Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (32 page)

Terra's gaze narrowed as she
glared at Hanns. She considered smacking him when someone laid a hand
on her shoulder.

“Don't let him upset you
Terra,” Alya said, smiling. She turned to Hanns. “Shame on you
Hanns. What did you do to get her so upset? It took me days to
accomplish such a difficult task.”

Hanns shrugged. “We were
merely having a lively discussion about history. Terra seems to be
under the influence of propaganda.”

“Is that so?” Alya said.
“Well, Hanns, I am really disappointed in you.”

Terra
smirked.
Now
,
she thought.
Alya
is
about to put Hanns in his place.

Alya frowned “You put up a
much better fight last time. What happened? Did you lose on purpose?
I was excited for a good fight, especially after you got a hit in
last time.”

Terra's mouth hung open as she
stared at Alya.

Alya then patted Terra on the
shoulder. “Come on. The guards are here. They will transfer him to
Tartarus. Hanns will probably have several lifetimes to rethink his
position.”

As Terra followed Alya out of
the room, Terra looked back to see Hanns smiling. He wore the smug
expression of someone who had gotten exactly what he wanted.

Alya led Terra to a windy
stone walkway on the second floor of a timeport building where a
light breeze drifted over them. Terra stopped in the middle of the
walkway, repressing the urge to kick something. “Stupid Hanns! Why
can't he see the truth?”

“Oh?” Alya said, turning
to Terra. “What truth is that?”

“That he's the bad guy! He's
a villain! He can't seem to understand that the Nazis are evil,”
Terra said in a seething voice.

“Terra, everyone sees
themselves as the hero. Hanns sees his quest for victory the same way
you see your quest to become a heroine. Just as you journey through
the perils of the Academy, so too does Hanns when he faces us. You
need to remember that the Nazis did evil not because they were Nazis,
but because they were human. Their ideology was a justification to
take what they wanted. The crimes they committed though, were their
choice in the end.”

“Then why doesn't he believe
the Nazis commit genocide?”

“Hanns sees a different
ideology than your history does. His honor and good intentions are a
drop of water in a lake of poison. Whatever good he thinks he can
accomplish will ultimately be useless. He is under the mistaken
assumption that his single good voice can change a bad choir.”

“Then what's the difference
between a hero and villain then?”

“An interesting question,”
Alya said in a thoughtful tone. “Well you best ponder this
yourself.”

Terra's brow lowered. “That's
it!”

“Well yes,” Alya said as
though it were obvious. “I could tell you what I think a hero or
heroine is, but it probably wouldn't match your definition. That is
part of your journey, not mine. I finished my journey a long time
ago.”

“Then how can you tell when
you have become the villain then?”

Alya tapped her chin with her
finger. “I guess it depends on the person. I have known a few who
saw the darkness in their own hearts, but that is a rare kind. Those
who deny being lost in the dark will never bother to look for light.
It is the nature of being a villain.”

Hikari Narashima. I heard
the instructors mention that name before the training started. Her
talent is obvious. While obvious, it doesn't make her worthy of
joining my Legion alone. Furthermore, I am not yet convinced she will
be able to bond with others. Legionnaires need bonds. Those bonds
held us together during the darkest hours of the Faceless War. Their
absence allowed both the Manticores and the Kings and Queens of Time
to spread unchecked. I do find it rather curious that she has chosen
Tiro Mason, of all people, to compete with. Perhaps this will get
both to perform better? Not all bonds are forged in friendship and
camaraderie.

-From the personal logs of
Praetor Lycus Cerberus

T
he
schedule
cleared as the Survival Test drew close. Terra learned from
Zaid that many dust out during the Survival Test. Now it was hours
away and everyone rushed in their preparations. Terra had found
herself locked out of the strategy study which was full. She didn't
worry as she had already read most of the materials on the subject.
Still, she wanted to review a little more and needed a quiet place to
study. She decided to read in Kairos's Garden.

The Academy grounds lay in the
silence of winter with snow scheduled for later in the week. The
occasional evergreen tree added color. However, Kairos's Garden
remained in a vibrant spring. That spring remained eternal as a
stasis field kept it in a constant stable temperature.

The garden still caught her
breath. After wandering through the garden, she found a nice rock to
prop her back up on as she sat. Terra read through the highlights
again from a holoface.

She skimmed the survival
manual. It covered many aspects of survival in different environments
and situations. Sections detailed using the environment to evade
enemy patrols, which species of plants were poisonous across various
times, and more basic things like how to start a fire with whatever
is on hand. There was even a section dedicated to resisting
interrogations and escaping from imprisonment. She grew sleepy around
chapter seven. It was hard not to relax in the peaceful garden.
Despite her best efforts, she fell asleep.

She must not have slept long.
When she woke, the looming metal hands of the city were still near
the same place. Terra often thought that the best part about living
in a giant clock city was you never went without knowing the time.

She yawned and stood. Blurry
vision made Terra squint her eyes. When her sight focused, she saw a
person clad in black standing in the distance. Terra glanced to her
shieldwatch, double checking the time. But when she looked up the
person had gone.

“There you are,” came a
familiar voice.

Terra turned to see Alya. She
glided towards Terra.

“I thought you might be
here,” Alya said. She paused and regarded Terra with a faint smile.

“What?” Terra asked. She
noticed that Alya wasn't looking at her, but at something in her
hair.

Alya smiled. “Sorry. Just a
bit of nostalgia. Where did you find the white rose?”

Terra raised an eyebrow.
“Rose?”

“It looks pretty on you.”

Terra felt around her head and
discovered a white rose next to her right ear. “I didn't put that
there. I was asleep just a moment ago.”

Alya took the rose and
inspected it. “Then who did?”

Terra pointed to the small
hill near the center. “I saw someone over there a minute ago. I
didn't catch who it was though.”

Alya grinned. “A secret
admirer?”

Terra glowered at the
suggestion. “Not likely.”

“Have you studied for the
survival test?”

Terra nodded. “I read the
whole thing and now I'm reviewing. I think I'll be okay. My endurance
scores are good. I even completed the advanced endurance course a few
days ago and earned my stealth and evasion qualifiers, but I still
don't have an aeon edge.”

Alya held up a finger.
“Remember what I told you about swords? They can only kill. You are
more skilled with the shieldwatch.”

“Okay.”

Alya nodded. “You have
improved. A few months ago you would have argued with me.”

“I don’t' argue!”

“Most stubborn person I have
ever met,” Alya said as she put the white rose back in Terra's
hair.

∞

Terra noted how few remained
as she stood in formation at the central courtyard. Around six
hundred still stood. She noted how many had changed. Most carried far
fewer of their original weapons and armor, having traded them for
Legion gear. Even Terra had begun purchasing equipment. They all
stood in formation in the central courtyard while Lycus walked on
stage again. He grinned while he surveyed the survivors.

“Attention!” the
centurions yelled.

Lycus paced the stage. “Today
is the day of the Survival Test. This will be a test of not only
endurance, but of knowledge as well. You may take your aeon edge and
shieldwatch with you. If you lose either, you will fail the training.
Everyone will be deployed to survive alone for as long as we deem
fit. Team leaders are expected to gather their teams. Leaders who
fail to do this will lose their position of team leader.
Incapacitating a member of another team will give you one point so
you must be wary of your fellow tirones as well. Your shieldwatch
will receive authorization codes to return to Saturn City once the
test is done, and you will have 24 hours to return after that. You
have one hour to get ready before reporting to the timeport.
Dismissed.”

Most left for a last minute
visit to the armory. Terra didn't bother. She had too few points for
an aeon edge. Instead she returned to her dorm room to check her gear
one last time. After tying her combat boots, she tightened the straps
on her armored vest. In addition to her knee and elbow pads, she had
also acquired greaves, thigh pads, and armor for her upper arms.

After checking her gear, Terra
looked up into her dorm room mirror. She had tied her shoulder length
brown hair back into a short pony tail and made sure it was smooth
and neat. They wouldn't dock her a point for sloppy hair or untrimmed
eyebrows again. 'Attention to detail' had become a curse word to
Terra. She nodded at the precise reflection before departing to the
timeport.

The timeport was crowded with
tirones and Terra had to search for Zaid. After she found him and the
rest of his strike team, they boarded a saucer shaped timeship.
Within minutes the timeship lifted off, speeding through the edge.
The centurions remained silent about their destination, but Terra
guessed it would be a continuum rather than taking the test in a
salient.

The Edge shown through the
translucent sides of the timeship. It was a surreal thing when seen
from a distance like a vast river of swirling blue energy that
stretched to the horizon. The shifting blue tendrils of the Edge's
continua shown brightly in the starry void, like glowing veins of
blue in obsidian.

Terra remembered some of
Shani's lectures about the Edge. One lecture detailed temporal storms
that could rip apart armored timeships before slinging the wreckage
into the Bleak. Another lecture discussed the deep raids of the Sons
of Oblivion and the horrible fates of those they captured. Shani also
spoke at length about unstable continua that could trap a person in
eternal decay. As the dark possibilities mounted in Terra's mind, so
too did her nausea. She decided to look away from the Edge.

Zaid addressed his strike team
as Saturn City faded into the distance. “I don't know where they
will drop us, but make your way to the highest landmark in the area.
I will gather the team there.”

Nikias walked into the room
after Zaid finished speaking. “We begin this survival test with a
dirty jump.”

“Dirty jump?” asked a
tiro.

Nikias touched a holoface on
the wall. The sidewall then disappeared after a Restore ring moved
around the saucer. “It's a fancy word for when we shove you out the
fadedoor with no preparation,” Nikias said as he shoved the tiro
out of the now open wall. He screamed as he plummeted into the
flowing energy of the Edge.

Terra felt a stab of panic.
“Um. Are you suppose to tell us how to jump into the Edge properly
first?”

Nikias's grin faded. “Oh.
Right. Yeah I was supposed to. Oh well. No time now! Everyone jump!”

“But!” asked another tiro
before Nikias shoved her out the timeship as well.

The others jumped. Terra
hesitated, but jumped when Nikias eyed her. Terra fell into the
swirling mass of energy. When she was in the center of the stream of
blue energy, her shieldwatch activated and a ring appeared around
her, forming a sphere as it turned. When the glowing sphere
dissipated, Terra found herself in a forest thick with undergrowth.
She looked around to get a sense of her surroundings.