Eternity materialized in front of a group of gods. Their eyes shot to him, and he saw them fill with recognition first, then despair and impotent anger. As he started talking in a calm, low voice, they stood, frozen. "You weren't expecting me to come here so early."

One god walked forward, bowing to him, doing anything to preserve the last vestiges of his miserable life. "Hello, Eternity. Could you be possibly... persuaded to leave us alive for a little while?"

He shook his head with a small chuckle, only the trillions of years he’d lived giving him the ability to laugh in the face of the horrors occurring in this room. "Destroying worlds, all filled with life, is not something I can or will forgive. Your time has come. Besides, this room, as proof of your deeds, seals your fates, whether or not I'm in a good mood."

He looked around, waving at the walls, where people hung in different states of agony. Red dripped to the ground below their bodies, almost like wine flowing out of a cask. None had the same injury, each having a different grievous wound to their name. All of them were mortals, deciding to follow a god they believed in only to get put into this room and tortured, the god taking pleasure in slowly killing people, each in a new way. Eternity’s eyes changed, staring straight through time, and he stepped back.

“That woman,” he said, pointing at an old hag with blood still pouring out of the missing stump she had for a neck. “She was a girl of only five when you first picked her up.”

The gods had no words to deny him, knowing anything they said would anger him further. The woman floated into the air, her wrinkles smoothing away and her face returning to that of a child’s as the gods stared. Everyone knew the stories of Eternity’s mastery of time. Some just didn’t believe it. Eternity kissed the girl on the head, her eyes still closed. He’d returned her to the age she was when she’d first been captured. His eye flashed again, and he smiled. “Ah. Livianna, I see.”

The girl disappeared instantly, as if she’d never been there. You’ll see her later.

I suppose. She seems more like a Liv than a Livianna.

Did you forget I see what you see? Bastard, you know she goes by Liv. You looked through time, after all. There’s no ‘seems like’ here.

Eternity almost smiled, but kept himself from doing so. I have to enjoy the small things.

Suddenly, a spear shot at him from midair, one god hoping to catch him by surprise. Eternity grabbed it, midair, the divine-blessed metal spear catching on fire and burning, a puddle of molten metal forming on the ground. Flame wreathed Eternity as he turned away from the god. His attention turned to watching the new group he had just sensed emerging behind him, a group of the gods’ followers. They attacked immediately, water rushing at him, and Eternity sighed. Mortals had no chance of hurting him anymore. Time stopped, and he stepped aside before letting it move once again, the water-a tinge of red marking its abnormality-uselessly rushing past him. He saw the knowledge of their deaths in their eyes, a hopeless look he’d seen so many times before.

Eternity would never say he was very skilled with fire, compared to, say, his mastery over time, but most others would disagree. The group in front of him burned, flesh turning to ash as blinding white flame, hotter than the hottest stars, burned through them. They died instantly, before they could feel any pain. Then the flames flickered black, the dancing hellfire setting their souls alight, judging their sins and erasing their very souls from exstence. He turned away from the screams, facing the gods once more as they added another regret to his long, long list. Too long. More fire surged, and all that was left of the gods existed in memory.

A sudden fluctuation in space caused him to turn again, watching it rip open. The people on the other side stepped through, and Eternity took a single surprised step back, time whispering a warning to him just before he saw what was on the other side. For the first time in billions-no, trillions of years, he was scared.

He would not lose more friends.

Nightingale stood in a barred cage, her eyes still gleaming with the inner starlight they always carried. Breaker stood alongside her, leaning against the bars, ignoring the cage’s defense mechanism shocking him repeatedly. "How?"

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Nightingale answered him. "The Monsters. They're far stronger than anything either of us could muster. You'd need to use your full strength to win. Leave us. The universe needs-"

Eternity shook his head. "I'll do what they want me to."

This time, he had lost. The first time since he had taken up the burden of protecting the worlds, and the bitter taste it left was unwelcome.

A voice behind the cage laughed, almost silently. "Let's keep this short. Die."

Eternity nodded. It would be the last time he lost, apparently. “My friends for the rest of the world, eh?”, he asked.

“Yes.” the voice behind the cage spoke once more, replying. “I want the world, you want your friends alive.”

Eternity let quicksilver flow out of his hand and into a sword as his friends’ faces fell. He raised it, pointing the blade at his eye.

For the first time in trillions of years, he wanted more speed. If he was just faster, he’d be able to save his friends before the man could react. Not even Dream would get him through this.

Nightingale sighed as her eyes glazed over, how they always looked when she was taking a glimpse into the future. As she came back to herself, she watched the construct completed, knowing him well enough to see the energies he wove. "Jay. You've never wanted to be a hero. You've never accepted the name Eternity. But now?"

She stepped forward to the edges of the cage, looking more ragged in that moment than trillions of years of fighting, constant fighting, by his side. "It is your name. It is the name you earned. You don't give up. You don't stop. Not for an eternity. It is why we chose that name for you. But now, it is so much more."

Nightingale reached out, into space. "This is your world. Come back and be Eternity. For most, death is an end, something they’re always running from." She took a deep breath before continuing. “For you? Death is an escape from the constant fighting, and no one would fault you for taking it.”

Her eyes hardened. “Except me. Because I know you.” Sporting a gentle smile, she let out her last words before he released the last of his lifeforce. “You’d better come back, Jay. Or I’ll find your soul and punch it. Multiple times.”

“I’m not Eternity anymore. I’m just Jay. Another soul going to heaven or hell.”

Nightingale giggled, a small laugh that instantly grabbed his attention. “Your soul is a hero’s soul. Whatever body you’re reborn in will be a hero. You will never be just another soul. Besides, do you think heaven can contain you? Hell? You’ll reincarnate eventually. You’ll be back. Then the world will be restored to its former glory. Just come back on your terms, not the world’s terms. Besides, why are you trusting this guy to keep his word?”

She’s right. I’m coming back, and you’d better come with me. Remember? Together. Forever.

Eternity paused, not answering his oldest friend’s mental whispers.

Eternity plunged the sword into himself, fading into nothing. The great sleep called, and he moved towards it, intent on escaping the world. He fought, always fought. There was no end to the fighting.

And people died. He had lost more friends than gods saw people in their lifetimes, and each one was a new pain he had to endure. No matter how much time passed, he remembered every single one. Remembering them. A book materialized in his hand as he continued floating towards a true death. He opened it. “Beastmaster. Void. Chroma. Specter. Wrath. Radiance. Nightmare. Vision. Uni. Defiance.” The list didn’t end. Each name brought a memory to his mind, a memory of another person dead and almost forgotten.

Eternity paused before entering death. Could he really leave the people he’d lost to die their ultimate death, cut out from the world’s memories? Then he remembered Nightingale's last words. Could he really step away and abandon this world? He turned, the sleep still calling to him. Amon flitted into his thoughts. Together. Forever. She left, using her power to pull herself into the world once more. Then he decided. One that would change the course of the world. He turned and followed Amon. I’m going to regret doing this, aren’t I?

Amon turned around, her silver face quirking into a smile as she grabbed his hand, tugging him back into the world. Probably. But we’ll have fun along the way.

There was no time to sleep when evil was taking over. Especially not for one like him. He would stand and fight until the world ended, the general of the endless war.