"Then, if we've got nothing else to do." I took the first step, "Onwards to the legendary Shrine!"
As Esbee told us, there is said to be a shrine outside of the residential area. Going inside it will unravel the secret to getting out of Heaven 2.0 and reviving back down in the world of the living. With him on our team, that makes us a quartet!
"Hurry it up, come on!" Elegy's steps were faster than our own, "Pick up the pace!"
"Where's the rush?" Hate replied, "We're going to the end of the dimension. It's not like walking a step or two faster would change the end time all that much."
"I'm sure it'd add up over time." I added, "Though I do agree Elegy shouldn't be spending too much energy with his speedwalking. Tone it down a little, would ya'?"
"I'm with Hate on this one." Esbee heaved a tired sigh already, "Huff, huff... Just walk at a leisurely pace. We'll get there when we get there."
"Oh shut up!" Elegy shouted at him, "Didn't you say you were excited to find out who you were before you died!? With such a chillax attitude, you won't even reach halfway!"
Chillax, who even says that anymore? Elegy might just be someone from way back in the past, now that I think about it. Since there's no past, present or future, it could be the case. Regardless, we decided on our pace with a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors, with Elegy representing our team, and Esbee representing theirs.
"Haha! Paper always wins!" Elegy proudly raised his weapon of choice in the air.
"Why'd you turn it upside down?" I asked in passing.
"Don't wanna offend anyone!" He shrugged, glancing at a random direction before continuing, "Now come on, double time!"
"Uuugh..." Esbee and Hate groaned with a shared voice.
As the losers of the game, they were forced to follow our pace. Or rather, follow Elegy's pace, since I was kind of lagging behind him as well. Here we have a group of four casually jogging at a pretty accelerated pace straight through the endless crowd of Angels. We must've put on quite a show for them... is what I would say, if they even cared enough to pay us any mind.
"NPCs everywhere, can you believe it?" Esbee shook his head.
"NPC?" Hate turned to him.
"Non-playable character, dude. Like in games and stuff." He elaborated.
"Never heard of the term." I shrugged.
"Same here, what game?" Elegy also drew a blank.
"Did you guys die of old age or something?" Esbee vehemently defended his knowledge, "You'd have to be absolutely ancient to not know what an NPC is."
"Maybe we are. You never know." Hate explained.
"We don't all come from your present, Esbee." I added, "My present might be entire generations apart from Elegy's for example."
"Yeah, even if we do revive, chances are we won't even be able to meet each other back down in the living world." Elegy finished it off.
Ah, that's... I haven't thought of that before. Right, though we're friends up here in Heaven 2.0, there's no guarantee we'll stay that way once we resurrect. Well, I guess that's just part of the process, no?
"Right, but on the flipside." Hate smirked, "We might not only hail from the same time period, but there's also a chance we've met each other down there as well. It's not off the table, y'know?"
"Yeah!" I immediately latched onto this theory, "Like, there's no way our houses were close enough to each other for no reason, right? There has to have been a reason we met up here!"
The other two stared back blankly at us before turning to each other and laughing after a brief pause. Their chuckles suggested they didn't quite lean on the idea too hard, but I guess they didn't despise it either.
"Heh, I guess that's fair." Elegy nodded meaningfully.
"A little bit of optimism goes a long way." Esbee noted, "Now, could we stop for a moment? I need to take a breather."
"Are you really that out of shape?" Elegy rolled his Eyes, "Don't we like, have the perfect bodies now as angels?"
"Perfect or not, I'm pooped." He bent over to wheeze and cough, "Maybe I wasn't all that active as a human."
"Hm, are you guys doing good?" I asked the other two, "Cause I'm fine, by the way."
"Yeah, this was hardly even warm-up, to be honest." Elegy shook his head, "Not even winded."
"And you, Hate?"
"Fine n' dandy." He gave a thumbs up, "Could go for hours."
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"Great!" Elegy hurriedly lifted up the dead tired Esbee and tossed him over Hate's shoulder, "Then let's continue!"
"Wait, that's not-!"
"Woohoo!"
There he went. Damn, he's already gone—If we don't hurry, we might actually lose Elegy in the crowd. Again, I feel bad for Hate, he's being forced to use those golden arms of his to their fullest capacity, but if it means not having to wait for the sluggish Esbee to recover, then I'm all for it.
"You doing alright?" I asked as we desperately tried to catch up to him.
"Oh yeah, this is perfect." Esbee gave a content thumbs up.
"Not you, asshole! She was talking about the guy carrying you!" Hate made sure to stretch him a bit over his neck as he carried him for that, "And yeah, I'm alright. How're you holding up, need me to carry you as well?"
"You're already carrying your own bodyweight in Esbee, so I wouldn't dare strain you more." I reasoned, "Besides, do you see me breaking a sweat? This much is easy!"
"Oh cone on, you sure? You're light as a feather." He guffawed, "Look, just let me know when you do get tired and I'll have you switch places with this guy pronto."
"Hey-ACK!" Esbee pleaded for his life the moment he tried to speak up, "Okay, I'm sorry! Just stop, you'll tear off my hoops~!"
It's a kind gesture, but after seeing how Hate treats his passengers, I just felt like I could run forever. You understand, right? I'm saying I'd rather not get my spine cracked in half.
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***
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Beyond the initial streets of Heaven 2.0 lied a rather ominous gate. Its large and pointy spikes meshed perfectly with its tall stature to create the perfect feeling of "You're not welcome here". Nonetheless, it was an obstacle that stood in our path, and from the looks of it—There's really no other way around it.
"So is this the end of the residential area already?" Esbee inquired, "But no, there're more houses on the other side of the gate."
"Maybe it's the next town over or something." Elegy presumed.
"Not town, but district." An angel that stood guard near the gate explained, "You are currently in G district. Beyond this gate is H."
"Oh, and what's the difference between them?" I asked.
"I don't know all the details, but the main one is this." He stomped on the cloudy ground beneath his feet, "You guys are allowed to freely explore G district, but you cannot do the same for H."
Eh? Already we're not allowed to go further on ahead? That was quick... My ass, like some random guard is gonna stand in the way of me and that Shrine!
"You guys already set up national borders up here?" I joked, "It's still just the first day of Heaven 2.0, dude!"
"We did, now please leave." He continued stomping on the ground in the hopes of scaring us off.
"Yeah, we'll do just that-" Elegy began walking away.
"Nah, we'll waltz on through this gate." I stood up to the guard instead.
Elegy looked panicked as hell by my decision. A cold sweat enveloped him as he rushed to whisper into my ear the plan he had in mind.
"Just follow me, I got this!" He pleaded, "Gemma, we can just climb over the fence a couple kilometers from here, c'mon!"
"That'll delay the journey too much, plus we might not be able to find our way back to this super straight main road." I kept glaring at the guard, "So yeah, I'd rather you let us through here. It's just a bit of sightseeing, nothing bad there."
"Miss, I am not permitted to allow anyone to pass." The guard kept repeating like a parrot, "You are not allowed to explore district H, so please return from whence you came."
He's not budging. Guess my adamancy wasn't impressive enough for him, after all. That's okay though, I didn't really expect it to be either. I'm not charismatic like Elegy, nor am I as threatening as Hate. I'd compare myself to Esbee, but he honestly seems like he's worse than me. Well then, gotta think up some kind of plan...
"But I am from district H." I pointed behind him, "My yard is just behind that one, see?"
"You are not from district G?" He asked with a suspiciously raised Eyebrow.
"Nope, she arrived here a few hours ago, actually." Esbee nodded along with me, "It's actually a really funny story how we met. You see, she-"
"All outsiders must be returned to their rightful spots." He stomped furiously on the ground.
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying." I sighed, "So will you let me through already?"
"Outsiders who have escaped their district are subject to become victims of the White Monster." The guard kept stomping, "May God rest your foolish soul, Miss. Trust me, this will be just as unpleasant for me to watch as it will for you to experience."
White Monster? Hey, that sounds familiar, don't tell me you're gonna sic Elegy or Hate on me? That'd be pretty difficult to deal with, but I think I could feasibly manage. Heh, as if. I thought the White Monster was just something Hate made up when he first woke up in Heaven 2.0, but I guess he must've heard it from someone else. And if that's the case, then I ought to be wary.
"Mhm, okay, sure, but could you just stop tapping on the ground so loudly?" Esbee popped a vein, "It's really annoying me! Besides, how can you even make such an audible sound if you're tapping on literal clouds? It doesn't make any sense!"
"The White Monster shall eat you now." His incessant tapping stopped abruptly, "Do not explore past this area until you are allowed to."
"Allowed to? What does that-?" Elegy couldn't even finish the question, "Hp!?"
Behind us was a presence. I don't know how, but we all felt it at the same time, given we all jolted when he did. The thing behind us kept staring at our backs in silence, not moving an inch nor even trying to announce its arrival. Its pained breathing resonated with our heartbeats to throw them off rhythm, and its breath's nauseating stench almost made us throw up immediately. Just what in the world is that...!?
"Watch ou-!" Hate turned around to shield us from it, but went silent the very next moment.
"Hate...?" Esbee squeamishly craned his head before going dead quiet as well.
"What is this?" Elegy kept staring at the guard in horror, either too wary or too afraid to follow our friend's examples, "If I turn around now, what happens to me?"
"You go to sleep." The guard said, staring not at us, but the White Monster behind us instead, "And you wake up. No harm can be done to angels, after all."
"And if I decide to just make a run for it past you?" I glared at him directly.
"No, there is no running from the White Monster." He elaborated, "For the moment I stomped my foot to summon it to get someone, it has already decided to follow you until you succumb. Turn around now, tomorrow, or in a billions years and it will still be there, waiting."
"Gemma." Elegy gulped, "What's the plan?"
"We should be fine." I said in a shaky tone, "As the guard said... we can't die."
With a deep inhale followed by an equally disappointed exhale, we decided to call it quits for now. We made a lot of progress, but this is where our journey had to stop this time. Turning around, I was greeted to a single image. In the White visage remained but one lone object. A goat skull, peeking through the light. Its Eye holes pierced through my body, and I immediately dropped to the ground. The White Monster is a scary foe indeed.