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.
Chapter XXV
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
The 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 aga
in. 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.”
∞
A thick jungle faded into Terra's view. Her shieldwatch beeped. “Trial of Keys complete,” came Minerva's voice. “Two of twelve Trials completed. One hundred forty hours and seven minutes remaining.”
Her shieldwatch beeped again. “Trial of Survival beginning,” Minerva said.
Terra sighed. “Didn't we do this already?” She looked up to see the underside of Saturn City still looming overhead. However, she noticed the pillar of light was closer now. Terra guessed each trial brought her closer to that light. After taking a deep breath she began exploring the forest.
Terra learned a lot in a few hours, like how all the fruit here was poisonous. She also learned that, much like the cretaceous, there were giant crocodiles here as well.
Another thing to be careful of here was water. Every time she stepped in even the smallest puddles, all kinds of horrible things crawled out of the muddy bottom and tried to chew their way through her boots. The parasites were in more than just the water. After tracking a large ice aged predator, she stunned it with her aeon edge only to discover its entire body infested with parasites.
This salient crawled with predators. Though each came from different time periods, all seemed hungry.
She glanced to her shieldwatch again to check the time. One hundred thirty eight hours left. Shadows lengthened as night drew close and Terra knew searching for the next gate would become harder. Even worse was the knowledge that larger predators would be out after dark.
After night fell, it turned out her assumption was correct, though not from the predator she expected.
Terra felt a force of energy move through time even before she heard a gunshot. She Sped her reflexes and dropped to the ground to dodge a bullet that nearly struck her head. Terra rolled in a nearby cluster of thick foliage and hid.
She waited, watching. Terra saw no one and moved away, escaping the area. After an hour, the cover of darkness gave her enough confidence to search open areas for an exit or maybe another a gate puzzle. This time she was more careful. When she arrived in the middle of a glade another shot came at her. Terra dodged again.
She hid for another hour. The moon shone a pale blue light over the jungle, the night sky partially faded by Saturn City overhead. Terra moved again when she heard shots elsewhere in the salient.
While the shots rang out in the distance, Terra ran until she entered a clearing and stopped upon seeing something ahead. A metal cylinder, large enough to fit a person lay cracked open in the glade. Numerous chains and bonds lay broken on the surrounding ground. Terra paused to inspect the pod. LXXVI was inscribed on the top. Another smaller pod lay nearby with containers strewn upon the ground around them. Inside each container was a cushion material with the indentation for a firearm and ammunition magazines. Terra noted with displeasure the sheer number of empty weapon containers.
“Sorry,” came a voice behind Terra, “none of those guns are for you.”
Terra spun to face a figure who walked out into the moonlit glade. His face was pale and possessed an amused grin. Dark eyes regarded her. Long messy hair matched his long black leather coat. However, the thing that drew Terra's eye was the large brown glass sphere lodged in his chest.
Terra drew her aeon edge. “Who are you?”
The man smiled a wide toothy grin. “Why I'm Santa!”
Terra raised an eyebrow.
The man continued to grin. “Really? At least one person every year gets that reference. Oh well. You may call me by my alias, Samael.”
Terra edged back from the man. “Well, Samael. What do you want?”
“To kill you,” Samael said, still smiling. “If that's okay?”
Terra didn't hesitate. She lunged at Samael, slashing the man's chest with her aeon edge. The blue edged blade passed through him leaving a grayed out area as it passed. The man fell to the ground, but Terra didn't hear a loud thump when he hit.
Samael grabbed his chest while he writhed on the ground. “Oh you got me. You got me in the heart,” he said before he stopped and stood. “Just kidding.”
Terra's eyes went wide as she saw the gray area on his chest shrink and disappear.
Samael then pointed to Terra's aeon edge. “Oh no. No one's ever thought about using an aeon edge against me before. How original. I'm sure it will work if you try again.”
Terra sheathed her aeon edge.
Samael shrugged. “Don’t feel too bad. Everyone makes that mistake. Even a lethal aeon edge wouldn't hurt me. Now why don't you run along so we can get the chase started? I do enjoy a good hunt.”
Terra assumed a hand to hand stance.
Samael smirked. “Oh? Fisticuffs it is then? Well I'm sure that th–”
Terra charged. With a few well placed blows Samael was on the ground, though once again he landed without a hard thump. She took two paces back, regarding Samael's unconscious body. After a moment she sighed and relaxed.
“I finally got you!” Samael said as he stood as though nothing had happened. “You thought I was dead!”
Terra resumed her defensive stance.
Samael laughed. “It's a shame they only let me do this once a year.”
Terra attacked again. Samael countered every blow with ease. The few blows Terra landed didn't even force him back. She tried Speeding her movements with her shieldwatch, but it didn't respond and she felt her connection with time weaken. When she looked down, the face had gone dark with the device non functional. It turned on again when she stepped back away from Samael.
“You're good,” he said before striking Terra in the chest with his palm.
The blow didn't hit that hard, but the area he touched turned a dull gray in hue and Terra's heart rate plummeted. She stumbled backward as her muscles weakened and gasped for breath.
While she wavered, Samael flicked Terra's forehead. Suddenly her vision became gray and everything slowed. No. She slowed. Her entire body seemed sluggish now. Terra fell to the ground, gasping.
Samael stretched. “I hadn't had a good melee like that since I fought Silverwind.”
It was then, while still in the middle of a dull haze, that Terra remembered the name Samael. He was a member of a group of rogue time travelers called the Forgotten Guns, powerful assassins who could match the Legendary Blades.
“Well I guess I should cut to the chase,” Samael said as he drew a six shooter revolver. “I suppose literally in this case.”
Terra raised her shieldwatch, in spite of the dullness, as Samael fired. The stasis shield absorbed the bullet, freezing it. The dullness began to fade.
After Samael emptied six rounds at her, he tossed aside the gun. “I miss my old null tech gun. It would have punched straight through those bothersome stasis shields,” he said as he drew a second gun and advanced.
Terra ran, grabbing a case lying on the ground before heading into the jungle. She hid in the foliage and opened it just as the last of the dullness wore off and her heart rate returned to normal. Terra inspected the contents of the case. It contained a small handgun with a magazine inside.
Terra drew the weapon and loaded it. “I guess I can't complain about historical weapon practice anymore,” she said as she pulled the back of the gun which chambered a round.
It didn't take long for Samael to come walking along behind her. He made no attempt at stealth, stomping along the path near her. When he was a few paces away Terra jumped up in front of him, leveled the pistol, and fired.
Samael stood there, unblinking, as the loud gun fired at him.<
br />
Terra lowered the weapon.
Samael rolled his eyes. “Really? You just tried to cleave me in two with an aeon edge and you think a dinky little pistol is going to stop me?”
She gritted her teeth before firing again, this time while Speeding her vision. The bullet spun towards Samael, but when it drew close to him the glass core on his chest glowed. As it glowed, the bullet slowed before falling to the ground at his feet.
Samael pointed to the glass sphere in his chest. “Seriously, what do they teach you kids in school these days?”
Terra remembered now. Null tech was singularity technology used by the Forgotten Guns. It could nullify kinetic force and even other singularity technology, including her shieldwatch. She understood now. It wasn't possible to beat Samael in a fight. She had to flee. She had to survive. Terra ran.
Samael did not run. Instead he followed her as she outpaced him. However, when Terra slowed he always caught up with her. After it happened again, she hid and spent more time covering her tracks.
“Aw,” Samael said in a disappointed tone while searching the small glade Terra had just left. “I wanted a chase, not hide and seek. That game is lame.”
Terra watched Samael search the area.
“Don't make me sing!” Samael yelled.
Terra sighed. “At least he's loud enough to not lose track of,” she whispered as she looked for a new hiding place.
Samael continued to search. “Seriously I am tone deaf. The horror of my singing voice will drive you from your hiding place to face me. It's a last resort.”
As Terra's gaze passed over the area, it was then she spotted it. Another gate lay just a few paces away in another open glade.
While Samael still searched, Terra moved in the shadows. As she reached the gate, the symbols appeared again though in a different configuration this time. After working fast, she aligned the symbols, but the fadeline didn't form. Instead a holoface with a timer appeared near the gate.
Aeon Legion: Labyrinth Page 33
