Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 32
A spontaneous leader
The next morning she woke up in the lowest level of the city, surrounded by children. Some of them had been blind since birth until she gave them the gift of sight. She woke up the lightbringer to get started with her plans. They had breakfast while the city was still asleep. The whole time they stared at each other in silence. Afterwards, she took his hand and walked with him upwards through the levels. The silent and empty streets presented a much different city than the one they had seen the day before.
She told him,
Just imagine how much effort was put into this place. It’s incredible to think that all this empty space used to be filled with stone. It had to be mined manually through millions of hours of labor across several generations.
But where did all that rock go? It isn’t outside, is it? No, that would be too obvious.
Are you sure?—She smiled—There is a tunnel on the first level. When they mine enough rock, they carry it through the tunnel and throw it in the ocean. Nobody has noticed it is slowly piling up because it sinks into the water.
He looked at her, marveled, and asked,
Did you come up with that?
I can’t say I didn’t.
When they reached the first level, she turned to him and said.
Today I will make you the leader over these people.
I-I don’t know what to say.
They need someone strong whom they can trust. Someone who is experienced and understands what it’s like to be poor and abandoned.
He looked at her, surprised, before asking,
Why not you? I thought you wanted to rule them yourself. Actually, I would say you already are their leader.
Yes, but I have so much work to do in so many other places like this that—
Then take me with you.
She smiled and took both his hands, then replied,
Please, I need you here. Be a leader to them. Prepare them for war.
He nodded and said,
As you wish.
She arranged an assembly for the afternoon. By then everyone would be rested and free from the hangover after having drunk the fuely liquor. Over the next hours, most of the city gathered at the first level, filling it to the brim. When it was time, she spoke, floating above the masses,
I want to introduce the man who freed me from my prison. Please give a warm welcome to the lightbringer!
The lightbringer floated toward her, also smiling down at the crowd below. Everyone reached out with their hands, calling,
Lightbringer! Lightbringer!
He felt embarrassed. After all, these were strangers and not his own people. She kept speaking,
He grew up in an orphanage where he stopped the hand that beat him. He came from nothing and still managed to lead towns to rebel against the empire. Like me, he fell in battle and rose again to fight injustice. And now, together, nobody can stop us!
She stopped to let the crowd cheer and applaud.
We both have seen how you live, separated in different levels on this city. The poor, that live in the lower levels, have to work all day to survive. Meanwhile, the people in the top level spend their days enjoying their material wealth, earned at the expense of the workers. Does that sound fair to you?
The masses replied in unison,
No!
Does that make sense to you?
This time the masses also struck the air with their fists.
NO!
Do you want it to keep being this way?
NO! NO! NO!
And the walls seemed to move.
Then repeat after me: I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!
The lightbringer found it funny how she had taken those words from someone else. After all, borrowing great sentences and even ideas does them a service by perpetuating them down the ages.
Look at what you can do with your voice! You can shake the foundation of any civilization, however old it is!
The crowd laughed. She continued,
The old politicians are useless, they just waste time bickering about how to take your money and piss it away in stupid policies. Then newer politicians replace them to undo half the things the first politicians did and then do even worse things.
You guessed it right, reader, she wasn’t a big fan of democracy.
No, we can’t be weak now. That is reserved for times of peace and abundance. But now, now we’re at war. Now we have to stand up to our enemy with a single voice, just as you yelled “No!” in unison today. We need one person who can make tough decisions. We can indulge in democracy when we are free.
A woman from the crowd screamed,
Why don’t you lead us?
A drunkard added,
We love you!
People laughed, and she continued,
I need to stir up more cities against the empire. We need all the help we can get.
People looked at each other, confused. Everyone thought she was going to be their leader.
Who we need is someone experienced in shaping up and training entire cities for war. Unfortunately I don’t believe there is anyone among you with that sort of expertise.
The crowd whispered and talked worriedly. Some raised their hands so she would notice them, wanting to propose someone as the leader.
She looked at one man who was trying to make his voice heard. She took her right hand’s index finger to her lips, asking everyone to keep quiet. She nodded at him and the man spoke, as clearly and loud as he could,
Why not him?
The man pointed his finger at the lightbringer. Realizing that the man’s words hadn’t reached the whole crowd, she said,
A man right here asked, “why not him?” referring to the lightbringer.
Her statement caused a mixed wave of protest and cheers.
Please, my children, please, I understand. You don’t want a stranger to rule over you. I understand that; he understands that. I won’t force him on you, this is your choice to make. But I can vouch for him as the best man for the job. He will do all that is in his hand to lead us to victory, at any cost. Does anyone have a better alternative?
The crowd was uncomfortable with the idea of having an outsider as leader. But at that moment, anyone who wasn’t a local politician seemed like a good option. What convinced them was that she vouched for him. The lightbringer finally opened his mouth to speak in front of the whole city,
Hello everyone, I am the lightbringer, and I believe that, with your help, we can change the world.