Long Live Sparta

Chapter One

When the boy was born like all spartens he was inspected if he'd been small or punie, sickly or misshapen he would have been discarded. from the time he could stand he was baptized in the fire of combat. Taught never to retreat, never to surrender, to that death on the battlefield in service to Sparta was the greatest glory he could atchevie in his life. At age seven, as is customary in Sparta the boy was taken from his mother and plunged into a world of violence. manufactured by three hundred years a spartan warrior society decreed the finest soldiers this world has ever known. The gogi as it's called forces the boy to fight starves them, forces them to steal and if necessary to kill. By rod and lash the boy was punished taught to show no pain, no mercy, constantly tested. Tossed into the wild left to pit his wits and will against natures fury. it was his initiation, his time in the wild for he would return to his people as spartan or not at all. the wold begins to circle the boy. claws of black steel, fur as dark night, eyes glowing red jewels from the pit of hell its said. the giant wolf its sniffing, savoring the scent of the meal to come.its not the fear that grips him but only the heightened sense of things.the cold air in his lunges, wind swiped pines moving against the coming night. his hands are steady. his form perfect. and so the boy given up for dead returns to his people to sacred Sparta our king. Leonidas. it's been more than thirty years since the wolf in the winter cold now as then a beast approaches, patient confident savoring the meal to come. but this beast is made of men and horses, swords and spears, an army of slaves vast upon the imagining. Ready to devour the tiny Greece. ready to snap out the world of hope. the reason and justice. a beast approaches. it was king Leonidas himself who provoked it.