Emris spent the rest of the day attempting to regain that sense of freedom she'd felt and channel it into her magic, enabling her to fly, but she hadn't been able to move even a centimeter off the ground since that first time. By the time she and Druig called it quits, the sun was already beginning its descent.

They walked back to the village in easy silence. Emris didn't feel the need to talk, and she was grateful Druig didn't try to force conversation, either. She was contemptuous with replaying that moment of flight time and time again in her head. As Druig had said, Emris hadn't even felt like she'd been using her magic. It wasn't like when she moved objects with her mind. That she could feel forcefully; it was something physical. The magic left her skin and wrapped around the object. But flight? It was the same thing as walking, almost. Second nature. A feeling.

And she would do whatever it took to capture that feeling again in order to truly fly.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

They had just crossed into the boundary line of the village, Druig at long last deciding to speak.

Emris glanced at him side-long and gave him a frown. "No."

Druig made to sling his arm around her shoulder, but she danced out of the way. Wagged a finger at him and said, "Uh huh. Don't even think about it. This right here?" She splayed her hands in the air around her, waving them up and down. "It's called personal space."

Druig's lips curled to one side. "Forgive me," he teased. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with my near proximity."

Emris made a long face and looked the length of his body up and down slowly, as though she were inspecting him. "You?" she questioned. "Make me uncomfortable?" Emris leaned towards him and her eye flickered the span of his face. "Never."

She spun back around before Druig could react and continued on her way, a slight skip in her step. She smiled to herself as Druig's faint chuckles met her back, and then eventually she had peeled so far ahead of him that she could no longer hear them.

Emris found the hut that housed her bed for her time here and entered it with a pleased smile fixated on her lips. 

Sprite looked up from her book when Emris entered. "Haven't seen you all day," she remarked.

Emris collapsed on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I was training with Druig."

Ermis couldn't see Sprite, but she felt the girl's surprise in abundance. "Did you just say training?" Sprite marveled, "with Druig?"

Emris turned her head to look at Sprite. "Is that - okay?" she asked slowly. Emris hadn't thought that Sprite would be angry with her spending time with Druig.

"That's not what I meant. It's hard for me to envision Druig helping anyone but himself," Sprite explained, her book forgotten beside her.

"What do you mean?" 

Sprite shrugged. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Though, I have noticed the liking he's taken to you, Emris." Sprite gave her a wary look, one that screamed caution. "Just be careful, alright?" The girl sighed and picked her book back up, her troubled eyes leaving Emris and finding the words on her page. "Druig is - unpredictable."

Emris turned away from Sprite and fixed her eye back on the ceiling. In all honesty, it wasn't Druig that she had to worry about. Druig she could handle; Emris felt as though she knew his mind like the inside of her own. They were alike, him and her, and if there was one thing Emris could do, it was unpredictable. What she couldn't do, though, were feelings. Affection, emotion - dare she even say, love - that Emris couldn't think about. Couldn't bare. Emris couldn't wrap her head around feelings of love. Perhaps it was because she had grown up beneath the experiments of a mad scientist, but she believed it stemmed to something even deeper. Something that her subconscious wouldn't let her reach, because it was far too traumatic.

But, really, Emris was more than fine with that. She didn't like thinking about the bad things of her past. In order to truly love someone, Emris had a feeling that she would have to confront her past - something she wasn't prepared to do. And that is why she had to stay away from Ikaris. That is why she had run from him.

Emris rolled over in bed and tucked her knees to her chest. Soon, they would set out for the Eternal's ship. Soon, she would have to face the Celestial. However, that wasn't what worried her. It was Ikaris that frightened her, because Emris had no idea how she was going to handle herself when she saw him. And that, that was something that not even she could be prepared for.

_______________________

Iraq

They arrived in Iraq the very next day.

As fate would have it, Sersi and Ikaris had done an immensely adept job at convincing Phastos to join their cause, and so Emris and the others had set out for the ship right away. Her training time with Druig had been cut short, but Druig told her not to worry about it. He said they would have plenty of time to go over how she'd be able to use her magic to quell the Celestial once they were at the ship, so Emris did her best to ignore her anxiety over it.

"So, where exactly is your ship?" Emris questioned.

The four Eternals, along with Emris and Kuran, were packed in the back of an old truck and had been driving through barren, desolate desert for quite some time.

It was Sprite that answered her. "Just wait," she grinned, her voice filled with secrecy. "You'll see soon enough."

Emris furrowed her brow, exasperated to be left in the dark, but remained quiet. Kingo and Kuran struck up a conversation between them, but they spoke in Hindi, so Emris wasn't sure what they said. Sprite had her eyes glued to that book, Thena sat silent in the upper corner of the truck, her eyes blank, and Druig - they hit a particularly lofty bump and Druig's legs brushed against her own. Emris glanced at him.

He was clad head to toe in black and donned a rugged leather jacket. They were clothes much different than the cotton robes she had only ever seen him in, but it suited him. It gave him a brazen edge, one that called for dominance, and Emris rather liked it. She couldn't see his eyes, hidden behind thick shades as they were, but he suddenly grinned, signaling that he had caught her staring.

Emris wrenched her face forward. She shifted on the bench they sat on, eager to be let free of the confining space. Thankfully, Sprite had been right, and the truck rolled to a stop not much later.

Emris was the first to jump out. She frowned down at her feet. Sand. She had jumped into a hefty layer of sand. Her toes wiggled in her shoes, brushing against sand, and Emris groaned at the fact that she had managed to get it in her shoes. The others piled out behind her and she watched with resentment as none of them seemed to experience the same problem as her.

As Kingo passed her, he gave her a light pat on the shoulder. "Centuries of experience," he remarked.

Emris sighed and made an attempt to dump some of the sand from her shoes, but gave up shortly after and had to jog to catch up to the others. She looked around the area, searching for a large, alien-like ship, and frowned when she saw next to nothing; only a few archeologists.

"Am I blind?" Emris asked Druig as she came up alongside him. "Because, I will admit, I am on the lacking side when it comes to vision, but I would think that I would at least be able to see a spaceship!" she exclaimed and gestured out to the empty desert.

Druig released a cackling chuckle. "Patience, darling Emris. Just watch."

Emris folded her arms across her chest and waited. Nothing happened.

And then, suddenly, all of the archeologist's eyes turned golden, and one by one they began to leave. Emris whipped her head to the side. Sure enough, Druig's eyes were golden as well; he was controlling them. Forcing them to leave. Once they had piled into cars and driven off, his eyes returned to normal.

"What did you do that for?" Emris asked, her voice on the harsh side. She still didn't condone taking away others' free will.

Druig nudged her with his arm and jutted his chin forward. His smile was wide enough for the both of them, his teeth glinting against the morning sun's brazen rays. "Look," he murmured, face ardent, and Emris slowly faced forward.

The serene chasm of sand was uprooted by a force beneath, falling away in combusting piles and pieces of rocky earth trickling down into a black abyss. And out from the rubble, emerging from beneath the earth, sand scattering away from God's breath, rose a ship.

Emris's mouth hung open.

It was vaster than anything she had seen before. Easily the width of thirty men and longer than the eye could see, the Eternals ship ascended into the sky as a force to be reckoned with. It was triangular in shape, with golden spirals of magic infused into the tangy green stone material of its body.

She felt Druig's eyes on her, but she couldn't look away. Emris was transfixed. She hadn't seen anything as majestic as the ship before her, and to think that it rose from the ground! If she hadn't known it before, she surely did now. The Eternals - and their technology - was unlike anything of earth.

An engine revving at long last managed to snap her out of her trance. Emris clamped her mouth shut and blinked. She made a face at Druig, who was staring at her smugly, and looked around for where the sound of a car had come from. She jerked back around immediately once she saw who stepped out from the car.

Ignore, ignore, ignore. That was her best course of action. Ignore, and it would cease to exist.

Emris cleared her throat. "How is this possible?" she asked Druig, deciding a conversation with him would keep her from trying to look at him.

"Phastos is an engineering genius," Druig said easily. "He can create nearly anything out of raw energy. And besides," he flashed her a smirk, "we're Eternals. Anything is possible."

"Phastos!" Kingo suddenly cried. He pushed past Emris and Druig, arms raised in greeting.

Emris turned around and watched as Kingo attempted to embrace Phastos. Emris stared at this new Eternal curiously. He had on a delicate pair of glasses and he sported a full face of facial hair. He sidestepped Kingo's hug, and she found Kingo's offended expression rather funny. But then she made the mistake of looking past Phastos, and her eye fell on Ikaris. Her smile immediately disappeared.

They locked eyes, just for a moment, and Emris looked away abruptly, swallowing her embarrassment. She shuffled a hair closer to Druig.

"Druig!" Sersi exclaimed as she approached the two of them. "You changed your mind?"

"Something like that," he mused and exchanged a look with Emris. She fought to keep the knowing smile from her face.

A figure came up beside Sersi. Emris looked everywhere but him.

"Ikaris," Druig drawled, deigning to speak first. "Didn't get lost on the way here, I see."

She could feel his eyes still on her, scorching a hole into her skin.

"Sorry to disappoint," Ikaris voiced at last. He sounded bored.

Emris couldn't help but glance at him, the sound of his voice beckoning her like a moth to flame. His eyes were on her. Her brow creased as she held his stare, the memory of his hand on her neck, his lips on her own, flashing through her mind. His eyes were large; he was trying to tell her something, but Emris didn't understand. Or, maybe she just didn't want to.

She frowned and resorted to staring at her shoes. She was reminded of the sand that still clung to her feet and her frown deepened. Emris much preferred the jungle.

"Shall we go up?" Phastos called out to their group.

Emris hadn't properly met the man, but she figured the pleasantries could wait until later. Right now they had more important matters to attend to. Emris fell into step behind Druig, Sersi right behind her. Ikaris was somewhere near the back, thank heavens. Emris was frightened that he was going to try and talk to her, and she was much too frazzled to even think about managing a conversation with him.

They ascended to the ship in an act of grand technological mastery. Emris's first step upon it left her awestruck. She followed the others down a dimly lit corridor. Naturally, Kingo took the opportunity to narrate as they walked.

"A foreboding atmosphere fills the air," his voice whispered. He was at the very front, which made it hard for Emris to hear him, but she strained to listen nonetheless. "An eerie stillness chokes our lungs..." he continued dramatically.

She believed it was Phastos who interrupted him. "What are you doing?" His tone was biting. "You're creeping us out, you do know that, right?"

Emris felt herself nod in agreement, though it was much too dark for anyone to see. All of a sudden Phastos let out a scream. Emris halted, nervous, and tried to see what was going on up ahead, when a hand latched around her wrist. She attempted to cry out for help, but another hand came up and closed around her lips, muffling the noises she made.

Emris was yanked back into darkness and shoved into a side corridor. She pushed out at the figure rendering her confined and was about to call upon her magic when they finally released her.

"God, you kick hard," Ikaris muttered and she was able to faintly make out that he was rubbing at his shin.

Emris fumed where she stood. "What's the matter with you! I was about to kill you," she seethed.

Ikaris made an amused noise and he straightened. "Right. Sure you were."

Emris could have smacked him, but she restrained herself. "What do you want, anyway? This couldn't have waited until later? I mean, kidnapping me, really?"

Ikaris's eyes were the only brightness in the dark corridor they stood in. "Nice to know you haven't lost your touch for dramatics. How do you expect me to talk to you when you won't even look at me?"

Her fingers splayed across the wall and she struggled to maintain her composure. "I don't know what you're talking about," Emris sniffed, feigning indifference.

Ikaris's eyes narrowed. "We need to talk about what happened. Why did -"

Emris pushed off the wall and stepped around Ikaris. "Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about," she said in a hurry and began to walk back to where the others had disappeared. She felt Ikaris right at her back.

His exasperation was palapable in the tone of his voice. "You know that's not true, Emris. If you would just stop walking," Ikaris grunted, yanking her to a harsh stop, "and talk to me, we could -"

"Don't you get it, Ikaris?" Emris hissed. Her face was screwed in irritation. "I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to see you, for that matter." As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. Ikaris's face closed off and remorse seeped through her, but then she remembered that this is what she had wanted. It would be easier to stall whatever she felt for him if he hated her.

Resolve overtook her. "Let me go, Ikaris." Emris couldn't look at his face.

Ikaris's fingers, temperate and secure around her wrist, steadily slipped away. His arm fell limp at his side. Emris waited for a moment, waited to see if he would say something, but when he remained silent, her lips thinned and she turned away, leaving him to stand alone in the darkness.

She didn't look back.

_______________________

"Emris, where did you disappear off to?"

She had found and rejoined the others in a large room near the middle of the ship. It was filled to the brim with ancient looking books and artifacts, promising hundreds of tales of old battles and forgotten empires.

Emris smiled at Sersi. "Just got a little lost. Your ship is very big," she admitted. That much was true.

Sersi laughed and directed Emris forward. "Oh, just wait. You haven't seen anything yet."

She led Emris to the others. They were gathered around Phastos, who was crafting some sort of object out of golden energy. Emris stared at it, entranced.

"Emris," Sersi began, recapturing her attention, "this is Phastos. The two of you haven't properly met."

Emris blinked at the man, suddenly shy. "Hello," she managed. "I'm Emris."

Phastos stared at her for a moment, then nodded and turned back to his work. Emris glanced at Sersi.

"Don't worry, he's like that with everyone," the older woman whispered. Sersi straightened and turned Emris to the side. "And this is Makkari. The last Eternal."

Emris laid her eye upon her. She was beautiful. Her hair was pulled back into braids and her face held something so delicate, so pure and genuine in it, that Emris took an instant liking to her. Emris smiled in greeting. "Hello, Makkari."

The Eternal flashed her teeth in a welcoming smile and moved her fingers in some sort of pattern.

"Makkari says hello and that she likes your hair," Sersi translated for her.

Realization struck Emris. "Is she - "

Sersi nodded. "Yes, Makkari is deaf. She can read lips perfectly well, though."

Emris gaped at Makkari in astonishment. "That's extraordinary," she commended. "What are your powers?" Emris was eager to know.

Makkari grinned and winked at Emris. And then she disappeared, pieces of paper spurred into the air in the space she just been in moments ago. Emris turned left and right in search of her, bewildered. There was a tap on her shoulder. Emris spun around and came face to face with Makkari. She was taller than the Eternal by nearly a full head.

"What - how did you - ?" Emris breathed, dumbstruck.

Makkari's hands moved once more and Emris stared at them, wishing she could understand.

"She has super speed," Sersi clarified for her.

Emris gave a short laugh. "That's amazing!"

Makkari gave a slight bow, her lips curved in amusement, and Emris couldn't help but applaud her. She was in a room surrounded by Eternals who could achieve the extraordinary. Kingo, with his energy blasters, Thena and her uncanny ability to conjure weapons, Makkari and her speed, Sersi, able to control the molecular structure of objects and contort them to whatever she wished, Phastos and his technological advancement, Druig, with his mind control, Sprite and her illusions, and Ikaris; flight and cosmic energy laser eyes. Any one of them could lay ruin to Emris within a heartbeat.

What could she do? Hover an inch above the ground? No, she couldn't even count that, as she hadn't been able to do it since that first time. Emris could move things with her mind and see others' memories, but that was it. Secretly, Emris knew that she was capable of so much more. She knew that the mind stone in her body was capable of magic far greater than anything she knew, but Emris couldn't access it. It was a foreign thought to her, constantly out of reach, never able to fully awaken. Emris despised that truth, especially as she stood gathered in this room with others who possessed so much more power than her, but there was nothing she could do.

Even Druig, who knew so much, would never be able to truly help her. Emris wasn't sure who she was. Her mind wandered away from the present around her and back to that place of darkness. Arishem had spoken as though he'd known her. Known who she was - what she was. And Violetta, a fairy, for god's sake, had even acted as though she'd known Emris. Still, Emris wasn't sure if any of that had been real. But, she did know one thing; the Eternals, even Sersi, and Druig and Ikaris, they couldn't ever understand her and her magic, not truly. They couldn't fathom what it was like to draw power from an infinity stone. Not that it was any of their fault, but at least when she had been with Strucker he had offered her some inkling on how to reach her full potential. If Emris wanted to stop the Celestial, if she wished to tap into her full, unstrained power, then one thing was certain. She couldn't do it alone. 

She needed to talk to Arishem.