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

It had looked so promising just a moment ago. The EMP field they had created was working, and for a pretty long time, it even looked like the enemy—who according to Yorin was definitely Enor even though he had no idea how that was possible—was running out of soldiers.

And then a swarm of new aircrafts came, even more numerous than the first one. But if it were only that, it wouldn’t have been that bad—they still had the EMP generators. The much, much bigger problem, both literally and figuratively, was the huge aircraft that appeared out of nowhere over the mountains, and was now casting an ominous shadow over everything within sight.

“Uh, should we run?” Nef asked, looking over at Yorin who was staring at the metal monstrosity above with horror. Nef wanted to say Yorin’s name to get his attention but nearby crashing aircrafts did it for him instead.

Whatever he said Nef didn’t even hear, though. All he could take in at the moment was the huge object that was no doubt a gun the massive aircraft was pointing their way. He wanted to point that out, run, anything, but he couldn’t make himself move at all as the weapon started glowing deep green as it charged up.

And then, as the light shot towards them, and Nef prepared for a second death, something blocked off the beam.

When he got over his shock, Nef realized that one of the aircrafts got in the way, and had been turned into a smoldering, half melted heap of metal. He flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, relaxing when he saw it was just Yorin.

“We need to leave. Immediately,” he said, his voice calm and firm, but his eyes were panicked.

Nef was in no position to argue, especially once he saw the weapon start glowing again, and so he climbed onto Yorin’s back as soon as he switched forms. Yorin took off faster than Nef had ever seen him before, and in the blink of an eye left the beach behind.

Nef didn’t like that they had to retreat, but he had to be realistic. He probably wouldn’t be much help here, not to mention he didn’t want to die. And whoever was controlling that laser beam, or whatever it was, clearly didn’t want to take any prisoners.

But the Iritharian army could handle it, right? Right?

I see Nira has found Sylari, Yorin told him in his mind, making Nef flinch again. He quickly looked around, trying to figure out what Yorin was talking about. It didn’t take him long. Right behind them was…something flying. Like a mix of a lizard and a bird. Nef couldn’t identify it well over the distance, but what he could identify was the person getting a ride from the Eternal, which he supposed was Sylari. It was Nira!

And she was glowing with constantly changing colors. As happy as Nef was to see her, he also couldn’t help but be worried about her now. Had it been her who’d saved them? There was no way that aircraft had just happened to block the shot.

Why doesn’t anyone ever listen to me? Yorin asked with clear tiredness. Nef wondered if he’d meant to share that or not, but he said nothing, and instead looked back at the huge aircraft. Seeing it from a distance, it somehow looked even bigger than before. How was this thing staying up in the air? It was the size of a small town.

Enor has had thousands of years to perfect whatever he wanted to, Yorin said out of nowhere. Was he listening in on Nef’s thoughts? Because that was pretty rude. I apologize, it’s hard to communicate this way without catching a few stray thoughts here and there. Anyway, I believe those engines are creating an antigravitation field. And they seem to be powered by Eternal energy.

Yorin stared back at the colossal structure floating over the mountain range, currently shooting at something and setting a forest on fire. Nef felt Yorin speed up, and he really had no problems with that. In fact, if Yorin could get them out of here even faster, that would be great.

Fascinating. I wonder if this is where Relioth got the idea from.

Nef shot him a disbelieving look. He loved technology and understanding how it worked, but right now was not the best moment to marvel at Enor’s intellectual prowess.

Ah yes, sorry, Yorin said, beating his wings faster. I sometimes get carried away. This is truly a rather large problem. I doubt the Iritharian military has anything to destroy this.

Nef didn’t say anything. It finally hit him that if this continued—and it probably would—there would be nowhere to hide. No, no, there had to be a point to all of this—this couldn’t be just about murdering everyone. Nef had heard some things about Enor, and he didn’t seem to be the guy to pointlessly do things. That would be Relioth. And he was gods knew where. Nef sincerely hoped he would stay there, wherever that was.

Yorin flew over the nearest mountain range and landed on a cliff overlooking the originally stark white field of battle. Not that Nef could see much. It was all pretty far away, halfway covered up in smoke, and the sun was slowly setting. Except for the huge aircraft—that was visible from miles and miles. At least it didn’t seem to be looking for them or firing at them anymore. Or at anything, actually, now that Nef looked at it.

That was weird. But Nef didn’t get much space to ponder this because then Nira arrived too. She wasn’t glowing anymore, but her eyes were still a bit more blue than usual. She was really, really beautiful like this. Which Nef knew very well was a bad thing to focus on right now.

“Oh, thank the gods,” Nira exclaimed as she jumped off Sylari’s back and pulled down Nef off Yorin’s and into a hug. Nef couldn’t help but flinch at Nira’s strength, but that was enough for her to loosen her grip. “I was so worried about you.”

“Uh, ditto.” He actually hadn’t been worried that much next to everything else. It had been in the back of his head, but he hadn’t thought Nira would be out here too.

“Yorin?” Sylari said with surprise. Nef looked over at her. She actually was much more bird than lizard. She kind of looked like Mel, except she was bigger, and had dark blue feathers all over her body and wings. She even had a long parrot-like tail. So weird. “I expected you to run like you always do.”

Next to Nef, Yorin flinched and stared at his claws, shifting his weight. Oh great, more Eternal arguing. No wonder they were called Eternals—they couldn’t stop doing anything.

“Would you stop trying to belittle him already?” Nira growled at Sylari, finally letting go of Nef. She instead grabbed his hand. Nef just stared at her with shock. And so did Sylari and Yorin for that matter. “He’s helping now. Isn’t that what matters?”

Sylari just narrowed her eyes at her and stayed silent. Nef had no idea what this was about, but these people were so old he couldn’t imagine it, so they probably had a bunch of grudges. Definitely. What he did know was that this was very annoying.

And suddenly, it was quiet. It actually took Nef a moment to realize because all he’d noticed was that there was something wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. He turned around, looking down the cliff and the others did as well.

It all just stopped. The aircrafts were forming a line once again, and the military had apparently stopped firing at them. The only thing still moving was the smoke and fire that was everywhere, and the huge aircraft in which Enor presumably was. And it was moving northeast, most likely heading for Aleara. Why wasn’t anyone trying to stop it?

“What’s happening?” Nira asked, quietly enough that she might as well be talking to herself, but in the sudden stillness, it was almost uncomfortably loud.

Someone ordered a ceasefire, it seems, Yorin replied, but his explanation really only created more questions.

“This makes no sense. Why would Enor just stop?” Sylari muttered, her claws gripping the edge of the cliff hard enough for the stone to crack. “The Iritharian military has stopped as well. We can ask them.”

Before anyone could argue, she jumped down and was out of sight almost immediately.

“She’s not a team player, is she?” Nef said, which made Nira shake her head. If she did that as an answer to his question or because of the comment itself, Nef had no idea.

Her plan is sound, though, Yorin said, already lying down so Nef and Nira could get on. But let’s, um, find a different group of soldiers.

Wow, Yorin seemed actually kind of scared of Sylari. What did she say on the regular for him to want to avoid her this much? Though to be fair, Nef wanted to avoid plenty of people for petty reasons, so this didn’t have to mean anything.

Yorin flew them down the cliff as well, but flew east instead of west like Sylari. Nef stared at all the destroyed vehicles that littered the battlefield. There were some fires still, but they were dying down. It had also started to snow, which wouldn’t be too bad if they weren’t flying through it. Nef just closed his eyes and waited for Yorin to land.

When he did, he waited for Nef and Nira to get off his back before marching up to a soldier. Nef had no idea about how Iritharian army ranks worked, but the guy had a lot of gold plates on the shoulders of his uniform, so he assumed he was higher up than the usual soldier.

Exchanging a look with Nira, they silently agreed not to try and join the conversation. And they didn’t have to because despite not hearing what Yorin was thinking at the guy, the soldier was very clear with his reply. Or well his voice was clear, but he was speaking in angry Iritharian, and so Nef had no clue what he’d just said. However, the utter confusion on Nira’s face gave him some idea.

“What did he say?” Nef whispered to Nira, who blinked at him. She’d probably forgotten that he couldn’t understand this language again.

“That the King told them to stop,” Nira whispered back, frowning. Okay, that was super odd. Why would he do that unless he knew the other side would stop as well. Well, there was one explanation—

Enor must have contacted Hidarion, Yorin said as he trotted back over to them. I don’t know what he is up to, but that can be the only reason he’d stop. He clearly wants something.

“Great. Is that why that airplane of his is flying to Aleara?” asked Nef, folding his arms. This wasn’t good. But at least no one else would die. For now at least. Being in range of the aircrafts’ guns wasn’t exactly leaving him calm though. It was pretty unnerving.

Yorin and Nira stared at him.

How do you know where it’s going?

“I dunno, I just noticed it was heading northeast. Where else would it go?”

Yorin seemed to think this over for a moment before speaking once more. Then we must follow it.

And so they did. It was so different from flying out here a few hours ago. Columns of smoke were rising from every corner, and metal debris littered the snowy plains. Though Irithara was huge and in these parts also uninhabited, so it made the destruction seem less severe.

Nira didn’t say much on the way over, but that wasn’t surprising. She usually got quiet when she was thinking, unlike Nef who thought out loud. Unfortunately, Nef couldn’t do that because the wind was way too loud, so he just tried to stare at the smoldering woods and wait for Yorin to get them to Aleara. If they didn’t get any answers, the very least they would get was a warm place to hang out in while the world ended.

They didn’t need to get to Aleara to see the huge aircraft hovering above the capital. It cast an ominous shadow over the city center, as well as the palace. It wasn’t gleaming in the sun now. Seeing it like that instilled some kind of existential dread in Nef. He hadn’t had the time to really, truly look at it before, but now, just taking in the sheer mass and power of it…. Discounting the cannon that had fired at them previously, there were three others, two of them on each side of the aircraft. Unlike the small aircrafts, it was a spiky, glowing mess of metal. The spikes were as tall as some of Enoria’s skyscrapers.

There seemed to be numerous engines attached to the hull, most on the underside of the aircraft and several bigger ones in the back, and the whole front part of it was a gleaming, impenetrable, dark dome. Could Enor even see outside through that?

I shouldn’t let myself be seen like this, Yorin said as he landed right outside the city. There didn’t seem to be anyone around though. Nef and Nira jumped off his back, and he switched forms once again. Nef already dreaded walking all the way up to the castle when an unbearably loud voice assaulted his mind.

Your King has surrendered, the voice boomed, making Nef clutch his head. He knows you can’t win. But don’t test me. Attack me or my forces, and I will burn this continent to the ground.

Nef gasped as the screaming presence in his head finally left, opening his eyes again. Nira had a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with worry. Neither she nor Yorin looked like they’d been affected by the message.

“You guys hear that?” he asked, rubbing his forehead. They silently nodded. “Well, fuck.”