The Eleventh Eternal

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Thena quickly rushed to me and hug me before putting in her lap.

"Here." Phastos said to me as he took my wounded arm within his massive hands. I was leaning against Thena's chest and the rest of us scattered around the room and we were all in silence with what just unfolded in front of us.

It was still raw, underneath the surface.  Ikaris was still willing to have this planet die for billions of others around the universe to live, willing to place everything we knew and loved about his planet in jeopardy for an outdated and bizarre order. He played nice for so long, thinking with all of his heart and mind that what he did was right and what needed to be done. 

Maybe we were all too consumed with the human lives here that we stayed from the path, Ikaris probably thought that was the case. What made it worse, if not more personal, was that Sprite sided with him and left us in the dust too. 

We had two fewer Eternals on our side now with our plan.

I was watching and slightly wincing as Phastos was wrapping my arm with brand new cloth. Thena was watching me as she hugged tightly but giving some space for Phastos to repair my arm.

"I'm no Ajak, but this will help," Phastos said with a hint of grimace, having me smile weakly at him as I then saw Makkari signing in the middle of the room.

'Why did she go with Ikaris?' She asked, looking at each of us. I wondered the same thing too, leaning back a bit more in my spot and cradling my wrapped arm. It was an odd thing to think about, but I knew Sprite has always admired Ikaris and would follow his lead if need be.

"Because she loves him." Kingo answered with a shrug of his shoulders. We looked at him in confusion, seeing him look at each of us then. "Oh, you guys didn't pick up on that? He really did fool us, didn't he?"

I felt pain for Kingo then, whom I knew admired Ikaris and looked to him for leadership too. Underneath the humor that he had, Kingo was a good soul and was willing to follow where he needed to. He held Ikaris in high regard, and to see someone whom he looked up to turn his back on him, that had to have been devastating.

"Karun, let's go." he softly said to Karun, making my head perk up a bit from hearing that.

"Kingo, where are you going?"

Phastos, turned away from me now to look at Kingo with confusion on his face.

"Wait, where the hell are you going?" Phastos asked him.

"I can't help you guys." Know confessed having me look at him with sadness. "I still think Ikaris was right."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"So that's it? Huh? You're just gonna follow him?!" Phastos asked in pure agitation and another wave of anger.

"Kingo, please." I said to him, urging him to stay here with us. 

"I love the people of this planet." Kingo explained, struggling to say the words himself as he was looking at each of us, "But if you stop this Emergence, you're preventing so many worlds like this one from being created! I still have faith in Arishem, but I refuse to hurt any of you for my beliefs."

Then he turned to walk away as well, having me move up from my spot next to Druig and take a few steps. I wanted to stop him, to try and convince him to least us. I felt the conflicting there in his voice and how he was both not wanting to run the risk of preventing more planets from being created and hurting us.

Makkari looked hurt from what he said, reaching a hand up to stop him by his shoulder and look at him with concern. 

"We need you." she signed to him, seeing his cast fallen face.

"Even with my help, we're no match." Kingo said to her sadly. "Against Ikaris."

Makkari let her hand drop to let him go.

"Kingo... Please..." I said enough him to hear what I said. He slowly turned around and looked at me.

"I'm sorry, Adelyne." He whispered to me. "Protect them."

He looked back at the others as we were watching in both defeat and sadness. "But, I hope to see you on the next planet."

With that, he turned away from us and walked down the dark hallway. Makkari looked heartbroken, Phastos huffed and looked away as I watched with some grief left in me.  Druig and Sersi were silent, leaving Thena to ponder with her own thoughts while holding me like a three years old child who was scared at the dark.  Karun, looking at each of us with misty eyes, smiled weakly.

"Thank you for doing so much for humanity." Karun said in his native tongue for us, folding his hands in front of us as he was trying not to cry. "It was a great honor.  I will miss you!"

I gave him a small smile, showing that I listened. As we watched him follow Kingo out of the Domo, I was giving Makkari a weary look, seeing her do the same. We were now down 3 Eternals, two were against us and one chose to step out of the fight. The odds against us were getting greater by the second, the hope we had before was diminishing.

"Look, if I'm going to get myself killed going up against Ikaris, we're gonna need a backup plan." Druig said to the five of us that were left in the Domo. I rounded my shoulders, remembering what Kingo told me to do moments before. 

"What makes you think he's going to kill you?" I had to ask him in a soft and leveled tone at the same time as he looked over at me. I stood up from Thena and walked slowly to the center. "I can make sure Ikaris doesn't go anywhere near you by using my roots against him. I'll distract him too if I need to—"

"Adelyne..." Thena said my name almost in a warning as I shook my head at her.

"I've done it before, didn't I?" I asked her, seeing her go silent as I watched her intensely. "Taking Ikaris on. I did it back in the Crusades, don't you remember?"

"Lyne, are you insane?! Your going to risk your life?!" I heard Gil said in my mind.

"No, Gil. This is for humanity."

"But Thena—"

"I know that she will all alone if I die. But that's our mission right? Saving human lives from danger?!"