The Aperios (Children of the Sun Book 4)

“Another contact? Are you serious?” Mereria asked Relioth with exhausted disbelief. Nira felt the same way, but about their constant arguing. And she’d thought Relioth and Kaleth fighting was irritating. But these two just couldn’t stand each other, it seemed. Not that Nira was surprised, but she had to work with them.

And the fact that Relioth had caused practically every bad thing in her life didn’t help, either. Well, him and Irif, but Relioth was still alive, so his existence was more offensive to her. And she doubted there was anyone who disagreed with that, except maybe for the Luxarx director, who was here with them as well. Nira had no idea how she felt about her.

“Hey, just because I’m not Enoria’s most favorite celebrity anymore—” Relioth began to reply, only for Mereria to cut in again.

“You were never that.”

“I so was. Have you seen my follower count?”

Nira sighed, rubbing her eyes. Even though she had wanted to go rescue Yorin much more than go destroy another one of Enor’s bases, especially since she felt like she owed it to him, and she also wanted to rescue her father whether he wanted it or not, Nira was starting to regret this choice.

“What Relioth is trying to say,” said the Director before they could start arguing again, “is that he knows a lot of people.”

“So do I,” Mereria retorted angrily, which made Relioth laugh.

“Oh, I missed you, Mery.”

“Shut up, Tharos.”

“Could we get back on topic please?” Nira cut in. Each day she felt less and less patient with Kaleth’s insistence on prioritizing Enoria, so she had very little time for Relioth’s nonsense. The smirk he gave her just made her want to punch him. And with how strong she was right now, she could probably actually hurt him.

But she had to keep her cool if she wanted to get anywhere. The only reason Relioth was here was to help them, and she certainly didn’t want him as an enemy right now.

“Right, anyway,” Relioth said, giving Mereria a smug glance. “I had a bunch of people keeping tabs on anything Enor related. I was sort of expecting one of his inventions to switch on one day and destroy the planet or something.”

Nira couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

“Anyway, I had a few people specifically keeping an eye on his labs, and I think I know someone who might still be doing it.”

“Why do we need to ask them? There is no reason to think Yorin isn’t being kept on Enor’s ship,” Mereria said, which Nira agreed with, though if there was a chance they wouldn’t have to go back on that ship and probably die, she wouldn’t mind.

“Because I don’t feel like getting killed by Enor,” Relioth snapped at her, sighing. But it wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t angry—he was afraid. Nira didn’t know what Enor had done to him, but Nef had implied some things. Though Nira couldn’t pretend Relioth’s discomfort bothered her in the least.

“If there is a chance Yorin isn’t on that ship, it might be worth looking into,” the Director added because of course she did. She seemed to agree with anything Relioth did, and if she didn’t agree completely, she still went along with whatever Relioth was saying or doing.

But she and Relioth did have a point this time, so Nira would back it up.

Clearly noticing that this was unanimous, Mereria folded her arms and grumbled something Nira couldn’t figure out. Not that she cared. They had a mission to do, and the sooner they got Yorin back, the sooner she could finally free her home from Enor.

The fact that he had supposedly done nothing yet was incredibly suspicious to her. Nef had been keeping an eye on Aleara with some drone he’d put together from what they’d found in this Umbra hideout, and Enor always seemed to just be hovering there.

Nira was so glad Nef wasn’t coming with them. He had argued that with the invisibility bracelet, he would be able to stay out of danger, but he hadn’t put up much of a fight when Nira told him it was a bad idea. And it was. She couldn’t worry about him dying while everything else was going on.

She was still unsure whether they should have brought those bracelets with them, but it was probably safer not to. They seemed to have a problem keeping Eternals invisible, and hoping that the bracelet would keep them hidden for long enough would probably backfire. Still, if they actually did end up going back on the ship, Nira would put her foot down and make everyone wear it. They would be killed immediately, with how many soldiers there were in that place.

“Fine. Let’s just go, then,” Mereria grumbled, throwing a glare at Relioth. Relioth just smirked again and started heading outside. Nira shook her head. She had a feeling this was just the beginning.

She ended up hitching a ride on the Director’s back once she’d turned into a dragon along with Mereria, who didn’t seem to want to turn into anything at any time. Or maybe she didn’t know how. Either way Nira didn’t care. Relioth for once didn’t turn into a huge lion and instead just made wings appear on his back.

They flew south for about half an hour, which Nira spent by staring down at the forests and fields of Enoria. It made her feel strangely homesick, though she had a feeling the home she was missing wasn’t a place, but a time that was gone now because nothing would ever be the same again.

Once they landed and Relioth opened the portal, Nira was the first one to walk through it, glad to get away from the constant arguing if only for a moment. But what she hadn’t been expecting was to suddenly find herself in a very cold, very dim circular room with a terrified looking Eternal.

The Eternal herself was dressed in rags, her face dirty and her hair a mess. Nira didn’t think she’d ever seen an Eternal this unkept. Was this Relioth’s contact? And why was it so cold in here? The only place this cold was Irithara, but they weren’t there, right?

“Maenar!” Relioth addressed the Eternal pleasantly as he walked through the portal. “Long time no see.”

“What...what do you want now?” the Eternal, apparently called Maenar, asked, her voice shaky. Nira was starting to think Relioth had done something to her in the past, though with how scared she seemed to be of all of them, maybe it hadn’t been just Relioth’s doing. “How did you even find me?”

“I always keep an eye on you,” Relioth replied with a sinister tone of voice. Nira didn’t like where this was going at all, and she was getting increasingly uncomfortable with this, but if this Eternal knew something, they had to ask her.

“Maenar?” Mereria asked, glaring fiercely at Relioth. “You mean my lieutenant you killed?”

“I repurposed her,” Relioth ‘defended’ himself, prompting Director Elrin to sigh. And Nira wanted to as well. She didn’t care about whatever drama Relioth and Mereria had going on.

“What do you mean lieutenant?” Maenar asked, looking incredibly confused, and maybe even more scared.

“She doesn’t remember?” Mereria didn’t sound surprised at all.

“Of course she doesn’t,” Relioth replied, scoffing. “I don’t need your people running back to you.”

“What do you want?” Maenar snapped, despite her forceful words backing away into a corner. It was only then that Nira noticed all the computers and technology that was in the small room. It reminded her of Yorin’s idea of a home.

“I know you’ve been monitoring Enor’s labs. I need to know if some of them are active again.”

Nira sighed in relief. She had been expecting for Relioth and Mereria to get stuck in an endless loop of arguments, so this was most welcome.

“And then you’ll leave?” Maenar asked, looking a bit more composed now. As much as she could with the state she was in.

“Of course.”

Relioth’s fake pleasant tone was really bringing back memories, and Nira hated it. Relioth clearly had no problems slipping back into his usual ways when Kaleth wasn’t around to guilt him into helping them. Nira just hoped that he wouldn’t turn on them before they got Yorin away from Enor at least. She doubted he would just leave or even attack them, but she didn’t trust Relioth one bit.

“There...there is one that became active a few days ago,” Maenar said, gripping the edges of the table she had her back against. “The one in the Northern ice fields.”

Nira blinked, staring at Maenar in shock. That was in Irithara. In the far north as well. Nothing could survive there, so it was widely uninhibited, but that wasn’t the shocking part. Enor had labs in Irithara? How could that work? Wouldn’t Irif have noticed? Although Yorin had spent presumably millenia on the southern islands and Irif had been none the wiser.

“Oh, that one,” Relioth muttered to himself, frowning in thought. “Well, thank you very much, Maenar. See you around.”

Maenar shook her head, pushing herself against the table. “No.”

Relioth laughed, as if there was anything funny about this. And for once everyone glared at him, even Elrin, while Maenar just shrunk back more.

“All right, let’s go!”

Without another word he opened a portal again, giving everyone a smile. Nira wanted to yell at him, she really did. Even though he was stronger than her even with how much energy she’d absorbed, she would still be willing to fight him. But she had to stay focused, and this wouldn’t help anyone, so she walked through the portal again.

She found herself in the middle of a frozen wasteland, its fields of ice and snow stretching out as far as the eye could see. She shivered as a strong, icy wind hit her along with a flurry of snow. She blinked, trying to keep her eyes open, but it was incredibly difficult. If she was still ‘normal’, she doubted she’d survive more than five minutes out here, but like this the wind and snow were mostly an annoyance.

“Oh, how I loathe this continent,” Relioth said behind her in an incredibly over dramatic way, though it took Nira a second to figure out what he’d said due to the howling wind. “Come on, I actually know how to get inside this one.”

He took the lead, which made Nira very suspicious, but then again when wasn’t she suspicious of him? At least his back was to them this time.

“Did you transport us directly above the base?” Mereria exclaimed. Nira could barely see her in the flying snow, but she could definitely hear her.

“Well, yeah?”

“Are you insane? Enor will find us!” Mereria snapped, but Relioth just waved his hand, not even bothering to look back at her.

“He’d know we’re here either way. Let’s just move before he catches up.”

Even though Relioth was clearly trying to sound nonchalant, it was obvious he was concerned Enor would show up and kill them. Or do something worse. And as far as Nira was concerned, Relioth would deserve it, but she didn’t want to die, so they would have to hurry.

They followed Relioth for a moment, with Nira struggling to see through the snow and wind, and with Mereria next to her getting visibly angrier and angrier as time went.

Finally, she growled at Relioth: “What did you do to her?”

Relioth chuckled, still not bothering to look back. “You’ll have to be way more specific, Mery.”

Mereria clenched her fists, looking like she was ready to stab him. “Maenar. What did you do to her? She was never like that.”

“Oh, well, I found out that the best way to make people do what I want them to is to give them a compulsive need to do those things.”

Nira’s eyes widened. There was actually a hint of remorse in Relioth’s voice. It was barely noticeable, and it appeared only at the end, but it had definitely been there. She hadn’t expected that. Usually the only thing Relioth regretted was making Kaleth even angrier with him.

“But, um, I didn’t really do it much. It’s a bit too far even for me.”

He added a pretty unconvincing laugh. In fact if Nira were to take a guess, she’d think that he sounded almost disturbed. Which he was, but not in that sense.

“You’re a monster.”

Nira turned her surprise to Mereria now, shocked by how casually she’d said it. Relioth just scoffed.

“As if you haven’t used the Umbra like this.”

The conversation ended after that, which Nira was very happy about, and after a few minutes of being led by Relioth through the snow storm, they stopped in front of a large metal object of some sort.

It was round and stuck out of the snow but only by a bit. Nira wasn’t sure if it had been built that way, or if the constantly falling snow had buried it, but she almost immediately realized that there was a ladder most likely hidden inside, leading to the underground lab, much like the Umbra base they had been staying in.

Relioth waved his hand, opening the hatch with an ear-piercing squeal of metal snapping. Clearly it had been locked somehow.

“So,” Relioth said, turning around to look at everyone. “Who wants to go first?”

Nira scowled at him, but before she could say anything, Elrin sighed and walked up to Relioth. “Fine.”

Relioth grinned at her, following after once the Director disappeared inside the vertical tunnel. Mereria joined after shaking her head with what looked like disgust on her face, which left Nira to go last. She breathed in, touching the sword hanging from the belt of the Umbra uniform she was wearing.

They had no idea what was inside, if there even was anything, and Relioth was just strolling in as if this was a casual sight-seeing trip. But Nira couldn’t stand around and wait. Begrudgingly, she looked down the dark hole in the ground, seeing a light towards the end.

With a sigh she also started to climb down, feeling more and more on edge the farther she went. She tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t help it. Not only were they most likely going to be outnumbered, but if Yorin was here, her father probably wasn’t. He had no scientific knowledge, as far as Nira knew. Which meant that she wouldn’t get to reunite with him. A part of her felt relieved by that, but that just made Nira feel sick. Who knew what Enor had done to him after Nira had escaped, but thinking about this wasn’t helping. She would rescue him eventually. She had no interest in losing another parent.

Finally, she reached the end of the very long ladder and dropped down onto the concrete ground, joining the other three who had been waiting for her. The whole place looked deserted and empty, with large amounts of dust on the machines that were all around. All of it looked too alien for Nira to even take a guess as to what the machines were for, but then again, even normal computers and technology would most likely be too much for her.

“The place is just lovely, isn’t it?” Relioth commented as he made his scythe appear in his hand with a flash of white light. Whenever she saw it, Nira felt her stomach flip. There was something incredibly sinister about that insanely sharp looking tip of it.

Mereria started to say something, most likely to shut Relioth up, when Nira shushed her. She could hear voices farther down the corridor. The room they were in had a doorframe with no door at the end of it, so it must have been coming from there.

Even though Mereria looked very offended, she didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else as they heard the voices. Nira couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought it was two men. Hoping that those were the only forces Enor had left here was probably very naive, but it was possible, however if that were the case Nira would doubt that Yorin were here.

As they crept closer, the voices got clearer and clearer until she finally figured out who this was, just in time to see them. Yorin and her father, just talking while Yorin worked on some huge machine in the middle of the large room, much bigger than the first one.

Nira heard what they were saying, but it was like her brain wasn’t bothering understanding the meaning behind the words. All she could do was follow the others towards them while not taking her eyes off her father for one moment.

And especially not once Relioth addressed them, drawing both of their attention only for Nira’s father to yell at them to stop. She flinched as a white forcefield suddenly appeared around them, sealing them in a large bubble and trapping them right outside the tall doorway.

Nira stared at the see-through, glimmering wall in shock. She had certainly not seen that coming at all. This must have been a trap all along. She reached out to touch the barrier before she could stop herself, only to snatch her hand back immediately as pain ran through it. Dammit.

But surely Relioth could teleport them out of here, right? Nira was about to ask, but then right in front of them, out of nowhere Enor appeared.

Nira flinched, automatically taking a step back, only then realizing that this had to be a hologram. The image of Enor kept shimmering every so often, as he watched them with a perfectly neutral expression.

“I see Kaleth Garen isn’t with you. Disappointing,” he said, though his tone was one of absolute uncaring. It made Nira feel even more on edge than she already was because Enor could decide to kill them and not even blink. She tried to calm her breathing as she felt her heart race.

“Well, I’m sure one of you will be valuable enough for him to lure him out,” Enor continued, looking directly at Relioth now. Relioth, who had been frozen in place with a look of horror on his face since Enor had appeared. “Also, I believe we have unfinished business, Tharos.”

And that was the moment Relioth disappeared with a flash of light, taking Elrin with him. Nira stared at the empty space they used to occupy with an open mouth. He’d just ran on them. The only one who could possibly get them out of this, and he ran the first chance he got. How would they get out of this now that the one person capable of teleporting was gone?

“So predictable,” Enor said, shaking his head. “Excuse me, I need to have a word with Garen.”

And then the hologram disappeared, letting Nira breathe a bit more easily. But they were still trapped here. They needed to get out somehow, before Enor came back. Maybe Yorin could figure something out.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Nira’s father called out as he ran over to them, staring at Nira with incredible worry. And Nira had no idea what to say to him. She’d thought so much about what she’d say once they reunited, she’d had several things prepared to tell him, but she couldn’t get a word out.

“We came here to rescue Yorin. We need his help,” Mereria replied as Nira swallowed thickly. She had no idea how Mereria was managing to stay so calm. Relioth had just abandoned them, and she wasn’t seething.

“Enor was expecting that,” Yorin informed them gravely from where he was working, using what looked like some futuristic screwdriver on a part of the machine. Even from where Nira was standing, she could tell his head hung low and his shoulders were slumped. And her father didn’t look much more hopeful, either.

“Can you let us out somehow?” Nira asked, hoping to motivate him. She’d done it before. But seeing Yorin continue working with his shoulders slumped further, she had a feeling a pep talk wouldn’t work this time.

“We...can’t leave this room,” her father said, looking down. “There is a barrier around the whole place, an invisible one. You can walk in but not out, and Yorin thinks the controls are outside the room, so….”

Nira didn’t want to feel bitter about her father yet again accepting defeat, but it was hard not to. He didn’t deserve to be criticized for not being a fighter, especially after who knew what Irif had done to him over the years, but the fact that he was taking this attitude just frustrated her beyond belief.

“Why are you here?” Mereria asked him, narrowing her eyes. To be fair Nira had wondered that as well. “Enor has no need of you.”

“Oh, um, Enor is using me as leverage against Yorin,” Nira’s father answered, scratching the back of his neck. “I think he thinks that me being here will make Yorin like me more, and therefore less likely to...let me die by not helping Enor anymore.”

Oh. That certainly explained why Enor had bothered keeping her father alive in the first place. Nira was a bit unsure why she had been kept alive back on that ship, but at least this explained that.

She still had no idea how she felt about Yorin liking her father, though, but she would ignore that for the time being.

“I’m not letting Enor hurt or kill you.” While Yorin sounded very determined—determined by his standards, anyway—but he also sounded very tired and resigned to his fate. And Nira’s father didn’t look at all comforted by this. In fact, he just looked sadder. She wished she could hug him.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said, looking Nira straight in the eye even as he still kept his head down a bit. “I wish I could have warned you earlier. But I never imagined you’d actually find this place.”

Nira opened her mouth to say that it was okay, that it wasn’t his fault, but then she flinched as Enor appeared yet again, giving her father a thoughtful look.

“Apparently, no one’s life here is enough for Garen to surrender. I must say that is unexpected. Perhaps we are more similar than I originally thought.”

“He’s nothing like you.”

Nira stared at Mereria in surprise. She would have expected this from Kaleth’s sister, but the way she held herself strongly suggested this was still Mereria.

“He will be soon.” The emotionless way Enor had said that made it sound so much more ominous than it would have sounded otherwise. “In any case, I will send a team to extract you and find Tharos. I’m sure I can find some use for you still.”

And with that he disappeared again, leaving Nira at a loss for words. What could they possibly do to escape before Enor’s soldiers got here? But wait, they would surely have to take down the forefield to capture them. And due to the relatively cramped space of the corridor they were stuck in, there couldn’t possibly be too many soldiers to fight.

“Oh gods,” she heard her father say, his voice breaking. She turned her attention to him again, to see that he had a hand fisted in his hair as he started pacing. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to Yorin. “What can we do to get them out of here?”

Yorin sighed as he stopped fiddling with the screwdriver. He still kept his eyes on the machine, though. “We can’t do anything. The controls are in the other room, and no one can reach them.”

“We can fight whoever comes to take us,” Nira said, her voice sounding more determined than she actually felt. “They will have to get rid of this barrier, right?”

Her father was now giving her a look of alarm, but she was solely looking at Yorin. “Well, I suppose….”

“Enor will assume we will fight,” Mereria said, pulling out her daggers. Nira took that as agreement, as she gripped her own weapon, staring down at it. She was more than ready to fight. As long as she didn’t use too much of her power at once, she was sure she could last a long time sword fighting.

“Sweetheart, this is crazy!” her father argued, looking so, so desperate. It made Nira’s heart clench even though she didn’t agree with him one bit. “They could kill you.”

“Then at least I’ll die fighting for my country instead of surrendering like a coward.”

Nira had no idea where that had come from, but by their false gods, she’d meant every word. The only thing that made her regret saying it was her father’s devastated, ashamed expression. She hadn’t meant it as an attack against her father, but it was clear he had taken it that way. And Nira couldn’t blame him, it really did sound that way when she mulled it over in her mind.

She could hear the sound of numerous footsteps far behind them. The soldiers were here already, most likely having waited somewhere just outside for the trap to be sprung since they couldn’t teleport.

Mereria turned towards the sounds, raising her swords up. Nira did the same, taking a few deep breaths. Right now she was stronger than any of those soldiers, assuming they wouldn’t use that bracelet thing. But Nef seemed to think that they couldn’t survive an energy injection like that for long, so Nira would assume they wouldn’t use it unless they had to.

If these Eternals could do it anytime they pleased, then their attempts at fighting back would be completely useless.

Finally the soldiers came into view, making Nira clench her hand around the handle of her sword tighter. There were ten of them as far as she could see, which was definitely not good, but at least they couldn’t all attack at once due to the size of the corridor.

The one in front, most likely the leader, gave them a very annoyed look before looking back at her underlings. “Turn the forcefield off.”

Nira watched as the leader retrieved her weapon, as did the soldiers who were right behind her. No one Nira could see had moved, so the controls must have been really in the first room.

She waited with bated breath as the forcefield flickered until it disappeared. And that was the moment she struck as if by instinct, surprising their enemies as well as herself. She’d attacked the leader, who raised her weapon just in time to meet Nira’s, but she managed to get the Eternal to stumble back and into the others.

Mereria immediately joined Nira as well, attacking the two soldiers right behind the leader and managing to kill one within a few seconds. Nira quickly looked away when the leader pushed her back and focused on the fight with her only, ignoring what Mereria was doing.

Her father was shouting something, but Nira couldn’t spare the concentration to pay attention as she parried the next attack and struck again, narrowly avoiding the blade of one of the soldiers Mereria wasn’t fighting who’d managed to squeeze past her.

Nira could see that these soldiers were clearly much better at sword fighting than her, but she was also stronger, so she would have to use that to her advantage. She dodged another strike, this time from the leader, and swung her sword, bringing it to meet the leader’s with incredible force, which made the Eternal’s hold on her weapon loosen.

Nira wasted no time grabbing the weapon and dragging it out of the leader’s hand, stabbing her through the heart with it. Nira stared at the blood that was beginning to make its way down the dark blade of the sword, realizing that she’d never actually done this before, but she wasn’t given much time to let it sink in before she had to dodge again.

As she started fighting another Eternal attacking her, she noticed Mereria wasn’t gaining much ground. In fact, she was slowly backing off towards Nira again, and soon Nira found out why. There weren’t ten of them. There were way more waiting for their turn in the other room.

Gritting her teeth, Nira pushed back against the attacks harder. She wasn’t going to give up just yet. She wasn’t even tired, and there was no way for the others to join the fight in the confined space until they killed the ones in front.

How many soldiers were she and Mereria worth to Enor, she wondered.

But as they continued trying to fight them off, and having killed a few more, which made Nira feel sick the more she thought about it, it didn’t seem to have any effect. How many of them were there?

Nira kept fighting, as did Mereria, who looked even more determined than ever, but Nira was starting to doubt they could win this. Even though she’d only used her powers to make her strikes strong and fast, she could feel herself slowing down. She would try to replenish some of it by drawing energy from her sword, but she wasn’t given enough time to do even that. She just had to keep dodging and blocking or she’d be the one getting stabbed instead.

And she kept going, even as she started to breathe hard and the terrible cold of the lab she had completely ignored until now started stabbing at her skin. But then something even worse happened. The Eternal she had been fighting managed to gain the upper hand and was now pushing his weapon against hers, slowly forcing it towards her chest, and she couldn’t stop him.

Nira grunted in effort as she used all her strength to push him back, holding the sword with both hands, but it was hopeless as he just pushed harder. There was a manic look in his eyes, as if he was more than ready to enjoy killing her.

Nira found herself backing up against the wall, having nowhere else to go anymore. Her muscles burned as she did what she could with her remaining strength to stay alive longer, but she knew it was only a matter of seconds before she lost.

But as her sword began to slip from her grasp, a bright white light filled the room, forcing Nira to close her eyes for a second. Before she even opened them, there was the sound of agonized screams and the pressure against her sword disappeared.

Nira blinked as she saw only bodies around her, with Relioth standing in the middle of the carnage with Elrin, his scythe—no, it was a spear now—dripping with blood. But despite all of this, he looked incredibly nervous.

He’d...come back? And helped them?

“You left!” Mereria yelled at him, wiping blood off her cheek. It made Nira want to check her own face, but the idea of having blood on it was making her queasy, so she resisted the urge.

“Sorry, I panicked!” Relioth snapped back, though it didn’t sound very forceful at all. He mostly just shrunk back. “You try talking to him after a week of him torturing you.” Relioth cleared his throat. “We need to leave. Come on.”

Nira turned to look back in the room with Yorin and her father, only to find them already walking through the doorway. Relioth must have switched off the barrier leading to them as well.

Her father was now looking at her with uncertainty and sadness, and she was hugging him before she even knew it. It was only then that she really realized how much she’d missed him. She just hadn’t dared give it much thought so as not to let it distract her from what was really important. But it had always been in the back of her mind.

She only let go when Relioth opened another portal. She couldn’t believe they actually managed to succeed, but they had, and now they could get Yorin’s help to fight Enor better.

And Nira was ready to fight him, just as soon as she absorbed more energy again.