Flying through deep space always felt different than when he flew within the gravity and atmosphere of a planet – any planet, really. For one, unless he was actively trying to cause a cataclysmic apocalypse, then he couldn't fly at full speed – not even remotely close to full speed, actually. Doing so would mean ravaging the surface of planets in a great storm of fire and death, which was why it was such a favored tactic of Viltrumites when dealing with upstart races and civilizations that did not know how to keep their heads down and serve. But, even then, flying through air meant a certain level of resistance, a force that pushed back and fought against him.
In deep space, however, there was nothing. Thragg was free to fly as fast as he could push himself. And he was fast, even more so than light. Viltrumites, after all, could fly from one galaxy to another within the span of a week if they were fast enough – several if they were slow. Thragg was the fastest and the strongest of his kind; he could do it in a week. And so, a few hundred light years was nothing. Of course, he was well-aware of the time dilation effect that space-travel caused. By the time he returned to his children, many years would've passed for them and, for Thragg, it would've only been a few days – maybe even hours.
Argall wasn't wrong about the coordinates, however, as Thragg sped away from the fifteenth habitable planet within the general area that his son traced the signal to, which turned out to be yet another dud. Out here, in the galactic void, there were very few planets and so, with every single one he searched and confirmed, the list of worlds grew thinner, which meant his target was getting closer and closer with every passing moment. Soon enough, he would avenge the death of his wife.
He surged forward once more, flying so inconceivably fast that light itself seemed frozen. How such a thing was even physical possible, Thragg had stopped asking a long time ago. Viltrumites simply were. There was no feasible physical, chemical, or scientific explanation for their power, their unimaginable strength; it simply was. And so, Thragg accepted that. He grinned, however, at the thought of Argall trying to figure out just how his powers worked; that boy was too curious for his own good. But his son would find nothing. Because there was nothing to find.
Another benefit of flying through deep space was that he didn't have to deal with pesky dust particles getting into his eyes. Not that such trifles could actually hurt him, but they were somewhat irritating, especially when flying with the intent to destroy.
Thragg reached the next planet in the general neighborhood – or, at least, the next habitable one. That creature, the Rangdan Prime, was prideful and egotistical; it wouldn't stoop so low as to hide in a barren rock in the void. No, it'd want a world that brimmed with life, where statues and great temples were erected in its honor. It called itself a god and, thus, like every other 'god' who dared face the might of Viltrum, would crave worship and devotion. Even if it could survive in the vacuum of space, the Rangdan Prime's vices would not be present and so, logic dictated that it would, in fact, prefer to spend its days on a living world.
It also wouldn't try to hide. Doing so would be akin to admitting that it was weaker than Thragg himself and, obviously, that entity would never admit such a thing. And so, finding it should be relatively easy.
The world he now flew over was quite the large one, comprised of a myriad of biomes – deserts, forests, glaciers, and seas. Life was primitive, however, and, after flying overhead for a full day, Thragg found absolutely nothing of interest, just a lot of fauna and flora. And so, he flew away and back into space, before moving onto the next solar system. There were, at most, three more planets for him to investigate, across two solar systems; one system, which was quite the rarity, had two habitable planets – at least, according to the star chart his son gave him.
By his reckoning, it didn't take very long before he reached the next one. The journey was rather boring, however, as there were very few cosmic satellites in the galactic void, only derelict planets and ancient asteroids. One would expect that the Rangdan would, at least, establish outposts this close to their home world, something to bolster their security, but apparently not. Maybe they established no outposts at all and would simply arrive at a planet, take what they needed, and flew off. That certainly seemed like the case. Then again, every single inhabitable world Thragg had visited, thus far, had been primitive – not a single trace of advanced forms of intelligence. Some only had trees in them. It was entirely possible, then, that the Rangdan had no real interest in such worlds. Perhaps their neural collars did not work below a certain intelligence threshold?
Thragg shrugged. He supposed it didn't matter.
Actually, it'd be rather hilarious if he found the Rangdan Prime essentially undefended, simply because its fleets were scattered across time and space.
He found the next world easily enough and, once again, it was inhabited solely by primitive fish-like creatures who, given enough time, may just evolve to be capable of being more than simple hunter-gatherers. So, once again, Thragg flew off. He wasn't sure how much time he spent flying in deep space – could be days, could be hours, could even be months. It was hard to gauge time when one was immortal and moving at the speeds that he did. For Thragg himself, it felt like he'd only been out here for a couple of hours at best. But, how long has it been for his children?
Hopefully not decades, but – considering the distance he'd traveled – that was probably an accurate estimate.
The next planet, once again, held nothing, being a ball of dry dust and sand – a barely-habitable desert world, where endless dunes and sandstorms reigned supreme. What little life existed did so in the form of tiny, burrowing insects that gather in the scant oases. Thragg didn't stay for long, though he did search as best he could, even if the presence of the Rangdan Prime on the dustball was incredibly unlikely. And, of course, he found nothing. And so, he simply moved on to the final planet, one that seemed to have an irregular orbital pattern around the same star as the desert world, a world that was shrouded in darkness.
It had to be this one.
Faster than even the speed of light, Thragg flew towards the dark planet and surged through a haze of black clouds and found a surface that was teeming with malformed structures and buildings, of monoliths and pyramids, all made of the same, inky black stone. And, everywhere he looked, were masses and masses of drones, a whole ocean of them. There must've been trillions, dead-eyed and bound by neural collars, stripped of any semblance of free will, enslaved. Thousands of different races, all united under a single, grim purpose: to serve the whims of the Rangdan Prime. But, honestly, Thragg had seen far worse than this. He'd seen the depths of depravity that sapient beings were capable of, the inconceivable cruelty of those who thought themselves above everyone else, those who thought themselves gods.
And so, Thragg remained unmoved. As he hovered over the sky, a great and shadowy mass loomed over him, like a storm cloud. And that mass soon revealed itself to be made up entirely microscopic machines, each one so inconceivably tiny as to be smaller than dust particles in a desert. The nano-machines merged and formed a gigantic, but otherwise alien face. "So, you've come."
It bore an ugly visage, like that of a dog, but with a thin snout. It had eight eyes, four on each side, and a mass of snaking tendrils atop its head and under its snout, like hair. It was the size of a mountain, too, but that was only the head. If this... illusion was at all anywhere close to its true size, then this should be interesting. Thragg had faced down titans before, veritable monsters who dwarfed entire cities, who – at their full height – drew in clouds with every breath. If the Rangdan Prime was anything like that, then it might just prove itself to be worthy of dying at the hands of Thragg.
"I did," He replied, frowning. "Now, show yourself, little god. And face your death. Come on, I don't have all day."
"Your insolence astounds me, anomaly," The machine swarm spoke, its voice powerful enough to shake mountains and crush cities. Thragg remained unmoved, hovering in place.
"Are you afraid of me, little god?" Thragg countered, seething. He was growing tired of this banter. "Are you so cowardly as to hide behind your little minions? Pathetic! If you have any pride, then you will come out and face me!"
"Very well." The machine likeness paused for a moment, before gradually dispersing.
And then, the world shook. The slaves froze as the land was split asunder, cracking apart and opening up. Thragg hovered higher, until he reached the clouds, to get a better look. Down below, upon the rocky ground, a great fissure began to form, from which an ocean of molten rock spewed forth. Millions of slaves died instantly as monoliths and statues and structures all fell into the boiling lake. And then, a titanic hand emerged, each of its six fingers as large as a space ship. Another hand emerged and soon the fissure grew even wider and more molten rock spewed forth, engulfing the otherwise dark world in a glowing mass of smoldering fire and liquefied stone.
A veritable giant pulled itself free from the lake of fire, its bulk so great that its mere presence cleared the clouds in the sky. Its true form, it seemed, was even larger than Thragg expected. Its shape was humanoid, with long arms and two legs. Its skin was a sickly green and from its back sprouted twin black wings. As it fully emerged from the shattered earth, the Rangdan Prime let loose a roar that cracked the planet's crust, causing massive fissures and furrows to appear across the planet, a storm of wind and dust swirling in the sky. And yet, Thragg remained unmoved as he cross his arms over his chest and looked down at the titan.
"BEHOLD, I AM THE RANGDAN! I AM RANGDA! I AM THE BREAKER OF WORLDS AND THE DESTROYER OF EMPIRES! I HAVE WITNESSED THE RISE AND FALL OF A MILLION CIVILIZATIONS! I AM A GOD!" Every word from its misshapen mouth brought forth hurricanes powerful enough to flatten cities and reduce mountain ranges to rubble.
Unfortunately, the god creature appeared to be made of flesh and so it wasn't a god at all. Just an immensely powerful, ancient, but ultimately mortal thing that no one's just killed yet. And that meant... sadly, that it really was no different to all the other gods Thragg had already killed. All of them were ancient and powerful, some having existed for millions of years. But, at the end of the day, they were all creatures of flesh and blood, no matter how alien or resilient their physical forms might've been. In the end, even gods died. This one would be no different.
In fact, its bulk meant it'd die faster than most.
Against a lesser foe, perhaps, it might've prevailed.
But Thragg had faced down far greater and older enemies, entities whose whispers caused the deaths of entire worlds, whose presence drained the life every living thing around them. It wasn't even the largest monster Thragg had killed.
"That is very nice..." Thragg sighed and shook his head. The Rangdan Prime bombarded his mind with Psychic Energy in an attempt to destroy his very being, but Thrag simply flew straight to outer space, just above the planet's upper atmosphere, avoiding the psychic assault, if only for a moment. It was powerful, certainly, more than enough to bring down the weakest of his race, but Thragg was far from the weakest. And he'd weathered far more powerful psychic assaults before. "Unfortunately... you're mortal."
"And, like any mortal, you will die."
Like a blazing meteorite from the depths of the cosmos, Thragg surged down at full speed, and time and space screeched as he exceeded the speed of light.
AN: Chapter 27 is up on (Pat)reon! Also, the next several chapters will switch is focus to Argall. Thragg won't show up for a while.