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Congrats to Tabata, and a fun original contest idea by the way.

Another Photoshoppable fav...

Ringo
Genghis
Awesomespawn
Stabmaster
Caligula
Stupot-

A man walked his son to the ruins of the largest amphitheater ever built by the Roman Empire.  His son was a strapping young kid in his teens.  They stood facing a pitted, limestone pillar which was lying sideways and had obviously seen better days.  The son said, "Dad, tell me about the hunts."  The father smiled and replied, "Nearly all of the old tales are dark and violent, so don't tell your mother I told you."  He put his arm on his son's shoulder and began...
----

The rules of the main event were simple.  Four lightly armored prisoners fighting for freedom and glory each armed with a gladius, and the largest white rhinoceros that Emperor Vespasian's team of hunters could find from the uncharted jungles West of Egypt, squared off in a battle to the death.  The rhino was big enough to earn the name Gigantus, and more importantly, successful enough to survive ten brutal Colosseum hunts.  Vespasian had recently ordered Gigantus to be armored, in order to fairly justify adding more combatants to the upcoming games.

Marcus stretched as he prepared for his battle with Gigantus.  From the arena passageway he only half-watched a slave being torn to pieces by two half-starved, rabid jaguars.  The crowd roared.  Another slave threw a spear at one of the occupied jaguars, just as a previously unseen third went from stalking to moving in for the kill and leapt on his back.  The spear thrower was reduced to a bloody heap from an onslaught of bites and claw strikes.  Marcus glanced over to where the spear had landed and saw it had gone in to the audience, all of whom fought over the rights as if it was the World's most valuable souvenir.  Marcus was big, Roman, and a decorated soldier until he refused orders to strangle a female slave who had disrespected his imperator.  He wanted freedom, but more importantly redemption through fame.

Flavius ignored the jaguar mauling currently taking place, and examined the razor sharp edge of his gladius.  He had paid off a Colosseum servant to swap Marcus's giant two-handed gladius with a nearly identical copy, but this one had an extremely dull edge.  Flavius wanted Marcus and the other two combatants out of the picture so he could claim a solo victory over Gigantus and receive a larger purse.  He had a hardscrabble upbringing and eventually become a career thief.  This occupation came to an abrupt end after making the mistake of attempting to steal a solid gold seal from a rich well-connected merchant.  Flavius wanted fortune at any cost.

Drustan leaned against a pillar in the arena passageway and thought about vengeance.  He was originally a farmer and blacksmith from Britannia.  His home was invaded by Vespasian's forces, and so all Britannian and Celtic men of fighting age were made slaves.  Drustan was separated from his family during the upheaval, and eventually shipped to the Roman Colosseum to fight for his captor's amusement.  Drustan desired an opportunity to assassinate one or more high ranking Roman officers, and eventually return home in the unlikely event he somehow survives.  Drustan was in this for a rudis - he wanted freedom.

Sangue stopped studying Marcus, Flavius, and Drustan.  His eyes went to the arena, not focusing on the slaughter currently taking place but instead he was mentally examining the space in which he would be dealing death.  The area was basically a large semi-oval circle that had been made to look like a savanna.  The only real cover were the huge randomly placed rock outcroppings.  Surrounding this was the seating areas made from limestone (or if the occupants were deserving enough, marble).  The stadium seating ascended upwards mostly by social class/rank starting with the princeps and finally stopping at the topmost sections, which housed Roman society's most ragged commoners and dirty undesirables.  Sangue wished he had a crossbow, but they had been banned thanks to an errant bolt finding its way to the Emperors box during a recent hunt.  Bolts had previously been peppering the uncovered sections of the non-noble seating areas for years, but these concerns had fallen on deaf ears.  His weapons were the standard issue gladius and a trusty boot dagger, though it was not currently poisoned.  Sangue had been an assassin for various political houses and senators and over time had made powerful enemies who collectively decided that he should be sent to the dungeons for what proved to be a cruel and tortuous stay.  Sangue just wanted blood; everyone's.

Gigantus stared at the door to his pen, cracked his enormous neck, and hoped it would open so he could have more food.  The nearby master pet minder hadn't bothered starving the large Rhino anymore prior to hunts, as the massive beast had developed a taste for people.  The master zoologist claimed the animal was a herbivore, but training through starvation and combat had changed that.  The minder then watched in horror as Gigantus lived up to the name and unleashed its bowels all over the floor of the animal pen.  He would soon renew his argument with the Colosseum master groundskeeper as to who is really responsible for pen cleanup.  His Dad's cousin's sister had married the master scribe in the Senate, and so the minder strategized...

Emperor Vespasian was bored.  He yawned as the jaguars, or "panthers" as his master zoologist calls them, began eating and eventually dismembering the slaves.  The emperor glanced over at the Praetorian guards who lined both sides of his well-protected emperor's box, all of whom stoically took in the gory scene as if nothing was happening.  He also studied the expressions of his wife Sabinus and favorite mistress Antonia, both of whom would have preferred to see one of Seneca's plays.  They only stomached the animals and gladiators to appease their emperor, as is their lot in life.  Vespasian motioned for his master eunuch to fan more furiously, as the day was unseasonably warm despite the cooling effect of the marble seat.

Gallus finished gnawing on a lamb shank, and tossed the remains behind a stairway pillar.  He usually hated the hunts and preferred seeing human gladiator-on-gladiator combat, but the ferocity of that large big horned monster in-action demanded his attention.  When the brutish man wasn't insulting his fellow spectators, Gallus often bragged about his brief stints at gladiatorial combat in the early days of the arena; though he never mentioned that his opponents had all been disabled slaves with no combat training.  His stone seat in the topmost section was uncomfortably hot, and the uneven ridges had scarred his posterior over time.  The seat had a terrible view, but he could at least tell by the crowd reactions if the combatant that he had denarius on was winning or losing.  Gallus looked up and saw a man walking down the stairway hawking wooden carvings of Gigantus.  He walked his eyes over the crowd until they found the emperor's box.

The Emperor lowered his hand, and the fighters entered.  Different sections of the crowd applauded, cheered, or jeered.  The sheer amount of noise caused an annoyed Gigantus to ram open the wooden door to his pen, and dramatically charge into the arena amidst a shower of splinters.

The gladiators waited for the signal and in unison bellowed "Ave imperato morituri te salutant!"  Each man started to spread out when Marcus lunged for Flavius, put him in a headlock, and quickly disarmed him.  Flavius struggled with flailing arms, as Drustan and Sangue watched while each carefully moved to a different stone pillar.  Marcus whispered, "Hai rubato il mio gladius" into Flavius's ear and then hip tossed him onto the ground.  He ferociously bashed in Flavius's nose with the handle of his large dull gladius.  Marcus then grabbed his victim's right leg and wrenched it at an odd angle which resulted in a loud crack followed by wailing from Flavius.  Marcus swapped his gladius with the sharper one previously owned by Flavius, and walked away examining the honed edge of his new sword.

Gigantus had been thrashing wildly and snorting.  The beast calmed down, and then noticed prey writhing on the ground.  The large rhino charged.  Marcus retreated towards the inner wall.  Flavius tried to crawl, but the pain from his mangled leg would only allow slow movements.  The petty thief turned gladiator tried to shield himself by raising his arms.  His last conscious thought was how stupid he was for trying to trick a man like Marcus.  Gigantus stampeded his victim, and each hoof had struck home on a body part.  The crowd roared in delight as they watched the writhing crumpled form of Flavius.

Sangue debated taking advantage of the distraction, but he had studied Gigantus and knew the big beast would quickly resume hunting after taking a few small bites to just stake the claim.  He ducked back behind the stone outcropping.

Just as Gigantus finished marking his kill, Marcus jogged over to Drustan who braced himself for a fight.  Marcus extended his hand for the traditional Roman forearm grip handshake, and Drustan accepted.  They nodded to each other as if completing an unspoken alliance.  The vibration resulting from the incensed crowd's jeers and boos over this development was enough to make Sangue glance from his cover to see what was going on.

Gigantus charged Marcus, who waited and then made a last-minute leap to avoid being gored via huge Rhino horn (which had been sharpened by the master pet minder).  Drustan backed away when he saw the hoofed monster start for his new ally.  Marcus scanned the Rhino's armor plating on its back and sides as it went past to look for possible points of vulnerability.  He didn't see exposed skin, but he did spot a few leather straps which held the armor taught.  Drustan looked as well, though he was evaluating the quality of the armor plating and he resigned himself to the fact that it was top notch.  The big rhino turned around and eyed its prey.

Marcus and Drustan slowly backed up to the opposite side of the inner wall.  Drustan had almost made it when he collapsed in heap.  Some of the crowd murmured and others doled out some brief jeers.  Marcus saw Sangue retreating from his newfound friend who was now on the ground and covered in blood.  Drustan put pressure on what appeared to be a knife wound to his right side.  He knew that the intention of the attack was to slow him down rather than kill.  Marcus kept his eyes peeled for Sangue as he made his way over to Drustan.  The former soldier leaned Drustan up against a huge stone and shook his head.  Gigantus watched, though it didn't have a clear line of sight of any prey at the moment.

Despite the wound, Drustan had a death grip on his gladius and continued scanning his head back-and-forth while leaning against the rock.  His hearing was not great as evidenced by the assassin sneaking up on him, but Drustan's eyesight was perfect.  Marcus motioned for his friend to wait there, and he carefully made his way along the inner wall occasionally glancing at the nearest stone outcroppings.  Gigantus was now milling around the body of Flavius.  Marcus spotted Sangue, who was now throwing rocks in his direction presumably to divert the murderous rhino's attentions toward him.  It didn't work, and Marcus swatted at the rocks as he made his way to Sangue who was silently backing away.  Gigantus loudly snorted, which caused Marcus to look over at the beast.  He then swiveled his head back at Sangue who was no longer visible.  Marcus started to wonder if the rumors he had heard about trap doors in the arena grounds are true.

Drustan stood up even though he was in obvious pain, and began yelling insults at the rhino.  Marcus guessed what his plan was, darted over to a tall nearby rock, and climbed up.  Gigantus came charging towards his prey and suddenly felt a heavy weight push down from his back, which altered his course slightly.  Drustan guessed wrongly on the beast's direction and was rammed.  While the business end of the horn missed him, the force of the blow knocked Drustan fifteen yards in the air and slammed the man hard against the inner wall.  The plan worked, as Marcus was now on top of the monster hacking away at leather straps.  The crowd roared with excitement, and even the usually reserved emperor stood and clapped at the acrobatic feat.  Drustan lay slumped against the wall barely conscious, but he had enough strength to manage a small grin after seeing Marcus riding a large white rhinoceros.

The ride was short lived, as Gigantus tripped over a small stone outcropping hidden in a section of tall grass.  This caused the beast to stumble nearly full force into a larger stone outcropping, and it immediately collapsed.  Marcus went flying through air and miraculously landed relatively unharmed on top of a small bush.  He sprinted towards Gigantus to take advantage of the beast being down, and was blocked by Sangue who had a gladius in one hand and a dagger in the other.  The assassin moved aside and motioned for him to pass, but Marcus knew this was a trick and he stood his ground despite passing up a chance to easily finish off the rhino and hopefully the hunt itself - depending on the emperors whims of course.

Marcus adjusted his askew leather armor and hefted the gladius, which was smaller than what he was accustomed to fighting with during the campaigns.  He pointed a big finger directly at Sangue, and then made a thumbs-down gesture.  The crowd's response was mixed; though most were cheering.  Marcus approached Sangue, who knew that he couldn't back down from such a public challenge.  If he ran or hid now, then the emperor would have his crossbowmen rain down bolts.  Marcus swung his gladius and struck the bronze hilt of Sangue's, and as the swords were crossed the assassin tried to stab with his dagger hand but to no avail as his wrist was grabbed by Marcus's free hand.  The two struggled for balance and position, until the contest was disrupted by a giant head butt from Marcus which sent Sangue reeling backwards.  Marcus thrusted with his gladius, but his opponent deftly side-stepped and then threw his dagger.  The former soldier brought his big hands up to protect his face, and the dagger clanged off of his large wrist bracers.  The crowd was standing and cheering.

Sangue knew that a gladius duel with a former professional soldier was a fool's errand, and so he closed the distance and hoped to disarm and wrestle the big man using dirty tactics.  Marcus faked left and went right with his razor sharp gladius and the sword punched through the assassin's left shoulder as he tackled Marcus.  They both went tumbling as Sangue bit Marcus's ear and ripped off a huge chunk of flesh.  Fighting the extreme pain in the side of his head, Marcus slammed an elbow into Sangue's face and flipped the smaller man onto his back.  With blood streaming down from the torn ear, Marcus applied a choke hold just as he heard approaching gallops.  Sangue was trying to reach back and somehow poke one of Marcus's eyes when he was suddenly turned over face up and promptly stomped to death by a giant white rhino.  The shock waves that Marcus felt being underneath his victim were bad, but not enough to prevent him from getting off one quick, deep stab to the unprotected underbelly of Gigantus as it went over both of them.  The crowd was standing on their feet both cheering and stomping on the limestone floor of the Colosseum.

Marcus tossed Sangue's body aside and stood up with one hand holding the remains of his right ear and the other on his hip which had absorbed a particularly nasty hoof stomp.  Gigantus had slunk off and collapsed in the opposite side of the arena with the sword still buried in its stomach.  Marcus reveled in the crowds cheers, and he bowed.  The hulking former Roman soldier was walking over to check on Drustan when his body convulsed from the shock of being simultaneously hit with thirty-seven crossbow bolts.  The crowd became silent, and all heads turned to the emperor's box to double-check that this had been officially sanctioned.

Drustan was brought up to the emperor's box, and placed in a marble guest chair.  The Colosseum doctor had hurriedly patched him up.  The Emperor said, "You are from Britain I hear...Good thing I speak your language.  Your friend was a rebellious soldier who refused orders, and while he was brave in the arena I just cannot let a man like that go free.  My rhino is still alive it seems.  He is adored by the people and a big draw that we cannot afford to lose, so we will attempt to nurse him back into fighting condition.  Anyway!  As for you, I hereby grant you freedom and fifty denarii.  Return to your home, or you can stay in the city as a commoner, or after recuperating you should consider a return as a free gladiator."  Drustan stared down the man responsible for the invasion of his homeland, briefly glanced at a sharp plumbata dart loosely hanging from a nearby guard's belt, and debated his next move.

----
The kid had been on the edge of his seat.  There was a long pause after the Dad had finished, and then they both continued carefully walking through the ruins around the outer wall of the Colosseum.

Cool smiley, I'll file that one away for a rainy day. 

...And my armpits are flawless; ripe for cloning.

[preferably]

Well, backstory should preferably be in the form of a dialog. In that case the monument would simply hear it. But honestly, it doesn't have to. I certainly won't disqualify a story because it takes some liberties with the rules. And the winner is chosen by voting anyway.

The characters have some internal dialog around the monument.  Also, the monument reads minds.

The only limit is...what the monument could "know".

I want some brief exposition, or backstory, of characters that are at the monument.  The story will only take place at the monument, and the plot revolves around what it was built for in the first place.

  So for example if one was writing about Angkor Wat, could they could write something like...

   ...The Khmer King looked on as his team of architects, stone masons, and artists hashed out where the temple (or wat) should be located and the details of its construction.  As he watched, the captain of his guard approached bringing news of his brother's latest attempt to rekindle a civil war...

  Is this ok?  3rd person perspective with the action taking place in or around the monument.

One of my all-time favs...

  Cool!!  But wait...did you count Selmiak's votes?  I thought I had lost this one!?  Or maybe I am totally misunderstanding the voting system.

  I'll gladly take it, however, if the recount proves me victorious

...Anyone else voting?

 Voted, and good luck with the Steam rollout!

Yep, you're up!

Beverly Hills Cop 2

I especially liked the closure that I got from kconan's piece -he's going to make it!

I forced myself to deviate from my norm of violence that culminates into an unhappy or cliffhanger ending.  So yep, first time I can remember writing a happy ending.

[Sinitrena]

Mutation: Sinitrena - Unpredictable and unique mutation
Atmosphere: Baron - Bringin' the funny
Style: Baron - Great exposition and setup had me wanting more...
Character: Baron - For Arnold Arkwright

  Ten submissions for the sci-fi writing comp, and so far only one for the MUTATE writing comp.  C'mon folks, crank something out!