Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (53 page)

They both peered up at the
half of the building that loomed over them before glancing back
towards each other. After a still moment, they both climbed. It
wasn't long when Terra looked back to see a newly formed volcano
consume part of the building they had stood upon. A large pool of
lava was now at the base of the building and the heat raised upward.

Terra slipped a few times as
she climbed. When she could, she grabbed bits of the metal rods that
stuck through the concrete rubble. Hikari used her shieldwatch to
pull ahead, Slowing gravity to launch herself high into the air. But
as they neared the top, Terra noticed she had bridged the gap between
them. Hikari slowed, trying to conserve her power while Terra's
steady, but slow pace had preserved most of her shieldwatch energy.

They reached the top at the
same time. Terra glanced to the key still sitting on the edge of the
roof before looking back at Hikari who stood gasping for breath, but
still focused on Terra.

The lull didn't last long.
Hikari attacked, Speeding her charge into a blur. Terra moved to
block, but was too slow. Hikari slashed her aeon edge, phasing
through Terra's right arm which made her drop her blade.

Terra moved fast, using her
shieldwatch to Restore her body. She then Sped her reflexes and
movement to weave around Hikari and grab her aeon edge before Hikari
could kick it off the roof.

Hikari attacked again, using a
burst with her aeon edge. The burst froze the area around Terra in
stasis, but her shieldwatch blocked the blow. Once the burst passed,
Terra stood exhausted despite the shieldwatch restoration. The mental
fatigue was almost too much for her to even stand.

Hikari also looked wearied.
Still, Hikari moved to attack and just as they crossed aeon edges,
both of their shieldwatches beeped.

“Battery power critically
low. Shutting down non essential functions,” Minerva said from both
of their shieldwatches at the same moment.

Hikari frowned, but then
charged Terra anyway. Terra blocked with her aeon edge, but Hikari's
blow was so powerful it knocked both of their aeon edges out of their
hands. This still didn't stop Hikari who then attacked Terra with a
series of savage hand to hand strikes.

Terra blocked what she could,
but Hikari landed most of her blows. After several strikes, Hikari
tired and stumbled back, gasping for breath.

Terra tried to retaliate, but
wobbled as she attempted to walk. They both fell to their knees at
the same time, staring at one another. Both sat facing one another
for a long while, gasping for air and soaked in sweat. The ground
shook, again shifting the roof. Terra and Hikari watched, unable to
move, as the key slid off the roof and dropped into the lava below.

Terra sighed. “Well there
went my hour of sleep. I hope you are happy.”

Hikari sat for a long moment,
out of breath. She spoke in a weak voice. “I was wrong.”

“What?” Terra asked, still
trying to find the strength to stand.

Hikari's breathing slowed. “I
was wrong about you. You appear to be neither fire nor tinder. You
are something tough and unyielding. Like a stubborn piece of ore my
father once used in his forge.”

Terra's breathing evened, but
she still felt like she burned. Her sweat had evaporated from the
heat and her mouth felt dry. Then Terra's nerves left her when she
sat up and saw Hikari smiling.

Hikari laughed as she
struggled to stand. “That was fun! You didn't flinch at all. Not
like the others. For a moment, I thought I might lose.”

“Are you going to insult me
again?”

Hikari stood though she still
fought to find balance. “No more insults, Terra.”

Terra struggled, but stood to
face Hikari. She tensed as Hikari walked over to her aeon edge and
picked up it. For a moment Terra wondered if Hikari would attack
again. Instead Hikari took a key device off her blade and tossed it
to Terra.

Terra caught the device and
almost fell over in surprise.

Hikari grinned. “You earned
it. Since I arrived at the city beyond time, I only wanted one thing;
the aeon edge sword. It is the perfect blade. But after I began the
training, I came to desire something else.”

“What's that?”

Hikari walked over to the edge
of the roof and looked out over the burning landscape, her slender
form illuminated by the red glow of the fires below. “When I was a
child, my father never let me take part in games with other children
because I always won. He told me that since I helped him with his
forge work, it made me strong and gave me an unfair advantage. He
said that the other children came from homes where they did not have
enough to eat. I was alone.”

Terra leaned back onto the
metal air conditioning unit. Her breathing and heart rate slowed, but
her shieldwatch had yet to recharge. “So you never got to compete
with others?”

Hikari shook her head. “I
never found anyone worth competing with.”

Terra raised an eyebrow.

Hikari turned and looked Terra
in the eyes. “At first I hated you. It was the first time in a long
while that anyone had bested me. I thought you naive and your victory
simple luck, but you have just shown me Terra Mason at her best. You
are one of the few people who have earned my respect. You are a
worthy rival.”

Terra stared at Hikari, her
brow raised. Respect? She had earned Hikari's respect? Hikari was
beautiful and seeing her fight was like watching art come to life.
Terra had always thought of Hikari as someone beyond her. Though when
Terra thought back to the training, Hikari had bested every tiro who
had challenged her. However, one tiro always gave Hikari trouble.
That one tiro was good at staying in a fight and enduring whatever
Hikari could throw at her.

“Attention all tirones,”
came Lycus's voice from the shieldwatch. “The gate is now open. You
have one hour to make it to the gate, with or without a key.”

∞

Everyone soon gathered at the
gate and all had found a key. The centurions told them that so many
tirones had failed or died that there were now enough keys for
everyone. This knowledge dampened their spirits.

Beyond the gate was a series
of cool rooms that provided a respite from the heat of the last
Trial. Before anyone was allowed to rest though, a centurion went to
each blade and activated the key attached to it. The device clicked
and fell to the ground taking the safety lock with it.

“You can set your aeon edge
to a lethal setting now,” Nikias said to Terra. He looked her in
the eyes. “You will need it for the next Trial. Are you sure you
are ready?”

Terra nodded.

Nikias smiled. “Good! Be
careful in the next trial. It's the worst.”

Terra shuddered at that, but
was more interested sleep. Precious sleep. The centurions promised
them not one, but three glorious hours of sleep as a reward for
finding a key. None argued that Lycus had promised them only one
hour.

After laying down, Terra fell
asleep in seconds. She didn't wake until she heard her shieldwatch
beep. At first she tried to ignore it, but then she smelled a
foulness in the air. After a moment, Terra heard Minerva’s voice
saying something. She focused on the words.

“Warning,” Minerva said,
repeating the message again. “Biological hazard detected.”

Accessing log. Apologies.
This small written excerpt is all I can find. I am afraid Consul
Prometheus ordered the rest purged from the Archives after the First
Temporal War.

Excerpt begins.

“
Great Kali!”

“
Cerberus! Cerberus is
here!”

“
Fire! Open fire! Protect
the civilians!”

Note: Original audio was
interrupted here by loud noises. Likely weapons fire from Kalian
Nagaastra energy weapons. This is followed by several screams.

“
Kali help us!”

“
Please! I surrender!”

Note: Audio is interrupted
again by screams.

“
You two! Go! Get out of
here!”

Note: More energy weapons
fire from a pistol class weapon. This is followed by a low grunt
before a splashing sound.

“
Crashing idiot could
have gotten away. Why did he stay?”

Note: Audio ends after two
more screams.

-Log of unauthorized Archives
access

T
erra
jumped
awake before taking in her surroundings. This new dimly lit,
but massive salient made Terra feel uneasy. Maybe it was the awful
reek or the snaking maze of iron pipes that crisscrossed the area.
The pipes loomed large overhead, blocking out any light from the
outside while an ambient green glow filled the cavern between the
ceiling and floor. Foul smelling, miasmic fog hung low in clusters.

She
looked at her shieldwatch.
72
hours
read on the face along with text naming this test the
Trial
of the Beast
.
Then Terra remembered what bothered her. After the Trial of Blades,
the optios had removed the safety lock from everyone's aeon edge,
allowing it to do lethal damage. For this trial, they would have to
be ready to kill.

“This is Zaid,” Zaid said
over Terra's shieldwatch. “Strike team report in.”

Terra touched her
shieldwatch's holoface. “Terra here. I'm fine. I am in a salient
with a lot of pipes.”

“Me too,” Zaid said. “I
have the rest of the strike team on the cipher lines. Let's see if we
can meet at a common landmark.”

After a moment, they
triangulated a position based on the formations of pipes and Terra
moved towards the rendezvous point. She ran atop the large metal
pipes while stopping to check for danger every few moments. A faint
echoing from inside the pipes gave her pause. She crouched, putting
her ear to the metal to hear scratching, scraping, and clawing on the
other side.

The sounds faded within
seconds and Terra moved again. She leaped from pipe to pipe, running
along the tops when they aligned with her destination. Terra looked
out over the salient again. This colossal maze of pipes compared only
to the Trial of War in size. It would take almost a day to traverse
to the other side even with a shieldwatch.

Terra
stopped again when she found a portion of the piping busted. She
approached with caution and found other scattered piles of metal
debris that didn't match the rusted iron pipes. Pearl colored metal
lay twisted as though something had ripped its way free. She paused
when she found an odd piece of the wreckage that had
DCLXXXII
inscribed on it. Terra guessed the remains were a much larger version
of the pod she had seen near Samael, but something huge had clawed
its way out.

Terra moved back only to step
in a batch of slimy moss. Strange plants sprung from the moss that
gave off neon green bioluminescence. The growth seemed to follow the
path of destruction left by whatever had burst from the pod.

“Warning,” Minerva said
from Terra's shieldwatch. “Biological hazard detected. Activating
hazardous environment stasis shield.”

The static grainy distortion
of Terra's stasis shield formed a transparent sphere around her
before fading. Before she inspected the growth further, a green misty
miasma rolled into the area. Terra left before the haze engulfed her,
not wishing to find out if it was toxic.

Terra ran atop the pipes
again. She would run, Speeding her movements in short bursts before
jumping. Then she would Slow gravity while keeping her moment Sped.
This saved her energy since it avoided fatigue accumulated while
Speeding her running.

Soon she closed in on the
meeting point and found several strike teams had gathered there.
Terra spotted Zaid on the outskirts of the fledgling camp. He stood
alone. After landing, Terra marched up to Zaid and pointed at him.
“Why did you leave me behind?”