1521 AD

Tenochtitlan

A massive fight broke out in the city. Fire was everywhere.

We were there in the city to get rid of the very last of the Deviants on Earth. There was only a handful left, according to Ajak when she told us where we were going to go next. Once we arrived in the city, we patrolled the area and helped in any way we could. But at that time on Earth, Humans were less friendly and more about conquests. We felt it instantly when we arrived there, tension rising high in the sky. But we still gave them tools, showed them the proper ways to advance.

All it took was the Spanish Conquests, and a powered keg to set it all ablaze.

Although the sky was lit in flames that were etched everywhere, it was one of the darkest nights I have ever seen on the earth. Innocent people were slaughtered and slain, children were trampled in the street from the horses on the invaders, statues were torn down in the city square, and beautiful temples and buildings finally fell from the weight of war.

And all we could do was watch. Watch and do nothing.

I thought Jerusalem was bad, but this was much worse since there were children involved. The soldiers that came to ravage the city were holding no mercy to anyone, wanting to take it all for themselves. It pained me, seeing innocent blood on the ground and we couldn't do a thing to stop it. We couldn't stop this fighting, but I knew that night I had to help in any way I could.

Makkari, Thena, and I were walking the perimeter of the city as the rest of the Eternals were hidden in the forest, deep within the trees and out of sight. Kingo, Gilgamesh, and Ikaris were out on their own and finding the last Deviants out in the outer forests, leaving the rest of us together.

We were watching for any more Deviants that could be invoked in the town, but we couldn't find any at all. This was a war amongst humans, no deviant was seen. As we were circling the city, I was still seeing people die in front of my eyes. citizens who had nothing to do with the fight or conflict at hand and were simply trying to survive and live.

One particular woman was outrunning a soldier who was about to stab her while he was on a horse. I threw out a force field bubble, seeing it fly through the trees and knock the soldier off his horse. If I wasn't going to be able to do any bigger saving, I can do the smaller one. Out in the distance, I saw Makkari sped through to save a younger boy from a statue falling on top of him, just in the knick of time. Once she placed him safely on the ground, she sped over to me and stopped next to me.

We need to get out of here and get to the others She signed to me, having me nod and take her hand. She sped us away, within a second having me walking alongside Thena who was walking away from the ruined city too.

We met Ajak, Sprite, Sersi, Phastos, Druig, and Ajak in a clearing, stopping in front of her as she looked at the three of us.

"Where are the others?" She asked.

We had to separate Makkari signed back her.

"There were more Deviants than you said," Thena commented to Ajak.

"Well I'm sure that was a lot of fun for you," Phastos replied, watching as Thena smirked.

"It was," She said back to him instantly. We all walked over to see Phastos morph a cosmic global map in his hand, showing a bright green beacon where we were on the map.

"Once the others kill these last Deviants, we would have eliminated them all on the planet," Phastos said with a hum, almost sounding sure and positive that we were so close to being done. After he said it though, we heard gunshots going off a bit farther away from us in the forest. We all looked in that direction, seeing a mob of citizens trying to run into the forest but they were being gunned down by soldiers.

It was mostly those who couldn't fight, frail men and women too as they were trying to run as fast as they could. But we watched in silence as they were being gunned down with every shut that run in the air, having me almost feel nauseated as I saw see their silhouettes falling to the gourd amongst the leave. We were all watching, not being able to say or do anything.

Except for Druig.

He was standing the closest to them, started to make his eyes glow to at least stop them. Ajak immediately walked up behind him.

"Don't," She said, his yellow eyes going back to normal, "We don't interfere with their wars."

"This isn't war," Druig said gravely and with anger as he watched the scene in front of him, "It's genocide. Their weapons have become too deadly."

He turned on his heel and looked directly at Phastos, who was staring back at him while Druig spoke, "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea helping them advance, Phastos."

"Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig," Phastos reminded him cooly, staying calm but being level as well, "It's not exactly something I can stop."

"No, you can't, but I can!" Druig barked back at him, clearly getting angrier by the second since he knew he could do nothing. Makkari food in front of him, giving him a stern look.

Be Strong he reminded him, seeing him look from her over to me that was next to Thena. I nodded at him once too, showing that Makkari was right. We still had to be there for our mission, and although it was painful, we still needed to do what we needed to do.

"It's too late," I looked over to my side, seeing something was off with Thena. She was so still, too still for my liking as she spoke in a monotone.

"Thena?" Sersi asked her.

"Everyone is going to die," Thena spoke again, looking dead ahead. I looked and saw something flicker on her face, a golding flicker near her eyes and her forehead. It was quick and instant. Suddenly, her eyes went milky white.

"You okay?" Seri asked, clearly concerned too. Thena's spear appeared in her hand instantly, seeing her hold it in a death grip now. I saw her in that stance before, holding that spear in that stiff way before. Something was off, and it was about to be worse.

She threw her spear over her head, about to strike Sersi in front of her.

"Thena, no!" I yelled, seeing Makkari sprint over just in time to scoop Sersi away. Sersi's arm was sliced from the attack, but Makkari got far enough away before Thena's spear went down. The others stood back in shock, then they saw Thena attack Phastos and get him in the arm.

Phastos fell to the floor in pain as Thena went for a third strike. But Makkari was back again, grabbing her to get her away from the area. We all looked and saw Thena stab Makkari in her lower stomach, Makkari grunting in pain.

"Makkari!" I yelled in horror, watching as Thena's back was turned to her but I knew she was about to strike again. I teleported over, just in time to block the blow with one of my force fields. It rang the bubble I had over the both of us, shaking myself from the massive strike and I faltered a bit.

Once Thena raised her spear, she heard a noise to her left and she stabbed her spear in that direction, stabbing Ajak's hand. Ajak was calm, pushing the spear out of her hand then throwing her hands up like an arch. Her Cosmic energy was floating within her fingers, channeling it to Thena and looking at her sternly. Thena faltered then, somehow caught in the trance Ajak was conducting.

"Don't listen to your head, Thena," Ajak said to her calmly as she was walking towards her and placing her hands above Thena's eyes near her forehead. Thena was almost staggering then, her eyes going back to normal as the trance was clearly working in a way. While Ajak had Thena, I helped Makkari up on her feet, teleporting her back to the others. I watched the interaction with Ajak and Thena continue to play out.

"You are safe….you are loved…you are Thena," Ajak reminded her gently, the distant sounds of the gunfire still going on. One loud crack on a gunshot shook Thena out of her trance and her eyes were milky white again. She snapped and started sparring with Ajak, who was keeping up with her moves. They went on for a few more moments before Ajak took a devastating blow to the lower stomach. My stomach dropped, fearing that Ajak was permanently hurt and I had to stop her.

"Soteri, no!" Druig warned as I teleported without thinking twice to block another blow that Thena had against Ajak. Ajak stumbled back, having me look up at Thena jumping high to dive down and spear me. I threw up another field around me, but once Thena striating throwing blow after blow after blow against my shield, It was like I was taking massive hits to the stomach.

I was still alive, but every blow was knocking the wind out of my lungs. She kept hitting, having me grunt out and still try got press my field out and keep myself alive and I was getting slammed lower and lower to the ground. Thena was not giving up, having me scream out since I could feel the last of my energy about to run out and be vulnerable. My vision was going blurry and my energy was about to explode when finally, she stopped.

Gilgamesh came and got her away from me.

Now it was Thena and Gilgamesh sparring, having me stagger a bit on my feet and almost collapse from the massive assault I just took. My hands were shaking as I felt hands on my hands to hoist me up.

"You okay?" Kingo asked as he helped me on my feet. I nodded, gulping air as we watched the both of them spar. This was a whole new kind of fight, Gilgamesh blocked every blow with his comic arms and fists and was able to keep up with her moves. It took them a while, one taking a hit and the other taking a hit back in return.

All it took was Gilgamesh to slam his fist against Thena's head, knocking her out cold.

The sound was like a thunderclap, shaking the entire area as she was now unconscious on the floor. We all stood, shocked at what just happened and how it happened so fast. Even Gilgamesh looked over her body in remorse and in pain with what he had to do to stop her. I took another breath, still shaking from what just happened.

We were all shook.

We took Thena to one of the temples that were still standing, in the very corner of the city and we placed her on the massive offering slab in the middle of the room. Surrounded by all sides, we were still stunned and solemn from what we had just witnessed, not knowing what to do or any. As the destruction of the city continued behind and below us, Ajak told us Thena had the Mahd Wy'ry, something none of us ever expected. It was something we heard of in the past, a disease of the mind that was also dangerous if one had it.

"I thought Mahd Wy-ry was a myth," Sersi spoke out as Ajak went around to heal Phastos and Makkari. We all watched her work as Ikaris was circling her, keeping his eyes on her just in case. I stayed next to Druig, near the entrance of the temple as he was watching the whole thing himself. He stayed close by me, almost as if I was going to be hurt again.

"There is no cure," Phastos explained, "So no one really talks about it,"

Thena's eyes suddenly awoke, the rest of us taking a few steps back and watching in both worry and earnest as she woke up on the slab. When she did this, I felt Druig place a hand on my arm, almost pushing me behind him in case she was going to strike once more. I didn't know anything by it then, but I was still just as confused. She looked like her old self, angelic yet stoic at the same time.

"What happened?" She asked, clearly not remembering anything.

"Thena, you attacked everyone," Ajak explained to her, walking up to stand next to her and give her a stern look, "You wounded Sersi and Phastos. You near killed Makkari and Soteri,"

Thena sat up and looked around at all of us, the hurt was on her face from realizing what she has done. She even looked at me, having me give her a concerned look since I was afraid of what was happening to her. The past was in the past, but not in her eyes. Thena looked solely at Ajak.

"I don't remember," She confessed, sounding so wounded.

"You have Mahd Wy'ry," Ajak informed Thena, "Your mind is fracturing from the weight of your memories, and all I can do is erase your memories so you can start over. I would have to inform Arishem and take you back to the ship, we have the technology to help you,"

Erasing her memory? Was that possible for us to do? It was painful to hear, Thena needing to erase her memories just to be safe. I never heard that before, and to see the pained look on Thena's face, it sounded so permanent.

"What?" I asked, sounding shocked from the notion that we had to erase her mind, everything she has known up until this point. It sounded insane, and I was having a hard time believing it.

But she won't be Thena anymore! Makkari argued from her spot, looking hurt from the notion as well. Makkari was right, if Thena was going to start all over again, it was she would not be the same person we knew and grew to love.

"What if it happens again?" Kingo asked Makkari in worry, "She could have killed you! She could have killed all of us!"

"Please…please I want to remember," Thena begged Ajak in a broken tone. I saw the pain on her face, the pain of knowing that she brought harm to the group, and yet she had no way in controlling it, "I want to remember my life!"

"Thena, I love you," Ajak started telling her, placing her palm on Thena's chest over her heart. "But listen to me. It's not important if you remember or not. Your spirit will remain, you will always be Thena inside. Trust me,"

"Why should she trust you?"

We all looked from Thena and Ajak to Druig, who finally spoke after all of this here in the temple. I was right next to him, seeing him give a lowering glare to Ajak as he moved away from me and took a few steps over to where Ajak was.

"You're asking her to erase who she is," He said to her, his voice low and sounding hurt as he was glaring at her. I was watching in concern from my spot at the wall where he was with me. I saw it on his face, and I've seen it so many times before.

Druig was furious.

"Druig, I know you're upset—"

"UPSET!?" Druig screamed, taking another step to her and having his hate be seen on his face. Ikaris took a step over to him, looking at Druig with anger in his own eyes as Druig kept talking, "We trusted you for 7,000 years, and look where you've gotten us. I've watched humans destroy each other when I can stop it all in a heartbeat!"

I was watching in horror and sadness, seeing how Druig was now unleashing all he was feeling these years but never dared to tell any of them. He was exposing himself, the vulnerability and the anger he was harboring were festering together as he was giving Ajak both a deadly yet sad glare at the same time.

"Do you know what that does to someone after centuries?" he asked in a lower tone, almost bitterly to a saddening Ajak as he continued to now talk to everyone, "Could our mission been a mistake? Are we really helping these people build a better world, huh?"

He moved and looked out into the open at the destruction happening blow, having me watch with a broken heart as he was looking both angry and sad at the same time with the genoise that was happening right before his very eyes.

"We're just like the soldiers down there," he muttered, "Pawns to their leaders, blinded by loyalty." The way he said it was bringing us a crash reality. He was confessing to them how he truly felt, being an Eternal, and taking orders from a Celestrial that was nowhere near us. Going from place to place, seeing destruction happening around us but not being able to do anything. It was flooding within his heart, getting higher and higher as the years passed and the humans evolved. But now the flood broke, and he was finally unleashing it to us.

And I couldn't stop him.

"It ends now," he vowed softly, his eyes going yellow instantly. I moved forward to watch, seeing as each soldier's eyes were glowing and they were freezing from the carnage. It went from 2 to 6 to 20 to then all the soldiers, freezing and then dropping their weapons in a heap. I stood next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Druig, don't do this," I softly pleaded to him, "This isn't the way. We can figure this out, but not like this! Please Druig…listen to my voice—"

Ikaris came out of nowhere, grabbed my shoulder, and shoved me backward to the other pillar. It was thrown back against it so hard that I felt a shockwave of pain on my shoulder blade. I grunted in pain, though Ikaris then grabbed Druig's shoulder to shove him against the closest pillar. They glared at each other now.

"Let them go," Ikaris growled at him

"You're going to have to make me," Druig replied in just a cold manner. They glared at each other before Ajak finally walked over.

"Stop," She commanded. Ikaris, giving one last deadly stare to Druig, finally moved away from him slowly and walked off. Druig watched him leave before he set his eyes on me, seeing me cradle my arm from the assault. He looked at me dead in the eyes, almost silently telling me what he was choosing to do. I could see it already, noticing how his eyes were already set in stone. It made my stomach drop to the floor. He was about to leave….leave us all behind.

No, please no.

He looked at Ajak now, losing my stare with him as he took in a solid breath.

"You if wanna stop me, you're going to have to kill me," he said to her, waiting for some kind of reaction from her. I was waiting too, waiting for her to say something, anything, to have him stay. But she was silent, having me look at her in shock as he finally turned back around and was about to go down the steps when I finally spoke.

"Druig!" I called to him, seeing him pause looked over at me. I don't know why, but my heart was breaking, seeing that he was about to walk away from being with us. But to think of not having him with us, helping humans, was killing me on the inside.

The worst of all was the thought of him not being there with me in this life.

"Please," I begged him, feeling fresh tears on my face as we finally locked eyes with one another. I saw the pain there, the anger that made his eyes go dark with rage and un-forgiveness. But even with me pleading with him to stay, I knew he wasn't going to. I had to try, at least to show him I didn't want him to leave.

"I'm sorry, Soteri," He said to me, his voice so low and calm. It was all he said to me as he turned away from me and walked down the steps, having everything slow down in my vision. Every step he took was almost a stab in the heart. I watched in stunned silence, more tears were going down my face as he was moving farther and farther away from me. I wished I ran after him, I wish I tried to convince him to stay and find a way to make this all better.

But I was frozen, heartbroken as he walked out of sight with his soldiers right behind him.

Druig was gone. Gone and out of my life.

"I'll watch over Thena," I finally heard Gilgamesh behind me, "I'll help keep her memories,"

"One day when she attacks you, you might have to kill her," Ajak warned him.

"We'll take that chance," Gilgamesh replied. I was still watching the fires in front of me, silently crying as I was placing a hand over my mouth and he another hand on my chest to stop myself from screaming in sadness as I heard Ajak talk again.

"You may all go. The Deviants are gone, there is no reason for you to stay with me." I felt a hand on my arm, a gentle soft hand that I knew. The hand on my chest reached down to lace my fingers with her as I was still crying, leaning against the pillar to catch myself. She rested her head on my shoulder now, trying to soothe me.

Sweet, sweet Makkari.

"Shouldn't we ask Arishem?" Ikaris asked Ajak, "We're a team. We should stay together."

"I didn't ask you for your advice Ikaris," Ajak said back in return, "Do not forget your place."

I heard a pause from her as I felt Makkari hold our fingers tight together, feeling another wave of sadness hit me hard as I continued to cry out in the open.

"This is where we say goodbye," Ajak explained for all of us to hear, with no hesitation in her voice as she addressed us, "You are free to go, I want you to go out there and live a life for yourselves. Not as soldiers, not with the purpose you were given. Find your own purpose, and one day, when we see each other again, I want you to tell me what you've found."

I wish I could believe her, I wish I could be happy in being free from fighting Deviants and going out into the world. That was something I always wanted, something I yearned for in all of this. But now, it was a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. I couldn't see the good in this, all I saw was pain.

I lost a friend that night, and my heart shattered because of it.

Present Day

Amazon

Of all the places that we need back up, we ended back here to find Druig.

The Amazon was a lush place to see, the taller green tees and the very blue rivers were guiding us to the place where we could find him. I knew in the back of my mind I wasn't going to find Druig in the bustling city, or even in the suburbs. But the jungle? The closest town or village was about 200 miles away, so we were in the middle of nowhere.

Walking deep into the forest and finding a smaller path that was already made by feet, we scanned out the area to make sure we were safe from any kind of attack. But then, we stumbled into a small village, so small you wouldn't have been able to see it from the sky far above us. We walked in and looked around, taking in the site that we saw.

A rural village.

There were wooden shacks around the perimeter of the village, A large yellow building with steel doors on the other side of the village, a blacksmith shack, and what seemed to be a watering hole right in the middle of the area. Ladders were going up into the tall trees, connecting to bridges that were going across the areas about 50 feet up.

There were at least 50 people there, all of them were clothed in blue and white clothes, walking and talking amongst each other. They saw us approaching them, but they weren't showing any hostility towards us as we walked in. Actually, they were giving nods and smiles. I was seeing a small chicken coop, a pen with alpacas corralled inside, and a small farm out to the left. It was a community nonetheless, and from what I saw, they were thriving.

"It's very nice here, sir!" Karun commented to Kingo, walking with him with his camcorder in hand.

"Don't be fooled," Kingo wanted him now the camcorder was on him as they kept walking, "Ignorance is bliss,"

"Hello. We are looking for Druig. Is he here?" I heard Sprite said to one of the villagers in their native lamgueg as I stood right near the watering hole, looking down at the crystal blue water that was dancing underneath the trees.

"Yes. How do you know him?" The villager asked her before he turned away and went back to his work, having me look in their direction to see what Sprite was going to say. She thought about for a plait second before answering:

"He's a friend…from college," Sprite answered. As soon as she said that to him, he stood up straight and turned back around to stare at her. But now, his eyes were a bright yellow. All of the villagers stopped what they were doing and stared at us, having me look in worry and make a fist at my side in case something was about to happen. The others did too, thinking this was some kind of trap.

"Hello, Sprite," The man said to her, all of us looking from him over to where the massive yellow building was. The front doors opened slowly as we all gather in front of the building to watch. The villagers were still in their trance, watching from afar when one lone figure walked out from the building and over to us. He walked casually, hands in the pockets of a dark blue robe. I took in a solid breath, seeing a face that I was both excited and dreading to see.

Druig. Alive and in the flesh.

My stomach was turning from just seeing him there in front of us. I haven't seen or heard from him, not since he decided to leave us behind and go off on his own. I would replay that night over and over, wondering what I could have done to make him stay. Every scenario I went through was a dead end, but now I was seeing him again and it was downright confusing, Those feelings that I had before, I thought they were calloused over and no longer willing to be painful. But it was once again becoming raw.

He looked just the same, nothing ever changed on him at all since we last saw him. The rest of us might have changed here or there, but not Druig. He looked exactly the same as he did, stare and all. It was almost an out-of-body experience as he was having a stare-down with Ikaris. It was deafening, that tension they had with each other.

But then he looked over at me, seeing me behind Ikaris on his right side. We locked eyes, and I saw him staring right into me. Almost drinking all of me and trying to figure me out as I stared back at him. I stayed neutral with him, wanting to be happy to see him again if it was under different circumstances. But it wasn't the time, not with this reunion and what we know. My heart was too heavy with what we all know now about our existence for me to have a people reunion with him.

"I have missed you all," he said to the group, but he was still looking at me when he said it. It almost sounded personal when he said it like he was only saying it to me and no one else. Like we were alone out there in the clearing, no villagers or Eternals present. I wanted it to be that way, not having others around the both of us. But not now.

I didn't know when, but not yet.

"Please," Druig said, looking away from me and back to Ikaris, "Make yourself comfortable."