Chapter 80. What you sow.

"And with the return of this cloak, I humbly declare an end to my time of service," Riley said as she returned the white cloak of her office to the waiting attendant while repeating the words that the senior temple official said to her.

"Thank you for allowing me to serve temporarily in your stead. Go now and with your sword and your shield, defend the faithful from the shadows that dwell below. Blessed is the true temple and blessed are her champions."

"Is that it?" Riley asked the clerk. "Are we finished?"

"Ah, yes. That's everything we require for the ritual. Thank you very much for your service, Lady Riley," the older man said to her.

"Oh, just Riley's fine," Riley assured him. "I assure you, I'm no noble. And I was only too happy to lend a hand. Blowing up monsters and keeping the peace, that's what my knightly order insists upon."

"We're just so sorry to see you go," the clerk said regretfully. "The peculiar magic you wield, it's unlike anything we've ever seen before! Some sort of general purpose machina based form that anyone can wield? If only you'd share its secrets with us…"

"Sorry, old dude," Riley said regretfully. "It's proprietary technology, not magic at all. And certainly not mine to share with anyone."

"What could we do to convince you otherwise?" the wheedling man asked her. "Please, we have gold, jewels, anything you could possibly imagine, we could provide."

"Trying to tempt someone with riches in order to steal their secrets isn't something a church ought to be doing, is it?" Riley asked the man with a raised eyebrow.

"I meant no offense, Lady Riley," he said quickly.

"I'm sure you didn't," Riley said amicably. "But all the same, I think I'll be moving on now. You have a nice day."

And with that, Ser Riley Kilo bid farewell to her time as the northern paladin. But just before she opened the office door, she said: "Bruticus, put a [Forcefield] over me, if you don't mind."

"Done," rumbled the voice of her partner.

"Thank ye," she said before turning the knob.

The moment she touched it, the wooden door splintered into shards of wood as Sarah, the recently reinvested Paladin of the northern temple smashed through it while throwing a punch at Riley's seemingly unprotected face.

Instead of collapsing Riley's skull on contact with her knuckles, Sarah yelped in pain and was thrown back the energy that Riley's shield absorbed and redirected, sending her attacker flying back.

"Welp, saw that coming," Riley said with a disapproving click of her tongue.

"Indeed," replied Bruticus. "This counts as attempted murder by the way. You are fully within your legal rights to exterminate all who were present for the attempt on your life."

"Really?" asked Riley. "Gosh, I don't know, Bruticus. Seems like there's an awful lot of people gathered here. Wouldn't I have to kill them all just to make certain I got the right one."

"You would."

"Should I do it?" she asked.

"I think you should."

"Well, why not? Just this once, I guess I'll defer to your judgement. Have at it, Bruticus."

"Wonderful," Bruticus said with simple, vicious glee.

Riley considered herself a nice girl and as such, she didn't have much in the way of imagination when it came to killing other people. On days like today when the circumstances demanded an expert's touch, she simply let Bruticus do whatever he wished.

The treacherous clerk who'd set her up to be attacked was the first one to experience Bruticus' unique skillset.

"Come here, you little bastard," her forge ring growled.

Riley was glad her forcefield was already in place. Blood evaporated on contact with it, which was a very handy feature when Bruticus was cooking.

More soldiers came out with demands for her to surrender and they were promptly mowed down before they could offer her anything in the way of true violence. Strangely, Sarah never put in another appearance. Perhaps the paladin had prior experience in battling insurmountable odds and knew better than to stand her ground and die. If so, good for her, thought Riley.

People often weren't as sensible about these situations as they should be. There was no shame in running when the tide turned against you. Sure, a coward dies a thousand deaths, but that was only symbolically. No one gave a shit about metaphors so long as they could keep breathing.

When they'd cleared everyone out, Riley took her leave.

"Ser Riley. Why are we still here?" Bruticus suddenly asked her.

Riley paused, uncertain of how she should answer his question. Nervously, she coughed a few times and said, "Well, you know, partner. We're still investigating things. We haven't got enough information to file our report."

"We have more than enough information to write a conclusive report about possible cross-dimensional danger originating with this world," Bruticus said. "But instead of filing it so that we may leave this magic soiled rock heap behind us, you insisted on playing paladin while conducting a separate, unauthorized investigation. Why?"

"How do you know it was unauthorized?" Riley asked him.

"No more games. Explain yourself."

Riley opened her mouth to say something. Then she bit back her words and looked away. It was difficult for her to articulate what she wanted to say to him. Bruticus trusted her with his life, but now that it was time for her to show equal trust in him, she was hesitating.

Whatever. The worst that could happen was that he'd summarily dissolve their partnership and leave her stranded in this world. Riley was prepared for just such an outcome. She had been ever since she'd arrived here.

It was time to be honest.

"Did I ever tell you where I came from, partner?" she asked him. "My planet of origin."

"Earth, naturally," Bruticus said indifferently. "What of it?"

"Yeah, it was Earth," Riley nodded. "One earth, anyway. You know how the multiverse works. There's basically a billion of them. And they're all pretty much the same except for some slight variations in the local history. I was born in one of the Earths where America was the primary planetary superpower."

"Continue."

"If you insist. My earth wasn't a perfect place. None of them ever are, but mine wasn't as bad as most. I think. We lost a lot of history during the invasions."

"Your earth was invaded by another world?" Bruticus asked.

"Not just any other world," Riley said sadly. "This one."

"Explain."

"I'm getting to it. I'm sorry, partner. They're a bunch of bad memories. Bitter too. Joining the order and getting off-world saved my life. It was the luckiest break I ever had. Because when I was a kid, a monster from this planet calling itself Everly Graff Cruor launched a crusade to bring order to the multiverse. And just my luck, she started with my Earth. She sent in her troops, killed millions, and set the rest of us to live in camps in the hallowed remains of our cities."

"Ser Riley. Are you attempting to alter the timeline?"

"My parents died because of her. I grew up in hell. It wasn't right."

"SER RILEY. Are you attempting to alter the timeline?"

"Nooooo, maybe?" Riley said with a sickly grin. "What would you do if I said yes?"

"I would be…obligated to report you to our superiors."

"But would you do it?" she asked him.

"I don't want to."

"Then don't," Riley said to him. "You didn't hear anything, and I didn't say anything, and if circumstances should somehow arise that lead to certain people dying because they've got no right to exist…Well, things just happen, right?"

"Shit often happens," agreed Bruticus. "This is a known fact."

"That, it does, partner. That, it does," Riley said with no small amount of relief.

Then she remembered the look on her father's face when he snapped and killed her mother.

Everly did that. Maybe not personally, but still...

Sure, shit happens. Shit happens a lot in life.

But there were just some things a person couldn't abide while still calling themselves human.

Be seeing you, Everly, she thought to herself.

Be seeing you real soon.