"My name is Van. Now you tell yours before I start getting impatient."
"...Riley Ross."
"That's a girl's name."
"..."
Long silver hair that almost blocked his entire vision.
The subtle markings on his face.
And a speed that Riley could not even feel.
In truth, Riley had set up invisible walls around him, as well as several telekinetic strands; like a web that would ring a bell if something moved past it—he had used this on the themarians, as well as the evaniels.
His telekinetic barriers were almost useless against Queen Vania, but at the very least, the strands allow Riley to feel where she is even for a brief millisecond. But with the young man in front of him, it almost felt like he was just suddenly in front of him.
Teleportation? Or perhaps… he was just too fast?
"Are you the G.o.d of the evaniels?"
"Evaniels?" Van looked to the side, causing his hair that veiled across the darkness to flow and move with him. And then, he just remained like that for a few seconds.
"..."
"..."
"Oh," Van then turned to look at Riley, "That's a cult, right? Although I suppose they turned into a legit church since one of my descendants joined it. Or maybe not… I don't really remember much anymore. Wait, are you telling me they are still alive?"
"Do you remember waging war against the other G.o.ds?" Riley did not look away from Van's gaze.
"War? There was no war."
"Hm. Then I suppose most of the history of the universe is probably not true."
"Well…" Van breathed out before casually sitting in the darkness,
"...There was no war because it was a slaughter, I killed them all. My turn to ask a question. Why are you here?"
"I touched a plaque and it transferred me to this place," Riley answered without any hesitation, "I might have been imprisoned here for eternity by people I know. They made a device called the Shade Prison that creates a portal to another dimension."
"Imprison? This isn't a prison, Riley Ross," Van let out a small chuckle, "Your turn to ask a ques—you know what, let's just talk like normal people."
"But you are not normal, Van."
"You're not either," Van shrugged as he sighed; his shoulders, completely lax.
"..." Riley looked Van in the eyes for a couple of seconds, before nodding his head and also finally taking a seat in the darkness. As for Little Riley, he just lay flat on the dark floor; his face, still completely dazed,
"You said this isn't a prison, then does that mean you aren't trapped here?"
"No, I ran here from that direction," Van then pointed to his left, "I am trying to find someone."
"Is the ent.i.ty you're trying to find Nothing?"
"Nothing? You mean the creepy Preprimordial that has existed before the Universe?"
"...Yes," Riley's ears slightly perked up as he heard Van's words.
"Then no," Van shook his head, "For you to know someone like that, are you perhaps the Ender he mentioned? The one who will end this Universe?"
"No," Riley shook his head, "It told me it was someone else, I just want to end the Universe for fun."
"...Huh, cool."
"How were you able to meet Nothing, Van? Have you died and come back to life before?"
"Death is already too slow to catch me. Don't tell her I told you that, though," Van let out a small sigh as he leaned his head back, "But I guess I did die before, but someone else visited me. Wait, are you saying you need to die to meet Nothing?"
"Yes."
"...So, you've died before?"
"I was killed by my biological mother, then have died a hundred times more after that, Van," Riley nodded, "I always resurrect. I have asked Nothing about it before, but it told me something like me shouldn't exist."
"Huh… mothers, right?" Van clicked his tongue as he looked at Riley, "So, you're just weird. I guess you wouldn't be here if you weren't."
"Can I ask how you met with Nothing, Van?"
"From a void that appeared out of nowhere. Most of them are random like that, you'll get used to it," Van scratched his chin as he chuckled, "It asked me to what extent would I continue my rampage, I guess it was afraid I'd be killing everyone—I'm not a monster, I stopped at the G.o.ds…
…But I guess the G.o.ds are making their appearance again," Van then turned to look Riley in the eyes, "I suppose it was about time you appeared."
"I'm a human, Van," Riley shook his head.
"So was I, until I discovered I wasn't," Van shrugged as he stood up, patting his white pants as if there was actually dirt on them, "Preprimordials, primordials, and G.o.ds are completely different from each other. It's a bit confusing, so don't think too much about it…
…but I guess since you're all alone in this place, all you have is time to think. But then again, the fact you don't know anything yet means you shouldn't be here."
"Can I ask where exactly here is, Van?" Riley then started looking around as he also stood up, "It doesn't seem to be the place Nothing lives in."
"Hm…" Van placed his hand on his chin as he looked to his left, "I suppose you can say that Here doesn't exactly exist yet."
"..." Riley tilted his head to the side.
"Confusing, right? I told you," Van once again chuckled, "If Nothing exists before the Universe itself, the one I am trying to find exists after the Universe."
"...After the Universe?"
"Yes," Van once again pointed to his left, "The Universe is in that direction, continually expanding. If you sit here for a very long time, it'll catch up to you eventually."
"...But isn't there a theory that the Universe expands faster than the speed of light?" Riley squinted his eyes before looking at his hands.
"Who knows, I only went to school for less than a year, I think," Van shrugged, "Don't try to make sense of any of it."
"I won't," Riley shook his head, "I am just wondering how fast you are to outrun the expansion of the Universe by a very long distance, Van."
"Oh, I'm just a little faster than most," Van then started stretching his legs, "Well, this was a nice chat, Riley Ross, but I have someone I need to find. You should probably go too, you're not supposed to be here… yet."
"..." Riley looked to the left. He didn't even need to think to know that even if he manages to return, everyone he knows would be gone already. Even if this isn't the Shade Prison, it doesn't change the fact that he was stuck here.
"You seem calm for someone who has potentially lost his home," Van very slowly approached Riley.
"Because someone like me deserves to be alone," Riley nodded.
"I used to think the same," Van chuckled, "But don't worry. You said you came here because you touched some sort of plaque, right?"
"...Yes."
"You'll return," Van shrugged, "You're not the first to get here—you are the first to survive this long. The plaque is some sort of teleportation device made by a couple of idiots that wanted to meet things they shouldn't. Also, there's that—tell your people to stop trying to create Portals to another dimension, realm, or Universe. You don't know what will come out of it."
"I am afraid they need to create one to imprison me, Van," Riley shook his head and sighed.
"Then you're the monster that is going to come out of it when another stupid idiot tries to open a portal," Van pinched the bridge of his nose,
"Well, not my problem, I guess. But in the meantime, you shouldn't be here."
"..." Riley then felt a hand on his back. He looked, only to see Van was already there.
"As I told you before, Death can't catch me anymore—but she's still persistent, so I need you to distract her for me so I can sleep a bit. And since you revive each time, I think she'll get distracted big time."
"That was not a metaphor, Van?" Riley tilted his head to the side.
"Oh, Death is very real, you'll see," Van chuckled, "I don't think we'll meet again, Riley Ross. Tell my descendants to stop being stupid."
And as he said that, Van pushed Riley away—causing him to just instantly vanish from sight.
"Well then…" Van then took in a deep breath, puffing out his chest as he turned around, "...I think I'm getting near, father. We—"
"Ugh…"
"..." And before Van could finish his words, he heard a small voice whisper into his ears. He quickly looked down, only to see Little Riley still there, struggling to get up.
"Where… Where's the Boss?"
"...Oh."
***
"..."
Riley felt something he had never felt before. It felt like he was at the edge of dying from the sheer speed he experienced—it was gentle, but Riley knew he was moving even faster than hyperspeed.
…And it was just a light push.
"Hm…" A small smile slowly crawled on Riley's face as he hummed. If he wanted to kill everything and everyone—how exactly would he be able to kill someone that can exist outside the Universe?
Preprimordials, primordials, G.o.ds… There were so many.
"Pft," a small chuckle then escaped Riley's lips. The list of beings he needed to kill just exponentially turned bigger. Van was right, however—he isn't supposed to be here, not just yet.
"This will be fun."
[You're not the running G.o.d.]
"..." And all of a sudden, Riley felt a sort of cold that crawled and pierced through his bones; the voice that whispered into his ears, almost like a fading gale that deafened him.
[What are you?]
"..." Riley then once again very slowly turned around, only to see… a woman without a face walking toward him,
"I'm Riley Ross… Ms. Death?"
[No, what are you? I don't know y—]
And before the woman could finish her words, Riley Ross disappeared.
[Another anomaly?] The faceless woman then turned its head toward a certain direction,
[Why is my job getting harder and harder?]
[...] The woman then stood there, turning her head back and forth as a sort of hum escaped her silhouette, [One I can never catch, and one I can't seem to touch…
…Which one should I pursue now?]
***
"That was weird and random."
"Riley Ross!?"
And finally, Riley found himself back in a familiar gray room; his ears, quickly bombarded by all sorts of voices as there seemed to be more people now in the library compared to when he was suddenly teleported away.
"Why are all of you here, everyone?" Riley then said as he looked at the people around him—all of them, looking at him as if they had seen a ghost.
"Riley!" Tedi was the first to approach him, grabbing him by the shoulders as she looked him in the eyes, "What… what did you see? Please, tell me what you saw."
"Hm…" Riley did not immediately answer Tedi. But after a few seconds, he turned to look at Queen Vania and Vera,
"...I met with Van."
"...Van?" Queen Vania's eyes widened as soon as she heard Riley's words.
"Yes…
…He told me to tell you to stop being stupid."
"..."
"...What?"