Rayni played with her new sword as she suffered through yet another unending car trip. To make matters worse, Mereria had insisted that Rayni had to travel with her and no amount of arguing made her change her mind, so now they were sitting next to each other in an awkward silence. Or maybe an angry silence. Was there such a thing?

"Okay," Rayni said, unable to take it anymore. "What's the point of this exactly?"

"I told you, I want to keep an eye on you," Mereria replied, sounding just as neutral as ever. There was something else just beneath the surface, though. Rayni tried to look into Mereria's head, but something was blocking her from doing so.

That made Rayni both annoyed again, but also interested. If there was a way to keep her mind safe from nosy telepaths, she should probably learn how to do it.

"And why is that exactly? You think I can't hold my own in a fight?" Rayni grumbled, staring at her faint reflection in the sword if only to have something to look at besides Mereria. The weapon was kind of short, but not short enough for Rayni to call it a dagger.

It was probably really old, but at the same time, the sword was completely spotless as if it had been made yesterday. The unmistakable black color of the blade that turned red where light hit it was enough to convince her it would be effective against an Eternal. Rayni wondered what would happen if she touched it, if she would notice that it was sapping her power, but she wasn't actually going to try.

Besides, she'd been wearing a suppression bracelet for most of her life—or for the part she actually remembered, at least—and those bracelets had to have some othrin in them, so she probably wouldn't even notice anything if she touched the blade.

"I know very well that you are a great fighter," Mereria replied after a moment of silence, smiling at Rayni slightly. "But you just lost a fight, and you were injured during it. You're still not at full power, and I don't want to see you get hurt." Mereria scowled. "Or worse."

"We're going to see the remaining Umbra. How bad can that be?"

"Very," Mereria said ominously and didn't bother continuing. Rayni shook her head in disbelief.

"Care to elaborate?"

Mereria sighed. "Ikara has a different way of doing things than I do. He is much more destructive and doesn't value the lives of mortals in the slightest."

"Oh, and you do?" Rayni asked, making Mereria sigh once more.

"Do you see me killing them?"

"I've known you for a few hours, so I'm not taking your word for it," Rayni replied, putting the sword in its sheath and folding her arms over her chest. Mereria's eyes turned sad, and she quickly turned her head away from Rayni to rather stare out of the window.

Rayni rubbed a hand over her mouth. She hadn't meant to ruin the mood, especially given how bad it was already, but it was too late now, she supposed. Still, she could at least try to make the situation better by changing the subject.

"So, uh," Rayni began, clearing her throat, "what were the Umbra like before Ikara took over?"

Mereria looked a little taken aback by the question as she turned around to look at Rayni again.

"Ah, well, I assume you know how Ikara likes to do things," Mereria said, and Rayni snorted.

"Oh, yeah. I did work for Luxarx for years, you know."

Mereria's expression darkened at the mention of the organization. Rayni wasn't surprised. It was one thing that Relioth had locked Mereria up for a century, but he'd also used her soldiers as his in his quest of getting rid of the remaining Umbra once and for all.

"Yes, I know," Mereria growled. Then she shook her head, and her expression softened. "Anyway, the Umbra were divided into two groups—one handled the research of who our targets should be, and the other took out said targets."

"Well, that doesn't sound that different from the Umbra I know," Rayni remarked, raising an eyebrow. Mereria huffed, looking amused. And was that fondness? Rayni wrinkled her nose.

"The difference is that Ikara has no problem destroying an entire building for the sake of killing one person. I care about subtlety and collateral damage. We took our time figuring out who to kill to make Enor's and Tharos's lives harder, and we took our targets out discreetly, usually at night, so we had plenty of shadows to attack from." Mereria smiled slightly at that. "That's why we're called the Umbra, actually."

"You know he's not called Tharos anymore, right?" Rayni asked, unable to keep it in anymore. It was just weird. The megalomaniac's name was Relioth—that's how Rayni had first come to know him, so Tharos just sounded wrong to her.

Mereria let out a short, mocking laugh. "Ah, yes, he thinks that changing his name gave him an excuse to start anew."

"Start anew?" Rayni repeated, her eyebrow rising.

"Before Enor was killed, he'd made Tharos do things even Tharos himself wasn't comfortable with." Rayni felt a chill go up her spine. She had no idea what that implied, but if it was so terrible even Relioth didn't want to do it, Enor must have been a really nice guy to hang out with. Thank the gods he was dead.

That sounded weird.

"Enor wanted a genocide. To kill every single person in Irithara—both Eternals and mortals. Tharos and I didn't, but only I wasn't enough of a coward to stay on Enor's side."

Mereria looked angrier with every word, but she didn't seem to mind talking about it, so Rayni let her. This was actually really interesting to hear. She hadn't been given a lot of information about Enor so far.

"Why did he want a genocide?"

"He first wanted revenge for destroying our country and our people. I wholeheartedly agreed with that plan. But over time he started to become more and more obsessed with the idea that the continent Agrya—or Irithara, as it's now called—was somehow evil because of what Irif had done to us. He thought that the people who lived in Agrya would eventually turn evil, and he used that as an excuse to try to kill all of them. He was completely delusional at that point."

"That's, uh, great use of logic, there," Rayni said, barely managing to sound sarcastic. Now she was really, really glad Enor was dead. A genocide was a terrible, scary concept itself, but on this scale.... Over a billion people lived in Irithara.

"It wasn't his fault. He used to be very kind and selfless." Mereria anger dissipated, being replaced by sadness.

"What happened?" Rayni asked before she could stop herself. She expected Mereria to ignore her, but after a moment of silence, her shoulders slumped and she explained.

"Remember when I told you that Melwynar had created a soul bond with someone?"

At the mention of Mel, Rayni's mood soured even further, but she forced herself to stay silent and nodded. She had no idea what this had to do with anything, and she also still had little idea as to what a soul bond was, but she supposed Mereria was going to get to that part.

"My species was slightly telepathic, even before we became this. And we had the ability to create these bonds between us, usually between two mates." Rayni frowned at that word. It sounded so...animalistic. But at least now she was sure who Mel had soul-bonded with. Not that it hadn't been obvious before. "It was the closest possible connection you could have with someone once the bond fully developed. I've never bonded with anyone, so I can't describe it well, but that's what I've been told. But there is a very unfortunate side effect to this, which is why it's not allowed."

Of course there was a catch. But it did make Rayni wonder if she could forge a soul bond with someone too. Not that she particularly wanted to. She just wanted to know if she had the ability.

"Which is?" Rayni asked when Mereria didn't say anything for a while.

"If one of the pair—or group in some cases—dies, the others will too."

Rayni frowned in confusion. "Of what?"

"Suicide," Mereria answered emotionlessly, and Rayni cringed. She kind of regretted asking now. But at least this meant that Relioth wouldn't kill Mel, right? Hopefully? "A soul bond basically means two psyches coming together. And if one is ripped away, the other will never feel complete again. This causes severe depression, which sooner or later drives the survivor to suicide."

Rayni swallowed in discomfort. No wonder these soul bonds were made illegal among the Umbra. It sounded like a really awful death, although from what Rayni knew about Mereria, she'd probably made the bonds illegal just so she wouldn't lose more soldiers.

"And to finally get back on topic, that's what happened to Enor," Mereria said. Rayni nodded to herself. Right, she'd almost forgotten what the original topic of the conversation was. "To survive, he got rid of the very thing that would drive him to end his life—his emotions."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Rayni blinked. "What? That's possible?"

"Enor certainly found a way," Mereria replied, shrugging. "Unfortunately, you can imagine what removing his emotions did to him."

It made him a homicidal maniac? Rayni guessed but didn't say so out loud. It did make her wonder why Enor had wanted revenge, though. An emotionless being shouldn't be able to feel a need to exact revenge, right? Then again, maybe it had been just something he told Mereria and Relioth for their benefit.

Then Rayni realized she still didn't know just how Enor had died. She was just about to ask when Mereria spoke again.

"We're here," she said, scowling at the small forest just ahead. What was it with the Umbra and forests? Rayni supposed it made sense because when moving in and out of their hideouts, they wouldn't be visible from above, but still—the hideouts were invisible. Some of them could be in the middle of a nice meadow for once.

"How do you know Ikara's here, again?"

"Again? I haven't told you, yet," Mereria said, making Rayni shake her head. "I've been tracking Ikara since the moment I escaped from Carcer. I would have challenged him for leadership sooner, but—"

"You weren't at full power, yeah, I know," Rayni finished for her, and Mereria made another one of those fond huffs. Rayni wasn't even sure why it annoyed her so much. Maybe it was because she kept getting reminded that Mereria had known her for, like, centuries, if not more, and Rayni didn't remember any of it.

"There's no chance he'll just let you take control again, huh?" Rayni asked as their car landed, and she got out of it, looking around. She squinted against the sun, seeing five large shapes moving towards them.

It was a little strange that she and Mereria had gotten here sooner than the others. The four Umbra that had been in Aren Rayni could understand—being slower out of respect, or more likely fear, of Mereria—but Rayni's teammates?

Maybe their car was just slower.

"I know Ikara. He won't give up without a fight," Mereria replied as she also climbed out of the car and walked over to Rayni. "Furthermore, it will make his Umbra loyal to me once more, but only if we engage in a weapons-only duel."

"Fear isn't loyalty," Rayni argued, folding her arms. She hadn't been aware that the Umbra had traditions like this. For how advanced their technology was, they had some old school ways of doing things.

"Well, I suppose it's not loyalty, but it's close enough. It has worked very well for thousands of years," Mereria said, straightening her cloak and hood. She didn't pull the hood over her head, though. She probably wanted the other Umbra to recognize her, although her uniform would have done that fine on its own.

It wasn't really that different from Rayni's, but there were ornate lines sewed into the cloak and hood with golden thread. It didn't sound like that much of a difference, but on the whole, it really did make Mereria stand out. That and the two huge dagger in black sheaths that were hanging from Mereria's belt weren't exactly unnoticeable either.

From what Rayni had gathered, there was so little othrin in Enoria that most Eternals barely had a single weapon, yet Mereria had two, and they were big enough to be confused for swords. They seemed to have a much higher production value as well. The handles were made of silver, and there were small gold stars, hanging off the end of each handle. Rayni assumed the daggers had black blades, but there was no way to tell right now.

It was a bit odd that Mereria wasn't using the dagger she'd had in Aren, but on second thought, given how huge these ones were, maybe it would just be too impractical.

Rayni looked down at her own sword. It looked a bit pitiful in comparison, although it was clearly well made as well. Did Mereria really need two daggers? Rayni would have loved to borrow one of them.

Rayni shook her head. She needed to stop thinking about that. Mereria would probably get nostalgic again. Ugh.

Rayni instead studied her own armor, wondering if she should shield her identity or not. She reached for her hood but then decided against it. As much as she didn't want to admit it she trusted Mereria to tell her about this. Mereria seemed to care about her enough not to put Rayni in unnecessary danger. She would keep that to herself though.

Finally, four dragons as well as the other car landed, just a bit away from Rayni. It was kind of fascinating that every single Umbra turned into a different-looking dragon. They were exclusively dragons, which was a little confusing since Mereria had said that Rayni used to like to turn into an eagle, but Rayni still had no idea how these transformations worked, so what did she know.

Either way, they were all very cool. Strangely though, none of them looked at all like Mel. One of them was green with long scales covering most of his body, as well as his wings. Another was purple and covered in spikes, the third one had huge, feathered wings and a gold color, and the last one was bronze with orange crystals instead of scales.

Did they choose to look this way? Or was that somehow predetermined? Rayni sighed internally. She would have to ask Mereria later. Or Mel, once they saved him.

Rayni tore her eyes away from the group of dragons to her teammates. They were all wearing Umbra armor, and most of them looked unhappy about it. Nef in particular looked very unsettled. The only one who seemed angry about something else was Orina, but Rayni was so tired of her arguing with her sons that she paid the woman no mind.

"Whatever happens, you are not to interfere, understand?" Mereria told the group, gripping the handles of her daggers. She didn't seem to want to pull the daggers out, but she still kept her hands tightly clenched around them.

"Knock yourself out," Rayni replied jokingly, receiving a very serious nod from Mereria who then started heading into the forest. The four other Umbra dutifully followed after her without a word, leaving only the former Luxarx agents and Nef there.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to go off without a hitch?" Nef remarked sarcastically, tugging at his cloak. "Also, this armor is really light. I'm having doubts about its effectiveness."

"Why are you always so pessimistic?" asked Alor.

"Why are you always so optimistic?" Nef shot back, and Rayni shook her head. These two were killing her.

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Kara commented, sounding even more pissed off than she usually was. Rayni frowned. Kara had been acting strangely ever since they'd met Mereria. Strangely even for her. She had mostly been snappy or silent. Once this was over, Rayni should really have a word with her to figure out what was bothering her.

As they started walking, Nef sped up so that he caught up to Rayni, which surprised her a bit, but she didn't say anything. She just raised an eyebrow at him as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh, we kinda broke into a room we weren't supposed to go into today," he started. Rayni had no idea where he was going with this, but at least it explained why Mereria had wanted to punish them earlier.

"Um, okay?"

"Right, uh, well, as it turns out, you and Mel have the same surname," Nef finally said, making Rayni stop dead in her tracks.

"W-what? Wait, what does that mean, then?"

"Well, it's either a huge coincidence or you're related somehow," Nef explained, shrugging as he grabbed Rayni's elbow and pulled on her arm to make her continue walking.

"Related?" Oh, well, that was shocking, but it didn't really mean anything bad. Unless she was Mel's mother, or something, which would be really weird. Or maybe full on disturbing. "Related how?"

"No idea, sorry. You'll have to ask someone else. Like the Commander of the Umbra?"

"Why didn't you tell me all this sooner? I could've asked her on the way over here."

Rayni sighed. Great, now she would spend all her time thinking about what Mel was to her. She really hoped they were brother and sister. Having a brother sounded awesome. She'd hated growing up without any siblings.

Wait, were those really her feelings or was that something Relioth had put in her head again? Rayni rubbed her temples. This kind of thinking was making her head hurt.

"Sorry, I guess I was a little preoccupied," Nef said, his voice sarcastic. Right, he'd been arguing with his mother for hours, then barely avoided Mereria's wrath, and then he witnessed her kill a guy right in front of him.

"Right." Rayni sighed and stayed silent, deep in thought, as they caught up to Mereria and her entourage. Except, it wasn't just the five of them. There was a sixth person now—a tall, dark-haired man with a beard and a sword in hand.

Even though he wasn't wearing anything resembling an Umbra uniform, this was probably Ikara.

"I was wondering when you'd decide to show up, Commander," Ikara said mockingly. Rayni doubted provoking Mereria was a good idea, but then again, the guy did look a bit unhinged. "It took you much longer than I thought it would."

"Ikara. Still just as childish, I see," Mereria replied in a deadpan tone, and Rayni blinked. Mereria was going for personal insults? Maybe they could get along after all.

"You're here to take control of the Umbra once more?" Ikara continued, his grin growing wider. "Go ahead, then, there's about a dozen of us left."

"What did you do?" Mereria asked in shock before glaring at him. Rayni was shocked as well. A dozen? That didn't really help them take out Relioth, did it? It was better than nothing, but still.

"I continued hindering Tharos's plans after you let yourself be captured." Rayni could almost feel Mereria's rage, and she was half expecting her to pull out her daggers and kill Ikara immediately. That didn't happen though. Not yet, anyway. "Unfortunately, he responded in turn by forming Luxarx. A part of which is standing right next to you."

"We were misled and manipulated," Orina growled at Ikara, walking closer to him. "If we knew the truth, we wouldn't have—"

"What? You wouldn't have joined him? Then why are your people worshipping him now that he revealed his true nature?" Ikara snapped, pointing his sword at Orina. "Your species are sheep. That's what you are, and that's what you'll always—"

"No one cares what you think, asshole!" Rayni snapped, feeling deeply offended, even though Ikara wasn't even talking about her. It sure felt that way, though, since he'd thought she'd been mortal for years.

"Thank you, Raynimara," said Mereria as neutrally as ever, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. Rayni gave her a thumbs up in reply, but she wasn't sure Mereria even saw it. She kept her eyes on Ikara. "Am I right to understand that you don't want to fight me, Ikara?"

"We've lost either way, what's the point?" he asked, throwing his arms up into the air, but Mereria just narrowed her eyes.

"I can tell you're lying to me."

"So I am," Ikara replied, and with a grin, he pounced at Mereria, sword at the ready. Rayni's eyes widened as she watched the attack play out. She'd almost thought Mereria had been stabbed, but she managed to dodge Ikara's blade at the last second. Well, mostly.

Mereria touched the cut under her right eye, bright white light and blood escaping from it now. She gritted her teeth and pulled out her daggers, glaring at Ikara.

Everyone took a few steps back as Mereria and Ikara's weapons collided. They weren't supposed to help Mereria, but Rayni couldn't help but wonder if anyone would actually see that they'd cheated. There didn't seem to be any of Ikara's Umbra around, but since Mereria didn't seem to be losing just yet, it would be best to wait for now.

Though honestly, it was hard to tell who was winning. Both of the Eternals were moving too fast to really tell. There was just the constant noise of the blades clashing with each other, and a blur of movement. Though Rayni could still follow it suspiciously well. Probably a part of the superpowers package.

Until it suddenly stopped. And Rayni watched, completely petrified, as Mereria fall to her knees. Ikara was standing above her, grinning like a madman with his sword buried in Mereria's heart. And just like that, it was as if someone else took control of Rayni's body because suddenly she was running over to Ikara and stabbing her own sword into Ikara's skull.

There was a flash of purple light and Ikara's body was falling to the ground. Rayni stared at her sword in shock, trying very hard to ignore how everyone around them was looking at her. Instead, she watched as Mereria pulled Ikara's sword out of her chest and threw it away. Rayni sheathed her own sword as Mereria got up, giving Rayni a grateful, and slightly astonished look.

"You shouldn't have done that," Mereria said, her voice pained as she put a hand over the wound in her chest. "The remaining Umbra might not want to follow me, now."

"There's apparently only twelve of them. If they don't help us, whatever. You're more powerful than all of them combined, right? If you die, we're screwed, so...."

That made total sense as to why Rayni had saved her. So why did it feel like a lie?

Mereria looked a bit disappointed, but she didn't say anything. She just nodded, smiling at Rayni weakly before looking down at Ikara. "Let's see what they say, then."