"I still can't believe you are some kind of what-if version of Arthur, like, what if Arthur was a smoking hot babe. I mean, damn, that one thing can change that much?" Sprite said as I told them a bit more about the situation.
And I hardly blamed her, given she had been around on Earth for the last few thousand years, far longer than even I, she had likely thought that she had seen all there is to see.
And then I come along, telling them about entirely different timelines and parallel universes. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. That was what the two of them were experiencing right now.
Having been so sure about everything, now they were filled with questions about what if.
What if they hadn't been sent to Earth?
What if they had failed their mission?
What if Sprite had an adult body?
What if?
What if?
What if?
The more you know, the more you have to question.
While a normal person only has so much worth second-guessing, these two, who had been fighting for thousands of years, had many doubts buried deep in their hearts. And now, they came up.
"I can assure you that many different things led up to me being crowned as king, yet in essence, that is correct. I said with a kind smile, trying to stop them from sinking too deeply into their doubts and memories.
"But… why are you here then? What brought some other timeline or whatever, Arthur, to this one?" Sersi, the more mature of them, quickly asked.
"Hmm," I drummed my fingers lightly against the side of my cup. "A good question, yet I am afraid I have no answer for it, for I myself do not know. Was it an accident? Or is the coming storm one too great for your Arthur to handle?"
"Well, you for sure are way stronger than he ever was," Sprite said as she ate some biscuits.
She might hate that she is a child in appearance, but honestly, she does act like it at times, and others she acts like Mordred, both going to extremes in their actions, Sprite in showing she is an adult, and Mordred that he is a man, even though both are wrong.
It was hard to see what was true and what was play.
Sprite was more than old enough to have picked up all kinds of tricks over the years. Her powers were in illusions, so it wouldn't be a surprise if she took on trickster-like traits in her behavior.
Trying to act innocent to get an advantage. Though maybe I was just overthinking it.
"I have to agree with Sprite, the Arthur we knew… while a good person, he couldn't do the things you have done." Sersi's words were heavy with intent.
She wanted answers, but didn't ask for them.
Honestly, it was almost impressive how she didn't demand answers. I mean, she was a thousand-of-years-old warrior, someone revered as a god time and time again. I, from my just about one thousand years of being the goddess Rhongomyniad, was rather… goddess-like at times.
Having little patience for fools wasting my time, or those who thought they knew better than I, a divine spirit.
Yet, I found so very little of such arrogance from either of them, which was strange, or maybe it was due to their nature as super advanced magic robots?
After all, I was judging them as if they were humans, and they very much weren't.
Even if they were all the more interesting for it.
"Just another difference from this world and mine, nothing to think too deeply about." I smiled at them, knowing full well that they wanted so much more.
Sprite leaned forward, her fingers drumming against the armrest of her chair. "Okay, I mean I still got a ton of questions, like how did you give birth to Mordred and not get found out, and all kinds of other weird things, but tell me, how did you grow up?"
Her question got her a light rap on the head from Sersi. "What she means to say, is the most important question," She stressed that word. "Is what you want from us? Why did you want to see us?"
I gave them a calm look. "A fair question. I didn't summon you for idle curiosity—though I'll admit, that played a part. I brought you here because I need something only your kind can offer."
Sersi's posture straightened just a little. "And what would that be?"
"Knowledge," I answered simply. "Not of history or war. Of creation. Of progress. Of technology."
Sprite tilted her head. "You want tech advice? From us?"
"From your people," I clarified. "I am well aware that not just by living long can one become an expert in all fields, I struggle with a difficult task, and none of my people can solve the problem, so I ask you to aid me. Among your group, I'm sure one can help, and in return." I stopped, looking at Sprite.
I didn't need to tell them what I offered, my action spoke for itself.
Sprite's eyes flicked to mine, narrowed in suspicion—but behind it, that spark again. The one I'd seen earlier. Hope.
"You're serious," she said. "You're not just… being dramatic for the sake of it?"
I shook my head. "No theatrics. While the method I used isn't one that others can use… I do have another one, that should be able to do what you seek, easily." I said, thinking about the Grail.
I couldn't possibly hope to change such advanced robots on my own, even Stark would be nothing but a useless child in front of celestial tech, but the Grail? It could remodel the outside, leaving the inside as it is.
She wouldn't gain the ability to grow up, but neither would she lose her powers or her immortality; she wouldn't grow old and die; she would just gain a new appearance, and currently, that was enough for her.
Sprite went very still.
Her fingers curled inward slightly on the armrest, and for once, her clever tongue didn't immediately leap into action. Her lips parted, but the words tangled themselves somewhere behind her teeth. Even her eyes—the ever-smirking, never-serious eyes—were unguarded now. Vulnerable.
"You could actually do that?" she asked, quiet. "Just like that?"
"No," I admitted, my voice soft. "Not just like that. But I can make it possible. You will be like me, frozen in an older form, like your friends, immortal, but no longer a child in shape."
Sersi gave me a long, sharp look. She didn't speak, but I felt her scrutiny, like the touch of starlight turned into judgment. Protective. Unwilling to let her friend be toyed with.
"You offer her the one thing she's never been able to grasp," she said. "Why?"
"Because I need your help," I said plainly. "And I believe in fair trade."
"And if we say no?" Sersi asked, no malice in her voice, only a simple need for truth.
At that I just laughed. "You Sersi might say no, but Sprite won't, not when what I offer is what she desires, and not when I ask for so little in return."
They both knew I was right.
Sersi frowned faintly, though not in anger. Her gaze flicked from me to Sprite and back again, weighing everything I said against the long years of war and deception they had endured.
"You speak like someone who's already decided how this ends," she said. Her tone was calm, but beneath it, a thread of warning. "That's a dangerous thing."
"Perhaps," I replied with a small shrug. "But in my experience, those who hesitate to seize destiny often regret the cost of waiting."
Sprite looked down at her hands, fingers splayed and still small—delicate and childlike despite the aeons of power they carried. She didn't speak, not yet. But her silence said more than most speeches.
"I'm not trying to trap you," I continued. "I'm trying to show you a door. Whether you walk through it is your choice. But I would not waste your time with promises I can't keep."
Sprite finally looked up again. "And what would you want in return, exactly?"
"A name," I said. "A connection. Someone among your kind who can help me with a problem no human under my rule can solve. One of your kin—Phastos, perhaps. Or another who understands creation. I seek to finish something begun by Stark… and it is beyond my people."
Sersi leaned back, considering. "And you think a single Eternal will do what your entire kingdom could not?"
"No," I answered honestly. "I don't think it, I know it, you can help me, and if I am mistaken, then so be it. I shall still honor my word, for it is the word of a Goddess!" I said, my words filled with divine weight.
They had been around for a long, long time, they had seen gods, met Odin, Thor, and many others, they knew gods, and they knew that they rarely lied.
Sersi didn't flinch at the weight in my voice, but she didn't dismiss it either. Her fingers tapped once against the rim of her cup. Thoughtful. Listening. Measuring not just my words, but the weight behind them.
"I've met gods," she said at last. "Real ones. Or close enough. Most of them aren't half as polite as you."
I gave a light chuckle. "That is because I was once mortal, so I get how it is to be on the receiving side of things."
Sprite tilted her head, some of her spark returning. "So… when do we start?"
Sersi, next to her, just sighed in defeat. All her attempts to negotiate, to feel me out, all of it indeed pointless in front of Sprite's desire.
Sersi exhaled slowly. "Then we'll help. Or at least… we'll try."
She paused, her fingers tightening slightly on the edge of her seat. "But the truth is—we don't know where Phastos is. Not anymore."
I raised an eyebrow. "You've lost track of your own?"
"Not exactly," Sersi said. "We don't all keep in touch. Most of us went our separate ways long ago… by design. And Phastos doesn't exactly leave a forwarding address."
"But you have ideas," I guessed.
Sersi looked like she had bitten into a lemon. "Well… maybe? We honestly have thought about finding the others for a while, so we aren't sure where any of them are."
I hummed thoughtfully, letting their uncertainty hang for only a moment.
"Then you're in luck," I said at last, and both heads turned toward me. "I may not know where Phastos is—but I do know where one of your kin is. The most flamboyant of your circle, if I'm not mistaken."
"Why am I not surprised that you keep track of us?" Sersi said, sounding mildly suspicious.
And I couldn't blame her, though in truth, I only knew because of the movie, and there only one lived somewhere easy enough to find.
"Kingo, I believe, and let's all hope he keeps in better touch than you guys, or this will be troublesome."
Sprite snorted into her tea. "Kingo? Oh god, is he still doing the whole movie star thing? I saw one of his films ages ago."
I could only smile at that. "Well, I do believe he is indeed still doing that, so that is my only clue."
Sersi sighed. "It's better then nothing."
It's a start, so let's get going." Sprite was raring to go, and it was hard to blame her.
"Very well, to India then."
I wasn't done talking before Sprite quickly interrupted me. "No, trying to expand the empire! Last time a British ruler went there, it didn't go so well."
Sersi seemed almost mortified at the insult, though I didn't take it like that.
"What happened to you guys not meddling in the affairs of humanity?"
"Well, you are a god, aren't you? So it's alright." Sprite suddenly didn't seem entirely sure.
"Well, I have more then enough on my plate, so I will leave India alone."
(end of chapter)
So, I didn't write more after yesterday's chapter… and completely lost the thread I was working with. But I'm still on track, having Arthuria go on an adventure, meet the Eternals, maybe a fight or two, and then back home in time for Fury's big week.