Neytopia › Part 1: Dawn › Chapter 10

Monster

She and her followers stormed the king’s castle and dragged the entire royal family to the patio where they had burned her. She hung the whole royal family and left them to rot under the sun. Then she put a vicious criminal in the new position of president. He stripped the nobility of every privilege, rank and possession they had, sending the new revolutionary army to fight those who resisted.

Then she left.

Or rather, she took thirty-two fanatics, gave them white and red robes, and left.

The next time she came by a village, dressed in fine clothes and surrounded by her followers, people were afraid of her. For eight years she traveled, exposing charlatans and snake oil sellers wherever she went.

Eventually she reached a kingdom that was withering away with hunger. She met several wizards with pockets full of gold which they squandered on cheap hoes. She beat the truth out of one such magician,

The-the kingdom, you see. There’s a monstrous monster! The king payed us to hunt him, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Go on, go and take his coin too!

Low-life scum had always disgusted her. But when they took advantage of honest people going through hard times? That made her go balistic. For days now, all she had seen was vast horizons of barren land, cities lost to theft, murder, rape, famine and even cannibalism. She captured the wizard and dragged him to the king, who agreed to receive them in audience. The castle was a dreadful sight. The precious paintings, the fine furniture and the valuable valuables had all vanished, leaving behind only their shape in the walls where they used to hang.

This!

She threw the chained man at the king’s feet.

…is what’s happening to your people’s wealth. You are giving it away for crooks to waste in brothels! You are giving gold to these wizards without any guarantees. Are you out of your fucking mind? There is no monster, you’re getting scammed.

You don’t understand, lady…

You… you are weak and despicable. When I expose this whole monster thing is a hoax, mark my words, I’ll come back for you. But right now, I have to salvage your kingdom.

The king pulled out a bag of coins and spoke in a shamefully low tone:

Here’s some gold for your troubles…

No I don’t want your fucking gold! Don’t you see this is precisely what has destroyed your kingdom? Give me only a small group of your men to lead me to this monster and help me find it.

She left the palace with thirty-two royal guardsmen. Eight days they traveled, following a very real path of destruction. All the while, she kept telling herself,

It’s just a hoax.

But she had never seen anything quite like it before. What once were fields had now become barren deserts covered in black dead plants. She had heard many descriptions of what the monster was, but one thing was certain, it was YUGE.