Sprite

A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07

Content Warning: Eternals Movie spoilers. It won't be spoiling much(at all, as far as I can see), but some people might find they don't like me saying some stuff about the Eternals. So.. the warning is given!

Read on!

---

Walking through the Portal, and then through the door of the Sanctum, the 10 Eternals right behind me, I quickly approach Tatiana, who was standing in the Welcoming Hall talking with Master Ayesha.

Hugging her first, I ask, "Everything alright, I assume?"

Tatiana looks at the ten people that walk through the door behind me, and says, "Another one of those Demons attacked the town as soon as you were gone, this one had a form similar to a Gryffin. Master Ayesha and I took care of it."

I nod, having expected something like this. I turn to Master Ayesha, who says, "Your warning bell made everyone panic, Master Joshi, the students were afraid, having no idea what had happened. I took a few Masters and came here, fearing the worst, but there was just a single Demon. I sent the other Sorcerers home after it was dealt with."

Despite the way she spoke, like it was a normal conversation, I could feel her actually scolding me for my decision to warn them.

Sighing, I say, "There were two more in the forest, one shaped like a Minotaur, and the other like a Panther. I didn't want to take the risk of more of these Demons attacking the town."

"Deviants." A familiar voice from behind interrupts us, as most of the Eternals start looking around.

Master Ayesha gives me an expectant look, and I wave my hand towards the group of people, including Thena, or Angelina Jolie, who had corrected me, and say, "Master Ayesha, Tatiana. These are the Eternals, it appears that it is their Duty to deal with the Deviants, the demons we just fought today."

And from what I've managed to recall from my old memories, the Duty was given to them by the Celestials, a race of almost Omnipotent Cosmic Beings.

Waving my hand towards Tatiana and Master Ayesha, I say, "Eternals, Lady Ajak. This is the Sorceress Supreme, the leader of our Order of the Mystic Arts. And this is Tatiana, my beloved lover, and a fellow Sorcerer."

Ajak nods towards Master Ayesha, both of them smiling at each other, and says, "Nice to meet you, Master Ayesha."

"Likewise, Lady Ajak. This is not the first time you are meeting a Sorcerer, is it?" Master Ayesha says, as she waves her hand to ask us all to follow her towards the Lounge Room.

Ajak smiles, and says, "No, I'm afraid not. I have met Sorcerers before, and I even met  one other Sorcerer Supreme. A man named Caius of Lacedaemon. This is however the first time I'm coming to a Sanctum of yours, and my Eternals have never actually met the Sorcerers before. Seen, yes. But they haven't met any."

Huh, didn't know that. I thought, being thousands of years old, they would have at least had some contact before.

As Master Ayesha and Ajak start talking amongst themselves, leading us towards the Lounge Room within the Sanctum, I hold Tatiana's hand, and turn towards Robb Stark, and ask, "So, I saw that you're strong, and you can fly. What else can you do?"

Ikaris looks at me with a raised eyebrow, and with a tiny bit of weariness, he says, "I can shoot Cosmic Energy out of my eyes, in the form of beams of intense heat." Almost as an afterthought, he adds, "And my name is Ikaris."

"Huh." I say. So, a discount Marvel Superman. I then turn towards the woman beside him, the one I already know as Madam Ya Zhao, and ask, "And what about you my lady?"

I see Ikaris frown at that, and resist rolling my eyes at the obvious feelings he has for her. But the woman, Madam Zhao, doesn't see it. Smiling in greeting, she says, "My name is Sersi. I can use the Cosmic Energy to rearrange the matter of any non living being."

Scrunching my eyes in thought, I think back to the trees made of diamond, and ask, "So, you can transmute one material to another, instantaneously? Even precious metals?"

Sersi nods, still smiling.

"That's.. amazing!" I exclaim. Holy shit, she's like a walking talking Philosopher's Stone, able to Transmute anything to any other thing! And I doubt it is temporary, this is literally Cosmic Energy we're talking about here.

I also remember her, from when I knew her as Madam Ya Zhao, when she literally transformed Fiendfyre into water. Now I know how she did it, and why I didn't feel any Magic being used by her then.

Gods, please allow me to study her blood. It might have the secrets to achieving the pinnacle of Alchemy without any external Sources!

Sersi smiles at my enthusiasm, and asks, "And what can you do, Sorcerer Joshi? Besides conjuring those Red bands, flames, and Teleportation?"

"A lot of stuff." I admit, not bothering with modesty. "Magic allows me to do anything I put my mind to, even achieve the.. Super Strength that Ikaris here boasts. If my Imagination can think it up, my Magic will find a way to bring it to reality. Of course, there are limits, rules, laws to even Magic. I cannot, for example, conjure anything edible, or transmute anything into food. I assume you don't have that limit."

Sersi nods, and says, "I have created food before, yes, but only when I have something to work with. I cannot just.. conjure anything."

Nodding, I turn towards Tatiana, who had pulled at my hand a bit, as she says, "Do you think they would permit us to study them?"

Snorting, I say, "They are people, Tatiana. I doubt anyone would want to be studied like a Specimen."

"We can agree to an exchange." The dark skinned Eternal says from behind us.

Turning towards him, I curiously ask, "How so?"

The man bashfully smiles, and says, "I admit I find myself curious about Sorcerers, about this Magic. If you allow me to study you, Sorcerer Atharva, I will allow you to study myself."

I smile, and say, "I can agree to that. Thank you.."

The man blinks, and says, "Terribly sorry, my name is Phastos. And this here is Gilgamesh." He then points towards the man beside him, the Korean with the super strength.

Nodding a greeting, I look at Gilgamesh, and then at Ikaris. I ask, "Who, may I ask, is stronger amongst you two?"

"Me." "Me." Two voices speak at the same time, Gilgamesh as well as Ikaris.

Gilgamesh snorts and turns away, as Sersi and Phastos smile. Sersi says, "They can never agree to it. All their fights have culminated to an equal score of wins."

"Although, if you ask me, Ikaris is stronger. He is faster, has heat vision, and he can fly!" The Kumail Nanjiani look alike says, from behind Phastos.

As we enter the Lounge Room, I turn towards the man, who says, "Kingo, pleased to meet you. What Kingdom are you from, may I ask? Shunga? Satavahana? Pandya? Mahameghavahana?"

Blinking a bit in surprise, I say, "Satavahana. The western coast, in fact."

Which was what the future Maharashtra would come under.

Smiling, Kingo says, "I've been there, beautiful beaches, and the mangoes there are to die for."

You won't hear me argue about that.

The last four people catch my attention, when all four roll their eyes simultaneously. One was obviously Angelina Jolie, or Thena as she's known here. Another was a dark skinned woman, who looked to be around 30. Right next to her, holding her hand in fact, was a man around her same age, probably a bit younger, while the last was.. a child?

Seeing me stare at her, the girl glares at me, and.. becomes invisible? I try to smell her, hear her, and even sense her Mind. But nope, it is as if she was never here to begin with!

Gods, this girl gives surprises after surprises.

This is the first time someone surprised me so much. I wasn't this surprised even when I fucking landed in the past!

Thena sighs, and says, "Don't mind Sprite. She doesn't like being stared at."

I look around, trying to see if I can find her, as we all sit on chairs inside the Lounge room, with Tatiana choosing the seat to my right, and Thena to my left. I ask, "Illusions?"

Nodding, Thena proudly says, "She's the very best at it."

"I can agree to that. I myself have no talent in using Illusions, but I have never seen anyone's Illusions be so.. detailed. I can't even smell her, or hear her heartbeat." I muse, while still trying to find her.

The only way I can find her is if I use the Master Ward to do so. That will tell me where everyone is, with no way of hiding from me. But I am.. enjoying the challenge.

"Your senses.. they are better than normal?" Thena asks, probing for information.

Well, we've already agreed to a Study exchange, so.. why not?

Nodding, I say, "All of my senses are at least ten times better than the normal people. It is a gift, one that has helped me immensely in my life."

Looking around, I see Master Ayesha still talking with Ajak, really invested in the conversation. Sprite, the child Eternal, was still nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, another Eternal had disappeared, the dark skinned woman. Her boyfriend was still here though, smiling in amusement.

I could feel her though, still inside the Sanctum. I wasn't focusing on exactly where she is, but I know she's still in here somewhere, looking around probably.

I wave my hand, and conjure cups of hot tea in all their hands, already held by the ear. I say, "Is tea good, or would you like something else?"

Suddenly, a chair comes into visibility, with Sprite already sitting on it, with a cup in her hand too. Looking at the cup, she pokes it a few times, and sarcastically asks, "I thought you couldn't conjure anything edible?"

Smiling, I say, "I cannot." At her dubious look, I explain, "I keep a lot of drinks, both alcoholic and not, tea, coffee, and some food already prepared in the Kitchens, a few spells keeping it hot and fresh for as long as I want. What I did here is just summon it from that location, and into your hands." Then I conjure up a plate full of hot cookies, and ask, "Cookies?"

But, it won't work without the Master Ward. The Master Ward is what allows me to place the cups already in their hands, without them knowing beforehand.

Sprite rolls her eyes, making me remember that she's a teenager, and takes one of the cookies kept on the plate. Gods, an Eternal teenage girl? I pity the rest, but I pity her more. To spend your entire life as an adolescent? 

No wonder she's sensitive.

A ping goes off in my head, warning me that someone just entered the Vault room, and there's only one person missing from here. I immediately appear inside the Vault room, right behind the person, and say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I however, get no reaction, and see the hand still keep moving towards the glass case that held a very deadly weapon. Using my Telekinesis, I freeze the person in their place, thankful that it actually worked. 

Confirming her as the missing Eternal, I sigh, and float her a bit up. I then turn her around, and look at her with a bit of disappointment. First she tried to steal from me, and then she ignored my warning?

I see the dark skinned woman, whose name I didn't yet know, look at me with wide eyes, her hands still extended, stuck in the motion of reaching towards the sword kept inside its glass display case. Thankfully, it was behind her now.

I drop my hold on her body, causing her to shiver a bit, tilt my head towards the sword, and say, "That is the Death Blade. It is called that because it gives Death to the enemies, and the wielder too. Once you touch it, you have 1 day of immense strength, speed, killer instincts, and berserker rage, and then.. you die."

The woman mutely points towards the sword, to which I nod and say, "Yes, that sword."

Frowning, I then say, "I also suggest putting the Lamp of Icthalon back in its place. It is a powerful Relic, but corruptive to those not actually selected by it."

The woman disappears from her position, and a second later appears next to the display pillar of the Lamp of Icthalon, said Lamp now held in her hands. 

Teleportation? No.. she ran from here.. to somewhere, and back again with the lamp within a single second. Super speed! Well.. that's fucking impressive. She must've ran before too, since I wasted barely a second after getting the ping to appear inside the Vault. So, she entered the Vault, my Ward got pinged, she took the Lamp of Icthalon, ran to hide it somewhere, and ran back here, and then I appeared.

She's fast as fuck, boy!

As she places the Lamp back in its place, I look around, to see if anything else is missing, and realise something. She hadn't spoken a single word, not when she first entered the Sanctum, and not now, when I confronted her. And she also hadn't actually reacted to me speaking to her.

"You can't speak, can you? Or hear?" I gently ask, already forgetting the fact that she tried to steal from me.

I recognise the look in her eyes, they're the eyes of a hoarder. She meant literally no disrespect, or harm, to me or the Sanctums. She just likes to hoard stuff, and her superspeed allows her to steal quickly.

She nods with a smile, and then clenching her fist together, rubs it over her chest in a circular motion, thrice. I blink, having not seen this coming at all.

'Apologies.' she had said, in sign language.

Why the fuck is a mute, probably deaf, immortal Eternal, using the bloody American Sign Language, and that too in 40s BC?

Sighing at the new conundrum I found in front of myself, I repeat the sign for Apology, followed by the sign for Accept. 

The woman looks wide eyed, and smiles tearfully. She then signs, 'How do you know this Unspoken language?'

I smile at her, and sign, 'I have a gift with languages. A single phrase is all I need to master a language.'

Of course, she doesn't need to know that it doesn't actually work for Sign Language, but only spoken and written ones. And the only reason I know ASL is because I was bored one month, during my Medical training, and learned LSF(French), ASL(American), and BSL(British).

Knowing that the woman can also read lips, I sign as well as say, "Come on, the others must probably be wondering where I disappeared off to."

And then, before she can steal anything back, I bring us back into the Lounge room, her hand still a bit extended. She immediately snaps it back towards her, much to my amusement, since instead of reaching for another sword Relic, she was reaching for Ajak's head.

"Makkari." Ajak says, in a warning tone.

The woman, Makkari, shrugs shyly, and speeds over to another person to sit beside him. The only one whose name I don't know yet. Thena leans towards me, as I stare at Makkari and the man flirt openly, and says, "That is Druig. I would suggest refraining from trying to bed either of them. They are.. very possessive of each other."

Raising my hands, I turn towards her and say, "Hey, I already have a loving person. Tatiana is all I could ever ask for, and more."

And she's strong enough to have some sort of revenge on me if she finds out I am not faithful.

Tatiana takes the moment to lean towards Thena, and says, "Atharva here is too loving to do anything of the sort. He told me all of his secrets literally during our third time together."

I look at her and mumble, "I don't think she needed to know that."

Tatina and Thena chuckle, as Tatiana says, "No, but you look adorable when you are embarrassed."

Sighing, I look back towards Sprite, and ask Thena, "What's her story? Is she stuck like that, or is she just younger than you?"

Thena sighs, as she leans back, and says, "Sprite is barely a few centuries younger than I. Us Eternals just.. freeze our ages at one point in our life, and stay the same age for eternity. Unfortunately for Sprite, her freeze came at a very young age. We came here 5000 years ago, and we have looked the same as we do now for thousands of years before that. It does, however, help in our purpose."

"Those Demons, right? Deviants, you called them." Tatiana asks.

Ajak, who was probably listening in to our conversation, clears her throat, and says, "To understand that, you will need to know the full story."

Smiling, I say, "What a happy coincidence, I love stories. And you are welcome to stay here for a few days. Master Phastos and I have an agreement to study each other anyway."

"Nothing sexual I hope." Tatiana whispers, just a low enough voice for me to hear.

For fuck's sake, Tatiana.

Coughing, I nod at Ajak, who turns towards Sprite, and says, "If you please, Sprite? It is time for a story."

Sighing, and with a lot of reluctance, Sprite raises her hands, and casts an illusion, punting the whole Lounge room into darkness. 

"Before creation itself, came Darkness. Celestials, a race of Cosmic Beings, created the first Sun, and brought Light to the Universe. With light, came Life. Arishem, the Prime Celestial, led the Celestials on to keep creating life. But then.. the Deviants were born. Born in the Deepest pits of the Universe, the Deviants sought out any Intelligent life they could find, and they began hunting them. They were the first Predators within the Universe, and they caused Chaos within the Universe."

With each word from Ajak, Sprite conjures the illusion to show the story. I see a giant being just.. creating a sun, holding it in his hands as if it was an orange. And then, I see the Deviants, demons of colours similar to the ones we just fought, in different shapes, different forms.

What were those forms, I wonder? How did the Deviants decide on those particular forms?

As the Illusion shows a planet, and hundreds of people floating above it, Ajak says, "And so, the Celestials charged us, immortal heroes of Planet Olympia, Eternals, to restore the natural order. We go from planet to planet, and stop the Deviants from hunting intelligent life there."

The illusion shifts to showing the ten Eternals floating down from the sky, and on to the planet Earth, to deal with the Eternals.

You know what, while the story sounds good, and portrays both the Celestials and the Eternals as heroes, something sounds fishy. From what I remember the Comics saying, Celestials were the ones to create both the Eternals and Deviants, as offshoots of the human race. So.. does it hold true here too? Did the Celestials create these Deviants too?

And if so, what happened? Did the Celestials just want to create an artificial conflict between Deviants and Eternals, to see which is a better race, or did the Deviants go out of control? Something I won't know yet, not until too far into the future.

Sprite drops the illusions, as Ajak says, "As you know, even after 5000 years of fighting the Deviants on your planet, they have yet to admit defeat. Usually we find them before they can even attack a place, but sometimes, we are late."

"And not every place has defenders such as you ready to fight them." Gilgamesh adds from the side, raising his cup to me.

I smile in thanks, and say, "Right, on this good note, allow me to show you to your rooms during your stay here. You are free to roam anywhere, read anything, but do remember to actually read the description of any Relic you feel like touching."

"And of course, no stealing." Master Ayesha adds, looking at Makkari, who just shrugs bashfully.

I'll put up a ward to prevent anything from the Sanctum being taken out anyway. Taking Tatiana by her hand, I lead the Eternals, save for Ajak, who wants to talk with Master Ayesha more, towards the guest rooms. Thankfully, there are enough rooms for everyone.

---

The next morning, I see an excited Phastos enter the Kitchen, and take a couple pancakes for himself, along with some coffee.

"Excited for the studies?" I ask, with amusement. It was just 7 AM, and I was the only other person awake. The others, even the Eternals, were still asleep. I didn't even know Eternals needed sleep.

Phastos smiles, and says, "It is my first time meeting someone like you. You.. you're more than just a Sorcerer, I could tell that much from my preliminary scan, but to know more.. I would have to study your Energy signature closely."

I blink, and ask, "You already did a scan on me?"

Gods, I didn't even feel anything like that happening! And my Energy senses were.. not the best, but they are good!

Phastos swallows the bite, and says, "I did it while you were fighting the Deviant. I thought it odd that a human being was fighting with Energy reminiscent of the Gods, and believed you to be one of them. And I never got to scan them, so.. Well, sorry. I should have asked."

I wave my hand, and say, "You should have, but I'm actually impressed."

Phastos then returns to his breakfast, a bit bashful. I allow him to finish the breakfast, while I finish reading the chapter of the book I was reading. And when he's finished, I ask, "Shall we begin then?"

Phastos blinks, and then looks around. Hesitantly, he asks, "In the.. kitchen?"

"Oh.. you're right, of course. No, I have a room dedicated for dangerous experiments. We can go there. Do you need to bring anything, or.." I say, and stand up.

Shaking his head with a smile, Phastos says, "I have all my stuff always with me. My gift is Creation, I can create anything I want, and bring it forward whenever I want."

Nodding, I say, "Fair enough. I suggest bracing yourself."

With a simple flex, I teleport us both inside the Experiment Room, causing Phastos to lose his balance, having not gotten enough time. Ah, the joys of the Master Ward.

I then spread my hands, standing in the centre of the room, and say, "Okay, hit me. You scan me first, tell me about myself, and then I will scan you. Agreed?"

Phastos smiles an excited smile, and says, "Of course! Are you sure you don't want to go first?"

I just shake my head. I wanted to see what he would find out about me first. This situation.. these are uncharted territories, as they say.

He then summons a circular band from his wrists, which I hadn't even noticed, and waves his hands. The wave causes the two bands to move towards each other, and then, as soon as the outer edges of the metallic bands touch, they merge, forming into one, wider circular ring.

The metal smelled similar to Vibranium, and I wouldn't actually be surprised if it was that. But this is not something I knew Vibranium could do.

The circle then keeps getting wider, and thinner, as it rises over my head. Still with his hands pointing towards the ring, Phastos slowly starts dropping its height, once it is over my head. Once the ring first has my hair inside its borders, a yellow light emits out of the ring from the inside edge, from all directions.

It moves over my hair, as if a sci-fi scanner, and I guess it is one. As Phastos slowly keeps pointing his hand downwards, the ring follows, while scanning my body. However, I never even feel anything, not a single tingle to tell me that I was being scanned.

This is.. worrying. Phastos is a good man, a wonderful person. I could see that in his eyes, even when he admitted to scanning me in secret. He has no malicious bone in his body.

But, if such technology falls into the hands of someone actually malicious.. well, none of my secrets will remain secret. Or at least, none of the physical secrets of my body. And I know one person who has access to such technology, but thankfully, he is still asleep.

En Sabah Nur.

Finally, the Ring touches the ground, having finished scanning me, and then rises up. As it goes into the air, it once again splits into two different bands, and goes towards Phastos. He spins them in his hands, Telekinetically, without touching them, a few times, and I see some parts of one band go towards the another and vice versa.

After a minute or so of doing so, I see him smile with pride, as he raises the circular orb that he now holds into the air. He then says, "The Scanning part was easy, but I needed to modify my scanner to show me everything that is different in you, as opposed to us Eternals, or even normal humans."

And then, he drops his hand, the orb still floating in the air, and takes a step back. Immediately, the orb lights up with yellow light, and conjures an illusion of my body, also in yellow light. Or, a hologram.

Huh, a complete body scan. Not something I haven't seen before, since you know, Magical Healer here. But still, impressive.

I observe the hologram, at the same time that he does, looking for oddities. Almost my entire body was yellow, but there were a few different colours too. My mind was a bit orange, with a small corner in the left hemisphere being red. The nails on my hands and legs were red too, and I can guess what the Red colour means just by that.

Then came my heart, my heart was pumping, and as I take a step forward, I see the hologram take a step forward. I pause, and ask, "Despite scanning me just once, the ring gives you a live scan? How long will it last?"

Phastos nods, and distractedly says, "A minute or so. I will clear the programming.. the purpose.. within the Orb before we leave, don't worry."

I nod, accepting that. I don't want anyone, no matter how benevolent, to have access to my body health at all times.

I then continue to observe my heart, and see that while it was yellow, the shade was a bit different. Just a tiny bit. And just underneath it, on my navel, was a brown patch with green and blue tinges to it.

My body takes a moment to flash red once, and then green, but then it returns to its normal yellow colour.

Not understanding any more of the scan, I just watch Phastos work for a minute, until finally, he looks at me and asks, "You are not from this time?"

What. The. Fuck.

"How did you even know that?" I ask, my mind flashing back to the green glow that had surrounded my body a minute ago.

Phastos smiles, happy at his words being proven right, and says, "Your Temporal Energy signature is not the same as what you'd expect people of this time period to have. My guess is, you are from somewhere around 1800-2200 years into the future. And there's the fact that your body has some of the Time Energy from your Time Travelling still remaining. It is harmless, completely dormant, and will dissipate within two more decades."

Huh, Temporal signature, or in Magical terms, Temporal Aura. I'd read about them, but I just didn't think it was anything but a hypothesis, since I never found any proof of it, and nor did anyone else.

"What did the red and green flashes mean?" I ask, sitting down to look at my hologram sit down too.

Phastos waves his hand, moving my hologram in a circular motion, and says, "The Red flash meant that something in your entire body is externally merged to it, something that has been made its own, but it's not. Just like that area in your brain, and your nails, and your toenails. Care to elaborate?"

I wave my hand and say, "I took a few gifts from other people, and magically grafted them into my body. For example," I extend my nails, and cut into my palm with them, showing him the healing wound.

Phastos doesn't even seem surprised by that, but just nods his head. So, he already knew it then, just like the Time Travel bit.

He then points towards my navel in the hologram, and says, "Your navel has a connection to the planet underneath us, as well as.. somewhere else. Somewhere outside the limits of our Universe, another Dimension I am guessing. Similarly, your heart has connections to multiple other Dimensions, which I assume is related to your Sorcery?"

I nod, and say, "My navel is home to the Magic I was actually born with. We are called Mages, with a connection to the planet, and an ability to use its Magic for different purposes. The Heart is where my Sorcery Magic travels through."

Honestly, this is far more than even my Magical scans could see. I doubt I will have half as much to learn from his body, as he did from mine.

He points out a few more things about my body, like past injuries and all, which I didn't even see on the hologram, and then, it's my turn.

"Huh." I say, as soon as my first spell splashes over his skin. "Your connection to the Universe is far, far stronger than any Sorcerer I have seen before. The Energy you take from it is more potent, but at the same time less flexible, than the ones us Sorcerers use. The Potency is at least 40 times that of the strongest Sorcerers."

Phastos nods, and explains, "We call it Cosmic Energy, and us Eternals were born with the ability to wield it. Similar, I suppose, to your Mage Energy."

"Magecraft." I automatically correct, and cast another spell, this one aimed towards studying the purpose of this Energy. 

I then say, "This Cosmic Energy, it boosts your physical capabilities too, but it is focused more towards your brain. You're stronger, faster, and more durable than most normal humans, and probably even me. But your mind.. Gods."

Phastos chuckles, and says, "But, even inside my mind my Cosmic Energy is geared more towards actually creating stuff. I am a craftsman, I create stuff. Using my brain to play games, make plans, is not something I can do as well as actually creating."

Huh, I'm guessing each Eternal is like that. Sprite's Energy goes towards using Illusions, Makkari towards running, Sersi towards Transmutation, Ikaris towards Flight, Super Strength, and laser beams, Gilgamesh towards superstrength and armour creation, Thena towards weapons creation, Kingo towards.. I don't even know.

"Hey, what can Kingo, Druig and Ajak do?" I ask Phastos, pausing my diagnosis spells.

Phastos blinks, a bit startled by the sudden question, and says, "Well, Kingo can shoot Energy beams out of his hands, but he likes to use fingers for precise and intense attacks. Druig can use Telepathy, Empathy, and he can take over any mind he wishes. Ajak is our healer. She can use her Energy to heal herself, or us, by just waving her hand over the wound."

Huh. I wonder if Druig's Telepathy is stronger than mine because of his Cosmic Energy? Or will my Psionic Energy just balance it out?

Hope I never find out the hard way. But, I better go back to trying to figure out the secrets of the Eternals.

---

The next day, as I walk into the Library, I see a person already in there, with a dozen or so books in front of her, with one in her hands.

"If I'm not wrong, Eternals actually do need sleep. So what are you doing waking up the whole night to read?" I ask, as I approach her.

Sprite startles a bit, dropping the book on the ground. Waving my hand, I send the book back towards her, and ask, "You do realise that you won't be able to go through any of those Rituals by yourself, right? An actual Magical person needs to be present. And that's not counting the actual difference in our bodies, as human and Eternal."

I doubt even the Gift Transference Ritual would work with the Eternals. They have a connection to the Universe, yes, but it is not Universal Magic. Their Cosmic Energy is of a higher magnitude, far higher magnitude, as I found out yesterday.

I wonder if they will be able to learn Sorcery, though?

Sprite scowls, and says, "That's none of your business. If this fails, it fails. It won't matter to me."

Hah, it won't matter she says. Her face tells me exactly how invested she is in this option.

I look at her, and the books in front of her. The one she was reading was on body modification rituals, while in front of her were books on Potions, Shapeshifting, Rituals, and even Transmutation. It wasn't hard to guess what she was looking for, her emotions were pretty much openly visible on her face.

Sliding the chair back, much to her annoyance, I join Sprite at the table, and open a book on Rituals. Finding the one I was seeking in the third Ritual book, I place it on top of the book she was reading, and point at a paragraph. "Read, but don't get too hopeful." I say.

Sprite scowls at me, and says, "I don't need your help."

Snorting, I counter, "If you didn't need my help, you would have become invisible and began reading somewhere else. Plus, you are actually inside my Library. Read."

Still scowling, Sprite glances at the header, and in a bored voice reads, "Ageing Ritual." Then, widening her eyes, she pulls the book towards her, and starts reading quickly.

She then snaps her head towards me, and whispers, "Is.. is this true? Is this possible?"

The amount of hope I hear in those words is enough for even me to soften my eyes. I nod, and say, "I haven't used it before, never needed to. But none of the knowledge here is false. The Ageing Ritual bumps the age of any human, magical or otherwise, up by a minimum of two years, and a maximum of fifteen." Before she can do more than open her mouth, I say, "But.. we don't know if it will work on you. As much as you look like us, you are not a human, nor do you have the same Energy."

Sprite groans, as she leans back. For a minute, no one says anything, but then she asks, "How can we know for sure? How can we.. you know that it definitely won't work?"

I shrug, and say, "We could have you go through with the Ritual, with my help, but there can be very bad consequences if the Ritual fails. The worst being both of us being killed, the best case being that it just fails. And.. even if the Ritual succeeds.. you are an Eternal. 15 years after this time, you will still look like this."

The Ageing Ritual just permanently ages you to the age specified within the Ritual, by making your body look like how it would have looked in those many years naturally. For Eternals.. well, it is in the name.

Seeing Sprite's disheartened face, I say, "I didn't tell you this to make you lose hope. I told you this to make you see that it won't be as easy as you think it is. Magic has many possibilities, but even Magic has Rules, limits. It can't go against the Natural orders without consequences."

Smiling in reassurance, I say, "But.. I promise you this, Sprite. I will try to find a way to make you age, at least until you are in an adult body. I might not succeed, but I am definitely going to try."

Sprite nods with a small smile, although it doesn't go too far. The sadness is still there, however, which makes me just want to find her her cure faster.

She's an immortal person stuck in the body of a 14 year old. She cannot fall in love with anyone, without the other person looking like a creep. And while the humans in this time won't mind the relationship between her and any adult man, she herself doesn't want it. She herself feels creeped out.

Well, she is my guest now. And I will help her. She's like a cute annoying little kid, and I want to help her. Plus, she will at least get out of the teenager phase and become more tolerable.

Leaving Sprite for her reading, I start walking towards the Experiment Room, to wait for Phastos to get there. Wonder what he has for me today!

---

A/N: Am I stretching it? No? Okay. Glad you feel the same.

If anyone has watched Eternals, or just read the comics, you will know that Sprite is actually stuck as a child. The movie has a solution for that in the end, but.. I don't think Mason will let someone like her go through that for 2000 more years.

This isn't technically healing, since she's not injured, or sick. So no broken oath punishment for him. Don't worry, I have a plan for the oath punishment. 

Tatiana was a bit of a background character here. Her remarks about him and Phastos (Nothing Sexual I hope) were because she and Mason got together after studying together. She taught him apparition, and then they had their first kiss. It was a joke from her, so no need to get your panties in a twist because your delicate sexuality acted up.

Thank you for your support! Tata!