A/N: Oren didn't stop running.

  -x-X-x-

  Two days. Oren runs with her on his back for two days straight barring the call of nature. He even has her feed and water him while moving, simply slowing down to a jog so the food and waterskin don’t go everywhere in the process. It’s an impressive feat no matter how you shake it, and it really just goes to show the power of an Otherworlder. Sure, they’re one man armies and capable of sughtering fifty oppos without breaking a sweat, but this… this kind of stamina was what truly set them apart from mortals native to Creation.

  It wasn’t just that Oren had run for two days straight either. That was impressive enough in its ht, but he hadn’t stopped there. Not only had he run for two days straight… he’d also ran fast enough to get them to their ultimate destination in two days as well. What Sophia had assumed would take another four days at the very least, had instead been cut down massively by Oren’s dogged determination to reach their goal.

  Fortunately, the rock was still there where Sophia remembered it, because the road North of Oakvale actually stretched far further than it had when she’d st been on the mortal pne. Which to be fair, might have been a few dozen years ago, here or there?

  Regardless, the rge boulder was no longer a half hour past the end of the road, but rather right alongside it. They’d almost missed it initially, but fortunately Sophia had reized the great big rock for what it was a Oren know they o turn around before they got too much further.

  From the rock, Oren had finally let her off of his bad Sophia hadn’t failed to notice the slight tremor in his legs as he’d straightened up to his full height for the first time in forty-eight hours. Nothing else she’d seen him do sihey met had taken much out of the Otherworlder. He hadn’t broken a sweat against God Hunters, or running from Amberwell, or even fighting the Hill Giant. But this… this had clearly winded him.

  Still, it was going to be worth it. By pushing himself this hard, Oren had givewo more days than they would have had otherwise. There was every possibility that the news of the massacre in Oakvale hadn’t even reached God Hunter ears yet. If they were particurly lucky, then they would have all the time in the world they both o rest and recuperate. Oren could get some sleep and Sophia could finally begin refilling her divine power without fearing discovery or atta the middle of the process.

  Everything was going to be okay… and that only bees more solidified in Sophia’s mind when she sees it after they walk together for a while.

  “There! Oren, it’s there just up ahead. I feel my own divinity calling to me!”

  “Wait.”

  She only mao take half a step before rabs her by the arm and stops her iracks. Looking back, Sophia furrows her brow in fusion.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing… I don’t know. I don’t sense or hear anything in that dire. There’s just this big… void up ahead.”

  Sophia blinks and then ughs.

  “Oh… that’s the refuge, silly. I said it before, it’s covered in divine wards. I suppose to someone like you, it’s not w as effectively as it should because of your special circumstances… but you don’t o worry. The divine wards turn away all mortal i. Even if someone did stumble across the refuge while out here in the woods for whatever reason, they would find themselves distracted and going in another dire without even realizing it shortly.”

  It was an excellent ward in Sophia’s humble opinion. The type of ward that didn’t hurt anyone and merely… turned away the unwanted and unihat was the best kind of ward as far as the goddess was ed.

  “… Right. Let’s go then.”

  This time it’s Oren who tries to take a step forward… only for his legs to finally buckle, giving out on him. Sophia’s eyes widen as she finds herself lurg forward to keep him from hitting the ground, only to almost colpse herself from his weight. Luckily, the Otherworlder is able to recover quickly, only needing partial support from her as he finds his footing again.

  “Sorry… I…”

  Sophia just shakes her head.

  “Don’t apologize. You’ve done so mue Oren. Now let me do this for you. e on. Safety and security are just a couple hundred feet away. They won’t be able to get to us once we’re within my wards.”

  Oren nods and together they all but shamble the rest of the way to the refuge. He really has exhausted himself pulling off this test stunt, but it was food cause. They’d finally made it. The smile on Sophia’s face as she pulls Oren through the wards c the entrao her refuge grows wider and wider. The cave entrance quickly gives way to a set of stairs that lead down deeper into the earth and together, they stumble down them.

  Holy, she ’t wait to show him everything. There wouldn’t even be dust either, because the hideaway has some self-ing entments too! The very first thing Sophia was going to do was-!

  They both stop dead iracks at the bottom of the staircase, Sophia’s thoughts fizzling in her head as her eyes widen at the sight waiting for them.

  “Fuck.”

  Oren’s rea is as suct as it is appropriate giveate of her refuge. The whole pce looks like it’s been through a damn hurrie, despite being fully underground! Her table and chairs are knocked over, her drawers have all been pulled out haphazardly, ahings are strewn all across the floor.

  Pulling away from her, Oren draws his sword as his stance, even though he barely walk.

  “Thought you said nobody could get in here.”

  “I… t-they shouldn’t have been able to. And if someone had gotten inside, I should have beeed. The wards are all still intact too.”

  Before Oren answer… a third voice cuts through the stagnant cave air, causing Sophia’s eyes to widen even further and a shiver of fear to run down her back.

  “You should never be too reliant on wards. Holy, you shouldn’t be too reliant on anything or anyone you don’t have full trol over. Never know when it or they might… fail you.”

  There, up on a shadowed ledge close to the cave ceiling… Sophia just barely make out the outline of a person. Oren immediately moves to stand in front of her… and he even mao make it look easy too, like he’s moving without stressing already strained muscles. Pointing his sword up towards the third party, he grunts.

  “Who are you? How did you get in here and what do you want from us?”

  There’s a brief pause before the shadowed figure speaks again.

  “Mm… always so blunt, Oren. So impatient. Never any time to just… talk with you, is there?”

  What? Did this man know Oren? Sophia see Oren faltering in fusion as well… something that the shadowy figure pounces on.

  “You know, I really thought it would take you two loo get here. After you were both so kind to give me dires the ht at the tavern, I did everything I could to slow you down. Tell me, how are dear Lieutenant Elrid his God Hunters faring these days?”

  That was him! And… he must have somehow been spying on them when they’d discussed things their first night in Oakvale before bed. He’d overheard them and then sicked Elrid the od Hunters on them. But how hadn’t Oreed his presence? Just who was this man?!

  “Dead.”

  Oren’s suct, one word answer provokes her anger nrief. Instead, the shadowy figure lets out a bark of ughter.

  “I suppose that’s not surprising. You are such a very good killer, Oren.”

  The Otherworlder flinches and Sophia finds herself finally speaking up, if only to e to his defense.

  “They left him no choice! They were going to keep ing after us no matter what!”

  A, while Sophia does believe that… she also hear how weak her excuses sound, even to her own ears. They’d justified killing the God Hunters instead of just running because they khat uhose thugs in Amberwell, these ‘thugs’ were far more likely to chase them to the ends of the earth, on top of rep them to their superiors.

  But then they’d had to leave behind witnesses in the form of the entire popution of Oakvale anyways. And even worse, now they were finding out that the superior Elric had spoken of… was two steps ahead of them all along, waiting for them to get here. What was all that sughter for, in the end? Oren had been forced to kill all those men… for nothing.

  “I’m sure. A, judging by the speed with which you arrived, they barely equated to more than a bump in the road, didn’t they? Ugh. How infuriating. First, your dires were outdated and it took me half of a day to realize it and locate that stupid fug boulder. Then, it took me another half a day to slip past those pesky wards you’ve put on this pce. Seriously, most deities would have just spped on half a dozen or so and called it done. But not you… no, you decided you were going to pack this pce with over FIFTY.”

  Sophia blushes at the sudden rant thrown her way. Of course she hadn’t stopped at just the basics. Even if she’d never gotten a ce to use this pce, it was supposed to be her home away from home. Iy, she’d made this in a fit of youthful rebellion, intending to e live on the mortal pne because she set about some fotten slight that someone had dealt her up in the Heavens.

  By the time she’d fihe refuge, cooler heads had prevailed and Wisdom had reasserted itself, making Sophia realize just how foolish she’d been. But of course, she’d kept the refuge anyways just in case…

  Before she formute a respoo the shadowy figure’s diatribe… he suddenly moves. Leaping down from the ledge, he nds a dozen paces away from them both. Covered from head to toe in bck, the man chuckles.

  “And you, Oren. Pushing yourself so hard to get you both to safety only to find it was all a lie. I shouldn’t be surprised I suppose. You were always… driven when you wao be.”

  “Who. Are. You?”

  Oren is gritting his teeth at this point, his sword still poi the figure. In respohe other man just chuckles.

  “Sorry… I suppose you wouldn’t reize my voice. What if I talked a little more like this. ‘You’ve e such a long way, Oren’.”

  Oren freezes ihe shadowy figure has pletely ged his voi them and it sounds like Oren reizes him from somewhere now.

  “’You’re the Hero, Oren. Your potential is limitless. You just have to believe in yourself more’.”

  “No…”

  Finally, the man reaches up and pulls back his cloak, dragging down his mask to reveal his face.

  “’I see you’re finally starting to believe… Oren’.”

  “Raythe.”

  Sophia doesn’t uand what’s happening. Oren sounds like he’s seen a ghost. She doesn’t reize the man of course, but then she wouldn’t… not if he was from Oren’s past. Wait, was this man ected to the people who summoned Oren to this world in the first pce? And they already knew he was ected to the God Huoo. So in the end… it was they who’d summoned Oren here after all.

  “You! Yht Oren to this universe. You and the God Hunters! Why? Were you hoping he would kill Gods here on the Mortal Pne for you? What do you know about the God Killer? Did you lot summon him too?!”

  Silence falls in the face of Sophia’s frenzied questions. ‘Raythe’ looks past Oren and stares at her for a long moment before a slow, wide grin spreads across his face. Oren, meanwhile, looks frozen stiff. He’s fag away from her so Sophia ’t see his face, but she sees something she’s never seen before etched into every inch of his posture anyways. Terror.

  “Oh? pario those worthless scum… what a rk. The God Hunters are nothing but pawns for those like me and my master. Still, I’ll let it slide in favor of everything else you said. Because this… this is delicious.”

  “Raythe.”

  Oren’s voice sounds almost pleading, which causes Raythe’s grin to widen even further.

  “What was it you said? Yes, we did indeed summoo this universe. But you wao know about somebody else, didn’t you? The God Killer.”

  Sophia tenses up. Is this ‘Raythe’ really just going to tell her what she wants to know?

  “I usually prefer to tell lies over the truth, admittedly. But sometimes even someone like me admit… that the truth is worse thahe darkest, most cutting lie.”

  “Raythe. Not another word.”

  This time, Oren’s tone sounds angry. And threatening. Sophia blinks at the Otherworlder’s back. What is this? What’s going on?

  “What if I were to tell you that the God Killer is closer than you think, Goddess?”

  What? Was he saying HE was the God Killer? Sophia didn’t uand.

  Raythe’s grin grows as out a dark chuckle.

  “In fact. What if I were to tell you that Oren and the God Killer-!”

  Suddenly, Oren bursts forward with strength he doesn’t have and sms his sword into Raythe’s chest. Sophia gasps at the abrupt violence, her hand ing up to cover her mouth. Only… just when she’s expeg the man to drop to the ground dead, Raythe seems to recover from what should have been a fatal blow. He reaches up, s one hand around the hilt of Oren’s sword… and bads him away with the other.

  As the Otherworlder falls to the ground at his feet, Raythe holds up the handle of his on to reveal the bde no longer exists. Almost like it met an immovable objed disied in the face of it. Almost… almost like the mortal bde came into tact with true divinity and shattered into a milliments.

  Raythe was a god. The one who summoned Oren to this world… was a god. That god’s grin stretches from ear to ear now as he pays Oren no mind and stares Sophia down, finishing his sentence like there was no interruption.

  “-are one and the same.”

  … What? It takes a sed for Sophia to parse his meaning. But even once she does, she’s still bewildered. He’s saying that Oren and the God Killer are one and the same. That… that ’t be. The God Killer was a monster who slew the Heavens. Oren had saved her. He’d helped her. He… he was looking at her now from the ground with guilt on his face.

  The Otherworlder doesn’t even try to deny it. No… the God Killer doesn’t try to deny it. Because it’s true. Oren is the God Killer. Oren is the one who killed her father and everyone she’d ever known or loved.

  -x-X-x-

  A/N: Sophia learns Oren's true nature and you guys learn Raythe's true nature. Anyohe tter reveal ing?

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