Redemption

“Ikaris!” Sprite broke free from Dane’s grasp and rushed forward to hug him.

“Evening, guys.” Ikaris patted her head and smiled while greeting Sersi with a slight nod.

Sersi was a little stunned to see her husband suddenly appearing in front of her after more than a hundred years of separation, though she was extremely grateful for his rescue just on time. Her feeling was, somehow, complicated. Ikaris hadn’t changed at all, dressed in a pitch-black, pair of dark jeans and a black trench coat, chiseled face looking as attractive and charming as before. The iconic white-grayish streak in his brown, curly hair was exactly the same as Sersi’s memories. Sersi used to believe that she had already put everything down and moved on, but now she found herself drowned and lost inside those beautiful, blue eyes until a dark figure slowly climbed out of the broken walls and lunged itself at Ikaris.

“Watch out!” Sersi yelled, before Ikaris could recover, he was slammed into the air and crashed into a moving bus nearby. The bus was hurled over by the strong impact, as Sersi rushed forward to use her ability again, tranforming all the hard metal of the bus into a bunch of harmless rose petals.

Dane watched in awe as he managed to catch a petal in his hands. The texture was soft, he could even smell a hint of fruity fragrance.

“Wizard.” He muttered to himself.

Fortunately, there were no passengers at the time, and the driver wasn’t injured. He just sat in the huge pile of red petals all over the floor with a puzzled look on his face. Ikaris quickly got up, stabilized himself, and attacked the Deviant with his laser eyes again, this time focusing on the muscle strands on its arms, attempting to paralyze it. The Deviant howled in pain, but pressed its other arm over the wound, after an eerie glow of green light, it managed to heal itself. No other Deviant could have ever done that.
Could it be the consequence of Ajak’s death?

What if the Deviant somehow acquired Ajak’s powers?

He needed the Deviants to draw the attention of the other Eternals, but he must protect them as well…

Though fighting off the Deviant instinctively, he soon discovered that it could always evade his ultimate trump card, and throughout the battle, the Deviant fought passively, dodging his attacks as much as possible, but seldomly strikes back aggressively. Something is definitely wrong, he thought to himself.

Ikaris took off into the air, preparing to charge another cosmic beam before the Deviant, who seemed to realize that it didn't stand a chance against him, turned its way and jumped into the canal, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

It escaped. Another unusual act of a Deviant.

Ikaris slowly descended, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the abnormal behaviors of the Deviant. He had a bad feeling about this, if his assumptions were correct, if that Deviant did absorb Ajak’s powers…it will surely bring lots of uncertainty to his mission in the future.

“Are you ok?” Seeing the Deviant’s departure, Sersi sighed in relief as she came over and asked concernedly.

“As long as you are safe, I’m perfectly fine,” Ikaris responded with a smile. Sersi was happy with Dane beside her, but she felt safe when Ikaris was around. She had so many questions on her mind at the moment but she didn’t even know where to start, so they fell into an awkward silence pretty quickly.

To everyone’s surprise, Dane took the initiative as he stepped forward, stretching out his right hand.

“I’m Dane. I bet you must be the 'Pilot' that Sersi mentioned?”

“Hello, Dane.” Ikaris shook his hand and gave him a slight nod as he then raised an eyebrow towards Sersi.

“She told you that?” He watched in amusement as Sersi helplessly shrugged.

******

On their way home, Dane seemed to have recovered from the shock earlier and started talking nonsense such as asking Sersi to turn him into a giraffe. He still thought that Sersi was some sort of wizard just like Doctor Strange. Yet she was grateful he didn’t ask much about the past of their relationship, and Ikaris followed along the way without even saying a word, which really soothed her inner irritability. The sudden appearance of a Deviant after such a long time did require some investigation, let alone a Deviant that could heal itself. She knew she could no longer hide in the crowd anymore, It's time for the Eternals to unite again.

They went to Ajak first, as the prime Eternal, she would know what to do.

But never had she imagined that the only thing they found in South Dakota was Ajak’s cold, lifeless body. Sersi was too overwhelmed to speak as she knelt beside her in disbelief, caressing her cheek with trembling hands. For the first time in their 7000 year mission, an Eternal had fallen, and it was also the first time she saw what a dead Eternal looks like. Her features still resemble a kind mother, yet her face was dull as if all the vitality had been drained out. Her body was cold and stiff, like a motionless marble statue lying on the ground.

“It was the Deviant…” Ikaris muttered, trying his best to suppress the surging wave of guilt and pain within his heart.

“We….we never should have left each other…” Sprite broke down in tears, sobbing terribly. “Last time I was here, Ajak made a table of good food…she asked me to go to London to check on Sersi, and I promised her we’ll all come back for Christmas..” she cried even harder upon thinking of the endless past memories which those happy scenes would never happen again.

“I think…although we were apart…Ajak never stopped taking care of us in her own way…”

There was an important traveling exhibition being held at the National History Museum that winter, so Sprite had volunteered to stay with Sersi and Dane to help. Sersi apologized afterward, for not being able to visit her during the Christmas holidays, but Ajak just wanted them to live a happy life, which she indicated would be the perfect consolation and present for her.

“Goodbye, Ajak.” Sersi had lost track of time grieving, it felt like hours had passed when she gently kissed Ajak’s forehead to say her final goodbyes. No matter how helpless and hesitant she was, she knew the Eternals would need each other more than ever.

If the Deviant did manage to find Ajak first, killing her and absorbing her powers, that might explain how that Deviant was able to heal itself. The fact that the Deviant traveled across the Atlantic to track them down was terrifying, meaning that this time the Deviants might be targeting Eternals rather than humans. If it were the case, the other fellow Eternals would be in great danger. With that Deviant on lose, it may strike anytime.

They need to act fast.

Just as she was about to return to the cottage to discuss plans with Ikaris, a flash of gold suddenly erupted from Ajaks chest, then a small sphere, the sphere that Ajak used to communicate with Arishem, floated out, rotating slowly as it emitted golden beams of light intermittently. Without a warning, the sphere flew right towards Sersi and entered her body. Immediately, the surrounding landscape disappeared. All the clouds, trees, mountains and houses were gone, all replaced by a vast canvas of starry sky. There was a gigantic crimson red boulder right in front of her, six circular holes which seemed to be carved neatly into the rock into two rows, were glowing an eerie red. Countless asteroids orbited around the colossal entity, whooshing past Sersi with such speed that her eyes couldn’t even follow. It took a while for her to realize that she was floating in front of Arishem.

“Arishem…”Sersi whispered timidly.

The appearance of a special Deviant and Ajak’s death were already disturbing enough, and now that a Celestial had summoned her…It couldn't be a coincidence.

“The time has come. Ajak has chosen you as the prime Eternal. Do not let me down." Before Sersi could respond, the surrounding landscape returned to normal, with Arishem's words still booming in her ears, like a bell reverberating inside her mind.

“Sersi, What happened?” Sprite ran hurriedly towards herself, followed by a very worried Ikaris.

“It's Arishem…” Sersi said slowly, as if not quite sure whether what happened just now was real or it was just her illusion.

“What?”

“The sphere Ajak used to contact Arishem, it flew right into me.”

“Have you talked to Arishem?” Ikaris asked, looking visibly disturbed. If Ajak gave Sersi the ability to communicate with the Celestials, she would know the truth sooner or later. According to his understanding of his wife, she would definitely try her best to stop the emergence, and eventually, he would inevitably be forced to make a cruel choice.

“He spoke to me, saying that ‘The time has come.’, but I don’t-”

“Are you sure you heard Arishem's voice?” Ikaris interrupted, looking terrified.

“What else would it be...?”

“Mahd Wy'ry.”

Sprite gasped upon hearing Ikaris’s conclusion. Sersi was well aware of what it is, an illness resulting in fracturing of the mind because of the vast burden of memories they held over their longevity. During the fall of Tenochtitlan, Thena almost killed several fellow Eternals because of Mahd Wy'ry.

Unfortunately, there was no cure.

“We need to find the others first, it's urgent.” Sersi said with a serious expression.

----------------TBC