The Return of the Lifebringer (Children of the Sun Book 3)

Kaleth didn’t get much time to stare at the huge aircraft above them before an unstoppable force threw him off Mel’s back.

He heard Mel yell out his name in his head as he hit the ground, crying out in pain as his bones broke in several places.

Kaleth pushed himself to heal them quickly, not even bothering to check which bones it were and grimacing as they knitted themselves back together. He slowly got up as the last stabs of pain left his body, but a second later he forgot he’d even fallen when he saw him.

In front of him was his father. But…. No, this wasn’t his father, at least not him controlling the body. He was walking towards Kaleth, descending from the air while walking on nothing, as if there were an invisible staircase.

This was Enor. Just thinking that made Kaleth’s heart beat so much faster. He knew he needed to kill him. But...this was his father. How could he kill him? No matter how much he hated him, he’d never been capable of doing it, even when Relioth had told him to.

Kaleth wondered if that had been some kind of training.

“Fascinating,” was the first thing Kaleth’s fath—Enor—said when he reached the ground. He was watching Kaleth analytically, as if he were an experiment that hadn’t turned out how it should have. Oh, that was exactly what Kaleth was, wasn’t it?

Wherever Relioth was, Kaleth hoped it wasn’t this planet anymore.

He didn’t reply, only drew his sword. He wasn’t exactly at his best anymore, but he should still be more powerful. Enor didn’t react to this in the slightest. That shouldn’t have surprised Kaleth, but even through the Eternal’s glow, he couldn’t not see his father, and his father was a very angry man.

“You are like a mirror of a worse version of myself,” Enor summed up Kaleth’s entire being, which really just made Kaleth want to stab him right there and then.

“I’m nothing like you,” Kaleth replied coldly, which did nothing to Enor’s permanent lack of emotional expression.

“Yes, nothing like I am now. But you are who I used to be. Did Tharos not explain this to you when they made you?” This time Enor did at least raise an eyebrow as he started to slowly circle Kaleth. Seeing that on his father’s face, coupled with the fact that supposedly Kaleth was just a copy of someone else, and he had to swallow down his discomfort.

“Or he I should say, I suppose. Tharos always did like switching.” Kaleth blinked, trying to imagine it. Then he remembered Relioth griping about not being able to use nail polish because he wouldn’t be taken seriously and suddenly, Kaleth had no problem believing it anymore.

Kaleth wondered where Mel was, but he couldn’t contact him with all the mental barriers he had built around his mind to keep Enor out. He just hoped Mel’s absence only meant that he’d gone to hide.

Kaleth sighed. No, that would never happen, would it?

“What do you want?” Kaleth asked, suddenly feeling very tired. He would have already tried to kill Enor, but with him looking like his father—in his usual suit and tie as well—Kaleth just couldn’t do it. He needed Enor to attack him, but the only thing he was attacking him with were details that would no doubt soon cause Kaleth to have another existential crisis. Not just yet though, he was good at pushing uncomfortable thoughts away and burying them.

“If you mean what I want with you,” Enor said, finishing his circle to stand in front of Kaleth once again, “I am trying to decide whether to dispose of you or keep you.”

Kaleth wrinkled his nose in distaste. “I would never let you keep me.”

“Your attitude towards the matter is irrelevant,” Enor replied. It was incredible how much he didn’t care about anything. “But much like Tharos, you could be useful to me. You did destroy quite a few of my bombers in a relatively short amount of time.”

“You…you have Relioth?” Kaleth asked, dumbstruck for a moment. He wasn’t sure why this affected him so much. He couldn’t bring himself to be happy about what was no doubt happening to him.

“Yes. In fact he is right above us.” Kaleth looked up even though he knew what Enor was referring to. He really didn’t know what he was feeling right now, but a tiny, tiny part of him wanted to go get Relioth out of his prison. Kaleth told that part of him to kindly shut up.

“He has been more stubborn than usual, but he will come around. He always has. And I am sure you would too, given the right incentive.”

Kaleth glared at him. If he could withstand days of torture by Iritharian agents without giving them anything, he could take whatever Enor would do.

“But I also know my young self. They never knew when to quit either. It will be safer to kill you.”

It was that moment that Kaleth realized he probably should have asked how Enor was even here while he’d had the chance, but it didn’t matter now. He’d kill him again right here, right now.

“Also, that isn’t yours.”

Immediately, Kaleth felt an incredibly strong pull on his sword and shield. He didn’t let Enor take either though, just gritted his teeth and pushed back, both with his mind and physical strength.

“You are very strong, aren’t you?” Enor commented as the pull disappeared. Kaleth still gripped the hilt of his sword tighter. He didn’t care if it used to belong to Enor, it was his now. “I suppose I will have to kill you first then.”

Seeing his father take a swing at him was surreal for more than one reason, and Kaleth had almost failed to dodge because of it. He shook his head, splitting the sword into two. This was not his father. And even if it was, him dying would be a good thing.

Trying to push thoughts of what Edras would say afterward away, Kaleth swung with both his swords at Enor, only hitting an invisible wall just before he could cut him. He tried again and again, but whatever Enor was doing when he raised his hand, it was stopping him.

“You have the potential, but you aren’t using it,” Enor said, waving his hand and making Kaleth fly back and into a tree. Kaleth groaned, spitting blood out of his mouth and painting the snow in front of him red.

That was a sentence Kaleth was sure he’d heard his father tell him before. It honestly just made him more angry. Glaring at Enor who wasn’t even trying to close the small distance between them, Kaleth got up again, and tried using the same trick on him.

He knew crushing Enor’s spine wouldn’t kill him, but it might give him enough time to finish the job. But when Kaleth tried using his telekinetic powers on him, he just encountered a force that was pushing back against his.

Enor wasn’t doing anything, but his eyes were glowing. That made it much easier to ignore whose body he was using as a puppet as Kaleth pushed harder until he saw Enor grimace. His mouth somewhere between a grin and a snarl Kaleth kept going, feeling so close. So close to snapping the bones.

And suddenly he was on the ground again, his mind in a fog, and with Enor standing over him. A second later, he realized Enor had slammed his fist into Kaleth’s temple. How had he moved so fast?

Kaleth forced himself to get up once again, as fast as he could, but he was too late. Enor was now in possession of one of the halves of the sword. It was then when Kaleth realized that he was probably just being toyed with, presumably because Enor was curious about what Kaleth was capable of.

It changed little though. It would just give Kaleth more opportunities to kill him.

To compensate for the loss of the sword, Kaleth grabbed the shield off his back. He wished he could try shooting Enor with the othrin bullets in his sniper rifle, but Enor wouldn’t let him even aim. Why hadn’t he brought a regular gun as well?

Kaleth swung his sword once again, meeting Enor’s with such a force Kaleth felt something in his wrist snap. Crying out he quickly raised his shield, blocking Enor’s strike while his wrist healed again. He needed to do something about this.

A few quick strikes followed, Kaleth meeting all of them with his sword, keeping his shield close to his body despite the relatively matched sword fight.

Though it was obvious Enor was better at it. His strikes, steps, everything—it was all just much more precise than any living being should be able to manage. But that didn’t mean he was winning. Kaleth wasn’t giving up just yet.

“It really will be a shame to kill you. You could have been very useful,” Enor said out of nowhere as he blocked Kaleth’s attacks. “Goodbye, Kaleth Garen.”

And suddenly Kaleth shield flew out of his hand and Enor’s blade buried itself in his abdomen. Kaleth choked, falling to his knees as blood started to fill his mouth. He could feel the othrin sapping away his power, his life, and he knew he had to pull the sword out, but he couldn’t manage it. He couldn’t even grip the hilt well.

He finally fell to the ground with a pained gasp, feeling his brain start to shut down. Through his half-lidded eyes, he could see Enor prepare to stab his other sword through his head, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

His eyes flew open again when instead of death, there was the ding of metal meeting metal. His heart stopped its weak beating for an instant as he saw Mel, no longer a dragon, holding Kaleth’s shield to protect him.

No, no, no, he couldn’t be here. Not now. Kaleth gripped at Mel’s ankle weakly. Barely able to keep his eyes open anymore. He couldn’t let Mel die as well. He had to get him to safety. He had to get him away from here, anywhere.

He felt all of his remaining power flow through him, leaving in a burst of light that he couldn’t even open his eyes to see anymore. And that was the last thing he did, not knowing if it actually did anything, before he lost consciousness.