Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (52 page)

Just as Javed finalized his
attack plan there was a crash inside the bunker. Terra looked around
a corner to see a spot above the gate on the ceiling darken, decay,
and collapse, raining debris below. Before the troops had time to
recover, Roland descended from the ceiling, landing in the center of
their formation with his aeon edge drawn.

Roland's aeon edge arced like
a tidal wave as he waded into the disrupted enemy formation. He cut
down one after another as officers yelled, trying to restore order in
the panicked defenders. Their orders went unheeded as Roland carved
through their packed ranks, forcing the defenders back and clearing
the area around the gate.

Javed turned to his strike
team. “New plan. Charge and secure the gate!”

They rushed out, covering the
distance in a flash. Within seconds they had the gate secured thanks
to Roland's attack.

Two of Javed's team began
solving the puzzle when Roland walked up in a lazy saunter after
having pushed the enemy back enough to give them space. They looked
up at him confused. Roland then smiled and smashed the gate with his
aeon edge.

“What are you doing?” a
tiro screamed.

Roland then moved his
shieldwatch hand over the gate and Reversed it to when the gate was
intact and unlocked. The fadeline activated.

Javed stared dumbfounded for a
second. “Everyone! Into the gate!”

A Helcian officer rallied the
remaining defenders. He pointed at the gate. “Grenades!”

The remaining soldiers lobbed
grenades at the gate. Two of the tirones had already faded through
the gate while those retreating Stopped the grenades that fell near,
putting the explosives in stasis. Terra did so as well, Stopping
several grenades that rolled close. However, one grenade rolled past
her before she could Stop it. The grenade exploded and threw Terra to
the floor.

The room spun as she felt pain
in her side. Even in her daze, she could see the enemy moving towards
her while Roland stood nearby, his gaze shifting from the gate back
to Terra. After hesitating, he ran to Terra and lifted her before
running back to the gate while shots flew over his head. They dashed
to the gate and faded out.

“I thought you said we were
even?” Terra asked, rubbing her neck as a new part of the Labyrinth
faded in around them.

Roland smiled. “Now you owe
me.”

Terra Mason has a few
valuable talents. A high threshold and tolerance for pain are the
greatest two. A shieldwatch can infinitely Restore a body so long as
it has power. The other limiting factor is a legionnaire's ability to
endure pain and injuries without becoming unconscious. When death by
injury no longer becomes a major factor, enduring pain to stay in the
fight becomes the most important ability. This, coupled with her,
quite frankly, downright scary levels of endurance, make Tiro Mason's
potential far greater than I initially expected. I suspect I will not
be the last who finds this surprising.

-From the personal logs of
Praetor Lycus Cerberus

T
he
heat
washed over Terra as the new salient faded in around her. At
first, the heat was a welcome relief compared to the cold she had
just escaped. Soon it became intolerable.

Terra assessed her
surroundings. The ground was barren while the skies hung low, clogged
with ash which nearly obscured the underside of Saturn City above.
Ruined skyscrapers dotted the landscape and loomed above heaps of
rubble. Instead of a shore, the edge of the land was a sheer cliff
that dropped into an ocean of lava.

She stared in amazement. It
was as though someone had stripped away the Earth's crust, leaving
the mantle bare. Other plateaus floated on the lava as if drifting on
the mantle’s molten tides.

The other tirones shifted at
seeing the apocalyptic landscape.

Roland chuckled. “Well I
guess we should have known. Eventually they would throw us into
hell.”

A tiro pointed. “Is that the
gate?”

They all moved quickly to the
gate, eager to escape the searing heat, but paused when drawing near
as a strange device lay over the gate. It was pearl white like most
Saturnian technology and had a blue glass orb in its center.

Roland crouched, trying to use
his shieldwatch to unlock it as he did before. The device did not
change.

Javed was about to touch the
device when a holographic projection appeared over the orb. A
translucent image of Lycus stood in front of them.

“Welcome to the Trial of
Blades,” Lycus said. “You have found one of the gates. To unlock
this gate, you must find a key. Each key you recover can be used to
activate these gates for one hour of rest.”

There were murmurs at the
mention of rest. Terra thought that an hour of rest sounded amazing
given how tired she felt.

“However,” Lycus added,
“there are not enough keys for everyone. Someone will go without
rest. You should also know that once you find a key, you must attach
it to your aeon edge or it will vanish to another location. The key
will only fall off if you lose a Trial of Blades.”

Roland narrowed his gaze. “So
they are turning us against one another again.”

“This is a competition,”
Lycus said. “The final gate will open once enough keys are found.”

Roland grinned and moved to
smash the gate.

“I should also mention,”
Lycus added, “that some of you may have figured out that breaking
and Restoring the gate will unlock it. You should know that will no
longer work.”

The holographic image
vanished.

The tirones eyed each other
before turning to Javed.

Terra turned to ask Roland to
help her find Zaid, but discovered he had vanished.

Javed sighed. “Well I see he
has a head start. Everyone, spread out and search. We will decide who
gets a key once we find one.”

Terra searched as well. She
wandered far away from the others to inspect the city ruins. Scorched
modern buildings suggested that this was once an advanced society.
She wondered if this civilization had shattered the Earth's crust
when she heard voices nearby.

Terra peered around the corner
to see several centurions gathered around a pool of lava. They put
the lava in stasis before grabbing a burned husk and dragging it from
the pool. Her eyes went wide when she realized the husk had been a
person.

“That makes eight total
casualties,” an optio said.

A centurion nodded.
“Excellent. We are still well under the average.”

Another centurion sighed.
“Still, a shame we didn't get to this one in time.”

The first centurion shrugged.
“He took a stupid risk. Besides, the next trial is the bad one.”

Terra looked at the fiery
landscape, wondering how the next trial was worse. The heat already
made her sweat.

The centurions turned to go
and Terra went back to rummaging through the rubble. After a moment
of fruitless searching through debris, she climbed a tall ruined
skyscraper to get a better view. The climb was difficult as the fire
escape lay broken in many sections.

After searching, Terra found a
set of stairs that led to the roof. She opened the door to the roof
to see several rusting air conditioning units. She sighed as she
stared at them and wondered if there was a way she could fix them
with a shieldwatch. Although she could use her shieldwatch to
regulate temperature around her, she didn't dare waste power.

Terra walked to the edge of
the roof to see she was on an island in a sea of lava. There were
other large land masses that floated on the burning ocean of lava. It
was as though all the world's continents had shattered. Above, she
could see the underside of Saturn City as well as a couple of
salients floating in the distance. The pillar of light now appeared
larger than when she was in the last salient.

She was about to walk to the
other side when she noticed a small fist sized, bright white device
lying on the ground. It had a blue glass orb in its center.

Terra paused before taking a
step towards it. However, someone else climbed onto the roof.

Hikari stood without sweat on
her brow despite the temperature. She drew her aeon edge that
possessed a dozen of the devices that now lay between her and Terra.
Upon seeing Terra, Hikari sheathed her aeon edge. “It's just you.”

Terra halted. “Hikari. What
are you doing? Where is Zaid?”

“Zaid? He is wasting his
time trying to find you.”

Terra glanced to the device on
the ground before looking at the devices attached to Hikari's aeon
edge. They were the same.

Hikari followed Terra's gaze.
“Yes. That is a key. I have already collected many, all taken from
others in a Trial of Blades.”

“Do you really need that
many?”

“No. But it was fun taking
them. Now I take this one, so move aside.”

Terra did not move though she
felt a rising panic. She knew she couldn't beat Hikari.

Hikari glared. “You should
know better than to get in my way.”

Terra felt her face flare hot
and not just because of the fiery landscape around them. “Why did
you get so much talent? You don't deserve it.”

Hikari looked at her aeon edge
as the light of the distant lava cast her in a fiery glow. “Two
types of people exist in the world. Fire and tinder. Those like fire
have power and they shine brightly. They create and destroy. All
others are nothing more than tinder to fuel the fire. That is what
this training is, separating the fire from the tinder. The weak burn
away and turn into dust and ash while the strong burn brighter. There
is no need to guess which you are. Now get out of my way.”

Terra wanted to step aside, to
run as Hikari approached. There was no way she could ever beat
Hikari, no way Terra could compete. Yet that smug attitude, that ego,
that wasted talent. It made Terra burn with anger. Terra had always
held her ground against such people, but she had never tried
competing. She never tried to beat them, to prove that she wasn't a
pushover.

Taking a deep breath, Terra
closed her eyes and steeled herself. “No.”

Hikari stopped.

Terra opened her eyes and drew
her aeon edge. “No. You have done nothing but walk over everyone,
tearing everything apart like a wild fire. I will not let you do
whatever you please.”

“No weapon forged would help
you against me. No training would make up for your sad lack of
skill.”

Terra gritted her teeth, but
continued to face Hikari. “Maybe not, but I can last longer in a
sparring match against you than anyone else. Even if you win, you
won't have enough energy to even pick up that stupid key. Do. Your.
Worst.”

Hikari charged in a blur of
motion as Terra Sped her movements to match Hikari's speed. Terra
blocked Hikari's punch before counter attacking with her aeon edge.
Hikari dodged the sloppy blow before tripping Terra. With fast
reflexes, Terra rolled with the momentum of her fall before standing.

Terra entered into a defensive
stance, facing Hikari. Thinking fast, Terra formulated a strategy.
She could not outfight Hikari, but she could outlast Hikari so long
as she fought smart.

Hikari wasted no time with
strategy, instead attacking again. Her fast attack gave Terra little
time to react. This time the full force of the punch hit, but Terra
held fast and struck back with her aeon edge while Speeding her
strike. There was a flash of motion and metal rang on metal. Hikari
stood, crossing blades with Terra, having drawn her own aeon edge.

Hikari's expression turned
hard as Terra grinned. Terra had made Hikari draw her aeon edge. Then
Hikari attacked with full force, swinging her aeon edge with savage,
quick blows. Terra countered every blow as each stuck faster than the
last. Hikari panted, but her speed did not slow. Sparks flew each
time their aeon edges crossed, yet Terra held her ground.

After another blocked stroke,
Terra backed against a large broken air conditioning unit with Hikari
facing her. Terra realized she was trapped between metal and Hikari.
Trapped between an anvil and a hammer. With Terra unable to fall
back, Hikari advanced and landed blow after blow. Heat flared from
her exertion and Terra found herself hard pressed to block. Sparks
flew while the heat became almost unbearable. Still Terra remained
standing after Hikari stepped back.

Both stood facing one another,
winded. Terra panted, standing straight backed while Hikari gasped,
standing with a slight hunch.

Hikari moved to attack again
when the ground shook. A bright orange glow flared around the
building as the structure twisted and snapped in half with one half
sliding down and the other jutting upward. Terra and Hikari tried to
keep their footing on the half that fell while the key slid onto the
part that jutted upward.