Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 5

Alone

Eight months after his village was raided, he was happy. His wife was pregnant and he was his own boss for the most part. Still, he could remember the smell of burning flesh. He struggled knowing he was helping the tens of thousands of barbarians, and they grew by the week.

The king over no land felt confident enough to prepare a raid on the greatest city in the southern continent. He announced the raid, triumphant:

Once that city is ours, all our people will live there, bathing where ancient kings used to bath, drinking their fine wine and FUCKING THEIR WOMEN!

Yes, what better incentive was there for his men than loot, booze and booty? The whole camp was eager to move to their new home, even though it wasn’t conquered yet. The king over no land knew that once he took over the city, the rest of the continent would fall. That city was the gate to northern trade. The only thing that could stop him from taking it was a joint defense by the southern lords, but that was unlikely.

Old southern kingdoms had been fighting for so long they had forgotten what they were fighting about. Their bitter resentment was even stronger than their survival instinct. This is the manner in which southern noblemen thought: “Yes, and after that city, they will come after my neighbor to do the dirty job for me. Just you wait and see.”

When the camp was heading off to war, the old woman came to speak to him,

I know what you have planned. You are going to kill the king over no land. You have to let it go, forget that nonsense. I’m warning you.

He shook his head. She grabbed his right arm and looked into his eyes.

Listen now, you must obey. Think of your wife and unborn child, you must be there for them.

He and his wife worried about the future, even if they couldn’t speak about it. They feared bringing a child into a life of slavery, and he was determined to do something about it. He was convinced that the only currency to pay for his wife and child’s freedom was his own life. Amid the agitation of the camp’s uprooting, when carts clattered constantly and everyone was getting ready to move, he headed for the king’s tent. He took the quilt that the woman had given him and used it to conceal a stolen sword.

Then he sat by the road and waited.

Eventually, the king over no land, followed by his entourage, came walking down from his former home. Before he got close enough, the old woman sat next to him, put her hand on the quilt and said,

This is the last time I’ll warn you. Stop before you do something you will regret.

But he refused to listen to the annoying old hag. He stood up and walked up the path, determined to meet the king. His vision blurred as he walked, but he was still determined to kill the king. He had to stop a couple of times because he could barely distinguish what was in front of him. Had the king passed him already? He turned around.

After rushing down the path he found him by the road. Yes, it had to be him. It had adopted its true form: a fat deformed monster, feeding apples to his horses. While he and his wife had barely enough food to eat, there was that man squandering apples. He seethed with anger. He looked around to make sure his guards weren’t there, unsheathed his sword and snuck up behind the beast.

Close up he noticed a second head reaching out of its body. When the creature saw him, the apples fell to the ground. It spoke monstrous words:

Agh rer qwe qwe?

He ran his sword through the beast’s second head. Immediately his vision cleared, to find his hands covered in blood and his wife crying on the ground with his sword through her belly. It was her blood that covered his hands.

When he was about to scream in horror, he fell to the floor, petrified. A voice whispered in his ear,

Shhh now my boy, I warned you.

It was the old woman. She had placed some kind of blanket over him. He couldn’t move nor speak and the people that passed him by couldn’t see him or his wife’s body. He watched in pain and impotence as the actual king over no land strolled comfortably by his side.

There he lay while they all disappeared into the horizon, marching toward the desolation of the south. There he lay while rain poured on him, his bones ached from the cold and thirst made him delirious. The lifeless body of his wife always by his side.

He was willing to trade his soul with the devil for the chance to undo his crime.

But the devil wasn’t buying.

The only thing he could do was to watch night follow day in a never-ending cycle. He lost track of time and embraced insanity. The village that burned down, his son that would never become a man, his wife with whom he would never grow old. They were all now distant dreams fading in the distance.

He fought through the pain for months until one day he saw the old woman come back to the clear. She came close to him and said:

Do you remember why it was necessary that you lie here?

But he knew there was no reason for all that pain, only cruelty.

Perhaps now you can finally leave and be free, now that you’ve had time to reflect. Remember your pain, embrace it, and don’t make the same mistake again. Mankind depends on you.

Then she took the blanket off him so he could once again move. He shivered and wriggled on the ground. With much effort he stuttered:

Y-you. I-I will destroy you. Y-you, and them, whatever, wh-whatever it takes.

She smiled down on him,

Oh please, you can’t even—

You, you will remember me for the rest of your life! I will take all that you love. You will scream in agony but no one will hear your cries.

He tried in vain to use his legs. Then he crawled toward her using his arms. She just left him in the pouring rain, knowing she would see him again.