The Return to Irithara (Children of the Sun Book 2)

Not much was said during the car ride to the outskirts of Enbrant, and Rayni hated it. She was a talkative person by nature, and Kaleth had almost always had a conversation with her if she started it, but now he was just staring pensively out the window, so all Rayni could do was the exact same thing.

Rayni understood, though. She doubted Kaleth wanted to meet with Mereria anytime soon. It must have been terrible to see his younger sister be controlled by someone else the first time, and now he was about to see her like that again. Just imagining that happening to Mel filled her with dread. Not that it could actually happen, thankfully.

Rayni wondered if Kaleth would even have agreed to meet her if Rayni had managed to convince the Umbra to follow him to Irithara. He was probably desperate for any help at all at this point. That didn’t mean he hadn’t brought his sword, though.

It was a good thing the whole trip took only about fifteen minutes because Rayni wasn’t sure how much more of the silence she could take.

Mereria was waiting for them in a park, sitting on a bench and feeding birds, which was even weirder than seeing Mel with those rabbits. To make matters even stranger, Mereria had also ditched her armor and was now dressed in a leather jacket, a purple t-shirt, and jeans, which really didn’t seem like Mereria’s style.

Rayni was so preoccupied with making sense of this she didn’t even think to question that no one else seemed to be around.

When Mereria noticed them, she got up and beamed at them, and at that moment Rayni was sure—this wasn’t Mereria.

“You came!” she said, still grinning as she walked over to Kaleth and hugged him before he could try to move away.

“Edras?” he asked, sounding like he couldn’t believe it was her. Or maybe like he didn’t want to believe it.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said as she pulled away, apparently not at all bothered by the fact that Kaleth hadn’t actually hugged her back. “Mereria decided to let me handle this since, you know….”

“Because Kal hates her?” Rayni supplied, and Edras grimaced.

“Yes, that.”

“So she’s not gone?” Kaleth said, keeping his voice and face completely neutral, and if Rayni hadn’t known him for so long, she’d think he didn’t really care. But the way he set his jaw and his eyes glinted for a second, she knew he was very upset.

“I don’t want to get rid of her, Kaleth,” Edras said, gripping her brother’s shoulder. “I know you don’t understand it, but you don’t need to. Just, please, respect my decision.”

Kaleth really hadn’t been kidding when he’d said Edras didn’t want to get rid of Mereria. Rayni still didn’t get why in the slightest, but something about the sincerity of the way Edras had said this made her believe her.

“Was it your decision to become possessed by her?” Kaleth asked with a subtle note of sarcasm. Despite this, Edras nodded immediately.

“Yeah, she asked me first.”

“Excuse me if I find that a little hard to believe. She did no such thing when she tried to take control of me,” Kaleth replied, and Edras frowned angrily.

“She tried to possess you?” Then Edras seemed to stare at nothing for a little bit as her frown lessened. “She apologizes. Apparently, she was in a very dark place at the time.”

“Well, at the risk of sounding childish, her apology is not accepted.”

Edras sighed a little and paused once more, nodding her head. “All right, well, she says that if you accept our help, I can be in control instead of her when we’re around you. If that helps.”

Rayni wouldn’t lie. The way Edras was talking in plural was creeping her out a little. But it was really fascinating how different she looked compared to when Mereria was in control. Edras looked younger, happier, and more hopeful now.

“Oh, and sorry about how her stabbed you, and all,” Edras apologized, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t let me. She wanted to know how strong you were, which is why she taunted you, too.”

Kaleth hummed in a way that clearly showed he didn’t approve of any of this.

“So, she wants to help us?” Rayni asked, trying to get the conversation back on track before the two started fighting.

“Yes, we want to help you,” Edras said, putting a hand on the center of her chest.

“No offense, but how can you help us?” Rayni asked, and Edras gave her a cocky smile.

“She lets me use all of her powers,” she replied, her eyes glowing with a white light to prove it. “So, I’m just as useful as Mereria like this.”

This sounded like a pretty sweet deal. Rayni was still mad at Mereria, of course, but like this, it was very easy to forget Mereria was also there. All Rayni could see was Edras now, and if she was just as powerful as Mereria, she didn’t see a reason not to take her with them.

Kaleth didn’t seem to like any of this, but he agreed, most likely because he couldn’t think of a valid reason not to accept her help.

“Okay, great,” Edras said, grinning. “Come on, then, we need to figure out a proper strategy.”

“Since when are you a strategist?” Kaleth asked as he followed his half-sister to the car.

“I ran a worldwide business. I had to come up with countless strategies on how to take down my competition.”

“Lovely,” Kaleth commented drily, and Rayni could barely stop herself from sniggering. She liked Edras, definitely more than Mereria. Something like sorrow entered Rayni’s heart, but she quickly pushed the feeling away. After what Mereria had done to her soldiers, she didn’t deserve any sympathy from Rayni.

Rayni expected the car ride to be just as silent and boring as the one before, but she was pleasantly surprised. Or maybe not pleasantly because she felt very much like a third wheel.

“Why do you have such a problem with this?” Edras asked Kaleth. She didn’t sound defensive, just curious, and Rayni wished she could not listen in. She was regretting letting Edras sit in the front. Usually, Rayni liked listening to conversations she could use later as emotional blackmail, but this was just making her uncomfortable.

And yet, she wanted to understand Edras’ viewpoint, too. It was strange.

“You didn’t lose your sister. And you never will now. Mereria isn’t letting me age,” Edras continued, smiling at her brother. “You worry about that too, don’t you? The fact that you’ll outlive everyone.”

Kaleth sighed, turning his head to look out the window. “Yes, I do.”

And suddenly it hit Rayni. She too would outlive most of her friends. Alor, Kara, even Nef—they would all die sooner or later while Rayni would continue to live. She could feel her eyes become wet as her immortality came crashing down on her.

She’d been so preoccupied discovering her powers that she hadn’t even realized this before. And she wished she hadn’t. Now it was all she could think about. At least she would always have her brother and Kaleth.

Neither Kaleth nor Edras seemed to notice Rayni’s existential crisis, and they continued discussing their own immortality.

“It’s exactly like when you explained to me why you’d never get a dog when I got one from Father,” Edras said with a nostalgic tone. “Remember? You said that it would die in fifteen years, and it wasn’t worth it investing your emotions in it because of it. Because it would break your heart.”

“I don’t think I said that last part,” Kaleth muttered. “I also think I mostly said it because I was jealous.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Edras said remorsefully. “I would have let you play with her. I just thought you didn’t want to risk getting attached. I know I sure cried like a baby when she died. Poor Fluffpaw.”

“That’s still a stupid name,” Kaleth said softly, letting out a breathy laugh that sounded anything but amused.

“I’m so sorry about so many things, Kaleth,” Edras said, sniffing. Rayni hoped she would be able to get away from them soon because if this continued, she’d probably start crying too. She didn’t even know why anymore, she just felt sad. “I didn’t mean to push you away. I’m not even sure how it happened. I let Father convince me you were a bad person, and I know that doesn’t excuse anything, but….”

Rayni backtracked. Their father did what? The Garen family was even more messed up than Rayni had thought, apparently.

“It’s fine,” Kaleth said.

Typical.

“No, it’s not. And I know that I’ll never be able to make it up to you, but…do you think we could start over?”

“Only if you can prove to me that you’re not Mereria pretending to be my sister, or that you’re not controlled by her to say and think this,” Kaleth replied firmly.

The next sentence that came out of Edras’ mouth was definitely not said by Edras, and it was incredibly jarring.

“I don’t know how I can possibly prove that I am not controlling your sister. I suppose you will just have to believe us,” Mereria said, irritation clear in her voice. “But I don’t think you have a choice, even if you choose not to believe it.”

“Why do you suddenly want to go attack Irithara?” Kaleth asked, clearly trying his best not to get angry.

“I hate Irif, we all do,” Mereria snarled. “I want her dead as much as I did millennia ago. I just never felt like we were close to killing her until now, so instead, I tried to get Enor to stop fighting her. What you did to Tharos was very impressive, so siding with you is clearly the best thing to do.”

“That almost sounds like a compliment,” Kaleth deadpanned, and Mereria scoffed.

“It’s not, I assure you,” she said. “You are still something that should never have been allowed to exist.”

Rayni ground her teeth at that. Insulting Kaleth was her job, and only hers. But before she could yell at Mereria, Kaleth spoke once more.

“I’d like to talk to my sister now.”

A second later, Mereria’s angry tone was gone once more. “Damn, Mereria really has no tact outside of her head. I’m so sorry, Kal, she doesn’t actually mean what she says.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t,” Kaleth replied in his usual neutral tone, even though it was quite clear he was angry. And he had every right to be. Rayni wasn’t sure how she’d react if someone told her she should never have been born. Definitely not well.

“She just thinks you have the potential to wield more power than any one person should ever be able to.”

Kaleth just hummed, and thankfully, a few seconds later the car landed on the roof of the Citadel. Rayni did her best not to look over the edge to see just how many representatives of the press, and protesters there were now. She really didn’t envy the people who had to deal with this chaos. Rayni did realize that attacking Irithara was probably worse than this, but honestly, if she were given a choice, she’d choose Irithara any day.

They immediately headed towards the room they’d been in the first time Rayni had gotten here. Kaleth rather rudely told everyone that wanted to speak to him on the way to go to hell, which was actually kind of amazing, but nevertheless, Rayni was glad when the door snapped shut behind them.

“I barely remember the last time I was in the Citadel,” Edras said as she sat down at the table. “I think I was here to negotiate a price for the army’s weaponry with Mr. Dehro.”

Sometimes Rayni forgot that Edras had until recently been, among other things, an arms dealer. She just hoped Edras had only sold the guns to their government. Something told Rayni that wasn’t the truth, though. Enoria hadn’t gone to war in over a century, so it wouldn’t be very profitable.

Kaleth in the meantime coughed awkwardly into his hand. Right, ex-boyfriend. Rayni was so glad she didn’t have any of those. Well, there was one, but he was a fabrication, so he didn’t count.

“We need to devise a strategy on how to get to Irithara’s mainland with minimal losses,” Kaleth said, wasting no time getting to the point.

“Right, any ideas?” Rayni asked, noticing that Kaleth seemed to be leaving something out.

“Well, yes, but…I wouldn’t call it a strategy.” Rayni gestured to him to continue. “I’m quite good at time manipulation. I could theoretically make time for our forces flow faster, which would allow us to get through the blockade before Irif’s soldiers could take aim.”

“You can do that?” Rayni asked with amazement.

“I’m sure you can as well, just not to the extent I can. But it’s very taxing, so it’s not viable to use in a fight.”

“Mereria likes the idea. But she says that unless she helps you with it, you won’t be able to handle it,” Edras said, nodding. Kaleth gritted his teeth, and Rayni wanted to snigger. It was kinda funny how angry Mereria could make him.

“Great,” he said as soon as he could once again pretend he wasn’t ticked off. “Now we need to figure out what the best place to enter the mainland is.”

That was easier said than done, it turned out because it was now half an hour later, which Rayni would have guessed were at least three hours if she didn’t have her phone, and Edras and Kaleth were still discussing this.

It wasn’t even interesting to listen to because over the long, long minutes it morphed from a semi-intelligent conversation into a fight with Kaleth claiming they should attack from the southwest, and Edras saying it should be southeast.

Rayni was really starting to consider just leaving the room to go talk to Mel instead. At least he never fought with her about anything.

Oh, wait, him being a pushover wasn’t a good thing. Right.

“Okay then, why don’t we just attack from the north?” Kaleth asked, clearly being sarcastic, but Edras seemed to take it as an actual suggestion.

“That’s actually not such a bad idea. Irif would never suspect it.”

“That’s because we don’t have the time to fly around the whole damned world,” Kaleth reminded her angrily, and put his head in his hands.

“Can’t we just cross the mountains in the east?” Rayni groaned, starting to feel like punching someone. Probably Kaleth.

Kaleth sighed loudly. “Don’t you think I’ve already—” Kaleth suddenly cut himself off and looked down at the map of Irithara on the table. “I doubt Irif will leave the area unprotected, but the mountains could give us enough space to hide in, so we would have the time to figure out the best way to get past Irif’s forces and minimize our losses.”

Rayni really didn’t like that Kaleth was already assuming that there would be losses, but it was probably unrealistic to think that no one would die. Besides, Kaleth’s army was composed of Eternals who previously served Relioth, so maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Rayni frowned at Kaleth as he and his sister finally started formulating an actual plan. How did he get those Eternals to help him, anyway? She hadn’t thought to question it until now, but it was a fair question. So she asked it.

And then she asked again after kicking Kaleth’s ankle because he wasn’t listening to her.

“They seem to believe that my similarity to Enor makes me more worth following than Relioth. Apparently, Relioth was too soft for them.”

“Too soft?” Rayni almost burst out laughing. “The guy killed thousands of people last month. And what similarity? Enor was a psycho.”

“Kaleth has the same energy as Enor did,” Edras said when Kaleth didn’t reply for a few seconds. “Eternal power is a bit like DNA. The energy is individual and different for every Eternal. Except for Kaleth. Although, he probably isn’t technically an Eternal, so….” Edras cleared her throat. “Anyway, I have no doubts Kaleth looks similar to Enor to those who have met Enor at some point.”

“But he’s not like Enor,” Rayni argued, but it came out sounding more like a question. Because this was really starting to freak her out, and she needed to know Kaleth wasn’t about to become a murderous psychopath.

“They don’t know that,” Kaleth said, and Rayni relaxed. Just slightly.

“You into cons now, man?” Rayni asked, incapable of not being impressed by how much Kaleth had been screwing over everyone lately. She’d always known he would be good at it, but she hadn’t thought he’d actually start doing it.

“Only because I have to,” he replied, looking back down at the map. “All right. So, if we use the mountains as cover, we mustn’t be seen by Irif’s forces, which means we’ll have to keep our distance until we get there. That will cost us a few hours, but I think it’s worth it.”

“It’s definitely worth it. If we do get spotted, we’ll be shot down as soon as we reach the border,” Edras added, and Kaleth nodded.

“Right, so, assuming this goes as planned, we then have to send a few Eternals on a reconnaissance of the terrain. We’ll have to choose who is least likely to be spotted.”

“Mereria is the best at stealth,” Edras said completely seriously, and Rayni raised an eyebrow.

“Way to hype her up,” Rayni joked, even though she knew Mereria was good at what she did. That still didn’t mean she was the best, though.

“I know it may sound arrogant, but she objectively is the best at this kind of thing,” Edras continued. Rayni stayed firmly convinced. How well did Edras even know Mereria, anyway? Did she have access to her memories and thoughts?

“Splendid,” Kaleth muttered unhappily. “We will need to find more Eternals capable of stealth besides Mereria as well, though. We need to be able to cover as much ground as we can as quickly as possible. More thorough look at our situation will result in less of a chance that we’ll come across an unpleasant surprise.”

By an ‘unpleasant surprise’ Kaleth no doubt meant something that would kill them all. Rayni really didn’t care for understatements, even after years of working with him.

“Cool, and if we get past the blockade, we’re golden?” Rayni asked. Kaleth’s lips formed a thin line. Great, so that was a no.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think Irif will simply let us fly to Aleara,” he said and put his finger at a seemingly random spot on the map, close to the mountains. “Somewhere around here is an entrance to an ancient subway system. We can use the remaining tunnels to travel under Irithara without being seen.”

Well, that sounded pretty awesome. There was no doubt a ‘but’ coming up.

“But we can’t fly in them. They’re too narrow. Which means it will take us days longer than it would otherwise if we risk flying out in the open and most likely suffering heavy casualties.”

Damn, Rayni really didn’t like those choices. But there was really only one that made sense to her. Flying out in the open was too risky, especially since Irif was expecting them to attack her soon and had prepared for it. Rayni wasn’t willing to die until at least she got to see the interior of Irif’s palace, thank you very much.

“The tunnels. That’s the only choice that’s not suicidal,” said Rayni, and Kaleth begrudgingly nodded.

“I don’t want to give Irif more time to prepare, but yes, I agree,” he said, running a hand through his hair, messing it up further. “And we need to meet up with the Resistance, who are here, currently.”

Kaleth once again pointed at a place on the map, this time one just a little bit away from Aleara. Rayni swallowed uncomfortably as she remembered who exactly they would meet.

“You haven’t told Nef, huh?”

“No, and I plan to keep it that way. As much as I hate to admit it, his mother is right,” Kaleth said, turning his head to look at Rayni. “We…I shouldn’t have involved him. I shouldn’t have involved either of them. I can’t keep Nira out of danger, but I can keep Nef here. So, he’s staying here. I already talked to Alor about it. He’s not coming either, and I’m glad he isn’t.”

Rayni wondered if Kaleth was saying this because he didn’t like being around Alor, or because he didn’t want him to get killed. But it did make sense. Alor would most likely die in this conflict—anyone without superpowers would.

There was a moment of silence before Kaleth and his sister started discussing strategy again, but Rayni wasn’t really listening. She was too lost in her own thoughts. She still really didn’t want Mel to come with them, but she knew that he would, and there was nothing she could do about it. Unless she handcuffed him to a radiator, or something, and left him here.

And she had no doubt that Nef would act the same way if he knew they were going to meet up with his girlfriend. Kaleth was right. No matter how shady it was, Nef couldn’t find out about this, or he’d go with them, no matter what anyone said. And if he did, he would die.

Rayni nodded to herself. This was the right thing to do. She just hoped she wouldn’t let the fact they were going to team up with Nira slip.