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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It was as if the moment Yorin heard Nira's father say those horrible words, he gave up on everything. Nira watched in disbelief as he let the guards cuff his hands together before they started dragging him away towards the entrance to the palace.
She wanted to protest, but then her father wrapped his arms around her, which made Nira momentarily forget about Yorin. She was once again reminded of how thin her father was as she hugged him back. It made her feel sick.
"Why did you come back?" he pretty much sobbed out, and Nira gritted her teeth. Never before had she wanted to kill anyone more than Irif right now. She didn't even care that Irif was her mother, she just wanted to see her die.
Then Nira blinked, her eyes widening. She swallowed heavily, trying to fight the urge to vomit. She couldn't kill her mother, and it wasn't just because Irif was too powerful. Where had those thoughts come from?
"I had to," Nira replied, trying to ignore the way her eyes started to sting. She separated herself from her father, feeling her heart break a little more when she saw how sad he looked. "There's something bigger than me going on. I have to tell her."
Did she have to tell her, though? Would it be so bad to let Kaleth kill Irif for what she'd done to Nira's father?
Nira swallowed again, sighing. Irif dying was one thing, but a war between Enoria and Irithara would result in countless innocent lives being lost. If Irif could stop that, Nira had to go along with whatever the queen could come up with.
"How can there be anything—" Her father suddenly fell silent and flinched, closing his eye for a few seconds. "She...wants to see you."
"Good," Nira replied quietly, already walking towards the entrance before her father could try to stop her. She couldn't look at him anymore. It hurt too much. The fact that she was directly responsible for this.... She just couldn't deal with this right now. She knew it was cowardly, avoiding confronting the consequences of her actions, but she just couldn't right now.
She barely looked at anything as she walked inside the palace, but she couldn't help but notice that the massive hall leading to the throne room hadn't changed a bit. Every single piece of furniture was still covered in gold and silver, the floor was still made of flawless marble, and the long blue rug covering the middle of it looked just as unblemished as it had four years ago. The whole palace was strangely silent except for Nira's footsteps, but she didn't pay any attention to any of this. The only thing on her mind was confronting Irif.
Nira sped up, walking as fast as she could towards the door leading to the throne room before she had a chance to question what she was about to do. Seeing her approach, the guards at the door let her in without a word.
Despite her anger, Nira froze as soon as she saw her, though. Irif was sitting on her golden throne, legs lazily crossed, wearing a black flowing dress, a drink in her hand, but all Nira could see was her mother. It seemed her mind just refused to process that this was an Eternal that had lived for thousands of years and had most likely ruined countless lives.
