"So, what's up?" Sab proudly stood arms akimbo facing the line of people.
"Yeah, I heard you guys helped out with anything, right?" The person now standing at the front inquired, "Does that include directions as well?"
Directions. It was such a reasonable question to have asked, yet this was the first time they actually heard it uttered. The person here wanted to know where someplace was, so Sab obviously subdued his immediate answer and turned to ask Throne with nothing but his gaze.
"Hm, yes. We can do that." Throne nodded, "What place are you looking for, exactly?"
"Ah, I heard about this one place called the Gods' Abode?" The guy asked, "Is it actually like, accessible? Or even existing for that matter."
"Yes, it does exist." Throne got close to Sab and whispered to him the directions.
"Mhm, got it." Sab nodded, "Go down that road there and keep moving forward until you find a huge yard with a mansion in the middle. Can't miss it."
Surprised by the fact Sab was the one giving him this knowledge and not Throne, the man was a bit weirded out, but he nonetheless thanked them before walking out of the line to finish whatever business he had planned with the Gods. That's another happy customer, but they've still got a long way's to go. Right now, they were only a quarter of the way to the end, and time was steadily slipping away from their grasp. If they wanted to make it in time, an added sense of urgency had to be administered.
"Alright guys, new idea since there's so many of you!" Sab clapped his hands with a friendly smile, "Anyone with a request that takes less than a few minutes can transfer over to my line! All the others, you guys stay where you are, and my friend Throne here is gonna deal with you. That sound good?"
"What?" Throne glared at him, his wings standing at the ready, "Need we have a talk about this?"
"We need not." Sab shot back in a quiet tone, "What we need is to speed things up. Time's ticking, so just help me out here! You do those long missions at your own pace, and I'll be doing the shorter ones on my own."
Angered by these constantly counterintuitive shenanigans his test subject was pulling, Throne forcefully grabbed Sab before flapping his wings mightily to reach the skies. Though his methods were seemingly effective, their longevity was pretty weak. In other words, Sab was burning through his customers' faiths at an extremely rapid pace, meaning if he kept making these rash, selfish decisions... He'd end up out of his so called fans before he could even hope to reach a hundred good deeds.
"Nice plan, genius, if it weren't for the fact you need me to help you speed up the missions in the first place." Throne chewed him out now that no one could hear them, "Seriously, I admire your willingness to pull any trick you can think of, but just stick to a goddamned plan, alright!? I've been nothing but tolerant because I trust you can do this, but you kept throwing goddamned wrenches every chance you could!"
"Hey, what the hell do you mean I need you!?" Sab angrily shot back, "They're ultra short missions for a reason, meaning they expect me to do it in a few minutes. Just like I said. Sure with your help I can turn those minutes into seconds, but what good does that do if we constantly have to worry about sifting through good and bad requests! Deny it all you want, but I'm saving time."
"You're wasting MY time!" The seraphim hissed, "And if this plan doesn't work because of your dumbass constantly changing the script, then I just spent an entire cycle for nothing!"
"You've got plenty of time! Infinite time, even!" Sab rolled his Eyes, "Besides, who cares if we don't make it in time? You can always just find me tomorrow and try again next time."
"Next time? Next time!?" Throne guffawed mockingly at the angel dangling under his arms, "You think there'll be a next time? I got the entire human race as possible candidates to do the exact same thing as you did and I'm sure there are others that are way more amicable."
Suddenly, Sab's heart sank before he did. His Eyes sunk back in fear as he realized Throne's surprising ultimatum. The stakes were not precisely defined before this, but they sure as hell got raised now. He now effectively had to fight seriously if he wanted to see the next cycle.
"W-What?" Sab chuckled in confusion, "Wait, you can't be serious?"
"Oh I'm serious. The only question is—Are you?" Throne continued his tirade, "Are you serious about getting your wings? Because the way I see it, either you go ahead and earn them properly before time runs out, or I go look for another angel while you rot in this endless cycle like the rest of these bastards down below."
"Y-You're gonna abandon me?" Sab's desperate expression fully revealed to him the threat he was told.
"Who knows, you might yet be useful even then." Throne laughed scarily, "Me and your replacement might just see you standing in line next cycle, asking for help."
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Sab had gotten dizzy. The world spun wildly around him until his grip loosened, and for a short while he felt like he was looping in and out of consciousness. A strong thud jumpstarted his brain back up, and he only realized he fell back down to the ground in front of everyone once he saw Throne staring down at him cheekily.
"Y...!" He bit his tongue, choosing to put on a fake smile for everyone's reassurance rather than cussing out his latest traitor, "Y-You guys, my line starts here, remember?"
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
"A-Are you okay?" His first true customer approached him carefully, "That fall looked crazy."
"I'm a superhero just like that knucklehead over there." Sab joked, "I don't have wings, but invincibility is a given."
"Oh, cool!" She smiled back brightly.
"...So, what do you need?"
With his newest innovative idea, Sab had found a way to pretty consistently target only the minute or so long side quests. Throne did indeed play along with the charade, as it was still in his best interests to try and make Sab get his wings, but he was definitely being put through the more grueling work. Lifting heavy loads of objects, flying people around, transporting them, delivering and finding impossible items... All of these Throne had to do slowly, one at a time, but at the very least he was helping clear the way for Sab, who was now steadily advancing through the quota.
"Hey, how many people have we helped by now, you reckon?" Throne inquired through encoded speech.
"Heh, like anyone'd keep count!" Sab shot back with a half-joke reply, "But ehh, I'd wager... 62?"
"What's up with that?!" The crowd cheered and laughed, "If you're guessing, then why such a specific number!?"
Though they all enjoyed the joke he gave them, in truth it was anything but. The reason he was being so specific wasn't just to get a laugh out of his adoring audience, but also because it was indeed the exact number of people he's helped. This number didn't account for Throne's tally, just Sab's—His was the only one that mattered, after all. In any case, their time was running out, but their numbers weren't going up fast enough.
"Alright everyone, if that's what my friend here says, then let's make sure to get to a hundred by the next half hour!" Throne hyped up the crowd, "Come on, come on! Rapid fire!"
Though they were eager to get the countdown going, there was simply nothing to be done about the missions if they wanted to speed it up. Regardless of how fast they explained them, at the end of the day it all amounted to how easy they were to accomplish, and how fast Sab could accomplish them without the aid of Throne. For a small moment, just a small one, his conviction faded.
"T-Throne, mind helping me out a bit?" He weakly asked.
"Then who's gonna help this side?" Throne caught him in his own trap, "You were the one who suggested we split up into two lines, so I don't wanna hear anymore complaints!"
"Can't always take the easy way out, sonny!" A lady with an elderly tone laughed at that one, "By the way, can I get uhh..."
The situation was messed up. The people were being high octane and rowdy, Throne wasn't willing to help and time was running out. Sab was now fully panicking by this point. His brain felt like it had turned to mush, and he almost lost count a few times after that. Still, they had somehow made it to 95 after a few more taxing hours of good work.
"Alright fellas, countdown time!" Sab was ready to hit the showers the moment he got his wings, "Phew, made it in time, eh Throne?"
"..."
"T-Throne?" He tilted his head as the jumpy seraphim zipped up to the sky for a better lookout spot.
"Tch, you did good, kid." Throne looked kind of disappointed, "Really, I mean it. I almost feel bad for you after seeing all the work you put into all this."
"Whoa hey, come on." Sab chuckled nervously, "What's the deal? We made it, dude. Just 5 more!"
"Five more, huh?" Throne shook his head with a defeated smirk, "You'll be lucky to even find one anymore. I suggest you close your Eyes."
Close his Eyes, that could only mean one thing—It was officially time bedtime for Heaven 2.0. Throne's hunch was correct, as when he went up into the sky to scope out the far side of the line, he saw them—Dozens or so White Monster Apostles, and they were infecting people left and right. If they had any time left anymore, it'd be in the ballpark of seconds at best.
"Crap...! Alright, come on everyone! What do you need!?" Sab shouted at the crowd, "Listen to me, close your Eyes and don't open 'em until I tell you to! We continue as planned!"
"What's going on!?" They panicked, "Why should we close our...!?"
One by one, the anxious voices died out until nothing but a deathly silence loomed around the air. Just when he thought there was no end in sight, however, Sab was relieved to hear a few voices call out to him in the silence and blindness.
"What now, then?" They looked up to Sab and Throne with respect.
"...Nothing, we continue with this charity event, but you absolutely mustn't open your Eyes no matter what." Throne commanded, "Bad things will happen to you if you do."
This advice was solid. It came from the heart, and had everyone's best interests in mind when he told them that. They were scared, but they pushed on either to save themselves or because they figured out these two were doing this because they needed to. Either way, since it was only a few customers left, Sab and Throne could freely join forces to speedily get the last of their available requests done.
"Is that all?" Sab asked once more to reaffirm, "Shit!"
"What's the matter? How close were we?" Throne asked, holding his breath as he listened intently for the answer.
"...99." Sab laughed, his soul crushed by this devastating gut punch, "We were so close. We were..."
"One off." Throne muttered before giving up and opening his Eyes, "Well, we tried. Sorry kid, I guess that means you're fired."
"T-Throne!?" Sab called out to the quietness around him, "Throne, you didn't! You-! You can't leave me here alone! Throne!"
Throne had let himself get eaten by the White Monsters around them. One by one, the huge crowd of customers they had amassed turned out to be his greatest nightmare, as Sab was now completely surrounded by them with no way out. Slowly they approached him, grabbed his arms, legs, torso... He was getting pulled around as he screamed into the empty void for a saving grace, a second chance. This horror had only ended once the Apostles finally pried open his Eyelids, making it so he could well and truly stare directly into their cold, empty Eyes before being laid to rest.