⏳ --

Pebbles and sand crunched under my boots as we advanced through the corridor ahead of us. I hoped that the guy we were looking for was inside. Ironically, we were running out of time. We needed to find him and bring him back to Primavera if we were going to win this war.

Andi led the way, warily taking steps forth into the dark corridor. I followed close behind, wanting desperately to slip my hand into hers but knowing it wasn't the right time.

The room the corridor led into was incredibly dark. I couldn't see anything. My eyes were struggling to adjust to the petrifying darkness I'd stepped into. With my eyes struggling, my hearing was heightened. I heard every sand particle crunch underfoot. I heard the sound of my hands scrapping along the walls. I heard a distant and faint roar coming from behind us.

And then I heard a disturbance in front of us. It screamed danger. My hand snapped onto Andi's wrist in an attempt of protection. She didn't fight me off.

"My stance remains unchanged," a gravelly voice called from the darkness.

A golden ball of light rose above us, created by Andi, lighting up the hall. Chained to a statue in the centre of the room was an elderly man in tattered clothing and a silver scraggly beard.

"Gilliam!" Andi rushed to his side. "Are you okay?"

A weak smile spread across the old man's face. "Andromeda."

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

Astra, with glowing hands, yanked the chains from the statue, completely disintegrating it as she pulled the shackles off the old man's wrists. The women helped him to his feet, and I realised how malnourished he was. He was as thin as a stick with his ribs almost exposed under his tattered clothes. How long had he been locked away down here?

"We must leave," Gilliam rasped. He tugged at Andi's sleeve desperately. "We must leave now."

His eyes flashed with distress, weak hands trying to lead Andi away from this place. What was he afraid of? If he was as mighty and important as everyone claimed he was, I wasn't seeing it; he wouldn't look as frightened as he did now.

"Gilliam, what is it?" Astra said, gently grasping his bony shoulders to steady him.

The old man's eyes widened in absolute fear that shook me to the core. "He is here. He is coming."

The sound of footsteps echoed around us, faint at first and slowly getting louder and louder. I whipped around left to right, trying to identify which of the multiple passages the loud footfalls were coming from.

"Gilliam, who's 'he'," Andi probed. "Who are you talking about?"

The way the guy said 'he' told me that, whoever he was talking about, he was somewhat afraid of. And the first name that came to mind was obvious.

"Eon?" I asked him.

His frightened eyes turned to me, sending cold shivers down my spine, but he didn't answer me. He just tugged at Andi's sleeve again. "We must leave."

"I'm inclined to agree," Barton said. "This place is giving me all sorts of bad vibes."

"I second that, let's get outta here," Stark added.

Andi sent me a look, her brow furrowed slightly and her lips pursed. I was thinking the same thing as her: we needed to get out, yes, but we needed to find out who the old guy was talking about as well.

She allowed Gilliam to led her along through one of the passages and we all followed. Astra lit up her palms, sending a gentle green light as our guild through the darkness. Stark and Sam flew ahead through the winding passages as Andi and Astra dragged Gilliam along with me and Wanda right behind, and the spies picking up the rear.

And then the footfalls gained momentum, moving faster and faster, right behind us and not slowing down. We needed to movie faster, and Gilliam was slowing us down.

I picked up the pace, running just behind the old man and the girls, and scooped Gilliam's light body into my arms. Andi and Astra ran ahead and I was right behind them.

"What the hell is that?!" Barton yelled, preparing an arrow to shoot.

"Let's find out!" Nat screamed back. She pulled a small ball from one of the pouches at her belt and tossed it behind her.

I snuck a glance behind me as the ball exploded in a flash of light. I noticed a humanoid figure standing in the light-touched smoke charging towards us.

"Move!" I roared.

I had no idea how we were ever going to find our way out of his place. There were so many twists and turns that my stomach churned in dizziness. It felt like we were going around in circles with no way out, trapped in a never-ending labyrinth.

"That's it!" Barton growled. I watched him stop in his tracks from over my shoulder and launch an arrow into the darkness before running on behind us again. And then I heard him yell, "incoming!"

I ducked in time for the whistling arrow to soar over my head. What the hell?!

"Run straight ahead," Sam ordered over the line through my earpiece. "The exit is straight ahead. Stark and I are already out."

I charged a little harder, pushing on to get away from the oncoming storm of footsteps chasing us. And then I saw the dim light of the darkish blue galaxy tinge of the outside seeping into the cave's opening. I heard the footfalls behind us begin to die away, and I hoped that whatever was chasing us wouldn't leave the cave.

We burst out of the cave and into the dimness. Everyone but Stark, Sam, and I stood around in exhaustion, hands resting on knees and hunched over, heaving heavily. I eased Gilliam to the ground, his weak legs just able to hold him up.

I turned to the cave mouth. It was silent. It seemed like whatever was following us had given up the chase.

"Holy crap, what was that?" Nat panted, turning to the entrance.

"It better not be that minotaur that you two were talking about," Sam remarked as he sent obvious glares at Andi and Astra.

They didn't see it nor were they paying attention. They were too busy attending to the sick general, healing his injuries with their abilities.

"I have no idea," I replied, eyes still glued to the cave. "But whatever it was, it wanted us."

And then slow and steady boots crunching on gravel, faint and muffled, reached my ears. There was silence among us as we all turned to the cave's entrance. I backed up slightly towards the Walkers, pulling my shield from my back, it humming as I did. Barton prepared his bow and Nat her Widow Bites at her wrists and guns, Stark held up his weaponised hands, repulsors at the ready, and Sam's hands hovered at his automated pistols at his thighs. Andi, Astra, and Wanda powered up, standing around Gilliam to protect him.

My stomach churned. My heart pumped fast and hard, and my pulse throbbed in my neck. My breath hitched in my throat. I wasn't nervous. I'd manage to kick the asses of a German dictator, aliens from space, and a thinking-feeling robot. I could face whatever stepped out of that creepy cave-tomb. I wasn't nervous. I was anxiously curious.

I saw the figure cast a long shadow from the darkness of the cave – tall and lanky with spiked up hair. They stepped out of the shadows of the cave, and my breath released.

I heard Andi breathe out behind me. "Chameleon."

The Walker crossed his slender arms. I couldn't help but notice his ever-changing eyes go from a friendly blue to an easy-going green to an unsettling dark brown.

I squinted. "What are you doing here?"

"Primavera sent me," he replied coldly. "She sent me to find you. It's been seven days since you left. She got nervous and I was sent to find you."

I couldn't help but feel the prick of suspicion at the back of my neck. I didn't know the Lady of Time well, but I had an inkling that she'd have enough faith in one of her second in commands and one of the Walkers tasked with the most important missions ever tasked to rescue her general. With that said, there was something...off about this guy. The way he stood, the way he looked. It was so unlike how I he stood and looked the first time I met him. Something had changed, and I was worried about it. And Andi had caught on.

"Chameleon, we're experienced and prepared enough to complete this mission," she said, "why would she send you when she knew we'd complete it?"

I watched him as the cogs in his head turned, coming up with another excuse. But it seemed to me that he didn't have another handy.

Chameleon scowled. He pointed a bony finger at Gilliam. "I cannot let you take him back to the Walkers."

Astra went to stand next to me, a hand held out to Andi to keep her back near Gilliam. "Why? Chameleon, what have you done?"

"I'm sorry, Astra. But the Lord's reign is over. His hand is weak. It's time for someone strong to take over and lead us to glory." He glowered. "We have waited in the darkness for too long. It's time to take a hold of the destiny we were created for, not hide in the shadows moulding time in secret. We must control it like we were designed to do."

His name was appropriate. He was a chameleon, playing a part while also playing another, pretending to walk one path while really walking a darker one. Why he allied with the enemy was seriously beyond me. His reasoning was a weak one.

"Why?" Astra questioned, genuinely shocked. "Why would you side with him? He's a monster!"

"He's an innovator!" Chameleon countered. "The old ways have long passed, Astra! They no longer work! We need someone whose ideas spread wider than the Chronos!"

"And Eon is the right person?! If you strongly believe that then you are blind."

I watched Andi approach from the corner of my eye, a gentle hand on Astra to urge her back towards Gilliam. Hesitantly, she obeyed, and Andi took her place, walking up to him to be two or three arm-lengths apart.

"Don't do this, Chameleon," she said gently, so gently that I could hear the pain of betrayal in her voice. "You don't know what he's truly like. You don't know what his true intentions are. He's using you."

Chameleon glared at Andi unflinchingly, the first time I've ever seen someone stare back at her without looking away in fear. "You don't know what I think. You don't know how I feel or what I know." He took a step closer to her, his face inches from her own. "You think you're so high and mighty because you're so deep in the Lord and Lady's pocket." His eyes flicked to me. "If only your friends knew what you've done in your long life. If only they knew of the pain and destruction and death you've caused."

Andi's head turned ever so slightly in my direction before continuing. "If only you knew what Eon has caused; the amount of people he has killed for his own selfish gain. He murdered Eilian. Isn't that enough to convince you how dangerous he is and the amount of destruction he'll cause if you help him?"

"Eilian was nothing but the thorn in all of time's side," Chameleon countered. "His death was necessary for the cogs of time to continue to turn."

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" she snarled, hands glowing in anger. "No one deserves to face the hand of death. No one." She sighed. "Not even the traitors of time."

And then I noticed Chameleon was holding something – a golden object with a circular edge and sides meeting up to a point. He had a Shard. And, if I remembered right, it was the last one.

Andi noticed, her head slightly looking down at it in his hand. "Give it to me, Chameleon."

He scoffed. "No. The Master of Time must remain free. Andromeda, if we're to survive we must allow Eon to return time back to order. The Emerald City will be his to rule and the seat of time will be his throne. You will not lock him away. Not this time. Not ever again."

"You're delusional," Astra growled. "What has he done to you?"

"He has opened my eyes!" he roared back. "I have seen people die, civilisations crumble to dust, and worlds at war. I will not allow the Lord and Lady to allow any more agony to seep into the world. I won't."

There was no convincing the guy. He was too far gone. And I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that there was going to be a fight here if we weren't careful. We didn't have the strength for that. Sure, we had the man power. Sure, we had two very powerful Time Walkers on our side. But we didn't know powerful Chameleon himself was. For all we knew he could be more powerful than all of us put together. And that wasn't a risk I was willing to take. There have always been times when one must know when to retreat. This was one of those times. We needed to get Gilliam back to the camp. He was too weak for a fight, and he was our top priority.

My shield hummed as it reattached to the magnet on my back. I pointed to Gilliam sitting on his knees while looking at Astra. She got the point and went to help him to his feet, carrying his weight with his arm draped over her shoulder. I sent the others looks, telling them to be prepared to leave.

I warily made my way up to Andi and leaned in close to her ear, keeping my eyes trained on Chameleon in front of us. "We gotta go. We gotta get Gilliam back to the camp."

She sent me a sideward glance before glaring back at the traitor in front of us. "We're not done here."

Chameleon raised his chin, the Shard firmly gripped in his hand.

I intertwined my fingers with Andi's and led her back to the group. Astra opened a portal and she and Nat helped Gilliam through, the others following close behind.

Andi turned to glare at Chameleon once more. She scowled at him. "I'll be seeing you again."

He scowled back. "And I'll be ready."

And then we walked through the portal.

❈Author's Note: Hey, there! And thus ends Act 1! Yay!

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