Enoria is preparing for war with Irithara, and the team sans Kaleth are doing the best they can to put a stop to it before it progresses even further.
Their plan? Find Mereria, get her help with killing Relioth, and save Kaleth in the process. They...
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When Mel woke up again, he was too tired to move. He blinked blearily as he tried to figure out where he was. He seemed to be in a small dark room—a holding cell, really, judging by the heavy metal door. Mel struggled to get up and failed immediately, only then realizing that the reason he couldn't move wasn't that he was too tired—although he still was exhausted.It was because a heavy chain was looped around most of his body. It was actually quite painful how the chains held his wings in an unnatural position.
That wasn't all though. There was also some contraption holding his mouth closed. Mel shook his head, trying to get the piece of metal off his snout, but it stayed firmly in place. It was probably to stop him from breathing fire or biting someone.
As if he could manage either of those things right now.
Mel let his head fall to the ground, a clanging sound following as Mel's muzzle hit the ground as well.
He wondered why he was still alive, or at least not yet hooked up to one of Relioth's energy extracting machines. He also wondered what had happened to Rayni after he'd lost consciousness. He hoped she was all right, or at least not captured. She hadn't even been supposed to be there, and now she could be in serious trouble.
Mel shut his eyes and whimpered quietly. He was already dreading the kind of punishment he was in for if he ever got away from Relioth. For getting captured, for failing to protect Rayni, and for giving Relioth any information he wanted.
If Relioth meant to interrogate him, he had no way of defending himself from the other's mental attacks. Mel hadn't been able to resist Relioth in Carcer, and he hadn't been dead tired at the time.
Feeling more and more nervous, it was a good thing the door opened just a while later. Once he saw who the door revealed, though, Mel's jaw dropped. Or it would if it weren't immobilized right now.
"Happy birthday!" said Relioth to Kaleth, who was standing next to him, staring at Mel with the same shock and confusion as Mel was watching him with. Kaleth looked exactly the same as he had when Mel had last seen him, but despite that, there was something very different about him that Mel couldn't place.
He quickly forgot about this, though, when Kaleth turned to Relioth with a look of righteous anger and delivered a blow to Relioth's jaw with so much force it actually made the Eternal general stagger a bit.
Mel would have gasped in surprise if he could. Relioth had brainwashed Kaleth to obey him. Why would he let him do this? And how come Kaleth was so strong all of a sudden? Mel knew he was the Aperios, and therefore should be more powerful than anything, but he hadn't been a month ago.
Oh, so that was why Kaleth seemed different to Mel. The Eternal could subconsciously sense just how strong Kaleth had become.
What had Relioth done to him?
"Ugh, what the hell, Kaleth?" Relioth asked, rubbing his jaw. "No wonder no one ever gives you birthday presents."
"Leave," Kaleth said coldly, already heading over to Mel. The Eternal curled in on himself as much as the chain allowed, letting out a fearful sound. Was Kaleth going to hurt him? Mel may have imagined being reunited with Kaleth a few times, but not one of those fantasies included Kaleth working for Relioth still. He'd been too afraid to think about that, yet it was somehow his reality right now.
