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

Once Nef put Nira onto a bed and stared at her sadly for what felt like hours but was probably just a couple of minutes, he sighed and went to look for his brother. This was a bit too similar to what had happened all the way back in…. Actually it hadn’t been that long, but it definitely felt that way. Well, the point was Nef wasn’t happy with this. But he also knew—hoped—that this would be just like last time, and Nira would eventually wake up and be okay. She seemed to be okay physically, from what little Nef could tell. He was mostly judging by her heartbeat and breathing, but those were good indicators, right?

As it turned out, he didn’t have to look for Alor for long because he bumped into him almost immediately. Or actually, Alor bumped into Nef.

“Oh, thank the gods, you’re alive!” he exclaimed, hugging Nef way, way too tightly. But he couldn’t even bring himself to care. He just grinned, hugging Alor back as tightly as he could. And dammit, he couldn’t stop smiling. It was like a weight fell off his shoulders. There were still a couple more, but this really made it easier to breathe.

Only figuratively, of course, since Alor was not being nice to Nef’s ribs. Just when it was really starting to hurt Alor let go, still grinning down at him. And then suddenly Alor’s eyes widened, and somehow he found a way to grin even wider. Nef didn’t think he’d seen him this happy. Ever.

“I…. I remember now,” he said, sounding a little dazed. And his smile was gone. Great.

“Remember what?” asked Nef, frowning. Alor smiled at him, but it was that sad. Nef sighed internally, preparing himself for yet another crisis.

“I, um, it’s a long story,” Alor said, scratching the back of his neck. Was it embarrassing? Nef hoped it was embarrassing. “You see, I kinda got captured and made into an Eternal?”

Nef blinked at him. And then he just continued staring blankly. That wasn’t funny or embarrassing. That was just…. How was he meant to process that?

“And I kinda got mind controlled, and with that came amnesia, apparently,” Alor continued, making Nef’s brain short circuit further. “And I could remember some things—like you!—but yeah, I’ve mostly just been very confused.”

Nef continued staring for a few more seconds before shaking his head. “I leave for like two weeks….”

Alor huffed out a laugh, pulling Nef into another hug. This one was easier on Nef’s ribcage though. “I was so worried about you, little brother.”

Nef grimaced, pulling away. “Yeah, sorry about that. I got…busy. And I was dead for a little bit….”

As soon as those words left his mouth, Nef berated himself. Why had he said that? Alor would freak out now and, um, yep, there he was, looking at him with pure horror.

“It’s okay, it’s fine. Kaleth brought me back. Somehow,” Nef said, waving his arms in a way to indicate how fine it all was. Alor’s face quickly changed from super horrified to very conflicted and kind of guilty. Was that better? Nef wasn’t sure, but at least it was easier to handle.

“Oh, right. Of course he did,” Alor muttered, absently scratching his head. “Was it…his fault, somehow? You dying?”

Nef wrinkled his nose. His brother was definitely weirder now. Wait, no, actually, he’d always been this odd with the questions and vagueness. Maybe it was some kind of a side effect of working for Luxarx.

“No? Why would it be?”

Alor sighed, walking towards a door and gesturing to Nef to follow him. Peeking inside, Nef was surprised to find out that this was apparently a kitchen of sorts. And Alor was already reaching for the hard liquor. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.

“You want some?” Alor asked glumly, pointing the bottle of clear liquid at Nef. Nef opened his mouth to refuse it immediately, but then he just nodded. He would probably need a shot of something, even though he wasn’t the type to drink this stuff. Mostly because it was generally disgusting. Only beer and those fruit drinks that didn’t taste alcoholic for him, thank you. Unfortunately, there was none of that here, most likely.

Alor put a glass that was way too large for this in front of Nef, pouring a little of the alcohol in it. It looked a little ridiculous since the glass was too freaking large, but whatever. Nef wanted to down it immediately before he could brace himself too much for it, but then decided against it. Better to drink this at the right moment.

Alor sat opposite him, being a bit more generous with the pouring for himself. By which Nef meant he put about three times as much alcohol in his glass. And with a sigh, Alor finally said something.

“Kaleth’s the reason Dad’s dead.”

Yeah, now was a good time to drink that glass. Nef coughed and gagged at the disgusting taste as he downed it. It had better start working quickly because he really couldn’t do this sober.

“What?” he choked out, trying to clear his throat.

“That’s what Mom said,” Alor continued, drinking about half of his glass. He didn’t cough at all though. Must have been his new Eternal-ness. “She said Kaleth messed up, and that Dad took a bullet for him. And she may have partly blamed it on his…. You know.”

Finally feeling the alcohol work its magic, Nef let it lull him a bit as he tried to get that through his head. He really hadn’t thought that was the reason Kaleth and their mom hated each other. Or the reason Kaleth and Alor were usually a little too professional around each other.

Damn.

“But I think,” Alor spoke up again after a few seconds of silence. “I think she’s been in general unfair to Kaleth, in retrospect. And so have I.” Alor sighed, finishing his drink. “I just never really gave him a chance.”

Nef let out a short, sarcastic laugh. “Dude, I’m pretty sure that if Dad really died because of his mistake, you’re justified.”

It was interesting that Nef wasn’t really blaming Kaleth for anything though. He was taking this in as more of a family mystery he was finally being told, not their father dying. He’d been gone for so long, Nef didn’t even remember what it was like having a father anymore. He was just very detached from all of it, and that was probably not the alcohol.

“Nef, it’s been so many years,” Alor said, sounding exhausted. “And I’ve messed up more than once on missions. Kaleth even got stabbed so I wouldn’t at one point.”

Whoa, parallels. Though since Kaleth was super powerful and couldn’t really die like this, it probably didn’t mean as much, right? Although Kaleth wouldn’t have known that back then, would he?

“I don’t think I even thanked him for that,” Alor finished, staring at the half empty bottle in front of him, as if considering just drinking the whole thing. “Not on purpose. Things just got busy.”

Nef knew that wasn’t a jab at him, but it sure felt like it.

“I think I need to apologize to him,” Alor said, nodding to himself and pouring himself another glass. He offered the bottle to Nef who shook his head. He needed to still be able to use his brain, and even the little he’d drunk was making that hard. What kind of alcohol was this?

“Do whatever feels right,” Nef said, unsure where this was coming from. Probably his brain drunk enough to think it was wise. “I’ll support you either way. But I’d prefer it if you two didn’t glare at each other anymore.”

“We don’t do that that much,” Alor defended himself, but almost immediately he sighed again. “Okay, thanks, Nef, really. I’m…. I do think I’m ready to forgive him.” He frowned. “Even though it probably doesn’t mean much now. And I’m not even sure he’ll care.”

“Of course he’ll care. It’s Kaleth.” Nef had meant it as a joke, but he had noticed Kaleth liked pretending nothing bothered him while in reality everything bothered him.

Alor smiled. A real smile this time, thank the gods.

“I’m sorry for not telling you this sooner,” he said, looking like a sad puppy again. “I just didn’t think telling you about it would be a good first impression you’d get of the guy, and then….”

“Things got busy?”

“Yeah.”

They both laughed. It was so surreal, thinking back about those days. Past Nef had thought the secret agent stuff had been complicated and dangerous. How naive had that guy been.

“Is Nira…okay?” Alor asked when the silence stretched a bit too far.

“Oh yeah, I think so. She’s just resting,” Nef replied. He really, really hoped she was just resting. “Are you okay?” He mostly asked because he wanted to get his mind away from his constant worrying about Nira, but he also wanted to know what had happened while Nef had been in Irithara, and he was hoping this question would move the conversation in that direction.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Alor didn’t look all that sure about it, though, judging by how much he was frowning. “I mean, a lot of my memories are still fuzzy. But I remember the important bits, as far as I can tell.”

His face lit up just then, and he practically jumped up and opened the freezer. And he pulled out a package of hotdogs. Oh no, no way.

“Important bits like this,” Alor said, practically triumphantly, and Nef had no choice but to start laughing.

“Telis? Are you serious?” he said through his laughing fit. Finally getting a hold of himself, Nef wiped his eyes. “I haven’t had these since I was, like, fourteen. I didn’t even know they still made them.”

Alor continued grinning. “They apparently do. Wanna try some?”

Nef started laughing again. “Yes. Gods, yes.”