The Revolution Series The Uprising

By George Nougat

It is just a matter of time before knowing what is worth fighting for.

The Revolution series tells the story of Exeus Wildfred, a Windlander black sting who fights for Lord Ben Centric's ludclub in Mentrish.

Exeus becomes the national champion in the 2666 season after defeating the champion of Lord John Lawyer's ludclub, the otherludclub in the capital of Sapagna.

After this big win, he meets Leader Christopher Oldus when, unexpectedly, the Leader shows up at the gates of his house. The Leader tells him about a secret plan that will let Exeus make a big name for himself if he agrees to help the Leader.

Sapagna is getting ready for an international war and Oldus wants Exeus to lead an army of black stings that will winthat war for Sapagna; however, Exeus refuses and dares to defy the Leader, which unleashes a series of events that will cause trouble for the main character of this story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caligrama
• Release date: Mar 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9788417533915

Book preview

Logotipo_CALIG_negro-01

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental. All the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogues within are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

The Revolution Series: The Uprising

First edition: 2019

ISBN: 9788417533212

ISBN eBook: 9788417533915

Text copyright:

Jorge Torró Sanchis

Edition copyright:

, 2019

www.caligramaeditorial.com

[e-mail]

Printed in Spain

All rights reserved. This book or any part of it may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any form, or transmitted by any means- whether digital, electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopy or otherwise- without prior written permission of the publisher and author, except as provided by law. If you wish to photocopy or scan any part of this work, send permission requests to [e-mail].

To Antoni Vidal, Cintia Escolano and Carolina Bañuls. Thank you guys for illustrating my work.

And above all, to the writer whose stories inspired me to start a literary adventure. I will always love you and look up to you.

Preface

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. 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 death, suffering and poverty.

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 try to avoid war, proposing some laws and initiatives which had nothing to do with their original conditions, since the coalition of parties with too many different ideals 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. As a consequence of such governmental instability, the government was overthrown and all parties were dissolved.

In 2500, a new way of government arose. After the incapacity of understanding that politicians had shown during the last period in relation to both national and international affairs, it was time to try a new system in which diplomacy would not be a barrier; a system in which a single ruler could take all political decisions without the need to consult anyone else. It was agreed that 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 tests which would demonstrate that such individuals were suitable for holding such an important and delicate office. The candidates would be tested in terms of politics, economics, ethics, military strategy, 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 its efficiency. Therefore, each county proposed its own candidates every five years. Even though a candidate became the leader, he could sit the tests again and again until someone else got to best his marks. Thus, for instance, Mark Evergreen, from Seashoreland County, stood as the leader for fifteen years (2530–2545) until Frank Hooves, from Rockland County, surpassed Evergreen’s marks.

Dennis Newman (2500–2505), the first leader of that new system, established two important rules that completely changed the essence of the country, and abolished every international relationship. The first rule established that all frontiers had to be closed. There could be no international trade of products or 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—Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam were the most outstanding ones—since every person was free to choose their own beliefs. Moreover, as religion had always been a cause of conflict, Leader Newman ruled that all churches, mosques, synagogues and Buddhist temples should be demolished, and stated that every person had the right to pray and express their beliefs in their own houses or communities; nevertheless, no more religious manifestations would be allowed in any public places so that nobody could feel offended and no religious conflict could arise. Thus, temples, religious monuments, ceremonies or processions stopped being part of the Sapagnist society.

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 diplomacy and democracy, along with international relationships and trading. Nonetheless, no countries wanted to deal with Dryland after it became independent, since they did not consider Dryland a valuable country anymore. Therefore, the fact of becoming independent took its toll on the inhabitants, who were not sent any food, energy or other products from abroad. Along with this, Dryland’s climatic conditions, as its name indicates, did not help it produce substantial harvests or benefit from big water reserves; hence, it became more a desert graveyard than an inhabited country.

Meanwhile, in Sapagna, the new system worked really successfully for more than 150 years. The word war was not heard or read in any pieces of news; in fact, it had almost disappeared from everyday’s vocabulary. Sapagna had turned into a peaceful land whose army was about to disappear due to its little utility. However, nobody knew yet that something inevitable was about to happen.

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 27 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 a big part of their salaries 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 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.

All businesses related with those fights in the arena did not stop earning more and more money because of the citizens’ ignorance. 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 could not offer better pays since 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 schools throughout the country, which meant that most children would have no other choice but to work in fields and factories to help their families work the lands or produce 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. They 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 places where black stings were employed and realised their training process were called ludclubs. Leader Oldus had chosen that name because the place where gladiators lived and trained was called ludus and, actually, it was what black stings did in the ludclubs; but instead of living there, what they did was to spend their leisure time 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 with a gymnasium, a swimming pool and a battlefield; however, the richer the ludclub, the more equipped it was. There were several ludclubs throughout the country where thousands of black stings were trained; but only the best ones got to sign for a ludclub in the capital, Mentrish.

The 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 became champions at the annual national contest after beating all 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 for the first time. 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. He was very good-looking as he was around 1.90 metres tall and well-built. He had grown a meticulously trimmed blond beard, had blue eyes and his hair was platinum blond, although it looked almost white with the reflection of the sun on it. Undoubtedly, one of the facts that led Exeus towards glory at 25, besides his indisputable skills, was the weapon with which he fought, since nobody had fought with that kind of sword in the arena before. Exeus decided to fight with a katana, which was an ancestral Japanese sword that 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. The hilt of Exeus’ katana was long enough to be held with two hands, and there was a golden cobra rolled around it whose head stuck out from it.

The main character of this story was born in a town called Scissors, in Windland County. There, along with his family, 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 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. Exeus suggested it after a casual meeting with two boys who had got to fight 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. After one year of training, the ludclub’s lord finally decided 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 and face men who were as good as him.

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, and also about his colleagues. There started to be a more direct relationship between him and Lord Bloomfield, whom Exeus 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 work for the State any more.

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. Exeus 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.

The champion of Windswept City 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. In the afternoons, they grabbed swords and practised 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. He was the most amazing black sting ever as he had many strong points and very few weaknesses as a fighter, and no 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 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 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’. Exeus spent many hours training by Charles’ side, so Charles taught him all he knew and 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 could ever climb. 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. He had got his ultimate objective, and he decided to leave 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 kept on taking him on for advertisements and public appearances.

Meanwhile, Exeus achieved his aim as well. He beat Theodor, John Lawyer’s ludclub champion in 2666, in 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.

Exeus Wildfred had taken the first step towards infinite glory, but there was still a long way to go.

Chapter I

The crowd couldn’t stop cheering and shouting from the very first moment I went onto the battlefield. I had made it to the great final and I was going to face one of the most brutal opponents I had ever fought. That year, John Lawyer had found a real champion for his ludclub; one really worth it. His name was Theodor. He was around 2.10 metres tall, I presume, although I didn’t focus on those things. The only thing I could think of was how to defeat him. It wasn’t going to be an easy battle even though I had been analysing his weakest points for months. My intention was to make him get dizzy and tired, so it was not going to be a short combat.

Theodor started trying to corner me so that he could slice me up, yet he didn’t know who he was facing. I faked that I was going to fall into his trap. I retreated every time he attacked; I just focused on dodging his sword until I was led to the corner over which Leader Oldus, Lord Lawyer, Lord Centric and other representatives of the country were watching the show from the leader’s box. When I had finally reached the corner, I waited until Theodor was close enough to carry out the idea I’d just come up with. At that moment, I went up onto the fence and jumped towards my opponent as quickly as I could, before he could even react. I parted him from his head with my sharp katana. The giant had fallen and I was the national champion in Sapagna. For yet another year, Ben Centric’s ludclub had defeated John Lawyer’s.

Before leaving the battlefield, I could hear how the people of Mentrish shouted my name euphorically as if they had seen a god. Actually, that’s what I felt I was at that moment: the god of gods.

Then, it was time for something I could not get very excited about: a press conference. Luckily, before entering the room, my colleagues rushed towards me almost burying me under them. They were fucking excited because of my win, which, in some way, was also theirs. For four consecutive years, Ben Centric’s ludclub had reached the top, whereas John Lawyer and his men kneeled before us. Such a sensation can’t be expressed in words.

We could barely exchange more than a few words since, after my colleagues had congratulated me, Centric approached and talked to me.

«Who am I looking at? Tell me who I am looking at, because I’m not sure whether it is a god or a man.»

«Definitely at a god, my lord,» I smiled.

«Haha!» he laughed. «We will continue this conversation at the ludclub tomorrow, okay? Now go deal with the press.»

«It’s not an easy deed, my lord. I’d rather face any of Lawyer’s stings.» He laughed again and let me alone in front of the press.

I didn’t appreciate Ben at all, but I had to pretend I did so that everything kept on going well between us. The black sting-lord relationship needed to be cordial if such black stings wanted to prosper; otherwise, their lords would find a way for them to die in the arena.

Well, it was time to answer those junk questions that journalists always used to ask. The first question regarded my first year as the champion of my ludclub and how I got to become the national champion. I said that it had been a little hard for me at the beginning, but, with time, you learn how to manage the situation. Charles, my former master, had prepared me well to be in charge of my ludclub companions. They had all worked fantastically during the season and the results were clearly seen, if the numbers of people who had attended each combat were considered. The fights between black stings belonging to Lawyer’s ludclub had not even half the audiences of the combats which Centric’s stings took part in.

The second question was about my brother’s arrival at the ludclub. As the champion of Centric’s ludclub, I could meet the lord in order to arrange ideas that could help improve the ludclub and its reputation; so, I advised Centric to go to the arena in Windswept City, the capital city of Windland, where I used to fight, so that he could watch my brother in action, and he could ensure