Truths
11 people sat around in a circle on a futuristic starship in front of a red crystal statue as a golden orb was summoned in front of the statue and descended in front of an older woman with long curly brown hair wearing a white dress. A golden symbol appeared on her throat as the orb hovered into her and she was awakened as were the other 10 around her and she looked at them.
“It’s time.” she said and they all got up as symbols appeared on the walls.
Each one of them put their backs against the wall and strings of golden cosmic threads appeared, enveloping them and dressed them in different armors which varied in colors, and a man in blue/gold armor walked up to the window of the spaceship and looked out upon a blue planet.
“It’s an amazing view isn’t it?” a man in a golden outfit said coming up beside the man in blue/gold armor and the man looked at the second male and smiled softly.
“Yes it is…” the man in blue/gold outfit told the second man softly, “I’m Ikaris…”
“I’m…” the second man started to say.
Asmund gasped as he woke to find himself laying on someone’s lap within a car in the backseat and saw that Sersi was driving the vehicle and Sprite was in the front seat which meant that Asmund was laying on...
“You okay?” Ikaris asked softly above him and Asmund’s eyes widened in shock as he jolted up and looked at Ikaris in shock and embarrassment, “You were moaning in your sleep.”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Asmund answered as he cleared his throat and straightened in the seat, “Sorry about that…”
“No worries.” Ikaris said kindly and Asmund looked out the window to see that they were in the lands of South Dakota.
“So we made it?” Asmund questioned as Sersi continued to drive down the road.
“We’re a few miles out.” Sersi told him and she looked in the review mirror to see Asmund was preoccupied gazing out the window while Ikaris looked in his direction quietly.
She felt uneasy keeping the truth from Asmund but she also knew that Asmund needed to visit with Ajak and that she should be the one to tell him everything that Sersi and the others couldn’t risk telling him.
“Why couldn’t we have gotten some food in town first?” Sprite whined as she slid down in her seat with a grumble and crossed her arms with a pout, “I’m hungry.”
“I’m certain that Ajak can cook us some dinner.” Sersi said with a smile and Sprite smiled softly as the thought made her content with waiting.
Suddenly Asmund gasped in shock as visions of Deviants attacking a farm flashed through his mind and he started gasping for air as he saw an older woman with long brown hair and brown eyes wearing jeans and a brown button-up shirt and leather jacket being attacked on the farm.
“Asmund, what is it?” Ikaris asked alarmed as he moved towards Asmund, only for Asmund to clutch his head in pain as he clenched his eyes shut before blacking out.
Ikaris looked at Asmund confused as the man fell silent and he reached towards Asmund carefully.
“Asmund?” he said slowly as he touched the man’s shoulder only for Asmund to snap his head up and flash open his eyes to see that they were glowing a black/golden hue and a black/golden aura started seeping out of him before he disappeared right in front of their eyes.
“Ajak must be in trouble.” Sersi said fearfully as she turned back to the front and stepped on the gas, speeding down the road faster.
On the front property of a farm, Asmund appeared covered in golden aura and his clothes turned into black armor with golden symbols similar to the one used by the Eternals just as the Deviants stopped moving to the house when they heard Asmund, turning around to see him there and lunging at him before he blasted them with telekinesis. The Deviants snarled again as three more approached Asmund and rushed toward him. Asmund raised his left hand and snapped his fingers, causing a wide green ring of magic expanded from him wide enough to cover the farm and immediately surrounding area as time seemed to slow down considerably as the Deviants slowed down since Asmund was using Time Magic that he had acquired from the Time Stone and he was able to wield the Time Stone’s power without needing the actual Time Stone in his possession. Two black and golden cosmic energy swords appeared in Asmund’s left hand and right hand as he smirked wickedly before rushing at the Deviants with insane speed, slicing through all of them and killing them in an instant. The time barrier vanished as the Deviants laid there dead and Asmund stood looking around for more monsters just as Sersi and the others arrived at the farm, getting out of the car and rushing up to the scene.
“Asmund, are you okay?” Sprite asked as she ran up to the man, only for Asmund to look at her with no emotion and Ikaris sensed something off with him.
“Sprite, wait!” he shouted just as Asmund lunged towards Sprite with his swords ready to kill when Ikaris flew through the air and collided with him as they flew back across the lands while Sprite fell back onto the ground in shock that Asmund would attack her.
“Sprite, are you okay?” Sersi asked as she rushed up to her friend and knelt down beside her.
“It’s happening isn’t it?” Sprite asked fearfully as she shakily looked at Sersi who nodded sadly, “We need Ajak out here and quickly.”
Meanwhile; Ikaris was flying Asmund far from the farm and the others, clutching onto Asmund’s shirt as they flew until Asmund braced his feet into Ikaris’ chest and flipped him over and tossing him away causing Ikaris to land on the ground as Asmund floated above him.
“Asmund, it’s me…Ikaris.” Ikaris said trying to get through to Asmund, “You don’t have to do this.”
“This place is going to end.” Asmund said as the aura covering him changed to black as his eyes changed to fully black, “You stand in the way of what must come…Tiamut must be raised to continue the Celestials.”
Ikaris looked at Asmund in confusion when suddenly the young man appeared in a flash in front of the Eternal, who was barely able to put up his hands before he was blasted back several yards through the wide-open space by the powerful mutant causing Ikaris to grunt in pain as he rolled onto his feet just as a foot connected with his jaw and he was kicked even further away.
“Asmund, stop this!” Ikaris begged as he got up and held up his hands to show that he wasn’t going to fight the young man but Asmund didn’t seem to hear as he flew towards Ikaris and grabbed him by the throat as they both flew up into the air, “Please…don’t do this.”
Ikaris felt Asmund’s hand clutch tighter around his throat, choking him with incredible strength, and he knew that he needed to break free, but he didn’t want to fight Asmund or hurt him especially not after having the knowledge of the truth about Asmund.
“Asmund…” Ikaris groaned as he could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, “Please…”
Ikaris' vision began to darken as the last thing he saw was Asmund's face and Asmund raised the Eternal higher in his grip, changing his eyes to red and glowing brightly as he prepared to blast Ikaris with his eye lasers until he spotted three powerful beings coming up behind him, causing him to stop squeezing Ikaris’ neck and look down at them though he continued his hold on Ikaris as Sprite, Sersi and their leader, Ajak, looked up at him.
“Oh my god…it is him.” Ajak said stunned to see Asmund floating in front of them with Ikaris in his clutches.
“Asmund, stop!” Sprite called out to him only for Asmund to blast down at her with his eyes’ lasers causing the young-looking Eternal to widen her eyes in shock.
Sersi moved quickly as she slapped a hand on the ground and used her power of matter transmutation to change the earth into a pillar of earth and shielded Sprite from the laser beams before grabbing her and pulling her out of Asmund’s sight as he blasted another blast of lasers only to miss Sprite by few inches.
“We need to draw him down to us.” Ajak told the other two women, “I need to use my powers to calm him down.”
“I’m assuming since we’re not all here to be able to use our abilities in order to tie him down, it's going to be hard and there is no other way we can calm him.” Sersi said and Ajak looked away nervously as Sprite looked at her in curiosity.
“There is another way, isn’t there?” Sprite questioned and Ajak looked down shamefully, “Other than needing all of us bringing him down?”
“Ajak?” Sersi said confused as she tilted her head at the older Eternal, “What is the other way?”
“Ikaris…” Ajak replied with a heavy sigh, “He was the other way that should have been able to calm Asmund down but he was taken out first so we need to get him down here.”
“Uh…I don’t think that is going to be a problem…” Sprite said slowly and Sersi and Ajak looked at her confused to see that she was staring at Asmund who tossed Ikaris down to the ground before rushing towards the women, “Evade!”
The three women dodged Asmund's attack and skidded to a halt away from him, trying to determine a plan of action to defeat the mutant, and Sprite gathered all of her abilities to create illusions of Sersi, Ajak, and herself to confuse Asmund as he stared at all the illusions as the three women hid in the midst of them. Sersi tried to carefully make her way over to Ikaris’ unconscious body a few yards away when suddenly she heard Sprite crying out in pain and she spun around to see that Asmund had somehow seen through all of her illusions and grabbed her, clutching her throat as he lifted her off the ground, and Sersi’s eyes widened in horror.
“Sprite!” she screamed rushing towards Asmund and Sprite only for something to flash past her and collide with Asmund thus causing the man to let go of Sprite who collapsed to the ground gasping for breath as Sersi reached her, “Sprite, are you okay?”
“How did he see through my illusions?” Sprite asked bewildered as she looked up at Sersi shakily and Sersi looked up to see that Ikaris had regained consciousness and was now holding Asmund on the ground in a chokehold with all of his might as Ajak walked up to them.
“Don’t let go of him, Ikaris.” Ajak ordered as she summoned her magic while holding her hands towards the rampaging mutant who struggled in Ikaris’ hold but couldn’t break free, “You’ll be okay, Asmund…just let me help you.”
She knelt in front of Asmund and held her hands beside his head, emitting a golden aura onto him, causing him to thrash harder while Ikaris kept his hold on Asmund tight while leaning in close to the man’s ear.
“It’s alright, Asmund.” he whispered as Ajak focused on healing Asmund’s mind, “I’m right here…I’m not going anywhere.”
Asmund grunted angrily as he struggled furiously against Ikaris’ hold while Ajak continued to use her powers to heal his mind and he started to slowly calm down until the aura and glowing eyes disappeared as Ikaris let go of his hold on the young man who gasped for breaths as he looked around confused with no recollection of what had happened.
“What…what’s going on?” Asmund asked as he felt Ikaris lay a hand on his shoulder and looked up at the Eternal in confusion only for his eyes to widen in horror to see bruises on Ikaris’ face and bruising on his neck as if he was choked, “Ikaris…what happened to you?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Ikaris said with a soft smile on his face as he shook his head and Asmund’s eyes slanted in realization before looking around and seeing the destruction on the land from a battle and Sprite’s neck had the same mark as Ikaris.
“No…” Asmund said shakily as he quickly stood up and held up a hand to his head as he looked at the destruction around him in horror and he started hyperventilating, “No, what did I do?”
“Asmund, you were not yourself.” Ajak told him soothingly as she walked up to him slowly only for him to look at everyone with his eyes shaking in disbelief at what he was capable of doing.
“I…I had no idea.” Asmund apologized while looking at Sersi, Sprite and Ajak before settling his eyes upon Ikaris as tears formed in his eyes and his voice cracked with a sob, “I’m so sorry.”
“Asmund, wait…” Sersi said as she reached out to him as he crouched down and then blasted up through the air towards the farm while she looked after him with a heavy sigh, “The burden of his rampage is going to overwhelm him…I’ll go talk to him.”
“No, I got this.” Ikaris replied stepping forward and looking towards the direction of the farm, “We shall meet you back at the farm.”
Following Asmund's trail in the air, Ikaris encountered the distraught man on the roof of a barn, knees pressed against his chest as he crossed his arms over his knees and leaned his head into his arms, a silent cry coming from him as Ikaris sat down beside him, making no sound as he silently reached over and took Asmund’s left hand into his own and he held it gently as Asmund sniffed in his right arm.
“It’s my fault that you and Sprite are hurt…” Asmund said after a while as he couldn’t bear to look at Ikaris out of guilt, “I…I sensed danger at the farm but then blacked out which I assume something dark inside of me took over and killed the Deviants before attacking you guys.”
“This wasn’t your fault, Asmund.” Ikaris replied in a soft tone, “Your powers overwhelmed you but you didn’t attack us on purpose and no one holds that against you, most of all I don’t hold it against you. I should have realized the possibility of this happening and should have planned to take preventing measures such as getting you to Ajak sooner.”
“What do you mean?” Asmund asked as he looked over at Ikaris wondering what the Eternal meant when he said that he should have seen the possibility and Ikaris took in a deep breath as Asmund looked at him intently, “Ikaris, what aren’t you telling me?”
“You’re not a mutant, Asmund.” Ikaris answered and Asmund tilted his head in confusion as Ikaris turned to look at him seriously with a hint of shame in his eyes as if he was holding on to a big secret.
“What are you talking about?” Asmund questioned with a dry chuckle as he looked Ikaris up and down, “I have superpowers and can copy other mutants' abilities.”
“It is true that you can copy others' abilities but that isn’t because you’re a mutant.” the Eternal told him as he took in a deep breath and then looked deeply into Asmund’s eyes, “You’re an Eternal, Asmund.”