Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (48 page)

Hikari then saluted as
Prometheus faced her.

“I have heard a lot about
you,” Prometheus said with a warm smile. “Almost all praise. We
haven't had a talented tiro like you in some time. I also heard you
were well versed in martial arts before you even came to the
Academy.”

“I had to learn to defend
myself, consul,” Hikari said plainly. “It was a violent time.”

Proteus nodded. “We could
use that expertise now. I look forward to watching your performance.”

Terra then saluted as
Prometheus faced her. Laugh lines creased his square, middle aged
face. His older look made him appear kindly, yet it enhanced his
commanding presence. She found his age odd compared to most eternally
youthful Saturnians. Terra knew this man could look younger if he
wished. Short silver hair with a center part topped his head. He
looked Terra up and down while facing her, hands clasped behind his
back.

“Tiro Terra Mason,”
Prometheus said as he nodded. “Needless to say, we will watch your
trials with particular interest.”

Terra relaxed when Prometheus
turned away and walked to Lycus though she couldn't help but feel
irritated. She knew so little about her teammates whereas Prometheus
seemed to know everything.

“These are talented recruits
this year, Lycus,” Prometheus said.

“Thank you, consul,” Lycus
said. “We pushed them hard this year.”

“I do hope you will consider
passing a few more of them than usual.”

“With all due respect,
consul, I let the Labyrinth decide.”

Prometheus nodded. “Then
I'll leave you to it.”

Lycus then touched the face of
his shieldwatch.

Terra felt the ground shake as
a loud metal groan echoed in the distance. She looked ahead to see
several colossal metal rings fall away from the city. Each ring had
twelve metal spires on the outer edge. Upon seeing the spires, Terra
recognized the rings as huge salients. She counted twelve rings in
total and though they varied in size, most stretched several
kilometers in diameter.

As the rings settled in front
of the metal runway, the glowing blue fadelines lined up and extended
to the outer ring of the large salients. Blue glowing rings formed in
the salient centers transforming each into a different terrain. The
outer metal ring of the salient moved clockwise as the fadelines
shifted to extend to random salients. Each fadeline would direct them
to a random salient. Terra then understood. These salients were the
labyrinth. She knew they would be separated as they entered and that
each fadeline would take them to a different part of the Labyrinth.
Even if they found their way back to the same fadeline, it would take
them to a different location each time. This made the Labyrinth an
ever shifting maze.

Nikias turned to the tirones.
“Return with your shieldwatch or upon it.”

The tirones then marched
forward into the fadelines. They faded into the Labyrinth. Terra
watched her strike team march in front and fade. Then she approached
the fadeline. She looked forward to the salient ahead. After a
moment, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before stepping
forward. Terra entered the Labyrinth.

Thank you again, Warden
Shamira, for your continued cooperation in this regard. I can't
stress enough how grateful I am for your continued efforts. I know it
cannot be easy transporting the items requested from Tartarus over to
the Labyrinth. Keeping a Manticore contained is no easy task and I
don't know how you put up with Samael's endless chatter. You have my
gratitude. The payment shall be the usual; complete visual records of
the tirones' fights with the prisoners. I have no idea why you and
the guards find this so amusing. I understand the drinking game you
have based on it even less so.

-Message from Praetor Lycus
Cerberus to Tartarus Warden Shamira

T
he
moment
Terra stepped through the fadeline, new surroundings faded in
and she found herself face to face with several people. They ran to
grab her before she even finished fading in. Combat instincts honed
by months of hand to hand practice made her dodge.

Three of them attacked. She
dodged one who stumbled after missing her while another she tripped.
The third one grabbed her upper arm, but let go once Terra struck his
neck. She surveyed her surroundings by Speeding her vision.

Terra stood at the bottom of a
large snaking canyon. Rocks lay around her and she could see nearby
cave entrances. She darted to one of the caves by Speeding her
movements while weaving around the attackers with ease. After
reaching the cave she found a spot concealed in shadows and hid
before watching the assailants from a safe distance.

“Did you get her?” came a
voice from the distance. Another ran up to the three downed men.

The one Terra tripped stood.
“No. She came out swinging.”

The newcomer shook his head.
“Now we will never get her. You got to attack before they are
ready.”

The man who stumbled now
stood. “So much for revenge.”

“Keep
searching!” yelled another who joined them. He stood taller than
the others. “And keep in a group. If you wander off on your own,
they
will
ambush you. I swear it's worse than last year.”

She studied the men. They all
wore clothing from different times, but their faces had a gruff
quality to them. All wore smaller versions of shieldwatch devices on
their forearms and ankles.

Terra
looked at her shieldwatch holoface. The face read
Trial
of Keys
.
After a few moments more text scrolled across the face.
Trial
of Time
,
it read followed by a timer that counted down from one hundred forty
three hours and fifty nine minutes.

She looked out from the cave
entrance to the sky above. The underside of Saturn City hung
overhead. Terra could see several other massive salients in the
distance. One smaller salient caught her attention. It lay in the
middle of the others with a pillar of light shooting up from its
center to the city above. She guessed that is where she will need to
go.

With time not on her side,
Terra explored the caves while hiding from the occasional patrol of
assailants. Many attackers had armed themselves with scavenged tools
and metal pipes. Noise and poor teamwork made them easy to hear while
their flashlights and torches made them simple to spot.

She also overheard a few of
them talking. Terra learned that these were prisoners from Tartarus.
The Legion allowed them to participate in the Labyrinth by attacking
the tirones. Most saw this as a way to get revenge for their
incarceration.

After a few hours skulking in
dark caverns, Terra spotted something unusual. The cave dipped and
curved, but one spot lay too flat for a natural cave formation. When
Terra drew close, she noticed a small metal ring with the Aeon
Legion's infinity symbol craved on its surface.

Terra stepped into the metal
ring. When she did, a series of holographic projections ascended from
the ring and circled her. Terra examined the holograms. They stopped
upon touch. It looked like a symbol or rune that floated in the air.
She counted two dozen of them. Terra caught and arranged them when
she found they connected together.

She stopped and rubbed her
chin. After arranging the symbols, she recognized a pattern to the
symbols that could be logically predicted. The Trial of Keys was an
intelligence test.

The symbols scattered and
Terra tried to pull them back in a row again. She sighed when she
realized all the symbols had changed. Terra grumbled, but started
over, this time working fast to connect the symbols in a pattern.

“There she is!” a man
yelled nearby.

Terra tensed as several large
men approached. They charged, but their charged slowed as Terra Sped
her perception and reflexes. She struck them down one by one while
dodging their slow strikes. To her, they moved in slow motion. Yet
they were still a challenge as she worked to solve the puzzle between
attacks.

She fell into a rhythm. She
would strike down or push away one prisoner before moving another
rune into place. When she neared completing the puzzle, she noticed
one prisoner who stayed back.

“Are you going to help us or
what?” a prisoner asked after standing from being tripped.

“I want to see how that gate
works,” the man said while still in the shadows beyond Terra's
sight. His voice sounded familiar. She didn't have time to think
further as another prisoner charged her. He threw a punch just as the
last rune connected. Her surroundings faded.

∞

Hanns watched the recruit fade
out the moment she finished solving the runic puzzle. “Interesting,”
he said. The puzzle would be easy for him, but that girl looked
familiar. He shook his head, putting the thought out of his mind.
Instead he focused on the fadeline. He had worked on the fadelines in
Tartarus and knew how to activate them. He would need to get to one
of the other ring structures, salients the Saturnians called them.

A prisoner pointed at Hanns.
“Why did you let her go? We almost had her!”

Emmerich stood nearby. He took
a step away from Hanns.

Hanns rolled his eyes. “Even
if you had captured her, then what?”

The prisoner cuffed his fist
with his other hand in a punching motion.

Hanns gestured around him.
“And after that?”

The prisoner's brow furrowed.

Hanns shook his head. “You
don't know, do you?” he said before turning to the other prisoners.
“None of you know.”

All eyes turned to Hanns.

Hanns grinned. “Can't any of
you see what this is? This isn't revenge. You are helping them train
the very soldiers who will arrest you in the future. Even if you
caught one, I am sure the Legion would save them from being killed.
Even if you killed one, you would still be sent back to Tartarus.
Nothing would change.”

Another prisoner pointed at
Hanns. “Then why are you here?”

The other prisoners stared at
Hanns with dark looks.

Hanns continued to grin. “I
am going to escape.”

The prisoners laughed. One
pointed to the device on his wrist. “Idiot. They listen in on these
devices they make us carry.”

Hanns's grin grew into a
smile. “Not any more. I have made a friend on the outside who has
fixed that little problem. Gentlemen, I would like to extend an
invitation to join the Zeitmacht as temporary conscripts. Aid me and
you get a chance to escape.”

The others regarded Hanns with
narrowed eyes and many spoke in hushed tones.

One prisoner spoke. “Too
risky.”

Hanns clasped his hands behind
his back. “Risk? I think not. The Legion is lazy and complacent.
The only risk we have is that we succumb to the same lethargy. No
gentlemen, the risk is minimal. The certainty, though, is that you
will be back in Tartarus unless you come with me.”

“What happens after we
escape?” asked another.

Hanns nodded to the man. “You
are free to go. I would not free a man only to imprison him again.
Think of this as an exchange. In exchange for helping me accomplish
my mission, you gain your freedom.”

One prisoner scoffed. “You
are all talk.”

Hanns lifted his sleeve and
touched his shieldwatch's holoface. The cuff devices at his wrists
and ankles unlocked and fell away.

Many of the prisoners leaned
in closer now, eyes wide and focused on Hanns. “What do we have to
do?”

Hanns smile widened. “Simple.
You have to help me steal history.”