The day had arrived for Javier to confront the truths he had hidden within himself for centuries. His heart, never truly understood by the world he had roamed, had become a labyrinth of love, regret, and longing—an entangled mess that even his extraordinary mind had struggled to navigate. His relationships, his affections, they had all been held in the quiet corners of his existence, far from the world's gaze.
Javier had never truly allowed anyone to see the raw, unfiltered depth of his feelings. But now, the time had come for everything to unravel. It wasn't just the power of his emotions that demanded to be shared—it was the weight of his immortal life, the burden of the promises he had made and the lives he had touched along the way.
---
In a quiet moment, surrounded by those he had come to trust, Javier spoke. His voice was steady, yet his words trembled with the weight of a thousand untold truths.
"I have been with each of you," he said, his gaze shifting from Thena, to Sersi, to Makkari, and to the others who had become his closest companions. "In ways you may not understand. I have loved, and I have hurt. I have kept my feelings buried beneath the mask of my duties, of my godhood."
His words were like a dagger through the air, striking those who had been closest to him. His relationships had always been an unspoken truth, but now, his admission made the atmosphere heavy with uncertainty and surprise.
Sersi, ever so graceful and perceptive, was the first to speak. Her voice was calm, though a hint of hurt lingered beneath the surface. "Javier, we've known you for so long... and yet, there's so much you've kept from us. Why now?"
Javier's eyes softened as he looked at her, his gaze lingering on her face, filled with a mixture of sadness and longing. "Because the time has come for me to be honest, to share what I've held close for so long. I did not want to hurt any of you. But I fear I may have already caused harm by keeping this silence."
Thena's piercing eyes softened with understanding, but there was a complexity in her expression—a blend of affection and confusion. "So... you've been with all of us in some way? All of us?" Her voice held a note of disbelief, but there was also a glimmer of hurt.
Makkari, whose heart was often a whirlwind of emotions, found herself caught between anger and sorrow. She had felt the connection with Javier, but hearing the truth from his lips felt like a jolt to her very core. "How could you?" she whispered, her voice tremulous. "How could you love us all and keep us in the dark?"
Javier closed his eyes, feeling the weight of their emotions press against him like an unrelenting storm. "I did not choose this, Makkari. My heart is not something I control. It is the one thing in this endless existence that has been beyond my power."
Sersi, ever the empathetic one, took a step toward him, her hand reaching out. "We've all been waiting for you, Javier. But now... what do we do with this truth?"
Before Javier could answer, a chill swept over the group. A darkness that was too familiar, yet too dangerous to ignore, had descended upon them.
---
A shadow moved swiftly through the trees, almost imperceptible at first, but as it drew closer, the air thickened with malice. A Deviant. Not just any Deviant, but a creature of unimaginable power and fury—one that had been hunting Javier for eons, seeking revenge for the destruction of its kin at his hands during his earlier travels through the cosmos.
The Deviant, a monstrous creature with scales of dark obsidian and glowing eyes that burned with hatred, emerged from the shadows. Its form was both grotesque and majestic, like a twisted mirror of everything that had been made to fear Javier. The group stood frozen, but Javier's gaze remained fixed on the Deviant as if he had been expecting this very moment for centuries.
"You...," the Deviant hissed, its voice like a thousand tortured souls speaking in unison. "You are the one who has brought pain to my kind. The one who has stood against us for so long. Now, your end is at hand."
Javier's eyes darkened, his golden feather locket pulsing with energy, but something was different this time. His powers were waning. He had lived too long, moved too far beyond the limits of mortal comprehension. The toll of his immortality was now catching up with him, and even his formidable strength could not stave off the inevitable.
"You do not know what you're dealing with," Javier said, his voice steady despite the growing exhaustion that threatened to overtake him. "I am no mere god. I have seen the edges of time itself. You cannot destroy what has already seen the end."
But the Deviant was relentless, its claws slashing through the air, aiming for Javier's heart. It struck with unimaginable speed, and before anyone could react, Javier's body was pierced. Blood, dark and thick like ink, spilled from the wound, a wound that could not be healed, not by any of his powers, not by anything he had ever commanded. The battle had been fierce. Javier had fought valiantly, even as his body betrayed him. Despite the toll of centuries, despite the weight of his immortality that had finally caught up with him, he had still managed to kill the Deviant. His golden powers, the essence of his being, had unleashed a devastating force that crushed the creature with such intensity that the air itself seemed to vibrate. But even after slaying his mortal enemy, it was too late. The wound had been too deep, and the damage irreversible. Javier's body had finally succumbed to the price of eternity.
His body crumpled to the ground, his life force slowly ebbing away.
The others rushed to his side, but it was too late. Javier's breaths were shallow, his golden eyes dimming. Sersi fell to her knees beside him, her face streaked with tears, her hands trembling as they hovered over him, wanting to heal, wanting to save him, but knowing there was nothing she could do.
"No, Javier!" Thena cried, her voice hoarse with grief as she grasped his hand. "You can't leave us. Not like this."
Makkari stood in shock, her heart racing, her mind unable to process what was happening. "No... no, this can't be real."
Javier's lips parted, and for a moment, it seemed as if he was about to speak, to offer some final words, but the words never came. Instead, his body shuddered, and his eyes closed, his immortal soul finally slipping away into the unknown.
---
The world seemed to hold its breath as Javier's death rippled through the fabric of the universe. The Eternals, in their immortal lives, had never known such a loss. Javier had been the one who had always been there, the one who had defied fate, the one whose heart had been both a curse and a blessing.
But now, as his body lay lifeless before them, the pain of his absence was already felt.
"I promised him," Sersi whispered through her tears. "I promised that he would find peace. That he would fulfill what he had set out to do."
Makkari's face was etched with anger and sorrow. "He was the only one who ever understood me. The only one who ever stopped me from running."
Thena, ever so strong, couldn't hide the cracks in her exterior. "He was our Javier. And now, he is gone."
---
The Eternals stood solemnly around him, gazing at the lifeless form of their comrade, their friend, their lover. His golden eyes, once filled with unyielding strength and wisdom, were now closed in eternal slumber. His body, though still beautiful and seemingly untouched by the ravages of time, held the silent weight of the centuries.
Thena, Sersi, Makkari—each one of them had been affected differently, but none could deny the pain that coursed through them. Javier had been their anchor, their constant in a world that shifted and changed around them. His death felt like the unraveling of everything they had known. But they could not linger in grief forever. There was a final task that needed to be done, one that they had all promised to honor.
Ajak, the leader, the one who had seen Javier through the vast stretches of time, now stood before his body with a quiet resolve. She remembered the promise he had made, the quiet conversation they'd had so long ago. Javier had never asked for much in his long, godlike existence. But there was one request that had stood above all others.
"Bury me in Spain," he had said once, his voice steady despite the weight of the centuries. "It is where I will be remembered. It is where my legacy can finally rest. Not in the cold of a distant land, but in the earth that I have walked for so long. Bury me there, where my journey began."
At that time, Spain had been a land far removed from its modern greatness. But now, in the wake of his death, the nation had grown to encompass much of the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal, once a proud and independent kingdom, had become a sub-nation within the larger boundaries of Spain. It was a region Javier had always been drawn to, and Ajak knew, without a doubt, that this was where he had wanted to lie.
The Eternals, as powerful as they were, knew they could not disregard Javier's wishes. It was their final act of love and respect for him.
---
The group gathered in the land of Spain, overlooking the rolling hills and fields that stretched far into the distance. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over the mourners. Thena stood by Javier's side, her armor now dusted with the grief of her fallen companion. Sersi held herself together with a composure that only someone as ancient and wise as she could manage, but even her eyes betrayed the depth of her sorrow. Makkari, ever the one to race through time and space, had been frozen in place, her feet rooted in the ground as if she, too, had become part of the earth, unwilling to move from Javier's side.
Ajak, as the leader, had already given the command. Javier's body was carefully prepared, wrapped in a cloth that had once been woven with threads of gold—now tarnished by the toll of time. It was a symbol of his greatness, of his power, and of the life he had led.
As the group moved forward, Thena took a deep breath. She reached down to gently touch Javier's forehead, her fingers tracing the curve of his brow, as if seeking some last connection to him. The softness of his face made it impossible to reconcile with the fierceness of the warrior he had been, the god he had become.
"I will remember you, Javier," Thena whispered softly, her voice barely audible. "Your strength, your kindness, and the way you always stood tall, no matter the odds."
Sersi, standing beside her, placed her hand on Thena's shoulder. "We all will," she said, her voice firm despite the tears that threatened to fall. "We've all shared something with him, something none of us will ever forget."
Makkari, though usually quick with words, found herself in silence, her hands trembling as she helped lift Javier's body into the grave. It wasn't just her speed that had been taken away in that moment, but a part of her heart that would never be returned.
Together, the Eternals lowered Javier's body into the earth, the soil shifting around him, enveloping him in the embrace of the world he had walked for so long. As they did, the winds of Spain seemed to carry a deep sigh, as if the land itself mourned the loss of the immortal being who had once roamed it.
---
Once Javier was laid to rest, a heavy silence descended upon the group. The Eternals stood in a loose circle around the grave, each lost in their own thoughts, each reflecting on the time they had spent with him.
Ajak, who had once been the one to guide him, now stood with a somber expression on her face. Her voice broke the silence, low and full of emotion. "He did not ask for much. He only wanted to be remembered. In a world that constantly forgets, that is the greatest gift we can give."
Sersi nodded, her hand clenched into a fist at her side. "His legacy will endure, even if he is gone. What he created, what he brought to this world... it will not fade."
Thena stepped forward, her eyes distant. "He lived more in his years than most could in an eternity. His love, his strength... everything about him was a force of nature, unstoppable and unforgettable."
Makkari, still silent, knelt beside the grave. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, but she did not let them fall. Instead, she closed her eyes, remembering the moments she had shared with Javier—the quiet ones, the ones where no words were spoken, but where the connection between them had been so strong it had transcended language.
"He was mine, too," she whispered, as if speaking only to the wind.
And then, as if to honor his request, the group began to leave, each one offering a final glance at the grave where their immortal comrade would rest for all eternity. As they walked away, a single raven appeared in the sky, its wings stretching wide as it flew overhead—a symbol of Javier's legacy, of his unyielding will, and the promise he had kept.
Ajak watched the bird for a moment, her gaze thoughtful. "His essence will never leave this world. His story will be carried on by those he loved and those he touched."
And with that, the Eternals walked away, knowing that no matter what the future held, Javier's memory, his love, and his power would endure in the hearts of those who had known him.
Though his body was now buried in the earth, his legacy would echo through time, immortal as the stars.