Dawn broke, grey and overcast, matching the atmosphere that seemed to hang over the settlement. The group split up early, each taking a different section of the community to make contact with Maria's supporters.
Victor made his way to the outer ring, where Janet ran her informal childcare group. He found her in a small cleared area between buildings, watching over a dozen children while their parents worked.
She was a sturdy woman in her forties, with calloused hands and sharp eyes that missed nothing.
"You're one of the travellers who returned yesterday," she said without preamble as Victor approached. "Maria said you might come by."
"That's right. I'm Victor." He kept his voice low, mindful of the children playing nearby. "Maria tells me you support our cause."
Janet's expression hardened. "I remember when children could all play together. When parents had a say in their children's education. When families weren't split up based on their 'usefulness'. We should be using this opportunity given by the wish event for good, not for gaining more control and power."
She gestured toward a group of children building something with scraps of wood. "See little Emma there? Her father questioned why children from the outer ring get fewer learning materials. Two days later, he had an 'accident' at the construction site. Broke his arm in three places."
Victor's jaw tightened. "Things are going to change."
"Are they?" Janet studied him carefully. "Maria's been saying that for months, but change requires more than hope. It requires people willing to act."
"We're willing. The question is whether you are."
Janet was quiet for a long moment, watching the children play. "If you can guarantee their safety—all of them—then yes. I'm ready."
---
Meanwhile, Lily found Thomas in the workshop district, teaching a small group how to properly joint wood without nails—a skill that would let them build independently of the settlement's limited metal supplies.
"Useful skill," she observed, approaching the group.
Thomas looked up, recognising her immediately. "Depends on who you ask. Richard's people prefer that advanced techniques stay centralised."
"And what do you prefer?"
Thomas set down his tools, studying her. "I prefer people being able to build their own futures. But preferences don't change reality."
"Maybe it's time reality changed to match our preferences," Lily said quietly.
The other students exchanged glances, sensing the undercurrent of the conversation. Thomas dismissed them with a nod, waiting until they were out of earshot.
"Maria sent you," he said. It wasn't a question.
"She did. Are you ready to do more than just teach carpentry?"
Thomas picked up a piece of wood, running his thumb along the grain. "When do we start?"
---
Sam approached Doctor Hayes in the medical district, finding her treating a young man with what looked like a deliberately inflicted injury.
"Fell down some stairs, he tells me," she said without looking up from cleaning the wound. "Interesting how many people have been falling down stairs lately. Always the ones who ask inconvenient questions."
The patient—a man in his twenties with defiant eyes despite his pain—glanced between Sam and the doctor. "You're one of them, aren't you? The ones who were exiled?"
"I am."
"Good. Maybe now someone will do something about this." He gestured to his injured arm. "This happened because I suggested we could improve food distribution by growing more variety in the gardens."
Doctor Hayes finished bandaging the wound. "There. Try to avoid any more stairs for a while." She turned to Sam as the patient left. "I've been treating the consequences of Richard's 'organisation' for months. I'm tired of it."
"Then help us end it."
"I'm a doctor, not a fighter."
"We'll need medical support. People are going to get hurt."
Doctor Hayes nodded grimly. "When Maria gives the signal, I'll be ready."
---
Walter made contact with several families in the second ring, finding receptive audiences among parents who wanted community decisions to be made collectively rather than dictated from above.
His age and measured demeanour made him less threatening to approach, and he was able to have conversations that might have been tricky for the others.
"The children ask why some families get better food allocations," one mother told him quietly. "How do I explain that it's because their parents are more useful to Richard?"
"Soon you won't have to," Walter replied. "Soon children will get what they need because they're children, not because of their parents' status."
---
By midday, they had made contact with most of Maria's key supporters. The response was overwhelmingly positive—people were ready for change.
But as afternoon wore on, things began to go wrong.
Victor noticed it first—guards moving with purpose, positioning themselves at key intersections throughout the settlement.
He found Sam near the workshop district. "Something's happening."
Sam looked around, seeing what Victor meant. "They might be onto us."
Before they could discuss it further, shouts erupted from the direction of the outer ring. Through the buildings, they could see guards moving rapidly, entering homes and dragging people out.
"They're arresting Maria's supporters," Sam realised with horror.
The sound of splintering wood came from nearby as guards forced their way into Thomas's workshop. They could hear his voice raised in protest, then a heavy thud as something—or someone—hit the ground hard.
"We need to move now," Victor said, his hand going to his knife. "Forget the plan."
More shouts echoed from different parts of the settlement as Richard's forces moved to pre-emptively crush the resistance.
Janet's voice could be heard screaming about the children as guards invaded the childcare area.
"AJ, can you reach Maria?" Sam called out.
AJ's form had already begun flowing toward the central area. "On it. Gather the others."
They moved quickly through the settlement, avoiding the main paths where guards were stationed.
The layout worked against them—the open design that had once fostered community now provided clear sight lines for Richard's people to spot and intercept them.
Lily found them first. "They got Doctor Hayes. I saw them dragging her toward the centre."
"How many guards?" Victor asked.
"At least fifteen that I've seen. They're working in coordinated teams."
Ethan appeared around a building, his face dark with anger. "They grabbed three families, including children."
"Children?" Walter's voice carried shocked outrage. "Using children as leverage again? This bastard."
AJ flowed back to them, his form agitated. "Maria's been taken. They have her in the central plaza, along with most of the key supporters. Richard's making some kind of announcement."
From the direction of the centre, they could hear Richard's voice carrying over the settlement, though they couldn't make out the words.
"Let's go over there," Sam said.
They moved carefully toward the plaza, using buildings for cover. As they drew nearer, Richard's words became clear.
"—discovered a conspiracy against the safety and security of our community," he was saying, his voice carrying the authority he'd cultivated over the months of his rule.
"These people would have us return to the chaos and uncertainty we've worked so hard to leave behind."
Maria and about twenty others stood in the plaza, surrounded by guards. Some showed signs of having resisted—Janet had a cut on her forehead, Thomas held one arm. But they stood defiant despite their circumstances.
"The ringleaders will be expelled from the settlement," Richard continued. "The others will have a chance to prove their loyalty through additional work assignments."
"Not on my watch," Ethan growled, his hand tightening on his axe.
Victor was calculating possibilities when the decision was made for them. One of the guards struck Janet when she tried to move toward a crying child who'd been separated from the group. The sound of the blow echoed across the plaza.
That was all Ethan needed. The Judicator's Ring on his finger flared briefly as it tried to contain his anger, but months of built-up frustration overwhelmed its calming influence.
"No more," he roared, charging from their concealment toward the plaza.
The others had no choice but to follow.
---
The fight erupted with sudden violence as Ethan's enhanced speed carried him into the first group of guards before they could react.
His obsidian-edged axe met the wooden club of the nearest guard, cleaving straight through the crude weapon and continuing into the man's shoulder. The guard dropped instantly, clutching his ruined arm.
"Kill them!" Richard's voice cracked across the plaza as he scrambled backwards. "Kill them all!"
The ten guards surrounding the prisoners scattered into combat formation, but they moved like ordinary men while Ethan flowed like water given deadly purpose.
A second guard swung a stone axe at Ethan's head, but the blow crashed harmlessly against his raised shield. Ethan's counterattack with his axe slashed the man across the chest before he could pull back.
Victor appeared beside a third guard. His obsidian steel dagger found the gap between the guard's ribs before the man realised he was under attack. The guard staggered, gasping, then collapsed.
"Form up! Form ranks!" one of the guards shouted, trying to coordinate a response. But their opponents moved too quickly for them to keep up.
Lily's first arrow sprouted from the shouting guard's thigh. Her second took another guard in the shoulder, the obsidian steel point piercing clean through.
The wounded men stumbled but kept fighting, their desperation making them dangerous despite their injuries.
Sam stayed just outside the reach of his opponents weapons, his spear finding targets with ease. A thrust to a guard's weapon arm, another to disable a leg, each strike calculated to incapacitate rather than kill.
AJ flowed between opponents. When a guard swung a stone axe at him, he momentarily split part of his body apart, the axe harmlessly striking the ground.
AJ reformed for his counterattack—a hardened appendage hit the guard in the temple, dropping him unconscious to the plaza stones.
Walter positioned himself near the prisoners, his sword appearing in his hands. A guard rushed him with a wooden club raised high.
Walter's blade met the attack, slicing through the weapon's handle and continuing in a graceful arc that opened a line across the guard's chest. The man fell back, defeated but alive.
The initial ten guards were down or fleeing within two minutes, but Richard's voice carried across the plaza: "Now! All of you, now!"
More guards poured into the plaza from every direction. They came in groups of three and four, crude weapons raised, faces grim with desperate determination. The sound of running feet echoed off the surrounding buildings as Richard's remaining supporters converged on the fight.
"There's the rest of them," Victor called out, counting heads as new opponents entered the plaza. Fifteen fresh guards, all armed, all committed to Richard's cause.
"Spread out!" shouted one of the new arrivals, clearly someone with tactical experience. "Surround them! Don't let them pick us off individually!"
The guards began to form a loose circle around the group, their weapons raised but their movements cautious. They'd seen what happened to their comrades and weren't eager to rush into range of those deadly blades.
"They're trying to coordinate," Sam observed, shifting his grip on his spear. "Won't help them much though."
Ethan tested the guards' formation with a feint towards one side. Three guards moved to intercept, their clubs swinging in coordinated strikes.
Ethan's enhanced reflexes let him catch two attacks on his shield while his axe deflected the third with casual ease. His counterattack struck the lead guard across the ribs, folding him over.
But the guards were learning. As Ethan pressed his advantage, two more guards flanked him from behind. Their clubs came down in a coordinated strike that would have crushed an ordinary man's skull.
However, Ethan heard them coming. He spun, his shield coming up to block one strike while his axe caught the other weapon in mid-swing.
The obsidian edge bit deep into the wooden club, weakening it. His follow-up strike shattered both weapons and sent their wielders stumbling backwards.
"Take the archer!" Richard commanded from the plaza's edge, pointing at Lily. "She can't fight up close!"