevertheless, as time passed by, his way of thinking became much more like Charles', probably due to the fact that he spent many hours training by his side. Therefore, Exeus learnt everything that his master taught him, which turned him into a much more deadly being than he had been before arriving in Mentrish. Exeus started to see Charles as a model to follow and his philosophy as a way to reach the top where no other mortal had ever climbed. After a whole year sharing discussions and experiences in Centric's ludclub—and even in the arena of Mentrish—Exeus' faith in his master was confirmed after Charles became the first bi-champion in the history of Sapagna. Alney had got his ultimate objective, and he decided to withdraw from the contract that linked him to Centric's ludclub after giving up his position to Exeus, who Charles considered the only one worthy of becoming the future champion of Mentrish.
Charles gave up on his career as a black sting since he thought that he had won everything he needed to keep on living with more than enough by means of his merits. Becoming the first bi-champion in history granted him monthly pay for life, and, in addition, brand names and mass media kept on taking him on for advertisements and public appearances.
A year later, Exeus achieved his first aim after beating the champion of John Lawyer's ludclub, Giant Theodor, in the final fight of season 2666; a hair-raising combat that, however, did not last as long as the audience would have liked. Theodor was almost double Exeus' size, so beating him was not an easy task for Centric's champion; nevertheless, Theodor's size and strength were surpassed by Exeus' speed and skill eventually, which was the key factor in him becoming the new champion of Mentrish in 2666.
Thus, Exeus Wildfred had taken the first step towards infinite glory, but there was still a long way to go, as will be shown throughout this bloody story.