Note to self: Void Hawks are fast.
A single flap of my wings and I was halfway through the stratosphere, the insane friction and heat doing nothing more than to trigger a transformation of my feathers. They became smoother and crystalline, which caused them to reflect heat and refract light. Fire just flew through it, the heat probably just strengthening him.
A few seconds later, we were out of the atmosphere, racing among the asteroids and the only companion being the empty void of space.
We flew past Jupiter, the massive gas giant glinting in the sunlight. On the dark side of it were the concentric twinkling lights that was the city structure custom to the natives of Jupiter. I was looking at one of the 6 megacities, probably Jovian, seeing as the lights were blue. The city lights blinked on and off in such a way that it seemed like the city, built in the structure of an eye, was blinking at us. They say that they do it for fun, but my dad told me that it was some magical way of observation. I guessed it was true. If the people populating a giant fake eye decided it was real, and could see, then it would.
We passed Jupiter and approached Saturn, the massive towers that made up their cities glinting in the sunlight. My muscles tensed up( which kinda messed up my flight) as we got closer to the iridescent chunks of rock and ice that made up the Rings. It would be hell to navigate through.
That wasn't what I was worried about though.
'My Lord?' Fire asked. 'What has you worried?'
The Rings. The Guardian of Saturn. It was just a massive field of sentient ice and rock. It was bonded to Leto Uija, the Apex of Saturn, by the power of one of the 9 artifacts we have gotten from the Ascensions.
And it apparently had a little problem with aggression.
As we neared, the rocks on its periphery started to vibrate, then they transformed into humanoids with weapons, proportionate to the size of the rock they were spawned from, ranging from the size of ants to the size of mountains. I knew that the Rings, and Leto by extension knew we were here. I also knew that Leto recognized my Aetheric signature from when I attended the Frontier Summit last year with my dad( who was the Apex of Earth).
So this was probably a test, and to pass through, I probably needed to pass it.
I got ready for what would probably be the hardest battle I had fought to date, although, I still set the bar really low.
'Why worry, my Lord? From what I can see in your memories, the level of power you displayed should be sufficient to destroy these with ease.' Fire said.
Since when could you see into my memories?
'Since just now, I guess.' It gave of the palpable feeling of a shrug.
Off topic. I responded, getting ready for when the almost solid wall of constructs reached us. It's actually that just after Changing, Reality gets a little more malleable for the affected. I mean, having another being able to manipulate it would destabilize it for a bit. This would lead to a massive increase in power, which I currently lack seeing as Reality is stabilized again.
'How much weaker are you?'
Like 40%, which is just enough for me to have some fun. Are you ready?
'Whenever you are.'
On three.
Three!
I used the spell Burst to redirect a crudely shaped spear coming for my head. As the construct stumbled back a bit, I used one of my razor-sharp wings to slice him in half. I then flew straight through one, and ripped another one's head off.
They were way tougher than I expected, and I realized this was going to take forever. I then shot back and stopped right in front of every one of them that came towards us. I then cocked my wings back, infusing as much space Aether as I could into them and flapped them as hard as I could.
Instead of wind, my wings had found purchase on the space in front of me instead. So the space the golems had occupied was pushed back a few hundred meters, leaving us free for a bit. I then rapidly shed and regenerated my feathers, shooting them into the space that the golems were previously in. I flapped my wigs again, this time backwards, and they were all brought right back.
Right into my feathers.
About half of them died, stabbed through with dozens of feathers the size and sharpness of swords. The other half that survived were either in better positions, or were big and strong enough not to be bothered by them.
I looked imploringly at the Rings, at Leto, who was watching me. I just wanted to test Fire's power and he was testing my patience. Fire just stood back and turned the few that came towards him to ash. One second they were there, and another( along with a bright red flash) they were space dust.
I realized that Leto was perfectly complacent in watching me suffer, and probably wouldn't end this until a showed him something that would give him a reason to. I needed a breakthrough.
The images of my potential paths came up, and I focused on the law path, since that would give me the easiest path to finish this. I felt the world around me, tried to really understand what a law was. I felt something rise up within me, another Mind arousing from the slumber I forced on it.
I was ecstatic until all the power I felt just fizzled out, and the Mind went back to sleep. I regarded myself in shock, truly flabbergasted that I had failed to comprehend something. Then I immediately chastised myself.
You've been a Deviant for all of 2 days and all that power went to your head. You are by no means invincible, nor the best at everything. Just calm down and take things slowly.
With that out of the way, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to fight my way out of this. So I was just going to do something else.
I flew back until I was perched on Fire's shoulder. I then shifted back into mu human form, the main problem of being unable to survive in space fixed after transforming into a space creature once.
"Yo Leto. I know you can hear me. How's Trix?(his daughter) When I next come around we should totally go and get some Erot from that restaurant.
"Now on a totally unrelated note, I am in an urgent hurry to get this guy here tested, and I have no qualms about doing it right here, if you don't mind. I just hope the gas that makes up the planet isn't combustible. Even more so that it doesn't catch to one of the megastorms." I said.
I felt from the Rings a deep seated agitation, bordering on hatred. Probably a result of me threatening its home. I then felt another set of emotions, this one satisfaction and the tranquil countenance of Leto smothered the Rings'.
Next second all the golems turned back into inept rock and let us through.