She
remembered Hanns, the soldiers, the battle at the library, and the
silver haired woman who fought them by herself. Finally, Terra
remembered her own struggle with Hanns over a history book. She
remembered everything.
Forcing herself calm, Terra
turned to the woman. “Who are you? What did you do to me?”
The woman assumed a military
posture before putting her right fist over her heart while snapping
her feet together in a strange salute. “Centurion Alya Silverwind
of the Aeon Legion. I am the wielder of the aeon edge Silverwind
which is also my alias. I am a citizen of Saturn City and twelfth
member of the Legendary Blades.”
Terra
gazed at the woman with a blank expression. She looked over Alya's
strange uniform again and noticed the word Invictum which was displayed below a golden infinity emblem on her upper arm.
Below the infinity emblem was a patch that depicted twelve swords
arranged in a circle and pointed inwards. Terra did not recognize any
of the other insignias.
“Oh. And I'm also a time
traveler,” Alya added, as though it were a minor detail.
Terra's eyes narrowed. “I
find that hard to believe.”
“Let me show you,” Alya
said as she snatched Terra's rock hammer. Before Terra could protest,
Alya held it in her right hand, the same hand with the strange watch
like device. The glass orb in the watch began glowing before the
hammer started to levitate the air. Terra's eyes widened as the worn
edges and dents faded from the hammer's surface. Alya handed it back
to Terra, who inspected the hammer. It looked new, like the day she
had first bought it.
Terra stared at Alya. “How?”
Alya
pointed to the watch like device on her right forearm. “It's called
a shieldwatch .
It's singularity technology that controls time. Everything I did in
the library was all singularity technology. Well, also a lot of
training and experience.”
“So time travel is real?
Those were real Nazis?”
“Making a time machine is
easy. People have built time machines as far back as 1895 AD in your
continuum’s dating system. Most are scientists and explorers
wanting to witness history, but others like Hanns cause trouble by
changing things.”
Terra's mouth hung open for a
moment. She then put the hammer in her bag before turning back to
Alya. “Um. Silverwind is it?”
Alya glided closer. “You may
address me as Alya if you wish.”
Terra leaned back when Alya
drew close. “Well then, Alya. Um. So why are you here exactly?”
Alya again moved closer to
Terra. “I wanted to thank you in person for helping me stop Hanns.
If not for you, Hanns would have gotten away with the book and things
would have escalated.”
“Um. You’re welcome?”
Terra said, raising her hands in front of her and stepping back.
Fortunately, Alya backed off
before studying Terra with narrowed eyes. She put her hand under her
chin while regarding Terra. “I suppose I need to do a brief
physical examination and check a few other things. I'll be back in a
few hours.”
“What?” Terra asked before
another glowing ring formed around Alya, moving clockwise. The ring
left a trail of light which formed a sphere around Alya that
dissipated, leaving no trace of the silver haired woman.
Terra stood for a long moment
and stared at where Alya had stood.
“I'm still not sure,” came
Alya's voice from above.
Terra looked up to see Alya
pacing on the top tier of the quarry. “That wasn't a few hours.”
Alya ignored Terra and
continued speaking while staring at the glass face of her
shieldwatch. A small holographic disc glowed above the glass face.
Alya's finger traced the surface of the disc as though it were a
touch screen. “No medical conditions a shieldwatch can't fix. Good
vision too. Still, she is physically unfit and will need to work hard
to catch up in that area. Her grades are good. Could have been better
I think. Excellent history score. Slightly above average sciences and
math. I will have to ask her teacher about that.
Regina Bartley, Laura Hampton