Aeon Legion: Labyrinth
Page 39
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!”
Lycus stood, unmoving, for a long moment. She felt a spike of fear when Lycus reached behind his back and drew a blade. The fear faded into sadness when Lycus handed her Zaid's blood stained aeon edge. “This is yours now. You can even keep it after the Labyrinth. Do with it as you will,” he said before stepping aside and removing his mask.
Terra looked at Lycus. “Why are you here?”
“I am here to keep monsters like me out of the Aeon Legion. I am here to stop heroes and heroines from walking my path. I am the guardian of the gates. I let only the worthy pass.”
Terra began crossing the iron bridge to the gate ahead.
“Terra.”
Terra stopped and turned.
Lycus faced her. “The next trial is the Trial of Fear. It's the only trial Kairos failed.”
Chapter XXX
Trial of Fear and Truth
The Trial of Fear has a ninety percent failure rate, but I expect Tiro Terra Mason to pass with ease. For most, they see all of their trauma and failure relived in perfect detail. A few, though, don't have enough trauma for this Trial to be effective. This is an instance where Terra's stable home life and peaceful youth will work in her favor. In many ways, this is her greatest strength. She has no talent, but she is not broken either. Plain, solid things make for good foundations. However, I wonder what the Trial of Truth will show her? Terra has gained much, but has yet to face what she lost upon entering the Academy.
-From the personal logs of Praetor Lycus Cerberus
This salient appeared anticlimactic compared to the others. Terra stood on the metal walkway that rimmed the edge of the salient and noted the diameter was smaller than most of the others in the Labyrinth. Traversing this salient would take an hour at most, if she didn't hurry. However, the flat dark hex patterned floor looked odd. A pillar of blue light shot upward in the exact center of the salient while the metal underside of Saturn City shown overhead. She had arrived at the Labyrinth's heart.
Terra looked around to see a lone Sybil who stood by the entryway into the flat salient. She approached the entryway as the Sybil stared off at the pillar of light, at least Terra guessed that's what Sybil was staring at it. Those strange headpieces made it hard to tell. “Excuse me?” Terra said, trying to get the Sybil's attention.
The Sybil started and looked around frantically for a moment before focusing on Terra. Terra recognized the Sybil as one of the three Lycus had talked to before entering the Labyrinth, the one named Nona. “Oh,” Nona said in a disappointed tone while her expression soured. “It is the null.” Nona said before gesturing to the salient. “This is the Trial of Fear. Are you ready?”
Terra sighed. “I’m not getting any more courageous.”
“Very well, null,” Nona said. She outstretched her shieldwatch arm and a line on the floor began glowing blue directly under her hand. The line followed the border between the hexes on the floor, leading to the distant pillar of light. “Follow the line to the pillar.”
Terra looked down at the salient floor. “Isn't this salient going to change like the others?”
Nona scowled upon hearing Terra's question. “This salient is special. Some salients connect time and space. This one connects thoughts and memories. It takes those thoughts and memories to make fear. In some ways, this salient has its own will.”
Terra frowned and gripped her aeon edge.
Nona sighed in frustration. “Fear is beyond the reach of any force of arms. What this salient shows can only hurt you if you let it. Now go.”
Terra took her hand off her aeon edge and walked forward. Whatever the Trial of Fear had in store for her was probably better than talking to a Sybil. She walked down the ramp and took one cautious step onto the salient floor. The floor rippled outward, like a still pond disturbed by a thrown rock. After a moment, the floor solidified and Terra proceeded.
As the outer ring of the salient faded behind her, Terra began to feel uneasy. She followed the glowing line on the ground as it twisted between hexes. Terra halted when she spotted movement.
The hex floor to her left bulged as though something were trapped under it. The bulge then twisted until it transformed into an insect like creature that crawled towards her. The dog sized monster reminded Terra of the creatures she had faced before Sero. Its skin shared the same hex pattern as the floor. When it drew close to Terra, she kicked it and it scurried off.
Creepy, Terra thought, but I've already faced those. As she walked forward, several more of the monsters formed, but she booted aside the few that drew close.
As the monsters melted back into the floor, several new forms bubbled. The first one sprang at her. Terra evaded as the shape flew past her and fell to the ground. She turned to see a young girl there. “Val?”
Val lay there a moment before she opened her mouth in a silent cry. She looked the same as she had been on that day at school long ago.
Terra turned to see Henry approach and try to shove her without success. Her brow lowered before she ignored the small child and walked forward. However, another bully moved in her way.
Vand walked in front of Terra. He smirked while twirling his shock baton in his hand.
Another form rose nearby. Terra looked to see Hanns emerge, holding his coveted history book.
Terra sighed. “Is this all you can throw at me? A bunch of bullies and monsters I've already faced?”
As if responding to her criticism, the forms melted back into the surface. Terra looked ahead. She was about halfway to the pillar. She proceeded forward again, though she noticed the light between the hexes grew dimmer.
Moments later, the surface began to shift again around her like a liquid being boiled
. Small objects formed; books, games, minerals. She recognized the objects of her childhood. Then Terra came upon her parents.
Her mother wept while her father packed her old things away with a solemn expression. Often he would stop to inspect one of Terra's old possessions before smiling. Then that smile would turn to sadness before he put Terra's old things away.
Terra paused, briefly, before making her way around them. “Not pulling your punches anymore?”
Then she found a dead body blocking her path. Terra stepped over the mangled bloody corpse before finding another in her way. Soon, Terra had to navigate a field of corpses while a breeze began to pick up around her. Blood covered the ground, but it didn't stick to her for which Terra felt thankful. Although she found the corpses revolting, Terra wondered why the Trial of Fear would try to scare her with that. Then she saw the figure ahead.
Before Terra was a hill of corpses, most of which wore the same uniforms of those who had chased her during the Survival Test. The blood soaked twisted mound of bodies emanated darkness while a harsh wind picked up around her. The red wind whipped blood around it like a cyclone. There at the peak of death, with a bloody wind flowing around her, stood Alya Silverwind with a red stained aeon edge.
Terra couldn't look away even though she knew this Alya was a fake. A name flashed in her mind. “Bloodstorm,” Terra whispered. Then a sickening thought occurred to her. What if this salient drew from more than just her memory? Was this Alya's memory? She shut her eyes and looked away. When Terra opened her eyes, the scene had vanished.
Terra looked to see the pillar of light a short distance ahead. She didn't have far to go. As she walked forward, the floor rose again in front of her. As the ground distorted, the area around Terra darkened until she lost sight of whatever the Trail of Fear was readying for her. Terra walked forward, cautious. Then she saw Zaid.
He lay there, eyes open to the dark sky. Blood ran from his open mouth to the floor. His chest was still torn as though the Manticore had ripped it open moments ago. Terra gasped, fighting back a wave of nausea. After a moment, Terra tried to step around him when Zaid turned his head towards Terra.
She froze as Zaid reached for her, but he was too weak to go far. He lay there on the ground, his face in anguish as he reached out to Terra. His lips moved, but spoke no words.
Terra gingerly stepped around him. Zaid's eyes widened when his reach fell short and Terra turned her back on him. She shook her head and fought back tears. “I won't stop for a memory.”
Terra did not cry. Instead she felt her sadness boil into rage. The Trial of Fear had nothing it could scare her with. Instead it hurt her.
More distortions formed in the floor, but Terra kicked aside any that got too close. She didn't bother to even look at the echoes the Trial of Fear threw at her.
A hill sized mound rose before her, blocking her path. The mound drained away like running oil to reveal a copy of Sero.
Terra stopped and glared. The duplicate of Sero was an exact physical match, though its movements were sluggish. “I've faced you too,” she said as she marched forward. It recoiled as she drew close.
When Terra was almost close enough to touch it, its large shield shaped head split open to reveal Lycus's face.
Terra froze, but calmed herself. She faced the strange hybrid, wondering why the Trial of Fear had chosen to show her that. After a moment, the monster melted into the floor with the others. She continued on.
When she neared the pillar of light, its glow lessened the darkness around her. Someone stood in the distance. As Terra drew closer, she saw it was a Sybil. The one named Decima.
Terra regarded the fake Sybil who stood, staring at the pillar of light. “How is a Sybil suppose to scare me?”
Decima started. “Stupid null!” She yelled before composing herself. “I can never see them well.”
Terra paused, realizing that this was a real person. “So am I done with the Trial of Fear?”
Decima stiffened while smoothing her ornate robes. “Yes. The Trial of Fear is done.”
Terra pointed at the pillar of light. “What is that?”
“That is what you will enter for the next trial. At the end of fear lies truth.”
“Trial of Truth? I still don't know what that light is.”
Decima looked upward. “That beam of light is from the Temporal Singularity. This place is directly under the center of the city. Inside that light the past, present, and future all merge into one time. The truth you see could mean many things. You may even see more than one truth. However, for a null like yourself, I doubt you will see much. A null is not well connected with the Grand Design.”
“It has to be better than the last stupid trial,” Terra grumbled before walking towards the light.
As she drew closer to the beam, the area around her distorted with the horizon, stretching out as though pulled by an unseen force. She touched the light and it expanded outward. The brightness forced Terra to close her eyes. When the light lessened, Terra opened her eyes to a familiar sight. She stood alone in an open field and ahead of her lay a quarry. Her quarry.
The quarry was sunny though no sun shown overhead. It was a small island of brightness in a sea of dark metal hexes and shadows. Terra walked through the grassy field, touching the tips of the tall weeds as she walked to the quarry. When she drew near, she heard the soft ting of a rock hammer. She looked out over the edge of the rock quarry to find herself.
Below Terra stood a double who worked diligently on the rock walls of the quarry below. The double looked up at Terra before stopping her work.
Terra jumped down on the ledge below and faced the double. She appeared identical to Terra with the same messy hair and light brown eyes.
The double narrowed her gaze on a Terra. “Who are you?”
“I guess I'm you,” Terra said.
The double shook her head. “No longer.”
“Why do you say that?”
The double pointed to the dark water at the bottom of the quarry. Terra looked down at the still pool to see her reflection alongside the double's.
It was an odd thing. She hadn't noticed during the long months of the training, but now that she could compare, the results gave her pause. The double was Terra before she had come to the Academy. A nonathletic girl who spent her days digging up rocks and reading books in her sunny quarry. In contrast, the real Terra's now lean body was both toned and muscular. A body honed for combat. Even her stance was different. The double stood with a slight hunch, unlike Terra who stood with a military posture, rigid and straight backed. The old Terra wore a stained shirt and jeans while the new wore a precise Legion uniform. Her smooth brown hair hung tied back in a neat ponytail, in contrast to her double's messy bob.
“Have I changed that much?” Terra asked.
“Not just change. Choices,” the double said.
“Choices?”
“Time is like life's choices. It branches as we age, opening up new possibilities. Yet when we grow old, our choices begin to narrow again, ending in only one possibility; death.”
“So this place is a possible future?”
The double shook her head. “No. This place is where your most important choice was made.”
“The choice to join the Legion? I suppose I did make that choice in my quarry.”
The double's eyes narrowed as she spoke in a low tone. “This place is no longer yours.”
A rumble in the distance drew Terra's attention before she could respond. Terra looked up to see the pearl towers of Saturn City, rising around her quarry as though sprouting from the earth like weeds. When she looked back at her double, Terra froze and her eyes opened wide.
The double stood with a streak of blood running down her face. “The choice is done.”
Terra had to stop herself from stepping back when she saw the waters in the quarry turn blood red. The water cleared just enough for her see the twisted roof of a car, laying in the bottom of the pool. She faced the doub
le. “I didn't really have a choice. If I had stayed in my time, I would have died.”
The blood on the double's face dried in an instant as her skin turned putrid gray. “You made the choice without this knowledge. Do not forget the lesson of the beast, Cerberus. You walk the path of blood now. Better to die by fate's design than become a monster by choice.”
Terra watched in silence as the double rotted away in front of her. Flesh turned black before crumbling into dust and bones. Even the bones turned to dust seconds later as the spires of Saturn City began to creep over Terra's quarry. Terra climbed out of her quarry just as Saturn City completely overtook it.
She stared at the city as it grew before her. Terra looked down when she felt something brush against her leg. White roses had sprouted around her.
While Terra wondered what the truth of this trial was, the shining city around her dimmed and darkened. A red light shined on the other side of the city. It grew in strength as a loud rumble sounded. Terra looked down to see her shadow stretching off into the distance. It connected with another shadow that stood on the opposite side of the city. Facing Terra was a figure in black that mirrored her. As the figure, a woman Terra guessed, walked, black roses grew in her wake. They faced one another, Terra in white with a shieldwatch glowing blue and a the figure in black with her shieldwatch glowing red.
With a simple gesture, a darkness emanated from the shadowy figure and Saturn City shattered. The pearl towers and white steel were ripped apart. Shards of the city flew into the sky while Terra shielded herself from a tremendous wind. She could hear screams over the roaring winds and wailing metal. When the wind died, Terra looked up to see an endless field of corpses and wreckage between her and the shadowy figure. Beside each corpse was an aeon edge that stood upright with its tip in the ground.
Terra stood for a long moment before she realized what the Trial of Truth was showing her. The mangled wreckage, the corpses, and the aeon edges all stood in a twisted perversion of Kairos's Garden. Before Terra could wonder further, the shadowy figure turned and left. Then Terra's surroundings faded and she stood back on the plain hex floor next to the pillar of light.