There was a certain, awkward silence pestering the air. And since no one amongst Riley's clone, Ahor Zai's avatar, and Tedi's makeshift body really needed to breathe, this silence was even more obvious.
No one has really moved from their spot; their eyes and their hesitating lips, perhaps the only things moving in the entire large gray room.
"What… just happened?" And finally, after a few more moments of this drowning silence, Tedi opened her mouth; her palm, still stretched forward from when she was about to retrieve the plaque back from Riley…
…who was now truly nowhere to be seen.
The three looked at each other again for the 12th time, before Ahor Zai and Tedi started to focus on Riley's clone.
"I am going to ask this now…" Tedi then said as she looked Riley's clone straight in the eyes, "...But do you have any teleportation abilities?"
"Sadly not, I'm afraid," Riley's clone let out a long and very deep sigh, "We are still getting to that. Since you Ahor Zai mentioned that some of my brethren are living amongst the people around the Universe, Boss is hoping they start infecting the population with superv—Ahor Zai, do you know what the supervirus is yet?"
[Supervirus? I have similar sounding terms, but I believe all of them are not related to the word you just said,] Ahor Zai tilted its head to the side as it approached Riley's clone,
[What is it? Should I add it to the database?]
"Since Boss isn't here, maybe I should—"
[Let's stop getting distracted!] Tedi finally lowered her arm as she stood between the two, [Do you have any idea where your boss might have disappeared to?]
"Hm…" Riley's clone closed his eyes and placed his hand on his chin, "Since I can't detect the Boss anywhere, this means he is out of range at the moment."
"He… is not dead, is he?" Tedi's eyebrows began to furrow before she adjusted her gla.s.ses.
"The Boss can't die, Tedi. And if he is, then I should not be standing here," Riley's clone shook his head,
"None of you have to worry, the Boss just has the tendency to disappear, leaving all his story arcs unfinished."
[...What?]
"The plaque…" Tedi then started whispering, "Throughout our entire conversation, Riley did not touch the plaque until the very last moment. Is it possible the plaque is actually some sort of portable teleportation device? Theran has something like that, but it is technically not teleportation, and just moving at warpspeed. And only they can use it, since it would destroy the body of 99% of every other species—"
[You're the one getting distracted, Former Elder Tedi.]
"I'm trying to think—"
"Where is Riley Ross!?"
And all of a sudden, the growing panic filling the room was disrupted; the panic, however, did not diminish and instead even amplified as a more panicked voice barged inside the library.
The intruder's pink robes were still flowing with the wind, and although her face was completely covered by a cloak, the panic in her eyes was clear for everyone to see.
[Elder Olseyir. I know you are new to the Common Council, but please do knock before entering the rooms,] Ahor Zai crossed its arms as it looked at Elder Olseyir, whose eyes were looking everywhere.
"...How do you know that Riley is gone?" Tedi, on the other hand, had her eyes slightly squinted as she looked at Olseyir from head to toe.
"Just…Riley Ross is a wanted man," Elder Olseyir cleared her throat as her eyes started to calm down, "I tagged him in my radar, just in case he does something… not favorable. He's not in the radar's range anymore."
"..." Tedi's eyes squinted even further, "You are the new Elder, correct? From the planet Tahire?"
"Ah, yes," Elder Olseyir fanned her robes to the side as she bowed, "I replaced your position, Former Elder Tedi."
"And your technology can't be detected by any means?" Tedi approached Elder Olseyir, "Where is this radar you speak of?"
"It's embedded in my eyes," Elder Olseyir pointed at her eyes, not minding Tedi's slightly questioning tone, "But never mind that, we need to find Riley Ross. I will try calling my people."
Elder Olseyir lifted her hand and placed it near her ear, and even as she started talking to someone, there were no visible gadgets or devices in her hands.
"..."
"..."
"No," Elder Olseyir then sighed as she dropped her arm, "My people can't detect them either, and we have a very wide network."
"..." Tedi stared at Elder Olseyir for a few more seconds, before just shaking her head off of the other thoughts she was having—Olseyir was right, they needed to find Riley Ross.
He is involved in a lot of major and incredibly important events in the universe right now, he can't be missing.
"If my theory is right and the plaque is from a void…" Tedi once again adjusted her gla.s.ses in habit,
"...then does that mean he is there right now?"
***
"Hm."
"Hmmm."
"I knew it…" Somewhere, the sound of Riley lightly b.u.mping his fist on his palm whispered,
"...I have no idea where I am."
He wasn't in the Overvoid, Riley knew that much. The darkness in the Overvoid was different—like nothing exists in the first place. He wasn't in the expanse of s.p.a.ce either.
The darkness that surrounds him right now was more akin to a dark sealed room, carrying an eerie silence that reflected each and every bit of Riley's movements. He takes a single step, and it is as if a ripple echoes throughout the infinite darkness.
Infinite, because Riley had been walking, flying, and running for an entire day now, and yet he could not even see anything else existing in this place except for him. He had been trying to make clones from the floor, but despite being able to step on it, there seemed to be nothing to make them from.
"..." Riley turned to look around him, before suddenly taking off his coat and crumpling it. And as he opened his hands, his clothes took the form of Little Riley.
"Oi, Boss. I heard you left Theran?" And since the last time the two of them were telepathically connected was when Riley was on Theran, that was also the last memory of the clone,
"But why did you create another me? I was with Mavey and the others, Boss. You should have just created a Little Diley or Triley or somethi—where are we!?"
Little Riley then let out a tiny scream as he started panicking on Riley's palm, "Are we… are we finally officially dead? Is this the underworld?"
"Unfortunately not, Little Riley," Riley sighed as he gently threw Little Riley in the air, "I need you to scout the area for me."
"Roger that, Boss," Little Riley saluted before flying away, cracking the air as a skirt of wind emerged around him.
"Hm…" Riley then started looking around him, before just sitting in the darkness and closing his eyes,
"1… 2… 3…"
A second.
A minute.
An hour.
A day.
…620,648."
A week.
A week had pa.s.sed, and yet Little Riley never came back.