Villain Retirement

Riley's entire forearm was gone. It tried to regenerate again and again, but they were instantly absorbed and eaten by the Cherbi's tendrils.

"You said she only consumes nuclear energy, Tedi. So, why is she eating my flesh right now? I am no longer emitting anything."

[It… primarily acts on instinct. But it is intelligent enough to know you can produce the thing it feeds on.]

Tedi could really only describe the moment in front of her as something amazing—no, it was beyond that. Throughout the history of the Universe, this was probably the first time anyone has gotten close to the Cherbi without being fully devoured instantly.

Tedi wouldn't even consider it an exaggeration that this right here; this exact moment is the most important thing that is happening in the entire Universe right now, Known or Unknown.

The themarian's migration? That would just be an insignificant part of history in the future, forgotten in the memories of Ahor Zai. But this?

A creature that has been alive since the dawn of time, and a creature that has been in contact with a being that has existed before time itself.

Tedi might have exaggerated a little bit in Ahor Zai when she mentioned that Riley was more important than 95% of the people living in the Universe—but right now, at this exact moment…

…For her, Riley is the most important being in all of existence. She would even trade her entire species if it means she could learn even more about him, what he had seen, and what he will see.

Even now, as Tedi was just watching from afar, she was learning more about the Cherbi than she had ever learned before. Perhaps…

…they could even try and talk to it?

And as Tedi was professionally curious about the Cherbi, Riley was childishly curious about it.

"..." He continued to watch as the tendrils coming out of the Cherbi's head devoured his hand. Riley tried pulling away, but the Cherbi just followed him… almost like a leech.

"Interesting," Riley then raised his other hand, but the Cherbi did not even seem to care. It was only when it started to light up that the Cherbi finally retracted its tendrils.

"Krruuee?"

And once again, even without a telekinetic pocket around it, the Cherbi was able to produce sound—and it wasn't just vibrations like what Tedi does, no. It was similar to a themarian in the way it could talk in the expanse of space.

Riley tilted his head again, and the Cherbi did the same as it just stared at Riley's glowing hand.

"Kueh?"

The Cherbi then turned to Riley's face, before turning to look at his glowing hand again. And without even any hesitation, all of her tendrils started to stretch like lunging snakes toward Riley's arm.

And as it started devouring Riley's arm, Riley stretched his now regenerated left arm to the side. And with a short breath, a large ball of light the width of a bus emerged from his palm.

"Kru!?" The Cherbi started to change its shape immediately. But before it could even increase in size, Riley compressed the ball of light into the size of an apple.

The Cherbi's tendrils were about to lunge toward this ball of light, but it disappeared before its tendrils could reach it.

"Krueer!" The Cherbi's tendrils all stood up as they started to rattle; the noise it emitted, similar to a chirp as it looked at Riley; its dark round eyes, slightly squinted.

"Does it taste different from your usual meal, Cherbi?" And for the first time, Riley spoke to the pink fluff.

"Kuer?" The Cherbi tilted its head to the side for a moment, before its tendrils once again began rattling, "Kru, kru!"

Its tendrils then started pointing to where the ball of light was previously at, as if demanding that Riley return it.

"You want this?" Riley once again opened up his palm, summoning another ball of light. But before the Cherbi's tendrils could reach it, he let the ball of light float away from his palm.

"Catch it, then."

The Cherbi did not even hesitate to move away from Riley as it chased the ball of light. As for Riley, he immediately pulled his clone closer toward him.

"Do you want a job, clone?"

"...Can I refuse?" Riley's clone could really only let out an awkward chuckle as it stared at the Cherbi, who was already returning toward them.

"No," Riley then said as he pushed his clone forward, "Play with the Cherbi."

"O… of course. G–good Cherbi," Riley's clone smiled as the Cherbi stopped in front of it, "Oh, oh… it looks… kind of cute now that I am looking at it?"

"Hm. Just feed it small amounts and allow yourself to recover, you will cease to exist if you don't," Riley nodded, "It will be best to lead it to where Tedi was moving to earlier, you can name it if you want."

"I… don't even have a name, Boss. What… what do I call it?" Riley's clone summoned a ball of light to feed the Cherbi before looking back to Riley… only to find him already flying away back to Tedi.

"Boss…" Riley's clone could really only take in a small gulp as he looked into the Cherbi's eyes, "...I expect a raise if we ever meet again."

"Kru!"

"How about… you call me Thriley?" Riley's clone squinted his eyes as he pointed at himself, "And then you…

…I'll call you Hannah."

***

[That was amazing, Riley! To think its tendrils contain miniature black holes. Truly, the Universe is mysterious in the way it works.]

Tedi and Riley left for Theran without any delay, 'less they wanted to attract the Cherbi's attention away from Riley's clone.

[Since it existed at the dawn of time, do you think it was created to erase unwanted galaxies? Or maybe… since you keep calling it a 'she', is it possible that it is the Mother of Black Holes?]

"That doesn't sound right, Tedi," Riley, who was on top of Tedi's forehead and attached to a strand of her hair, could not help but let out a long and deep breath. He seemed to have already recovered from using three 'Pavooms' consecutively—the last time he was this tired was his fateful battle with Aerith in Toronto.

Earth—it felt like it had been a long time since he was there. It sort of makes him want to go back and just sleep there while looking at Aerith's mangled body on his phone.

"I'm tired, Tedi," Riley then lay down on Tedi's scalp.

[You can sleep, it will still be a few hours before we reach Theran.]

"Hm, please set an alarm to wake me up when we get there," Riley breathed out as he closed his eyes.

[...I'm not an AI, Riley,] Tedi's eye twitched, [But have a good rest.]

"Hm…"

"..."

"..."

"Well, well, well…"

"..." And not even seconds after, Riley opened his eyes, only to feel like he still had them closed as he sat up. He then turned to look at the voice that whispered into his ear, only to see himself crouching in the darkness and staring him in the eyes.

"Nothing," Riley could really only sigh as he started lifting himself up.

"Oh no, it's fine. We can talk while you're on your back…

…Death is your only rest, after all, I don't want to take that away from you."