Villain Retirement

"...We weren't asking."

Riley truly did try to move away as the portal that Navi summoned suddenly flew toward him. It was not even moving particularly fast, and yet for some reason, the only thing he could do was just look at Aerith, and Hannah, who slightly stretched her hand toward him but not completely.

Riley was going to reach for her hand, but his finger only moved an inch before he saw his sister's face. All of this happened in a single second, and yet for Riley, he had thought of a thousand outcomes that could happen if he reached for her hand. And so, in the end, Riley just continued to stare at both Aerith and Hannah's faces, almost as if cherishing the look of worry on their faces before he was completely swallowed up by the portal.

And there, Riley saw a scenery he couldn't quite explain — but still, he did.

It was as if he was being forcefully pulled down into an endlessly deep ball pit, but each ball held some sort of gravitational pull that was seemingly trying to shred his skin, but failing to make even a single dent as they only did so gently. And the balls were not exactly balls, but each of them was a universe that Riley was moving past through.

He held one of them in his hands to try and swim up, but a vision quickly drowned his mind as he did so — visions of a universe without him. And as he thought of Hannah, images of her flooded his mind.

It wasn't really her, of course, but a variant of hers. But she was happy, smiling. Riley's mind then wandered to Aerith, who was still saving people with a smile on her face. And as Riley let go of the universe, he once again grabbed another, and then another… and another.

Hannah and Aerith were not really happy in all the universes, there were a lot where they did not smile or have already forgotten how to. But they were safe, safe from him.

The visions flashed continuously in Riley's mind, until finally, after what seemed like days, he found himself landing on something incredibly soft.

A cloud, but not really — spanning endlessly across the horizon. He was going to fly and see where this sea of clouds led, but before he could do so, he saw something colossal approaching his way.

Its elongated and scaled body, moving in knots up and down the sea of clouds — and soon, it stopped right in front of Riley; its reptilian head, the size of a tank.

[I welcome you, young god…] The dragon spoke, and yet its mouth did not move, only its tongue did as it slithered toward Riley, causing him to take a step back and avoid it as if it were the most disgusting thing in the entire multiverse,

[...to the Domain of the Gods.]

"Hm…" Riley squinted his eyes as he looked at this slightly majestic lizard in front of him, "...Interesting."

[I know that you have a lot of questions, but fret not, all of them would be answ—]

"What are you, giant lizard?"

And before the dragon could finish its words, Riley suddenly started walking around and inspecting his head. He then tried to crouch down to look at the parts of the dragon hidden by the clouds, but could not really move past where his feet resided.

[...All of them would be answered in time. But first, let me explain to you why you are here and—]

"You look similar to the Chinese dragons," Riley completely ignored the dragon as he walked across its long body. He seemed to want to touch its scales, but stopping himself from doing so with a disgusted expression on his face.

[You are here because—!!!]

The dragon could not even utter another sentence before it found itself suddenly being lifted up from the clouds.

"Hm, interesting," Riley was completely nonchalant about all of this, however, as he just covered his nose and started scanning the dragon's body, "Are you the only one that could swim through these clouds? Does it have something to do with your body, giant lizard? You—"

[Put me down this instant!]

And all of a sudden, the beautiful and immaculate sea of clouds that surrounded Riley instantly turned dark — lightning and thunder, now very frighteningly and violently dancing in the air, with each drum rhythmically following the dragon's breath.

[How dare you treat me like—]

"I apologize."

And once again, the dragon was not allowed to finish its words as Riley gently dropped it back into the sea of clouds,

"I did not immediately associate you with having feelings since you were a giant lizard, Giant Lizard."

[I am not a giant lizard!] The giant lizard let out a roar that rippled across the sea of clouds, clearing the violent turbulence of thunder that filled it and once again returned the sea to its white and calm state,

[My name is Aulus, one of the guardians of the Domain of the Gods. I will not continue to be disrespected by a youngling like you!]

"Oh…" Riley blinked a couple of times as he casually returned in front of Aulus and stood in front of him, "...I apologize again, Aulus."

[Come with me,] Aulus did not even wait for Riley as he started flying away. Riley did not immediately follow him, however, as he was still examining how exactly he was moving, [I said, follow—!!!]

And all of a sudden, Aulus could not help but slightly move to the side as he noticed Riley was flying beside him. He did not really let his surprise show, however, as he just continued flying forward to the seemingly endless horizon.

[You are here because the Primordials have deemed you too dangerous to be living within the multiverse… and they have also deemed you worthy,] Aulus then started explaining, [You may not know, but the Primordials are the first gods, everything exists because of them.]

"Hm," Riley nodded, "I am actually a primordial too, Aulus — but of the creation that will follow this one."

[Stop it with the nonsense!] The sea of clouds momentarily turned violent once again as Aulus turned to look at Riley, [Dare to say anything like that again, and you will find yourself amongst the Fallen before you are even introduced to our world!]

"..."

[You may think that you have gained power because you have become the strongest in your universe – you may think yourself a god amongst men,] an icy vapor escaped Aulus's nose, [But you are not special, youngling. You are only but one of many.]

"Oh, are there many new primordials, Aulus?"

[You are not a Primordial!]

"..."

[In this place, there are certain rules you must follow,] Aulus calmed himself down as he continued to explain things to Riley, [And that is there are no rules. You may do anything, but of course, the others can also do the same. Use your abilities, but be prepared that the others will do the same.]

"...Interesting."

[And perhaps if I will give you some advice, then let it be this,] Aulus then stopped flying as the clouds around them started to dissipate, [Remove your notion of good and evil. There are only those who are violent and those who are peaceful, only those who abuse their power and those who control them — everything here…

…is neutral.]

And with those words, Riley suddenly found himself surrounded by nothing but darkness; Aulus and the sea of clouds, now nowhere to be seen. The darkness surrounding Riley did not last long, however, as several lights started floating around him; flying in circles before shooting away and attaching themselves to the walls.

Very slowly, the large and vast hall presented itself to Riley. The hall seemed to be made of marble, shiny to the point it reflected even his pores — but that was it. It was only him and his reflection inside this vast hall which was as large as a football field.

Riley did not really look around for that long, however, as he found the only door at the end of the hall. He didn't rush toward it, and just took his time to walk as he processed everything that was happening. And as he reached the door, it automatically opened for him — but all he could really see was a white light.

He once again started looking around, before just shrugging and stepping into the light.

"What in the!?"

And almost immediately, Riley was welcomed by a man who fell from his desk. Riley did not heed the man any mind, however, as he just started walking around the room he found himself in. The room was surrounded by windows, perhaps a way to introduce anyone arriving here to the new world they would be living in.

And it was vast, with the buildings seemingly miles and miles apart from each other — the horizon, once again unending. He looked at the sky, only to be welcomed by another view of an endless land.

"Who are you!? Did you just come out of that door?"

"...Yes," Riley did not even look at the man as he approached him.

"What the—I wasn't told that someone was arriving today! What's your name?" The man then rushed back to his desk, which was the only furniture in this spherical room that overlooked the new world.

"Riley Ross."

"Rileyross…" The man then started flipping his book, which was the only thing on top of his desk, "...Your name isn't here. Do you know who sent you here? Riley—Hello?"

And before the Book Keeper could finish his words…

…Riley was already gone.

"...Oh no," the Book Keeper adjusted his glasses, which wasn't there earlier,

"...Not good."