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

It took four whole days to even get to the mainland, which wasn’t something Nira had been expecting. She wasn’t even sure why she’d thought Yorin would fly fast enough to get there sooner—maybe she just hadn’t thought about it hard enough when they took off.

Either way, because of her mortal limitations, as Yorin had so nicely put it, they always had to stop for the night, so Nira could get some rest and eat something. This was only made possible by Yorin hunting down a deer, or some other unfortunate woodland creature, starting a fire, which he could apparently breathe even in this form, and then wrapping himself around her so she wouldn’t freeze to death overnight. This made Nira feel even more awkward than the flying, and in the morning she always woke up with a mouthful of feathers.

Still, she supposed it could have been worse. Nobody had spotted them so far, as far as she and Yorin could tell. Nira often wondered what would follow if that happened. Would the police shoot them down, or would this be taken as a sign of the Iritharian gods returning?

Despite what had happened in Enoria, people in Irithara didn’t seem all that willing to chat about the gods. At least that was the impression Nira had gotten from the Iritharians she’d met. There had seemed to be this air of superstitious fear whenever she’d mentioned anything concerning Relioth. Or the Eternals in general, for that matter. Like the people wanted to pretend nothing had happened. Some had even straight up not known what Nira was talking about, but they barely had newspapers in some parts of Irithara, so maybe they really had no idea.

Are you ready to continue the journey? Yorin asked, tilting that giant head of his to the side as he looked down at Nira. I think we might get to Aleara today if I adjust the flow of time a little more.

That was another thing that had been happening the whole trip—Yorin rarely stayed silent, which Nira had quickly learned to filter out, even if he was saying it directly in her mind. However, he’d been saying some interesting facts, to say the least.

One was the explanation for how Eternals could fly faster than a car which was much faster than any living being should be able to fly. The answer, apparently, was time manipulation. Not actual time travel, but rather manipulation of the flow of time in a small area. Yorin was literally making time for him and Nira go faster, which to the rest of the world made it seem like he was flying at a much higher speed than he actually was.

It was completely and utterly insane and ridiculous, but Yorin remained adamant that he wasn’t wrong because he’d done his research. Nira hadn’t had the energy to argue with him, and she still didn’t. And besides, her brain just didn’t seem to understand time travel in general, so she doubted this would be better.

There was no doubt in her mind that Yorin was much smarter than her, so maybe getting into an argument with him about science wasn’t a good idea.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Nira said, swallowing heavily as she climbed onto Yorin’s back and wrapped her hands around his neck as he took off with ease.

The closer they got to the Capital, the more nervous Nira became. She knew what she was doing had to be done, but that didn’t mean she was looking forward to seeing her mother again. Her father was a different story—in fact he was probably the only person she was looking forward to being reunited with. But was he going to be happy to see Nira?

She didn’t know what her father had done to get her to Enoria, but she was sure it hadn’t been easy. What was he going to say to her throwing this all away just so she could warn her mother of a danger so huge there was most likely nothing they could do about it, anyway? There was no way Kaleth would take Irithara’s side.

Nira shook her head, angry with herself. This kind of thinking was useless. Relioth hadn’t broadcast the fact that he’d created the Aperios anywhere yet, which meant that he was most likely keeping that secret, so the Empire wouldn’t be expecting it. If that was the case, maybe they could use it to their advantage somehow.

Nira was aware that Yorin had said Relioth was only interested in killing the Iritharian Eternals, but she wasn’t going to take that as fact. Who could really tell what Relioth was planning on doing? He’d destroyed a national symbol and killed thousands of people just so he had an excuse to start a war, after all.

Oh, I haven’t been in Aleara for at least a few hundred years, Yorin said, but Nira was sure he’d been talking since he’d started flying. Nira would have felt guilty for ignoring him, but Yorin seemed happy enough chattering without her saying anything back. Well, thinking anything back because there was no way even with Yorin’s super hearing that he’d hear her up here through the howling wind.

You probably won’t be able to recognize it, anymore, Nira replied, deciding to have a conversation with the Eternal rather than obsessively think about what was going to happen in a few hours. Why did you even get banished, if you don’t mind me asking?

So far, Yorin had only made vague references to why he had been living on an island in the middle of nowhere. Or islands because he’d apparently been switching between them.

Yorin sighed sadly, which was really strange through telepathy. Nira didn’t really hear the sound—it was more like she could feel the meaning behind it. I refused to help Irif with something, and…she didn’t take it well. She thought I’d be able to help her figure out Enor’s—

He paused for a second, making Nira frown. Why did Yorin insist on hiding things from her? Nira was really starting to get tired of knowing next to nothing about the situation, especially concerning Irif.

She didn’t even know that much about Irif. She knew that much like Enoria was named after Enor, so had Irithara been named after Irif, and that Irif was the leader of the Iritharian gods, and the most powerful one, the creator of life, and so on. Honestly, the mythology just made her seem like an Iritharian version of Enor. Which is what Nira had been assuming before she’d found out it was all real.

Uh, she thought I’d be able to help her understand some research Enor had done, which I may have helped him with originally.

You used to work with Enor? Nira asked, completely surprised. Well, no wonder Yorin had been banished. This couldn’t have gone over well with the Iritharian Eternals.

Yes. In fact, we were something akin to friends at a time, before he—um, before the war. Let’s say it changed him.

Whatever that meant.

Well, anyway, Irif didn’t appreciate that, so she banished me from Irithara. I didn’t really want to go to Enoria, though, so I stayed here in secret, assuming that in a few years she’d let me go back. Safe to say I was completely wrong about that assumption because I underestimated your mother’s ability to hold a grudge. So a few years turned into a few thousand years and….”

Yorin suddenly became deathly silent, and Nira was too shocked to say anything.

Oh, no, Yorin said shakily after a few seconds of silence. Uh…. He let out a nervous laugh Pretend I said nothing. Better yet, forget I said that.

Like she ever could.

Land.

Your Highness—

Land! Now!

Yorin shut up and did as he was told, descending into the forest beneath them. As soon as his claws made contact with the forest floor, Nira jumped off him and whipped around, glaring at the Eternal. A being that could kill her with minimal effort. Thankfully, she was too angry to care at the moment.

“My mother is actually Irif?!” Nira yelled at him, burying her hands in her hair. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that before?”

Technically, she could have yelled at him inside her head with the same result, but she really needed to do this verbally because she felt like otherwise she’d go crazy. How was she supposed to process this?

Yorin stared at his claws. “I…didn’t want to upset you.”

“Upset me? Are you kidding me?!” Nira breathed in and out deeply and put her head in her hands in an effort to calm down. “I need time to think.”

As she started walking away from him, she saw Yorin take a hesitant step towards her, and she whirled around, pointing at him with her index finger. “Don’t follow me. I’ll be back.”

“O-okay,” she heard Yorin stammer, “take your time.” Then he sighed and added: “I’m sorry.”

Nira could barely hear it at that point, though—she was too far already. She didn’t stop until she couldn’t see the giant hippogriff anymore, only then realizing that snow had started to soak through her shoes. She didn’t really care, though—there was too much on her mind right now.

Thinking about it now, it actually made sense that Irif was posing as the queen—Relioth had basically been doing the same thing. Hiding in plain sight and all that. Nira really should have seen it coming with all the talk about Irif recently, but she hadn’t. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to admit the possibility to herself.

Nira hugged herself as she shivered. She wondered how long she could stay out here in the snow before she died, but even that disturbing thought didn’t make her go back to Yorin.

She just couldn’t get over the fact that her mother was, and always had been, a thousands of years old incorporeal being. Feeling like she was going to be sick, Nira put her hand over her mouth as she realized the most likely reason for her own existence. She was just here so Irif could possess her, wasn’t she?

Suddenly, her father’s efforts to send her to Enoria made much more sense. And now Nira hoped even more that the queen had never found out her father had been at least partly responsible. Who knew what Irif would do to him?

Was Nira being a host for Irif the reason Relioth had sent Kaleth to get rid of her? He’d claimed he’d only done it for fun, but Nira didn’t believe a single word coming from the War God’s mouth. Although, if he’d really done it just to make Irif mad, Nira wouldn’t be surprised. Still, that didn’t explain what Relioth had meant by managing to piss Irif off twice at the time. What else had he done?

Realizing she hadn’t stopped walking, and that it had been a while since she’d left Yorin behind, Nira took in another deep breath. She turned around, following the footprints she’d left in the snow while trying to ignore how cold her feet were due to the snow melting into her shoes.

When she was almost back to where she’d left Yorin, she froze. She could hear voices—taunting voices. It didn’t matter who they belonged to. Nira knew that either way, they meant trouble.

Hiding behind trees as much as she could, she slowly and silently made her way to where the voices were coming from, only to barely stop herself from gasping when she finally saw the scene. A man and a woman, both working for Relioth if the silver crescent moon symbols on the shoulders of their uniforms were anything to go by, were standing above a struggling Yorin who was trapped in what seemed to be a metal net of some kind. It also looked like he was getting weaker by the second.

An othrin net, then. Or at least partly othrin. Great.

“Give it up, Yorin. You’re not getting that net off until you shift into something with hands,” the woman said, waving the handcuffs she was holding in her hand in front of the Eternal. There was no doubt in Nira’s mind that those were made from othrin as well.

You need to leave, Your Majesty, Yorin suddenly told her, sounding panicked. They’re looking for you as well. You’re just a few hours away from a town. You can get to Aleara from there.

I’m not leaving you here, Nira replied with determination. It would be so much easier to just disappear into the forest and never look back, but it would also be wrong. No matter what Yorin thought of himself, or what he’d done in the past, he didn’t deserve whatever Relioth was planning on doing with him. He wasn’t a bad person, so Nira couldn’t just leave him here without it haunting her later.

So the only problem here was that she had no idea how she was supposed to free him.

That’s not very wise, Yorin said, but he also sounded the tiniest bit relieved.

I’m not old enough to be wise, Nira told him. Now, do you have any ideas?

…Maybe.

Suddenly, with a flash of light Yorin transformed back into the man she’d met on the beach, looking like he hadn’t slept in a week.

“Well, finally,” the woman said as she and the man pulled the net off Yorin. Nira didn’t understand what he was doing until he spoke in her mind again.

You can absorb Eternal energy. If you touch the net, you should be able to absorb mine. These people are only mortal. Apparently it’s more inconspicuous to….

Yorin looked like he could barely kneel in the snow at this point and didn’t struggle at all when his hands were cuffed behind his back. Nira kept her eyes on the net, wondering if this would work.

After the incident with Mel, she was aware that she could absorb the energy—whether she wanted to or not, in fact—but could she really do the same with othrin? She supposed it was theoretically possible since the metal supposedly did the same thing as Nira—it absorbed Eternal energy—but she couldn’t be sure until she tried. Unfortunately, two of Relioth’s people were right next to the net.

Hoping she’d get an opportunity soon enough, Nira watched as Yorin was gagged with duct tape, and the two agents started dragging him away, leaving the net behind. Nira couldn’t believe her luck, but she didn’t have the time to be amazed by it right now.

Just as she was about to reveal herself, the woman looked back.

“Shouldn’t we take the net, too?”

“We’ll grab it once we put this guy in the car,” the man replied, and once the woman shrugged, they continued dragging Yorin away. The Eternal looked like he was barely staying awake right now, so it should take them a while. At least Nira hoped so.

As soon as they were far enough away, Nira ran to the net, gripping it with both of her hands. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, and Nira almost let go of it, but then finally Yorin’s greenish-blue light started flowing out of the metal net and into Nira’s hands.

It wasn’t like last time. She’d had no control over her actions when she’d partially healed Mel’s wings. Right now though, she could feel the raw power coursing through her, but it wasn’t controlling her—she was controlling it, fully.

It also gave her a much better understanding of the phrase ‘drunk on power’ because that was exactly how she was feeling right now. Like she could take on Enor himself and win. Granted, Enor was dead already, but still, it was incredible. Was this how every Eternal felt, all the time?

No, that couldn’t be true—Mel had next to no confidence, which wouldn’t be possible if he felt like this.

Nira shook her head. This wasn’t important right now, rescuing Yorin was.

As fast as she could—which was pretty damn fast right now—she followed the new trail of footsteps until she finally spotted the two soldiers and Yorin. They were just a few steps away from the car, which was a black, windowless van. Naturally.

Not wasting any time, she waved her hand, making Relioth’s people fly into trees, crashing into them hard enough to lose consciousness, but not enough to die. Nira stared at her hand for a few seconds, only then realizing she’d done this without thinking, as if she’d always had the power of telekinesis, and it came naturally to her.

Noticing Yorin lying in the snow, trying his best to turn around and failing, snapped her out of her trance, though, and Nira quickly stopped thinking about the powers and instead searched the woman until she found keys to the handcuffs.

You…did it, Yorin muttered to her, sounding dead tired even in his head. Nira didn’t think that was a good sign. She walked over to him and unlocked the cuffs before helping him sit up. As soon as she touched him, though, her hands started glowing again, this time the light flowing into its rightful owner.

Yorin closed his eyes for a moment, sighing through his nose as his strength returned to him, and he slowly peeled off the duct tape. Nira felt a bit dizzy from the energy exchange, but smiled back when Yorin grinned at her.

“You saved me,” he said, sounding like he couldn’t believe it. And also maybe a bit like he wanted to start studying her.

“We should probably go before they wake up,” Nira said, nodding in the direction of their unconscious attackers, and Yorin agreed enthusiastically.