Morning came, and I've never felt more refreshed. The light rays shone down on our faces through the tall windows above, indicating it was time to head out. I sat up from my bed, rubbing my Eyes before poking the brain lying next to me.
"Morning, did you sleep well?" I asked.
"Surprisingly enough, I have never dreamt better." Energy replied, "It appears the lack of a skull obfuscating my brain's breathing allowed it to fully focus on my lucidity. I could even control the dream I was having, isn't that incredible?"
So this was his first time experiencing a lucid dream, huh? It's kind of sweet, gramps learned something new by himself, but I better not break his heart by telling him it's already a known phenomenon. Rare, but known nonetheless.
"How interesting!" I clapped my hands, "So, what did you end up dreaming about?"
"...Happy things." He muttered bashfully.
Soon as he said that, Prylos jumped from his own bed, looking to be quite frazzled. He glanced around the room, his Eyes darting all over before they ended up on Selzion's face, where he finally calmed down.
"Phew, it was fake..." He turned to me, "You're saying you humans actually enjoy these nightly visions?"
"When they're dreams and not nightmares, sure." I chuckled, "What in the world happened to make you that terrified?"
"...Bad things." He turned away bashfully.
Are men this difficult to talk to when it comes to explaining dreams? Geez, I'm curious to know!
"Hrm..." He heard my thoughts before sighing, "Fine, but it really wasn't anything you should be worried about."
"Oh goodie!" I jumped for joy, "Tell us, tell us!"
"A-Ah?" He was slightly taken aback, "I dreamt of... Ouroboras."
The Sun God?
"Who?" Energy was left clueless.
"An old friend. Your era knew not of him." Pry explained to him with a nostalgic smile, "He is currently somewhere down in the World of the Living, though we can't even go and look for him due to our obligations being found up here in Heaven 2.0."
They can't find him? The Gods of this world, really? How does that even work?
"He is a God, Migu." Pry glanced at me, "Gods cannot spectate other Gods, and he made full use of that to escape."
"Escape, from what?" Energy inquired.
"From his responsibilities." His Eyes grew dark, "The Sun God suddenly went ahead and reincarnated himself as a human, who now wanders the land without any knowledge of his true identity."
Whoa, that's actually kind of incredible. A God walking among men, eh? That's hard to believe, but if it came straight from Pry's mouth, then it has to be true.
"But why would a God turn himself into a human?" Energy sounded livid, "He could create anything, see whatever sights he wanted to see, and he could be anywhere he wanted to! In contrast to that, being a human has no merit!"
"I wouldn't be so harsh..." I bit my tongue.
Of course, I wouldn't—but Energy hails from a cursed era. Obviously he would wish to be more powerful, more secure, so as to live a carefree life. As a God, he could surely turn the tides against that plague that overtook his world. He could probably save his loved ones and friends from meeting all sorts of terrible fates, and yet the Sun God purposefully made himself weaker.
"Actually, I have to agree with Energy." I shook my head, "I just don't understand why he would do that to himself."
"That is what we Gods wish to know as well." Prylos chuckled, turning to the snoring Selzion resting on his bed, "This one, for example, was so eager to find out the reason behind such a drastic action, that he even thought to put us through the same trial."
Neither Energy nor I could even think of what to say to that. Now it was starting to add up, why Selzion was so emotional last night, why he held so much contempt for humanity. He wasn't just a grouchy God, he was someone who had lost a friend, and to the very humanity that he and Prylos were taking care of in the afterlife.
"And this God, you do not detest him for his actions?" Energy blurted out.
"Detest? If you were ever blessed to have met him in your lifetime, you would know that such an idea is unfathomable." Pry chuckled, "Ouroboras was truly as bright as the Sun he signified. Tell me, could you ever bring yourself to hate the Sun?"
This retort was delivered calmly and charismatically. Pry's only goal with it was to enlighten us, and we could tell from his tone.
"Well, once you figure out why anyone would want to become a human, will you return to being Gods?" I inquired.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Ah, that's the thing." Pry slouched, "He put a fixed timer on this arrangement, meaning regardless of whether or not we figure out the answer, we'll only turn back into Gods once 252 hours have elapsed."
That's a big number...
"Yaaawn~! Ugh, what a dream." Sheep woke up shortly after, "I dreamt that I was munching on a field of grass, then some guy ran up to me and punched me."
"Weird. What happened then?" I raised an Eyebrow.
"I gave him two pieces of wool."
Just what the heck was he dreaming about? Of course the one guy actually willing to tell me the contents of his dream ends up telling me something completely nonsensical...
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"Now that I think about it, we kind of got off-topic." I turned to Pry once more, "You never did tell us what exactly happened in your nightmare to make you jump like that."
"Oh what?" Sheep laughed, "The Meditation God himself had a nightmare? There are whole LAYERS of irony to that statement!"
"...Ahem." Pry cleared his throat, "As I said, I dreamt of the Sun God Ouroboras." He continued, "We met at the top of Mount Ivrys. A regular occurrence for us Gods, but I found it unusual how none of the other Gods were there as well."
The tallest mountain in the Living World, Mount Ivrys. Said to be the meeting place of the Gods. To think the legends were true...
"He informed me of a rather dark piece of info." Prylos shivered just from recalling it, "He told me the others had died."
"The other Gods did?" Energy gasped.
"Can Gods even die?" I asked.
"There is... a way." He stopped himself from elaborating further, "But for that to happen, many improbabilities would have to align first. Effectively, we are indeed immortal."
"But it's not impossible." Sheep nodded along, "Which made you panic in that moment."
"Yes, the mere thought shook me awake." He admitted, albeit a tad abashedly, "I immediately ran to check on Selz, but thankfully he was doing that "breathing" thing with his chest which you've informed me of previously, so I knew everything was alright."
"Hmm, I dunno." Energy figured, "He looks pretty dead to me. Snoring is a clear sign, you know?"
"Gah!" The poor God panicked, pushing his friend off the comfy bed.
Selzion crashed loudly on the ground, finally waking up dead last. Rubbing his sore head from the thunk, he angrily got up to ask why Prylos would do that.
"Nincompoop! Must I deal with your idiocy first thing in the morning!?" He shouted.
Dang Energy, that was horrible. Funny, but horrible. Prylos even seems to be the kinder one of the two, so I don't see why you would choose to bully him like that. Ohh, now he's gonna get it...
"Have you gone ma-!?"
"You're okay!" Pry rushed to hug him, interrupting this bout of rage with pure care, "I had a vision! No, nightmare as it were! Ouroboras was there, he said... He said...!"
"Hm?" Selz was stunned by this reaction, briefly glancing at us with an annoyed glare before comforting his old pal, "Of course you would forget something as commonplace as dreams and nightmares... These visions are merely a part of being human."
Eh? So he knows what they are, even though Prylos doesn't? How does that work...?
"Well, I suppose we are all wide awake now." Selz pried himself off the Meditation God before announcing, "I believe it is time for us to finally leave."
"Okay..." Pry sniffled.
The air was a tad awkward after that, but we persevered for Vastoria's sake. The Gods took us outside of the Abode and explained the plan in detail as we stood out in the vast yard.
"To begin with, our primary task is to retrieve Vastoria's body from her floating island." Selz explained, "This much shouldn't prove to be too difficult, as we have an archangel with us."
"That's me!" Sheep did a little dance.
"Indeed. Your task is a most vital one, so make sure to stick close."
So we need to actually go out and take Vastoria with us this time, huh? It makes sense, but wouldn't keeping her safe on the hard-to-reach floating island and bringing the method of healing to her make even more sense? Well, it didn't exactly work out the last time we did that, so I suppose it's worth giving this idea a shot as well.
"What will happen after that?" Energy inquired.
"Let us first focus on the matter at hand." Selz refused to answer that one, "It can get confusing having to explain everything from start to finish. It is a rather arduous and tedious method, but it's the best one we've got."
Whoa, hear that? It sounds like my trust in the Gods plummeting again. Geez, is it that difficult to give us the full plan from the start? Or at least a rough roadmap, come on! We gotta know what we're getting ourselves into, otherwise we won't be willing to go through with it!
"...We cannot tell you more." Pry slouched, still depressed over his earlier fright, "You wouldn't want to do it if we told you."
"Huh!? Well now we definitely won't do it!" Sheep yelled.
"Hold on." Energy interrupted him, "You Two are rather difficult to talk to. I'm certain you don't mean anything bad by that."
"How could you tell?" Selzion smirked.
"Call it blind faith." Energy tossed back, "Well, to elaborate, you're not actually sending us on a wild goose chase, are you?"
"No, we have promised your group Vastoria, and we fully intend to make good on that." Pry replied, "We can only hope that you will return this gesture of goodwill in kind by not leaving your district after this."
"And will we have to sacrifice any of us to bring Vastoria back?" I asked as well, "Why else wouldn't we want to do this, otherwise?"
"No, there will be no drawbacks, sacrifices or the sort." Selzion shook his head, "But explaining everything will only needlessly confuse you. Please, allow us to take this one step at a time. We are doing this for your sake."
So Vastoria will definitely be back, and we definitely won't be sacrificed. In that case, I guess they really are just going about this in such a way so as to not confuse us.
"Then, can we finally depart now?" Selz groaned, "Shopkeeper, with your new body, you should be able to carry all of us with ease."
"I can't wait!" Pry jumped for joy, "Selz, we haven't gotten a chance to explore this place ever since we opened Heaven 2.0 to the public!"
"Yes, yes..." Selz rolled his Eyes, "I've seen it all before, though. For Heaven 2.0's sake, Pry, we made the damned place."
It's like looking at an inverse mirror. One side was optimistic, kind and open-minded, whilst the other was constantly annoyed and tired. Certainly, I never expected to witness a day where I could actually discern the Gods' individual personalities, but it seems we have their newfound humanity to thank for that.
"Everyone strapped in?" Sheep asked, carrying us within his winged embrace, "Don't fall through the cracks."
"We won't!" Pry smiled.
"Just go." Selz ordered.
It's like a golden retriever and a husky. They couldn't be more different.