Villain Retirement

"What do you mean Riley disappeared?"

Back in Ahor Zai, Aerith was now also inside the library. And it wasn't only her, all the Elders, as well as Queen Vania and Princess Vera, were there—the looks on their faces, slightly grim.

"I thought you had a leash on him, Princess Aerith?" Elder Skeem voiced out; his monocles that were hanging on his worm-like face, going wild from all the colors that littered it as he tried to find Riley from all of his sources.

"How many times do I have to tell you that he's not a dog?" Aerith rolled her eyes before settling them on Tedi, "And first of all, you already heard that he just suddenly vanished when he grabbed something from Former Elder Tedi. She—wait…

…you didn't trap him in the Shade Prison already?"

"Did you!?" Vera quickly raised her voice as soon as she heard Aerith's words, "So… So, he's gone forever?"

"Rude," Riley's clone that was also inside the room raised his voice as he looked at Vera, "The Boss should have killed you too."

"W—"

"Did you trap him!?" Aerith's eyes turned red as she stood in front of Tedi, "Wait, did you guys plan this?"

"Why are you getting angry at her, Princess Aerith!?" Vera stood in between them as she once again raised her voice, "This is good. Mother, Riley is—"

"It's not good, Vera…" Queen Vania, however, quickly shut her down and pulled her away, "...the Shade Prison is just a prototype, what if he escapes?"

"Can all of you calm down?" And finally, Tedi spoke up, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention, "I didn't do anything to Riley, he is an important entity. He just… 

…suddenly vanished without a reason."

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"...680,426… 680,427…"

And while everyone was losing their minds outside, Riley was still counting. He sat there in the darkness, counting and waiting for Little Diley to find something—but there was nothing.

Little Riley had been out of range for a few days now, which means he was literally already an entire planet away from Riley. Just where is this place, exactly?

It wasn't the Overvoid, it wasn't any darkness that he had been in before.

…Perhaps the Shade Prison?

Tedi did mention that there were several frequencies that they needed to tweak to get it right—that was how she found the Overvoid in the first place. Perhaps the place he was in was just another void?

If so, then… maybe Riley was tricked? Riley thought. Perhaps Tedi tricked him. All that talk about an ancient civilization, Overvoid, and Nothing was to make Riley slightly lower his guard—and he did.

As a creature of pure logic, Tedi would be capable of that. She knew exactly what Riley needed to hear, what he wanted, and she acted on that.

Perhaps it also wasn't a coincidence that Tedi was able to find him. Aerith and Princess Vera were already talking about the Shade Prison before that—perhaps when they left the ship back on the space station, they contacted Tedi…

…and the so-called pirates that came after were just to completely distract him.

Aerith and Queen Vania were also talking about the Shade Prison right now according to Tedi—causing Riley to avert his attention from it.

If this was all planned… then he was thoroughly impressed.

A small smile then slowly crawled on Riley's face, with a long and very deep sigh escaping it. 

So this was it, then—Riley thought.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

This is the end of his story.

"..."

"...680,499… 680,450…

…2,400,529."

A month had passed, and yet there was still no sign of Little Riley. He was thinking of summoning another clone—but then that might leave him completely naked. If there was a chance that Aerith and the others were watching him from somewhere, then he doesn't want to be seen without any clothes.

"..." Riley then let out a small sigh as he lay down in the darkness. The only thing he was able to kill here is time, and perhaps that is what Riley was mostly bored about.

"..."

So, this is what being trapped for eternity felt like. Riley didn't even know if he was still counting right. There was absolutely nothing to do here, only his memories to accompany him and—

"!!!"

But then, all of a sudden, he felt Little Riley's consciousness once again connecting with him. But it was weird.

Little Riley's thoughts were completely shrouded by something, to the point that Riley could not even switch his consciousness to his. He also seemed to want to say something but was unable to.

"..." Riley then opened his eyes and stood up, looking in the direction where Little Riley initially flew to. He stayed like that for minutes, not even moving as he focused all his attention on the dark horizon.

He waited, and he waited again—and yet by the time he should have been in front of Riley, he was still nowhere to be seen.

But Riley could feel him, he could feel him everywhere in all directions almost at the same time… but he was moving.

Should… Riley just cancel Little Riley's existence? But if he did so, he wouldn't know what happened to him and what exactly it is he found.

But then, all of a sudden, he felt Little Riley disconnect—only to connect again.

"..." This repeated several times. One moment, he was getting near. And the next, he was already out of range. Could it be that this dimension had some sort of portal?

"Found you."

Riley then blinked a couple of times as he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him.

"Is this midget yours?"

"..." Riley then very slowly turned around, only for his entire vision to be blocked by an endless number of silver threads that did not seem to end—no. The silver threads were hair…

…belonging to a short young man.

The young man had markings on his face similar to that of the evaniels, but there was something different about him, something ethereal. He was right in front of Riley, and even then, it almost felt like he didn't exist.

Was he some sort of evaniel?

"..." Riley then turned to look at the thing he was holding, only to see Little Riley sweating; puffing his face, and showing his desire to puke.

"The name's Van…" The young man then gently threw Little Riley back to him as he introduced himself,

"…now you tell me yours before I start getting impatient."

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