Chapter 274 Collision Final Part

(Aden's P.O.V)

Equity was loosely held before my chest. The broad side of the sword blocking Ikaris punch from the get go. I wasn't too surprised to act, only too surprised that Ajak actually would.

"What the fuck just happened?!"

Chaos shared the same shock as I did.

"I guess she made her choice."

I answered softly, lightly flexing my arm and sending Ikaris flying away through the air. The Eternal arrested his momentum and sent laser beams made of cosmic energy from his eyes, before flying in himself sustaining the attack.

"Why would she fuck it up this much?! Is she dumb?! Is keeping Arishem's secret more important than the lives of her family?!"

Chaos was getting more worked up now. Equity vibrated with a dark energy. I sent a slash of darkness speeding forward, blocking the eye beams successfully and easily.

I took a step and the air fractured around my body as I appeared behind Ikaris. The Eternal's mental activity spiked up in alarm as he detected me.

"You know the story of Icarus?"

I asked.

"Let me educate you."

I slammed my forearm down onto his back and a shockwave rippled out. Ikaris shot towards the surface of Mars at great speeds.

The Domo started priming up power, before it could do something with it, whether escape or attack, I sighed, sidestepping a laser beam from below the obscure clouds of dust covering Mars. Ikaris. I don't know about the strongest but he surely is the most persistent.

The yellow lasers were dragged across the sky, aiming to slice me apart. Once again, I used Equity to not only block the beams but absorb them as well.

"Find out what you can about cosmic energy. It's something new. Something capable of blocking my telepathy."

I informed Chaos.

"Kill them all."

Chaos told me, making me scowl a little.

"You do know that Ajak is the one responsible right? The rest have no idea about the lie. Except for Ikaris."

No sooner had I said that, when Ikaris finally speared through the atmosphere of Mars, one hand pulled back in a fist.

His face was set in a snarl. The left hook that came in from the left was fast and heavy, capable of destroying an entire building upon impact. I slapped it away before slamming Equity's pommel onto his belly. Breath left his lungs or whatever passed for his breathing organs as he bent and floated back. Before he could charge in, I was next to him in a flash, Equity's edge on his neck.

"Stand down, Ikaris. I don't want to hurt you."

Then I felt a feeling of overwhelming hate overcome me. Black energy extended out of Equity without my urging.

The slash sliced through the Eternal's neck like it wasn't even there. The slash expanded, headed for the Domo. I immediately activated Spatial load and reloaded space as it was a few seconds ago. The skill activated but I immediately felt more gazes look onto me.

"Fuck Off."

I warned and felt most if not all recede.

"You got some explaining to do."

I told Chaos, clamping down on my control not to kill the newly revived Ikaris.

Speaking of whom, his eyes were stormy with rage. They glowed as he let loose eye lasers at close proximity. I answered him with my own eye beams made of purple flames. Anything hotter and nothing would be left of his face. The eye beams plowed through his attack and knocked his head back. He let out a wordless scream while clawing at his eyes. Over his shoulder, I saw the Domo reorient itself while powering up. Ajak...

I laid a palm flat on Ikaris' costumed chest and let loose an explosive force. Ikaris was sent flying towards a cosmic energy beam shot at me from the Domo. His body was hard enough that he cut through the attack, cosmic energy running rampant as it bounced off his body. Then he collided against the Domo, not destroying it but definitely making it rock while in the sky.

Instead of attacking though, I looked at Equity.

"Ok what the fuck is up with you and your sudden dislike for the rest of the Eternals? Ajak is the problem. The others are clueless about what's really going on. Ikaris is also fighting me out of some sense of duty, yet you almost...no you did kill him without my say so!"

The reason for my question and outburst were the violent urges Chaos had been projecting to me while I had been fighting Ikaris. They were suggestions on what I should do to them.

"They still decided to attack you! It's a betrayal! They betrayed us! Just like he did! So, Fuck. Them. Up!"

He shouted. No...screamed at me.

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

I was confused and getting slightly annoyed at all the secrets.

"They're getting away you dumb idiot!"

He shouted back.

Sure enough the Domo had opened up to receive Ikaris and instead of attacking, were now pulling away from the planet. Running. Smart move. Also,

"Fuck that. Don't to change the subject. I know where they are and can deal with Ajak at any time."

I told Chaos.

"But clearly, we have a few things we need to address first, don't you think? If you have something to say, say it now! Stop playing around, throwing tidbits and trying to chat! stop taking out your pain on others! Stop trying to act like the past million years meant nothing! . They did! We lost time! I lost...time."

There was silence for a few seconds as my chest rose up and down in anger. During that time, the Domo had left Mars and blazed a trail across space, running towards the Earth. I knew where they were. We were not even close to being done. Ajak had some answering to do but right then, right there, I was determined to put an end to all the mystery and the tip toeing around the subject.

"Well, what the fuck do you have to say now?!"

I prompted. Instead of answering me, Equity sent over his memories. And once I saw what I had been hiding from, my mind buzzed, as agony gripped my chest. A nonphysical feeling of a different kind of pain.

"How could...how could he?"

It felt as if I had lost strength. My biggest asset, Order. The one thing that had gotten me out of trouble, time and time again, the one thing I could depend on to always handle what I couldn't...had betrayed me. Not just any betrayal but one whose consequences were far reaching and destructive.

"We haven't been asleep for a million years. It's been billions."

Chaos told me in a heavy tone, one hiding pain. I gave him a weak snort. I couldn't believe it. 'A billion years...that's oh god...I think I need to sit down.' I thought to myself as my power started getting out of control. The sun was responding to my feelings and huge rings of solar energy were pulsing out of it's form in solar flares.

One of the ones headed towards the earth met a shield of some kind around the planet.

I had been ready to act. Maybe use Spatial load again but for just a tiny second...I didn't care. I didn't give a shit that countless people would die.

(Elsewhere)

The Ancient One knew what was coming and used the 3 Sanctums to block the devastating solar flare that would have left the earth a barren wasteland on the surface. The heat wave slammed on the magical shield and caused beautiful colors of pink, red, yellow, green and orange to appear in the sky, seen from different places of the globe. The panoramic flares became a sensation, none knew that they had just been saved.

Their saviour turned her attention to the sky.

There wasn't much that the eye of Agamotto could tell her. It had it's own restrictions. Restrictions caused mostly by the existence of the Avatar. The warning she had received from looking into the future and seeing the devastation the Solar flare would cause was only one of the few things she could clearly see. That and the arrival of Dr.Strange, the one who would become the greatest of all of them were the most important visions she could perceive.

She hoped that the Titanic power she could feel blooming in outer space sent no more curve balls her way.

(Aden's P.O.V)

I warped away to my new magical realm after calming down the sun. Inside Energia, everything faded away as I entered my meditation under the waterfall that poured into the Fairy lake.

I needed to see the memories for myself. Finding the separation of psyche between me and Order was easy enough, my mental abilities as stated many times before, had grown incredibly powerful.

"Are you sure about this?"

Chaos asked.

"Too late for that question, isn't it?"

I answered and heard him withdraw back into Equity. He had warned me and now it was my turn to take the plunge and see it for myself.

I felt myself sink away from the physical world.

I pictured our mental selves. On one side there was me, rich with emotion and knowledge and on the other side, what I expected was cold logic and reason. True impartiality to the world except what directly concerned me or mine. Except...there was nothing there. Nothing there except a message of some kind.

I mentally tapped it and let it play.

My vision changed from the beautiful and magical landscape of Energia to the top of a peak in my air dimension. The one where I used to meditate. For a few seconds, I was disoriented, almost giddy that by some fluke I was back.

Then I started noticing a few key differences. The sky was dark only a dim light which came from somewhere, lighting up the surroundings enough that I could perceive what was happening. And before me, peering over the edge of the cliff was Order.

He looked like me, stood like me, was me. Soft black locks floating in the wind. Tall and wearing an ostentatious robe of white.

"Why?" That one word was filled with so much pain as it left my mouth. I felt choked up and nauseous.

Order straightened up, still not looking at me.

"These are the last dregs of my consciousness. The last dregs I left behind to sort of...say goodbye Aden."

He turned to stare at me and I almost stumbled back in shock. His eyes were pools of black with webs of the same color covering his eyes. He had on his face a wide smile that reeked of evil.

An evil that reminded me of one being. Empty Hand's master and my supposed creator, The Great Darkness.

"Oh..." He groaned.

"Why do you look at me like that, Aden?" He took a step forward, hand reaching out towards me. I took an involuntary step back.

"What happened to you?"

I questioned.

The hand he had held out fell back down. He cocked his head to the side, looking around and away. His body jerked like a doll.

"I guess...freedom."

He answered, lips left open after the word was out.

"Freedom from you." He hit me with an intense look of...hatred? No not hatred, ridicule and maybe anger. I kept quiet, stumped by the whole affair.

"Do you have any idea what you did when you fought Empty Hand in your space of being?"

I shook my head.

"I'll tell you. The separation between your three states. Order, Prima and Chaos was rendered...poof!"

He threw his hands up.

Prima? I'm guessing thats me.

"And suddenly... suddenly I could feel. Influenced not by you but by 'him'." He chuckled.

"Chaos. That little fuck." The statement was full of venom.

"And now that I could feel, I could also attribute emotions to my memories. And I found out that to you...I am nothing more than a tool. A tool to use when you need and then discard, push it back to the darkness where it can't see the light until the next time you need it."

What the fuck is he on about? I shook my head. Can he hear himself?

"You betrayed me because you felt I was treating you unfairly?"

Even as the words left my mouth, I could not believe them.

"So you looked at your memories, at everything we've gone through. Battles against Angels, demons, supervillains and decided that...all of it meant nothing?"

What in the world? That's it? That's why he subjected me to a fate worse than death? How could this thing have ever been a part of myself?