"Great Arishem, I need your guidance!" In the vast space of consciousness, Ajak spoke to Arishem before her with a heavy expression. "Druig and Kingo are missing. We can't find them, and we don't know who did it!"
After discovering Druig's disappearance, Ajak sensed that sothing was wrong and quickly gathered all the Eternals. Only then did they realize that it wasn't just Druig who had vanished—Kingo was missing as well.
To find them, Ikaris and Makkari conducted a large-scale search across the world. Makkari, in particular, carefully investigated people she had stolen from before, including Josh.
However, by the ti Druig had been taken away, both his body and Kingo had already been stored in the system's warehouse, with all traces completely erased. So, no matter how hard Makkari searched, she couldn't find any clues from Josh. Besides, she wasn't a very patient person, and there were many mortals she had stolen from in the past. She never considered keeping an eye on their actions.
As a result, despite their efforts, the worldwide search yielded nothing useful. There was no trace of the missing two.
Faced with this outco, Ajak, as their leader, had no choice but to seek help from their supre authority—their creator, the Celestial Arishem.
"This shouldn't have happened. The ten of you have perfectly balanced abilities, and your combined strength is extraordinary. Over the past millions of years, only a few Eternals have ever been lost due to missions!" Arishem said after listening to Ajak's report.
Although Arishem's voice, as always, was devoid of any emotion, Ajak could still sense his displeasure towards her.
"I am sorry, Great Arishem. This is my fault... It was my decision to separate everyone and live among mortals," Ajak gritted her teeth and took responsibility.
What else could she do? Tell Arishem that Thena had developed Mahd Wy'ry and that she had decided not to erase her mory? Tell him that Druig had conflicts with the team centuries ago that led to their separation?
There was no doubt that Arishem, as the Celestial Judge, was the embodint of fairness and justice.
But precisely because of this, he would show no rcy toward Thena for her condition or Druig for his near-betrayal. Their likely fate would be complete erasure and reconstruction.
That was sothing Ajak absolutely didn't want to see.
"I will not interfere, Ajak! This is a challenge you must face—just like the Deviants. As long as the Ergence proceeds smoothly, any sacrifice is worth it… I do not want you disturbing over such trivial matters!" Arishem said coldly.
"...I understand," Ajak took a deep breath and replied.
In the next mont, the space around her shifted, and her consciousness returned to reality.
"How did it go? What did Arishem say?" As soon as Ajak awakened, the anxious Sersi imdiately asked.
The rest of the Eternals also turned their eyes to Ajak, waiting for her answer.
"Arishem said this is a challenge we must face, just as we did with the Deviants," Ajak sighed as she looked at everyone.
But she didn't ntion Arishem's harsh words at all.
Unlike the other Eternals, whose mories were erased after each mission, Ajak, as their leader, retained the mories of countless missions over millions of years.
She understood very well—they were nothing more than tools of the Celestials.
And tools didn't need their own thoughts.
Once they did, they were often destroyed.
Over the years, she had seen too many of her forr companions "erased" for making mistakes. She didn't want the sa fate for the ones standing beside her now.
Waiting for the Ergence to be completed, having their mories wiped, and then starting fresh in the next mission—this was the best outco.
As for the Resistance?
Whenever she thought of Arishem's overwhelming power, she felt completely helpless.
Not to ntion that the Celestials were not just one or two beings, but an unimaginably large group of beings.
She had never even considered rebelling—not like that child, who was fearless simply because he was ignorant.
He had no idea that everything he was experiencing had already been carefully arranged. His struggle was dood to be aningless.
Ajak buried these thoughts and emotions deep within her heart, showing nothing on the surface. The others sensed nothing out of the ordinary. Although their faces showed disappointnt, they didn't argue any further, as they had already expected this outco.
"I've said it before—we are warriors. If we face problems, we must solve them ourselves. We can't run to Arishem every ti sothing goes wrong," Ikaris said firmly.
'But this isn't just a small problem. We have lost two friends, two family mbers!'
Hearing Ikaris' words, Makkari, who had been depressed since Druig's disappearance, imdiately beca agitated. She rushed to Ikaris and frantically signed to express her frustration.
Ikaris frowned at her reaction.
"We know, Makkari, we know! If we stick together, we will find Druig and Kingo!" Sersi quickly stepped forward and gently embraced Makkari to comfort her.
"Speaking of that, could it really have been the Deviants? Maybe we didn't completely wipe them out five centuries ago!" Ikaris turned to the others.
"Impossible. I've been monitoring Earth closely all these years—there hasn't been a single sign of Deviant activity!" Phastos, the team's technology expert, imdiately disagreed.
It was his job to keep an eye out for Deviant life signs.
If there were any left, it would an he had failed.
--
Join Patreon/AHumanMadeMOFO to read ahead
Reviews
All reviews (0)