Ch 4

The Eternals reunited with Gilgamesh and Thena in Australia. Sersi used her sphere to talk to Arishem and she told Arishem about Ajak's death.

"Ajak was killed by a Deviant. We think it absorbed her power. And something unusual is happening to Earth."

"It is a side effect of the emergence."

"The emergence?"

"It is time for you to learn the true purpose of your mission. You were sent to Earth to bring forth the Celestial Tiamut. Every billion years, new Celestials must be born. I plant Celestial seeds into host planets across the universe. The planet Earth was chosen to host the Celestial Tiamut. In order to grow, Tiamut needs vast amounts of energy from intelligent life. The Deviants prevented this by consuming humans until the Eternals eliminated, the human population of this planet has reached the required amount. It is time for the emergence to begin."

Arishem showed Sersi an image of Tiamut emerging out of Earth and it exploded.

"But everyone on Earth will die." Sersi said.

"The end of one life, Sersi, is the beginning of another." Arishem replied.

"Our universe is a constant exchange of energy. An infinite cycle of creation and destruction. Celestials use energy gathered from host planets to create suns, generating gravity, heat, and light for new galaxies to form. Without us, our universe will fall into darkness. All life will die."

"Ajak knew the truth?"

"She has helped many Celestials to emerge over millions of years. So have you."

"Earth was my first mission. I was home, on Olympia."

"There is no Olympia."

Then Arishem showed Sersi what looked like a glowing tree trunk with branches.

"This is your true home, Sersi. The World Forge. It is here that I built and programmed the Eternals."

"Everything dies except us because we were never alive. Why don't I remember any of this?

"Because your memories are erased and reset after each emergence. They are stored here.

"Why do you keep them?"

"I keep them in order to study the Deviants. I created the Deviants, Sersi, for the same purpose I created you. Every Celestial host planet has its own predators. I first sent the Deviants to exterminate them so intelligent life could grow. But there was a flaw in their design. They evolved. Became predators themselves. And I lost control of them. I built and programmed you, Eternals, to be synthetic beings and incapable of evolution, to correct my mistake. Sersi, Ajak has chosen you to take her place as the Prime Eternal. Do not fail me."

Then Arishem disappeared.