Ren and Eric quietly made their way down the tunnel. The dim light of the torches let them see a little of what lay ahead.
"… I wonder if the others are okay…" said Eric, stopping to let Ren catch up. "Karma and Rita don't really get along that well, right..?"
"They'll be fine. It's not like they outright hate each other," Ren said, trying to reassure the gentle man. "And it's not like we can do anything about it. We're not safe either."
They kept walking until they finally saw another room. They stepped inside and looked around. It was filled with statues.
Knights in armor held swords, axes, and in one case a staff. They seemed to be made of solid gold, with countless precious stones embedded in their eyes, armor and weapons.
Ren jumped back.
"Okaaay, those are definitely going to come to life," he said, taking several steps back into the tunnel. "I've seen way too much anime and read way too many novels not to see it coming..!"
Eric quickly joined him, fearing he was right. They waited, and waited, but the statues didn't budge. There was no movement and no sign of life.
"Are you… sure.. those aren't just statues..?" Eric asked, now skeptical. "They don't really look like they're going to move.."
"They- they'll probably move if we cross a certain line or something..!"
Eventually, Eric simply stepped out and walked forward.
"We can't stay here forever anyway, right..? We'll have to get past them either way."
He kept walking until he reached the end of the room. Nothing moved. The statues stayed in place.
Ren carefully joined him there. Eric made no comment about his reaction and started examining the room instead.
Besides the statues, the only thing that stood out was the door ahead of them: huge, forged from a blend of gold and bronze, with a strangely shaped keyhole right in its middle. The walls on either side were covered with murals.
The mural on the left showed a woman in a golden dress, seated on a white throne, with three subjects kneeling before her. The one on the right showed a man in a white tunic, seated on a golden throne, with two subjects standing beside him.
"Are those… supposed to help us..?" Ren asked, studying the right mural while Eric studied the left. "Because if they are, I don't see how."
Eric glanced back at the statues, then at Ren.
"Maybe the statues are the answer-"
"I am not touching those," Ren cut in, clearly unwilling to cooperate.
There were exactly five statues: two swordsmen, two warriors and one mage, each easily recognizable by its very stereotypical appearance. Two warriors stood on the right, a mage and a swordsman on the left, and a swordsman in the middle.
Eric went back to each statue, examining every one of them slowly. Even if they were connected to the murals, there was no way to find out who they were or what to do with this information. They were at an impasse.
Eventually, Eric gave up and returned to Ren, who was trying to open the door by forcing his screwdriver into the keyhole.
"… What… are you doing..?" Eric asked, confused by Ren's hopeless struggle.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Ren paused to look at him. "I'm looking for an alternative. This puzzle was clearly meant for someone who knows whatever all of this is about. And that's not us."
Eric sat down quietly and watched as Ren kept trying.
———
Almost six hours passed. They made a little conversation, but most of the time was silence. Ren was sweating buckets, his eyes occasionally closing, his hands trembling whenever he let his focus slip. Fatigue was hitting him hard, but he couldn't stop. He didn't have the right to. Not here, not like this.
After a while, Eric spoke again.
"I- I don't think it's going to work, Ren. I don't even know how you haven't given up yet. It's been hours!"
He was clearly concerned and confused by Ren's persistence. At first, he was met with silence. Then Ren finally answered.
"Would you rather I just let us die of thirst here..?"
"N-no, but we can't keep doing the same thing! It's not going to work..!"
Ren stopped and looked back at Eric.
"Well, then, if you've got any better idea, spell it out for me, will you?!"
Eric flinched at the sudden shift in tone, and Ren quickly calmed down.
".. I'm sorry.. It's just that… I understand you're worried, but I promise I almost have it."
"… I'm sorry too. You must be stressed out as well.. I was being inconsiderate." Eric looked at the keyhole. "Do you need me to do anything..?"
"No, it's fine- .. Actually… could you help me push the screwdriver a bit further in??"
Eric nodded, took the screwdriver, pushed it in with all his might and handed it back. Ren got back to work.
"By the way, I've been wondering for a while now… how are you so.. well, big and strong..?"
Eric froze and looked away. Ren couldn't see him, since he was focused on the keyhole, but he noticed the sudden silence.
Then Eric answered.
".. I have.. gigantism. It produces a lot of growth hormone in kids, which makes them… bigger than most."
He tried to explain it as professionally as he could, but Ren could hear the slight tremble in his voice.
"Sounds tough."
"… It was… I didn't really fit in with kids my age back then. Plus, my family wasn't really rich, so I had to drop out of school at 16 to help out. And well.. two years later, I ended up here.."
Ren fell quiet for a while, trying to find something appropriate to say, before giving up and just speaking his mind.
'Fuck it.'
"Well… they missed out, for sure. Kind people like you are pretty scarce nowadays."
Eric smiled politely, as if he had heard those words a thousand times before.
"Thanks-"
"And honestly, I bet most of them were just jealous. I mean, I kind of am. I apologize if that's hurtful or inconsiderate to say, but I wish I was half as strong as you.. even with all the other issues."
Eric looked at Ren, surprised. Only one person had ever spoken to him like that before, and it caught him so off guard that he started laughing. Not the awkward, creepy laugh he usually had. This one was quiet and soft.
"W-what?? Why are you laughing?" Ren asked, caught off guard himself.
"S-sorry. You just reminded me of my dad for a second."
The moment he said it, a loud click echoed through the room.
Ren tried to pull out his screwdriver but couldn't until Eric helped him. The door didn't budge, but it was no longer locked.
Just before the screwdriver came free, the world began to shake, stronger with each passing second.
"AN EARTHQUAKE?!!"
Ren screamed, immediately looking down at his feet and grabbing the nearest thing to hold on to: Eric, who was himself clinging to one of the statues. After a while, the shaking died down.
"What was that?!" Ren said, still keeping his eyes on the ground as he slowly let go of Eric.
"I- I don't know.."
They looked around for any change in their surroundings, but there was nothing to see.
"Do you think this was Karma and Rita's doing..?" Eric asked, worried for his two friends.
"Maybe..? I- I don't know.."
Eventually, they turned back to the door, Ren still glancing at the ground now and then. They pushed it together, and the door groaned and slowly revealed a narrow gap, barely enough to slip through. It wasn't how the door was meant to open, but it had opened.
A long staircase stretched downward before them.
Voices and breathing drifted up from below, and they were most certainly not man-made.
Cautiously, Ren readied his weapon, and Eric took a fighting stance. Then they descended together, toward hell.