Neytopia › Part 2

Noon

Part 2 of Neytopia. A boy enslaved by a masked warlord, an orphan who leads a revolution and an ancient prisoner cross paths, as empires rise and every revolution starts to resemble the tyranny it replaced.

Start Part 2: The king over no land →

Chapters

1. The king over no land
   A masked warlord raids a southern village and brands its survivors as slaves, among them the lord's sixteen-year-old son.
2. The dreamer
   On the northern continent, an abused orphan and the boy he swore to protect take a bloody revenge on their tormentor.
3. Animal
   Wounded and enslaved, the boy wakes on a rattling cart next to a girl who keeps him alive.
4. The altar of revolution
   An errand boy climbs the ladder of city politics one smile at a time, earning the trust of the powerful.
5. Alone
   Eight months after the raid, he has a wife, a child on the way and a guilty secret: he is helping the barbarians.
6. With us or against us
   The revolution takes power, and its leader decides what to do with every party that opposes him.
7. The raven
   Half-dead by a river, the boy finds a black jewel that changes everything he is.
8. Yes-men and concessions
   “Bring back order”: the secret police hunt traitors everywhere, and the Party leader turns to his brother for advice.
9. The loneliest island
   Covered in black feathers, he learns to fly, and realizes he finally has a way to kill the old woman.
10. To ashes
    The Party leader smells treason in the air, and a neighboring city's “independent” leader becomes a problem.
11. The depressed centre of the universe
    Whispers call the raven to a city in the north, and he and a giant begin the long walk across the southern continent.
12. Justice! Justice!
    After a deadly fire, the leader mourns in public, and notices that the people truly loved their dead leaders.
13. Across the golden ocean
    On the road north, the raven and the giant face bandits, kidnappers and the 128 thieves.
14. Making history
    The leader rebuilds a city his own men wrecked, then tells its people a new version of what happened.
15. Across the Middle Sea
    Disguised as an elephant under a stolen sail, the giant boards a ship with the raven, bound for a new continent.
16. Lightbringer
    The revolution builds its war machine, and its leader is hailed as the lightbringer, an ancient northern hero.
17. The forbidden city
    Tormented by visions, the raven crosses into a nightmare realm to reach the forbidden city.
18. Traitors... traitors everywhere
    Life under the Great Leader settles into a routine of drills, weapon workshops and labor camps.
19. Under siege
    The forbidden city feels like a dream to the raven, until thousands of machines pour out of the sky.
20. Prisons are locked from the outside
    Falling into the abyss, the revolutionary asks whether he was any better than the Tyrant he fought.
21. Out of the frying pan into the fire
    The raven wakes up scarred beside a burning city, and a voice tells him that he died.
22. The endless grind
    In the mist of an endless prison, an old woman speaks of the man who trapped her there long ago.
23. Manrabbits
    Captured by the manrabbits, the raven is strapped to an altar before their high priest.
24. Hungry
    Beyond a gate lies a library without end, a flying staircase and a very long wait.
25. Damned heathens
    Looking for recruits in the north, the raven's band finds a town where whole families hang from the trees.
26. Jailbreak
    A prisoner who has waited far too long finally gets an audience with the bureaucrats who keep her locked away.
27. Everybody is looking for something
    The raven dreams of everything he lost, and the giant dreams of a ship sailing into a storm.
28. Secret societies
    Free after centuries, she leads the lightbringer toward the armies she hid in secret cities.
29. Kill the king
    While the giant recovers inside the mountain, the raven's band waits outside the gate.
30. The social pyramid
    A nervous young secretary summons the woman and the lightbringer to the city's high chamber.
31. Turning point
    In a secluded mountain cave, the raven tells the giant they must go to war.
32. A spontaneous leader
    She wakes in the lowest level of the city among children she gave sight, and begins her plan.
33. Hard to kill
    The raven and the giant enter the city under the mountain to join its leader against the king.
34. Never change
    A new administration abolishes wealth in the city and puts everyone to work on a single task.
35. Those who hide in plain sight
    A fortune teller warns a paranoid king that his kingdom will fall to those who hide in plain sight.
36. The Thing
    Driven from their home, she, the lightbringer and the farmers set out to find a new one.
37. Into the dark
    Soldiers storm a dark underground city, firing flaming arrows to see what waits inside.
38. Tired of losing
    Stranded on a deserted island, she and the lightbringer sink into regret.
39. Exodus
    The people of the city under the mountain flee through a secret tunnel before the northern army arrives.
40. Yet another religion of love
    Fleeing in the night, she lands among the empire's outcasts and finds a new idea to spread.
41. The heathen army
    The raven's band reaches a northern city captured only a month ago, and slips inside at night.
42. Disintegration
    A new religion of love spreads fast, as she wears a different face for everyone she meets.
43. An end to the war
    Famine reaches the northern capital, and the kingdom splits between the king and the nobility.
44. Cyanide, old friend
    Restless, the lightbringer wraps himself in bandages like a leper and sails north.
45. A storm of swords and spears
    A god has killed a king, and the giant must speak to the whole northern army.
46. Circuform
    She meets one of the watchers, the beings who once imprisoned her for 2,024 years.
47. The day the sea spoke
    Ignoring his generals, the giant rallies his troops at the strait as a barbarian kingdom rises in the south.
48. Showdown
    The lightbringer flies over the burning capital where his brother once betrayed him.
49. Dreams
    The raven is crowned king, and the envious leader of the city under the mountain wants revenge.