Visitors were a rarity in Maheg’s system. There were a number of permanent residents that had built up over time as thes were re-established, but even over the course of centuries they were still not as fertile as they should have been. The exception was the carefully cultivated garden moons that Maheg had first begun work on with Anton.

    If visitors were rare, emunexpected/em visitors were unheard of. Nobody traveled all the way out to where Maheg resided casually. It was even stranger that they didn’t feel… normal. Maheg didn’t think it was bad, just different. It seemed that some of the locals went to meet them. Maheg watched people’s bodynguage and energy… and quickly determined that these might not be friends.

    Nobody was addressing Maheg directly, or things would be more clear. Then against, most people weren’t good at operating at a level Maheg felt clearly. Few people could shake hands with a star. Speaking of that individual, Anton had passed by recently- even by human timescales. What was it, a week, maybe a month?

    Maheg sent a feeling of concern to Anton. Connected as they were through Unity, that was something done easily enough. Immediately, Maheg felt Anton’s presence… but distant. How was that possible? Oh. Anton wasn’t in any of his systems.

    The weight of a spinning tugging on Maheg’s surface suddenly appeared. Not a emreal/em, but the feeling of such. It was the closest thing Maheg knew, at least. One of the stronger cultivators. An Enrichment cultivator. That was what they were called, right? The kind that empowered emsomething/em and grew from it in turn?

    They didn’t usually have wings. Especially not onesrge enough for Maheg to easily resolve into a shape. But cultivators were quite varied. Maheg should probably do something about that attack, before a century passed and everything was over. Time was so difficult.

    Sr windsshed out, pushing apart the two groups. “We will have none of that,” Maheg dered.

    Less than one of the groups understood him. The intruders- not emvisitors/em, clearly- wouldn’t understand his energy. But Maheg couldn’t safely make sound. Talking to emone/em person might be fine, with the same focus as nting seeds, but over a wide area Maheg tended to get… looser.

    Such things recalled memories of the past. Memories from before Maheg could think. They might have been false, but even so Maheg clearly pictured thes being scoured of all life, every structure breaking down under intense radiation.

    That was no good, so Maheg moved in broad strokes. The two groups were apart so things should be fine. But for some reason the winged man was not stopping. Another pair of wings appeared- what was the point of that? They were unnecessary for flying in space. However, they pped and blew apart Maheg’s energy, opening up a path towards Maheg’s people.

    Once more, a stronger pulse of energy. Surely he would understand this time. They were sent tumbling back.

    “You’ll need to do more,” Anton’s words came to Maheg. “That won’t be enough.”

    “I can’t,” Maheg said. “You do it.”

    “I am ashamed to say that might not be possible at this moment. But you emcan/em.”

    Maheg’s energy was shattered with the force of a great. Six wings. How illogical. No beasts had more than two- they just developed bigger wings. Still, it seemed to work for the humans. Maheg wasn’t strong enough.

    Though that wasn’t true. Maheg had annihted a whole system of life before Maheg even had thought. Centuries of intentional cultivation meant Maheg was emquite/em capable of disying vast energy. But Maheg wouldn’t.

    Fields of skulls and bones. Dead woodsted longest, but not forever. Stones crumbled with time and weather- though rain ceased to fall as it evaporated out of the atmosphere. Then nothing. Loneliness was the beginning of it all.

    Maheg only embarely/em increased the strength of the next attack. Focusing on the winged man and not those around him, perhaps control could be kept. But the man held firm instead of being knocked back. He flew forward, rushing towards Maheg’s people.

    “Would you like me to direct your energy?” Anton asked. “I think we can do it.”

    Maheg had no head to shake, but gave that impression. It was important to do this alone. Fighting had happened before, and might again. Last time, people had stolen from Anton and taken the fruits of hisbor. People were far more valuable.

    Fire. A mere sr wind wouldn''t be enough. mes beyond mes. Yet, just a touch. Those wings were perfect. Mahegshed out, whipping energy in between the attackers. The wings were caught… and crushed.

    The man was unhappy. That was clear. Most likely, he was saying profane things. His wings began to reform, one at a time- not even in pairs. But he turned. Oh good, he was going to leave.

    “We shouldn’t let them go,” Anton said. “Should I stop them?”

    Anton sounded hesitant for some reason. It probably wasn’t killing humans. Anton had done that emintentionally/em far more than Maheg. Actually, Maheg had heard a few things about a recent war with many foes. There had been some resonance of many foes that came through Anton. It could have been more.

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    Maheg held Anton back. Destes was one thing, but there were people watching, weren’t they? That was what made Maheg hesitant, even though everyone who chose to live here knew the past already. Maheg just didn’t want them to be afraid. For them to leave. Then Maheg would be alone.

    It only made sense that anyone that tried to stop that should be eliminated. Developing new insecurities clearly hadn’t helped anything. Maheg was slightly regretful. And far too slow. This wasn’t a time where Maheg could just let years pass. The winged man was almost out of the system.

    Maheg pulled. Gravity was one of the things a star was naturally good at. Anton had taught Maheg all about it. Apparently, some of that was learned from Azun and some from the star that graced Weos. Neither of them were people-stars. Maheg might be the only one, which was why all the visitors were important. Maheg couldn’t just visit another system- not without hurting anyone.

    The winged warrior slowed and then reversed course, along with all of those with him. Not by choice, of course. Maheg had dered it so, and this was Maheg’s system. Focused gravitational pull might cause the rest of the system quite a bit of trouble if itsted for more than a few minutes. It would also be quite problematic if Maheg identally touched anyone that ought not to be a target, as they would be directly crushed by the power.

    The winged guy had five wings right now, but he was at least protecting his allies. Until he got tired. Then he gave up on them and tried to fly away on his own. He was fast, and he was actually escaping. He would be too far, soon. The others were immediately squashed by Maheg’s power.

    How did Anton do it? A curvy bit, a taut section, and a straight pointy bit. Bow, string, and arrow. Maheg had practiced this for fun sometimes. Arrows went far and fast. They were also very scary at ster scales, so it wasn’t great to do now that there were more residents. Maheg didn’t want to be scary.

    But the winged man couldn’t go. An arrow of mes was pointed at his heart to pierce through him. Maheg was off by several orders of magnitude. The uracy was spot on though, but the tip of the arrows wasrger than the man. He waspletely subsumed in Maheg’s mes, empowered by will. And of course natural energy, but that was kind of emeverything/em Maheg was and did.

    There wasn’t enough left of the man to make out a person after that. His energy was annihted too. Maybe people would wonder if he ever existed, but Maheg supposed that people emdid/em have good memories and had seen him.

    “Who was that?” Maheg asked. “I don’t like them.”

    “Me neither,” Anton replied. “I have seen someone like him before. An Angel.”

    “I know it is hard to speak at a distance. I heard a very strange word,” Maheg said. “Could you rify your meaning?”

    “He emcalled/em himself an Angel. But no, there is no indication of any goodness among them. They came for violence, and they left without honor. Merely glowing does not make one good or holy. Did you feel anything strange about his energy?”

    “It was a bit weird, but that’s all.”

    “Not an excess of devotion or other strange connections?"

    “If there was any, it was too small. I didn’t think about it, sorry.”

    -----

    Maheg didn’t need to apologize, of course. Anton had simply been curious. After making certain the situation was resolved, Anton returned his focus to his actual body. Their progress had stopped when Anton had been prompted by Maheg.

    He exined to those around him- Nthanda, Erin, Paradise, Anishka, and of course Bear Hug. Others would overhear as well, and Paradise never went anywhere without his sect. Not that he could, of course. They lived on him.

    “Them again?” Nthanda said. “And so far in?”

    Anishka shrugged. “It’s not really emthat/em close. Just a bit concerning.”

    Anton nodded. “I didn’t feel them passing by. Either they have significant stealth skills, which I very much doubt, or they came in at an angle that put them more than a couple dozen lightyears out. It’s not surprising that a group that can produce such cultivators would have a wide angle of approach, of course. Also, I have confirmed that they’re not just one sect. Or at least, not one cultivation method which is the general basis for such things. We’re a embit/em limited on theirmand structure, obviously.”

    “At least we killed one,” Nthanda said. “How did hepare to that one you fought?”

    “It’s difficult to say,” Anton admitted. “Riding on Maheg’s perception doesn’t leave a lot of room for nuance. Or at least, it takes great effort toprehend ‘small’ differences in power. Anything less than a full stage of cultivation. He could have been stronger.”

    Though at other times some might have teased Anton for Aniello escaping, they all knew him well enough to see he was upset about his earlier failure- even if it had been emmostly/em a sess. The harm to Bear Hug, a dear friend, couldn’t be ignored. Even Bear Hug looked off from their usual cheeriness, and usually they recovered from any disappointment in a matter of days.

    “How do you think we would have done against that Aniello guy, then?” Nthanda asked.

    “Able to draw upon your full power…” Anton pondered. “Well, you’re personally difficult to judge. It might depend on how good the stamina of these ‘Angels’ is, but it seems quite high. Devotion provides significant recovery potential. The Ind Tenders together could at least have fended him off.” He turned to Anishka. “You could have probably killed him. But that’s just a guess.”

    Bear Hug looked expectantly at Anton, then deted. “I wanna do it.”

    “Then get stronger,” Anton said. “I don’t know what you need to do for that, but I’m sure you have some ideas in mind. Just be sure to be safe.”

    “Hmm…” Bear Hug put on their best pondering stance. “I emdo/em want to be stronger. I should bring more of me. That will improve mybat potential.”

    “Does it?” Anton asked. “I honestly haven’t seen multiple of you in one ce for more than a few moments.”

    “Well, I share energy so… it usually doesn’t,” Bear Hug admitted. “But also! Maybe it will. I think.” A few moments passed. “Words are hard, you know. Even emenergy/em words.”

    Nthanda prodded Anton with her minimal energy. “You left one out. The Great Queen would want to know what your assessment of her against that fellow would be.”

    Anton shrugged. “She’s not here, and my typical assessment stands anyway. She could probably kill anyone but you.”

    At least, in the lower realms. There were a few strange talents around in various ces, but the point was that people couldn’t just squash the Great Queen. Most people didn’t have strong enough bodies to do it in a single blow, and their energy wouldn’t help. Too bad she could only be in one ce at a time. Then again, that was true for pretty much anyone.

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