We left the Shrine not too long after that. Figures, since the first floor is just a nothing burger in general. Honestly, I was craving the fresh air outside—the Shrine's depths are just way too anxiety inducing for my tastes. The first thing we saw as soon as we exited the structure was the all too familiar ice wall standing proudly before us. But another thing stuck out to us upon further inspection.
"Oh right, there were originally two pairs of wings." I looked at where they were previously, "That's odd, now there's none."
"Huh? Wait, but that's impossible." He replied, "Sheep was the only one that had taken them, and even then it was only a single pair. Are you telling me someone else was here while we were exploring the Shrine and took them for themselves?"
Well, that's frightening—but also to be expected. After all, they weren't exactly hidden from plain sight, so realistically anyone could have just come by and taken them. Heaven 2.0 is a large place, housing many people all across humanity's history, so it'd honestly come as a shocker if it was someone we knew.
"Perhaps Sab returned to retrieve his wings?" Energy theorized otherwise, "Or that Gale guy you mentioned before."
"It could just be a lucky explorer who stumbled across them. If that's the case, those wings are as good as gone."
"Hrm..." He seemed to remember something annoying, "I'd rather it be someone associated with us. In fact, I got my wings stolen from me by a couple of hooligan angels once. Those wings will never be mine again, I presume."
"Poor gramps. There there..." I petted him gently.
"Stop that! I told you, it has no effect on me!"
"Mwah."
"Hrm..." He hesitated for a second, "If pats don't work, why would a kiss be any different? Besides, did you not claim to be committed to Vastoria?"
Geez, don't make it weird, gramps. I kissed the top of your brain, so to me that was like a forehead kiss. Eugh, looking back I wanted to just tease him with it, but now it kind of hit me that kissing an exposed brain is really icky. That being said, I can only do this because he has no body. It's like kissing a small animal, y'know?
"You're walking a tight rope by confusing familial love with romantic love." I glared, "I wouldn't dream of being involved romantically with a person such as yourself."
"You flatter me." He smugly replied, "Well then, the wings are gone, so we can't even go look for the others ourselves. I really didn't want it to have to come to this, but we have no other choice but to wait for that Sheep to arrive."
"Well now, we're not out of things to do just yet." I explained, "We might as well stretch our legs a bit with a walk."
"Is that supposed to be your attempt at dark humor?" He groaned, "Sure, let me just grow some first."
Literal as ever, always the buzzkill. Energy doesn't sound like he's in a good mood, despite the fact we're safe and comfortable. Does he just hate standing around doing nothing? I guess those restless types exist as well, though I for one don't really agree with their stance at all. I'd take a lawnchair over a pickaxe any day of the week, if you catch my drift.
"Quit whining, come on." I said, carrying him in my embrace as I began tracing the ice wall.
"Coming, coming. Hey, slow down." He sarcastically replied.
"If you don't stop that soon, I'll resort to kicking you along like the ungrateful rock you are."
"Noted, I'll henceforth hold back with the snide remarks."
Hold back, not stop. Never change, gramps... Well, as it turns out, my suggestion to take a walk around the perimeter of the barrier turned out to be quite beneficial. For the first half of the circular area, we didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but the moment we reached the exact backside of the entrance...
"A hole." I was taken aback.
"Where?"
"In the wall." I pointed, "Oh right, you can't see. It looks like someone dug straight through the ice barrier somehow."
"Eh, that's possible?"
"Seems so." I pondered, "What should we do? Do I try to pass through it?"
"Your choice, I can't accurately see the situation, so I'm afraid you'll have to choose whether it's safe to do so or not."
Gah, I knew he'd say that. Though it doesn't seem like there's anything dangerous or suspicious about it—just a regular tunnel more than wide enough for someone to comfortably pass through. It's not even a tight squeeze, even with me walking straight ahead.
"I'm doing it." I said, "Want me to take you along? Y'know, since there's still a non-zero chance that this will kill me somehow."
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"What good would it do me to remain a brain hidden away behind the secluded remote Shrine anyways?" He reasoned, "Just take me with you. If we die, we die. I won't have to suffer a possible eternity of loneliness and immobility."
That's fair. In that case, nothing to it but to do it! Here I... go?
"What? What happened?" He asked worriedly, "Why did you suddenly stop? Migu, did we pass? Are you there!?"
"I-I'm there." I glanced at the sight on the other side of the wall after passing through safely, my mouth agape, "You're not gonna believe this when I tell you."
"Geez, don't scare me like that!" He breathed a sigh of relief, "So, out with it—what did you see? Gasp, did you find the wings!?"
"Even weirder." I gulped, "A hole in the ground."
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"What? Elaborate." He sounded confused.
"I told you, it's a hole in the ground." I replied, "Well, a hole in the clouds, but it looks like someone dug it out. I don't know how to explain it exactly."
The hole is right next to the doorway, so it's safe to assume the culprit is the same for both. If that's the case, then how did they do it? Neither of the two seemed to have been blown up. No, both tunnels are way too neat for that to be the case, so we can safely cross out explosives. Shame too, we could've used some to eradicate the bat roaches.
"Can you approach the hole?" Energy asked, "If so, check how deep it is."
"The hole is..." I glanced down over the edge into the dark abyss, "Pretty damn deep."
"Could you jump down it?"
"Jump-!? Do I look suicidal to you?"
"I'll take that as a no." He noted, "Wait, do you hear that!?"
"Hear... what?" I raised an Eyebrow.
"Shh, quiet! Hold me over the hole." He instructed.
"Are you crazy!?"
"Please, Migu!" He begged, "I trust you won't drop me."
That's a hell of a lotta trust you're putting in me, you know? But if that's what he wants, then who am I to deny him this thrill. By the way, the responsibility of him accidentally slipping into the pit lies entirely on him. I ain't jumping after him if that happens, nuh-uh!
"...Someone's down there." He said, "Deep, deep down, and they're digging."
"Is that your brain feeling them?" I asked.
"Possibly, or your hearing just sucks." He answered.
"Oi."
"Mn, I can't recognize the voices, but the sound of a pickaxe hitting a hard surface is undeniable." He explained, "Definitely, it seems whoever it is decided to take matters into their own hands when it comes to reaching the bottom."
Did he just say voices? In other words, there are multiple people in the hole together. Wait, wouldn't that get cramped? Also, just how stable is it to dig a hole straight down? Well, I guess they're outside the Shrine, so it's not like anything can hurt them.
"Wait, but if someone's down there, then they must be the ones that took the wings." I realized.
"We can't be too sure, but yeah." He agreed, "That's most probably the case."
"...H-Huh?" My Eyes shrunk back in fear as I stared at the hole.
"What now? I can't take any more of your shocked sounds!" He fussed.
"T-The hole is repairing itself!" I shouted, "It's closing up, what do we do!?"
"Oh my Gods, what the hell!" He got angry, "What else can we do? Jump inside, dammit!"
"Y-You sure!?" I worried.
"Just do it! Before it closes up for good!" He yelled, "We'll be safe, we're outside the Shrine!"
"But what about those guys down there?"
"Think about it, they have nowhere to escape to once the hole closes." He exhaled through his nose, "Friends or foes, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you get in before we lose this opportunity forever!"
Easy for you to say, you damned invincible brain! Gasp, wait—you're outside the Shrine, so you're no longer even invincible! Dammit, I'll have to hold him tight while I cushion the blow... Aaagh, so scary! I can't do it! No way, no how!
"Migu, I'm the only one in danger here." He reassured me, "You will feel nothing, your spine is your only weakpoint. Listen to me well—once you reach the bottom, quickly put your back up against one of the walls and take out your Flasher. Use that time to pin them to the ground and then begin asking questions."
"A-And if they end up wanting to kill me anyways!?"
"The Flasher has no cooldown." He explained, "You will have more than enough time to strike their golden parts with the rapier."
"But what if they don't have golden parts? What if they're completely White!?"
"Just shut up with the excuses! Have you honestly ever seen a single pure White Heavenly Being since you got here!? The chances of having all of them like that are next to zero!"
"Emphasis on Next to!"
Gahh, what am I even doing? I'm just stalling until the hole closes up completely so I don't have to make the call. I know that I need to jump down, but it's so scary! We don't know for sure who or what is down there. Even if everything went to plan and I ended up subduing all of them without us getting hurt, there's a chance they won't have wings with them. Even if they did, I wouldn't be able to fly out since the hole is closed. I'd get crushed to death unless I dug faster than the hole was being repaired. And then there's a chance these guys didn't actually use a tool but something specific to one of their party members. I know, it would make no sense, but is it really worth it to just jump to my death with Energy just because the chances of failure are "somewhat improbable"?
"No way, we'd be throwing out so much work if we did this." I turned around.
"Migu, jump the fuck in!" He ordered.
"I'm not doing it. Look, they're probably gonna end up tunneling to the Shrine anyways, so I'll just wait for them there and...!"
"They might dig past that!" He shot back.
"Past the Shrine?" I realized, "You don't mean...!?"
Right, there's an old saying—if you keep digging down, the Gods will punish you by opening the Gates of Hell to swallow you whole. Obviously, dig too deep and you'll die from the fumes and heat anyways, but in a metaphysical sense, you could say that's the same as being put through Hell. But by that same logic, if we're in Heaven and we dug down far enough...!
"Okay, I'm jumping in!" I flipped around, throwing myself inside the hole just seconds before it closed up for good.
The last glimmers of the surface light died out soon after, leaving Energy and me to impatiently wait for the ground to hit us at the bottom. Would I stick the landing safely? Will the people down there be friendly? Will we have enough time to reach some sort of safe spot before the ground engulfs us, or perhaps... will we find a way to reach the Vast World down below?