The Aperios (Children of the Sun Book 4)

“You sure you want to do this?” Relioth asked for what felt like the fifth time. Kaleth shot him a glare as his feathers puffed up in irritation. Yes, he was sure, dammit. They needed to know if there was a place in Enoria he could safely teleport to without having Enor’s forces chase them down within thirty seconds.

He doubted Enor had moved any of his forces just because they had teleported to Irithara, definitely not this fast. And letting Kaleth go back to Enoria wouldn’t be beneficial to Enor anyway, but Kaleth needed to check. He needed to know what assets he still had to play his cards right, and no matter how much Kaleth just wanted to plan an attack on Enor’s ship and attack him right on, he couldn’t just do that.

“You look pretty tired, still,” Relioth continued, which made Kaleth sigh. He couldn’t even get properly irritated with Relioth’s insistence on coddling him anymore.

“That’s why you’re going with.” If Kaleth could just teleport around the Federation by himself, he would definitely go alone. But if he got stuck at any point, he would be doomed. So putting up with Relioth on the way would have to be something he had to deal with.

Kaleth grabbed the other’s wrists, transporting them through space to a mountain range in the desert. He wasn’t sure in which desert they ended up in as he’d only focused on the image of a mountain and not an actual location.

They were standing on top of a very tall mountain, actually taller than he’d thought when he first saw the view from it. And at first he’d thought his worry that Enor had spread out some of his forces to cover the whole Federation had been unfounded.

But he quickly realized that there were actually aircrafts flying over the sand dunes, relatively close to the ground. They were far away from each other, but with how fast they were, that didn’t mean much. And almost immediately, they changed their course, coming their way instead as the aircrafts quickly gained altitude.

“And that’s our cue to go,” Relioth said, putting his hand on Kaleth’s shoulder.

Next thing he knew, they were standing on a cliff above a thick forest. The air wasn’t as hot as it had been in the desert, but it was still far too warm. At least Kaleth wasn’t bothered by that as much anymore.

He didn’t need any time to spot the aircrafts this time, as they flew above the forest. Relioth didn’t even warn him before teleporting them elsewhere once again, this time onto a large, rolling field. It was so huge that there was barely anything else to see.

And naturally, they found themselves right under an aircraft. Kaleth grabbed it with his mind, breaking its engines and throwing it far away. He glared at the ones coming their way. He didn’t feel like fighting them. No matter how many of these aircrafts they destroyed, it never seemed to make a difference, and not to mention that destroying them injured the pilots, who were essentially innocent. It wouldn’t kill them, but that didn’t really make it better.

Once again Relioth took them away, huffing as they moved to a small island in the middle of the sea.

“You’ll have to do it next time,” he said, taking in a deep breath only to let it out immediately. Kaleth had no problem with that—it was Relioth who had been transporting them without being asked, after all—but Kaleth wasn’t sure where to go next.

Trying cities and towns seemed pointless. Enor had most likely stationed his soldiers there on principle. He wasn’t an idiot, and leaving the commoners without supervision would definitely be stupid. But if Enor’s goal was to make it impossible for Kaleth to hide, Enor would certainly keep soldiers in cities. All of those houses would make great hiding places, unlike the outdoors, where the only place they could hide in were the Umbra bases.

Kaleth spread his wings, beating them a few times to get above the island to look around properly. Of course, there were already two aircrafts in the distance, going right for them. And Kaleth doubted it was because Enor had made so many of them. They were just fast enough to cover a lot of ground quickly and they definitely had some kind of sensor that told them about nearby teleportation.

But why were there so few aircrafts hunting them down in Irithara?

Kaleth landed again, pulling his wings in. Enoria was hopeless, but he really wondered about the remaining two continents—Artex and Caelor. He hadn’t heard much about how they were handling the current situation, but to be fair he hadn’t bothered keeping up with it. He imagined they were doing about as well as Enoria. But that wasn’t what he wanted to find out.

He grabbed Relioth’s arm without bothering to explain and focused on one of Artex’s many mountain ranges. He’d flown over them only once or twice, but they were so tall that he couldn’t forget them.

They disappeared just as the aircrafts started shooting. Kaleth breathed in the suddenly cold, fresh air, looking around at the snowy, rocky ridges and small grassy parts. He’d made sure not to go too high up as the tips of most Artexian mountain ranges went above clouds, which would make assessing the situation difficult.

Kaleth flinched as an aircraft came out of nowhere and automatically threw it against the nearby rocks wall, breaking it apart.

So they really were here as well.

“Whoa, I didn’t expect you to take us here,” Relioth commented as Kaleth spread his wings out again. They needed to get a better look, even though being attacked like this in the mountains right after getting here was more than a little suspicious.

Assuming that Relioth would follow, Kaleth jumped off the mountain edge, gliding over the green fields below. And as expected, every once in a while, a small, metallic glint betrayed the location of an aircraft as the machines zipped back and forth.

They didn’t seem to be doing anything else than just fly around, so Kaleth would take that as them not having any other objective than to keep an eye out in case someone teleported.

Kaleth sighed, beating his wings to get to the much smaller mountain on the horizon faster. There was no point checking other places in Artex. Between him and Relioth, they probably didn’t have that much energy for teleporting anymore, and given how many aircrafts he could see, it was fair to assume that the situation would be the same as in Enoria.

Kaleth abruptly dodged as one of the aircrafts suddenly came up from below. He easily dismantled it, though the shock of it had made his heart hammer far too fast. Pushing himself to fly faster, Kaleth finally landed on the mountain, immediately followed by Relioth who proceeded to destroy two more aircrafts heading for them.

So there was just one more place to check. He grabbed Relioth’s shoulder and pulled them to the only location in Caelor he could think of—the capital city. He’d made sure to aim for the tundra fields surrounding it, not the city itself, but they still immediately had to duck as an aircraft flew dangerously close to their heads.

Kaleth sprung to his feet as soon as it flew past, but the aircraft was already turning around to attack them. There were several of them flying around the field, just like all the other locations they had tried so far. Kaleth couldn’t say he was surprised, but this also meant that unless he made a portal to space, there would be no escape. They could still try the middle of the ocean, but where would they go from there? Could they get away fast enough for any nearby aircraft not to notice them?

Kaleth threw his hand out, stopping the aircraft heading for them in place and crushed its engines, throwing it far, far back.

“We’re going back.”

Relioth nodded, touching Kaleth’s arm. And once again, they were back in the snowy fields of Irithara. With no aircrafts to be seen.

“He wants us to be here.” Kaleth hadn’t wanted to accept this, but it seemed like the only explanation that made sense. He sighed, spreading his wings and flying up. He could faintly feel Mel in his mind, so he could just follow that to find his way back to the cave. They were very far, though, on purpose, so it would take a while to get back.

“Enor is forcing us to stay in Irithara, but instead of spreading his forces to cover the territory, he just lets us be,” Kaleth continued, mostly thinking out loud now. “Which means he wants me to attack him.”

Relioth stared down at the ground they were flying high above for a while before looking over at Kaleth again. “We could still, you know….”

“Run? Is that what you’re suggesting?”

Relioth avoided his gaze. Kaleth shook his head in annoyance. As if he’d ever agree to that. As if he would ever be able to forgive himself for leaving this mess behind—a mess he hadn’t made, but one he was the one to deal with. How many people would die if he didn’t stop Enor? How many would die once whatever his actual plan was became reality?

“If you are using me as an excuse….”

Relioth sighed. “No, sorry. You’re right.” He paused for a moment. “All of this is my fault.”

Kaleth forgot to beat his wings for a moment, and almost started to fall before he caught himself. He did stop moving though, only keeping himself in the same place, hovering. Relioth followed suit, keeping his head down.

“I’m sorry, did you just say that?” Kaleth felt stupid for asking, but it had just been so bizarre that he felt he needed to. He was sure he hadn’t misheard, but that felt like the only possible explanation.

“Come on, let’s talk on the ground.”

Raising his eyebrow, Kaleth let himself glide down after Relioth, landing close to a frozen lake. He wouldn’t have even noticed it was a lake without the frozen reed plants sticking out of the ice.

“Look, I’ve been thinking….” Relioth began, playing with his fingers, Kaleth bit back the urge to sarcastically congratulate him on that. “You’re right. I haven’t handled the whole situation as well as I could have, starting with destroying the Flare.”

Kaleth really had to force himself not to tell him to shut up. But it was turning out to be really difficult. Even when Relioth got it, he didn’t get it. “You haven’t handled any situation well even before then. And must I remind you that you killed thousands of people for practically no reason?”

“I’m trying to say I’m sorry, okay?” Relioth snapped, his shoulders slumping as he kept his eyes on his feet. He heaved a sigh. “I won’t run anymore, and I’m definitely not going to abandon you.”

Kaleth still wasn’t buying it, but he said nothing. He was more than a little suspicious that Relioth was actually doing this only to make Kaleth happy, and the Eternal didn’t truly understand why his way of doing was abhorrent, but fine, this was good enough for now.

“All I ever wanted was to make you happy,” Relioth continued, his eyes actually looking watery. Kaleth let out an annoyed breath.

“You’re awful at it.”

Relioth somehow found a way to make his shoulders slump further, hugging himself with his wings. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Just follow the plan, and don’t kill anyone who doesn’t attack first. Then I’ll be happy.”

Kaleth had meant that sarcastically, but Relioth seemed to miss that part because he grinned and gave Kaleth a thumbs up. Kaleth sighed, feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry for messing up with you so much, you know?” Relioth continued, and not even Kaleth glaring at him managed to make him shut up. “I didn’t get why it was wrong, but I do now, and I really am sorry. I’ll try to do better.”

Kaleth’s automatic reaction was to deny that this was true, and dismiss this as Relioth just trying to tell him what he thought Kaleth wanted to hear. But he didn’t say anything in an attempt to avoid further discussion about this, while Relioth just smiled awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“So.” Relioth cleared his throat, his wings curling over his shoulders. Kaleth wouldn’t say it, but he was glad that Relioth broke the silence. “Do we have a plan?”

“First, we get back to the others. Then we discuss the rest.”

To Kaleth’s absolute shock, Relioth didn’t argue or comment at all. He just gave a firm nod and a fond smile before spreading his wings, ready to fly again. Kaleth just hoped that when it was going to matter Relioth wouldn’t take this all back and disappear on them.