fiction | Part of the journey is the end

2. Babylon & Tenochtitlan

The Deviants were terrorizing Babylon in 575 BC. Makkari used her super-speed to get the civilians out of the way while Thena sliced a Deviant's head off.

The humans were in awe at seeing Babylon, one of the most important cities in the ancient world.

"Alexander the Great used to rule Babylon and eventually died there," Steven said awkwardly. Knowing that Alexander the Great was Ammit's avatar put a lot of historical events into perspective.

"He was an ass," Gilgamesh said.

Ikaris saved a girl and used his laser beams to blast a Deviant's head off. "Do not fear," he said in Babylonian.

A flicker of a smile passed Sersi's face. She always found Ikaris most charming when he protected humans with all he had. She was aware that he didn't love humanity as she did, but he protected them anyway; ever the dutiful soldier.

Gilgamesh made sure that all the humans got to safety inside the walls of the Ishtar Gate.

Layla's eyes widened at seeing the Ishtar Gate while Steven shrieked, "The Ishtar Gate?!" Seeing all these historical and archeological monuments intact caused too much excitement for the two of them; it blew their minds to realize just how much the Eternals had seen.

"Not much is left of the original Ishtar Gate, however, a reconstruction of it was built in a museum in Berlin with excavated material from the original Ishtar Gate," Layla explained. "Ishtar was also the Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility, and most famously, demanded Gilgamesh to become her consort in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh refused."

The group looked to Sprite, who snickered. "I had to create drama in the story somehow."

Gilgamesh shook his head, exasperated. Obviously, that never happened since it was a story that Sprite created, but of course, he would refuse Ishtar's offer. His heart would always belong to Thena.

Enkidu the Deviant charged at him, but was hit by Gilgamesh's punch. It got up and threw Gilgamesh away, who was caught by Makkari.

"No wonder Makkari was mistaken for Mercury, the Roman God of Speed," said Peter.

Druig nudged Makkari's shoulder as he signed what everyone else was saying about her, causing her to grin.

Ikaris, Thena, Kingo, Makkari, and Gilgamesh worked together to take the Deviant down, however, it got back up. Gilgamesh slapped the Deviant down, killing the creature.

The Avengers and Guardians were highly impressed at seeing Gilgamesh's punch. It was one deadly punch.

Ajak stood inside the walls of Babylon where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were present.

The humans were speechless at seeing the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; seeing Babylon at its peak was incredible.

"Babylon," Steven said weakly.

Ajak closed her eyes and activated the sphere, and Arishem appeared. She was extremely miniscule compared to Arishem and only half of the Celestial's face was visible.

Except for Ajak and Eros, everyone else's jaws dropped at seeing the sheer size of Arishem. Most of the Eternals had never seen the Celestial and were gobsmacked as well.

"Ego wasn't that big," Quill said faintly. Ego also didn't look like Arishem, but he could change his appearance so he supposed he hadn't seen it before he died.

"That's what your father looks like?!" Scott hysterically asked Quill and Mantis, who were unnerved themselves. The Eternals still couldn't believe that there were in the presence of the children of a Celestial.