shimmered in the light, brandished in raised fists.
The blades came down and stabbed. There were thick spurts of red, then they
rose and banged down again, tearing through his back, neck, chest and gut. The
pierced and punctured dreg writhed, twisted, choked, drowning on his own blood
until the last twitches of life left him. When the thrill of his destruction
subsided and his killers and onlookers walked away, the Guards came forward and
hauled the torn pile of flesh away.
When it all ended, Saul dropped the smoldering cigarette butt and stamped the
cherry out under his heel. When the trail of smoky fog parted his lips, he
raised his collar. By then, Celyn’s eyes were fixed, unblinking, over the spot
where the whole scene had unfolded. And as she gazed at the bloody puddle left
in the dreg’s wake, Saul turned and walked away.
“Tell Malachi to call me once he has made his decision.”
C. 5: Day 363
The steel walls hummed. Cold air funnelled in through the ventilation ducts.
The corners of his book shone yellow under the pale light, where the pages had
been stained by tar and nicotine. He had smoked through the whole carton of
Lucky Strikes and started his second reading of United Martial Covenant and
the Birth of New World Order . It did not take him long to realise that he
was reading things he had merely forgotten that he already knew. With each
line of text, his mind seemed to precede his eyes. It made him wonder whether
memories could rekindle through experience the same way. Only time would tell...
He turned the yellowing sheets forward to page 213. The title at the top of
the page read:
“Chapter
12: A World Divided”
He
read, skimming through the introductory paragraphs, as usual:
The
formation of the Martial Covenant ushered in two major global divides -- one
external and the other internal. The first divide was between the eastern and
western spheres, fulfilled by the signing of the East Grid Pact two years after
the Martial Covenant. The second, internal division emerged from the
promulgation of so-called “Martial Order,” giving rise to the soldier societies
known today as the “martial metropolises.”
The
proliferation of the free martial economy and the influx of Private Military
Corporations in the wake of the first skirmishes between East and West gave
rise to a vast demographic shift, as millions of people all over the world
turned to the martial profession (the first converts invariably being soldiers
from the national militaries). 1 A few short years after the
signing of the “Mercenary Act,” the headcount of private militias across the
UMC nations surpassed that of national military personnel. 2 Growth
continued to surge until, by 2050, more than 10 percent of the adult population
in the entire western sphere was employed by the PMCs, comprising more than 150
million soldiers. Sociologists regard this period as the early formation of
the “Martial Class.” 3
In
the early years of the UMC, martials and civilians lived among one another as
common citizens of the nations. However, a sharp increase in violent crime
coupled with the global media’s sensationalisation of events such as the
notorious Vincent Caine Incident 4 , there emerged a sociological
division between civilians and soldiers, a divide founded on fear. Long and
arduous political disputes at the supranational level finally led to the 45 th annual Assembly and the passing of UMC Council Resolution 01-45, bringing into
effect the “Martial Autonomy Act” of the same year. This marked the beginning
of political separation between martial and civil order. Three years later,
the construction of the first martial capitol of the First UMC Region, Sodom
Metropolis, was complete. Within the last 20 years, more than 25 martial
metropolises have been built within national territories across the Three
Regions, with five more cities still
The blades came down and stabbed. There were thick spurts of red, then they
rose and banged down again, tearing through his back, neck, chest and gut. The
pierced and punctured dreg writhed, twisted, choked, drowning on his own blood
until the last twitches of life left him. When the thrill of his destruction
subsided and his killers and onlookers walked away, the Guards came forward and
hauled the torn pile of flesh away.
When it all ended, Saul dropped the smoldering cigarette butt and stamped the
cherry out under his heel. When the trail of smoky fog parted his lips, he
raised his collar. By then, Celyn’s eyes were fixed, unblinking, over the spot
where the whole scene had unfolded. And as she gazed at the bloody puddle left
in the dreg’s wake, Saul turned and walked away.
“Tell Malachi to call me once he has made his decision.”
C. 5: Day 363
The steel walls hummed. Cold air funnelled in through the ventilation ducts.
The corners of his book shone yellow under the pale light, where the pages had
been stained by tar and nicotine. He had smoked through the whole carton of
Lucky Strikes and started his second reading of United Martial Covenant and
the Birth of New World Order . It did not take him long to realise that he
was reading things he had merely forgotten that he already knew. With each
line of text, his mind seemed to precede his eyes. It made him wonder whether
memories could rekindle through experience the same way. Only time would tell...
He turned the yellowing sheets forward to page 213. The title at the top of
the page read:
“Chapter
12: A World Divided”
He
read, skimming through the introductory paragraphs, as usual:
The
formation of the Martial Covenant ushered in two major global divides -- one
external and the other internal. The first divide was between the eastern and
western spheres, fulfilled by the signing of the East Grid Pact two years after
the Martial Covenant. The second, internal division emerged from the
promulgation of so-called “Martial Order,” giving rise to the soldier societies
known today as the “martial metropolises.”
The
proliferation of the free martial economy and the influx of Private Military
Corporations in the wake of the first skirmishes between East and West gave
rise to a vast demographic shift, as millions of people all over the world
turned to the martial profession (the first converts invariably being soldiers
from the national militaries). 1 A few short years after the
signing of the “Mercenary Act,” the headcount of private militias across the
UMC nations surpassed that of national military personnel. 2 Growth
continued to surge until, by 2050, more than 10 percent of the adult population
in the entire western sphere was employed by the PMCs, comprising more than 150
million soldiers. Sociologists regard this period as the early formation of
the “Martial Class.” 3
In
the early years of the UMC, martials and civilians lived among one another as
common citizens of the nations. However, a sharp increase in violent crime
coupled with the global media’s sensationalisation of events such as the
notorious Vincent Caine Incident 4 , there emerged a sociological
division between civilians and soldiers, a divide founded on fear. Long and
arduous political disputes at the supranational level finally led to the 45 th annual Assembly and the passing of UMC Council Resolution 01-45, bringing into
effect the “Martial Autonomy Act” of the same year. This marked the beginning
of political separation between martial and civil order. Three years later,
the construction of the first martial capitol of the First UMC Region, Sodom
Metropolis, was complete. Within the last 20 years, more than 25 martial
metropolises have been built within national territories across the Three
Regions, with five more cities still
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