Once the Power Stone was removed, the outer Orb became nothing but junk. Skyl had been planning to toss it aside, but when he saw the longing look on Star-Lord's face, he tossed it to him instead. This self-proclaimed legendary outlaw clearly had a head full of bad ideas. From the look of it, he was planning to use the empty shell to collect the reward anyway.
"Let's go. On to the next stop." Skyl unfolded the star map and searched for nearby inhabited worlds. For the moment, he had no intention of heading to Vormir to keep his appointment with Thanos. He wanted to spend some time traveling and sightseeing first, and along the way maybe track down that guy Stan Lee.
At the moment, that creator-god ought to be on Xandar, the capital of Xandarian civilization and the headquarters of the Nova Corps.
Skyl thought back over the story. Around this time, Rocket Raccoon and Groot should also be on Xandar. Those two were pretty adorable.
As they headed back to the Planeswalker, Star-Lord shamelessly sidled over. "Hey, guys, where are you headed next? Let's swap transponder codes so we can keep in touch."
"Our ship doesn't have an interstellar-standard comms unit yet. We'll need to buy one before we can give you a code." Tony sized Quill up. "Hey, Missouri boy, when did you leave Earth?"
"Over twenty years ago."
Quill answered vaguely. Seeing that both Skyl and Lady Moonshadow had already boarded, he blurted out, "Got room for one more on your ship?"
"No."
"Not even a little? I mean, come on, after that heroic combat display you all just witnessed, surely somebody was impressed. At least one beautiful girl must've felt something." He shot Gali a wink. "So what do you say, any interest in picking up a local guide? I can fight, I can take a hit, and I can lead you fine Earth heroes around the galaxy. Hey, Captain, just give the word and I'll charge through fire and flood for you."
Tony smiled in satisfaction. "So you think I'm the captain too, huh? Good eye. Wait here, I'm gonna go discuss it with Skyl."
Star-Lord curled his lip behind Tony's back. Lord Quill had spent years mixed up in the stars. One glance was enough to tell that this guy was the kind of crewman born to mutiny. In the end, he was still working for someone else.
When Skyl heard that Star-Lord wanted to join them, he did not object, though he did not see him as a permanent crew member either. With Quill's personality, he was bound to break off on his own eventually and form the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Lady Moonshadow was very much in favor. She could see that Star-Lord carried some extraordinary traits, and if those were dug out properly, there were bound to be surprises.
Lady Moonshadow was the sort who loved a good underdog growth arc. She especially liked seeing ordinary mortals learn to value themselves and grow stronger.
Gali liked Star-Lord too. She genuinely believed he was some kind of legendary outlaw.
Counting Tony, who had made the suggestion in the first place, that made three votes in favor and one neutral.
"Jormungand, what do you think?" Skyl asked the final crew member. "Jormungand? Gali, where'd your daughter go?"
"Huh? She was just here."
Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Don't tell me she went looking for food. This planet is a dump. There can't be much worth eating here."
Skyl slapped a hand against his palm. "Not good. Mr. Quill's in danger."
Beneath the ship, the cute and harmless-looking space ribbon-worm circled around Star-Lord like a blue-green ribbon, bright and graceful in motion.
Quill laughed smugly. "You like me, don't you? Come here, little cutie, let Big Daddy give you a pet."
He reached a hand toward Jormungand's head.
The adorable little snake slowly opened a circular mouth lined with sharp teeth. She very much wanted to know what Star-Lord tasted like. Aside from his Earthling blood, half his genes came from a Celestial. One bite of that would have five times the protein of beef. It was enough to make the space ribbon-worm practically dizzy with anticipation.
"Stop!" Everyone on the ship rushed out to stop Jormungand, but they were still a step too late. Half of Star-Lord's arm had already vanished in one gulp.
"Aaaagh!"
One minute later, aboard the Planeswalker.
Skyl had finished bandaging Quill's severed arm and was trying to comfort him. "Don't worry, Mr. Quill. A small injury like this will heal in less than two days. I guarantee your new arm will work just as well as the old one."
"Doc, I think this one can still be saved." Quill stared at the arm lying on the table beside him. It was covered in puncture marks and smeared with the clear, glistening saliva of the alien ribbon-worm. Gali had pulled it back out of the little snake's mouth. If they cleaned it up and reattached it, it really could survive.
In truth, Skyl could have restored Star-Lord to normal with the Time Stone. But if he did that, Quill's memory would roll back to before the attack too, and he would fail to learn his lesson. Sooner or later, he would go right back to provoking Jormungand.
Gali came over holding the little snake in both hands. "Apologize. Right now."
Jormungand twisted in her mother's palm and gave Quill an apology.
"I'm sorry, big brother."
The soft, childish little voice eased even Star-Lord's anger and fear.
"Ah, it's nothing, really. What's the big deal, it's just one arm. Even if my head fell off, it'd only be one scar bigger. A scratch like this is nothing to a legend like me." Quill casually lifted his T-shirt and showed off his hairy upper body. There really were a few scars there, and he immediately launched into a boast about how he had gotten them fighting alien monsters.
Tony narrowed his eyes and leaned toward Skyl's ear. "This kid's lying. Those scars were definitely left by furious women."
"You figured that out too?"
Tony shrugged. "He's all talk, has no real skills, and flirts with anything that moves. I've seen plenty of guys like that."
Skyl raised his voice. "Mr. Quill, I hear you want to join us. Would you care to explain why?"
"Uh, because we're fellow Earthlings?"
"The Planeswalker is only a sightseeing ship, Mr. Quill. There's no long-term position for you here. And to be honest, you're only trying to hide out with us, aren't you?"
"How could that be?" Star-Lord laughed awkwardly, trying to brush it aside.
Skyl looked at him calmly. "There's no need to lie, Mr. Quill. You're hiding from the Ravagers. In 1988, you were abducted from Earth by a Ravager crew, and after that you grew up among those interstellar pirates. You want to escape the control of their leader, Yondu Udonta, and go independent..."
Quill's scalp prickled. He immediately raised both hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I admit it, all right? Damn it, how does this guy know everything? Can he read minds or something?"
Tony lifted a hand and conjured a ball of fire. "Why do you think our ship is called the Planeswalker?"
"So you really are a bunch of wizards. I actually wanted to learn this stuff. Who's teaching?"
Skyl smiled. "I've never minded sharing knowledge, but the path into the arcane is best entered with guidance. Unless you really are exceptionally gifted, I wouldn't recommend trying to teach yourself blindly."
"Can you teach me?"
"I don't take apprentices."
Quill then turned hopeful eyes toward Tony, only to get a helpless shrug in return.
Lady Moonshadow crooked a finger at him. "Come here." Her alluring expression was like moonlight reflected on the cut face of a jewel. "Child, if they won't teach you, then I will."
Quill put on the face of a complete lovestruck fool. "Professor, how could I possibly impose? Is this gonna be private tutoring, one-on-one?"
Skyl started preparing the ship for departure. "Mr. Quill, you can go fly your own ship and follow the Planeswalker. Don't forget, you still have a passenger aboard. Next time, try not to forget the girl you brought with you, all right?"
"Haha, this guy absolutely can read minds," Quill muttered inwardly, I hate you.
Skyl lifted his eyes and glanced at him with a friendly smile.
For some reason, Quill suddenly felt a chill run all over his body.
Lady Moonshadow leaned close and whispered in his ear, "You're done for. The captain holds grudges."
A thoroughly uneasy Star-Lord hurried off the ship and ran back to his own ride. With their destination set, they spent the next half month traveling from one inhabited world to another.
The scenery and cultures of different worlds all had their own unique flavor. Some planets looked barren on the surface but were teeming with life underground, packed with strange and dangerous creatures. Some planets had never produced life of their own, yet because of their breathtaking beauty had become famous tourist destinations across the galaxy. Some advanced worlds had highly developed entertainment industries, and if you did not bring enough credits with you, life became difficult in a hurry.
By Tony's reckoning, that half month of sightseeing was ten thousand times more exciting than the entire first half of his life.
They had once sipped cocktails on floating resort islands above a gas giant, watching a storm stretch for three hundred thousand miles, so vast that dropping the whole Earth into it would barely have made a ripple. They had hunted a supernatural dragon a hundred yards long across the far northern ice fields of a savage planet. They had also stood in fields blooming with blue grass and flowers, teaching an alien worm the ways of magic and truth.
As the Planeswalker team's newest tagalong, Star-Lord also began studying magic under Lady Moonshadow's guidance. Unfortunately, he really was a terrible student. Making him memorize a few math formulas was harder than killing him. Even an alien worm learned faster than he did.
Under those circumstances, mastering the natural-philosophy school of magic was pure fantasy. The only path left to him was the wizard's path.
But Quill had no magical bloodline, so no matter how fast he whipped a wand through the air, he still could not cast a single spell.
After failing again and again to get started, Star-Lord inevitably grew discouraged. He took it pretty well, saying he clearly was not cut out for this line of work and was better off facing reality sooner rather than later.
Lady Moonshadow called him into her cabin. "Quill, why don't you meditate properly?"
"Professor, you keep saying there's a powerful force inside me, but I can't feel a thing. My mom was just a normal woman from Earth. As for my dad, I know he wasn't from Missouri, but I doubt he was anyone important."
"You guessed wrong." Lady Moonshadow brought out Quill's severed arm. It should already have lost all vitality and begun to decay, but now it was faintly giving off a blue glow, and the dust around it had started swirling into chaotic little currents.
"Do you see it? The Celestial blood inside you carries extraordinary power. It just hasn't been awakened yet. All you need to do is draw out that potential."
Star-Lord's eyes widened. "My mom always said my dad was an angel from another planet. Everybody thought she'd lost her mind. Turns out it was actually true. Honestly, I didn't believe it either."
Lady Moonshadow asked gently, "Will you tell me about your mother?"
Quill looked into Lady Moonshadow's beautiful face, and suddenly the image of his dead mother rose before his eyes. He froze, then murmured, "My mom... I didn't really know her. I wasn't even ten when she died. I didn't understand anything. And now I'll never get the chance to understand her."
Lady Moonshadow stroked his head the way one might comfort a drenched stray dog.
"Quill, you need to learn to love yourself, all right? Your mother's death had nothing to do with you. You were a gift heaven gave her. Don't feel guilty about her death. You didn't do anything wrong."
That day, Quill curled up in Lady Moonshadow's arms and cried his heart out. He knew that once he calmed down, he would probably feel embarrassed about it, but he cried anyway, freely and completely, until he eventually drifted off to sleep without realizing it.
In the depths of that heavy sleep, with his heart finally relaxed, Peter Quill kept sinking deeper and deeper into the dream.
He saw a glowing brain floating in the depths of the starry sea. Thick layers of rock encased it, as though it lay inside the core of a planet.
"Quill, it's me, your father, Ego." The glowing brain suddenly answered him. "I will come for you. Don't be afraid. These twenty-odd years of separation are about to end. Soon, we will join hands and forge an eternity worthy of the Celestials."
Star-Lord tore himself free of the dream, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat.
What exactly was that brain?
Then Skyl's voice came over the shipwide intercom. "The Planeswalker is preparing for a spatial jump. Next stop, Xandar. All hands to the bridge. Mr. Quill, if you're awake, please return to your own ship and follow the Planeswalker through the jump."
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