029: Time

  The light was so blinding that even with his eyes closed Asterion could only see a white flash, the room of the terrible labyrinth seemed to have in the center a sun that gave no warmth and when the divine glow ended an impossible vision appeared in front of the polemarch.

  -What?

  Jason had healed each and every one of his wounds, not only that but, if before he looked like a grown man already entering his old age, now he was a young man of the same age as Asterion.

  -Light is time... Quite strange, don't you think so, Asterion?

  A black sword engulfed in flames and a colossal axe bathed in a pink fire that consumed the combustion of the sword collided where the archon was standing, Laconia and Theseus missed their attack and were now protecting Asterion.

  -What was that polemarch?

  Laconia kept her gaze fixed on her leader while Theseus looked around for his enemy.

  -I don't know... But I think I understand now how it's possible for him to be immortal.

  The copy of light that Theseus was facing before charged at the group and his sword met Laconia, at that moment the flaming axe of the minotaur finally reached him and the fire of Prometheus took care of burning the light; By the time they finished with the favor and went back to look for the archon the last minotaurs that supported them in the distance were all dead on the ground.

  -I congratulate you Asterion, only the hydra of Colquida and Leneus son of Silenus have pushed me so far as to need to use this favor.

  Jason voice echoed from all sides making it impossible to deduce his position.

  -In all my life Asterion there have only been five times that I have used this favor, twice to rejuvenate, twice to keep fighting and once now, what is your plan?

  A beam of light was blocked by Theseus fire and from the place where it was launched Jason was standing with his sword aiming at Lita neck.

  -What is more important polemarch, your pieces or victory?

  Theseus charged towards the archon without any hesitation while Laconia and Asterion waited behind.

  -It has been eight long years, are you going to hesitate now?

  Lita was trying to resist but the archon strength was superior while Asterion was thinking as fast as possible, Laconia only had one favor left and never before had he been so close to accomplish his goal; The polemarch had been trying to assassinate the archon for so many years that for him it was simply a game hard to take seriously, but now that he finally had him cornered, doubts arose that clouded the strategist judgment.

  -ASTERION!

  A hard blow received the polemarch shoulder in order to reconnect his senses.

  -What is the plan?

  Faced with Laconia show of loyalty there was only one decision.

  -Light against light.

  Asterion raised three of his fingers to Laconia and they both set off after the minotaur. Lita narrowed her eyes to see how they advanced without caring a bit about her possible death she decided to play her card, Silao controlled by the cynocephalus jumped against Jason in an attempt to free the doe, Jason despite fighting to death against him just a few minutes ago decided to dodge him while grabbing Lita neck, but this resulted in a small miscalculation as the doe was not exactly an elegant warrior; The archon hand suffered a painful bite forcing him to whip the doe against the ground, shattering stones and his consciousness, the small distraction ended when Theseus got close enough to swing his axe horizontally against the archon who in an act of brilliant skill managed to deflect the weapon upwards with his sword alone, but the siege was not yet over.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  - Σιδηρουργε?ο -

  Laconia favor transformed into a ball of fire in front of her, the blessing was normally created in order to be cut into a crown of flames, but the plan was different and the small sun remained in the sky shining brightly blinding the archon of light while a second horizontal slash cut the archon torso, however it was not enough to cause a mortal wound and with a leap backwards Jason recomposed himself again.

  -Lita!

  Asterion helped Lita to get up but she immediately pushed him away.

  -Your hand does not tremble to betray me, heleny.

  -He doesn't plan to murder you; he needs you alive.

  Lita's claws buried themselves in the polemarch leg.

  -ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!

  Asterion gaze fixed on the cynocephali marching back to Helena; Jason plan was almost complete.

  -Jason used his fifth favor to copy the control of Silao with half his strength, he is recovering the surviving slaves, worse since now they are controlled by the favor and as it is only with half his power who knows when they will be freed, if ever they will.

  Jason and Theseus resume their combat while Laconia awaited the polemarch orders.

  -You... You used us 'Terion, you never tried to free us, you just wanted to turn us against your enemy, didn't you?

  -No! I swear I did try to free you, all my life I tried but... But I also wanted to turn you against Jason... Don't you remember what I told you when we first met? You said that all heleny are the same and you are right, I want power, power to change something in this world even if I am so insignificant.

  -Even if that means betraying and using us? You are no better than any other of your kind.

  -No, I'm not; But I leave it up to you to choose now which side suits you best and you'd better decide fast, we're out of time.

  The claws were unearthed and Asterion stood up with his good leg using all his strength, he quickly approached Laconia to prepare his next attack.

  -You have yet to show us your last favor Laconia. [Theseus!]

  The minotaur gaze was still trying to cut the archon but a flick of his ears indicated that he was listening to the polemarch.

  -[Your shield!]

  Theseus had not used a single one of his favors in the fight, they were not necessary as all of these did not have much offensive power and so far he had no need to waste them if they did not serve him to undermine the archon, but he knew the mind of the polemarch and decided to trust him.

  - Κληρονομ?α -

  The fire shield arose once again and Laconia threw all the flames she could control using his blessing against it, when the shield was charged enough an explosion arose in all directions pushing Jason away against the stones, he was only slightly hurt.

  -Damn it.

  Asterion clenched his jaw tightly using his left hand, he was running out of options and sooner or later he would run out of pieces to play. Lita ran to stop her people and using all her energy she blocked the entrance to the labyrinth room with logs, branches and brambles to prevent them from leaving the place.

  - Καθρ?πτη? –

  Jason fifth favor already had so little strength that it could only affect a single individual, but nothing more was needed to win this fight, Silao body being controlled by Lita received Jason mark, the light inside him burned the flesh along with the doe blessing and the puppet changed master, the defeated archon was barely alive but Jason only wanted to use his about to die body for one thing only, a demoralizing act.

  - Κεραυν?? -

  Silao living corpse was able to conjure a favor while being controlled, even without a catalyst ring and with four fingers on both hands, Asterion held both hands to his head.

  -It's not possible...

  A cruel smile emerged from the archon face.

  -The fifth favor, makes the impossible possible, young Asterion.

  From the raised hand of Silao was born a lightning bolt that screeched in all directions and as if it were a lightning javelin the archon threw the spear against Theseus which his fire was not able to burn the thunder fast enough, the impact burned much of his torso forcing him to fall to his knees, the healing that constantly generated his body took longer to appear, surely because of the amount of damage received by such an attack.

  -You're running out of pieces Asterion and I still have one favor left.

  The strength and versatility of Jason favors was an unbeatable wall for a heleny without any blessing, plans were slipping through his fingers and his brain was working as fast as it could to find a solution, time was running out and the two archons were slowly walking towards the group until the sound of cracking stones flooded the entire room.

  -Lita?

  The cynocephalus had her hands buried in the remains of the destroyed temple and the marble reacted to her prayers, the whole place was filled with roots that demolished the stones, the labyrinth was about to collapse, Asterion approached her.

  -You're going to kill us all!

  The doe did not raise her eyes or change her objective.

  -I'm tired of following orders from you, if you are so “blessed” then stop this, your time is up.

  The polemarch brain stopped in surprise at this decision.

  -What about your people?

  The doe stood up in defeat.

  -I no longer feel their presence, all those who were controlled are already dead Asterion, we lost.

  The room was collapsing slowly but exponentially, the place had at most ten minutes left until it was completely buried by stones. Asterion gaze was lost on his feet as Lita walked away from Helena, at the rate she was walking she too would not survive, her spirit was broken and Laconia was still waiting for instructions that would never come as Jason retreated with his new puppets.

  -ASTERION!

  Laconia's words echoed in the head of the polemarch who kept looking at his feet.

  -I'm sorry, it's over.

  -[You're not like that.]

  Theseus words were the only thing that woke up Asterion, who raised his eyes to look at the minotaur.

  -[Get up heleny, you have felt this despair before, haven't you?]

  The memories of Bran death returned once more to his head and as the stones began to fall on them an idea was born again in the mind of the polemarch.

  -[That day changed my view of the heleny, I know you can do it again].

  Asterion clenched fists filled with what little determination he had left.

  -Laconia take Niko and Lita, take them away from Helena.

  -And what will you do?

  Theseus raised his axe once more as Asterion took a bow from the fallen cynocephali.

  -I want to win.

  Five hundred and sixteen years after Helena