[3000 BCE, Athens]

As we neared the coast of Athens, we saw that there was a developing city on that coast.

We flew low near the ground, and we saw humans were looking at us rather curiously. I didn’t know what Sprite said about us, but it’s interesting to say the least how they weren’t afraid of my constructs.

"They’re not afraid of you." commented Sersi. "That’s definitely something new."

I hummed. "Perhaps they’re used to seeing these kinds of things.."

"Meaning?"

"Deviants, Sersi.." I murmured. "It probably means that Deviants are a part of their lives.."

"Really?" She questioned curiously. "Well, we'd better ask the others about that."

I hummed, and we continued to fly to the place where the modern day Acropolis would be built, but right now, the place wasn’t much, a couple of houses, some smoke from fireplaces, and that’s basically it.

We landed in the middle of it, where I could already see a couple of Eternals waiting for us, probably to welcome us.. Heh, who am I kidding? They don’t care about us arriving.. Maybe Ikaris because of Sersi, but the rest? Not so much.

"Hello." I greeted flatly as me and Sersi got off of my construct.

Everyone just ignored, and greeted Sersi, which was just low in my opinion.

"Hey come on! I haven’t seen you all in 100-ish years either!"

"Yeah-yeah, nobody missed you though." Sprite commented dryly as she hugged Sersi.

"Really? Thena? What about you?" I said, acting hurt.

Thena just shrugged. "You’re here, or you’re not here. No difference."

I just snorted at her words, and looked at the group, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, and Ajak weren’t there.

"Where’s the rest?" I questioned.

"Druig and Makkari are down the hill." said Gil. "While Phastos is on the Domo."

"Ajak?"

"In the Domo, waiting for you. She wants to talk to you about something." Kingo informed me.

I hummed. "What about?"

"We’ll be going around the region. She probably wants to talk to you about that." Kingo shrugged.

I raised my eyebrow. "I just arrived.. Now there’s another mission? "

"It’s.. complicated.."

"Really?" I questioned. "Why?"

"Well, talk to Ajak first." Gil said to me. "She’ll explain the situation."

I hummed. "Alright, thank you for telling me, I’ll go there now."

Gil just nodded, then, he said, "Oh, Mr. P?"

Seriously? Again with Mr. P? "What?" I grumbled.

He just chuckled at my reaction. "It’s good to see you again."

I smiled weakly at him. "It’s good to see you all too."

---

[In the Domo]

I walked through the hallways of the place, stopping a bit to admire my sculpture that was placed between the halls.

Once I was done admiring it, I continued to walk to Ajak’s place, where I saw her talking to Phastos about something.

"Ajak, I’m back." I announced myself.

Once she saw me, she smiled for a second. "How’s your stay?"

"Boring." I shrugged. "Gil and the others said that you wanted to see me?"

She sighed tiredly as she heard what I’m saying. "Unfortunately, we have a problem..."

"We always have a problem." I stated, which made Phastos snort.

Ajak chose to ignore my words, and continued. "You remember those ‘hybrid’ deviants that you encountered?"

"Yeah? We were attacked by one of them as well on our way here."

She nodded. "This place has a lot of them."

I raised my eyebrow. "What’s ‘a lot’ in this scenario?"

"This many." Phastos continued, and he showed me the map of Greece, with a lot of red dots covering it. It was a lot alright..

I hummed. "So you want me to kill them?"

"I want you and the other fighters to go, except Makkari and Thena." she said.

"Why? Won’t Thena get bored? "

"A lot has happened in these 150 years, Pluto." Ajak smiled.

"So Thena is actively helping the humans in the area now?"

"They even named their surroundings after her name." Phastos said as alphabets started to appear on the map, enveloping the area we’re in. ‘Athēnai’

"Huh.." I murmured. "What did she do?"

"She fought a horde of deviants in front of the humans, teaching them how to fight as well." Phastos said.

"Classic Thena.." I hummed. "You’re okay with that, Ajak?"

"Thena’s changing bit by bit." Ajak smiled as she answered. "Let her be, and it’s just teaching them how to fight, not technology that is far beyond their capabilities.." continued Ajak, which made Phastos snort again.

I shrugged. "Alright, if you’re fine with it, When will we go then? "

"It’s up to you." said Ajak. "You’re the leader of the expedition."

"Me?" I was amused at her decision. "Not Ikaris?"

"He’s the type to follow orders, not give them." Ajak said casually."Any more questions?"

"No.. Not really. " I shook my head. "Well, I’ll look around first, see if there’s anything interesting around here, and probably find my ‘alone spot’ as well."

After that, I left the Domo, intending to tour around the area.

—

[Athens Again]

I am now walking with Thena, scouring this small settlement called Athenai. A lot of people greeted us, or rather greeted Thena. She was smiling all the way, which was strange to be honest.

"How come you’ve become like this?" I questioned, curious. "I mean, I get it if it's children, but they’re adults.."

Thena rolled her eyes because of my statement. "You said to me that I should mingle more with humans."

"Well.. I did.. but I didn’t expect that you would adapt this easily."

She chuckled at my observation. "Will it make more sense if the first generations of the humans living here are children?"

"Oh yeah.. that makes a lot of sense." I hummed. "How’d you meet them?"

"When we found them, they were attacked by the deviants," said Thena. "I simply killed them."

"You killed the children?" I teased, I’m gathering my courage here to tease her..

She rolled her eyes in amusement. "The deviants, of course."

I chuckled. "So, where are they now?"

She sighed at my question. "Most of them have already died of old age.."

"Most?"

She hummed weakly. "Only one remains."

We then approached a rather small house. It was pretty well taken care of, but you could tell that it belonged to an old man/woman.

Thena then knocked on the door, and after a while, the door opened, revealing an old woman.

When the old woman saw Thena, she smiled rather brightly. "Mā?tēr.."

The old woman slowly approached Thena and hugged her. Thena murmured, "Sophia..."

After that, those two conversed in the language of the area, which I haven’t learned. So I just waited for them to finish.

I saw Thena helping to clean this ‘Sophia's’ house, so I helped her a bit, which made her smile.

After that, they talked again. I still don’t know what those two were talking about, but I swear that they were talking about me for a bit, which I don’t really mind.

Once they’ve finished, Thena bade farewell to Sophia, and we both continued our tour.

"Sophia was her name, right?" I asked.

She just hummed. "She calls me ‘mother’, even though she already looks older than me."

"That’s sad..." I mumbled.

"The Woes of Being Immortal." Thena smiled weakly. "Anyway.. I think you should prepare for your expedition, I shouldn’t disturb you any longer. "

I chuckled. "No, I was the one who asked you to give me a tour, but okay, I think I’ll prepare."

"Right, see you when you’re back."

I just hummed, and parted ways with Thena, who continued to explore the rest of the settlement, greeting the humans.