Olivia couldn’t help but stare at the strange assortment of people... and creatures? standing in the same space as her in this mind-bogglingly long hallway.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the magenta-eyed man said, bowing with a flourish. “My name is Jarl Oddbjǫrn the Third, but you can call me Gryphon”
Olivia realized as he said this that although she understood the words coming from his mouth, they were not from any language she recognized.
“H-how can we understand you?” she stammered out.
Gryphon turned to flash a brilliant smile at her. “Well my dear, that’s just part of the magic of this place, everything here is built on the one thing that transcends language itself!”
The knight frowned still shying away from the two non-humans. “And what would that be my boy?”
“Stories, of course!" Gryphon beamed.
“Stories?” breathed the cat lady.
Gryphon frowned “Why are you all asking so many questions when I don’t yet even know your names?”
Broken out of their stupor, the odd group awkwardly looked around at one another before the fox person stepped up.
“My name is Cetiri,” he said, voice like butter.
“And I am Melody,” the feline lady said from behind Cetiri, her voice in tune with the low hum.
Jason cleared his throat and introduced himself. “My name is Jason.”
Olivia trembled and introduced herself as well, her voice coming out in a squeak. “I-I’m Olivia.”
Finally, the tall man in armor stepped up and drew himself to his fullest height, pulling out the sword that was around his waist, all the while saying, “And as for me, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the knight Sir Lancelot!” he struck a dramatic pose as if he was the main lead in a themed calendar.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Olivia’s jaw dropped and looking over she could see that Jason’s jaw was similarly almost reaching the ground.
“L-Lancelot? Like, the one from the round table, Lancelot?” Olivia stuttered, momentarily forgetting her shyness.
“The one and only,” he said with a complete bow. As he was bowing a loud clang sounded throughout the hall from his sword falling.
“Whoops”, Lancelot abruptly said afterward as he bent down awkwardly trying to grab the sword.
“Let me help you with that.” eventually came from Cetiri as he grabbed the sword for Lancelot.
“Ah. Yes. Thank you. My good... dog... thing?” Lancelot said haltingly.
“I believe I resemble a fox,” says Cetiri.
“Err- yes, that.”
Gryphon clapped loudly breaking the awkward silence. “Right! Well now that everyone has been properly introduced, I think I'm hearing a door open,” he said hurriedly.
“A door open?” asked Melody, still to the tune of the low hum.
“Precisely,” said Gryphon starting to move towards one of the ends of the infinite hallway.
“Woah hold on can’t you tell us more about why we’re here or what we’re doing?” called Jason to the fast-moving Gryphon as the group tried to catch up.
“Yeah, like, we barely know your name … um … Gri-phone,” shouts Oliva as she falls behind the rest of the group.
“Do I look the device in your pocke- no, I don’t think so,'' exclaims Gryphon, agitated at the butchering of his name.
“Can you at least... tell us more?” Lancelot asked, clearly not accustomed to running in his bulky armor.
“I’ll tell you on the way,” Gryphon said, finding the door in question.
The door shined with a soft blue glow and a handle had appeared on its surface.
“Ah, here it is!” Gryphon smiled as he opened the door. Glowing light was all that was visible through the open door frame. “Ladies first,” he said, motioning towards Melody and the out of breath Olivia, with a slight smirk on his face.
Melody moved forward bravely with Olivia following close behind.
Olivia was terrified of what lay beyond that door but she pushed forward anyway. Into the light…
...
Jason watched as the mysterious girl and the cat lady – who he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around – simply... disappeared through the glowing open doorway.
“Well now that’d make it your turn now wouldn’t-” Gryphon turned, his smile turning into a look of disappointment as he noticed the knight in the bulky armor.
“What are you doing?”
Lancelot looked up from his position of intense studying, then exclaimed, “This looks a lot like that door I fell into after leaning my chair too far back whilst sitting at the Round Table this morning”
“......You’re a real numbskull, aren’t you Lancey.” asked an annoyed Gryphon.
“Why thank you!” exclaimed Lancelot, “I’m not quite sure what that means but I will take it!”
Jason tried holding in his laughter but ultimately failed.
“Amateurs.” Cetiri shook his head and walked up to the door before falling through it backward, trust fall style.
Gryphon looked exasperatedly at the confused Lancelot and the laughing Jason before saying “This door won’t stay open for long, ya know.”
Jason immediately sobered and looked towards the door. “Well here goes nothing.” He walked towards the open door, once again feeling the inviting pull of the threshold and aware of Lancelot's presence behind him before succumbing to the comforting white.