Chapter 1049: The Puzzle

It happened instantly. There was no fading, not even any hint or warning, it just happened instantly.

She felt it through her bones, she felt it through her mind, and she felt it through her stomach. As soon as Riley pointed his finger at the side of his head, Hera just knew that she would disappear and cease to exist, all of them will.

They won't die, they would just not... exist. Almost as if they were a dream, or would wake up from a dream and never truly remember anything.

But then, as soon as Riley killed himself, Hera found herself in a different place.

"Welcome to reality, Miss Hera."

"...What?" Suffice it to say, Hera was completely confused as to what was happening, but she was not as nervous as she was before as she knew that oddly enough, she was safe. The only thing she could really do was look around, only to see several people looking at her-no. There were... other people there too,

"...Is that a fucking alien?"

"Very interesting, Miss Hera," Riley completely disregarded Hera's confusion, however, as he started walking around her and looking at her from head to toe, "Paige's abilities have grown stronger to the point that anyone could actually interact with it, which makes her a literal god in all the sense and definition...

...and yet you were still able to bypass that and actually bring yourself to reality."

"What...?" Hera repeated her words like a parrot, "Okay... I might actually have to believe you now, Riley Ross. So...

...tell me what the fuck is all this about."

***

"...What?"

And even as Riley explained everything to her, Hera still repeated the same words she had been saying since the start. This time, however, her eyes were freakishly wide as she looked at the world around her.

She and Riley were now inside a large tent beside the Black Tower, prepared by Elizabeth and the other members of Riley's religion. Although Riley did not get far at all with the trials of the Black Tower, everyone who watched his trials knew he could have easily gone through several more levels, or perhaps even cleared them in one go - he just didn't for some reason since he was protecting Hannah.

Of course, it was still unclear for all of them since they couldn't really hear what they were talking about inside the trial, but it was clear that Riley had no intent of killing everyone at all.

"So, you're saying is that this is not our universe, but outside the universe... and that there used to be lots of universes but a war happened and now only a single one remains... except the ones who are in the remaining universe are just created by this woman called Paige?" "Yes. As expected of you, Miss Hera."

And while Hera was staring at the strange and unfamiliar world in front of her, Riley was looking at her back, nodding his head in approval at how fast Hera was adjusting to her new arrangement,

"Holy shit..." Hera then glanced back at Riley before shaking her head, "...So, you're saying there are others right now like me out there?"

"Yes," Riley shrugged, "There is the original one, not really original since all of you are in a sense - except for you, I suppose. It is slightly confusing now since I do not know where to categorize you, Miss Hera. You are not a variant of the Hera I know, but you lived the same life. You are not a clone too - perhaps I can say you are a copy, but do you feel like a copy?" "No..."

"Interesting," Riley placed his hand on his chin, "You have a lot of variants that are still alive, Miss Hera in fact, I do believe that none of your variants are dead yet even though the multiverse is dead. In fact...

...I do also believe that these people owe you their lives. The only reason all of them are still alive here in the Outerverse is because all of the Hera, directly and indirectly, saved them from the war."

Hera then turned to look at the people who had been staring at them since earlier - and true enough, all of them smiled as soon as they met with Hera's eyes.

"This is crazy..." Hera clasped her head, "...I need time to adjust."

"Okay," Riley nodded as he stood up. He then stayed quiet for a few seconds before once again looking at Hera, "Have you adjusted now?"

"Yes I mean, no!" Hera raised her voice at Riley, "I mean-I, as a woman and a human being, need time and space, okay?"

"Okay," Riley shrugged, "Just talk to me if you need help."

"Dude, you're literally Darkday. Why would I ask you for help?" Hera groaned.

"The fact that I am evil does not minimize my capacity to help, Miss Hera," Riley tilted his head to the side.

"Just... stop, I need a pause. Okay? We-"

"...Hera? Aunt Hera...?"

Hera was about to step away for some air when Karina and Angela finally came back from wherever they came from. Hera stared at Karina for a few seconds before glancing back to Riley, doing so a couple of times before she started shaking her head.

"And now there's two of you...?" This was perhaps the first time in her life that her confusion was overpowering her ability to adjust to her situation, "And did you just call me Aunt-no way, you're his daughter."

"You... are a variant?" Karina let out a sigh of disappointment as she heard Hera's words.

"No. She is the Hera that I know, Karina."

"Then-"

"But not the Hera you know."

"Okay, now I'm just confused."

And once again, Hera found herself sitting inside the tent. This time along with Angela and Karina as Riley explained her situation to the two.

"That's fucking crazy." — was Karina's first response to Hera's existence, "I knew your ability was literally insane, but to even escape Paige's power and become your own thing? That's like over the top. My god... did you and Tempo already have a thing back then?" "Tempo..." Hera could really only lower her head as Riley killed the Tempo she knew - well, not killed since they did not really exist at all anymore, "...Wait, did you say Tempo and I have

a thing?"

"Oh, so you weren't always together when you were in the Hope Guild?" Karina raised her eyebrows in surprise, "The two of you were married, but you divorced him before going into an adventure with Dad through space."

"I... went with Riley to go to space?" Hera then glanced at Riley, "Wait, don't tell me we were

together?"

"No," Riley shook his head, "But I do believe you considered sleeping with me a couple of times, Miss Hera."

"That's not true at all," Hera pointed at Riley, "Wait... so where are my... where are the other

Heras?"

"Talia was with us, but she's with another party also trying to figure things out," Karina

sighed.

"Talia?"

"Yes - a version of you who used to be a child for a very long time before she grew older when time moved for everyone again about 16 years ago."

"What the fuck," Hera could really only stare at the table at this point, "I don't believe this... it's like I'm just suddenly waking up from a simulation only to know that the real world is even more fucked up than I think it is."

"That is-"

"Wait."

And before the confusing conversation could go on any further, Angela, who had been keeping quiet the entire time and just letting everyone process things, finally spoke up as she seemed to be staring at Hera.

"...Okay, that's creepy," Hera could not help but slightly lean away as she saw Angela's sewn eyes, "And... wait, aren't you one of the Pope's bitches?"

"Please do not say that word." Everyone could see Angela was rolling her eyes despite having

her eyes permanently shut, "And, Darkday - we might have just found the first piece of the

puzzle."

"Were we doing a puzzle?" Riley seemed visibly confused for the first time during the

conversation.

"No, Dad. It's a metaphor - seriously, I thought your awareness has improved already?" Karina groaned as she scolded her father, "I really don't see what Mom saw in you, like

seriously."

"Katherine was into people younger than her, I suppose."

"Agh!" Karina covered her eyes, "Please never say that again."

"Can you father and daughter duo be normal for a minute?" Angela intruded in the conversation, lightly slamming the table in frustration, "It's either extremely serious between you two, or just downright ridiculous- just be normal for once and listen to me,

okay?"

"What are you talking about? I'm normal," Karina raised an eyebrow. She was going to say something else, but Angela shushed her.

"Hera," Angela then pointed at Hera, once again causing her to lean away, "She and her variants brought us here and now, a literal manifestation of her from Paige's abilities is right here in front of us, surviving literal... deletion. If Hera could somehow bring all of us

here along with her...

...Could it be possible that the people that Paige created in the remaining universe could do the same with her help?"