Oren was starting to feel like his plan to make Sophia feel nothing but disdain and contempt for him had backfired somewhere along the way. Though in all fairness, he'd been stymied at multiple points. First had been the horse. Her not knowing how to ride one had ultimately led to them doubling up on the largest stallion that the stable master had to offer.

  Now, Oren had at least not gone in on having her sit in front of him. He was well aware that horses weren't like motorcycles. Despite coming from Twenty-First Century Earth, he did actually have experience on horseback. On a motorcycle, Sophia would always be behind him, but on a horse, it was far more common for the passenger to sit up front, especially when they had a smaller frame.

  He wasn't about to let that happen though. The sheer awkwardness of having her pushing back into his crotch for hours each day was something Oren wanted to avoid at all costs. Plus, forcing her to sit behind him and cling to him for fear of falling off should have engendered further negative feelings towards him… or so he would have thought.

  Alas, he couldn't quite bring himself to be a total monster. And besides, sometimes he wanted to stretch his legs. So once in a while, he would get down off of the horse and let her ride it alone while he guided the damn thing from the ground via the reins. Given his enhanced strength and stamina, it didn't even really cut down on their travel time at all.

  But then they'd run into that burnt out husk of a town. Oren wasn't all that surprised by it, truth be told. He'd seen that much and worse. Amberwell had largely managed to stay unscathed because it was mostly secular. The God Hunters had no reason to torch the place because there were no worshippers of the gods within it. Or at least, none who were stupid enough to worship in public, especially with things being as they currently were.

  Alas, Amberwell was an exception rather than the norm. Oren had lost count of the number of towns and villages he'd seen who were centered around worshipping this or that god or goddess after he fled from the Heavens. Some worshipped those he'd killed in the Heavens. Others worshipped deities that were more… local. The sort that embodied aspects of the world, like Gods of the Forest, or a Goddess of a River.

  Even back just after his slaughter of the Heavens, the God Hunters had already been moving and moving quickly. Almost like they were ready for Oren to do what he did. Almost like they were planning on it all along. But then, it wasn't 'almost' anything. Oren knew they were tied to the people who had summoned him, didn't he?

  Regardless, he was only one man. He couldn't be everywhere at once and… frankly, he hadn't really tried. Some of the towns he'd passed through had been fine when he passed through them but probably weren't by now. Others had already been put to the torch, just like they one they'd stopped in last night.

  It was really just his luck that they would find a burnt out husk of a village that worshipped Sophia's father Law though. Of all the gods, it just had to be the King of the Gods himself, the God of Justice and Righteousness. In the face of Sophia's freshly renewed sorrow and grief, Oren had found it all but impossible to play the callous, indifferent role he'd set for himself. Instead, he'd defaulted to trying his best to comfort her. Luckily he was terrible at that too, but then she'd asked that question about justice versus vengeance and Oren STILL wasn't entirely sure about how that conversation had gone.

  Now here they were, back on the road again. At least they were making good time towards Sophia's refuge. Still pretty far away, but Oren intended to push them a bit harder each day so they would actually get there when she'd originally said they would get there, even if she'd been telling a bit of a fib at the time.

  Then, they could hopefully go their separate ways…

  "Oren."

  Blinking, Oren is pulled from his thoughts, glancing up to where Sophia is riding their one stallion alone right now while he walks alongside it. She's looking down at him curiously and he quickly turns back to facing ahead again, affecting a certain degree of disinterest even as he answers her.

  "Yes?"

  "I was just wondering… what was it like, back on your world? Where did you come from?"

  Ah. He couldn't really ignore it anymore, now could he? Sophia was pretty much doing everything in her power to find common ground with him. She was attempting to develop a rapport with Oren and while he didn't quite know why, he did know he couldn't let her. Not with the secrets he was hiding from the Minor Goddess.

  "… Better than here, that's for sure. Your universe is a backwards trash heap by comparison."

  There. That was plenty rude, wasn't it? Now to be fair, it wasn't entirely true. Sure, Oren missed plenty of the Twenty-First century's creature comforts. But living in this world wasn't so bad. It only sucked because he'd been tricked into murdering all the good guys and the people who tricked him into it were clearly continuing their crusade of wanton death and violence on anything and everything with even a hint of divinity to it.

  Still, he sees Sophia flinch back out of the corner of his eye and hopes she's going to take offense and maybe start an argument defending her home from him. Instead, much to his surprise, she's quietly contemplative for a moment before responding.

  "That great, huh?"

  Oren huffs.

  "Yes. All of this pales in comparison to the life of luxury I lived back on my world."

  Another lie, this one even more than the last one. Especially since Oren is gesturing out at the untamed natural beauty all around them… and if he's being completely honest, what he's looking at right now is so much more alive and vibrant than anything he remembers from back home on Earth.

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  Now on the one hand, he HAS been gone from Earth for years at this point. When those who took him did so, they made sure to train him up long and hard to prepare him for his role as their weapon. But on the other hand… he still remembers plenty of Earth and its numerous shortcomings. Having access to all those amenities and taking things like electricity and running water and such for granted was one thing, but Earth wasn't all sunshine and roses. It had it's fair share of problems.

  Of course, he wasn't about to tell Sophia that. He was deliberately talking up Earth to make her mad. It just wasn't working.

  "I see… were you powerful back there as well? Rich? Beloved?"

  Oren's lips curl up into a sardonic smile at that. How about none of the above? Briefly, he considers what to tell Sophia without it all being lies. After all, the best lies have kernels of truth in them.

  "… I was a scholar of sorts. Not a warrior."

  True. He'd been about to enter University when he'd been summoned. Literally on the doorstep outside of the campus. And before that, Oren had thrown everything he had into his studies. He hadn't had time for athletics, let alone learning how to fight. Honestly, he'd been kind of a nerd.

  "A scholar? Truly? Were your parents nobles, to fund such a thing?"

  Oren snorts. Talk about teeing it up for him.

  "My parents are dead."

  Sophia gasps and to her credit, looks actually dismayed by her mistake.

  "I… I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

  Of course she didn't. She didn't know much about him and Oren would prefer to keep it that way. He especially didn't want her to find out that he'd killed her father and slaughtered her peers. Not before he could get her to the safety of her refuge, anyways.

  Shrugging, Oren keeps his gaze focused on the road ahead.

  "It's fine."

  He keeps his tone flat, to make it seem like it's not fine.

  "I've long since made peace with my parents' deaths."

  Again, he tries to give off a tone that makes it clear he hasn't. The truth is though… he sort of has. Mostly because they died when he was a baby anyways. Oren doesn't even have photos to remember them by. He grew up in an orphanage and then a handful of foster homes, and while the final one he'd wound up in had been a solid environment for his studies, it wasn't the kind of place where he'd gotten particularly close to his foster parents. They'd let him do his own thing and that was good enough for Oren.

  For all that he'd effectively been parentless all his life, he'd done quite well for himself all the same. And he'd had plans to continue doing well for himself too. He'd had every intention of taking University by storm, getting a degree in business, and then climbing the corporate ladder until he reached the top.

  That was the dream, right? To become CEO of his own company one day and make the big bucks?

  Heh… it was funny to look back at that now, what with it all so far away. He'd never even had a chance. Instead of becoming some snazzy businessman, Oren was a warrior and fighter. He was a trained killer and consummate murderer. And now, he was a goddess' bodyguard. Protecting Sophia and escorting her to safety was probably the best thing Oren had done since finding himself in this universe. But she couldn't be allowed to know that. She couldn't be allowed to know any of it.

  "I… I suppose you would want to go back though if you could, right? What with how you talk of things…"

  Oren nearly stops in the middle of the road; Sophia's words give him such pause. Honestly… it might seem strange, but he hasn't thought about going back in years. It had been a promise made to him early on by those who had summoned him here in the first place, of course. They'd told him they would do everything in their power to send him home after he'd saved them all.

  Even back then, even when Oren believed all of their other lies, he hadn't really believed that one. Somehow he'd just known that they weren't telling him the truth about that… that they had no way of putting him back where they'd pulled him from. And even if they could, they surely couldn't rewind time when doing it, which meant every day he spent in this universe, every week, month, and year… was another he was gone from Earth, from his life, from the society who had no doubt forgotten about him entirely by this point.

  He'd had all of his affairs in order when he'd initially been pulled from Earth. Bank accounts, ID, a dorm on campus to stay at while he attended University. All of that was likely gone by now. He was almost certainly presumed dead, if anyone even remembered he existed at all. Untangling that mess would be a challenge and a half and frankly, not really worth the bother.

  Snorting at Sophia's words, he finally looks to the Minor Goddess, giving her a wry look.

  "I suppose this is where you offer me a way to get back, is that it? Careful what promises you make, Goddess."

  Sophia colors at his chastising tone, her face growing red as he takes her to task. Opening her mouth to respond, the goddess might have intended to apologize or protest his insinuations. Oren never really gets the chance to find out though, because before she can speak, he has to act. A shadow flickers almost too fast for the human eye to follow, but not too fast for his eyes to follow.

  In a single moment, Oren grabs Sophia off of the stallion they'd bought back in Amberwell and spins the goddess away, shielding her with his body. A moment later and the horse's massive frame strikes Oren in the back as a boulder twice the mount's size slams into it from the other side. Both horse and boulder strike Oren's back with the force of a speeding truck… and lose.

  Oren barely even grunts as the stallion is crushed between him and the boulder, letting out a frankly soul-wrenching death scream. Meanwhile, the boulder tries to keep going once its turned the horse's body into paste but it too cannot help but shatter across his back. It doesn't even succeed in shifting him a single inch.

  Finally, the entire ordeal is over. Barely a second has gone by since it started, but time has slowed down for Oren even as his perception has sped up. Narrowing his eyes, he turns his head to look back over his shoulder… and sees the one who threw the boulder lumbering their way. Hill Giant. Big, thirty foot tall creature with a dumb face and a whole lot of physical strength.

  They were demigods, though nobody called them that. Born of dalliances between gods of the mortal planes and mortals. The God Hunters hunted them as well, but apparently in their haste to put entire villages to the sword and deface statues… they'd missed this one.

  "ME KILL YOU! ME KILL YOU DEAD!"

  Oren checks to make sure Sophia is okay, finding the Minor Goddess shaken but unhurt. Slowly, he rises to his feet and turns, interposing himself between the Hill Giant and his charge. His hand drops to the pommel of his sword, even as the massive hulking creature continues its steady approach. It'd been hundreds of yards away when it threw that fucking boulder with enough force to kill their only horse instantly. But it was closing the gap fast.

  "We don't have to fight, you know! We have no quarrel with you!"

  Not quite true given the loss of the horse, but Oren was willing to let bygones be bygones if it meant he and Sophia could be on their way. Alas, the Hill Giant has already spoken all the words he intends to speak it would seem, because the next thing he does as he finishes closing the distance and looms large over them is lift up his massive makeshift club and roar as he swings it down.

  Oren clenches his jaw… and draws his sword.

  A/N: If it ain't one thing, it's another! Can't get any peace...

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