SHRIKE (ETERNALS)

000 • THE ONE

The Amazon, 2022

          There had always been a sort of hollowness within Saskia. For a while this missing thing has had no detrimental effect, 7000 years of life had numbed it into nothingness; gradually turning it into an empty space, like the insides of a rotting carcass. Druig's presence was always an exception. Whenever he was around, this immortal vacancy became inflamed, casuistic to the touch. Whenever he was around, it hurt. And she hated him for that. How his cold indifference would haunt her like it was a beast and her peace it's prey, how his acidic gaze would latch onto hers and burn her from the inside out or how, though rarely, his touch would send a shiver down her spine and make her want to either turn away in cowardice or kneel and beg for forgiveness. She hated him for that too.

          She felt this hatred now more than ever as he stood in front of her, looking down at where she was seated, nails nervously picking at the peeling paint of a small round table. The sound of a steaming kettle pathetically ricocheted between two bodies who always preferred the torturous silence over comfortable small talk and though such tension was not conducive to generating conversation, something had to be said.

          "Well?"

          Druig heaved in a breath and let it out slowly, she could see the gentle rise and fall of his shoulders and she mirrored the movement unconsciously, only realising then that she had been holding in a breath.

          That was another effect that Druig had on her: taking the air form her lungs. (Ironic she knows, being the goddess of souls and all, that was her stealing people's breaths was her speciality).

          Druig crossed his arms over her chest."You've already made up your decision." His accent was thick and heavenly and it always seemed to have the power to destabilise the foundation of her being.

          (That was why she preferred the silence. Too much of his voice and she would crumble like a defenceless castle under siege).

          "But can you support me? Can you support us?"

          A bemused grin appeared on his lips, followed by a sinister chuckle. "You're not one of them. You're an Eternal. This is not your fight."

           It was her turn to laugh. "That's rich coming from you — "

          "— I chose peace." He immediately replied, all signs of amusement gone and she was left to look upon the remnants of a cold-hearted apparition. "You are choosing war." He pushed himself off the kitchen counter, "That is the difference." He turned from her and headed for the door.

          "Please, Druig." Her chair shrieked at the haste of her movement as she stood I p and followed him out of the house. "You will be saving countless of lives."

           He stopped in his tracks and pivoted to face her, "Even if I did say yes, what then? They will wonder why we've stayed silent for so long, they will despise us. And what of the rest of the Eternals? Ikaris will come after you, Ajak will disapprove. You will never be looked at the same way."

            "These people are worth it. Defeating Thanos is worth it."

           "They have lived through many wars." Druig sighed, "What's one more in the history of humankind." He said with painstaking nonchalance. Then he brushed past her, bumping her shoulder the slightest but the contact was enough to ignite a forest fire of rage within her.

          "Druig, I need you! " She walked after him, anger swelling within her heart and causing it beat violently against its bony cage. "Please. Please, do not abandon me again."