Note:

As this story is drawing to a close, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read it and sticking with me until the end. You have all been dearly appreciated <3

Only a couple chapters of Until Eternity left!!

Prepare yourselves...

Iraq

Emris

"Here's a little Celestial 101," Phastos began. "Celestials are the most powerful energy generators in the universe. When Arishem made us, he infused us with infinite cosmic energy to keep our bodies regenerating." Phastos had developed a set of bracelets for the Eternals, and now he explained how they were going to use them to put the Celestial to sleep. "The bracelets, in theory, should shut down our regeneration process. And, once that happens, our bodies will accumulate extra cosmic energy."

Emris tuned him out. Her eye fell on Sersi and she took a deep breath before crossing over to her. Sersi's attention was clearly fixed on Phastos, but this was more important. Emris tugged on her jacket sleeve. "Sersi," she whispered.

Sersi glanced at her from the corner of her eye. Whispering back, she asked, "What?"

Emris snuck a quick look around the room, seeing if any of the others were paying attention to her, but they were all listening to Phastos. "Can we talk? I need your help with something."

Sersi looked at her fully now. "Is everything alright?" Her brows raised in concern, but Emris hurriedly put her at ease.

"It's nothing like that, everything is fine, I just really need to talk to you." Emris knew this conversation was long overdue, so she refused to let even another moment pass. She needed to figure out if what she'd experienced with Arishem and Violetta was real or not.

Sersi must have seen the desperation on her face, for she nodded and led Emris out from the room. Emris breathed a sigh of relief once they were out and secured, just the two of them, in a separate room. She wasted no time in explaining.

"I need you to help me get in contact with Arishem," Emris said in a rush. She pressed her lips together as she waited for Sersi's reaction, nervous that she'd think Emris a lunatic.

Sersi kept her face carefully blank. "Arishem? Why?"

Here came the hard part. "Do you remember how I was unconscious for a few days after the deviant attacked me and you thought I was going to die?"

Sersi gave her an odd look. "Yes, I do remember that, but, Emris, I don't see how this -"

"I think I did die," she blurted out, teeth clenched as she winced. "At least, a part of me did. I was on the way to the afterlife, Sersi, but something stopped me from crossing over."

She had Sersi's utmost attention. Her eyes were spread wide as she took in what Emris was saying. "What do you mean something stopped you?" Sersi's voice was incredulous.

Emris chewed on her lip, contemplating how best to divulge the information. She settled on just spitting it out. "Not something. Someone." She straightened and took a calming breath. "Arishem. He trapped me in the Ender Terrain, the space between life and death, because he needed to communicate with me."

For a moment, Emris thought that Sersi didn't believe her. The Eternal remained silent for quite some time, perhaps soaking in what Emris had told her, and Emris grew restless.

"You spoke to Arishem?" Sersi said slowly.

Emris nodded. "Yes. He told me that he'd been waiting for me for a long time, Sersi. But, I'm human. I'm not like you, so why would he say that?" She was desperate for some sort of answer, frantic for clarity, ravenous for the truth. Emris needed Sersi to offer her that.

Sersi expression shifted. "Emris, I need you to tell me exactly what happened while you were in the Ender Terrain." She looked at Emris with grave seriousness and just a lick of fright. "Everything, you understand? Do not leave out a single detail."

And so Emris told her the story.

When she finished, Emris found that her knees trembled. She painstakingly waited for Sersi to respond, racking through every possible response the Eternal could give and deciding which would be the best and worst news to receive. When Sersi eventually spoke, it wasn't a reply Emris had been expecting.

"You're right," she said simply. Her eyes roamed across Emris's face, her brow furrowed into an tense looking frown. "You need to talk to Arishem."

Emris's eye widened. "Really? So, you believe me? You don't think this was all some sort of hallucination?"

Sersi gave a quick shake of her head. "Oh, no, this was most certainly real. And besides," she smiled slightly, "it sounds just like something Arishem would do."

Before a thought could cross into Emris's mind, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Sersi. "Thank you, Sersi, thank you for believing me and not making me think myself a fool," she whispered into her shoulder.

Sersi gently stroked her hair, reminding Emris of the mother that was taken from her, and she hugged Sersi tighter. She pulled back and Sersi offered her a comforting smile.

"You can help me contact him?" Emris asked, breaking the silence.

Sersi sighed and rubbed her neck. "I'm not sure. I think I might know a way, but there's no way of knowing if it will work or not."

Emris was sure it would work. It had to. "It doesn't matter," she affirmed, nodding to further convince herself. "Trying is better than doing nothing. Arishem knows something about me - about my magic - and I need to figure out what that is. I need him to tell me how I can access it so that I can help stop the Celestial." She took a step back from Sersi. "We don't have much time. If we're going to try this, we need to do it now."

Sersi surveyed her seriously, then she returned Emris's nod. "Alright. Prepare yourself." Sersi's eyes fluttered shut and her skin seeped a golden hue. Her head tilted back, her lips parting, and all the while Emris watched, unsure where this was going.

And that's when a sphere glided out from within Sersi's skin, the tiny ball golden in color and spewing a bright light. It began to spin in the air, controlled by some unknown force, and Emris's eye widened. Her knees quaked and she took a hesitant step backward. The orb spun faster. The light increased tenfold. Emris had to squint against the vivid glare and Sersi's form became just a fuzzy white outline. Emris held a hand up to her face, desperately trying to make out what was happening. She caught a final glimpse of the orb; it was hurtling toward her. Emris's heart stopped and her mouth froze in a wide o as the sphere embedded itself in her chest.

All went dark.

_______________________

South Dakota - 2 weeks earlier

Ikaris

"How long do we have?" Ikaris asked her.

He had come to South Dakota for no simple matter. He did not come hoping to hear good news; Ikaris came knowing that he was going to at long last fulfill his destiny. The Emergence would soon be upon them. He didn't have to enjoy it, or be happy about it, but he was ready for it to at long last come to pass. He had suffered long and alone bearing the burden of the truth.

No more. His time for a new life was coming; new memories, a new world, new deviants to fight. He ached for that normalcy the Eternals once had, back when they fought deviants like a breeze and helped the people of earth build their cities and nations. That had been freedom. That had been peace. Ikaris craved for the simplicity of life he'd once had. He ached to be freed from the suffocating weight of knowledge. And, with the Emergence soon to come to pass, he would get exactly that.

Ajak rocked smoothly in her chair, her dark hair strewn about her face and shoulders. When she answered him, her voice was soft. "Two weeks."

Ikaris looked at his hands. The cold hadn't yet reached his fingertips. "Good," was his reply. And he meant it. "We completed our mission." He offered Ajak a short smile, the first of what would soon be many, and began to picture himself living a new life on a new planet. Ikaris wondered what the stars would look like from his soon to be home. He imagined they'd be just as beautiful as earth's.

"Ikaris..." Ajak murmured.

He looked at her and his smile vanished. He didn't like the look on her face. He didn't want her to finish whatever she was going to say.

"We have to tell the others the truth," she finished.

Too late.

"What?" He half laughed as he asked the question, not believing Ajak. "Why?" He would indulge Ajak, whatever this was, and perhaps they could laugh about it later when they looked back, remembering the moment of hesitation she'd had.

Still, that look in her eyes - Ikaris began to fear the worst.

And, sure enough, Ajak said something he never could have imagined he would hear. She said, her voice thick with raw assurance,

"Because, together, we might be able to stop the emergence."

Ikaris stilled. A cold feeling began to seep into him and he glanced at his fingers. They were turning white; the cold had at long last reached them. "Stop the Emergence?" Ikaris scorned, his eyes unable to turn away from his fingers. His voice raised an octave. "Ajak, I know it's hard at the end - " he tried to reason, his panic growing, but Ajak cut him off.

"Listen, Ikaris."  

He fell silent. This was the voice of the Eternal he remembered. This was the voice of his leader.

"I have followed Arishem for millions of years, and I have never doubted him," she reprimanded. She paused. Ikaris pulled his gaze away from his fingertips and gazed at her. "Until now," Ajak finished.

The panic reached out to him with a set of terrifying claws. They latched him around the throat. Constrained him. Overtook him. "Why now?" The anger in his voice was palpable. "Why now!" Ikaris demanded, desperate. His eyes searched her face frantically, in need of knowing her reasoning. What could possibly be worth more than starting over?

Ajak stood. Folded her hands together and turned her back to Ikaris. She leaned up against a post and Ikaris stared forcefully into the back of her head, willing her to answer him.

"Five years ago, Thanos erased half of the population of the universe." Ajak's voice was soft again. "It delayed the Emergence. But the people of this planet..." she trailed off and gave a quiet laugh, as though she was recalling a memory. "The people of this planet brought everyone back with a snap of a finger." Her voice was laced with something like awe.

Ajak faced Ikaris. "You know, after I let you all go, I traveled the world living among them. I have seen them fight, and lie, and kill, but I have also seen them laugh and love." Her gaze turned distant as Ikaris listened to her. "I've seen them create, and, and dream."

Something unfurled in his chest as he watched Ajak. Her face was fixed in pure emotion and he could physically feel her conviction. But, did he not deserve to dream, too? Did Ikaris not also deserve love?

"This planet, and these people," Ajak finished, "have changed me. The cost of Arishem's design is not worth it." She was pleading with Ikaris now. "Not this time." 

Ajak was his leader. Ikaris had followed her, without cease, until the very end. She was a sister to him. She was his family. But, it was also because of her that Ikaris had to live a life of solitude. It was Ajak that had chosen to inform him of their true purpose on earth; it was Ajak's fault that he'd had to push everyone away and suffer alone. And now, now he was so close to achieving what they had set out to do. Ikaris was on the brink of tasting freedom, that unlike anything he had even known before, and Ajak was trying to take that from him.

He stared once more at his hands. He could no longer feel his fingers. His face was carefully blank and he kept his voice devoid of emotion. "I trust you, Ajak." He looked up at her, willing her to see the truth of his words even though he did not believe them himself. "I will follow you to the end, as I always have."

Ajak broke out into a grievous smile. "Thank you," she cried. "We have to bring the others together." 

Ikaris looked away. He couldn't bear seeing her look at him like that for a second longer, not when he knew the truth. Ikaris struggled to say what he knew had to come next. He forced himself to think about the new life that was waiting for him. Forced himself to remember the stars, and how on the next planet they would look even more exquisite. He thought about his missed opportunity of love. How there was no one on earth who would ever be able to love him for who he was. And that was enough to give Ikaris the strength he needed.

"There's something I need to show you first," he said.      

_______________________

Emris

Out of the darkness, something appeared.

Arishem.

Emris was whisked into a foreign place, one of lava and rock, and like before, just as all encompassing and domineering as she remembered, was the Celestial Arishem, The Judge, harbinger of judgment. The Eternal's creator. The being who knew Emris like no other did. And she was going to finger out why that was.

"Nae'wve," Arishem rumbled, his voice like erupting volcanoes, echoing out through the space she was in and rattling her bones.

Emris's heart was a troubled thing, beating erratically and disrupting her sense of rational thought. She became small and weak in the presence of this mighty Celestial, something she couldn't afford to be. Emris berated herself. 

Do what you came here to do, she commanded, forcing her mind to dig deep for the strength needed to confront Arishem. She found her voice, hidden in the crevices of her being, at long last, and resolve struck her. "Arishem," she breathed out, the fear in her voice only thinly masked. Still, it was better than nothing. "I need to speak to you. That is why I am here."

Arishem titled a beat forward, sending a tidal wave of scorching heat at her face. Emris refrained from shielding her eye and suffered the full brunt of his radiance. 

"I commend you on your success in escaping the Ender Terrain, daughter of the Fallen. There are not many who possess such strength as you."

Emris hung on Arishem's every word, her brain analyzing them for any hidden messages or encrypted words. She was only a minuscule, a mere particle to Arishem, just another human sprinkled in the lot of others - a hindrance, really, and yet here Emris was, floating before the Prime Celestial, and being congratulated. She couldn't stand it.   

"Tell me how to use my magic!" Emris cried. Really, she was a fool for thinking she could demand answers out of a Celestial, but time was running out and Emris was desperate. "You know the truth about me - about the infinity stone. Tell me how to wield it!" Her voice was painstakingly high.

Arishem seemed to laugh at her. Low rumbles shook Emris, which she took as laughter, and her fury blazed. "You are right, Nae'wve, I do know you. But, I cannot give you what you want."

He mocked her. Toyed with her. Emris was a puppet confined to strings, and Arishem was her master. "Please, Arishem! Please, can you not offer me even a scrap of guidance? I beg you, I need to understand!" Emris had never begged before. She despised it.

"Emris Kalianne, I shall not tell you the truth. It is not yet time," Arishem boomed, the rock of his face shifting and grating against particles. "We will meet again when you are ready."  

Panic seized her. "No! Arishem, please!" Emris wasn't sure what else she could say. Did Arishem know what she wished to do with her magic? Did he know that she wished to kill a Celestial with it? Is that why he was adamant on keeping her in the dark? If so, then Emris was pleading for a lost cause. "I just - I just want to understand - " her voice was a gasping wheeze. She couldn't cry, not here, not before a Celestial. But, she couldn't help it.

Emris was lost. She felt impossibly alone. If she couldn't even master her own magic, if she couldn't help the Eternals stop the Celestial, then she was nothing. She was a disgrace. So often Emris had been told that she was the chosen one, as though that were some great thing to be. So often Von Strucker had whispered in her ear, as his machines ripped her flesh to pieces, that she was destined for great things. Even her own mother had said she was special.

None of it was true.  

Emris would never escape the cloud of darkness that shrouded her mind. How could she ever accomplish great things when she didn't understand who she was? Or what she was? Was she the product of a somehow victorious experiment? Was she the daughter of a murdered mother and a murdered father? Was Emris the chosen one? Was she something more, something greater, something powerful? Or was she just a mistake?

Because, as she felt herself slowly break to pieces before Arishem, losing all sense of hope, she couldn't help but feel as though everything that had happened to her, everything she'd been through in the past ten years, had all been one colossus failure. Arishem knew it. Her parents had known it. Von Strucker, too, had surely suspected it.

And as Arishem dissipated from view, as Emris was slowly sucked away, back to reality, back to somewhere she didn't even belong, she was struck with a realization.

Emris Kalianne was nothing.

_______________________

Alaska - 2 weeks earlier

Ikaris

The cold here was much more potent than in South Dakota. It was the kind of cold that would seep into a man's skin at the first given opportunity; it'd latch onto him, but not just surface level. No, this was the kind of cold that feasted on a man's bones, nibbling away and away until they snapped, rendered useless. This was the blistering cold of long ago spoken, but never forgotten, lies.

Ikaris was bundled in two more layers than before. He wore gloves over his hands now, but that didn't shake the cold from them. As he led Ajak through the forest, he began to worry that his bones had already been claimed. He approached the edge of a cliff, pushing thoughts of his bones crumbling out of his mind. Right now, he had more important things to fret about.

"It's just up ahead," he called out to Ajak. He could see his breath when he spoke and he shivered.

She gave him a quizzical look and moved in front of him, walking to the very lip of the cliff.

For a moment, Ikaris forgot about Ajak. For a moment, he allowed himself to gaze at the haunting beauty of the sky laid out before them like a perfectly painted canvas. Mountains towered in the distance, their snow capped peaks stark white against the purple and pink hues of the sky. It was an enchanting sight, truly, and Ikaris allowed himself to remorse, just for a moment, over its near future loss. But then he blinked from his trance and focused back in on Ajak. He had always preferred the stars, anyhow.      

Ajak leaned her head over the cliff. Ikaris could hear their vile growls even from up here. "They must have been trapped in the ice for centuries," he explained, taking a step closer, "and broke free last week when the glaciers started to melt." They watched as one wolf-like deviant dug into a corpse. "They killed an entire company of oil workers," Ikaris continued, his voice frighteningly soft. "I tracked them here.

Ajak slowly turned around. Her face was contorted in woe. Ikaris had prepared himself, though, and the way she looked at him bothered him no more. "I suspected you might have changed your mind." Ikaris's fingers tightened inside of his gloves. He offered Ajak a smile of grim acceptance. "I can't let you betray Arishem."

Ajak's voice was raw with emotion. "Why don't you just kill me yourself?" She must have understood what he meant to do.

From the moment Ikaris had discovered she meant to go against Arishem, he had been planning. His hope for a better world was what gave him the courage to do what was needed. "When the others realize something is happening to the earth, they'll come to you. When they find your body, they'll know the deviants are back, and that will keep them busy until the Emergence."

Ikaris shook his head and moved forward. His heart burned with Ajak's betrayal. It was her fault. She had done this to him. "I've been loyal to you, Ajak. Kept your secrets for centuries," he admonished, rationalizing this course of action as much to himself as to her. "I had to lie to everyone I cared about! But never," Ikaris rasped harshly, "have I doubted my purpose to serve the Celestials."

He stood only a beat from Ajak now, their breaths mingling together one final time.

A tear slipped from Ajak's eye. "Oh, Ikaris..." she breathed regretfully. Her hands found his face, something in her eyes breaking, and she leaned her head against his chest in a comforting embrace.

Ikaris allowed her to do it, for he had a feeling this would be the last time he'd ever receive such comfort again. 

"I have led you down the wrong path," Ajak whispered into his jacket, her hands gliding up and down his arms.

Some of the cold fled at her touch and Ikaris frowned. Remember the mission. Remember your purpose.  "It's the only path I know," he said finally.

And then he pushed Ajak off the cliff.

_______________________

Emris

Emris heaved for air. She felt arms around her, strong and secure, and when she regained her vision, she saw that Sersi held her. Emris struggled to get her feet under her. Once she managed to right herself, she managed a weak nod at Sersi and the Eternal released her. Emirs folded her arms over herself. She felt numb inside.

Weak. 

"What happened?" were the first words out of Sersi's mouth.

Emris lifted her eye and looked at her, despondent. She couldn't manage words, so she settled on just shaking her head. Sersi wrapped her in a hug at once. Emris felt as though she could cry, but she wouldn't allow herself to. She didn't want Sersi to see that.

After a long moment Emris pulled away. She swallowed. She didn't wish to recount all that had happened with Arishem, but there was one question that Emris wanted to ask her. "Sersi, do the Eternals have their own language?"

Sersi gave her a quizzical look. "Yes, actually. It was taught to us by the Celestials. How did you know that?"

Emris's heart thundered in her ears. Part of her was too frightened to ask the question, but she knew she needed to. Perhaps it would offer her some kind of truth. "Do you know what -"

She was cut short by a scream and the sound of something shattering. She and Sersi exchanged baffled looks and then rushed from the room and out to where Phastos and the others had been. Emris careened to a dead stop when she saw the scene before her.

There was Ikaris, standing in the middle, clothed head to toe in a commanding blue suit, the color perfectly matching his eyes. And there was Phastos, scrambling for the broken pieces of his bracelets, and the others who watched on horrified. Emris understood, now. Ikaris had just destroyed Phastos invention that was going to help Druig put the Celestial to sleep.

What was going on?

It was as though Ikaris heard her question. To the others, he said, "I've let this go on long enough. Ajak told me everything when we left Babylon."

Emris was stunned. Ikaris had known the truth of the Emergence all along? He had known the reality of the Eternals' creation this whole time? His hidden knowledge didn't affect Emris, not like it did Sersi and the others, but that didn't stop her from feeling a sense of betrayal. He had lied to her just as much as them, when all this time Emris had thought that he cared for her. It seemed as though she'd just been another pawn in his game.

"You were never going to let us stop the Emergence," Phastos breathed, understanding striking them all now.

Ikaris didn't hesitate. "No. I only wanted to protect you from the deviants."

"If Ajak wanted you to take her place," Sersi seethed, "why did she choose me!?"

Emris had never heard her so stricken and angry before. She watched as Ikaris and Sersi stared at each other. And that's when Emris saw it in his eyes. A beat later, Sersi saw it, too. "What have you done?" she uttered, horrified.

Druig answered for him. "He killed her."

Emris made an anguished noise. Ikaris's gaze shot to her and his eyes widened, as though he hadn't realized she was there, and something in his face flickered. "I had to." His voice was filled with guilt, even Emris could hear that, but it made no difference. He had murdered Ajak.

So many gone. Her parents. Gilgamesh. Ajak. And now the entire human population, too, because of what Ikaris had done. Emris couldn't look at him. She turned away, disgusted.

"She loved you," Sersi said with anguish. A cry escaped her lips and Emris reached out for her hand, hoping to lend her a little strength.

"Do you think it was easy to live with the truth? To know that one day all this would end?" He gazed around the room, something in his eyes carving a hole into Emris's heart. "To keep lying to you all?" He shook his head. "If we gave humanity the choice, how many of them would be willing to die so that billions could be born?"

Emris heard Ikaris's rational explanation for what it was. She could understand wishing the Emergence to come through from an Eternal's point of view, but Emris wasn't an Eternal. And she could never, ever justify the means behind which Ikaris did what he did. There was no excuse to murder.

Just then, Emris's hair lifted as something whizzed past her. Makkari. She slowed to a stop beside Emris, her expression confused, and Emris watched, horrified, as Ikaris's eyes turned golden. She wasn't quick enough to stop it.

Thankfully, Kingo was, and he jumped in front of Makkari at the last possible second, taking the brute of Ikaris's blast to his chest.

"Get out of here!" Emris cried out to the speedster, desperate not to see more blood shed.

Makkari didn't question her, and she disappeared before Emris could even blink. 

"Kingo," Ikaris drawled slowly, approaching the other man.

Emris watched as Kingo conjured a golden ball of energy. She felt as though Ikaris's betrayal had struck him the hardest. "You do not turn against your family," Kingo said, his voice serious for possibly the first time ever. There was conviction in his eyes, and he slowly lifted his hand and pointed it at Ikaris. "Gilgamesh died because of you."

Emris clenched her eye shut, refusing to accept that, even though she knew it was true. His death was still too painful, too raw for her to think about, but Kingo was right. Ikaris had been the cause of all of their suffering.

"You won't succeed against me," Ikaris pronounced. He looked at them each in turn, though his gaze skipped over Emris. "I will kill each one of you if I have to."

There. That was it. The final strings of her heart shattered, once and for all. She had done her best to push Ikaris away. Emris hadn't wanted him near her heart for this precise reason. Even though she had told him that she didn't wish to see him earlier that day, it had been a lie. Of course she'd lied. The feeling she couldn't understand had been festering in her chest since that first time he had shown her the stars, but Emris had been too concerned with figuring who she was to understand what it was. But now, faced with Ikaris's shocking betrayal and his uttered words of promised death if she were to stand against him, Emris at long last realized what that feeling was. Perhaps not pure, unconditional love, but something close. Something far closer to love than anything she'd felt before.

But now, it didn't matter. Ikaris hadn't killed her, but he did kill something. She was afraid to look inside her chest, for she knew that whatever state she'd find her heart in would be too painful to bear. Emris didn't mean for it, but a broken noise escaped her. A tear trickled down her cheek, scorching her skin like fire.

Ikaris looked at her. She struggled to breathe. His voice was inside her mind, pleading, begging her to understand.

Emris...

She couldn't stomach it. She looked away, her lip trembling fiercely and her eye clouding over. This, this was why Emris hated love. It was a cruel, wicked thing, and she had Ikaris to thank for showing her that fact once more.

She heard him turn. He began to walk away. Just like the others, Emris couldn't bring herself to stop him. She would let him walk free, for now. That would be the final act of mercy she'd show him.

"Wait!"

Emris's head shot up. She stared at Sprite. The girl's features were encased in stone. Emris gave a slight shake of her head, fearing the worst. Please, Sprite, she willed, don't do it.

Sprite, ever the rebel, didn't listen to her. "I'm going with you," she said.

Emris was stricken. Sprite began to walk toward Ikaris.

"Sprite!" Emris choked, unable to help herself. Ikaris walking away - that she could handle. But Sprite? Her closest friend, her sister, the one person who looked at Emris as though she was something more? Emris couldn't allow her to leave. "Sprite," she gasped again, reaching for the girl, "Sprite, please!"

Sprite came to a stop at Ikaris's side. She felt both of their eyes on her, but Emris could only look at Sprite. She pleaded with her, begged her not to leave her, not again. Emris needed her.

Sprite smiled sadly. No turning back.

And then she waved her hands and the two of them disappeared, taking whatever scrap of love and hope Emris had left with them.

_______________________

Emris wasn't sure how long they sat in silence. Her heart had been broken into two. One piece for Ikaris, one for Sprite. There was no coming back from that. She hadn't paid attention while the others argued over Ikaris's betrayal and why Sprite had left. She barely even noticed when Makkari came back or when Kingo and Kuran disappeared.

Emris felt her control slipping from her grasp. She felt the most safe when she had a solid plan. Felt the most sure of herself when she understood what was happening. But now, with the shocking turn of events piled on her right after having been left abandoned by Arishem? It was too much, all at once. She was spiraling around and around, trapped within her own mind. If she had felt lost before, it was nothing compared to how Emris felt now.

She wished with all her being that she could leap to her feet and offer the Eternals the good news they so desperately needed right now; that Emris could tap into her magic and kill the Celestial. But, she couldn't, because Arishem had left her forsaken. So, why was Emris even there? Why had she come along?

She had thought that she would be powerful to prove her place. She didn't have that opportunity anymore. She no longer had comfort in Ikaris. Emris's strength, even, had been stolen from her along the way. She knew she needed to pick herself up off the ground and help the others come up with a new plan. Emris knew that was the reasonable thing to do, but for some reason, she couldn't stop playing Ikaris's threat of death over and over in head. He had said the words with such conviction that Emris couldn't help but believe them to be true.

Would he truly kill me if I stood in his way? She thought yes.

There was a whisper in her ear. A flutter against her skin. Emris blinked. There it was again. She sat up and looked around. The others were gathered in the corner of the room, quietly discussing something. Was she losing her mind? Had Ikaris's betrayal messed her up so severely that she was beginning to go crazy?

Something poked her cheek. No, she most assuredly had not imagined that.

Cieva...

Emris snapped to full attention. She knew that voice. She knew that word. Only one thing had ever called her such before, and that was the fairy from her dreams. No, not from a dream, from something real.

"Violetta?" Emris whispered, anxious to hear her voice again. She needed to know that she wasn't insane. "Violetta, is that you?"

Still, Emris saw nothing. No tell tale light that Violetta had brandished in the Ender Terrain. No whimsical fairy or wings. Emris waited another moment, eye wide in hope, but when nothing happened, she slumped forward. She laughed at her stupidity. I suppose I am losing my mind.

Silly Cieva, I'm right here!

That time Emris knew she hadn't imagined the voice. She jerked upright, climbed to her feet, and that is when she finally saw her. Emris could have wept for joy. "Violetta?"

The fairy dipped into a flourishing courtesy, her dress spilling out into open air and her hair a halo behind her.

At your service, Violetta quipped, her grin sending rickets of joy through Emris.

"What are you doing here?"

Violetta flew a quick circle around her. To help you, of course. Your grief was strong enough that I was able to use it as a bridge and cross over to you.

Emris wasn't sure what to make of that, but she didn't question it. She was just glad that it hadn't all been a dream, as she'd thought. But then Emris recalled the reality of all that had happened, and she began to fall back into her grief. Violetta couldn't fill the hole Ikaris had left in her heart.

"I don't know what to do, Violetta. I'm useless." Emris waved a hand at the others, who had surely thought up a new plan by now. "Arishem refused to help me. I can't do anything but sit and watch as my friends try and kill the Celestial."

Violetta flitted to her shoulder and placed a palm against her neck. Oh, Cieva, you couldn't be more wrong. You're stronger than you think, and once you realize that, you will be unstoppable.  

Emris stared at her fingers. She found the Eternal'ss ship was rather cold, and a traitorous part of her yearned for Ikaris's warmth. "What do you mean, Violetta?"

She felt the fairy's amusement in her own being, like their emotions were connected. You were going to ask the Eternal a question... Violetta nudged softly, her tone guiding.

Emris frowned, not understanding what she meant.

Finish what you started and ask her your question, Cieva, Violetta willed, her dainty hands pressed against Emris's forehead, compelling her to remember.

Emris's face brightened as she understood what Violetta meant. Before Ikaris's betrayal, before her heart had splintered, Emris had wanted to ask Sersi a question. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that she needed to find Sersi and finish asking her. Emris couldn't imagine how, or why, but she knew that this question was going to change everything. It was of the utmost importance that Emris found Sersi.

She found the Eternal at the outskirts of the other's group. Sersi's face was vacant, like she wasn't really paying attention to anything, and Emris tugged on her elbow. "Sersi." Nothing. No reaction. Emris tugged harder. "Sersi!"

Finally, Sersi blinked up at her. Emris felt as though Sersi couldn't really see her and was trapped somewhere within her mind, as Emris had just been, but that didn't matter. As long as she could answer a question.

"Sersi, I need you to tell me the answer to something, okay? Can you do?" Emris gave her a little shake and Sersi managed a nod.

"Good. Now, do you remember how you told me that Eternals have their own language? And that it originates from the Celestials?"

Sersi gave another nod.

Emris took a deep breath. Violetta, hiding in the fabric of her shirt, offered her the strength she needed. "I need you to tell me what Nae'wve means, Sersi."

Sersi's eyes began to flutter shut. Emris shook her, desperate. "What does Nae'wve mean, Sersi?"

The Eternal's eyes peeled open. Her lips parted, just slightly, and Emris tensed in anticipation. Sersi muttered something, but it was too quiet for Emris to hear.

"What? Sersi, say that again, I couldn't hear you." Emris leaned in close to the woman, her ears faintly brushing Sersi's lips, and she waited for Sersi to repeat herself.

At long last, Sersi spoke, her voice a carcass of its former self. She whispered, "Niece."