"The wars between the seven realms had already lasted for generations by that point. Entire bloodlines had risen and fallen. Alliances had been forged and broken so many times that nobody could keep track anymore. Yet despite all the fighting, despite all the victories and defeats, the seven Lords remained trapped at the same stage - the Demi-God stage."
The old woman folded her hands together.
"They possessed enough power to reshape worlds and exterminate civilizations, but none of them could cross the final barrier. The Throne remained beyond their reach."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"The funny thing is that nobody actually knew what the Throne was."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said."
She laughed softly.
"The Lords spent countless years chasing something they didn’t truly understand. Some believed the Throne was an artifact. Others believed it was a position. Some claimed it was a cosmic authority that governed existence itself."
Her shoulders rose slightly.
"Nobody knew."
"Then what did Lord Casteil find?"
The smile disappeared.
"A path. Unfortunately that path carried a terrible price."
I waited. The old woman looked directly at me.
"Humanity."
"You mean..."
She nodded.
"The path required evolution. Lord Casteil discovered that Gods weren’t simply stronger mortals. They were fundamentally different beings."
She pointed upward.
"A fish cannot become a bird by growing stronger. And a mortal cannot become a God merely by accumulating power. The path hidden behind the Throne required transformation. The species itself needed to evolve into something greater."
She laughed bitterly.
"At least that’s what the discovery suggested."
The old woman leaned back.
"When this secret became known, the universe split in half. Theras supported it. And Amun opposed it."
She smiled.
"Most people think the conflict between the brothers began because they both wanted power."
The old woman shook her head.
"That’s not true."
Her eyes became distant.
"The real war began because they looked at the same discovery and reached completely different conclusions. Theras saw opportunity. He believed sacrifice was necessary. Mortals were weak. Mortals died. Mortals stagnated."
The old woman shrugged.
"To him, evolution was simply the next step."
Then her expression changed.
"Amun disagreed. He wasn’t against Godhood. Amun was ambitious. More ambitious than most people realize. People remember him as the wise one. The patient one. The reasonable one."
Her smile widened.
"He wasn’t. He simply hid it better than Theras. Amun wanted the Throne just as much as everyone else. But he refused to sacrifice humanity to reach it. According to family records, he asked a question that eventually became famous. If becoming a God requires us to stop being human, then what exactly reaches the Throne?"
I could immediately understand why. The old woman nodded slowly.
"That question divided the universe. The conflict grew worse after Lord Casteil’s death."
I straightened slightly.
"What happened to him?"
The old woman laughed.
"If you ever find the answer, come back and tell me."
I blinked.
"You don’t know?"
"Nobody does."
She spread her hands.
"One day he was alive. The next day he wasn’t. The problem is that every clue points toward a different conclusion. Some believe Theras killed him. Some claim one of the other Lords arranged it."
Her expression became distant.
"And there are even stories suggesting Lord Casteil sacrificed himself for reasons nobody understood."
I frowned.
"Regardless of who killed him, everything changed after his death. The System appeared."
"It appeared? Who created it?"
The old woman folded her arms.
"Nobody created it."
"What?"
"At least nobody we know of."
She shook her head.
"The System simply appeared. One day it wasn’t there. The next day it was. It possessed fragments of knowledge and power beyond anything that existed."
Her eyes narrowed.
"It contained laws. Pathways. Authorities. Information connected to the Throne."
She looked toward me.
"And suddenly everyone wanted it."
I could already imagine what happened next.
"The war became worse. The Lords stopped fighting over territory. They started fighting over the System."
The smile disappeared.
"And that was when Theras changed."
The old woman sighed.
"Nobody knows."
I frowned.
Again?
She laughed.
"I told you. The most important events in history are usually the ones nobody understands."
Her expression became serious.
"One day he was merely extraordinary."
A pause.
"The next day he was terrifying. Some claim he fused with part of the Throne. Others claim he made contact with something beyond the universe. I’ve heard stories involving sacrificed worlds, ancient entities and cosmic bargains."
Her eyes met mine.
"I don’t believe any of them."
That answer surprised me.
"Then what happened?"
The old woman smiled.
"I have absolutely no idea."
Unfortunately she appeared completely serious.
"What matters is the result. Theras succeeded where everyone else failed. He discovered a method to evolve humanity."
"The first Eternals."
The old woman remained silent for several moments.
"When the transformation began, many believed it was madness. Until it worked. It genuinely worked. The transformed individuals became stronger. Their potential increased. They lived longer. They advanced faster."
If the transformation had failed, nobody would have followed Theras. But it hadn’t failed. It had succeeded.
The old woman seemed to read the realization on my face.
"Exactly."
She pointed toward me.
"That was the moment everything became irreversible. Entire bloodlines joined him. Entire realms joined him."
The room fell silent.
"And those who refused became enemies."
I already knew who those people were.
"The Ironharts."
She nodded.
"Us."
The answer came without hesitation.
"We refused. So did many other families. That decision nearly wiped us out. The final war lasted longer than anyone expected."
Her voice became distant.
"The original universe burned. The System was shattered. The seven realms collapsed."
The old woman closed her eyes briefly.
"And eventually Amun lost. He couldn’t defeat Theras. Nobody could. So instead he made a different choice. He saved whoever he could. He gathered the surviving families. Then he took a fragment of the System and fled. He brought everyone to the Prime Universe."
The old woman looked out toward the city once more.
"As refugees. We thought it was over."
Her expression hardened.
"We thought we had escaped. We were wrong."
Because later, the Eternals found us again.