Chapter 1391: Call of the Stars (26) (Patreon)

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Just as Quill was still lost in his thoughts, Rocket Raccoon suddenly turned his head to the side and let out a startled cry.

"What's that?"

He asked, but didn't wait for Quill's response before jumping off his shoulder and running to the other side of the street. Quill had no choice but to interrupt his thoughts and chase after him, as he only had this one animal friend left.

However, after crossing the street and running to the other side, Quill was shocked to see a little girl with golden hair and brown eyes, not particularly beautiful, but still adorable at her age.

"Good heavens, a living person!" Rocket turned his head to look at Quill, pointing at the little girl and saying, "Survivor!"

Seeing someone of the same kind here felt incredibly good, and Quill swallowed hard, trying to suppress his urge to rush over, because this scene was too bizarre. He didn't think a fragile little girl like her could survive in this disaster.

He quickly grabbed Rocket Raccoon's tail and threw him back onto his shoulder, then slowly approached the little girl. When he got close, the little girl finally noticed him, but her expression was one of confusion, followed by fear.

The little girl took a few steps back, seemingly wanting to escape, and Quill saw that she still had her wits about her. He didn't hesitate anymore and rushed over, grabbing her shoulder, but the little girl started struggling fiercely. Just as she turned around, Quill was startled and let go of his grip.

The little girl had two tentacles growing out of her back.

At the base of her shoulder blades, two wing-like tentacles had grown out, but for some reason, they seemed to be underdeveloped, with few tentacles and no movement, and no disgusting slime.

The calm tentacles still looked terrifying, but Quill was gradually getting used to them. The little girl seemed to have no language skills, only screaming and trying to break free from Quill's grasp.

Quill saw his own reflection in her innocent and curious eyes, but they were filled with fear. The little girl's struggling became more intense, and Quill cursed under his breath before saying, "She might be stimulated... Rocket, help me, we need to calm her down, okay!"

Discovering that his small animal friend was no help at all, Quill remembered that he had just evolved another hand. He had been using his existing hand to hold onto the little girl.

But when his invisible hand suddenly touched the little girl's shoulder, a non-human communication link was established, and Quill saw some images flooding into his mind.

This was a very novel communication experience, extremely terrifying, but it seemed natural, like speaking and listening. It was as if it was an innate ability of his.

Quill shook his head, let go of his grip, but the little girl didn't run away. She stared at Quill with wide eyes, full of confusion.

"She seems to want to talk to you," Rocket Raccoon poked Quill's cheek and then turned to look at the little girl, saying, "It's probably not our usual way of communicating."

Quill took a deep breath, calmed down a bit, and then stretched out his invisible hand again, placing it firmly on the little girl's shoulder.

Memories came flooding back, but they weren't all happy times. Quill thought to himself, but he still managed to extract a hint of warmth from those terrifying scenes.

Jennifer Mavi, the little girl thought her name was, and then one day, her father's body started to mutate, and her mother's head and waist grew tentacles.

Jennifer thought she had gone crazy, although she was already crazy. She had been diagnosed with childhood depression and a rare sleep disorder when she was around 5 years old.

She could only sleep for about 4 hours a day, and that was in short intervals, less than an hour at a time. It was more like dozing off with her eyes closed than actual sleep.

The doctor said it might be related to damage in a certain region of her brain, but this disease brought her immense suffering. She would feel tired, feel exhausted, but couldn't sleep. The disease not only tormented Jennifer but also her parents.

Jennifer finally thought she had gone crazy, although she was still young, but she already had some independent thinking abilities. So, when she saw her parents' and neighbors' bodies change, she felt like she must be crazy, after all, there were already signs.

Jennifer's chaotic thoughts filled Quill's mind, and he really wanted to open up her skull and tell her "You're wrong," but he felt that this truth was too cruel.

Jennifer accepted this crazy world at an unimaginable speed and acknowledged that her parents had locked her up at home, because she felt that going out to see more monsters would only drive her crazier.

But her parents still loved her, and every Monday afternoon, while everyone was at work, they would let her go to the backyard to bask in the sun.

When the memories reached this point, Quill saw a familiar figure, one that usually appeared in interstellar traffic accidents. He was sitting on Yondu's pirate ship, looking out the window with a special telescope, observing a demon god being brutally beaten.

"Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One," Quill muttered her name, his tone accompanied by a hint of tremble. The fact that Ancient One might be on the same planet as him was even more terrifying than being surrounded by countless monsters. He had seen too many demon gods being beaten to a pulp.

Quill saw Ancient One stop in front of Jennifer, her expression seemingly puzzled. But when Jennifer's mutated parents rushed out of the door, Ancient One hesitated for a moment, flew over to pick up Jennifer, and then turned to leave, while Jennifer's parents waved their tentacles and screamed behind them.

As Jennifer's vision, Quill saw the Ancient One take Jennifer to a temple in the air above Central Park in New York, which might be a base she created out of thin air. As the Sorcerer Supreme, she certainly had the ability to do so.

Jennifer kept crying and screaming, but at the same time, she was curious about the Ancient One. Quill could sense her doubts - if I'm going crazy, why hasn't the person in front of me turned into a monster?

Jennifer asked the Ancient One, but Quill knew that they were on the same page when he saw the Ancient One's expression. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and the truth can be too cruel, even for adults, let alone a child as young as Jennifer.

The Ancient One hugged Jennifer and told her that she could take her to a new world where there were many children around her age learning magic at a place called Kamar-Taj.

No child of this age could resist the temptation of a magic school, and Jennifer was no exception. She was attracted to the idea and started asking the Ancient One questions about Kamar-Taj.

The Ancient One prepared food and hot water for Jennifer, who ate a little but felt uneasy.

Quill could sense that she was missing her parents, but her intelligence was enough to make her realize that things weren't as she had thought, so Jennifer didn't cry or make a fuss, but instead ate quietly.

After they finished eating, the Ancient One tried to put Jennifer to sleep, but Jennifer chattered on about medical terms.

However, this little girl couldn't quite remember those complex disease names and medications, and Quill sensed that Jennifer's goal was to tell the Ancient One that she was sick, but the Ancient One didn't seem to understand.

Quill discovered that he was on the same page as the Ancient One again, who thought that Jennifer's strange behavior was due to shock, and therefore believed that she needed a good sleep.

Quill saw from Jennifer's vision that the Ancient One was holding her in her arms, with one hand casting a faint, shimmering light. Quill recognized it as a calming spell.

He had dealt with non-god magic creatures before, and since they didn't have the gods' innate abilities, their magic powers were mostly borrowed, and they had to pay the price for using them. Therefore, they needed calming spells to shield themselves from the pain and get a good sleep.

Quill guessed that the Ancient One had cast a small spell, which didn't seem to be her first time doing so. According to the Ancient One's previous description of Kamar-Taj, Quill inferred that the Sorcerer Supreme might often use this trick to deal with those energetic and sleepless young calves.

With the dreamy light, Jennifer finally fell into a deep sleep, which might be the longest sleep she had ever had, Quill estimated, possibly exceeding 8 hours.

Then, disaster struck.

A terrifying attack descended upon Jennifer, and the longer she stayed in this world, the more terrifying the attack would become. Jennifer had never faced an attack head-on due to her special insomnia, but that didn't mean the attack's power hadn't been accumulating.

The Ancient One's mistake put Jennifer in grave danger, and the little girl's body and mind were too fragile to face the sudden attack, which even didn't give her a chance to transform, and she was already facing death.

Quill saw Jennifer's blurry vision trembling violently, and she should be convulsing, foaming at the mouth. The Ancient One's slightly panicked face appeared in Jennifer's peripheral vision, and from her eye contact, she seemed to have realized what was happening.

But the Ancient One calmed down at an unimaginable speed, hesitating for only a moment before stretching out a hand to touch Jennifer's forehead.

"No!" Quill shouted in his heart.

And the worst-case scenario occurred. The attack's power transmitted to the Ancient One through Jennifer's thoughts, and a terrifying wave crashed against the high wall, causing a tiny, imperceptible crack.

Quill had never seen, or even imagined, such enormous power pouring out from the crack.

New York, America, the entire Earth.

All the monsters disappeared.

"... Terrifying emp," Quill muttered.

In Jennifer's last vision, the little girl saw the Ancient One's face filled with deep guilt. Even though she had taken on most of the attack for Jennifer, the initial wave still contaminated her, and her back grew tentacles. The Ancient One couldn't save her.

Quill let out a deep sigh and told Rocket Raccoon the story. Afterward, Rocket Raccoon asked him, "Why did the Ancient One leave Jennifer here? Didn't she fear that Jennifer would be in danger?"

"Taking her with her would be the real danger," Quill said, frowning, and holding Jennifer's hand. "The Ancient One saw her, and the crack in her heart would only grow larger. If she lost control, it would be the end of everything."

Quill shuddered, having just clearly seen that the power leaking from the crack was only a tiny fraction of the total, but that compressed power only needed a thread to destroy all life on a planet.

"And I think the Ancient One didn't abandon her randomly. She must have intentionally left Jennifer with us."

Quill used his non-existent hand to hold Jennifer's hand, trying to transmit information to her brain using his newly acquired power. It seemed that people who had undergone a transformation could only communicate in this way, not by speaking as they used to.

"Wait!" Quill suddenly exclaimed, and Jennifer transmitted a thought to him. Quill carefully sensed it and then subconsciously said, "Jennifer experienced an extremely terrifying attack, but she didn't completely lose her mind and can still communicate with people."

"She told me that the madness that invaded her was mostly taken on by the Ancient One, and she took the opportunity to see... a part of the truth behind the madness."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter ->Chapter 1392: Call of the Stars (Complete)