บท 1: Chapter 1
Mars was one of the twelve great Olympian kingdoms. It was a large kingdom which owed most of its size to war and conquest. In fact it was called the war capital of the world. It was ruled by the Olympian god Ares. Ares was called the god of war and with good reason. His strength and ferocity were legendary, and he found conquest and tributes to be the best form of income for his country. The name of Mars's capital city was Thrace. In the center of the city was Ares's castle. A huge fort covered in red and iron. There were more guns and weapons protruding from it than most armies had in their arsenals. Surrounding the castle were the huge barracks and residential units of the higher officers. All these were quite grand as Lord Ares poured most of its funds into his army. The problem was that this left the rest of the country to rot. On the outskirts of the city were the slums, they were nothing more than unpaved roads with old and cramped buildings on either side. These buildings housed the poorer sections of the city, which largely consisted of soldiers who were no longer fit for wars. Along with the houses the slums also acted as one of the world's biggest blackmarkets. Anything could be bought here for the right price. The shops were littered with old weapons, defected magic gems and monster organs. Most of which could not be trusted. On the left end of the sellers' street was an old abandoned-looking building. The building was three stories high and looked as if the next storm would take it down. On the top of the building in the attic there lived a boy named Maximus.
Maximus was seventeen years old. His friends called him Max. He didn't have a last name because he was an orphan of war. He never knew his parents or even their names. He wasn't sure if they were dead or alive. All he knew was from his farthest memories he was always an orphan. But this didn't bother him too much. There were plenty of orphans in the slums. If both the parents died in the army, and there was no one left to take care of the child they would be send to an orphanage in the slums where they could only stay till the age of twelve. Following that, the army took them in and trained them as soldiers till the age of fourteen, after which they were thrown into war. Then it was three years of compulsory service after which they had a choice of staying in the army or leaving. Most would stay as being a soldier was the major occupation in Mars. Also, by then, following orders were all they understood. Well, that and killing. But Maximus had chosen to leave the army which meant that he was thrown into the slums with nothing but the clothes he wore. A decision he was regretting as he lay awake in the attic that day.
It had been seven months since Maximus had turned seventeen and left the army and entered the slums. And he had adapted quickly to the new surroundings, though it had been tough in the beginning. With no money and no one willing to hire him the only way to make a living was by getting something to trade. And that was how his life as a scavenger had started. Scavengers were what the people of Mars called those who went to the outskirts to hunt or gather things. They would bring back what they got and the shops would pay them depending on the loot. It meant that some days nothing useful would be found, but at least they could gather food for themselves. Maximus had gotten ready to leave for the outskirts but he knew it would be a waste. Some new monster had entered their hunting grounds which had scared off their usual hunt. Which meant that the only thing left for scavenging were some fruits and maybe some herbs. Either way Maximus knew he had to at least try or would have to starve tonight.
Maximus took a look at his condition. The building he was staying in was abandoned and the first two floors were infested with rats, spiders and pixies. In fact, the only part of the building that was not covered in dust and rubble was the attic. But the stairs that led to it were long gone, Maximus had to enter it via a rope which he had tied to a pillar inside, and this led to the ground through the back window. In the attic he didn't have much. There was a bed on one side, of course bed here meant a bunch of torn blankets and old pillows he had sewn together the best he could. It wasn't very comfortable but it beat sleeping on the ground. There was an old dresser in a corner which was in the attic when he first found it. He kept what little clothes he had in it. There were also a few utensils scattered around and some firewood in the corner. The building no longer had electricity but the pipes still worked and Maximus had managed to fix one up to the attic. Other than that the only things he owned were his scavenging equipment, a travel bag where he kept his loot, a small pouch with emergency herbs, combat boots, a pair of gloves and a leather armguard, which he had made himself from the hides of his kills. Other than that he had a sword; it was old and chipped in places, not really sharp either, but it was the only one he could afford. Maximus had specialized in close range sword and shield melee when he was in the army, but they didn't let you keep any weapons once you left. The only thing you could keep was your dog-tag and a small seven inch knife. The knife had 'III-75M' inscribed on its handle. The III stood for the third battalion, 75 was his number within the battalion and 'M' stood for the melee unit. The knife would have fetched him a good price in the market but he liked holding on to it. This was everything he owned. He also had one other thing; something which he wasn't sure was his. He kept it in the bottommost shelves in his dresser. What he had named as the cursed blade.
It was a sword he had found when he was still in the army. It was long and seemed to be of great power and quality, but Maximus had never seen the blade yet. This was because the entire blade and its sheath were covered in thick white wraps seemed to be made out of parchment. At the point where the hilt started was a talisman with symbols he had never seen before. It didn't take him long to figure out that the talisman held some powerful magic which prevented it from being opened. The wrap wouldn't come off no matter how hard he pulled and it couldn't even be cut by his soldier's knife. He had taken it to a local shaman in hopes of removing the talisman, but he asked for an exuberant amount of money to do it, money which he did not have. The sword couldn't even be sold to a seller because they couldn't check if it was worth something. Of course, Maximus did not know any of this when he first found it in the ruins of a temple just three months before he left the army. He had found it in a secret basement under the ruins and knew that if he took it to his superiors he would never see it again. Instead, he left it there so that he could come and get it when he left the army. He was planning to sell it to get enough money to get started with his life. But his plan backfired when he realized he wouldn't be able to sell it. So now he was just stuck with it sitting in the corner of his shelf, and since it had ruined all his plans he had begun to call it cursed.
Maximus checked if the blade was still there. Then he grabbed his equipment and went down the rope to reach the ground floor. He had to meet his scavenging partner by eight and it was already getting late. This was his usual routine; they always met at an old pub by the road called the 'loose cannon'. It was quite a popular place among the scavengers, hunters and travellers among the trenches. The 'trenches' were what everyone called the slums. It didn't have an original name as it wasn't in the original plans of the city. It was built by the city outcasts, and somewhere along the way people started calling it the trenches and the name just stuck.
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