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Wanderers

Ego swiftly withdrew the Yaka arrow embedded in his chest, inspecting it closely before returning his gaze to Yondu.

Yondu appeared bewildered. He couldn't comprehend how this person survived a direct heart shot and casually removed the arrow.

Ego had heard tales of Centaur's famed Yaka arrow, known for its rarity and the few capable of wielding it. Encountering one today prompted a change of heart—he no longer sought Yondu's demise but saw an opportunity instead.

"What's your name?" Ego queried with a smile, returning the Yaka arrow to Yondu as if nothing had happened.

"I..." Yondu stammered, taking a cautious step backward.

Ego gestured, and several blue lights emanated from his palm, entering the bodies of the fallen soldiers nearby.

As the blue light infused them, the soldiers rose from the ground, resembling resurrected beings. Yondu, astonished yet relieved, lowered his guard.

However, these were not true resurrections. Ego was harvesting life, opting not to slay but to incapacitate.

Once the individuals regained their footing, they exchanged glances, realizing their futile resistance against this enigmatic being.

Ego spoke slowly, "You trespassed into my domain. Initially, I intended to end your lives, but discovering your skill with the Yaka arrow changed my mind."

He turned to Yondu, inquiring, "What is your name?"

Yondu hesitated briefly before responding cautiously, "I... I'm Yondu."

"Yondu," Ego nodded approvingly. "Excellent, Yondu. To atone for your intrusion, you must fulfill a task for me."

"What task?" Yondu asked.

Ego stated, "Retrieve my lost offspring."

Yondu breathed a sigh of relief, believing the task feasible, and promptly agreed. "Okay, I'll do it."

"I've lost several children."

"Several?"

Ego shook his head. "I can't recall exactly, perhaps hundreds."

"Hundreds!" Yondu's eyes widened, his companions sharing his disbelief.

The notion of siring hundreds of offspring, let alone losing them, seemed incredulous.

Ego smirked. "It's merely a fraction. Strong males across species tend to sire prolifically."

"These children were unintended. It's time to bring them home," he continued. "Scattered across hundreds of planets, I'll provide you with the information I can recall. Your mission is to locate them."

Yondu and his comrades exchanged uneasy glances. How could they possibly find children dispersed across numerous worlds?

Ego produced an interstellar cheque. "Consider this an advance payment. You'll receive additional compensation for each child found."

The sum on the cheque astonished Yondu and his companions.

Ego then emitted several blue lights, which entered Yondu and his companions. "Should you disobey my commands, I can erase you from existence at any moment. Understood?"

Intimidated yet enticed by the reward, Yondu and his comrades reluctantly consented. "Understood. We'll do our best."

Ego departed shortly thereafter.

As Yondu and his team departed, one voiced concerns, "Boss, I don't trust this guy. Should we really work for him?"

Yondu shared their apprehensions but reasoned, "We're simply finding lost children. Even if he's malevolent, he won't harm his own offspring."

"Perhaps, but finding hundreds of children... How will we manage?" someone pondered, skeptical yet hopeful.

"I prefer optimism," another interjected cheerfully. "Look at the payment! Finding hundreds of kids could make us rich!"

"I wonder, though," another mused, "isn't this akin to child trafficking? Starka forbids us from dealing with kids."

A swift retort followed, "It's noble to reunite father and child. Not trafficking."

...

Ego's human avatar returned to his planetary form, accompanied by samples of peculiar alien life.

Manipulating his azure energy, he began vivisecting these beings one by one, studying nature's evolutionary imprints in their blood and bones.

Throughout, the dissected beings wailed in despair, futile against Ego's will that even coerced the flora.

After extensive dissection, Ego found them devoid of value. "Mere inferior beings!"

Before he could finish, a red-skinned humanoid under dissection was obliterated, reduced to bloody pulp—a macabre offering to fertilize the planet.

Surveying the remaining beings—birds, beasts, and humanoid figures—Ego deemed them all unworthy of inspiring his creations.

Suddenly, his awareness heightened.

Above, a colossal spaceship descended from the starry expanse, swiftly landing.

The hatch opened, and humanoid figures emerged.

Most sported khaki skin, with features blending human and avian traits—eagle wings and talons fused onto human torsos. Towering nearly two meters tall, they exuded formidable strength.

"It appears no intelligent life has settled here—an ideal planet!" they exclaimed, surveying their new surroundings.

"At last, an end to our nomadic journey!"

"Behold New Ecopia, our new home. What do you think?"

"I pray the Planet Eater spares us this time..."

Ego approached the spaceship, observing its occupants with curiosity. "Who are you?"

The birdlike, humanoid creatures noticed him, astonished. "Intelligent life!"

Ego remarked, "I merely pass through. To my knowledge, this planet hosts no other intelligent inhabitants."

Relieved yet puzzled, the half-human, half-avian beings queried, "Are you an interstellar explorer?"

"Ecopia..." Ego repeated thoughtfully.

"An explorer? From which civilization?" they pressed.

Ego smiled faintly. "You're an impressive lot."

"Excuse me?" The Ecopians, baffled, awaited clarification.

However, the ground trembled subtly, and myriad blue tendrils surged forth, resembling tentacles, ensnaring the startled Ecopians.

"What sorcery is this?"

"Help!"

Resistance proved futile as Ego's energy tendrils overwhelmed them, initiating dissection.

Approaching one Ecopian, Ego manipulated his tendrils into thousands of hair-thin filaments, piercing flesh and skin.

"Aah!" the Ecopian cried out in agony.

Ego studied the creature's writhing innards, a flicker of joy crossing his face. "A masterpiece of nature!"

Years of searching had failed to yield an ideal blueprint for life. Yet now, effortlessly, he found it—the perfect specimen delivered to his doorstep.

Examining the Ecopian's entrails, Ego discerned the blueprint for his own creation—a humanoid creature, tall and formidable, composed of blue-hued flesh, mimicking Ecopian traits.

Though resembling Ecopians physically, these creations lacked one vital component: a soul.

Understanding the universe's laws, particularly the enigma of souls, eluded even Ego's divine intellect. Consequently, he could only fashion lower beings, adept at survival and reproduction but lacking true sentience.

Satisfied, Ego fashioned a female counterpart. "You shall be 'Rouges'."

The Wanderers unleashed primal roars, wings fluttering, their hunger palpable.

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