Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 43

An end to the war

The situation in the northern capital was dire, far worse than the raven thought. After mindlessly wasting the food from the villages and cities, the northern army also drained the rest of the kingdom’s supplies. Famine reached the northern capital, where only the king ate regularly.

There was a split between those who still blindly followed the king and those who supported the nobility and their aspirations to the throne. The king had systematically given more power to the army, which had ravaged land and people alike. But the Heathen army was still standing and everyone assumed the heathens were hiding in the forests around the capital, waiting for the northern king to make a mistake. But hiding inside the capital waiting for the heathens meant that the fields could not be worked, so there was no more food coming. The masses rightly blamed their king for their empty stomachs.

During the war, protests and revolts often gripped the kingdom until the army suppressed them. However, when the soldiers and guards saw their own rations diminished, their loyalty to the king wavered. The king had brainwashed citizens into thinking there were thousands of heathens lurking in the woods and even more infiltrated in positions of power within the kingdom. In truth, the heathen army totalled sixty-four soldiers, including the raven and the giant.

On the other side, the raven was sure the king kept northern army reserves in the frozen lands up north, stationed around the capital. While the raven prepared for one last attack, the northern court also prepared to put an end to the war. A large group of conspirators intended to capture the northern king and sign a peace treaty with the heathens.

Unaware of the plot, the raven gathered what remained of the heathen army and sent them to one of the last populated towns in the North. There were no northern soldiers left in that town, so the children and the sick prepared to die, pitchfork or rusty sword in hand. But soon after the heathens had entered the town, a giant figure appeared, dressed in a white robe and wielding a great hammer. The figure screamed at the heathens, waving his hammer,

Leave my people in peace, heathens, or face my wrath!

The heathens fled before the giant figure had struck even once. The people in the town cheered their champion. Several witnesses left for the capital to inform the king:

It was the Greater man. He himself came down from his celestial abode to deliver us in our hour of need! The promise unto his people has finally been fulfilled. O, how blessed we are!

The mysterious figure stopped every single heathen attack from that day on, blazing along the frontier with the heathen kingdom. The citizens of the northern kingdom regained hope and believed they might still win the war, especially as they recaptured heathen territory and food returned to their tables. The Greater man had come to save them from evil. Cleansings and trials ceased. Deserters and traitors returned to their lands and supported the northern king.

Even the northern king believed that the Greater man had come out of his island to help his beloved people. But there was a shadow of doubt in his heart, which whispered into his ear,

Could this be a trap? Could it be an impostor posing as our God?

Although the king wasn’t sure it truly was the Greater man, every other citizen was convinced. The northern king had brainwashed his citizens so thoroughly and effectively that now everybody believed the Greater man had come to save them because it is what he was expected to do. It didn’t matter to the masses that the king had survived the war, the Greater man had won it.

Heroic tales spread throughout the land describing the Greater man as a down-to-earth savior that had cast away the evil heathens. The peasants and craftsmen proclaimed their love for the Greater man through folk songs. By contrast, the king looked harsh, cruel and unnecessary. The king realized that if he didn’t play his cards properly he would lose power. He needed to earn back the people’s trust. He needed to show them that he alone was the chosen one, the prophet to the Greater man.

The counter-attack began as the last drops of winter rain fell on the fields. The Greater man ventured alone into the enemy zone, leaving burnt camps and piles of bodies burning on unholy mounds. Once the last heathen cities were taken back, and the people who had fled were back in their homes, the king decided to meet the Greater man to be in his good graces. He knew when the war was finally over, his god would choose the ruler.

The king headed south-west with what remained of the northern army: one thousand and twenty-four men, most either too old or too young. They agreed to meet in the great city of the Sun, the greatest fortress to have ever been taken by the heathens. The Greater man had liberated it and it was now occupied by peasants. The king and his god would celebrate their victory there and discuss the future. As the king rode to the fortress, he asked the lackeys by his side,

Funny, isn’t it? How the heathens managed to seize this great fortress in a day only to lose the war.

And while his lackeys laughed, he thought to himself,

And what would have happened to me if the Greater man hadn’t come…

The king entered through the great city gates, followed by his court. The Greater man was standing in the city’s outer court, waiting to meet them. The court applauded and cheered at the Greater man. When the king saw the Greater man, he fell on his knees in awe. Every doubt was shattered in an instant. It really was him. The king said, terrified and embarrassed:

I, I, I bid you forgive me, your highness.

His court all kneeled and looked to the ground. The Greater man said, laughing,

Come on, please, stand up. No god needs this much flattery.

The king and his court stood up, chuckling. The Greater man spoke again,

Good. Now, let’s enjoy a great feast, shall we?

The king, his court and soldiers entered the great hall, heart of the fortress. There, a special wooden throne waited for the Greater man. It had been carved in his honor out of a millenary tree by hundreds of thankful northerners. The Greater man and his guests all sat there, eating and drinking happily. Some people sang, others told tales and those drunk enough danced to a merry ballad.

After eating his fill, the Greater man said to the king so everyone would hear,

Let me ask you something, if I may.

Yes, of course, anything you want.

Why did you leave the children and the sick behind to fight while your soldiers enjoyed fine wine and public women up north?

The king swallowed and thought for a few seconds. He had not anticipated the blow to come so swiftly or so harshly. In a few seconds the whole room had gone silent. Everyone listened closely to their conversation. The king replied,

You see, your highness, to protect the weak, I, I needed to keep my soldiers alive. So I ordered the people to abandon the land soon to be taken by heathens. I didn’t want my soldiers to perish lest the kingdom fell into heathen hands. It wasn’t my fault that some peasants decided to stay on their lands.

The Greater man’s voice boomed across the hall,

They had no means to move because they were poor and sick. You abandoned them and ordered them to fight down to the last man!—The Greater man slammed his Greater fist on the table—Old people, women, children… they all tried to fight off an army that had defeated your best soldiers. And it was because of you!—The Greater man stood up from his throne while the king was still sitting down. The Greater man cast a Greater shadow over the king—That is not the way I showed you: repent your sins, don’t try to justify yourself one more time or—the Greater man was seething with anger but he stopped to recompose himself—Why do you think I had to come down here from my home up high? Because you were going to lose the war and my people with your incompetence!

The tension had reached a critical point. The king knew if he recognized having commanded the soldiers to abandon the sick and poor, he would lose all support. So he decided to go on the offensive and shouted, standing up,

Why, then, didn’t you stop the tragedy before? Where were you when the children screamed for your help and the invaders raped our women? What good are you if you just leave your people to die?

That’s it! I no longer recognize you as the rightful king of the North. Order your men to surrender!

I knew it! You are just another impostor looking to usurp power. MY POWER! Well, you’re not the first and won’t be the last! Guards, take him.

There was no response. The king turned back. He saw in horror his personal guards bleeding on the floor, their eyes wide open. The fortress soldiers had cut their throats. One of the soldiers, in full armor, calmly came up to him and removed his helmet. His face was covered with black plumes. The king screamed in horror,

It’s you! Hiding in plain sight, I, I’ve seen you in my dreams—

The raven removed his gloves and strangled the king with his bare right hand, raising him above the ground. The king’s head caught fire as the raven raised him, and a few seconds later, the king’s entire body burned with a bright blue flame. The king’s screams announced to the people in the room, and soon to the rest of the world, that everything had changed.

Far away in the southern continent, an old woman felt the northern king’s death in her bones.

She stopped what she was doing and rushed to speak to the king over no land,

Our time has come. Prepare your men to set sail. The king in the North is dead. Long live the king.