Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 17

The forbidden city

The visions grew worse each day he approached the forbidden city. Each step was harder than the previous one. Every breath was a thousand needles piercing his lungs. Mouth and eyes were dry as sand. Until finally, his pain ceased completely.

He had entered the nightmare realm.

The air was a thick green substance that submerged everything in it. The sun was no more. He couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t.

Then he saw it.

In the middle of the stormy sea rose the ivory tower high into the heavens. He witnessed the end of the world, when the nightmare would engulf it all. The vision of the ivory tower faded, leaving him at the doors of the forbidden city, which was hidden in plain sight at the center of a huge plain. Only the raven could see it, not the giant. The raven looked at the giant and said,

Giant, wait for me while I recruit my army. While you wait, scout the land, find a place to settle and some people to follow us. If I don’t come back after a few months, you’re free from your oath; free to leave and live as you please.

The giant smiled and said,

I don’t care about silly oaths. I will always help you because you helped me when I needed it.

Thank you giant, I hope to see you again.

With that they parted ways. The forbidden city’s gates opened before him and he stepped inside. People waved him as he walked through the city streets. After walking for a while a man greeted him,

Welcome, brother. Let me show you around and explain it all, you have many questions I am sure.

The raven followed the man through the city, watching the architecture style seamlessly change from one street to the next. And all streets, all the paths in the city converged on the garden. The garden was a massive cultivated field which fed the whole city. Citizens at the garden all greeted him, but he could hardly hear their voices. All he could hear was a faint forgotten whisper coming from the well. At the center of the garden he finally saw the well, which reached down into the guts of the Earth.

He walked up to the well at the center of the garden.

He gazed at the abyss below.

The abyss gazed back at him:

I have been waiting for you.

Who are you?

I am the end. I am the traveler. You have come because you wanted ships, and men, even an army. You can have all of that, I can crush your enemies and make you king. But is that really how far your sight can reach?

What do you mean?

For centuries I’ve watched men play their war games, conquer each other, raise empires doomed to fall. Is that what you want for yourself?

Oh, my aims are much more modest, I only want to destroy the woman that took away my life and the barbarians who are with her.

Maybe now this is all you want. But after you destroy them, who will be left to replace the void?

I guess… I guess me?

Yes, you. But what then? You will extend your dominion over the southern continent? The whole world?

I had never thought of—

Don’t lie to me. I know your thoughts. Maybe you don’t admit it to yourself, but you crave power.

I… Yes, I do.

If you follow me, I will give you the world.