Interlude: Babylon

A/N: I think I worded some of the explanation in the last chapter quite poorly. in the chapter, Pluto said that the master ring could 'use it all', it doesn't mean that the master ring could tap into all of the other rings' dimension, it means that he could use the other rings freely, and could take it off whenever.

---

In the city of Babylon, men and women gathered inside of a hall as they drink, eat, dance, and fuck. They had just survived a Deviant horde attack, proven by the countless corpses of the deviants outside of the blue gate of Babylon.

They of course had help. They were helped by their protectors, they called themselves the Eternals, but people saw them as gods. How could they not? One of the man could fly, they could heal the injury in an instant, change rock into gold, destroy a building in one punch, run from one side of the city to the other in a blink of an eye, create moving stories, fire strange projectiles from their hand, and conjure weapons out of thin air.

They mingled with them, they drank with them, they ate with them, they told stories and introduced new concepts to the Babylonians, it was because of them that Babylon became the largest city on earth.

As they celebrated, a woman with blonde hair was sitting alone in the corner of the room. She was drinking slowly, and had a melancholic look, she stared at nothing, only consumed by the alcohol she was drinking.

But, she had enough. She put her glass of alcohol down, and she started to walk out of the hall, trying to be alone.

A man saw her actions. And he stopped her. "Where are you going, Thena?"

The woman, who is Thena, stopped and sighed. "Where do you think I'm going?"

"Drink some more Thena." said the man, blocking her way. "I can't let you fight the deviants alone outside the city-"

"Get out of my way." said Thena lazily, but she was quite annoyed. "I need to clear my thoughts by fighting. I didn't come to this planet to cower behind walls."

"Thena, we need to trust Arishem's design for this planet," said the man.

Thena chuckled as she looked away from the man, she was really annoyed now. "Arishem huh? I lost faith in him since he punished Pluto unfairly. I will ask you once again, get out of my way, Ikaris."

Ikaris frowned. "After all this time, you still complain about it? It was a fair punishment Thena, he broke our rules."

"I understand if Arishem only stripped away his powers for a thousand years, but banning him from joining us? We could not protect him, who knows if he is still alive right now." refuted Thena.

"You are worried." accused Ikaris.

"I am." said Thena boldly.

"Something going on with you two?" questioned Ikaris curiously.

Thena stared at Ikaris's eyes. "Is that a problem?"

Ikaris sighed, surrendering. "No, not at all."

Thena just hummed like she used to, and shoved Ikaris out of her way.

"Thena." called Ikaris once again, making Thena stop. "It's an honour to fight alongside you."

Thena looked at him, and solemnly nodded. "And you."

—

Ajak had just faced Arishem, her maker. She had reported their deeds in the city of Babylon, and Arishem praised her for doing an excellent job, and her leadership would be commended to the other Eternals surfing across the universe.

But Ajak felt like it was but an empty praise.

In the report, she mentioned the question whether or not the emergence of this planet would be worth it or not. She had seen the humans. They are different from the rest of the planets that she had been. Their tenacity as a being surpassed other creatures that Ajak had cared for, not to mention strange things happening in the earth.

The vibranium, appearance of magic, cultures, and morality.

It made her doubt whether or not it was worth it, but Arishem told her to not be attached towards the humans. It is the first time she felt like this in her billions of years of serfing Arishem. But for now, she decided that it would be best to trust him.

For now.

—

Ikaris was now walking towards Ajak, who was standing overlooking the city, on top of the hanging garden. It was an incredible sight, it is the largest city on earth so far, and it is prospering as time goes on.

"You wanted to see me, Ajak?" questioned Ikaris.

Ajak turned, and once she saw Ikaris, she smiled. "Ikaris."

She turned to see the city again, and Ikaris was now standing beside her.

"I know your faith in Arishem is strong, Ikaris," said Ajak. "I can feel it."

"Thank you, Ajak." smiled Ikaris.

Ajak then turned to Ikaris, and her face looked serious. "So now, I think it is time to tell you the truth of our mission."

Ikaris was surprised. The truth? Has the mission been a lie?

And so Ajak told him. That the true objective was to increase the population so it would produce enough intelligent energy to wake up the celestial seed that lay dormant in the core of the earth.

Ikaris was quiet for a bit. "Why are you telling me about this, and not the others?"

Ajak smiled again. "Your faith in Arishem is strong Ikaris. Others I'm afraid… would not take it well."

Ikaris clenched his fist. "So you and I are the only ones that know?"

Ajak shook her head. "Pluto also knows."

"What?" questioned Ikaris rather demandingly. "He knows from the start?"

Ajak nodded.

"Then why? Why did he still do what he did?"

"While we are the same, our minds are different." told Ajak. "He is rebellious, and he thinks that us serving Arishem is but a shackle of slavery."

"Slavery…" frowned Ikaris. "What are you talking about?"

Ajak smiled. "Like I said Ikaris, our minds are different."

Ikaris was quite restless now. "So what do you want me to do with this knowledge?"

Ajak sighed as she hugged Ikaris. "Keep it Ikaris, I'll trust it on you, when the time comes, you will remind us what our mission is."

Ikaris didn't hug back, instead, he nodded, focusing on the task ahead of him.