By: Tom Ball
NARRATIVE BEGUN BY Vanderix, an aristocratic scribe.
We were all watching the snake fights that evening… as we did every night
First up was an old man who had dared to complain. He was fighting a snake a night for a week and today was his first day, and everyone was cheering for him… But the king cobra bit him on the arm and wouldn’t let go and so he died. Everyone was saddened, but stoical.
And then there were 50 more snake fights as per usual in a day. One fight was much like another, but there were many nuances, and people watched avidly on TV.
In this book I have chronicled the main events in our world that took place during my lifetime. But first an introduction…
CHAPTER 1: THE LAWS OF THE SERPENTS, YEAR 1000.
The snake cubes were made up of a trampoline and parallel bars. With a fire pit in the center of the trampoline. The dimensions of the cubes were 8 m X 8 X 8 m. There were 3 of these “rings” and TV hook up all around these rings. Sometimes a burning log was hurled at the snake but the rooms were made of clay brick and wouldn’t catch fire. As for the aristocrats they fought the occasional duel in a brick cube 8 m X 8 m X 8 m…
King cobras were the holy Snakes which had been bred to kill humans. Man and snake fought it out. Humans had no weapons to fight the snakes.
Let there be solitary confinement for criminals who would fight once a week for a month or even once a day for a week, and have their jaws wired shut so they couldn’t denounce the regime during the fights. This included dissidents against the King’s wise rule.
King cobra snakes were up to 6 m long and were the sole adversary of the servants/slaves. The servants/slaves were called, the machinos. They all had to face the snakes beginning at age 15 once every 6 months, but the state looked after all babies and children any way so it didn’t matter if they died. Marriage was at age 12.
And, “Let he who defeats 20 snakes be freed from future competition (happened only thrice in living memory).” But such heroes typically wanted to fight and set records and get women to love them etc. So they all died sooner rather than later.
It was just the way it was.
People fought the snakes naked without weapons!
Snakes won 60% of the fights but some people were very adept at fighting and even kissed the serpents on the lips.
Such were the laws of the serpents.
CHAPTER TWO: MORE ON THE SERPENT FIGHTS
People had no option but to fight as well as you are able. And thugs beat those in solitary confinement and captured runaways. Most thugs were part of the aristocracy.
Captured runaways only won 15% of the time, not 40%, like the average.
Some said the best snakes were reserved for the runaways, but the self-righteous crowds loved it.
And every one of the machinos (servants/slaves) had to give a pint of blood, once a week.
And all were expected to watch the whole 3 hour show with blood flavored moonshine, and opium. Blood moonshine was very strong. In Rock City the river ran red with blood and people bathed in it and drank it, washed their clothes in it and stunk. The river made a complete circle of the city, being pumped up at the end of the circuit. About half the blood collected went to the river and the other half to make blood flavored moonshine.
But aristocrats didn’t fight the snakes, instead they had life and death duels. If a man and a woman had a challenge, the woman would select a hero to fight for her. It was basically obligatory.
The duels and snake fights were all on TV. Though the level of technology was low, we had plenty of TVs…
There were snake fights every night and the occasional duel.
And every night they showed a classic fight from the near past.
CHAPTER 3: THE GREAT ARISTOCRATIC HOUSES
I was an aristocratic scribe in Rock City.
There were 8 Great Aristocratic Houses here in Rock City. The city was located in the mountains and we knew there was another city, the City of the Sun on the coast and there were also 3 villages. If there was life elsewhere, we knew nothing of it.
As scribe I had no affiliation with any particular House.
If a leader of a Great House really hated a snake fighter they connived to cover the snake in oil so as to make it difficult to grip. Or use one of their “most accomplished” snakes.
But all the Great Houses mostly hoped their machinos would do well in the fights.
The snakes were raised and cared for by the King in several locations.
Indeed, the official ruler of all the Great Houses was the King, Bloody King.
The King decided who would fight the snakes and who would duel with who. But it was a largely ceremonial post as the King seldom used his power. Just train the snakes.
But young people were very afraid of the House leaders who could force them to fight the serpents every week or even every day for a week. A veritable death sentence.
There was 2 snake fights per night in the mountain villages, which had a 600-900 machino population and 30-35 aristocrats. And there were duels about once a month. The only Great House in the villages was the Great Trader House there. And population 15 000 machinos, 100 snake fights per night in Rock city, 1500 aristocrats, here in the mountains, and featured about one duel per night. And also 25 000 machinos, 3000 aristocrats in Sun city, on the coast., with 75 snake fights per night, and about 1 duel a night.
But the TV only showed local serpent fights. The vast majority of people here in Rock City had never left the city.
Each fight lasted 2 minutes so there was about 200 minutes of fights every night.
Most machinos who won went back to their old job.
The best snakes were saved for the best fighters and when such a fight was announced it was delirium on the screen/speakers.
And some people were secretly breeding snakes and practiced on them but had filed down their fangs.
On this particular night the serpent triumphed over the peoples’ favorite by avoiding his kick and biting back. Many people were distraught to see him go and the other fights of the night didn’t have any sparkle for the populace. It was a bummer.
Duels were relatively common but the aristocrats were 10% of the population and growing. There was no getting out of trying to be a hero in such situations. So everyone was on edge.
On this particular night two men both from the House of Green and Blue were duelling. They had no weapons but punched and kicked one another and finally one knocked out the other and then choked him to death. It was a typical duel, but the machinos loved it.
But not only were there duels among the aristocrats but occasional all-out war. Recently the House of Traders and the House of Black— had been in an all-out war. The Traders wanted union with the City of the Sun, whereas the House of Black was against it. The House of Traders was victorious 170-140 nobles killed. This rendered the House of Black with just 5 male and 174 female aristocrats. And these surviving males were challenged to duels by other Houses which destroyed them completely.
All Great aristocratic Houses were purest crystal but their flags were bloody with a symbol of the House on them. But inside it was pure crystal, transparent and fine.
New Houses were made up of a number of Houses through interview processes. The New House had to stand for something. In this case it was to be the new House of Peace as most popular. Very controversial.
The other Houses connived together to have another new house and established the House of Love instead. The new House attracted good-looking nobles who would sell sex for gold.
XXX
There were numerous TV’s even in mountain villages and typically about a dozen watched a single TV. And they watched king cobra fights with humans and duels of the nobles.
Once in a while the best fighters fought a 15 m long giant python. Their only hope was to poke the snakes’ eyes out or grab a burning log and hurl it at the snake. But everyone preferred the majesty of the king cobra…
Some assaulted and assassinated people with a knife the day before they were to go up against the snakes. They were insane. And so were forced to fight the snakes every week and were kept in solitary confinement and with their jaw wired shut they were fed via a nasal tube.
Rare draws. But sometimes both the snake and the human fighter both died.
As mentioned snakes won 60% on average. Though the best snakes had killed dozens…
The fights flashed before our eyes, one after the other. But the people were entranced by the fights.
Rumor had it that a certain “black knight” was going to come and liberate the machinos and he was supposedly coming soon. So some tried extra hard to stay alive in the snake ring pit.
Aristocrats didn’t have to fight snakes but there were many duels. The only aristocrats that could not be challenged to a duel were the scribes. Scribes colorfully recorded the greatest snake fights and duels. The records went back 1000 years and no one knew what happened before that. Typically the scribes would occasionally appear on TV and remind the people it had always been that way… But nevertheless I kept myself in top shape and was ready for anything. Most of my fellow scribes were males and were over 40.
And if a woman was pregnant she didn’t have to fight until the baby was born so the women all wanted to be pregnant. But the government took care of the babies.
However, it was generally a youthful society. Forty-six average lifespan for nobles, 16 for machinos.
Marriage was the law. According the laws of the serpents, the machinos who cheated on their spouse would have to face the snakes once a week, but everybody cheated and few were caught…
Population of Rock city aristocrats was 1500 and the general populace was 15 000. But the population was falling. Great House Leaders considered less snake fights, but finally decided on not having the women fight so as to have lots more babies.
The aristocrats gambled on the snake fighters and also gambled on duels. The machinos gambled typically all their few copper pieces. Machinos were paid 12 copper pieces a month.
Some bet on the snakes, some bet on the fighters. But everyone was looking for a hero.
It was an honor to represent your House.
8 leaders from the 8 various Great Houses. But mostly the nobles just partied and had sex. They all had sex enhancers. However some blew out their hearts or livers and died. Medicine was in its infancy, and no one was allowed to do medical research.
There were also the Temple of the Serpents and the noble priestesses who served there. All aristocrats were “equal” except there were different ranks which one could move up on. So a Prince/Princess was more powerful than a Duke/Duchess, a Baron/Baroness was more powerful than a Knight/Dame. And the 12 priestesses were equal to the Duchesses. And the scribes were off in a category of their own.
CHAPTER 4: MORE DISSENSION IN THE GREAT HOUSES
In addition to the House of Black, the House of An, had recently been destroyed by the aristocrats of the other Houses. But the crystalline Houses still stood only they were empty. The House of An had wanted to discontinue the snake fights. The other Houses reasoned it was all our entertainment, that and the duels. And they ganged up on the House of An.
But the aristocrats worried that the population of nobles was in decline (so too was the servants/slaves)… And there were more duels than ever. And the suicide rate for nobles kept going up. It was crazy.
Machinos and female aristocrats of the House of Black and House of An were taken in by the other Houses. Each House trained its fighters using the mixed martial arts fighting which featured kicking and punching and biting and grabbing. The House of Oz had the best fighters. It brought laurels to the House. And many joined up from other Houses.
The leader of the House of Traders, was a well-known stud, but he was only interested in machinos and stocked his crystalline rooms of the palace with machino sex slaves. It was all out in the open but no one cared. His wife had lovers of her own.
Scribes kept track of when one had to fight the serpents and recorded the great fights of the day. And also great social events.
On one particular day they were having a banquet at House of Oz, all nobles invited. Staff was very busy.
Princess 100, leader of Oz, told the Princess of the Green and Blues that she was “Ugly as usual.” The Green and Blue Princess replied that “Princess 100 stunk as usual.” Princess 100 jumped on the table and grabbed a candlebra and hurled it at the Green and Blue Princess. A brawl ensued between Oz and Green/Blue House. The servants joined in. The other Houses’ nobles sat there aghast. Several dozen were knifed, a dozen died.
As a result 15 duels were announced between the two Houses.
House of Peace and Mannequin house also had a lot of animosity between them… Some said the House of Peace was actually a House of War and fighting. Fight the good fight to preserve the peace, was the motto of the House of Peace.
Green and Blue House said the Mannequins couldn’t fight and were chicken and the Mannequins said the Greens were an apocalyptic party. Each House disdained all the others. There were no alliances.
But everyone admired the Mannequin Princess. She was gorgeous and all the men wanted her. But she never loved a servant as that was too dangerous, as she was so famous.
Everyone also laughed at the hatchet faced, ill-tempered hag who was the head chef for the Mannequins. Everyone was hoping she’d die in her snake battle the next week. And there were others who weren’t liked and when they appeared for their snake fight the crowd booed loudly in the TV speaker.
The Great House of Love had the best looking machinos. Some were seduced by the leader of the House of Peace and they were seduced to come and join their House. Most machino house servants had it easy compared to the mines and farms etc. And there were orgies every night.
But in the Great Houses the nobles ate wonderful dinners and drank and took drugs and took a lover into one of the guest bedrooms for a quickie.
CHAPTER 5: THE MACHINOS
But in the past, people started having sex at age 12, marriage at 12, so usually had two babies. But only 1 in 500 reached 18. Child rearing was the exclusive right of the state. Typically a mother had to give up her kids when they turned 1 month old. But now women were expected to live on till they were 40, just as long as they were fertile, and would face juvenile snakes in a new law of the serpents.
Machinos envied the nobles for their longevity. As scribe I lived on and had a lover. But she was killed in one of the last women snake fights and I was lost without her. Juvenile snakes fought our women in the past. It would no doubt be common to take an older woman as a lover.
If you won your bi-annual fight you received 5 gold pieces which made you relatively rich. So it was an incentive to fight hard. But for “criminals,” they had to fight every week or perhaps every day, and so often only fought half-heartedly, but if they did that they heard the boos of the crowd from the TVs in the snake ring. It was an adrenalin rush with the crowd behind you, but sometimes they all hated a snake fighter.
With their short lives all the slaves/servants partied wildly every night and life was enjoyable for many. But they were brainwashed to believe escaping their fate was futile.
If you did not watch you’d fight the snakes every week.
Typically those who got a win got a tattoo stroke on their right arm. Up to four strokes and then five was a dash through the other four and so on.
One hoped not to have to fight a successful, dangerous snake. Like Old Hisser, or One-tooth or the Big Red One. Snakes were all king cobras but they had different colors and abilities. Sometimes the mother snake was put in the snake ring with her nest to protect. Such snakes fought ferociously but were matched by 18 year old human veterans.
On this day, hero Jack grabbed the pregnant snake and smashed it against the wall until it was dead and then ate its eggs before the show was over.
The nobles hoped to attract the cleverest of slaves and aristocratic turncoats. To be the cleverest House was the envy of all the others. Currently that was the House of Oz.
As mentioned the mortality rate was 60% for these snake fighters, every fight. The more fights you won, the more ferocious the snake you had to face.
And sometimes servants, farmers and miners rolled dice to see who would volunteer to fight the snakes. Children played snakes and ladders and had wind up snake toys.
People envied these aristocrats and their longevity and riches. One had to be born an aristocrat. But now there were less fights, but my job continued to record the details of the snake fights and duels.
I was bored with it… I didn’t drink blood until I was married at age 12. We shared a cup of one another’s blood. Even the aristocrats got married early.
But I knew how to read and write and do basic math. So along with other scribes we were the most educated. I communicated with other scribes. We were all selected at age 12 to be a scribe.
I was married to a priestess of the temple and we made wild love again and again and though we had other lovers we kept coming back to each other.
But I had a problem with blood flavored moonshine, I was addicted and drunk all the time. And felt unhealthy.
Many slaves hated the nobles, but generally House slaves were treated better than farmers or miners or loggers etc. So House machinos, considered themselves lucky and couldn’t wait to face the serpents to impress their fellow machinos.
Some cried at the fights others were entranced by the action, the crowd roared all on TV. Everyone in the city had a local TV to watch every night.
Some who were dissidents but were exceptionally good were given a 6 month period of grace regarding the snake fights. So it would be a year between fights.
In terms of modern snake ring victory, the record number of wins for a human was 31 and 54 for a snake. “Old bastard,” was finally killed in his 55th fight by the people’s hero, Carl. And Phil killed 31 before facing a snake who’d killed 20, and the snake won.
But the all-time people’s hero was blind Btelek, who managed to kill 3 snakes before his demise.
And the record length of a snake fight was only 6 seconds for the snakes and 7 seconds for the humans.
Of course it took the human 30 seconds to die (these snakes were bred for especially deadly poison). If it was a biannual fight, their jaws were not wired shut and they usually had some amusing shouts and screams as they lay dying. For example, “Remember me, lover,” or “Down with the King,” and so on.
CHAPTER 6, YEAR 1001
Statues of snakes were everywhere and made of crystal.
Snakes on snake fights was also a popular part of every evening. There was a surplus of snakes.
Snakes would fight humans once a week and were cut and hit with sticks to make them angry and crazy.
XXX
Temperature was tropical, averaging 32 C every year.
Dams on the river produced electricity for TV for the two cities and the villages.
XXX
Live or die only two options.
The unwanted people would be released if they could win 8 fights in a week, but only a handful had survived this. In this way the government got rid of the unwanted.
XXX
There were hundreds of crystal statues of the peoples’ heroes inside their Great House that they belonged to. All those humans who won eight fights no matter how much time. One in 5 000, I estimated.
And the winner and loser were transported down below ground and most believed the losers were burned in the charnel house,
Others believed the Great Houses’ people ate them for dinner, but that would be poisonous.
The winner was set free if human and on a biannual fight, if they were fighting more often they went back to solitary confinement. And if a snake was the winner then back in the cage. Sometimes both snake and human died. But that didn’t matter. Except to bookies.
Cages of king cobras. Statistics were engraved on the cage. Each snake fought once every month and after winning were given a small non-poisonous snake to eat or a rat.
Iron ploughs with horses greatly increased the population was a recent reinvention discovered by one of the scribes in the ancient texts. So scribes were valuable. The discovery was made at the City of the Sun, sister city to Rock City, and the traders brought it. I wished it had been me to make such an important discovery. I spent a lot of time reading the texts.
Anyway there was plentiful food now. A surplus. But the snake fights continued.
XXX
Charlenda, a painter, painted portraits of the leaders. And made statues of them.
And this painter suggested making drama shows for TV. Get everyone involved. But everyone laughed at this ridiculous suggestion. But the top brass considered it to be seditious so she had to fight the snakes every week.
Many were curious to see how such a woman would fight, but she avoided engaging the snake for 7 minutes before finally being bitten around the fire having set the snake on fire. So they went down together…
And there was sexual disease and other diseases which killed people. Goat skin condoms were used. Some said drinking from the Blood River made one sick.
XXX
Education was in the martial arts for most people, including both aristocrats and machinos. Scribes were the exception. The scribes had no leader, just served the public. We had all the great fights and duels on tape and often played them at night.
XXX
And the House Leaders carried golden staffs and wore their House colored robes. The masses wore black leather. It was always about 32 C.
The aristocrats lived in Great Houses of crystal. Each House was extremely old but no one knew how old.
All furniture was of crystal but they had some golden fabrics that they put on their beds.
Some said the Great Houses were empty indicating a former time in which the population was higher. Others said it was dark magic that created the Houses.
The Mannequin house was said to have people who did not seem to age. Had they found eternal youth? No one was talking.
The chef of the Green and Blue House cooked the best food. No one seemed to want him to fight every six months. So the King granted him an amnesty of six months twice. This gave him plenty of time to fully develop and teach other chefs.
The chefs were part of the 2000 or so machinos in each House.
The chef of the House of Oz was overheard planning to poison the aristocrats but a cook told on her and she had to face the snakes every night until death. So one had to be careful how you handled people as they could not be trusted.
The butler of the house promoted a new cook and all seemed to be well for the present, but aristocrats from the other Houses were afraid to dine here.
And the new chef loved the butler but he spurned her. So she told the authorities the butler was planning on murdering the Prince. As a result both she and the butler faced the serpents.
All people had the same religion: they prayed at the Temple of the Serpents. And they worshipped the King.
Snake breeders in all houses. They brought them out for their debut and the crowds went wild. All TV hook ups merged the sound from the crowds on the whole and was very noisy.
CHAPTER 7
And there were crystalline statues around the snake rings but there were also crystalline statues throughout the halls of great former aristocrats (some of who had been killed by the snakes). If a snake of the Halls came near a crystalline statue the statue came to life and fought the snake. If the statue won it went back to being a statue, but if it lost it crumbled into dust. TV video recorded such events and showed them in the evening. It was black magic.
Some said the ancients were superior to build such grand designs.
XXX
Aristocrats had to be careful with so many king cobras running loose in their palaces. And the snakes largely fed on rats. Some said the rats and snakes interrupted the purity of the palaces, but the aristocrats loved their snakes. And they shooed away the snakes with their long staffs and were non-aggressive towards these serpents. A few times an intruder entered the palace in the dead of night but they stepped on a snake and were bitten and killed.
On this day a governess of the Black House committed suicide and fatally poisoned 10 noble children. She apparently believed death was better for them than life. She had been known to call our society a death cult. It caused quite a stir among the aristocrats, but the machinos thought it was just another group of deaths.
A few days later the chef of the House of Oz poisoned a dish that 10 aristocrats ate before it was apparent they had been poisoned. She had killed a snake in the House and mixed its venom in with a meat dish. Only 3 of the 10 survived.
After that the King called a meeting of Princesses and Princes but the meeting resolved nothing. So the Princess of the House of Oz declared that the chef and her 10 assistants fight the snakes every week until death. And she bought cooks from other Houses.
The House of Oz was also known for its 3 gay ladies’ maids and 4 gay male servants. No one was troubled by it except for those who thought of joining them during the nightly parties. But they fought the snakes too.
Some said ancient stories told of the serpents as demons, to tempt people toward violence. And some said the devil was pleased by this world.
The populace in general hated the snakes with a passion… And believed society to be a snake death cult. But no one stood up and complained as you would be doomed to fight the snakes every night. And anyway they enjoyed it.
Now that jaws were wired shut the snake fighters couldn’t say anti- establishment jargon nor practice animal mesmerism, and just try and whistle to confuse the snakes.
Some said the snakes enjoyed the fights…
CHAPTER 8: NITE-NITE PARTIES
The night before one faced the snakes, friends and co-workers had a “Nite Nite,” which was a party to cheer up the “hero of tomorrow.”
But actually one snake fight was much like another and happened quickly. I had nightmares of snakes.
Tomorrow, it was everyone’s hero’s turn (his name was Noveau) to battle the snakes. As a scribe I didn’t have to fight duels. Anyway he had a good Nite-Nite party and then he defeated the snake the next night by biting it. He was drunk. The crowd was behind me and rejoiced in his victory. Women wanted to love him and hoped to get pregnant. Men wanted advice on how to fight the snakes. But it was all elementary I figured.
But in my dreams I kept dying from snake bites. Wise old people told me I was doomed.
Criminals were kept in isolation. People who were disliked were free to go after 8 battles. But until then they had to fight again.
Still some machino women who were disliked by the nobles, had to fight the smaller snakes. But the juvenile snakes were still very dangerous. People in the crowd typically wanted the women to win with all their heart.
Breeders sometimes cut the snakes and hit them with a stick to make them crazy for the fights.
But one snake fight was much like another. However most machinos didn’t live long enough to get sick of the fights.
Machinos all wanted a cushy job as a domestic servant. Much better than working in the mines or farm or a lumberjack or a factory worker.
Factories produced new crystal, lights, TVs and gold bricks.
XXX
Sometimes it took women or men a couple minutes to die, but the TV screen was typically divided into 3 for constant action, and if they weren’t dead after 2 minutes of being bitten, they went down the elevator to the charnel house anyway.
There was no such thing as an antidote, but I read about such a thing in the ancient records, over 800 years ago.
CHAPTER 9: THE BOOK OF THE SERPENTS
The book detailed how to best kill a snake. You needed good hand-eye coordination, you needed to sway and hum to mesmerize the serpents. And of course bite, kick, punch and throw burning logs at them or jump on the parallel bars and swing into the snake. Or grab them by the throat and smash their heads into the fire. And if you were really good kiss them, and then hurl them into the fire. The book detailed what kind of kicks and punches to throw and where to bite the snakes. For those few who could read well, it was useful.
One had to select the logs carefully however so as to avoid bad burns.
XXX
Fifty-eggs of each king cobra were hatched every month. Multiply that times 1000 snakes and the result was 50 000 snakes in 3 months. Those snakes who seemed to be poor fighters were released into the wild. We weren’t going to run out of snakes, that’s for sure.
We had large rat farms which produced prey for the king cobras. We had snake farms all over the place.
XXX
Then one night, a famous machino lover was condemned by the rulers to fight the snakes because he dared to question the Blood River quality that was making so many people sick. He had one seven fights and just needed one more victory to free himself…
Today his snake he grabbed by the tail and swung it against the walls whirling in a circle. Then finally he choked the stunned snake.
I was a classic, text book attack. The crowd went wild.
CHAPTER 10: ROCK CITY BURNS DOWN
Then one day towards the end of year 1001, Rock city caught fire and was flattened. The rooves and furniture were highly flammable and there was a lot of debris. Most figured it was arson. Of the 15 000 machino denizens of the city, about 10 000 perished or so it was said. The survivors scattered to the mountains…
The surrounding mountainous forest had regrown recently but now much of it went up in flames.
But when it was over, they fixed the TV network for fights and news. And watched the snakes eat rats until they got the system up and running. One guy jumped in the snake pit with a sword and killed several of the snakes before being killed. He was disgruntled with the system and claimed he wanted a peaceful, non-aggressive society or so he said on TV while he killed the snakes.
Anyway it was a traumatic time here at Rock City. I stayed to record the chaos and got some good TV battles on tape.
Life was short and fleeting…
CHAPTER 11: THE SETTLEMENT IS REBUILT, YEAR 1002
It was decided to rebuild on the same site as before. The city was in a giant crater filled with metals so there were mines all over.
There were temples built to the various Gods. Even the sex God wouldn’t hear our prayer. Nor even the God of Freedom. There was only one God, the God of Serpents, most people figured. Most people prayed 5-6 times to the God per day for 5 minutes each time. “Please God hear our prayer.”
Over and over again. Many people thought the Serpent God was the devil and only he could bring your desires.
Two men vied for the new kingship. A, 65 years old and B, 49 years old. Most were cheering for A as he had a wise, nice personality whereas B was rough and abrasive.
They fought a duel with each other using swords for a change, in the ring and finally B was the victor, cutting off the head of his rival.
Duels were common during this rebuilding period.
The duels were on TV like the snake fights, but that was basically all there was, except for the occasional announcement from the King and classic fights and duels. As before, friendship groups of about 10 again clustered around their TV every night.
The hunt escapees were said to all have been caught and executed in the wilderness and no one seemed to know any different. The bodies were not broadcast on TV.
But people were trickling back to Rock City and the population was growing. Those who had run away were forgiven.
But there were a lot of missing persons after the fire.
Some said there were a lot of people still in the wilderness.
XXX
Some just lay down in the snake ring and refused to fight. They were considered to be the arsonists. They were simply sent down to the charnel house and were typically booed. The crowd would also boo when their heroes were killed.
It just took 30 seconds to die from a snake bite. The match lasted a maximum 10 minutes and if both snake and fighter were alive after 9 minutes, 2 more snakes were let into the room. The fighter would soon be dead.
They bred the snakes with the most virile poison carefully and saved them for special occasions.
XXX
On one particular evening, one of the peoples’ heroes was battling the snakes like he had all week. Wired his jaw shut just ate liquids with a straw so he could not utter profanities about the King. On this particular night the snake grabbed him by the ankle and wouldn’t let go. He died in seconds.
Females were graceful and swift and held their own with the juvenile snakes, if they were required to fight. Everyone was cheering for the women tonight…
Mesmerism with a flute, king cobras on the street. But animal mesmerism was difficult with your jaw wired shut, or even if it wasn’t there were no flutes allowed. Try to sing to the snakes…
Society was on the whole egalitarian in this version of the Rock City. Unlike previous days when one was born a slave, people were well paid for their work and had room to improve their prospects.
But the King had spies everywhere and had hypnotised people not to challenge him but rather fight the snakes or duel with one another.
Dogs chased down runaways at night. And they put them in the snake fights the next night. But they claimed that several animals ate the runaways and that’s why they weren’t on the show. But almost everyone was convinced there was ultimately no escape.
People spent the nights drinking during and after the fights. And spent most of their money betting on the fights (they were paid 4 silver pieces a month). Food and drink was free. That is to say they drank moonshine (blood flavored) and blood beer and ate blood puddings and blood sandwiches and snake meat from non-poisonous snakes. And dog meat. And pork and vegetables from the farms.
XXX
Beautiful garden villas downriver with quaint gardens, pagodas etc. The magic pool that was supposed to convey eternal youth.
And there were houseboats on Lake Cool just downstream from Rock City.
And were popular party venues for the aristocrats. The lake was 2 km wide by 17 km long by up to 69 m deep.
Party boats on Lake Cool. Cleaned up the sewage and sent it to the ocean in baked clay pipes (it was all basically downhill).
100 miners and 100 prostitutes lived on Lake Cool. The mines were in the mountains nearby and the sea was only 30 km downstream and was navigable. It was now a new village, the fourth village in our world.
Many talented musicians and storytellers came to Lake Cool.
Flute and drum and old and new stories and blood wine… After the fights every night. But most in other villages and cities were too tired and went to bed after the shows.
CHAPTER 12, YEAR 1003
Beyond the King were the eight new Great Houses of aristocrats who lived in the Rock City but a poor machino seldom could get into the Great Houses. But if an aristocrat loved you, especially if you were a scientist or architect or merchant, you would often be hidden away in some secret room in the basements of the Great Houses…
All machinos were part of one House or another.
The King had 12 lovers in his palace and no one could touch these women. In the first three years he had 16 children. When they grew up they would form an entirely new House.
People were all disappointed in the new King.
Each great house had its own colors. They were the Mannequins of pure white, they wanted aristocrats to fight duels. The Black House was black, and now stood for nihilism (except of course the Serpent temple. Oz’s House of Gold continued to have the cleverest and the current King was from there. And the Green and Blues who controlled the flow of food into the city. And the Traders were orange-skinned and controlled trade. The House of Love was famous for sex and romance. The Peace house was a bunch of neo-hippies, gray in color. The House of Black was new and they were nihilists who nevertheless worshipped the serpents. And the new House of An were fire worshippers.
Each House had a general meeting alternating with the other 7, so every four months there was a meeting at one of them. They were ruled by Princes and Princesses (one of them). Anyone could challenge the Prince or Princess to a duel at the meetings. Dame Yolanda’s hero, of the House of Oz, defeated the Duchess of the Greens hero and so co-ruled with the Duke and stayed married to her husband.
Upper class nobles had soft hands and were well-dressed in the House colors and were perfumed and mostly did no work. After all they were aristocrats…
The palaces all had many snake statues and some King Cobras roamed the Halls. It was dangerous for anyone to try and get past the House leader’s body guards.
Typically the crystalline palaces had swimming pools, gardens, minstrels etc.
CHAPTER 13
Regarding Machino breeding, females were bred for elegance and femininity and men were bred for strength…
Many men worked hard at the farms, the mines and as lumberjacks. The House servants was a far more cushy job. The women spend their days making clothes and selecting perfumes etc.
Some in the upper class were richer than others, controlling business. Many women were involved in such business.
The head of servants was the governor/governess. Under them was the servers/butlers and finally the blue collar workers.
Poison mushrooms killed the Mannequin Whites. The few surviving aristocrats didn’t know who was responsible so they “executed” all the machinos of the Mannequins in the snake fights… But that was the end of the House of Mannequins.
XXX
But I was disturbed by the news as many aristocrats died and a pall hung over the city.
Back in Rock City, the butler of Trader house reportedly raped a young 14 year old cook. She told on him and he had to face the snakes every week as a felon. But she was charged too for leading him on. So she fought as well.
And also in the Trader house someone murdered the Prince and no one knew who did it. So one out of 10 was sent to fight the serpents 1 per every 10 days as a lesson to those who planned murder of an aristocrat. The “criminals” all died in their first or second fight.
XXX
But the aristocrats were worried they’d be assassinated so they partied with abandon just like the servants. Perhaps more so. Would be assassins had nothing to lose and so were very dangerous.
Elaborate banquets, moonshine and blood flavored moonshine flowed freely. On this particular night the party was held at the House of Oz. Everything was made of gold… Many nobles attended.
Dame Griselda was drunk and told the diners she would take any man. Sir Drake took her up on her offer. It was against the rules but only the laws pertaining to the serpents mattered.
Still secret rendez-vous were thrilling. Especially between Houses.
But it was all dog eat dog, no one respected one another.
It was expected that people were virgins when they got married, but women could get a replacement hymen and men could fake it.
XXX
Wilderness dwellers were armed with fire arrows and dwelt in small groups.
Some were hunted down with snakes on a leash, throw the snakes at the run away. Horrible death with pain. Sometimes the king cobras bit someone and wouldn’t let go.
Some wise city denizens caught wind of their ultimate arrest to fight the snakes and fled to the wilderness.
But as time went by there weren’t enough “criminals” or volunteers so the city King sent out parties of troops to grab the wilderness dwellers and bring them to the fights. Women were especially prized as most fighters were men, but the rebuilt Rock City forced all women to fight every six months. And so the population was falling.
One wise man was said to have remarked “Revolution is impossible with the slave mentality of the people.”
But the Upper Class was growing fast, and many wanted to join it. Even though it was almost impossible for a machino.
CHAPTER 14: NEW YEAR’S DAY CELEBRATION, YEAR 1004
Every 365 days we celebrated New Year’s Day.
A number of females were fighting snakes today. Many were excited about that.
In the past females were reserved for bearing children, but females now fought like the men, despite their femininity and many were enemies of the King.
It was always a big party in which machinos mingled with nobles, in a grand masquerade.
The House leaders all had 8 large king cobra snakes in harnesses to pull their cart. The snakes slithered in a straight line. And were whipped.
XXX
On this day, union leader, machine, Edward, was imprisoned and preparing for his next snake fight. But he kept banging in his rubber room. Three guards came in to tranquilize him but he knocked out all 3 using his martial arts skills. He took a key from one of the guards and gagged the injured men and then stole a uniform and let himself out into the wilderness.
And he ran into the mountains. It was dusk and he was safe for the moment. So he crossed a few streams and went down them a little ways so that his scent would be lost for the dogs. And he reflected that maybe security should have been tighter. Perhaps allowing escapes was a type of safety valve…
XXX
Also on New Year’s Day, there was to be a duel between the Prince of the Blue and Green House and the Prince of the House of Oz. People were looking forward to the fight. Both princes were skilled in martial arts and the fight lasted 10 minutes and went back and forth. Finally the Oz Prince knocked his rival out and then choked him to death. The crowds loved it.
CHAPTER 15: TEN YEARS LATER, YEAR 1014
But gradually, people filtered back into the settlement of Rock City, which was now just a town.
Investigators looking down found that there were many cities on top of one another and so several cities had been destroyed in the past.
One level, level 3, was full of skeletons burned in a fire. This level was bigger and more widespread than the others. And they used strange technology such as light bulbs which we managed to revive and so our city was one of “light.”
But the old name of the old Rock City, was the “Forever City.” That is, according to the clay burnt tablets.
Women received 5 gold pieces for every baby they had and 10 years after being rebuilt by 500 machino survivors there were 800 children, but there were only 150 over 11 years old. Plus 1400 adult aristocrats. Although people were coming back to the city or being born, the machino adult population was dropping fast.
This time the city was mostly made of baked clay with fireplaces of stone.
The city was full of smoke and the lumberjacks kept hauling in logs from the forest to be burned.
And we climbed the surrounding mountains using ropes and nails and found nothing in most of the valleys and the mountains went on and on. But found remains of former cities.
There were a lot of hopeless people who volunteered mostly in the rings but also plenty of criminals. And of course people still had to fight once every six months. The flames destroyed a lot of snake cages, but they had hedged their bets and had plenty of nearby snake farms which were not damaged in the fire.
Some women threw themselves at winners in the ring.
Some volunteers fought just for the favors of certain women.
When someone died their body was burned in the charnel house and their death was duly recorded. If the poison snakes didn’t quite kill the human fighters with their poison, the body was burned anyway…
Women were fertile at 12 and had on average 4 babies, 10 years after the fire. But now the women had to fight.
You got 5 gold pieces for having a child…
There were still 3 villages in the mountains, and the City of the Sun.
The King needed more workers for his building projects so they built temples to the King and also to the Serpent God.
And the royal brewery and wineries… and tobacco and weed… They were producing more than ever before.
XXX
Some abused their power and put snakes in the anus and vagina of young women, effectively taking their virginity. Or men they hated had a snake put down their throat.
XXX
They improved roads and bridges and opened new mines and cut down more trees from surrounding mountains that were not burned in the fire.
And there were still a lot of snakes in the wild as many had been let loose during the fire.
Spies for the King identified dissidents who were sent to fight the snakes just like before. It can’t be helped said the King.
Some captured king cobras in the wild in nets, there were a lot of them and they were particularly vicious…
One of my fellow scribes said he kind of felt sorry for the snakes but people said he was a sap and a wimp…
The new King said everyone is equal, but some must rule and some must work hard for the greater good…
Some said close the mines and forget about gold and other metals.
CHAPTER 16: LITERATURE
The library was full of baked written tablets and previously was mostly about the snake fights and also the deeds of the rulers. The tablets were mostly undamaged in the fire. Chroniclers combed the refuse pits for pots with inscriptions. Hoping for scientific data.
Famous chess games were also recorded. Many people passed the time playing new chess in which the pieces all had different movements every month. This was to combat people memorizing the opening moves.
Genius, Alexander re-invented the electric light in this year and there was much rejoicing. People wanted Alexander to be King and all wanted him to not face the snakes.
And emboldened by Alexander’s success, aristocratic playwright Sandra made plays involving the whole population. But she was condemned to face the serpents for a week and died. Many aristocrats complained, saying they had broken the Laws of the Serpents, that nobles shouldn’t fight snakes. It was scandalous, with the Leader of the House of Love being held responsible. There was a mob protesting and so finally she was herself sent to face the snakes for up to a week, and most people called that justice.
CHAPTER 17: NEW RING
The modern (last decade) record for most snake kills was 21, by the “Master,” who died in his 22nd fight.
Another great fighter (also dead) was the “Lord of the Rings;” he killed 19 before meeting his demise.
Descendants of these two heroes were trained to fight at a young age with an old skilled fighter.
Pros could quit at any time but for “criminals,” i.e. persona non grata they had to win 8 times in a week, to be released.
And many people were restless and hated to see their friends fight. And some said the snake fights were boring, they dared to say so in what seemed a better, more open era than the decade before.
CHAPTER 18: NEW LAWS OF THE SERPENT
Payment shall be 3 gold pieces per successful biannual fight.
Donate all you can to the Serpent Temple.
One must watch every fight in your city/village.
One must identify those who criticized the fights and such people faced the snakes. This law made everyone paranoid.
Felons were required to fight 8 snakes to get their freedom but so far only 14 had reached that. And they were all dead now.
Volunteers could fight as long as they wanted, a few retired unscathed.
New laws vs old laws, it was the same…
The crowd roared as snake after snake entered the ring for hard criminal cases.
XXX
Some said to bring in wolves instead but wolves bred slowly, and held no fascination for the masses, so they kept the snakes.
There was one official playwright and two official philosophers in each noble House. But they had nothing new to say. They were chicken shit.
Secret playwrights wrote of forbidden love mostly… As a scribe I wrote a secret story about a land where there were no snake fights nor duels.
Many cheered for the snakes…
And there was one hero who had the yearly record for killing 11 snakes. Today was to be his final battle. And they sent a fierce snake with a formidable reputation then another and finally a third, but it was the third one which got him. People said he had been drugged by the authorities as he was too powerful and nearly everyone was dismayed.
The next day people seemed to walk a little slower and did their work half-heartedly.
Originally the dead human corpses were brought to the charnel house, but now the bodies were diced up and fried for the criminals to eat, or so the King said. This would poison the criminals, but usually there was only a bit of human meat on each plate.
CHAPTER 19
And they started to hypnotise people on behalf of the King so they would volunteer in the fights (opponents of the King mostly).
Farmers, miners, lumberjacks etc. were disgruntled. They said they worked too hard. Some ardently desired to escape like union leader, Edward, who had still not been found.
Some said there had always been tyranny, but what about the potential of island settlements abroad?
Some ran for it.
XXX
Prostitute Candy had sex disease but many men put on a goatskin condom and loved her the night before they were to face the snakes. Others partied in a wild orgy and debauch, the so-called Night-Night.
But finally the King ordered Candy to face the juvenile snakes for all the rest of her days so as to contain the disease.
CHAPTER 20: THE CITY OF THE SUN (ON THE COAST), YEAR 1014
Population 35 000 in the year 1014.
So I traveled with the Traders to the City of the Sun.
Differences between City of the Sun and Rock City were not so large. But after the fire of Rock City, people considered the City of the Sun to be the cradle of human existence.
The City of the Sun on the coast. People were more laid back than Rock city.
But again the noble Houses, of which there were nine, wanted lovers, money and slaves and to duel against those who irritated them.
People here however, openly denigrated the snake fights…
They seethed with hatred for this society. But they still had to fight.
3 islands bridges in the harbor. They were winding like snakes.
Treacherous currents.
Who knew what kind of water snakes they’d created and put into the sea?
Here again people donated blood every week. And people drank from the blood pools and fornicated and bathed. An S-shaped Dome covered the bridges in the harbor.
A couple of years ago someone had poured king cobra poison into one of the pools and many people got even sicker than usual.
Typically people would get drunk on blood-flavored moonshine. There was a lot of evaporation of blood in the lake, so well water wa
