Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (19 page)

Vand grinned. “Sounds good,”
he said, drawing a steel blue baton from his belt. Its tip sparked as
electricity flowed through it.

Hikari turned her side to Vand
while raising her arms chest level and spreading her feet apart.

He attacked. Vand's reach
proved too difficult for Hikari to overcome with nothing but her
hands. But just when he was about to move in to land a blow with his
baton, Hikari drew a small hidden knife. She slashed and Vand dodged,
but dropped his baton. Defenseless, Vand's 'ten styles of martial
arts ' did little to prevent Hikari from landing him on the ground a
second time with the knife at his throat.

With the combatants holding
still, Hikari's knife drew Terra's gaze. It wasn't a knife at all,
but a sword that had most of the blade cut off. The steel of the
sword also looked peculiar to her, but Hikari withdrew the blade as
Nikias approached.

Vand groaned, wiping blood
from his face. Terra wondered why there was no safety gear. Wouldn't
a Trial of Blades leave the recruits so broken they couldn't continue
training? What about all the burns? Those would leave scars.

“Well done. His point is
yours now,” Nikias said. He turned to the other tirones. “This is
the way of the Aeon Legion. You may challenge anyone and they may
refuse if they wish, but a superior officer may override that
objection.”

As Nikias turned, Hikari
stared at Nikias's aeon edge. Nikias glanced back and noted the stare
before motioning for the others to follow him. Once the others had
turned away, Hikari kicked Vand while he was still down before
walking away.

They followed Nikias to the
edge of the salient again. He turned to the face the tirones. “Last
chance to attempt this trial.”

When no one responded, Nikias
transformed the salient into a small meadow with a fast flowing river
in its center. Under the rushing water was an uneven hexagonal grid
of flat topped metal pillars. They waited for Nikias to change the
surroundings into something horrible, but he walked to the river bank
instead. “This is the last trial. It's also optional and simple.”

A holoface appeared over
Nikias's shieldwatch. He glanced to it before dismissing the
holoface. “Looks like one group already finished their first test.”

Soon
everyone's shieldwatch flooded with notifications of failures. Each
read the same,
Failed
the first test
.

After dismissing the last
holoface, Nikias waded into the water as the hexes raised to meet
him. Then the water flowed faster, turning into a torrent while
washing over the lower hexes.

“This test,” he said with
a wide grin, “requires you to fight me and knock me into the
water.”

Terra noticed the hexes, each
with a top as big as a table, rose and fell in a random pattern
except for the cluster Nikias stood upon. Some would jut out of the
rushing water when they were high enough while others would submerge.
This made the battlefield an ever changing one.

Before anyone else moved,
Roland walked forward, gripping the hilt of his sword.

Terra
grinned.
This is
it
,
she thought.
Roland
will make himself look like a fool. He cheated to get in. He doesn't
have any real skill.

The steel rang as he drew his
blade and stepped onto the first hex. He waded into the water, sword
in hand as the river washed away the mud from the first trial. Roland
made no effort to walk on the dry hexes, instead he headed straight
towards Nikias.

“I have been looking forward
to this one,” Nikias said as he drew his aeon edge and smiled. The
edge did not glow as Alya's had in the library.

Roland sauntered to the
shallower hexes near Nikias while Nikias held still. Then Roland
struck.

Water splashed as Roland
lashed out in a blur. His lazy saunter vanished as his sword strikes
flowed like waves. Each blow Nikias deflected Roland weaved into the
next attack.

Terra could hear the gasps of
the other tirones. Like her, they assumed Roland to be lazy like a
still pond yet here he moved like a rushing river. He wielded his
blade with a skill even an amateur like Terra could recognize.

Nikias smirked while he
blocked the blows. The blades met and Terra wondered why Roland's
medieval sword didn't get sliced through. She assumed that Nikias had
turned off his aeon edge to make the fight fair. Terra also noticed
that the hexes raised to meet Nikias when he drew near. They followed
wherever he went and lowered when he passed. Roland struggled to step
onto Nikias's platform.

When Roland set foot on
Nikias's platform, Nikias kicked him into the water. Roland sank
under the surface.

“Well that was fun,”
Nikias said before turning back to the other recruits. “Who's
next?”

A pillar broke the surface
behind Nikias with Roland standing on it, water running off him.

When Nikias turned Roland
lashed out with his blade though not at Nikias, but at the water. It
splashed into Nikias's face. Roland attacked again jumping onto a
nearby hex. He knocked Nikias's poorly aimed swing aside before
tripping him. Nikias fell with a thump onto the dry hex before
rolling off into the water.

Nikias laughed when the
pillars lifted him again out of the river. “Well done knight. You
get a point. It's been years since a recruit managed to knock me
over.”

The Celtic girl crouched,
narrowing her gaze.

“Next!” Nikias yelled.

The girl stared a long while
at the water before running at Nikias. It was then Terra realized a
line of shallow hexes now led towards Nikias. The girl had waited for
them to line up.

She roared as she ran drawing
a pair of small daggers. Nikias grinned, stepping aside as she
struck. This threw her off balance before he shoved her behind him
into the water.

“Next!” He yelled.

Hikari stared at Nikias for a
long while. However, Terra noticed that Hikari stared not at Nikias,
but his aeon edge. When no one else stepped forward Hikari
approached, jumping on the shallow hexes. When she drew near to
Nikias, Terra watched Hikari struggle with her footing in the fast
moving water, but still kept her gaze on Nikias's aeon edge.

She struck at Nikias,
attacking as she leaped the last hex. When she landed on the hex, she
and Nikias became intertwined in a fearsome melee. Nikias kept his
aeon edge sheathed. When it seemed Hikari had the upper hand Nikias
drew his blade and flung it at Hikari. Hikari caught the blade, but
became unbalanced. Nikias attacked before she recovered and shoved
her into the river. The aeon edge flew from her hand and Nikias
caught it before it touched the water.

“Keep your eyes on your
foe,” Nikias said as Hikari crawled onto shore, drenched, “not
his weapon, however much you may want it for yourself.”

Vand and his gang attacked
next after working up the courage to strike as a team. Nikias threw
them all into the water one at a time with minimal effort. Several
others attacked with the same results.

“Anyone else?” Nikias
asked.

Terra hesitated. Should she
attempt this test? Unlike the others, she had no chance of even
completing this one. She would be lucky even to reach Nikias much
less be able to push him off into the water. Once again she wondered
what the real point of this test was.

Terra tensed as she recalled
Nikias's words from earlier, “If you are unwilling to fight then
you shouldn't be here.” She knew she had to try. In the library the
odds had been hopeless as well, but she had fought. She would face
this test as she had the others.

Terra stepped forward.

Nikias grinned before
sheathing his aeon edge. “Well I didn't expect this.”

Terra made her way towards
Nikias though she battled against the flow of the river. After
several minutes of struggling against the flow of water, she made it
to the platform.

Nikias drew away from the
edge, letting Terra climb on without a fight.

Terra raised her fists.

Nikias roared with laughter
while shaking his head. “Your fighting stance is all wrong. We will
have work on that.”

She stared confused. Did he
pity her? No. He spoke as though he would teach her later. Terra's
eyes went wide. Had she passed the first test? Then Nikias shoved her
into the water.

Nikias looked to the remaining
dry tirones. “Last chance.”

No one moved forward as Terra
crawled onto shore, drenched.

Nikias
shrugged and began typing on a holoface. Moments later, Terra's
shieldwatch holoface was again flooded with notifications. She looked
at the first one. It showed Vand's picture with flashing text reading
Termination due to
failure of the first test.

There was a notification for
each one that had failed. Terra felt a surge of panic at each
holoface, expecting to see her picture. It never appeared.

Nikias pointed to several
tirones including Hikari, Roland, and Terra. “All of you! Over
here. The rest of you are to turn in your shieldwatch at the pillar.”

“What is this?” Vand
yelled as he stared at his own holoface.

Nikias's brow lowered. “What
do you think it means? You dusted out.”

“Hey! I'm a soldier! A
killer! I am better than most of this lot!” Vand said while
gesturing to the others.

Nikias
held up a finger. “You were unwilling to do all three
trials
therefore you failed the first
test
.”

Terra turned to the remaining
tirones. They were all burned, dirty, and now drenched as well. All
had attempted each trial even though most didn't earn a single point.

Vand pointed to Nikias. “This
is unfair! You said they were optional!”

Nikias
rolled his eyes. “All three
trials
were optional, but you had to do all three trials if you wanted to
pass the first
test
.”

“Then why didn't you tell
us!” Vand said, pointing at Nikias.

Nikias sighed. “To see if
you could figure it out. We want those willing to do anything without
being forced. Being a part of the Aeon Legion means you must go above
mere orders. If you give anything less than your all, then you will
fail.”

Vand clenched his fists. “It's
not fair!”

Nikias shrugged. “It's
Praetor Lycus's idea. I can't help you. Now go and leave your
shieldwatch by the pillar.”

Vand and the others who failed
left. After that, those who remained marched back to the central
square and waited for the other groups to return. When the rest
returned, Lycus walked onto the stage. He smiled when he saw how few
remained.

Terra looked around to the
other groups. Most suffered a similar amount of attrition. What had
started as a several thousand now stood at half that number. Those
who remained looked as singed and dirty as she was.

Lycus grinned. “Good. Now
the easy part is out of the way and we can start the real training
tomorrow.”

Terra's stomach twisted. Today
was the easy day? One more day like today, and they wouldn't be able
to stand from the injuries. Many turned pale at that remark as well.

Vand and several others pushed
their way to the front and invaded the stage. None of the optios
tried to stop them. In fact, they shied away from them.

“I think there has been a
mistake,” Vand said as he approached Lycus. He stood straight,
displaying his impressive physique.

Lycus glared at Vand with a
wolfish snarl before speaking in a low tone. “Thank you for
volunteering.”

Vand hesitated.

Lycus turned to the remaining
tirones. “Today was a test of willingness. If you are not willing
to get dirty then you are not worthy of joining the Legion. Anyone
unwilling to endure pain better crashing well stay away from the
Legion. Those unwilling to fight will not overcome those who are. You
need to be willing to do all three to make it though the Labyrinth.”

Vand scowled. “Hey! Your
test was unfair! I want a retry!”

Lycus ignored him. “Now for
those who made it past the first test, I would like to explain a few
more rules.”

Vand's knuckles turned white.
“Don't ignore me!”

“First,” Lycus said while
still ignoring Vand. “You will be injured repeatedly during the
training.”

Vand charged Lycus, but in a
flash of motion Lycus snapped Vand's leg. Vand screamed and fell to
the stage.

“Like this,” Lycus said as
he circled Vand. He grabbed Vand's arm before dislocating his
shoulder. Vand screamed and tried to crawl away, but Lycus dragged
him back to the center of the stage. The other recruits who joined
Vand stepped back.

“Please stop! Baal!” Vand
screamed.

Terra shifted nervously.

Lycus continued to smile. He
stood over Vand, gesturing to his broken body. “You can endure
almost any amount damage,” he said as he touched a holoface over
his shieldwatch. A ring passed over Vand, moving clockwise. When it
passed, it restored Vand back to the way he was before Lycus had
mutilated him. “And still be Restored.”

Vand's eyes went wide as he
felt at his own body.

Terra' went pale. Her stomach
churned at not only the torture she witnessed, but at the
implications. They could injure her or any other recruit as much as
they wanted before Restoring them.

Lycus
grabbed Vand's foot and dragged him back as he tried to scramble away
again. “You get one restoration or
Restore
a day. So use it wisely. If you want another one, then you have to
spend a point. Reversing minor wounds is free.”

“Help me!” Vand screamed
as his allies deserted him. “Anyone!”

Lycus turned his gaze to Vand.
“However, there is one injury that can eliminate you from the
program.”

Vand's eyes went wide as he
cried. He made one last desperate bid to escape, trying to crawl away
from Lycus who still held his foot.