Across Time

12 - Mumbai

Mumbai

Anastasia

When we arrive in India, we pull up to a movie set. It was easy to find Kingo, he's literally a Bollywood movie star. I will say that watching him dance is very amusing. He's a pretty good actor, but he can't dance for shit. Karun, his valet, comes up to greet us. The scene ends and he sees us. "My friends from college are here!" He exclaims, making his way over to us. Ikaris gets the first hug, "Perfect timing. Welcome to the set of The Legend of Ikaris. I'm playing you! You like the costume?"

"We need to talk." Ikaris interrupts him.

"Tell the director I have some notes for him..." Kingo directs at Karun.

"We need to talk to you in private." Sprite stops him.

"Oh, Karun, he's worked for me for 50 years. I trust him completely. Actually, when we first met, he thought I was a vampire, and he tried to stake me through the heart."

"I've already apologized for that, so many times, sir."

"Not quite enough times. You're very close, though. I'll let you know. Oh, I have to get ready for the next scene. Come to my tent, we'll talk there." Kingo crosses all of us and walks to his dressing tent. "You guys are going to love the next scene. I come in on a wire 'cause, you know, I can't fly. Wait, are we getting back together?"

"We need to talk." Sersi finally tells him.

"I've been waiting for the day the world learns the true identity of the Shadow Warrior." Gods he's dramatic.

"Ajak's dead." Sprite just rips the band aid off.

"She was killed." I finally speak up.

"It was a Deviant." Ikaris finishes. Kingo starts to process everything, and the set is being cleared. It's a lot to take in. I place a hand on his shoulder, to comfort him. "The Deviants are back. We don't know how many there are."

"You need to come with us." I tell him.

He hesitates, understandably so. He has a life and a career to consider now. It is our purpose to protect these people, to foster their growth. He's become attached in a way some of us haven't. I like humans, they fascinate me. I'm just not as attached as Sersi or Kingo. Karun talks him into coming with us, which is good because I hated flying commercial to get here, so crowded. I sound hypocritical since I've been to clubs regularly and I live in a highly populated state. He had Karun following him around with a camera and is starting to turn us into a documentary. Great. He tries to start with Sprite, getting her to explain who we are as Eternals and what it is we can do. I just tune him out with some music and pretend to be asleep. I don't need to be part of this dog and pony show. I have missed his light heartedness. I would rather not listen to Sersi babble unintelligibly about her own abilities. She's brilliant but can't talk about herself. From what I've gathered, we're going to get Gilgamesh and Thena next. I'm excited to see them. I didn't exactly lose touch with them, but it has been about a hundred years since I've visited.