The Aperios (Children of the Sun Book 4)

Yorin couldn’t believe he’d been stupid enough to not put a supression bracelet on Kaleth as soon as he’d seen him. He hadn’t told Mel everything, especially the part about how there were two sides of Kaleth fighting and he’d just unwittingly helped the bad one wake up a bit more, and he felt very conflicted about it. But the Eternal already had enough to worry about, without Yorin making it worse.

In fact, Mel had looked like he was on the verge of tears when he’d told him what could happen to his mate. Wait, no, Hidarion had explained this to him. They didn’t use this word, did they?

No matter the case, Yorin was trying his hardest to track Kaleth down, but apparently he’d been jumping all over the place, which didn’t make this any easier. And it only helped to make him fear just what state Kaleth’s mind was in right now.

He’d seen that parts of Enor Kaleth had inside of his mind were…. Activating wasn’t the exact word Yorin was looking for, but it was close enough. Especially after what he’d just done. He had never seen a reaction like this to absorbing Eternal energy. Sure, it hadn’t exactly been one of his main fields of study given that he hadn’t been in contact with many people who could actually absorb energy without destroying themselves in the process. But he knew enough to know that this wasn’t normal.

But it theoretically made perfect sense because a part of Kaleth came from Enor to begin with, which was why he’d taken to his powers so relatively easily, compared to, for example, Nira or Hidarion.

But absorbing so much power that came directly from Enor was clearly confusing to him to say the least. His mind had been a complete mess when Yorin had looked inside of it, and it had almost been like Kaleth was being dragged in multiple directions at once.

To put it simply, from what Yorin had seen, it seemed that the part of Kaleth that was very close to Enor was fighting the rest of him, which would most likely ultimately destroy his mind. Which was the version he’d told Mel, but Yorin knew there was another possibility, and it was an even worse one—that one side would win the fight. And even if it was Kaleth and not Enor, Yorin wasn’t sure if he’d come out of this unscathed.

He sighed as he found yet another location in the middle of Enoria that was most likely not relevant anymore. Yorin wished Kaleth had let him study the kind of technology that Enor had on his ship, but Yorin also understood why he hadn’t been allowed to go near it. Still, it would definitely help with tracking Kaleth down.

Mel had left off to…. Yorin actually didn’t know where he’d gone, but he had no doubts that he was too distraught to stick around and that was the reason he’d left. Yorin wished he could be more useful, but trying to improve his tracking device for teleportation was the only thing he could think of.

So the only one with him currently was Hidarion, who hadn’t said much. He had mostly just leaned on the wall, his brow furrowed in deep thought. Yorin had left him be for now, as he did find it hard to pay attention to him right now anyway, but he couldn’t help but sometimes grow intensely aware that he wasn’t here alone. He wasn’t used to having company.

“Could you theoretically use the telepathy amplifier to contact him?” Hidarion suddenly spoke, still looking off into space. Yorin looked over at the device, frowning. He hadn’t thought of that, mostly because he doubted Kaleth would let him contact him right now, and he’d thought that looking for where he teleported would be a better use of time. But clearly it wasn’t because he hadn’t made any progress in hours.

It didn’t help that the only other Eternal who could teleport was Relioth, and Yorin doubted his abilities to talk Kaleth down from what was likely intense confusion and fear.

“Well, theoretically.” Yorin picked the device up, looking at it. Using this, he should be able to focus clearly enough that Kaleth wouldn’t be able to attack him at least, but if he was far enough, it wouldn’t work either way. He supposed there was no reason not to try, aside from the fact that he didn’t really want to be inside Kaleth’s mind again. Some of it was really similar to Enor. But that wasn’t a good enough reason to not do this.

Yorin took a deep breath and put the amplifier on his head. He’d destroyed the remaining ones, but he couldn’t have helped himself and improved this one a little, now that he had had the time to tinker with it.

Hidarion came over to lean against the table, studying Yorin intently. While Yorin wasn’t sure what kind of relationship Hidarion and Kaleth had, Yorin was aware that Kaleth meant a lot to him, so this must have been difficult for him too.

Yorin shut his eyes, doing his best to ignore the almost primal fear that always came with the idea of interacting with Enor in any way. He reminded himself a few times that this wasn’t actually Enor, it was just someone who felt like him, but it was still unnerving to think about the same mental signature.

He could hear the amplifier gently humming as it allowed him to search far and wide. Only Eternals would be possible to find at larger distances due to them being much more noticeable when it came to telepathy.

He stretched his consciousness farther, passing by all the Eternals he could pick up without bothering to see if he could recognize them.

When he finally found Kaleth, Yorin flinched, almost letting out a gasp. All of sudden, he was there. And shockingly, he seemed much more calm and collected than when he’d left. Yorin would have taken that as a good sign, but he could tell that it most certainly wasn’t.

Yorin.

Yorin swallowed, trying not to shiver at the ominous tone. He hadn’t spent that much time around Kaleth, but even to him this sounded incredibly unnatural. It didn’t sound like Enor, of course not. There was intonation. But somehow it sounded like him in a way anyway.

Kaleth. Um, hello. Yorin cleared his throat despite this being a telepathic conversation. Are you feeling, uh, better?

Kaleth didn’t give him an answer. Yorin waited for a moment, his breath bated, only to realize that Kaleth had teleported again. And to his embarrassment, he only realized it when next to him Hidarion gasped.

Yorin swirled around, hitting the back of the table with his back in his surprise. Which only doubled when he actually actually saw Kaleth.

He seemed perfectly calm, but his eyes kept flashing with Enor’s light. It was impossible not to see it that way for Yorin, despite knowing this wasn’t Enor’s energy. But he doubted seeing the energy flashing through his eyes for seemingly no reason would be any less disturbing without his experiences with Enor.

“Kaleth!” Hidarion said, sounding both relieved and wary. “I’m, uh, so happy to see you. I was worried about you.”

Kaleth gave him an unamused look, the glow in his eyes gaining intensity. And it was slowly moving to his hair as well. He dragged his eyes back to Yorin, which made the Eternal grimace. He really didn’t like the way Kaleth was looking at him.

“I need your help.”

Yorin blinked, taking a step away from the table. Maybe this wouldn’t be “Um, yes, of course. That is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about actually.” He raised a hand, as if he were a wild animal about to lash out. But who knew how Kaleth might react to this right now? “About your powers—I think we should seal them away for now, so that—”

“Not yet,” Kaleth interrupted him. He was very clearly looking at the telepathy amplifier Yorin still had on his head as he took a step forward. “I’ve come to the realization that I need to do something first.”

Yorin shared a nervous look with Hidarion. “I…. I see. And what would that be?”

“I need a version of the amplifier that can let me look into the minds of everyone on the planet at once.”

Yorin gaped at Kaleth. Surely he’d misheard that. “W-what?”

But Kaleth just kept staring at him, his expression guarded, and his eyes flashing wildly. He looked like he was in complete control, but his spiking energy suggested the complete opposite. Yorin’s working theory was that Kaleth was fighting with himself, but he didn’t have the time to explore nor think about it beyond that.

“Can you do it? Can you make one capable of it?” Kaleth’s voice wavered slightly as he’d said it, but it didn’t make the questions any less commanding.

“It’s not a question of whether I can, and more a question of whether I should—”

Kaleth closed the distance between them, making Yorin back off against the table. He felt his heart hammer in his chest as Kaleth narrowed his eyes at him. Being taller than Kaleth certainly wasn’t helping right now, especially since he could now see the glowing in his eyes all the better. Yorin also couldn’t help but notice the tiny twitches Kaleth’s eyes and mouth were making from here.

“That isn’t what I asked.”

Yorin swallowed. “If, erm, if you were to operate it, then yes, possibly.”

Kaleth smiled, but a strange hint of distress flickered in his eyes. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, however.

“Good, then you’ll build it for me.”

Yorin let out a huff of disbelief. He was scared Kaleth would kill him within the next five seconds, but not even such fear could stop him from the absurdity of the request. Well, not even request—it was an order.

“Kaleth,” he tried, putting his hands up as he spotted the subtly but dramatically changing moods on Kaleth’s face. Now that he was this close, Yorin could see them, and they had most likely been there all along. “Surely you understand why I can’t go along with this.”

“Once again, that isn’t what I asked.”

Kaleth was now definitely angry, even though his face was staying mostly neutral. The clenched fists and almost violently glowing aura around most of his body were a good tell.

While Yorin was frozen to the spot in fear, Hidarion moved closer to Kaleth. “Kaleth, please, you’re not well. You need help.”

Kaleth glared at him so hard that Yorin felt a need to get between them. Hidarion was much more in danger of dying than him, after all.

“You’ll build it, or I kill him.”

Complete, deathly silence filled the room. Yorin couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. How was he in the same situation again? Threatened by Kaleth, no less. The man now looked shaken, as if even he couldn’t believe he’d just threatened to kill Hidarion.

But then he gritted his teeth and pulled a gun from the pocket of his suit. Yorin felt completely hopeless as Kaleth pointed the gun at Hidarion. He wasn’t sure if he was just doing this for symbolic reasons because he could kill Hidarion with a thought, or if he really wasn’t in control enough anymore to be confident he could manage it, but it was horrifying nonetheless.

“Okay,” Yorin gave in, hanging his head. He would have to think of a way to get some help. Whatever Kaleth wanted to do with that amplifier wasn’t going to be good, but at least as unfocused and visibly conflicted Kaleth was about doing this, it might give Yorin an advantage.

He could try to get inside of his mind right now since he had the amplifier still on his head, but Yorin wasn’t sure it would be worth it. Kaleth could be powerful enough to simply push him away and then kill Hidarion. But then his only bargaining chip would be dead.

Yorin would have to think his way out of this.

“I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt him.”

Kaleth didn’t put the gun away, but he did at least lower it. He proceeded to let out a breathy sob, a look of anguish on his face as he stared off into space.

Hidarion took a step forward, despite the gun still clearly in view. He was clearly much braver than Yorin. “Kaleth, please, whatever your plan is, you don’t want to do this. Just look at yourself.”

Yorin was expecting Kaleth to get angry, possibly hit Hidarion or worse, but he just schooled his expression back to neutrality as his energy continued to pulse through his eyes. “I do. I have to. I have to fix the world. I’m the only one who can.”

There was a loud crackle as Kaleth’s light spread across the room. And the next moment they found themselves in a sterile lab with metal walls.

If it were possible, Kaleth’s glow had gotten even more erratic now. “Get to work, then.”