Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (62 page)

As the mask fell, Cerberus's
rage faded as his eyes widened. He froze, staring at the unmasked
face.

Exile wasted no time. She
slipped her aeon edge out of Cerberus's grip and in a flash, trust
forward. The aeon edge plunged through Cerberus's chest. Blood
splatted as the aeon edge pierced his heart and ran through his back.
Exile stood before twisting the blade, bringing Cerberus to his knees
and then to the ground in a reversal of their previous position.

Blood ran from Cerberus's
mouth as he twitched. As he lay on the ground, he met Terra's eyes.
His lips moved, speaking something Terra couldn't hear. His eyes
seemed to be pleading with her, trying to tell her something. But all
that came from his mouth was blood. Then his gaze became hollow and
his body stilled.

Terra felt the first drops of
rain.

Exile twisted her aeon edge
again. The length of the blade glowed bright red before it ejected a
small cylinder that the she grabbed. She then pulled out her bloodied
blade and turned to find her mask. Terra tried to get a good look at
her, but the woman's hair and shadows cast from steel shrouded her
face, but Terra caught one detail. When Exile picked up the mask,
Terra saw something above her right ear, a single black rose. Terra
then spotted something else on Exile, a patch on her arm. Six aeon
edge blades arranged in a circle; the sixth Legendary Blade.

Terra pushed herself up before
limping closer. Wind and rain picked up around her.

Exile ignored her and stood
over Cerberus before restoring herself. She loaded the spent shell in
a small slot on her mask before she checked her shieldwatch display.
After a moment, Exile picked up Lycus's aeon edge and put in on his
chest before clasping his hands around it and closing his eyes. “Rest
in the garden, Lycus Cerberus.”

Terra stared at the woman,
shocked. “I know who you are.”

Exile turned her gaze to
Terra.

Terra trembled as she stared
at the black clad woman. At the person who had saved the city from
the Faceless. The Aeon Legion's greatest heroine. “Kairos.”

Kairos stared at Terra for a
moment. Her dark hair waved in the wind as she turned to go.

Alya jumped down into the
construction site with her aeon edge drawn. She paused before fixing
her gaze on Lycus Cerberus. “I don't believe it. You killed
Cerberus. You killed a Legendary Blade!”

Terra stumbled. “Alya!”

Alya faced Kairos, keeping her
eyes focused on her. “Are you okay Terra? I came as fast as I could
when I saw who sent the distress signal.”

“She's Kairos!” Terra
yelled.

Alya froze. “What?”

Terra struggled to stand. “She
has a black rose in her hair and the sixth Legendary Blade patch on
her shoulder.”

Alya looked at Terra before
turning back to Kairos. “You can't be Kairos. Kairos wouldn't have
done this.”

Kairos stood upon a solid
steel slab, drenched in rain and blood, staring at Alya. She then
sheathed her aeon edge. “I will not fight my former teacher.”

Alya
shook her head. “No. Kairos wouldn't do this. I
knew
her.”

Kairos remained, unmoving as
metal. “Who I was, am, or will be no longer matters. All that
matters is that I complete my mission.”

Alya's eyes narrowed. “And
what mission is that?”

Kairos took a step forward,
her footstep clanging on the steel. “The destruction of Saturn
City, the Aeon Legion, and the Legendary Blades. I will then take the
Temporal Singularity and use it to rescue Time from destruction. I
will spare only you and those wise enough to get out of my way.”

Alya scowled. “How will that
save Time from destruction?”

Kairos clenched her fists. “I
have seen truths you will never know, Alya. I have been to both the
Beginning and End of Time. Within the Singularity of Memory I have
remembered a thousand lifetimes. Within the Singularity of Thought I
have drank deep of the well of knowledge. Most of all, I have seen
with my own eyes the destruction of Time that will ruin everything I
have fought for. To save humanity, to save history, I will do
anything, even wade through an ocean of blood if that is what it
takes to save our future.”

Alya lowered her aeon edge.
“And how will killing Cerberus help that goal?”

“Those who use a shieldwatch
steal time for themselves,” Kairos said. “Those who use time
travel also damage time. By killing those who time traveled the most
and have lived the longest, I can free the time they have stolen.
This will allow me more time to find a solution. Naturally, the
longest lived time travelers are the Legendary Blades and Saturn City
itself. Destroying Saturn City will gain me enough time to find a
permanent solution.”

Alya's gaze narrowed. “What
proof do you have?”

Kairos held out her hand to
Alya. “Come with me and I can show you.”

“Show me your face first,”
Alya said as her grip on her aeon edge tightened

“No,” Kairos said as she
lowered her hand. “I may not wish to raise my blade against my
former teacher, but I do not have to do anything you say.”

“I just wanted to see her
again,” Alya said, her gaze downcast. “I wanted to see the face
of the person who did so much good. You can't be Kairos!”

Kairos stared at Alya,
unmoving, with a gaze as cold as steel in winter. “All that matters
is my crusade. The destruction of Time is coming and if I have to
murder millions to save humanity then it is a small price to pay. I
will cut down anyone in my way.”

Alya
glared at Kairos as the wind and rain picked up around her. “This
is all wrong, but
I'll bring you back and we can fix this. I promise.” Alya pointed
her aeon edge at Kairos.

Terra heard the hum of engines
in the distance. Spotlights shown through the rain as vehicles drove
up to the construction site.

Kairos stepped back. “You
might stop me Alya, but you will have to abandon the tirones.”

“Crash,” Alya muttered
between gritted teeth. Alya glanced to Terra and to the other tirones
before looking back at Kairos who turned to go. Alya glanced once
more at Kairos before turning back to Terra. “Terra! Get to the
girl lying on the ground and use her shieldwatch to send her back to
the city. Then bring back the other tiro yourself. I'll bring back
Lycus.”

Terra
nodded and moved to Hikari before accessing her shieldwatch. She used
the manual recall feature to send Hikari back to Saturn City. Then
she ran back to Roland and lifted him up, wrapping his arm around her
shoulder. Alya did the same with Lycus. Alya and Terra
looked one last time at Kairos who dashed into the darkness,
disappearing into shadow. Just as the German soldiers stormed into
the construction site, Terra activated Roland's shieldwatch. The ring
transported them to the Edge just as Nazi soldiers raised their
weapons to fire.

∞

Chaos reigned at the timeport.
A legionnaire found Terra after she had fitted another shieldwatch
and Restored herself. They told her to follow them and he led her to
a room where Orion waited. Several officers were in the room all
talking at the same time.

Terra saluted.

Orion looked up at her before
waving the others away. “That is the most tired salute I have seen
in a while. The rest of you are dismissed.”

“Sir?” one officer asked.
He wore the badge the Second Cohort, the Shadow Cohort.

Orion maintained his stoic
expression. “We are about to review classified information.
Besides, I need your unit to help cleanup the Tartarus disaster.
Crashing End. It's going to take us weeks to get Tartarus reattached.
At least only a few prisoners escaped. Also, I want another unit to
investigate how a crashing military unit from the 1940's managed to
sneak into the city so easily. What a mess.”

The rest of the officers
looked shocked. Terra thought they must be unaccustomed to being left
out of the loop or seeing Orion so tense.

They saluted before leaving.
Terra then recognized her surroundings. This was the place where
Orion had brought her during her first day at Saturn City.

Terra sat down on the opposite
side of the table while trying to stay awake after the shieldwatch
Restore had washed away her shock and adrenaline. Her body was fine
now. She no longer felt any pain or hunger, but her mental fatigue
made her ready to pass out asleep. A shieldwatch couldn't fix that.

Orion sighed before sitting.
“So who was it?”

“Kairos,” Terra said in a
tired voice.

Orion frowned. “Evidence?”

Terra stared at the table.
“Sixth Legendary Blade patch on her upper arms. Black rose in her
hair. One silver lock of hair matches her approximate age. Height and
hair color are a match. I don't know about her voice, it was
distorted.”

Orion shook his head. “We
did a DNA sweep. It was inconclusive, but its still too soon to tell.
Too many contaminants. Most of it yours or Cerberus's and a few
others. No fingerprints.”

“She wore gloves.”

“Any other clues?”

“She said that Cerberus
would rest in the garden after he died. I think she was referring to
Kairos's Garden.”

Orion let out a long tired
sigh. “All the evidence we have points to her. We don't have
conclusive evidence yet, but I don't think we can afford to hold on
to hope for this one.”

“Is she right? About Time
collapsing I mean.”

Orion shook his head.
“Impossible. We researched the effects of a shieldwatch thoroughly.
There is no way it could cause a disaster on the scale Kairos claims.
She must have another goal or she is being manipulated.”

“Manipulated? By who?”

“Who knows. We never found
out who or what made the Faceless. She also went to the Beginning of
Time. No one has ever come back from that unchanged, though most of
them usually don't try to kill everyone.”

“What are they like?”

Orion thought for a moment.
“Most who return from the Beginning of Time only to approach one
specific person, usually family or a loved one. They give them
cryptic information or more often to say goodbye before disappearing
back into the Beginning again. A few come back, raving about
ascension or some such nonsense and start trying to hunt down
singularities. Time King Ophion did that. That man came back mad.”

“What about if they come
back from the End of Time?”

“She's lying. It's
impossible. No one returns from the End of Time, save for Faceless.”

The door faded and Terra could
hear the guard outside.

“I am sorry, Centurion
Silverwind. You are not allowed inside,” the guard said as Alya
brushed past him.

Alya marched into the room
followed by the guard.

The guard turned to Orion. “I
am sorry, sir. I tried to–”

“It's all right,” Orion
said while dismissing the guard. “Actually, Alya, I'm glad you're
here.”

The guard left before the door
faded back.

Alya moved to Terra and
inspected her. “Are you okay?”

Terra nodded. “Just
exhausted. I'll be fine.”

Orion stood and faced Alya.
His expression turned cold as though bracing himself for a storm.
“Alya. I am putting you on leave until further notice.”

Alya turned to Orion. “What?”

Orion kept his cold gaze
locked on Alya. “This is Kairos, you don't need to be the one
chasing her. You are too emotionally involved in this case. Consul
Prometheus will agree with me. I think it is best you focus on
something else for a while.”

Alya grimaced. “I know her
best. I'll hunt Kairos down and I will kill her myself if I have to.
You can't stop me, Orion.”

Orion spoke in an even tone.
“You are emotionally compromised, Alya.”

Alya's fists clinched. “At
least I'm not soulless and can still feel emotions!”

Orion's expression softened.

Alya turned away. “Sorry,
Orion. I didn't mean that.”

Orion shook his head. “It's
okay. Look, Alya. You have enough burdens as it is. Let the other
Legendary Blades handle this. Please?”

Alya faced Orion. “Terra.”

Terra looked at Alya.

“Let's go,” Alya said in a
cold tone as she regarded Orion one last time before leaving the
room.

Terra turned to follow Alya.

Terra followed Alya out of the
timeport as she avoided onlookers as usual. Alya stopped on a long
windswept metal bridge. She swayed for moment before grabbing the
side and putting her hand over her mouth.

Terra took a step forward.
“Are you okay?”

Alya stood for a long moment
before composing herself. “My only squire to survive. The greatest
of them. The one who saved us from the Faceless, who saved this city
and now she is trying to kill us. I wanted so badly to see her again,
but not like this.”