30 Arc VIII Last days before travel - Threatening a Celestial

Maya accepted the apple, and under Eli's urging, ate it right there. Eli feared the woman might cut it up in her lab to find out how it worked and thereby lost one of the last five apples they currently had access to. If nothing went wrong, they would be able to get more in the future. Hel, Eli could maybe even trade or steal some during his travels, but those hypothetical apples were all in the future. If they needed them now or before he came back, that was it.

Done eating, the changes were immediately visible. Maya looked incredible for a woman in her mid fourties, but eating the apple immediately made her look like a twenty-five year old again. With tears in her eyes, she hugged and thanked Eli for his incredible gift, which Eli gladly accepted.

Half an hour later, Eli moved to the living room after sending off Fandral and his beloved, and he used his telekinesis to move over Anya's sword and an instrument to play some music. Eliza and the others were still sitting at the dinner table, so Eli played something soft. Something that, if you don't concentrate on it, makes for calming background music.

Anya eventually came out of the kitchen to clean up the table as she insisted the rest kept sitting. After she was done, she joined Eli on the couch. With a smile, Eli moved the sword in its compact form over to Anya as he kept playing. Anya curiously picked it up and recognized the sword moments later.

She looked up to Eli to see him nod, and she poured a little divinity in the sword. Eli had once again protected the surroundings, especially the couches with a spell, and for good reason, it turns out. Anya was so excited about her sword that her whole tomboy-ish person lit on fire, and the sword grew back to its full form Anya had seen yesterday.

However, on closer inspection, Anya noticed that it looked different from yesterday. The vibranium parts were a dark grey now instead of the usual shining silver, and the uru now had a faint red hue instead of its regular matte, brushed iron-grey.

The blade was, of course, also covered in runes, and instead of 'plain' fire, Eli had managed to make it look like something more than just flames. As she continued to pour in some of her divinity, the runes started to glow softly. Now, with the highlighting, the runes looked more like... rose petals instead of just flames.

'Eli really outdid himself with this,' was Anya's reoccuring thought as she regarded the weapon, unaware that she had gained an audience from the dinner table and was still on fire.

"Does it have a name?" Anya asked, still tearing her eyes away from the blade.

"Eitri didn't give it one," Eli denied.

"Could you give it one?" Anya asked, finally looking up.

"Hmm... Eldros? It comes from the words fire and rose. Cause you know, I overdid it a little with pressing the runes into petal form, haha," Eli offered with a weak chuckle.

"Eldros, a fine name for a sword," Anya accepted and went back to regarding the sword.

Just as he wanted to continue the conversation, more guests showed up. This time, Hogun showed up with Wanda, Pietro, and, Clint, and his entire family.

"The green giant Hulk, the men clad in iron Tony Stark and James Rhodes, the man with wings Sam Wilson and the group calling themselves Guardians of the Galaxy have also arrived. Your father is currently entertaining them," Hogun stiffly recounted.

"Hogun, uh... I'm glad you are here. Don't get me wrong, but don't you want to go back Vanaheim?"

"Yes. I want to go, too. But I still had unfinished business with Lady Maya," Hogun answered.

"I see. I hope she hurries up then. Thank you for bringing them over," Eli thanked Hogun with a hug. The usually Vanir with a pronounced silent streak left immediately after.

"So what brings you here to have an audience with a prince of Asgard?" Eli haughtily asked as he turned to his guests.

"Just here to visit Nat and Eliza," Clint quickly spoke up with a raised hand. Eli smiled and gestured for them to come inside.

"Uh, Eli? There's a woman bathed in flames on your couch," Pietro said as he came back from a superspeed-trip to the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh yeah, Anya does that sometimes now," Eli accepted with a shrug that said, 'what can you do?'

"Why have all the Avengers come to New Asgard then?" Eli asked as he sat down with Pietro and Wanda, who sat a little away from Anya, who still didn't notice they had guests.

"Well, we aren't really Avengers, Tony kept that name in the divorce. At least half of us follow Steve around, and we don't have a name yet," Pietro pointed out.

"I think Tony wanted to do something along the lines of apologizing. Bruce wanted to thank you for giving up the stones again, Steve sent them back with Mjolnir yesterday. And the rest just came along. Though, I think Thor made a deal with the Guardians. Not sure what that's about," Wanda added.

"So you just came along, huh? Why are only you two and Clint here then?"

"Ugh, I couldn't stand the smell of Thor's place and that Hogun guy only allowed us two to follow Clint and Clint got through because he is good friends with Natasha," Wanda explained, scrunching her nose at the mention of Thor's place.

The three kept talking while looking at the flaming Anya who broke out of her trance half an hour later.

They spent some time together, eventually had a giant lunch for over a dozen people at his place, and shared some stories while Eli played some songs. Anya and Wanda eventually split and went over to Val and Misty. The four were apparently trying to share tips on how to get a better grasp of their powers.

Steve talked to Eli about hosting a new team of defenders for Earth and its people right here in New Asgard, and since he saw the merit, Eli agreed. It was a little on the nose, but they agreed on the team name Unity, and it would allow Steve and Sharon to stay closer to Eliza. Pietro instantly signed up, too, and they spent the rest of the day discussing logistics.

Nobody noticed how Eli manipulated the wording of some of the founding papers, for example that Unity would always be headquartered in New Asgard, which everyone was fine with, but Eli added 'New Asgard on Earth'. It saved the Asgardians the trouble of having a new faction in Asgard once they moved planets in the future. Wording contracts and official statements to his advantage was one of the longer lessons he received in Valhalla, after all.

Since Eli was a big hit with the UN after the whole Sokovia Accords debacle, he took it upon himself to send a letter of introduction to the institution. It was a little stand-offish, but most countries had a good impression of Asgard, even if Eli threatened the world a little. Frigga was smart enough to leverage their offer for technology not into weapons but into clean energy and ways to preserve and clean the environment.

It improved the quality of life for generations to come, so the nations of the UN had no choice but to be or at least appear grateful, even if what they truly wanted were Asgard's weapons and space travel technology. However, after seeing Eli wipe out Thanos and that gigantic warship, nobody would want to find fault with Asgard for a while. Though, that didn't mean Nick Fury was not paranoid enough to try and send spies over.

Tony wanted to talk to Eli, too, but just like three days ago at the battle against Thanos, but Eli ignored the man. He excused his pettiness with the date he still had to go on today, but Anya asked for a postponement. The three goddesses and Wanda made a lot of headway on understanding and controlling their divinity with the books Eli had provided them.

As Eli joined them to explain some of the lessons on divinity he received in Valhalla, the rest of the Avengers eventually left New Asgard. Steve and everyone that stood with him during their falling out in 2016 or showed actual interest in joining Unity received a pass to enter Asgard in the future, the rest would need to enter through a sort of border control Frigga, Val, and Misty had instated.

Before the day was over, his father asked him to come over to his house. There, he found Thor, Korg, Quill, Rocket, Drax, Groot, and one of the Nebulas waiting for him. Since Earth was going to be 'boring' for a while, Thor decided he would try to get back in shape by fighting the good fight up in space. Thor promised he would come back before six months were over, and Eli kept the golden apple he initially wanted to gift his father at this moment for a later day.

Nebula left some blood and tissue samples for Maya Hansen to research so that Eli could keep his promise. When asked where Gamora and the other Nebula were, he received no answer. Which was weird because Eli only now remembered he never got around to waking up the Nebula from the past. Who knew? Maybe Gamora would come as soon as she heard the guardians were off planet.

Two days of teaching the three goddesses and one witch about divinity and sorcery later, Eli was in New York to look for his proteges Ty and Tandy. The two were in their senior year at Midtown High, the same school Peter Parker went to, so that's actually where they met them, and by chance, Eli met Peter too.

Eli was at the school before, but that's before the world knew him as an Asgardian prince and not just some guy who was famous in New York for playing cool music in parks. It didn't help much that Eli arrived with Tuuli on his shoulders and his uru arm and pauldron out in the open.

To not break the illusion that they were just normal kids, Eli made up another reason for coming and that talking to the three powered teenagers was by accident. The reason he found, was allowing two classes of the school to spend a week in New Asgard for a school trip. The principal agreed to Eli's suggestion that it would be Peter's, and Ty and Tandy's class, and just like that, they would visit New Asgard in three months for their annual school trip. Eli even promised them free transportation by sending one of Asgards spaceships. Later in the day, when they would find out, the school would break nonstop discussions, especially the two affected classes.

At the end of the week, Gamora really did come to New Asgard with the still sleeping Nebula. She had tried everything to wake her sister, but with no success. Naturally, Eli woke up Nebula and allowed them both free passage when he made sure Nebula was free from the chains of Thanos, making her a free woman.

Out of his expectations, though, was that both daughters of Thanos stayed in New Asgard and applied to become valkyries. The tryouts would be a week later. Eli was sure they wanted something other than just access to Asgard's weapons and ships, but he was too lazy to find out and allowed them to apply. He had read enough of their thoughts to know that their plans wouldn't bring harm to Asgard.

The day before the tryouts, Eli's cosmic awareness flared up even more than the last time when Thanos traveled to the future. Instead of feeling like a particular location was affected, Eli could vaguely make out a woman in this vision.

Eli left New Asgard and decided to follow his awareness until it led him to South Dakota. Eli was powerful enough to move unhindered to most in the world, but he kept the words of Bor in his mind. He only appeared to be invincible to what he could see. If this woman managed to trigger his awareness, she might have the means to fight him. That is why he kept floating a good distance away from the horse ranch he arrived at and observed while invisible.

Eventually, a man he had never seen before flew toward the ranch at astonishing speeds. During their conversation, Eli learned that these two were Eternals, and from his teachings from the Allfathers, he knew that they were sent by the celestials. However, it also bode ill for the fate of Earth if Eternals were here because Asgard knew what happened to planets that housed Eternals and Deviants. The emergence of a Celestial would soon befall Earth if nothing was done about it, and Eli was sure that's what the cosmic awareness was trying to tell him.

Ajak and Ikaris, the two Eternal's names as he learned from listening in on their conversation, made their way to Alaska, and Eli followed. There, they found a small nest of deviants, and Ikaris explained that they emerged from the melting ice.

It appeared that Ikaris wanted to betray the wavering Ajak and threw her down to fight the deviants alone, so that Arishem's plan would unfold undisturbed. Eli cast a powerful illusion for Ikaris so that he would see Ajak die, killed all deviants present, and rescued Ajak. As the prime eternal, she was Eli's only chance to talk to this Arishem for negotiations.

Ajak knew who he was, most likely from the news, so she kept quiet and looked on in sadness and concern as Ikaris picked up her 'corpse' and placed it back in her ranch. She could only shake her head when Ikaris made it look like the attack from the deviants happened on her ranch and began crying silent tears as he left.

"Thank you for not killing him. He shouldn't have to die because I failed him," Ajak eventually said as the illusion of her corpse dissipated.

"I'm about to negotiate with this Arishem, having the.. I'd like to say blood? of one of his Eternals on my hand would be a bad idea," Eli mused in a cold voice.

"Negotiate... with a celestial? Is that why you saved my life?" Ajak asked, slowly pulling herself back together.

"You are the Prime Eternal, yes? That means you have the device to have an audience with Arishem. Use it, and bring me with you. He better hope he's in a mood for negotiations before we all face a lose-lose, as the Midgardians say."

Although a little reluctant, Ajak agreed to his proposal because she, too, didn't want to see the end of Earth. That's how they arrived in Iraq, only moments later with a spell from Eli. It took a bit of flying around until the eventually found the buried 'Domo', the ship the Eternals arrived in. It was littered with ancient human artifacts, and the two found another Eternal, Makkari there whose power was super speed, just like Pietro.

Since it was the one language he actually had to learn because it wasn't included in his blessing for Allspeak, Eli actually learned sign language and was able to communicate with the deaf speedster. The two chatted, though they left out what the two would discuss with Arishem as agreed beforehand. Ajak still wasn't ready to tell the Eternals of what they truly are and what their true goal was.

As a sphere partly left Ajak's chest on a raised platform in the Domo and Eli was asked to step closer to touch the sphere, Eli's astral form was whisked away.

"Ajak, what do you seek me for? And why bring him with you?" A voice boomed in the cosmos. Eli didn't need to look around much to see a gigantic figure, entirely clad in what appeared to be red armor with six red glowing eyes.

"Arishem. This Asgardian prince has come to me... with a threat?" Ajak offered unsurely. She turned around for the last part after a moment to look at Eli.

"Arishem. I am Eli, son of Thor. The current Allfather of Asgard," Eli introduced himself with a steady but cold voice.

"What brings you here, young Allfather?" The voice boomed again.

"My people currently reside on Earth after we faced and survived Ragnarok, the promised end of our world. It has come to my attention that the emergence of one of your Celestials is about to end another planet we reside on," Eli continued, his voice becoming colder after every second.

"You wish for me to halt the emergence of Tiamut until you have relocated your people?"

"I wish for you to stop the emergence. Or make Tiamut emerge without tearing the planet apart. I have been to the afterlife once already, and I will doom a whole planet to live through the same after you great Celestials failed to stop Thanos or undo his... transgression against all life in the universe. And isn't that your mission? Life?" Eli asked, not cowering before the gigantic undying presence in front of him.

"Thanos mistake was undone in the end, was it not? The grand design did not fail," Arishem calmly answered.

"And you want to repay those who made that happen with annihilation?" Eli asked.

"The end of one life is the beginning of another. Earth has served its purpose. It is no longer needed in the grand design of the universe. The birth of Tiamut will bring forth the birth of countless planets, teeming with life."

"I see. You are known as Arishem the Judge, correct? Since our opinions differ, I will give you my judgment. Prevent the destruction of Earth, or I will add the ending of a life, Tiamut's life, to your grand design for a new beginning," Eli threatened. Despite all his training in scheming, diplomacy, and politics, the nonchalance Arishem treated the end of Earth with irked him to no end.

"You threaten the life of a Celestial and doom countless lives that will never exist because of your actions? As well as bring upon the retaliation of Us on your people?" Arishem's voice did not change at all, but Ajak was positively horrified and thinking more and more that it was a mistake bringing the young Asgardian here.

"Well, I might not be strong enough right now, but you couldn't possibly stop me from gaining strength. If you don't do what I suggest, I will break the chains of this reality, this timeline, and gather enough power to end Tiamut before coming back here. You know that my lineage has had the strength to do what I just told you."

Arishem stayed quiet for a while. Ajak, however, kept muttering 'lose-lose' in a panic.

"I will order Tiamut to dream instead of emerging for now. Know though that once I have confirmed your end, the great design will continue as planned. You have made no allies today," Arishem proclaimed before Eli's astral self was shot back to the Domo.

"What did you do?" Ajak asked, the horror still evident in her voice.

"What? Didn't you also want to stop the emergence?" Eli shot back.

"By threatening the Celestials??" Ajak shouted.

"Don't tell me billion year old beings that could create life as complicated as yours and have technology beyond anyone's wildest ideas can't figure out how to get a baby out of an egg without breaking the egg. Their grand design is stupid!"