Ren and Eric quietly made their way down the tunnel. The dim light of the torches allowed them to somewhat see what was in front of them.
"… I wonder if the others are okay…" said Eric as he stopped 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 hated each other." Ren said trying to reassure the gentle man. "And it's not like we could do anything, we're not in a safe environment either."
They kept on walking, eventually, they finally saw another room.
They went inside and looked around, it was filled with statues everywhere.
Knights in armor holding swords, axes, or even one with a staff. They seemed to be made of solid gold with countless precious stones were embedded inside the statues eyes, armors and weapons.
Ren quickly jumped back.
"Ookay, those are definitely gonna come alive." Ren said as he took multiple steps back inside 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 that his words were correct.
They waited, and waited.
But they didn't budge, no movement, no sign of life.
"Are you… sure.. that those aren't just statues..?" Eric asked, now skeptical. "They don't really look like they are going to move.."
"They- they'll probably move if we cross a certain line or something..!"
Eventually, Eric just decided to step out, and walk forward.
"We can't just stay here forever anyway right..? We'll have to move past them anyway." And he kept walking, and walking until he reached the end of the room.
Nothing moved, the statues stayed in place.
Ren carefully joined Eric at the end of the room. Not making a single comment about his reaction, Eric started examining the room.
The only other thing that stood out besides the statue was the door ahead of them—huge, forged from a blend of gold and bronze, a weirdly shaped keyhole was on the very middle of said door.
The walls on either side were covered with a mural.
The mural on the left showed a woman, sitting on a white throne, wearing a golden dress and three subjects kneeling in front of her.
The one on the right, showed a man, sitting on a golden throne and wearing a white tunic.
Two subjects stood beside him.
"Are those… supposed to help us..?" Ren ask while meticulously examining the right mural, as Eric studied the one on the left. "Because if they are, i don't see how.".
Eric gazed back at the statue, then looked at Ren again.
"Maybe the statues are the answer-"
"I am not touching those." Ren quickly cut off Eric, clearly not willing to cooperate.
There were exactly 5 statues, 2 swordsmen, 2 warriors and 1 mage. Each could be easily recognized by their very stereotypical appearance.
2 warriors on the right, 1 mage and 1 swordsman on the left, and 1 swordsman in the middle.
Eric went back to each statue, slowly examining everyone of them.
Even if they were involved, there was no way to know how, or even recognize who was who in the murals.
They were at an impass.
Eventually, Eric gave up, and went back towards Ren who was attempting to open the door using his screwdriver in the keyhole.
"… what… are you doing..?" Eric asked, confused by Ren's hopeless struggle.
"What does it look like I'm doing," Ren momentarily stopped to look at Eric."I'm finding an alternative. This puzzle was clearly meant for someone who has knowledge of.. whatever all of this shit is. And that's not us."
Eric quietly sat down, and watched as Ren kept on trying and trying.
Almost six hours passed. During those hours Ren and Eric made some conversation but most of the time was left in silence. Ren was sweating buckets, his eyes occasionally closing, his hands trembling whenever he didn't pay attention. Fatigue was getting to him, and it was getting him hard. But he couldn't stop. He didn't have the right to. Not here, not like this.
After a while, Eric finally 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!" Eric stayed clearly concerned and confused by Ren's persistence.
At first, he was only met with silence.
Then, Ren finally gave an answer.
"Would you rather I just leave us to die of thirst here..?"
"N-no but we can't keep on doing the same thing! It's not going to work..!"
Ren stopped for a second and looked back at Eric, before shouting back at him.
"Well then if you've got any better idea spell it out for me will ya?!" 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 got it."
"… I'm sorry too. You must also be stressed out.. I was being inconsiderate." Eric looked at the keyhole and asked." Do you need me to do anything..?"
"No it's fine- .. actually… could you maybe help me push the screwdriver a bit further inside??"
Eric nodded, and quickly took the screwdriver, pushed it inside with all his might and then gave it back to Ren.
Ren then got back to work.
"By the way, I've been wondering for a while now… but how are you so.. well big and strong..?"
Eric froze, and looked away. Ren did not see him since he was currently focused on the keyhole, but he did notice his sudden silence.
Then, Eric answered.
".. I have.. gigantism. It produces a lot of growth hormone for kids, which makes them… bigger than most."
While he tried to explain it as professionally as one could, Ren could hear the slight tremble in his voice.
"Sounds tough."
"… it was… i didnt really fit in with kids my age back then. Plus, my family wasn't really rich, so i had to leave 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 is mind.
'Fuck it.'
"Well… they missed out for sure. Nowadays kind people like you sure are scarce."
Eric smiled politely, as if he had already heard those words a thousand times before.
"Thanks-"
"And honestly i bet most of em were just jealous, i mean honestly i kind of am. I apologize if that's a hurtful or inconsiderate thing to say, but I wish I was half as strong as you.."
Eric looked at Ren, surprised. Only one person spoke to him like that before, and that caught him off guard, so much so that he started laughing. Not that awkward and creepy laugh he did before, this one came right from his heart.
"W-what?? Why are you laughing?" Ren was caught of guard, clearly not expecting that reaction.
"S-sorry, you just, reminded me of my dad there for a second."
Just as he said those words, a loud click echoed through the room.
Ren tried to pull out his screwdriver, but wasn't able to until Eric helped him.
The door didn't budge, but it was no longer locked.
Just as they did, the world started shaking, stronger and stronger as each second passed.
"AN EARTHQUAKE?!!" As ren screamed, he immediately looked down at his feet and found the nearest to hold on to, Eric, who himself, went and hugged one of the statues.
After a while, the earthquake died down.
"What the fuck was that?!" Ren said, still looking down just in case as he slowly got off Eric.
"I- I don't know.."
They looked around, looking for any changes 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 decided to focus back on the door, Ren still occasionally looking at the ground.
As they pushed it together, the door groaned and slowly revealed a narrow gap—barely enough for them to slip through.
It wasn't how the door was supposed to open, but it opened.
A long staircase stretched downward before them.
Voices and breathings could be heard within them. And they most certainly were not man made.
Cautiously, Ren readied his weapon and Eric got into a fighting stance.
Then descended together towards hell.