A coroner will tell you that the colour of death is grey from the pallor of a fresh corpses skin. A freedom fighter will tell you the colour of death is red from the spilled blood of martyrs but I know that the colour of death is pink. Pink because the world is painted in shades of it when seen through eyes that have died. When the sun comes up it is pink. The pink light from the sun paints everything with its colour in different hues and shades but still undeniably pink. I remember seeing buildings that I knew in life when they were covered with blue tile and seeing them again after passing and seeing them pink. I have seen animals that were striped or spotted in life but even though still striped and spotted now they were striped and spotted with pink. And I have seen a woman that I loved and knew to have brown hair, brown hair that I had run my fingers through countless times lying dead in the desert herself, that hair now pink to my dead eyes.I watched as her beautiful face rotted away in shades of pink and her bones turned to pink dust.
I have heard this tale of colour told by another who remembers so maybe it�s not just me. Maybe pink is for everyone and everything. Pink is the colour of passing. It is the colour of death.
We used to train in the sunshine when we were young. Exerting ourselves and sweating in the heat toughened our souls and built up our stamina. We only ever practiced with swords though, spears and bows were considered the weapons of a coward as they didn�t require you to look your opponent in the eyes as the fatal blow landed. They didn�t allow you to see his soul writhe in despair as it left the twitching corpse. We were taught the body�s vulnerable spots, the places where we could cripple an opponent or simply kill him. The most prized targets were the ones that would completely incapacitate the enemy yet leave him free to cry out in pain. The effect this had on his compatriots morale could be very destructive. We were taught how to form into the phalanx known as the plow which was used against disorganized troops and let me just point out that compared to us all other soldiers were disorganized. The plow was a formation where the brothers in the front swung their swords in a double arc as they advanced. With the length of the great bronze swords this was a devastating attack and literally cut down all before it like corn in the spring time. The huge bronze swords we trained with were very heavy at first but over the years grew lighter and lighter until they became a deadly extension of ourselves. My brother Sumu was my best friend. We always used to train together, once or twice we even explored our sexuality together. He wasn�t related to me by blood but he was joined to me by the blood that came later far more tightly than any familial relationship could ever attain. We�d met at the age of five which was the age that Marduks began their training. The training took ten years and of all the children who undertook it less than one in one hundred would finish. Less apt and less physically able students would be siphoned off into the army or the palace guard. Those that were injured too badly in training to serve were given a plot of land to ensure that they were self sustaining, they were given slaves to farm it and contracts to supply with a local temple. It was a difficult time, training, running, wrestling and boxing but always with the sword in one hand. The King Ammy was on the throne when I started my apprenticeship to Marduk and he�d been there for over twenty years. The economy was stable and Babylon famed for its peace and prosperity throughout the known world. We had good food and clean water and while we served Marduk we got as much meat as we wanted as well. This allowed us to grow very big in stature. Not forgetting that we were chosen at birth for our size and all of us were very tall, some of us more than a head taller than the average civilian male. This made us appear as giants. We were taught how to use our aggression in battle until we exploded in a frenzy of murderous attack and swept all before us.
Then we met Sabi. He was a year or two younger than me and Sumu and was always the class joker, we three soon became inseperable and could always be found laughing and joking together when not training. We used to go to the temple of inanna and proposition the whores for a joke, sometimes we�d jeer at the priests and laugh at their braided hair and beards. It was very different from the shaved heads we all sported for as we all knew we were dedicated to Bel Marduk and in the same fashion as all the gods were bald. Hair we were told could not survive on divine skin as it would be burnt off by the heat of their blood. This is also why the temple whores in the mother city had their heads shaved and wore wigs. To this day I�ve always thought that one of the most sensual feelings I ever had was when copulating with a whore I would run my heavily nailed fingers over her bald pate.
Sometimes on a free day we�d go out into the marshes and fish. These were great times when we�d sit on a boat our feet trailing in the water and our net over the side. We never really caught much but that wasn�t the point. We used to have a great time talking and joking amongst ourselves and bonded very tightly as friends. We swore oaths to each other that we�d always be there for whatever help the other needed and in that moment of seriousness Sabi would crack a joke and we�d fall about laughing, boys again, all thought of responsiblity gone.
Then at the age of ten we were initiated into the blood. We were taught by an old priest of Ea how to make a blood sacrifice and we�d listen to old soldiers tales of how blood in battle, the heat, the smell of it would enhance our battle skills and slowly and surely we grew to love it. We never tasted the blood of humans in training though, that was for me only and we were considered boys until we�d reached the age of fifteen. Instead whenever a bull was sacrificed the blood was reserved for us. This was a great honour in itself and we were liberally sprayed with it until its effect and use became clear. This of course was when most of the less adept pupils were injured. in the time between giving ourselves over to the blood fury and learning to control it. I personally was injured many times but never badly and always returned to my class within a week. Sabi was not so lucky and got sliced along the forearm. He developed a fear of edged weapons for a while, not a good thing for a soldier of Marduk. But in the end me and Sumu talked him round and once he healed he was back with us in training. He worried us a little at first as he became very aggressive and violent but it passed and he eventually regained his composure. Thinking back our concern for our brother was just about the most traumatic experience me and Sumu had as children. The thought that one of us three could fail was terrifying and we resolved to help each other so that it would never happen in the future.
