Self Discovery

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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4th October 2012, Hogsmeade

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Suddenly, I felt a very powerful influx of cosmic energy come near and slowly walk towards the door. That didn't bode well at all. In the end, the moment that the source of the cosmic energy entered the pub, I recognized it. It was an elderly man with a white beard. He looked around until meeting my eyes, smiled at me, and walked towards my table.

I wasn't fooled by his appearance. I could tell that it was just a shell that contained a fragment of his power. I watched as the man arrived in front of me and asked, "Hello, is this seat taken? I believe we have a lot to talk about."

It seems that Ego has arrived on Earth.

I nodded in answer, "Sure, go ahead."

The two of us stayed sitting across from each other in silence for over a minute until I chose to break the silence, "Well, I will admit that I didn't expect to meet a celestial when I woke up in the morning."

The man, no, the thing in a man's form snorted, "Well, something happened a few months ago, on this rock, that gained my attention. And trust me, for something to gain the attention of someone of my caliber, it has to be very interesting, don't you think?"

Well, doesn't that sound ominous? I looked at the smile that the celestial had on his face. For the rest of the world, except a very select few, he would just look like a normal old man. But I could see what was beneath this little shell, the power, the cruelty, the apathy. In front of me was a god taking the form of a human. And he wasn't seeing me as an equal but more like a particularly juicy steak.

I had to be very careful with this, "And what could happen on this little rock that could get you to travel lightyears just to see it?"

The celestial was obviously losing a bit of patience but still indulged me, "Well, you see, I have traveled the galaxy for millions of years. I honestly lost count, especially since the way to measure time changes depending on each civilization. And I have visited practically every planet with life on it. And every time, I leave something behind, a little bit of myself, of my power. Some time ago, I left one of my seedlings here on Earth, and yet a few months ago, my connection with it was destroyed, not because the seedling was destroyed, because it is practically indestructible, but because the power inside of it was drained completely. The cosmic energy inside my seedlings could support it for billions of years, and yet somehow, someone absorbed all of that energy. Nothing similar had ever happened before and I was curious."

I suppressed a snort at his little speech. He really wants to come across as some harmless space explorer. He even had a grandfatherly voice to go with it and all. Considering that I dealt with Dumbledore barely a few months ago when I was in the Harry Potter Canon Universe, I knew very well how to handle someone trying his schtick.

The man seemed to love the sound of his own voice and he continued monologuing, "the moment I stepped foot on this planet, I could feel you, and your connection to my energy, my light. I followed the bond until I found you. I thought that I was the last of my kind, the last celestial, and yet, somehow, you were able to use one of my seedlings to become one as well, or at least partially one. For some reason, you have another energy keeping you from ascending properly."

Is he trying to give me a tragic backstory or something? And I'm pretty sure that while celestials are now notably fewer with life prospering which stops celestials from being born naturally, they did still exist and were considerably more powerful and more adjusted than Ego. And I'm pretty sure that there is no special connection between us, the energy inside Ego's seedling was used to change my core and allow me to absorb cosmic energy. I sacrificed this the seedling entirely, meaning that on a conceptual level, it stopped existing, thus stopped any association between it and its progenitor.

I pretended to be confused, "Why would you think that you're the only celestial left? I know for a fact that they still exist, even if most of them died in the celestial wars at the hand of Knull. I believe that Arishem is currently observing this planet."

That seemed to take him off guard. He really hadn't expected this answer from me or even my knowledge of his species. A thunderous look appeared on his face, "All this time, I thought I was alone, I thought I was abandoned. I pondered on my purpose, on my goals, and I found nothing AND THEY WERE STILL ALIVE AND LEFT ME TO DO NOTHING…."

The entire crowd inside the bar was knocked out by the pressure the celestial emitted in his anger. Half the country probably shared the same fate. Even I winced from his tone. I collected myself quickly, and nodded, "That's odd. As far as I know, celestials always know their purpose, which is to create as much life as possible without the balance of the world breaking. And I also noticed that they particularly like mechanical constructions while you specialize in organic machines. Perhaps, you're just a different kind of celestial that they didn't know about?"

Ego stayed silent for a moment before nodding, "It is a possibility, I will admit that. But from the legends I have gathered, they were practically gods. They should have noticed my energy usage. I wasn't being stingy with it, after all."

I just shrugged, "Look, this is me just speculating. I don't know anything substantial on what it means to be a celestial, the laws and etiquette and all that. I tracked down your seed because I was suffering from a condition that would have resulted in me falling into madness, so I chose to ascend, instead, so that my mind could cope with the amount of data. Becoming a quasi-celestial was just a side effect."

He perked up at my words, his anger at the other celestials fading in a fraction of a second, "You mean that you could use it, the cosmic energy, my light?"

I nodded and just held my hand. A small ball of light materialized in front of me. It was the equivalent of using a Lumos spell using magic, so it wasn't that impressive. And I didn't want to look that experienced, to be fair. I needed him to underestimate me in case things turn ugly.

The man laughed in elation. It was both sad and relieved. He really was happy that there was someone else like him, I could tell, "Aren't you supposed to be outraged that I somehow used your own power for my selfish needs?"

"For millions of years, I had no purpose. I just came into existence and was just there. I did everything I could ever imagine. I visited every planet in the galaxy, created an entire world, experienced everything there was to experience. And everywhere I went, I made bonds, and watched them die. It was horrible and you would think that I would learn, that I would finally stop caring and making bonds, yet it was something primal inside of me. I just couldn't be detached. It took millions of years, and even then, sometimes it takes me off-guard. There was a woman, when I visited Earth, that I truly grew to love, and yet I knew that she was destined to die, as I lived on. I was always alone, drifting in space, until today and finally, my plans could be achieved."

Well, I already knew what his mad plan was, and considering how he made his little seedlings, it was kinda obvious. Add in the fact that I knew that he killed Meredith Quill, the woman he just claimed to have loved, by putting a tumor in her head, it became clear that Ego didn't seem to care about the other celestials, or me, for that matter, only that I could help him further his goals.

I pretended to be curious and asked, "And what are these plans?"

He gave me a triumphant grin, "As I traveled through the universe, I only witnessed war, hate, death, and destruction. It's the nature of life, in a way. It's how mortals grow and evolve. As soon as they become intelligent, they consume everything around them, until nothing is left and they kill themselves, with the cycle continuing. I want to create a reality of only life, a reality of only peace, a reality of only love."

"And how could you do that?"

"I'm very glad you asked. I call it the expansion, and these seedlings in front of you are the key to it."

I nodded, "And by the seeds, you mean the self-replicating matter inside that absorbs everything it touches."

The celestial looked shocked at my answer, "How do you know that?"

"Did you really think that I wouldn't experiment on what is obviously a dangerous artifact. Before absorbing the seed, I ran a lot of tests, and discovered its purpose."

He nodded, "A very good disposition to have. My goal is to unite the entire galaxy, if not the world. My power, my light, is what powers the seeds and allows the matter inside to propagate and absorb everything it touches. I am planning on activating them on every planet, and in mere minutes, the entire surface of those planets will be made up of the biological matter, of me and only me. And for the first time, true peace shall reign in the entire universe. However, I cannot do it alone. I am not powerful enough. I will need help from someone else that can use my light, your help specifically."

Well, now things were getting awkward. I am not going to participate in a galactic genocide by some asshole celestial. Unfortunately, the damn thing was powerful, and I could use him in the coming conflict with Entropy. With that in mind, there was no reason to keep being nice, "While I do have my doubts about the genocide – and don't try to deny it; it is genocide no matter how nicely you try to describe it – we have a bigger problem on our hands, a cosmic entity has taken a physical form and is currently in the universe with the aim of inevitably destroying reality itself. Here's my offer. I will help you with your Expansion, should you somehow convince the rest of the celestials to not hunt us down afterwards, and in exchange, you will help me in the fight against the enemy of reality itself."

Of course, I wasn't planning on going through with it, but it's the best offer I was going to give him. In an ideal world, I would have his support in the coming crisis, but I would rather that life in the universe not be wiped out without Entropy's involvement at all.

Ego frowned at my answer. He probably thought that he convinced me or something, "Is there a chance that we could do it before the fight with the cosmic entity."

I shook my head, "No, I'm planning on using a few mortals to help me fight."

For some reason, the cosmic entity looked dismissive of my concerns. Did he not understand what a cosmic entity even was? Did he not understand how difficult fighting against a principal aspect of the multiverse is probably going to be?

"I'm sorry we couldn't come to an agreement." I heard him mumble.

I took a good look on his face, and he genuinely looked saddened by the fact, "I'm sorry, but the Expansion is my purpose. I cannot shy from it. I will complete it even if I have to force your collaboration."

The celestial's eyes glowed with power, and he looked ready to attack me. Well, fuck it, it seems that I'll have to fight a fucking celestial of all things. Why do these things always happen to me?