Elyus's POV:
"This morning, an unprecedented global earthquake swept nation-states across the world, causing damage and panic." The news anchor on Sersi's television announced, showing the destruction of buildings, bridges, and other areas in the world from the earthquake. "Many have speculated its connection with the Blip. The UN has called for an emergency meeting..."
I let out a huff of annoyance once the realization set in. "I don't even want to know the mess I have to get back to at home."
"There are bigger things that should be your main concern, Elyus." Ikaris spoke up, slipping his arms through the sleeves of his jacket. "I'm positive that your bar can easily be rebuilt."
"My main concern is making sure my employees aren't hurt." I remark with a glare. "That bar is what is keeping them afloat, jackass."
"He sort of has a point, Elyus." Sprite spoke up as she unsheathed her dagger, eyeing it with curiosity. "An earthquake and seeing a Deviant on the same day?"
"Especially since that Deviant healed itself. They could never do that before." Sersi chimed in, leaning against the doorframe with worry. "And it was coming after us instead of humans. What's going on?"
"I came to check on you because of the earthquake. That Deviant is news to me." Ikaris explained.
"Something's happening to Earth." She shook her head. "Can't be a coincidence."
"We need to find the others."
Sersi gave a small shrug. "I haven't seen some of them for centuries."
"I doubt much has changed." Ikaris muttered before he approached Sersi. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Sersi. But we need to stick together. And once I know you're safe, I'll leave you alone."
I narrow my eyes in curiosity, taking note of Sersi's body language filled with discomfort. That's new.
"Let's go to Ajak first." Sersi spoke up, ignoring his words. "She'll know what to do."
"You hear that, Sprite?" I ask, sending a short blast of wind toward where she stood near the window. "You got your wish of a family reunion.
"It's about time."
BABYLON 575 BC
"Face my wrath, you chaotic children!" I dramatically announce in Babylonian before swiping my hands across the dirt, splattering mud across the children which earned a mixture of playful giggles and screams as they attempted to throw mud towards my direction.
Though suddenly, I feel something heavy pour over my head and I gasp at the cold sensation, watching as mud dripped down on my shoulders to my feet.
I look up, meeting two younger girls' expressions filled with mischief as giggles escaped from their lips.
"Sneak attack, I see?" I laugh, wiping the mud away from my eyes, and swiftly thrust my hands upwards, causing the surge of wind to throw them off balance and keep them hovering midair.
They attempt to escape from the wind spheres but rather than bursting out, they merge the spheres and bump into each other with a laugh.
I turn to the other kids, and seeing as they laughed and pointed to the girls, I use my other hand and create more spheres around to trap them, causing them to screech in delight.
"Looks like the mighty army has fallen!" I playfully rub my hands together. "If you all had known, mud gives me additional strength! For I am the mud beast!"
"What in the world?" A voice speaks up from behind. I slowly turn around, meeting Sersi's expression filled with shock. "Ellie?"
"Alright children, you should all go home. Don't want your families to worry now, huh?" I quickly say to the children, carefully lowering them down at ease as they all groaned.
"Can we play a little longer? Please?" One of the younger children asked with a pleading look.
I crouch down to her level with a smile. "We can play more tomorrow, little one." I whisper, pushing back some of her hair behind her ear. "I promise."
She quickly nods before following her older sister down the path.
"I would ask what's going on but..." Sersi trailed and I stood up from my spot, meeting her amused look. "I think I have an idea."
"I was on my way to do a perimeter check at the Ishtar Gate but I might have gotten distracted with the children. They kept fighting over their beads and strings so I stepped in." I sheepishly smiled.
"You really enjoy playing with the children, don't you?" Sersi asked with a smile, reaching behind my ear and pulling out a clump of mud stuck on my hair before flicking it off to the side.
"I love it. It's refreshing to see them oblivious to the troubles around them and...sometimes I wish I can forget about the Deviants."
Sersi's smile faltered. "Me too."
I quickly shake my head with a laugh. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring down the mood. I attempted to get out of their games but then one thing led to another and somehow I got dragged into a mud fight." I gesture to my muddied armor.
"Clearly you lost."
I raise a brow. "Careful. One hug from me and I won't be the only one drenched in mud."
"And one touch to the ground and you'll be stuck in cement. For the hour if I'm feeling nice." She smirked.
"You're about to lose the special privilege of calling me Ellie." I snort, purposefully shoving her shoulder which caused her to laugh. "Besides, can't you turn the dirt into water to wash this off?"
"I could but that would leave you soaked." I send her a pointed look and her eyes slightly widen in realization. "Oh, right. Wind abilities."
"What would you do without me?" I dramatically sigh and spread my arms. "Okay, do your thing."
She playfully rolled her eyes and stepped closer to me. She reaches forward and touches the parts of my suit covered in mud, allowing a stream of water to flow to the ground. Instinctively, I sigh in relief at the warm water against my skin. "Someone's clearly in paradise."
"Could you blame me? It feels great." I say and open my eyes, meeting her amused look once she moved her hands away. "And now, prepare to be fascinated."
"Try not to form a tornado again while you are at it."
"Do not be so dramatic. That only happened because Ikaris irked me." I roll my eyes, slowly swirling my hands in between us, and a gust of wind forms around.
Despite our hair wildly flying around, we dusted ourselves off as much as we could, airing out the water droplets until we were left completely dry.
I lower the gust of wind to the floor, letting out a sigh of relief, and look up to meet Sersi's eyes. "And...? Are you impressed?"
But her eyes remained amused. "Not exactly. I might have missed a spot." She pointed to my hair.
"Oh. I got it." I dismissively wave before running my fingers through, shaking it off a bit. "Is it gone?"
"Not even close. Let me try." She chuckled before stepping closer to me. Her face leans close to mine but tilts my head slightly to the side, carefully working the soil out of my hair but each touch sends chills down my spine.
"Uh..." I awkwardly clear my throat. "Is it that bad?"
"I think from when you dried ourselves off, it practically cemented it." She replied, feeling the slight rumble in her chest at her response. "I can get it without using my powers, though."
I close my eyes, and almost without realizing it, lean back into her touch. "Well, take your time. I would rather not go through the process again." Her ministrations pause for just a beat at my action, then pick up more slowly.
With one last, careful movement, she works the soil out of my hair and flicked the dry soil to the side. "There we go." When I turn to face her, she's grinning, almost practically pleased with herself.
But when she looks away from the side, we both gaze at one another, sending a sense of awareness of just how close she is. "...Thanks." I softly speak up before I clear my throat. "You know, you could have left it there. Count it as payback."
The corners of her lips perk up into a smile. "We have to always look out for each other, right?"
My heart warms at her words. "Right. Yeah, of course. Always."
"Elyus." Sersi and I jump away from each other and turn, seeing as Ajak stood on the steps that led to the Ishtar palace. "Why were you not at the gate to deal with the Deviants? Ikaris informed me that all of the fighters were there except you."
"I-I was uh--erm, I was--"
"She was helping me with the farmers tend their crops." Sersi quickly interrupted with an apologetic look. "I noticed that some of the humans seemed like they were about to suffer with the heat so I begged Elli--Elyus to help me cool down the temperatures for them."
"Is this true, Elyus?" Ajak questioned, moving her gaze towards me.
I hesitantly glance between her and Sersi before I slowly shake my head. "No, it's not true." I mutter, looking down to the floor in shame.
"Sersi, you go on ahead to the Domo with the rest of your fellow thinkers." Ajak emphasized, causing my stomach to churn in guilt. "I need a moment with Elyus."
Sersi simply nods and walked past Ajak as she descended the steps. She glances back once more and mouthed 'Sorry,' but I shake my head, subtly telling her that it wasn't her fault and she walked away.
"Ajak, I take full responsibility. I do not want Sersi to get in trouble for trying to cover for me. She just wanted to--" I try to explain but she holds up a hand, making me stop my rambles, and gestured for me to walk with her.
"Elyus, I understand that you enjoy your time with the children, Sersi, and the rest of the thinkers but we all made the choice to serve what Arishem assigned for us to do." She gently explained. "It's not fair to the fighters that you believe you get to choose whether or not to join the fight."
"I thought they would be okay without me." I bend down, plucking a small flower from the side, and continue to walk alongside her. "I cannot exactly shoot lasers out of my eyes or create weapons out of thin air."
"But none of those define them as a fighter. What defines them is this." She points to my chest with a small smile. "Their heart to protect those they care about."
"How could we call ourselves fighters if we're not allowed to interfere with how they evolve?" I ask. "It's hard enough seeing them suffer with diseases that can be easily cured by you in seconds."
"If we help them, it won't allow them to advance by themselves." She explained but I cross my arms over my chest with a huff. "As much as it doesn't feel right to sit back at certain times where we feel the need to help them, we cannot become attached or distracted."
"Is this another way of you telling me to stay away from the children?" I ask, stopping near the Domo's entrance. "Because I cannot promise you that I will."
"No, I'm saying that there is a time and place for the things we want but if there is a time involving Deviants, remember your priorities as an Eternal." She comfortingly placed her hand on my shoulder. "I know you, Elyus. Your heart strives to help those in need and...I think you see that in Sersi as your friend and want her to be happy."
I shrug. "Well, she was one of the first people to talk to me so, of course, I want her to be happy. She's my friend."
"And I'm glad that you two get along and I do want you to live your life, but you must not let it distract you from your duties with the fighters. Can we agree on that?"
I reluctantly nod. "It will not happen again."
"Good. Now, come. You can accompany me to check in with the others." Ajak gestured and I nod, following her to walk inside the Domo and towards Phastos's lab.
In the middle of the room, Phastos was piecing together what seemed to be a complicated sort of machinery with his projection.
"Phastos," Ajak sighed as we entered the room, causing the man to snap his attention away from his creation. "Did you go to the party last night like I told you to?"
"The party, yeah." Phastos awkwardly muttered. "Yeah, it was..."
"He worked all night." Druig chimed in from the opposite side of the room, tearing a piece of bread and tossing it into his mouth.
Phastos spun around towards Druig with a glare. "Who was talking to you?" He spat but Druig innocently grinned.
"Get a life. And where is Sersi?" Ajak asked and I looked around in confusion, seeing that she should've been here already since she left first.
"Late as usual." Sprite spoke up from the other side of the room, sitting up from the table with a bored expression.
"I'm sorry, but I have something very exciting to show you, okay?" Phastos reached over and grabbed Ajak's hand, pulling her closer to his project. "Wait till you see this."
Despite being proud of his invention, Ajak's expression remained puzzled. "What is it?"
"It's an engine. It moves steam from high pressure to low pressure." He explained as Druig walked over to where I stood, grabbed the pitcher of water, and poured the glasses. "It'll help them till their fields at an incredibly fast rate."
"Thanks." I whisper to Druig, taking the cup from his hand and he gives a short nod. "Phastos, you already know how I'll always love your inventions but--"
Sprite spun a medium-sized ring around her finger. "It's gonna freak them out." She interrupted.
"I mean, they only have had the wheel 1,000 years, so..." Druig added.
"You know," Phastos began, turning to face Druig. "we could do that thing, you know, where you use your mind to control them, and then they could do it quicker."
Druig rolled his eyes. "Ajak, you listening to this?"
"Phastos, this steam..." Ajak trailed off.
"Engine. It's a steam engine." He quickly corrected.
"It's too soon." Running footsteps causes us to turn towards the door and to my relief, see that it was Sersi. "And there she is."
"Sersi." I greeted her with a smile, her eyes quickly finding mine and lighting up.
"Sorry, Ikaris wanted to chat and I completely lost track of time again. What did I miss?"
"Your favorite eternal." Druig discreetly whispered to me, nudging my side with a playful expression.
"Shut up." I mutter and nudge his side, earning a grunt to escape from his lips.
"Nothing." Phastos sighed. "Just the screams of my deep disappointment."
"I am sure you have something simpler." Ajak tried to reassure.
"Simple. Okay, let's see. Uh..." He trailed as I watched him break the steam engine down and design something smaller in amazement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the plow. 'Cause, that's what it does. Plows dirt."
"It looks great, Phastos." I lift my cup to him with a smile but he seemed unamused at my words.
"I met another group of settlers who are building their homes in the northern fields. They'll need to plant their own crops." Sersi suggested.
Ajak pointed at her as Phastos walked over to Druig and I, pouring himself a cup of water. "Thanks, Sersi." He muttered in annoyance.
"Listen, humanity may be coming along slower than some of us want." Ajak started, briefly meeting my eyes with a knowing look. "But there is no telling what wonders they will discover as they advance."