Until Eternity // An Eternals Story

Twenty One

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.