Somewhere else in the Southern Continent, one could see vast chains of complex mountains. Each mountain in the chain was tall to the point that they almost touched the clouds. People called this chain of mountains, the grey mountains because at night, the trees blanketing the mountains glimmered a silver light. The scholars of the Southern continent studied the trees and their leaves, coming to the conclusion that the leaves had a property that absorbs moonlight and produces a vapor that radiates in silver color. In addition to the silver light, the vapor produced by leaves had a cooling effect. The scholars and blacksmiths of the Southern continent were able to create a device that absorbs this vapor, store it within and release it slowly to cool down a room or a hall depending on the device's size.
The grey mountains spread vast as the mountains surrounded three kingdoms. Each of the three kingdoms was ruled by a king instead of a senate. Among the seven kingdoms in the continent, only these three kingdoms were ruled by kings. Over the years, the senates tried to overthrow a king's regime, intending to replace the kings with the senate by conducting many clandestine operations yet the senates failed because the alliance between the three kings was too strong. Considering the three kingdoms were surrounded by grey mountains, it'd be near impossible for other senate-ruled kingdoms to prevail in a war against these kingdoms.
In addition to being a natural wall for the three kingdoms, the mountains provided the kingdoms with grey leaves which were one of the major economic pillars for these kingdoms. No matter how hard the senate tried to grow the grey leaves trees, they simply could not succeed as the grey leaves trees were exclusive to the grey mountains..
If one tried to harm the grey mountain forests, they would not only face the wrath of the three kingdoms but also the wrath of the Elven empire in the Awor Continent because the forest was worshipped by elves all over the world. This was another layer of protection the three kingdoms got from the grey mountains.
No bandit camp or any threat could prevail in the grey mountains, at least that was what the rest of the world thought. In the forest of Qiven kingdom's part of the grey mountains, a campsite containing numerous tents could be seen under the thick canopy.
But the campsite was not inhabited by bandits, it was inhabited by someone else. The campsite was surrounded by a makeshift wall made of wooden poles with a pointy end. Inside this wall, there were numerous sturdy men doing chores such as tending to the horses, chopping logs, fixing tents, and sharpening their weapons. Apart from these sturdy men, one could also see several women of various ages from young to old.
Despite their gender, all of them had many scars on their bodies including burn wounds. Every one of them in the camp was a slave. Many of them joined the gladiator rebellion three years ago before settling down in the grey mountains. The rebellion was led by the gladiator named Doctorus, the same man who trained Titus and Optimus, Aria's brothers.
Three years ago, the gladiator rebellion started in Ludus Gallion in the Miral kingdom. Soon it became a slave rebellion as many slaves began to rebel against their masters, fighting for their freedom.
The rebellion sparked the dormant fire within the slaves to yearn for freedom. If the rebellion created a spark within the slaves, it created a forest fire within the nobles. The nobles viewed this rebellion as nothing but treason. Many nobles living in the senate-ruled kingdoms began to treat the slaves even worse than before after the rebellion, some of them even executed the slaves to make an example out of them.
In addition to the atrocities against the slaves, many luduses(schools of gladiators) increased security and enforced strict rules to keep their gladiators from rebelling.
Regardless of everything, still many gladiators killed their masters and joined the rebellion. Of course among those who rebelled, many died before even crossing the kingdom's border, and those who survived suffered various injuries in the hands of legionary and spartan soldiers.
At the moment, inside a tent on the northern side of the camp, Tiberius was staring at the dagger in his hand. His hands were frantically shaking. Holding the dagger in his right hand, he touched the deep cut back of his neck. The wound was running from the neck to the middle of his back. Although he survived this deadly cut, it affected the muscle movements of his arms. He could not even hold his daggers tightly. If he did, his arms would silver uncontrollably. The dagger reflected a square-jawed man's face covered in wavy hair.
Each passing day, his strength diminished little by little. He could tell that soon, he would not be able to fight at all.
"Tiberius"
Tiberius quickly put the dagger away when he heard someone calling him. Although most of his fellow gladiators noticed his illness, they didn't say anything.
The man who came to Tiberius's tent was another gladiator called Marcus.
"What is it Marcus?" Tiberius asked in a thick British accent.
"It's time"
"Time for another bloody meeting" Tiberius made his irritation obvious but still, followed behind Marcus to Doctorus's tent which was located in the camp's center.
"Afternoon Marcus"
"Hiya Marcus'
"Greetings Marcus"
Almost all of the people they met on the way to Doctorus's camp greeted Marcus with a smile but avoided eye contact with Tiberius. It was because ever since they settled here three years ago, Tiberius always had disagreements with Doctorus and many other gladiators.
Plus, Tiberius was short-tempered and the most feared gladiator among them. Unlike Doctorus who preferred to take a subtle approach with the senates and the nobles, Tiberius wanted to strike them down before the nobles could do the same to them.
As far as Tiberius was concerned, he wanted a more aggressive leader to lead them. If not for the injury he suffered two and half years ago when they attacked a Ludus in Gisal, he would have fought for the leadership. Nonetheless after all these two years, besides the injury, he also realized that he's not suited for leadership. That was why he's trying to push Doctorus to be more aggressive.
Although Tiberius didn't like the way Doctorus does things, he respected the man. After all, Doctorus trained him and all the other gladiators in Ludus Gallion.
He followed Marcus, ignoring all the pleasantries for a few moments before reaching the biggest tent of their campsite. The tent was large enough to hold a big round table they used for meetings and Doctorus's belongings which were not many. Other than being Doctorus's room, the tent also served as an armory.
When Tiberius entered the tent, there were six male gladiators including Doctorus and two female gladiators were standing around the table.
"I just received a piece of news from Gisal. Herius has hanged three more people who tried to escape the kingdom"
In this camp, many avoided using the word slave. They were fighting against slavery and stopping using the word was their first step towards abolishing slavery.
"Fucking shithead" Tiberius punched the table in anger. He wanted to rip Herius throat off
"He's been hunting the boor bastards ever since we started this rebellion. Were those people gladiators or slaves?" Tiberius was one of the few people who's still using the word slave. After seeing what they did to Titus and Optimus, he hated being a slave himself yet unlike Doctorus, he didn't believe that a simple thing like stopping using the word slave was enough to abolish slavery.
"Cleaners and maids" Doctorus answered,
"Let me guess, that bastard tortured them before hanging them" Tiberius did not look at any of them but Doctorus. Despite the respect he had for Doctorus, Tiberius felt his anger erupting within towards Doctorus.
Doctours remained silent while everyone took his silence as a yes.
Coupled with the frustration of his worsening condition, this piece of news flamed the fan of Tiberius's anger.
"What did I tell you, Doctorus? Leaving Herius alive was a stupid decision, we should have killed him when we had the chance" he tightened his fist as his hand began to shiver.
Although the gladiators standing around the table didn't agree with Tiberius on almost anything, this time was different.
"You were there with me, Tiberius. It was killing Herius or saving those girls. Even if I had to do it again, I would still do the same"
"Then what the fuck are we doing right here? We don't have to anyone now, we must kill that fucker before he tortures and hangs more people. Give me five men and I will bring that bastard head"
"You can't Tiberius" Doctorus immediately rejected Tiberius's request.
"You're not the same Tiberius you were once and im not gonna send you on a suicide mission knowing that you'll die"
"What did you say?" The situation immediately tensed up as Tiberius walked forward towards Doctorus with intent to fight. He couldn't control his anger after being insulted by Doctours like this in front of the others. Among everyone in the Ludus Gallion, only Titus and Optimus could fight and win him. Since they were not here, he would have been the best gladiator in this camp if not for his condition.
"Stop Tiberius"
Marcus and some of the gladiators moved in front of Tiberius, trying to stop him.
"Get out of my way" Tiberius punched Marcus in the jaw. The punch should have knocked down Marcus, instead, it did not even move Marcus's head.
"That's it," Marcus said before throwing a punch at Tiberius. If he was at his peak, he would have evaded Marcus's punch but his condition slowed his movements. Doctorus shook his head disappointedly after seeing Tiberius getting knocked down by Marcus. He couldn't help but feel pity for Tiberius.
*******************************
A few minutes after sending men carrying unconscious Tiberius, the meeting resumed. Doctorus stared at the map of Gisel with a dagger in his hand,
"Tiberius was right, we must stop Herius before he harms more people" As he said, he plunged the dagger into the table through the map of Gisel.
Right at this moment, none of the gladiators knew that Herius was begging for his life to the Dark Lord.