chapter one
THE PLANET CALLED TERRA

Mesopotamia　
5000 BC　
　

THE ETERNALS' SHIP, the Domo, drifted through space in remote silence. All of its inhabitants slept peacefully in their respective private quarters aboard the spacecraft, not a single sound being made amoung them, save for the soft snores and occasional restless movement of fur blankets as few of them shifted around in their sleep to get more comfortable. That is, until they were awoken by their leader, Ajak, who informed them that they had arrived at their destination. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, everyone came together in one of the council rooms, each one of them clothed in white dress robes as they sat in a perfect circle around a tall statue of their leader, Arishem the Judge.

"It is time," Ajak announced a few silent moments later, her brown eyes fluttering open and golden hue fading from the hollow of her throat, where the sphere that allowed her to communicate with Arishem resided. Their mission was very simple. Arishem the Judge had tasked them with protecting the planet called Terra ⎯⎯ which was otherwise known as Earth by its inhabitants ⎯⎯ from the Deviants. They were to eradicate them entirely, as well as protect the humans from the Deviants, and help them evolve with time.

After Ajak told them to prepare for battle, everyone stood from their seats and approached different areas of the wall in the room, coming to stand in their respective places. Their arms crossed over their chests in an X shape, a marvelous device which had been crafted by Phastos himself began to maneuver around their bodies, slowly building their suits of various colours around them.

Once they were dressed for their mission, everyone went their separate ways as they waited for the Domo to enter the planet's atmosphere. Ares drifted toward his sister, Thena, who was conjuring weapons with her powers and swinging them around the room, the woman obviously prepared for battle.

"Sister," he said, bowing his head slightly in greeting.

"Brother," Thena greeted. She turned and swung a blade at him, which he just barely ducked out of the way of. She smirked at the look on his face. "Are you not yet prepared? Still sleepy from your nap, I take it?"

Ares scoffed, conjuring a golden sword and confidently swinging it around. "I was born ready, dear sister. I only wish that there would be enough Deviants for everyone. By the time I am done with them, there will hardly be any left over for you to kill."

"Oh, please," Thena rolled her eyes. "As if you would be able to kill more Deviants than me."

"Aye, I would," Ares smirked, circling his sister while running a finger across the smooth surface of the golden blade he had conjured moments ago. "Should we make things interesting, then?"

Thena raised her brows, clearly pleased with the thought of a little friendly competition. "Loser has to dispose of the dead bodies?"

Ares grinned. "You're on."

"Be sure to wear something to cover your hands when you clean them up, dear brother, their blood is rather hard to get off your skin," Thena teased, before walking away toward Gilgamesh.

The God of War chuckled, shaking his head in amusement at her words. He looked away from his sister and took a moment to glance around the room. He noticed that Ajak was speaking with Phastos nearby, however he didn't recognize anyone else except for his sister and Gilgamesh, who had been their closest friend on their homeworld, Olympia. But Arishem had assigned them all this one mission together, so Ares knew that he was going to have to learn all of their names eventually. He started by approaching the dark-haired woman that was standing at the window, which overlooked the endless sea of stars.

As he got closer, Ares couldn't help but admire the woman's beauty. Her dark hair was pulled out of her face and flowed down her back and across the short, green cape of her suit. Her brown eyes were hidden behind long, dark eyelashes, and they sparkled as she looked out the window. The corners of her mouth tugged back into the slightest of smiles, as though she could stare at the stars forever and never get bored of them. She was so beautiful. So flawless in every way possible.

"Hello," Ares greeted, coming to her side.

The woman turned to look at him, her smile widening and making her brown eyes sparkle even more. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Ares looked out the window at the approaching planet, before meeting her gaze again. "Aye, it is. I'm sure it'll only be more pleasing to the eye once we have landed."

She turned to face him and extended her hand. "My name is Sersi."

He eyed her hand for a moment, before reaching out and taking it in his own. Her skin was so soft and warm, and he never wanted to let go of it. Ares brought her hand to his lips, delicately placing a kiss to her knuckles, their gaze never breaking as he did so. A faint smirk tugged at his lips when he saw the flustered expression on her face. "I am Ares. It is a great pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Sersi."

"Do you flirt with everyone you first meet?" Sersi asked while pulling her hand away, a faint blush coating her cheeks as she turned to face the window again.

"Not everyone," Ares winked at her.

Sersi arched a brow in his direction. "Should I be honored, then?"

"Aye," he nodded. "You should."

The woman laughed, and he found himself smiling at the wonderful sound falling from her rosey lips. It was so melodic. So soft and happy. It was like the most beautiful ballad he had ever heard in his entire life. And he never wanted to stop listening to it.

He looked at her again. "What is it that you can do, Sersi? Why did Arishem choose you for this mission?"

"I can transform matter," Sersi explained. "My powers allow me to change a stone to solid gold, or even dirt into water. I can change anything into whatever I want. Arishem believes that my abilities will help the humans evolve over time."

Ares raised his brows, impressed by what she was capable of doing with her hands. "How very intriguing."

"What can you do, Ares?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head, and that smirk Sersi had quickly realized in her short time of knowing the man was his signature smirk, had reappeared, slowly but surely tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"They call me the God of War," Ares told her, conjuring a pair of golden daggers into his hands, which he twirled around, showing off his skills to the beautiful woman. "I was made for battle and can conjure any weapon of my choosing at command."

"Impressive," Sersi commented, eyeing the daggers in his hands and marveling their intricate designs. "They are quite beautiful. What other kind of weapons can you conjure?"

"Swords, spears, daggers, axes, arrows," Ares began to list off as he made the weapons disappear from his hands. "I can make any weapon I desire. Whatever I believe will serve me best in battle. I personally prefer a sword or daggers. My sister is the one who favors a spear."

"Your sister?" Sersi questioned.

Ares turned slightly, gesturing with his hand toward his sister, who was standing in the other room with Gilgamesh. "Her name is Thena, but people call her the Goddess of War. She can conjure weapons, much like me, and was born for battle."

"She seems very well trained," Sersi observed, watching as the blonde Eternal swung her golden spear around with ease and at a remarkable speed.

"Well, they don't call us the God and Goddess of War for nothing," Ares smirked lightly.

Not much later, Ajak announced that they had entered the planet's atmosphere and that everyone needed to be ready for battle. According to Phastos, there was a group of Deviants currently attacking some humans and they would need to take care of them quickly before anyone would be harmed.

As everyone gathered around an exit in the Domo, Ares got to learn the rest of their names and what they were capable of doing. There were the main fighters, which consisted of Thena, Gilgamesh, Ikaris, Makkari, Kalliope, Cythera, Kingo, and himself. And then there were the non-fighters, which consisted of Ajak, Phastos, Sersi, Druig, Sprite, and Eleos. Each one of them had a special gift, some of which were designed to protect humanity and help them evolve, and others to understand the planet and its people better.

When they were low enough, Phastos used some of his magnificent creations to lower the fighters down into the village. Their feet planted firmly on the ground, they began making their way toward the edge of a cliff that overlooked a part of the ocean, where some humans were trying to capture some fish to eat for dinner with pointy-ended sticks.

A Deviant burst out of the water then, and it snarled at a young boy that was sitting in the sand and gutting a fish his father had likely caught moments ago. The boy looked scared as the Deviant got closer to him, but before it could even touch the small human, Ikaris blasted it away with his optic energy and then flew down, taking the creature far away from the innocent humans so he could kill it properly.

Everyone knew that Ikaris could handle this one Deviant on his own, so they quickly turned away from the cliff and headed toward the small village where they could hear the humans screaming in terror as several Deviants attacked them from every which direction. Ares and Thena exchanged a look with each other, nodding curtly, before leaping into battle.

Ares whistled to capture the attention of a Deviant circling a group of frightened humans that were clinging to each other. It turned at the sound and snarled at the Eternal, drawing its sharp talons into the dirt before charging at Ares with the intent to kill. He smirked while conjuring two swords, and slid out of the way of the Deviant's attack when it swiped at him. Ares swung his blade through the air, drawing some blood and causing the creature to hiss at him.

The Deviant quickly turned on him again, swinging at him with its sharp talons over and over. But it never got him. Ares was faster, moving out of the way with ease and eventually leaping onto its back and jamming his blade deep into its head until he heard the satisfying crack of its skull. The creature fell to the ground, and with a smirk, Ares did a flip off its body and landed gracefully on the ground, before glancing around him for a new Deviant to kill.

His next target was a Deviant his fellow Eternal, Cythera, seemed to be struggling with. The woman was lying on the ground, constantly rolling out the way so that the creature four times her size wouldn't stomp on her or cut her with its claws. Ares twirled his blades, dug his heels into the dirt, and then kicked off into a run towards them.

With two golden swords in his hands, the God of War slid across the ground, aiming for the back of the Deviant's heels to sever the nerve that was there. It howled loudly in pain while stumbling around, seeming to struggle to turn around so that it could snarl at him. Ares simply smirked at its pain and the sound of its whimpers, before walking around the Deviant's side. He glanced at Cythera, who was still lying on the ground, before ending its life with a clean slice of his blade across the jugular.

"Thank you," Cythera said, watching as the now-dead Deviant fell to the ground.

He held out a hand for Cythera to take, and pulled the woman up from the ground. "Next time, plant your feet and use your power against it. A simple dagger will not help you, not if you do not know how to use it properly."

Cythera nodded, accepting the advice from her fellow Eternal, before running off to help Kalliope with another Deviant nearby.

Ares took a moment and looked across the village to where his sister and Gilgamesh had just finished killing a Deviant together, and he hollered over the chaos, "That's two I've slain already, dear sister!"

Thena heard him and rolled her eyes at his words, before turning away, both her and Gilgamesh leaping into battle once more.

Once all the Deviants had been dealt with and the humans were safe, the rest of the Eternals emerged from the uncloaked Domo, which drifted closer to the village. They were standing upon devices crafted by Phastos, and the humans formed a small crowd as they marveled at the Eternals and their spacecraft.

Ajak stepped to the front of the group as they all came together, and she used her powers to heal Ikaris' wound that he had sustained in battle. He smiled at the woman, his shoulder pain now gone. "Thank you, Ajak."

Their leader smiled at Ikaris, before stepping to the front of the group and looking out at the curious humans staring at them. Ares stood beside his sister, but before he could ask her how many Deviants she had killed so they could find out who the winner of their friendly competition was, Ajak had motioned for Sersi to approach a young boy.

Ares watched with curious eyes as the beautiful Sersi bent down, picking up a dagger made from carved stone into her hands. She held it flat in the palm of her hand and used her powers to turn the stone into metal, creating the first weapon of its kind. The first step in human evolution.

With a delicate smile on her face, Sersi stepped toward the young boy and took his hand in her own, gently placing the metal dagger within his grasp. The boy smiled back at her, before looking down at the weapon in awe, and turning around to join the people of the village and show them the blade as well.

Ares couldn't help but smile as he watched Sersi, and it was only when his sister nudged him in the side, that he looked away from the dark-haired woman and toward a smirking Thena. He rolled his eyes and then asked how many Deviants she had killed in battle.

"Three," she told him. "And you?"

"It appears we have a draw," Ares sighed in disappointment. He had been looking forward to seeing his little sister dispose of the dead bodies on her own while he watched from the sidelines and teased her relentlessly.

"Well, this planet is full of Deviants," Thena said. "I'll get to watch you dispose of the bodies soon enough."

"Me?" Ares shook his head and laughed while slinging an arm around her shoulders. "No, dear sister, it'll be you."

"We shall see about that, " Thena smirked.

a/n: okay but the moment when ares and sersi met each other on the domo literally got to me, like oh my gosh they're so soft and screw ikaris for stealing our man's girl 🥺 also, ares and thena might be my fave siblings ever?? like, i just love their competitive nature and dynamic so much hehe!