This was one of the harder chapters for me to write. I’m still learning how to properly use dialogue, and make it interesting and natural feeling.

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Chapter 1-9: Deep of the Night

Nyx knows how to get the collars off.

She called the slave collars “pre-awakening” technology. Apparently many of the mad gods use them, so she’s familiar with the way they work.

There is a single “master controller” that can enable and disable the collars. It’s a small metallic cylinder with various buttons and such on it, but we’re only concerned with one of the buttons; the triangular one on the back that disables the collars.

Once we get the control all we have to do is point the cylinder at our collars and press the button. Then they pop right off, nice and easy.

But while knowing how to get the collars off solves one problem, we now have a bigger problem. We have to obtain the control.

She doesn’t know for certain where the control would be. She does, however, have a good guess. It’ll most likely be with Hung, or in his quarters.

It’s definitely not anywhere down here in the pit. Even they’re not stupid enough to leave the keys with the slaves.

And if anyone down here did have it, it would be Cutter. But I’ve not seen anything like what she described in his possession.

If we can’t find out for certain where it is before the opportunity to escape comes, we’ll have sneak into Hung’s private room and find it. If it isn’t in there we’ll be screwed.

We couldn’t talk any more on the way down into the mines, too many ears.

* * *

It was three days later that I got to see Nyx in action inside the cage.

The poor bastard she got thrown in there with was a half rabid old Wilder; he never stood a chance. That shithole Cutter made them go in un-armed, which would normally disadvantage a lady, but not Nyx.

She just strode in, wrapped her braid around her neck to keep it out of the way, and proceeded to knock him senseless.

Then she grabbed his head and smashed his skull against the altar in the middle. His head literally exploded. I saw pieces of his brain fly almost to the edge of the cage.

Really, REALLY don’t want to ever piss her off.

I still haven’t worked myself up to ask exactly why her front was covered in blood when she got thrown in here. I’m starting to think I don’t want to ever find out.

But… but I have a partner to escape with finally.

* * *

About a week after Nyx got here, we finally get a break in the deep mines while we’re in the same area. I find her and drag her to a dank tunnel away from the guards and other slaves.

It’s a nice straight section of tunnel that lets us see for several meters in each direction. Moisture builds up on the ceiling, dripping down occasionally with a *plop*.

Then I explain my plan to her.

“There are only three possible ways we could get out of this pit.”

“And they are?” she asks, urging me to tell her already while she sits down on a boulder.

“One, we could dig out. I considered this for a while, but it’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?” she asks, now fiddling with her braid without even looking at me.

At least you could pay attention….

“It would take far too long to dig out due to the hard ground and I have no idea which direction to dig in,” I look at her face. “Do you?”

“No….” she mutters, as she looks at me and then averts her eyes again. “And if we dig too far to the side we could dig out onto the cliff face.”

“Oh? Hung’s keep is built by a cliff?”

“What, of course it is!” she says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “On the north side is a sheer 45 meter drop. To attack it from the north you’d have to march all the way around.”

Attack it? It seems odd that she would say that, perhaps Elpis has besieged Hung’s keep before.

“Huh, good to know,” I say, and then get back to why this won’t work. “Anyway, even worse is that they would be able to track us digging off in some un-authorized direction. And even if we got out that way they’d hunt us down via our collars and drag us back. Which would be… unpleasant”

“Fine, fine, can’t we just go out through the main door then?” she proposes, seeming quite happy with it, but—

“Also not going to happen,” I shake my head. “That’s number two. The entrance always has at least two guards on each side. They never leave except when the guards are changed. Also, the door can only be opened from the outside and it only opens for one of three reasons:” I start counting them off on my fingers. “A guard is entering, a guard is leaving, or if a mine cart full of ore is going to the refinery.”

“You sure there’s no way out through there? Seems like the best way to me.”

“Pretty sure,” I answer. “Making a run for it when they open the door is a no-go. They make the slaves push the mine carts until they get within a few dozen meters, but then the guards take it the rest of the way. No slaves are allowed within a full 10 meters of the door, and it’s a straight hallway.”

“That won’t work then,” she puts her hand to her chin. “We need to leave unnoticed or we won’t have a chance to get the master controller from Hung.”

“Right,” I say, “I also considered sneaking out in a mine cart, but well, that won’t work either. I’ve watched them for a long time. They always check the collar trackers before they let the carts out. They’d find us as soon as they stopped at the door, and then they’d slaughter us.”

“Makes sense, so what’s the other way? If none of these will work….” She gives me a threatening glare.

“The third is,” I make a bit of a dramatic pause and point upwards, “we go out the way we came in.”

She looks a bit taken aback and asks me, “Through the hole?”

“Exactly,” I say, with a snap of my fingers.

“You may be tall,” she furrows her brow at me in dismay. “But that’s 15 meters up! Even if we scale up the cage it’s still at least 7 or 8,” she points out with an incredulous tone.

“The Wilders have ropes used for rappelling in the deep mines,” I try to reason her through it. “We’ll have to steal one of them and find some kind of hook to tie onto the end.

“And then we climb up to the top of the cage and throw it? Use it as a grappling hook?”

“Yep, then we go up, grab the master control, and get the fuck out.”

“You’re an idiot!” she laughs at me with derision, still unconvinced with my plan. “We’ll get shot, or worse. We would be in full view of the entire blood pit.”

“Well yes,” I agree, “that’s the problem. We can’t just sneak up when no one is there either. They’d notice us walking out of the mines and stop us.”

“So how?”

“We’ll have to make a distraction and hope no one sees us,” I say, “Starting a riot, or something along those lines, will have to work. Preferably, on a day when all of Cutter’s slave-masters aren’t in the blood pit to activate our collars.”

The controls can only activate a few collars at a time, and they have to be pointing at them

Her expression becomes a bit consternated. “That plan’s still kind of shit.”

“Well sorry,” I say defensively. “You got any better ideas?”

“I haven’t been down here for cycles!”

“It’s the only way I could think of,” I look off to the side a bit embarrassed. “The guard is surprisingly tight down here.”

“If you can get the rope I’ll make something work for the hook. Remember the rope needs to be at least 8 meters,” I remind her, “and preferably 12 or more. If it’s too short we’ll be fucked.”

She stares me down for a bit before, “Fine,” she nods. “I’ll try and find a way to get the rope. It might take a bit though.”

“Sooner the better, we don’t know when our opportunity to get out of here will present itself.”

“Of course,” she thrusts her chin up.

Let’s change the subject for now. “Now, about after we get out—”

She interrupts me quite rudely, “If we get out, assuming we’re going with your awful plan.”

“Yes yes, if,” I continue, trying to get back on track again. “Elpis, it’s a large city? It’s safe there?”

“There are many thousands, of course!” she says proudly as she stops playing with her braid, stands up, and puts her hands on her hips. “And if there is any place in this land that’s safe, it’s Elpis.”

“I don’t suppose you could tell me how to get there, just in case?” I ask. Doubt I could make my way there on my own even with directions, but better safe than sorry.

“No, I can’t tell you where it is. The city is hidden and it’s forbidden to tell the location to outsiders,” she places her hands on her hips again. “Not just anyone can go to Elpis!”

Starting to sound like my only way to civilization is indeed through Nyx.

“Oh?” I raise an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose I could just run into the wastes and stumble across it then.”

“You would never find it on your own! None of the mad gods ever have. Quite frankly, I’d be pushing it simply bringing you with me.”

Seems like a rather exclusive city. Well I can imagine why they would be that way, with the lands full of Wilders and all.

“What, you shouldn’t even take me there? You’re sure they’ll let me in then?”

“How do you think we’ve stayed hidden for generations? The only people normally allowed inside are clansmen and those marrying into the city. We can’t risk the location being discovered,” she ponders for a moment. “My father would make an exception for you though, if you help me.”

“He has some authority then?”

“Oh course! He’s the chief of Elpis,” she says, her posture all proud.

“What,” I let out a chuckle. “So you’re like a princess or something?”

“Kind of? ...” she cocks her head to the side questioningly.

As she trails off I feel like something is watching me.

I turn around, but… strange, thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye for a second. Must have been that creature that’s been stalking me lately, I’ve still never gotten a good look at it.

Doesn’t matter then, they’ll be herding us up into the blood pit soon. We’ll have to end the conversation here if we want to get any sleep.

“Let’s get some rest before—“ I stop my sentence midway as I hear a *CLUNK* coming from down the tunnel in the other direction.

Okay, now I definitely heard something. Someone’s over there.

I stop Nyx, who’s half-turned to leave, “Just a second,” then I direct my voice to the end of the tunnel where I heard the sound. “Come out from over there! I can hear you dipshits!”

A group of shit-for-brains Wilders walk over from around the tunnels bend. There are two men and a woman, and they seem to have been listening to our conversation for a bit.

Dammit, they likely heard us. If only Nyx weren’t always yelling everything.

All of them are half-naked except for the much younger looking man. He’s only got a bit of scruff while the older man has a full on beard halfway down his chest.

The Woman looks middle-aged and I can see every single rib on her topless, emaciated body.

All of them are the usual stupid, ugly sacks of shit. If they heard too much then—

I throw my voice their direction. “Hear some good stuff, eh?”

They all fidget for a moment, before the older man steps out in-front of the others and responds, “We heard ya talkin’ few days ago. If yer escapin’ we’re goin’ wih ya.”

“No,” I say, trying to make my voice sound as threatening as I can, “you aren’t. Leave now.”

That’s your only warning.

They don’t seem to be getting the idea though, as they don’t piss off.

“Heard sum of yer plans‘ere, if ya dun’t take’us wit’cha we’ll tell Cutta!” he points at us. “He’ll make shor’ work’a ya two.”

Well, they are damn good at digging their own graves, almost commendable really. I wanted to avoid making trouble if possible.

Nyx and I glace at each other. Her eyes are filled with bloodlust, I almost feel pity for them.

“You got it?” I ask her.

“Sure.” she lets out a sigh as she turns to face them.

Yep, looks like she’s got it.

“Have fun then.” I wave at her back as Nyx rushes at them without warning as she wraps her braid around her neck with a flick.

Before the older man in front can even react, she kicks him in the neck and his body flips over completely in the air. I can hear bones break from the blow, and his body doesn’t stop until it slams into the tunnel wall.

As soon as the other two see this scene, they turn to run for their lives.

I don’t think you’ll be getting away from her that easily, sorry.

Before the woman can even get 3 meters away, Nyx grabs her by the back of the neck and lifts her off the ground. Her other hand strikes the soft spot at the base of her skull rapidly as the woman lets out a terrified shriek.

Two, three blows later the woman’s spinal cord is severed and her head splits open. She throws the dead body aside like a limp sack and moves on.

Barely a moment later, she catches up to the last man and plants her foot into the small of his back. She forces him face first onto the ground with her leg and, using it as a fulcrum, pulls on both of his arms.

As she slowly bends him in half I can hear his spine popping and cracking. Eventually with a final loud *CRACK* his body is nearly broken in half.

Guess he didn’t have enough backbone to stand up to us. Well that takes care of them.

Better get these bodies into the main cavern where the guards are. They don’t like it when we leave them about, they want their meat fresh.

I walk towards the older man’s body to drag it away, but as I do I realize he’s not dead yet.

He’s still twitching about trying, and failing, to get up. I yell at her further down the tunnel, “Nyx, some sloppy work over here!”

“What? He ain’t going anywhere!” she yells back without looking at me, as she’s still searching through the last ones pockets.

What exactly does she expect to find in there?

“Fair enough,” I mutter as I bend down, planting my left foot on his head. Then I reach over with my right arm and twist his head around the rest of the way, finishing the break. He finally stops twitching with a final whimper.

I grab the now dead man by the foot and drag him towards Nyx.

“Hey, might as well take their clothes,” I say, as I toss the older one into the pile with the others. “Maybe then you can give me my coat back.”

She looks down at herself, still wearing nothing but my coat. “Right, good idea.”

She starts stripping the woman and younger man of their clothes, picking out some of the rancid, torn clothing to wear.

Not that mine smell much better either. Can’t exactly take a bath or wash your clothes down here. The meager amount of water they give us in this pit is not going to be wasted on washing.

I should probably remind her. “Oh, I wouldn’t put on the underwear though, if I were you.

She stares at me with a blank look, and then drops the clothing she was holding.

“Oh… I wasn’t…,” she starts gagging a bit. “Right.”

She picks out a few pieces of clothing, the younger man’s coat, undershirt, and boots and the woman’s pants. Then she stands up and starts taking off the coat I gave her. But she suddenly stops and glances up at me.

“…Turn around,” she commands, while shooing me with her free hand.

“What? You didn’t seem particularly concerned before.”

And that comment was met with a murderous glare. She’s getting the same look in her eyes as when she murdered those guys.

I should probably turn around before I push my luck and she turns my skull into paste as well. Guess no show today, oh well.

While facing the other way I ask her, “How do you do that anyway?”

“Do what?”

“Crush them like that,” I clarify, “and how you threw that guy into the bars before. Your strength is insane.”

“Oh, that. It’s one of my modified traits. I inherited it from my… mother,” her voice sounds sad when she mentions her mother. Probably shouldn’t ask about her family for a while.

“How strong are you then?”

“Eh, not sure.... As a child I could easily lift more weight than my father and several other grown men combined.”

Holy shit, that’s scary. I should probably try and keep her on my good side, well for that and several other obvious reasons.

After the sounds of clothes rustling finally stops, she says, “You can turn around again.”

As soon as I do she raises her arms up and asks, “How do I look?”

Well besides the crusted blood, disgusting torn and smelly clothing, and even more fresh blood covering your face… not bad? I probably shouldn’t say that. Yeah, definitely not.

Honest response or complimentary. Ah dammit! What kind of choice is that? I just have to be convincing.

“Uhhhh, beautiful,” I mumble out. Good going me, great job. I just can’t help being so eloquent.

Her eyes narrow as she stares at me.

God I wish she wouldn’t do that, feels like a ladon is about to eat my innards for breakfast when she does that.

Actually, what the hell did she expect me to say in this situation? Is there even a right answer?

Eventually she gives up with a “Whatever.”

I let out a sigh of relief, “Come on,” I say, as I grab the body of the old man again. “Let’s take the corpses to the main cavern then. The guards get pissy when they have to go looking for them.”

“Waste of time…,” she mutters under her breath, but grabs the other two anyway and follows me down the tunnel. It doesn’t take long before she’s ahead of me.

I suppose now is a good a time as any to bring this up. “One more thing… my mother, she got captured with me,” I inform Nyx, she needs to know.

She stops in her tracks while I catch up. “…I don’t think we’ll have t—“

I don’t let her finish, “I’m not leaving without looking for her.”

“I… understand,” she mutters.

“…”

With that said, we walk the rest of the way in silence. The guards in the main cavern thank us for a fresh lunch when we get there.

* * *

Later, when we had time, we talked about what exactly we’re going to do after we escape from this pit.

The plan is for us to go by foot across the wilds and wastes and make our way to Elpis. Nyx knows the way so I’ll have to depend on her.

It’s at least several weeks away, even in a straight line. We won’t be going the direct route though. She informed me that Hung has several small patrol airships and a single large one that can transport at least a dozen men.

If we make a beeline straight for Elpis they’ll find us in no time, we’ll have to stick to the canyons and overgrown wilds and work our way around the long way there.

I have to trust her as my guide for the duration, so I can’t afford to let her die in the escape. The plant-life, animals, or terrain, I know none of these. I have no way to survive in the wilds on my own.

At least I feel like I can trust her.

* * *

It’s been several weeks since then.

I’ve only seen Cizin a few times after I met Nyx, and never in the mines. I almost feel like he’s been avoiding me.

Regardless, she’s gotten the rope we need, been hiding it by wrapping it around her body under her coat.

I’ve also gotten the makeshift hook. Fashioned it from four links of a large chain they use for pulling the mine carts. Conveniently, being in four parts makes it easier to hide in my clothes. We can tie them together into a four-pronged grappling hook when we need it.

It seems sturdy enough for the job, I think.

Hung has been suspiciously absent from the blood pit fights lately. No idea why he hasn’t been showing up, and there’s no use asking the guards.

Haven’t gotten a good chance to look at him again, but I can’t recall ever seeing something that looked like the master controller that Nyx described on his person. We’re simply going to have to assume it’s in his quarters and search for it.

The problem is the right time to try and get out of here still hasn’t come yet.

Today is another set of bouts in the cage. Nyx and I are entering the blood pit now.

We’re among the last to be herded in, the stone stands are already full with thousands of slaves.

Cizin’s already in the cage, looks like he’s going first today.

Interesting. The guards seem unsually light today. I can only see… two of Cutter’s slave-masters. Hung isn’t here today either, the only Wilder up above the blood pit is one of the slave-masters with a control. It looks completely vacant besides him.

There are fewer guards in general than there should be. Where are they?

My pulse starts quickening as I realize, today might finally be the day.

It shouldn’t be too hard to rile these Wilders up. Just need the guards distracted for a few minutes. As long as we don’t get shot or they activate the collars….

When the first fight starts I need to get their attention focused away from the cage and on the slaves. Start a riot, then we slip into the crowd and up the cage.

This might be the last chance this good, we have to take it.

We need to get ready now, “Nyx—“

Before I can tell Nyx, that bloodthirsty lunatic, Cutter, starts yelling over his loudspeakers, “The firs’ fight today will be the crowd favorit’! The indomitable -- CIZIN!!! Versus...,” he trails off and starts mumbling into his microphone, “Oh right he has ta kill someone, don’t he?” his voice picks up again, “Who’s the victim toda’ then?!”

Cutter goes silent for a moment as he gazes out over the stands for the poor bastard that’s going to die today.

“You dere!” he yells as he points at… oh shit.

“Me?”

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Queue climax.

Again, please point out any glaring errors you see. I proofread all of these myself, almost certain that I miss some things.