Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 34

Never change

The new administration brought enthusiasm. Everyone was excited about change, except of course the rich and the residents from the first level. Wealth was the first thing that disappeared. Everything now belonged to the state. The new state inspectors went through the residential buildings in every level and decided how many people could be housed in each of them, filling every mansion with beggars.

The whole city was put to work on a single task: the creation of a trained army. Now that nobody was sick, every single citizen, even the children, worked and had no excuse not to. They were either trained as soldiers or put to work to make armor and weapons. New factories were built, and the existing ones were strained to produce more than they could give. The hospitals, now useless, were turned into military quarters.

Every man between sixteen and sixty-four was drafted into the army, except of course the members of the new bureaucracy. The lightbringer personally trained a group of soldiers who then trained the rest of the army. At first she oversaw the construction of the new society, but one night she disappeared without saying goodbye to anyone.

The lightbringer was tough but fair, everyone knew it. If a small group rebelled, or tried to assassinate him, they were put to death. But it was only the most radical that went to such lengths, as most people were only discontent but too frightened to rebel. The city ran on its own most of the time. Here the lightbringer had no real concerns of external threats, as the only two exits were close to each other and under heavy watch. No one was going to communicate with the capital because they didn’t even know where it was. The city was, for most citizens, both the beginning and the end of their world.

One night, as the lightbringer slept peacefully, he had a dreadful vision. He saw her, fighting for her life in a strange place.

He woke up, jumped out of bed and headed for the exit to the surface. He flew as fast as he could, following his vision.

He flew faster than he could fly.

He reached a titanic volcano, so large that from the base, the other side was lost in the horizon. He could see her, near the volcano’s vent, surrounded by fiery humanoids. He crossed a thick smoke storm that poured out the volcano’s vent.

The lightning strikes in the distance guided him. When he was close enough, he began to hear the clashing of swords and firing of guns. He found her near the summit, wounded and retreating to the volcano’s vent. The fiery humanoids poured from the heart of the volcano as molten chunks to rush at the soldiers, giving their lives for her. But the capital soldiers advanced, killing the flaming people as soon as they landed.

Finally the soldiers cornered her. There were no more fiery creatures. She tripped and fell on the ground. She raised her right arm to throw lightning at the soldiers, killing the first division that approached her. But she was weak now, they were almost on top of her. A soldier pointed his gun at her,

Bitch, you’re dead.

He crash landed next to her.

The fuck—

The lightbringer cut the soldier in two. The other soldiers took a step back, terrified at his sight.

His left arm was now shaped as a large shield that he aimed at the soldiers. An officer laid down his gun and approached him,

Help us. Stop her before it happens all over again.

The lightbringer was confused. What did they mean by that? She spoke before doubts could cloud his mind,

Don’t listen to these snakes.

You have no clue what she is. She has lied to you. Lied to everyone, she always does.

With her sweet voice, she begged the lightbringer,

Please, help me. Please!

The lightbringer ran the officer through with his sword, then he lunged forward. He took a round of bullets before the soldiers had to reload. The bullets pierced his body, causing sand to fall where he was hit.

But he kept charging, angrier still.

When he reached the enemy line he sliced through the men so fast they could not stop him. When only eight of them were left standing, they threw down their weapons and kneeled down. The lightbringer’s left arm returned to normal and he sheathed his sword.

The dying officer said,

She has killed more people than any plague or disease.

She explained,

Lies!

We knew she would return one day… But you can still stop her, now that she’s weak.

Bullshit!

The lightbringer didn’t know what to think anymore. He said,

I’m taking you as prisoners.

He cast his own sand-blood into bindings to tie the soldiers’ hands. But he turned around when he heard her cries,

Please help me, I’m bleeding—

The lightbringer rushed to her side. Her abdomen was pierced and she was losing blood. The sergeant continued,

She can’t die from that wound. You can only put her in prison, silence her and hope she doesn’t find a way back into the world. Last time she killed millions and almost brought the world to its end.

She whispered gently into the lightbringer’s ear as he cauterized her wound,

Kill them.

He coiled back. Her eyes were wide open. She spoke louder, for all to hear, smiling a crazy smile.

Kill them.

I want to learn what they know, I can’t just—

She jumped at the kneeling men, her hands spitting fire like a flamethrower while she screamed,

YYYYAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

The lightbringer watched the soldiers scream as they burned alive. Then she fell to the ground and moaned in pain. He embraced her with his arms. She shook and coughed blood.

He knows. My children… in danger.

He flew back to the city, carrying her in his arms. But when he reached the city it was already too late. Several regiments of soldiers from the capital had taken over the forest above the city. They were many more than he could fight. The lightbringer covered her eyes with his right hand. He watched the soldiers connect a huge tube from a machine to the entrance. She kicked and twisted on the lightbringer’s arms.

What is going on, let me see!

But he pressed hard his hand against her eyes and she was too weak to fight him. When he saw that most of the men handling the machine were using gas masks, he understood what they were doing, but had no way to stop it.

He flew away, but not fast enough. As the poison was pumped into the cave, she turned paler and convulsed violently. The poison gas filled every corner of the cave. She cried on his shoulder and hit his chest as she felt the people dying inside the city.

First he flew around, in no particular direction. Until he remembered she had told him about some farms where they grew vegetables for the city underground. He took her to one of them, where the farmers instantly recognized her. They helped him carry her to bed, where she whispered into his ear,

We’ll never be safe. He will always find us.