Redemption

The peaceful scenery underneath had vanished, soon replaced by a world Ikaris had never seen before, a world full of endless concrete skyscrapers and buildings, occupying places where lush forests once thrive. Ikaris quickly realized what he saw is Earth, in the future. As the unsettling tremor grew stronger, he saw fire and smoke, devouring anything lying in the path; people fleeing in panic while those who were brave enough maneuvering vehicles he had never seen before in Phastos’s ‘Tech conferences’, loaded with artillery, launching fierce attacks towards a distant area that is glowing red in the ocean.
An erupting volcano.
He increased his speed as he flew towards the chaos, but heard a familiar voice calling his name far down below. He turned back and focused on the source of the sound amongst the lava flow.

“Sersi!” He dived quickly, only to find the once grey and black roads had vanished, the surface of the ground cracking open as molten magma constantly oozes out, engulfing everything nearby, including humans. Buildings collapsed due to the ongoing earthquake, trees turned into flaming torches, and rivers and the ocean started to boil under the intense heat of the lava.
Sersi knelt feebly on a large piece of rock that had not yet been melted, her face full of scars and tears. A few crying children, terrified, snuggled at her feet and a motionless figure lying beside, the red suit so striking and familiar…

“Why…why is this happening…” Sersi looked around with disbelief as her beloved world crumbled away, piece by piece.
“Sersi! We had to go now, Phastos had gone to drive the Domo-” Kingo and Druig approached on a helicopter, terror and reluctance written on their faces.
“Thank celestial!” Kingo noticed Ikaris floating nearby. “We lost Thena at the pier over there, can you go find her? We have to take Makkari-”
“NO!” Kingo was interrupted by a heart-wrenching cry from Druig, who then leaped off the helicopter onto the bobbing rock and rush towards their dead fellow. With trembling hands, he carefully picked up Makkari’s petite body and sobbed, head shaking in disbelief.
“We…we really tried….b..but…I c..can’t.. …save her…save them… ”Sersi cried even harder.
“How on earth…” Kingo was apparently too shocked to form a complete sentence. During their seven thousand-year mission on Earth, this is the first time a fellow Eternal has died.
“W..Where’s Ajak?” Ikaris swallowed hard.
“She’s treating the wounded at the hospital downtown, Gilgamesh is with her. Phastos is supposed to pick them up with the Domo, so we came to look for Sersi and M..Makarri..” Kingo choked at the name they were once so familiar with. “But then the earthquake worsened so we have no idea what’s the situation over there…”
“Where were you when all of this happened, huh?” Druig stood up abruptly, his crying red eyes glowing a dangerous crimson-gold, staring at Ikaris.
“I…”No matter how hard Ikaris tried, there seemed to be a deletion of memories before all chaos broke out. He only remembered that night in Aztec and all of a sudden he came to this purgatory on future Earth.
“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” Druig continued aggressively.
“I don’t know-” Before Ikaris could finish, everything fell into chaos once again, all the screams and the rumbling had subsided in an instant. When he came back to his senses, they were already back on the Domo. The once beautiful aqua-blue planet outside the window had shattered into thousand pieces of burning rock, within the debris and smoke, a majestic golden figure gradually emerged.
It was the emergence, the birth of a Celestial.

Everyone on the Domo was speechless. Druig held Makkari in his arms and sobbed quietly; Sersi sat weakly beside them, tearful eyes reflecting a dazzling red as she looked outside the window. Ajak, seriously injured, was whispering something in Gilgamesh’s ears while Thena held her hand, face full of tears. Never have they thought that the planet which had accompanied them for 7000 years would disintegrate right before their eyes, yet they could not do anything. For thousands of years, Ikaris has believed that the Eternals are the guardians of Earth.
However, they were the ones who destroyed their beloved planet eventually.
The price for all these tragedies was too high. All those memories, Makarri’s death, and the pain on the faces of his fellow Eternals…All unbearable reality flooded in, suffocating him like an endless, dark tide.

-TBC-