Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (56 page)

“They all die!” Sero said
in a harsh tone. “Silverwind's squires all die. If she has chosen
you, then you are marked for death!”

I see it now, Alya. For the
first time in centuries, I am afraid. Sero may not have been the only
monster unleashed in the Labyrinth. She has passed Cerberus's trial,
but I wonder. Will she pass the Captain's?

-From the personal logs of
Praetor Lycus Cerberus

T
hey
all saluted
her when she faded into the next salient. Terra ignored
them and searched for Zaid.

Hikari walked up to Terra.
“How did you do that?”

Terra turned to Hikari. “Where
is Zaid?”

Hikari went silent. After a
moment she pointed to where several optios had gathered.

Terra tried to run, but a hand
on her shoulder stopped her. She turned to see Roland who shook his
head. When Terra glanced back to the optios, she saw them carrying
Zaid's body in a stasis field. One of the optios closed his eyes
before taking the body away.

A Restore ring then ran around
each tiro and the optios inspected the area.

“All contaminants clear,”
came Minerva’s voice over their shieldwatches.

An optio approached each tiro
and handed out two stasis cell clips. “Hurry to your next trial.
From here on, you are on your own.”

Another fadeline appeared. The
tirones walked towards it.

Terra stood in place, still
gazing at where Zaid had lain.

Roland stayed. “Is this
first time you lost a friend?”

Terra shook her head. “I
couldn't save him?”

Roland stood for a long moment
while Hikari walked into the fadeline.

Terra continued to hold still
as she bit back her despair. Fatigue made it difficult to keep her
emotions in check.

Roland turned to go, but
stopped before he stepped into the fadeline. He turned and took
Terra's arm. He tugged her into the fadeline.

Terra shook her head. “I
don't want to go anymore. I can't finish this.”

Roland began to fade. “Then
finish it for him.”

Terra stared down as a new
salient faded in. Her shieldwatch beeped, but she didn't bother to
read it. Rain fell in sheets as a cold gust pushed against her. There
was no one else there. She stood alone.

Terra wandered while stumbling
in the rain and wind as she tried to find shelter. As she shambled
through the storm, she realized she was on a high mountain when she
almost walked off a high cliff. A flash of lightning illuminated a
windswept mountain range for an instant.

Terra took cover behind a
boulder. It gave her no protection from rain, but at least shielded
her from the wind. She wanted to cry, to just let herself mourn. The
rain soaked her and the cold wind made her shiver.

Terra shook her head. She had
to keep moving to escape this storm.

Thunder boomed while lightning
cracked the sky. Another loud rumble approached. At first it was a
low sound, but grew louder. Another flash of lightning illuminated,
for an instant, the avalanche sweeping towards her.

Terra didn't have time to
think. The storm limited her vision, but she still had her connection
with time. She Slowed gravity around her and jumped above the tide of
stone. The cascade of earth passed below her before she settled on
the ground.

As the rumbling quieted, Terra
stood near the peak of the mountain. Lightning flashed again and
Terra Slowed her vision, closing her eyes to avoid the flash. As the
flash subsided Terra opened her eyes, her Slowed vision giving her a
good view of the surroundings. The storm was powerful enough to
obscure her view of Saturn City above, though she could see a bright
pillar of light just beyond the salient walls. She was near the
center of the Labyrinth now. In the distance, she spotted a towering
mountain in the center of the salient where the stormed raged at its
most intense.

That
's
it
,
she thought.
That
is where the gate is.

Terra marched against the
storm with grief stalking not far behind her. Soon she stood at the
base of the tallest mountain and began her ascent.

The cold winds swept downward
as if trying to drive her back. Terra endured the cold wet storm and
pushed forward. As she continued her climb, the rain turned to ice.
The trek became slippery. Still Terra pushed on, walking in places
while climbing in others as she tried to reach the peak.

As she struggled, her thoughts
turned to Zaid. It had been so fast it didn't seem real. He had a
shieldwatch. People with a shieldwatch shouldn't die that easily.

She felt her eyes tear up, but
stopped herself from crying. Terra made a promise to herself. Stone
doesn't cry. Yet this storm chipped away stone.

Ice pelted her as it stung her
skin. Terra used her shieldwatch to halt the hail in front of her.
Moving forward proved difficult now.

Should she even bother to go
on? How could she be a heroine if she couldn't even save one friend?

Terra continued to climb. Zaid
wouldn't have wanted her to stop. He was the first person to have
faith in her. Her hands gripped the ice so hard it cracked under her
grip. She grimaced as she thought about how unfair it was.

Her anger grew worse with the
storm. The mountain itself became steeper, like it was trying to
throw her back. It made Terra hate it even more.

Another
stupid attempt to kill me,
Terra thought.

The rage and despair churned
in her chest as storm battered the mountain. She thought of Zaid
again and felt her anger turn on him now. Why did he abandon them? He
failed again. It was a betrayal in a way. Zaid had let death make him
abandon his duties. Why didn't he move faster?

Terra then remembered. Zaid
practiced the least. He had spent all his time trying to lead them.
Guilt entered Terra's storm when she remembered how much he had
helped her. The study sessions, the practice.

Tears swelled in her eyes
again, but Terra forced them back and did not cry. A desire to quit
crept back into her. Then piercing fear cut through her emotions and
made her chest feel cold. She could die just as easily. Now it seemed
more real to her.

A loud crack came before
another low rumble in the distance. Soon the ground shook as a tide
of stone slid towards her.

Terra gritted her teeth. Her
shieldwatch was almost out of power now. She couldn't jump over the
tide again. Her emotions cleared. All the death, all the pain and
suffering would be for nothing if she gave up here. If Zaid had
fallen for his ideals, then Terra would carry them on for him.

No
more of this
,
she thought.
No
more of these stupid tests and trials. This is enough.

Terra drew her aeon edge and
faced the wave of rock roaring towards her. She slashed at the stone
and pulled the trigger. A wave of blue energy burst from the aeon
edge and turned the stone tide into dust. The burst cut through the
tide and revealed an opening in the side of the mountain.

Terra walked to the opening to
find a cavern that led into the heart of the mountain. When she
walked inside, she found the cave warmer than outside and lit by a
faint ambient glow.

She progressed through the
cave, noting large formations of rock crystal in the walls. Other
crystal formations dotted the area and reflected the dim light in a
variety of colors. She would have admired them more if she were not
so tired. It had been four days since she had entered the Labyrinth.

Her
shieldwatch beeped.
Trial
of Storms complete
was displayed on the holoface. She didn't care at this point.

Ahead an iron bridge crossed
over a ravine. On the other side was the gate. She almost sighed in
relief until she saw a figure guarding the bridge.

Terra did not try to approach
unnoticed. She was done sneaking around and she didn't have the
energy left for it regardless. When she drew close she saw a familiar
sight. The man who guarded it wore a Kalian mask, one with a wing
emblem. The Captain, or rather one of Lycus's persona, stood in the
center of the iron bridge with his hands resting on the pummel of his
aeon edge Cerberus. He held his blade in front him with the tip
touching the ground like a staff.

Terra stopped in front of
Lycus. “You are in my way.”

Lycus stood, unmoving. “As
well I should be for this is the Trial of Worth.”

“Worth? Haven't I proved my
worth many times over now?”

“Maybe to your friends and
instructors. Maybe to Cerberus during the Trial of the Beast, but not
to the Captain.”

“The Captain? You mean your
character?”

Lycus looked at his three core
aeon edge. “Lycus, Cerberus, and the Captain. These are my three
faces. When I slew the Kalian who wore this mask on the battlefield,
his noble act of protecting the innocent poisoned Cerberus. His blood
stained my hands and infected the beast. That blood became the seed
of my reawakened conscience. The fruit of regret and guilt it bore
became a new face. Now the Captain gets to choose who becomes a
member of the Aeon Legion. Not the beast Cerberus, nor the scholar
Lycus. So now, Terra Mason. Why should I let you past this point? Are
you truly worth anything or are you just another monster?”

“I don't think I am
threatening enough to be a monster.”

Lycus's eyes narrowed from
behind the mask. “Don't be so certain, Terra Mason. I saw what you
did in the Trial of the Beast. Iron awoke in you and iron is a step
towards cold steel. I witnessed the birth of a new blade there. What
I saw was savage and driven by hatred. Time whirled around you like
blood in a stream. If you were any more skilled, the Manticore would
have died and you would have been the most dangerous beast in the
salient.”

Terra clenched her fists.
“That monster deserved to die!”

“Because it killed Zaid?”

Terra averted her gaze.
“Because it killed my friend.”

“You best steel yourself for
more of that as you will lose more than friends if you cross this
bridge. You talk a lot about wanting to be a hero, but those in the
Aeon Legion are soldiers. They fight when ordered and die on command.
Are you going to let one death turn your dreams into blood soaked
revenge or will you let that death poison you with doubt and
cowardice?”

Terra opened her mouth to
speak, but hesitated. She considered her next words. “I was going
to say I'm not afraid to die, but that would be a lie. I will not
back down though. Fear knows better than to get in my way. As for
revenge, you already have your answer. If I wanted revenge, I
wouldn't be talking to you. I would try to kill you for torturing
me.”

“Then why are you here? What
reason do you have for even trying so hard? There must be more than
mere stubbornness.”

Terra thought for a long
moment. Why was she here again? It was difficult for her to cut
through the hunger, thirst, fatigue, and despair. It all pulled at
her and clouded her mind. Then a flash of a memory came before her, a
memory of a beautiful and invincible woman with silver hair. She
looked up at Lycus. “Alya Silverwind.”

Terra smiled as she
remembered. “That day I saw her for the first time, standing it the
ruins of the library without a single scratch. She defeated some of
the worst villains in history and then acted as though she hadn't
done anything special. There she was, like a beacon with the wind
flowing around her. Invincible. Untouchable. Beautiful. Powerful.
Right in front of me was every kid's fantasy, like a real superhero.
Something out of a legend or myth. I don't care about what she did in
her past. All I saw standing there was a heroine. That's what I
wanted to be like. A heroine.”

“But you cannot be like a
heroine. Heroes know no culture. Heroes know no gender. They are
beyond nation and empire. Above slavery or oaths. They are not
honorable for they are honor. They are not idealistic for they are
ideals personified. You cannot simply live up to high ideals, you
must become them in their entirety. Wrap yourself in them until they
become your armor. Like Kairos.”

“I
am
not
like Kairos,” Terra said in hateful tone. “I sacrificed my normal
life to come here before I discovered I was fated to die in an
accident. I chose to stay here and continue on even when everyone
else told me to quit, that I wasn't good enough. Even the Sybil think
I'm nothing. I don't care! I am
not
Kairos! Everything came naturally to her while I had to scrape and
claw my way past every obstacle. I barely made it, but I did it on my
own. No fate or destiny ever helped me. No one chose me so I chose
myself and I will become a heroine of Saturn City, the Aeon Legion,
and all of Time! Because I can choose to be the hero you
failed
to be! Now get out of my way!”