The next day John and Nem met with Karamen and Tiluniel as soon as they entered the mine. John explained Nem’s circumstances to the others, and Nem began to prove himself by drawing a map of the city in the mud. John had made the right choice by picking him. He was proud of his instincts. They always struck true.

“Show us where the city’s armories are,” said Tiluniel.

Nem circled a few places on the map, “these are the law enforcement stations that I know of. They should have a stash of weapons. There’s also a military garrison here,” Nem circled a large area on the outskirts of the city, “but it’s well guarded.” There was a military garrison so close to the city? This could spell trouble.

“Where is it most likely for our brethren to be working?” asked Tiluniel.

“The industrial sector,” Nem circled another region of the map.

“Does this planet lack factories,” Karamen asked aghast. “It might not be that advanced but this is too atavistic.” Indeed, the planet seemed to be even more advanced than Earth in some areas, but in others it was very lacking.

“The rich prefer the quality of hand made goods,” Nem explained. “There are automated factories on the outskirts, but they’ll be of little interest to you.”

“Are the factories perchance, close to the garrison?”

Nem nodded, and circled another area of the map.

“Some of us can destroy the factories to draw out the soldiers,” Tiluniel thought deeply. “Distract them while we attack the city.”

“Our aim will be to free out brethren and create as much chaos and glorious spectacle in the city as possible. This shall draw the Pervert King out. We shall lead him on a merry chase to an ambush point where we will cause an explosion of diiuvian crystal. Wild Child, you will be in charge of detonating it. With your stealth circuit he will suspect nothing when he scans his surroundings, and then BOOM!” said Karamen in one breath. “Bereft of power, we shall make the Pervert King meet his end.” Karamen put a lot of trust John. John wouldn’t let him down. It might have been only pressing a button, but their whole plan depended on it.

“That’s a good plan,” said Tiluniel, “but we need a backup. While you are doing this I shall go to the palace and free the leader and the realm mistress. If the God King were to escape he will have a surprise waiting when he returns to the palace.” John could not imagine how angry Sor Al would be. Once she was free she would rain havoc on the God King.

“Mayhaps there is one more thing,” said Karamen. “I suspect that the bulk of the Pervert King’s power does not belong to him. He could be using an enhancement artifact.” That made sense. Sor Al had really given it to him when they fought. In the beginning it looked like she would win. He’d probably used that artifact in the fight.

“If you can find out what it is then destroy it,” said Tiluniel, “in case the plan goes awry.”

“Stating the obvious,” said Karamen. “We shall turn it to dust.”

John revolved the plan in his mind. “Speaking of the obvious, first and foremost, how are we going to escape this mine?” This had been nagging John’s mind for some time.

“In the most straightforward fashion...bloody murder.”

“We shall take over the communications tower,” said Tiluniel, “so that word of our rebellion does not spread. We shall capture the airdock at the same time. After that, a few arbiters will stay here to free the rest of the prisoners while the rest of us move to the city.”

“But,” said John, “how are you going to get out of these diluvian manacles. Without aura we don’t stand a chance against those guards.”

“You mean this?” Karamen grinned. His hands disappeared for a brief second and the metal capsules embedded in his wrists fell off.

“How did you do that without aura?” asked John.

“Phasing requires a minuscule amount of aura. The only reason we cannot phase for long is because our bodies cannot handle the inflow of aether. Also, with such meager aura available we have to rely on instinct to establish our vectors. It is a difficult thing to do without experience,” Karamen boasted.

“Can you take mine off as well?”

“Of course. Like a knife that phases through flesh and bone.” Knife? John didn’t much care for the analogy. Would Karamen chop his hands off if he messed up? They heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Put the manacles back on quickly, before someone sees,” hissed Tiluniel as she wiped the map from the ground.

Karamen did as she asked.

“I shall relay the plan to the rest of the arbiters and organize the finer details,” said Tiluniel. “We shall strike tomorrow when the last slave enters the mine.”

“Got it,” said John. Tomorrow he would no longer be a slave. If all went well they’d soon be off this planet.

The group separated, mining rapidly to make up their daily quota of crystal.

John woke early the next day, filled with nervous excitement. He mentally prepared himself for what was to come. When the bell sounded John got up with the rest of the miners and collected his pickax and gunny sack as usual. A little further into the mine John found the arbiters and Nem standing by the side of the tunnel. Nem looked very tense. His face was pale and he was shivering.

“Good, everyone’s here,” said Tiluniel. “Let’s go.”

As one, the arbiters phased their hands and the manacle capsules fell off. Karamen took off the manacles from John and Nem. He felt just a brief moment of pain and then the capsules fell down. The arbiters phased out of reality as soon as they exited the tunnel, taking the guards by surprise. John ran forward to attack one of the guards while Nem stood back and watched. He wrestled with the guard, choking him into submission until one of the arbiters stabbed his heart with his aura blade.

John felt stupid. He had forgotten, in the heat of battle, that he could now use aura. He could have finished the guard off in a second. The guards went down before they could fire a single shot. Blood splashed on the ground, the sight of body parts and viscera causing John to feel sick for a moment. He had never seen a dead person before. He had killed and skinned monsters by the score. This was just the same, John told himself again and again. After his short brainwashing session, John grabbed the rifle from the one he had attacked. These rifles used bullets, just like the ones from Earth. John wondered how long the magazine would last. He’d have to conserve his ammunition.

The overseer spotted them on their way to the communications tower and roared, “what are you slaves doing here?” What a strange reaction. Couldn’t he see that they were escaping? John would have turned tail and run as fast as he could if he was in the overseer’s place.

Tiluniel phased before him and cut off his throat before he could react. The rest of the arbiters finished his entourage a moment later. “Quickly! Group one to the comms tower, group two to the airdock.”

Karamen picked up the whip from the overseer’s hand, “I can have some fun with this,” he grinned with fiendish delight. John and Nem followed Karamen’s group to the tower. The tower’s guards came into view. “Leave one alive for me to experiment on,” Karamen shouted. Experiment on? What was Karamen planning to do?

The arbiters made quick work of the guards. John’s rifle shot two of them dead. He had wrapped aura on the bullets so that they exploded on impact, effectively turning his gun into a grenade launcher. The arbiters left one alive for Karamen. The neurowhip curled around the unfortunate guard’s neck and electrocuted him. The guard screamed in agony, his voice breaking as he begged for death. His heart gave out and he died when Karamen increased the power. John didn’t approve of this excessively cruel display of Karamen’s. The guards may have been their enemies but they were still people. There was no need to torture them to death. John moved to stop Karamen, but the prisoner died before he could do anything about it.

“A most splendid toy,” Karamen chuckled, his pleasant voice at odds with his brutal actions. “The gods know how many lives this wicked whip has taken. Two of you,” he pointed, “destroy the communications equipment,” he ordered. “The rest of us shall meet Tiluniel at the airdock.”