Villain Retirement

"Connected to the Unknown?"

"Yes."

Riley did not immediately grab the plaque in front of him, and instead just slightly backed away as he looked at the tablet. And then, a few breaths later and without even saying another word, a clone emerged from the gray floor; grabbing the item even when his silhouette wasn't yet complete.

"It's fine, you can touch it however you like," Tedi said, "We wrapped it in a protective membrane so as to not contaminate it, or us."

"..." Riley then stared at the clone to see if something was going to happen to it—but nothing. Riley still did not touch it, however, and just let his clone continue examining whatever the thing was.

There seemed to be something written on the plaque. But for Riley, they just looked like the scratches of a chicken's feet. If there was anything weird about it that Riley could immediately discern, it was that it weighed like a feather.

"How did you come up with a conclusion that this is connected to Nothing, Tedi?" And finally, after what seemed like minutes, Riley opened his mouth.

"The—"

[The passage written on it is a language from an ancient and dead civilization.]

"He was asking me, Zai," the gray and humanoid-sized Tedi immediately turned her head toward the red fairy-like Ahor Zai floating in the room.

[I am a more credible source of information,] Ahor Zai shrugged as it started circling around the tablet,

['Bathing in the life of the Universe, we sought the meaning of death at its end. The price we had to pay for death is life. But when payment was made, all that reflected from our eyes was a somber, and desolate emptiness. Lazuran, Act 3.]

"A desolate emptiness," Riley tilted his head to the side as he too, started circling around his clone, "And you think this refers to Nothing, Tedi?"

"It could very well be," Tedi nodded her head, before placing her palms together and then pulling them apart. And as she did so, a holographic screen appeared in front of her,

"Watch this."

"..."

A silver in a world of nothing but darkness—that is what a Norinlad literally looked like in the expanse of space. The Norinlad was standing on top of what seemed to be a large silver crucifix. And judging by the blurry and streaking lights moving past it, he was moving at a speed close to hyperspeed.

"That's one of our explorers venturing out into the Unknown," Tedi explained.

"What is that he is riding on, Tedi?" Riley pointed at the crucifix beneath the norinlad's silver feet.

"That is our main mode of transportation, Riley," Tedi slightly squinted her eyes from Riley's random question, "You could consider it our ship."

"Is it possible for me to have one?" Riley also squinted as he looked mini Tedi straight in her eyes, "I want to add it to my silverware collection."

"That is not cutlery, Riley." A loud, vibrating sigh came from outside the library at the same time the mini Tedi did the same, "And no, I can not give you one. A Cosmic Cross is given to us the moment we are born—it is a part of us and only we can use it."

"Then am I able to see yours, Tedi?"

"I—Look, this is the part you should watch," Tedi did not answer the question as she just pointed at the floating hologram in front of her, "Focus on this."

And as the norinlad explorer continued to move in hyperspeed. Soon, however, a sudden black dot flashed from all the streaks of light that surrounded him. 

"..." Riley squinted his eyes as soon as he saw that. And if he, someone who was just watching from a feed noticed it, the norinlad on the site couldn't have missed it—and he didn't.

The norinlad stopped immediately; the streaks around him now turned into glimmers of stars far away. He then started turning around and flying to where the mysterious dot appeared—but it was no longer there.

Instead, however, the norinlad detected some sort of anomaly that should not be in that part of the expanse, it was the plaque.

"Hm…" And with the recording done and the hologram screen disappearing, Riley could really only let out a small hum as he turned his focus back on the plaque,

"...And what is your main basis that this might be related to Nothing, Tedi?"

"Because it appeared exactly, exactly at the same time I saw the entity that looked like you inside the Shade Prison," Tedi answered Riley's question without any hesitation, "At the dot, Riley."

"That… is interesting."

"It is, very," Tedi nodded several times, "And you mentioned meeting Nothing every time you die, Riley. The passage mentioned something about death—making the probability that this is related to Nothing more than the probability that it is not. This can not be just some kind of grand coincidence."

"It might," Riley shrugged, "My existence is a grand coincidence, Tedi. What are the chances of someone like me, a being that resurrects each time I die was born from a schizophrenic mother that is friends with 1 of the only 2 themarian outside of Theran? And then the said mother killed me as a baby because she turned insane, granting me her abilities that could level an entire planet."

"Those… are some specific events, Riley Ross," Tedi batted her eyes a couple of times as she heard Riley's words. But after a few seconds, she shook her head and sighed,

"Still, the probability of this plaque not being related to Nothing is very low—we need to assume that it is. Also, we have already done prior research on this plaque before showing it to you, Riley Ross… and we found something that is impossible."

Tedi then grabbed the plaque from Riley's clone, before handing it over to Ahor Zai's avatar, who struggled to grab it with its short arms.

"Zai, describe the civilization that used the language written on this plaque."

[Okay,] Ahor Zai nodded as it closed its eyes.

[The language used in this phrase is called P'lapi,] a clicking sound snapped in the air as Ahor Zai pronounced the language,

[The language was primarily spoken by the P'lopi, a technologically advanced civilization that existed during the time of the gods. Although most of my memories regarding them have been erased, I believe they were one of the civilizations that chose to leave the Common Council after the War.]

"The Time of the Gods, Riley," Tedi grabbed the plaque back, lifting it up and placing it next to her face, "That is possibly hundreds of millions of years ago, or even a billion. No material in the Universe that we know of could exist for that amount of time and not experience change—but this thing…

…it feels new, like it is unaffected by time."

"How would you know that, Tedi?"

"Because I can feel it, Riley," Tedi then placed the plaque in front of her, before resting her forehead on it, "It talks to me. I can't quite hear what it is trying to say, but it is talking to me. It's not just a word carved on stone…

…it's a device."