"Gwen, are you with Gamora? Come to Karl's room. He has something to tell us."
"I'm with her. We'll be right there."
Gwen replied in her mind.
Telepathy didn't require spoken words. As long as one thought something, the other could understand it directly.
"Let's go. Karl wants us there. He must've discovered something."
The two headed toward Karl's quarters. They were all staying in the same palace anyway, just in different rooms. Karl and the other men stayed on the lower floor, while the women were on the second.
When they arrived, everyone except Quill was already there. Quill was still with Ego, and Karl had no intention of calling him over.
After Gamora and Gwen sat down, Karl spoke first.
"I think all of you have noticed by now—this place isn't normal. Aside from Ego and Mantis, this entire planet is basically a dead world."
Everyone nodded. Even Drax, dense as he was, felt something was off.
"Take a look at this. Skye and Mantis found a cave earlier. They took these photos."
Karl held up his phone. On the screen was a horrifying image—a mountain of bones.
"These are… skeletons? Why do they look so much like…"
Gamora stared at the piles of bones, her sense of foreboding growing stronger.
"They're all Ego's children. Peter isn't his only child. He traveled everywhere searching for suitable women to bear his offspring… then he brought those children back to Ego Planet and absorbed them."
Mantis looked at the photo as she spoke.
Having served Ego all her life, she knew exactly what he had done—and she also knew what fate awaited Peter.
She then revealed everything about Ego's actions to the group. By the time she finished, even Wanda, usually the gentlest among them, was filled with anger.
Ego had consumed every single one of his children's lives.
That was no parent.
---
Meanwhile, Quill and Ego sat beneath the stars, talking.
"This song was your mother's favorite. She believed it was one of Earth's greatest works."
The two listened to music through Quill's old cassette player.
"Peter, you know I loved your mother. But sometimes… we can't indulge in mortal attachments."
Ego removed one side of the headphones and set them aside.
"You may not be mortal, but I…"
Quill still found his identity hard to believe, though he no longer doubted Ego as much as he had when they first arrived.
"Peter, as long as this planet exists, neither of us will ever face death."
Ego spoke solemnly.
"So I'm immortal?"
Quill asked.
Ego nodded.
"As long as those energy streams remain, we'll live forever."
"Then… I can use those energy streams too? Like when you created this planet?"
Quill sounded excited, which was understandable. Anyone discovering they were basically a god would have trouble staying calm.
"Haha… of course. Though you'll probably need a few million years of practice. But yes—you can create anything you want. Even life itself."
Ego laughed heartily.
He was guiding Quill step by step, testing whether his son was worthy of inheriting his power—or merely another failed offspring destined to become discarded material.
"What?! That's awesome! I'm gonna build a giant Pac-Man statue hundreds of feet tall! I'm gonna make all kinds of weird stuff! I'm gonna—"
Clearly, Quill's mind had already shifted into full-scale construction mode.
"Peter, this is an enormous responsibility. Only we can reshape the universe. Only we can guide it onto the correct path."
Ego slowly began revealing his true ambitions.
But Quill was still too caught up in excitement to really listen.
"What do I need to do?"
He was still fantasizing about creating things like a god.
Seeing Quill like this, Ego smiled.
He snapped his fingers, and a cluster of white flame-like energy flickered at his fingertips.
Quill immediately copied him, snapping his own fingers. Sure enough, white energy appeared in his hand as well. He excitedly played with it.
"Come with me. I want to show you something."
Ego led Quill deeper into the palace.
"Listen, Peter. You need to change how you view life. Everything around us—even your companions—they're all temporary. Only we are eternal."
As they walked into the great hall toward the massive egg-shaped structure, Ego continued feeding Quill his ideology.
"Wouldn't eternity get boring?"
Quill's thoughts immediately jumped somewhere else entirely.
Ego shook his head.
"No, Peter. Not if you have a purpose. And that's why I brought you here."
He finally began revealing the truth.
"I told you I searched the universe for other lifeforms. What I didn't tell you was that when I found them… they disappointed me."
With a wave of his hand, the egg-shaped device projected changing holographic images. One scene showed Ego standing on an alien world facing another extraterrestrial being.
Quill looked up attentively at the shifting projections.
"That's when I realized something profound. My desire to seek other life wasn't because I wanted to experience the wonders of the universe."
Ego turned back toward Quill, visibly emotional.
"Peter… that was the moment I discovered my true purpose."
As he spoke, Ego pressed a finger against Quill's forehead.
Instantly, Quill's eyes became filled with starlight, as though galaxies themselves swirled within them.
It felt as if he were witnessing the entire universe.
---
Meanwhile, Quill's ship was still making nonstop jump points through space.
Tony and the others were practically stretched like noodles from the repeated spatial distortions. After who knew how many jumps, the ship finally arrived before a crimson planet, abruptly halting its acceleration.
"AAAAAGH—!!!"
Everyone crashed to the floor in a heap.
After enduring so many consecutive jumps, most of them had practically been floating in midair. The intense dizziness hit all at once, and the entire crew lay sprawled across the deck, groaning helplessly.
Several people immediately vomited.
"Fuck! Fuck!! What the hell is wrong with you?! If you ever do that again, I swear I'll put an arrow through you!!"
Lying crookedly on the floor, Yondu turned his head toward Rocket and roared furiously.
Rocket himself wasn't doing much better, collapsed nearby and dry-heaving nonstop.
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