Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Our favourite Eternals have discovered that every time 1 of them is resurrected a human or Deviant has to die. So they've gone to Deviant Lemuria to learn how to change their ways (ie stop treating death as just an inconvenience). (Some Eternals already knew about this, and many others just don't care about individual humans.) Meanwhile Druig helped Thanos replace Zuras as Prime Eternal, and the Titan killed him for his pains.
In Lemuria we witness 1 of the problems of being Deviants. 1 Deviant has succumbed to the illness known as excess deviation and as apparently usual in this situation wants to eat another Deviant. Ikaris, Kingo Sunen and Phastos come to the rescue, not so much because they are heroes as that as Eternals they are driven to wipe out excess deviation. The would-have-been meal runs away in fright, and Phastos points out that that Deviant knew that if he 'changed' that would be his fate too.
He also chides Ikaris for charging in recklessly - he's supposed to avoid possibly getting killed. Ikaris says he doesn't know how to do that, but he flies off to find someone who can teach him. Kingo has been searching for Gilgamesh, the Forgotten One, who now has the guilt from his 'job' of 'temporarily' killing Eternals who deserved it. Phastos is trying to work out how to stop Thanos. (He had a method but Druig removed it from his mind.)
Druig awakens in the resurrection chamber in the Exclusion. He can't remember the events that led to his latest death but he figures it had something to do with Thanos who greets him. He does remember that he somehow helped the Titan become Prime Eternal and he guesses that his missing memories contain something Thanos doesn't want him to know (it's the method of defeating Thanos he got from Phastos). Wily Druig accepts his new role as Thanos' servant, planning of course to turn the tables somehow. The Titan's main goal is to fix the defective body Phastos gave him.
Back in Lemuria Deviant sculptor Tolau is waiting to unveil his latest work. The Eternal musician Khoryphos and the Deviant artist Yrdisis, a couple for 40 years, try to calm his apprehension. Eternal Thena, Tolau's muse and subject of the statue, contemplates the pair - Khory Eternally youthful and Yrdy now in her old age. Tolau shows his lover Thena that he is exhibiting early signs of the 'change' which began yesterday after Thena's previous lover Warlord Kro visited them.
We now get 1 of the Great Machine's digressions, this time on Lemurian gladiatorial combat. Many Deviants are violent. (The Machine supposes this is only natural given that Eternals are always suspecting them of excess deviation.) Even the non-violent enjoy watching gladiators fight. But it waxes and wanes with fashion. Currently it's in disfavour and gladiators now don't fight in arenas and just hope some in the small crowd will spare them some coins. 2 such are Ransak The Reject and his friend Karkas. Karkas is a more-than-typically monstrous Deviant who is really a poet and philosopher, but his great strength means being a gladiator pays better (sometimes). Ransak looks human, which to Deviants is really ugly. He is armed with power rods and a great rage.
Now we see them fighting each other to an unsympathetic crowd who shout insults at the Reject. Karkas tells him to ignore them - ugliness is only skin deep and inside he's just as Deviant as them all. Ikaris arrives to talk to them and scares the crowd away. He says he wants to learn how to fight defensively to avoid getting killed. So Ransak punches him in the face, hurting his hand. He expected Ikaris to dodge the blow, but the Eternal doesn't understand the word.
In Olympia Druig reports to Thanos that Zuras is restrained in the Exclusion but it can only be temporary. At some point someone will force another vote which the Titan might not win so they must use his period of power to attain his aim. Domo the administrator has been 'promoted' to chief scientist and has been examining the situation. The Titan is only an Eternal by descent (from Mentor and Sui-San) and is not therefore a true original Eternal and was never part of Eternal society, bonded to the Machine. Phastos gave him a partial bond and Domo hopes to complete it. Then they can use the resurrection chamber to give him a new Eternal body without the dodgy artificial heart Phastos provided (to replace the 1 destroyed by Gamora back in Infinity Wars Prime).
Domo's machines blast Thanos with staggering energies. It doesn't work but Domo considers lying, hoping that Thanos will then kill himself trying to get resurrected. But Domo's not a risk-taker so he admits it hasn't. He can't even figure out how Phastos got as far as he did, and Thanos won't allow himself to be studied too deeply in case they discover how to activate the fail-safe switch Phastos installed (which is what the smith and Druig have been made to forget). He ends by saying only Phastos can do the job. Thanos commends Domo for his honesty but then kills him for his failure.
He then asks Druig how to get Phastos? What forces can they muster? Druig asks him which attributes he seeks in his followers:- numbers, trustworthiness or lack of ethics. He suggests the Titan pick 2 out of 3. Thanos opts for the last 2 and Druig suggests the Oceanic Watch.
Time for another of the Great Machine's data dumps. (Remember in the following that this series claims that all 100 true Eternals were created at the start, and all Eternal family structures are actually a fiction.) When brothers Uranos and Kronos fell out over destroying or protecting humanity Uranos lost and led his followers to exile in space. But eventually they all died and were automatically resurrected back on Earth by the Machine. Uranos has since been kept in Exclusion but his people were put to good use. The 3rd brother Oceanus worried that he himself might go bad so he offered to lead the Uranites as the Oceanic Watch, to keep an eye on Lemuria and be ready to act with violence at the Prime Eternal's command.
But we now catch up with Kro and the Eternal Sersi. Last issue we left them planning a dinner date, and now we see it happening in Kro's palace. Kro asks her why she has relationships with humans rather than Deviants. She ticks off the reasons:- Eternals and Deviants are traditional enemies. Deviants tend to have even shorter lives than humans. And then there's the risk of excess deviation. Kro protests that he himself has lived 20,000 years, which laughing Sersi points out makes him just a child in Eternal terms.
But their meal is interrupted by Thena in her armour holding a sword to the Deviant's throat. Kro thinks his ex-lover is jealous over Sersi but she accuses *him* of jealously poisoning Tolau. Kro protests that no-one knows how to cause the 'change', and if he did he'd never do such a thing to 1 of his people. And he says he's sorry for her. When the 'change' happens she will have to either leave Tolau or her Eternal instinct will make her kill him. Angry Thena exits swearing never to kill her lover.
Sersi prepares to leave too because the mood has been broken. But she asks Kro if he *did* invite her to dinner to make Thena jealous. Kro says he is capable of multiple motives, and Sersi perfectly understands that.
We follow Sersi to her own quarters where she is approached by Jack Of Knives, stealthily as is his wont but he makes himself known in case she was about to disrobe. Eternal clothing is I believe actually created and destroyed at will but he notes that she wears some genuine earrings. She tells him they are a gift from an old friend (but I don't think we know who). But she warns him that they aren't sufficiently important to her to be a source of blackmail.
Last issue Ikaris was going to tell the Robson's how their son Toby died to give him new life. Sersi sent Jack to dissuade him with a threat to kill them and anyone else he revealed the Eternals' dirty secret to. Jack reports that Ikaris backed down and Sersi pays him the agreed fee. He turns down the offer of a drink because he's off to a party with his fellow Tricks, celebrating having helped elect the new Prime Eternal. This is the 1st Sersi (and the other Eternals in Lemuria) have heard of the election.
Sersi brodcasts a psychic shout to Phastos, Kingo, Ikaris, Thena and Sprite to tell them that Thanos is now their boss. Just as he arrives on his flying throne to demand Phastos and their lives.