Chapter Text
Laios woke up in a metallic room, a massive window only showing stars and some controls that look like the ancient dwarves made. Clearly this was not the dungeon, but he couldn’t place a finger on where he was. He blinked a couple times to process where he was, he slowly got up from the hard cold ground. He moved closer to the window, his eyes looming over the beautiful stars. He’s never seen them so close before, it was just so luring. His eyes started to gaze over the controls, before he spotted a picture. A picture of a short white haired woman with pale skin and red eyes, which he’s never seen someone like that before. Perhaps it was the owner of this weird transportation thing, he analysed the picture for a few more minutes before he started to explore more of the room.
He was very intrigued by the whole layout of the room, his hands roamed over an area of the room which suddenly opened. Causing him to jump back in surprise, He saw more to this place. He couldn’t help but to be excited, “More of this place!” He spoke aloud. He started to explore the rooms, til he opened one room. The woman from the picture was painting, it was a beautiful painting too. The woman looked up at laios, the two of them just stared at each other for a moment. Laios glanced at the painting before speaking, “that’s a nice painting.” Laios smiled. The woman looked at the painting she was half way done with before slowly smiling. “Thank you.” The woman had a accent of a language laios did not recognise, which made him all more curious of where he was right now. “Do you know where I am?” Laios asked the woman, his tone hesitant as he wasn’t sure he could trust this woman yet.
The woman nodded, “you are on the Penrose 512.” She kept her tone polite and kind, Laios hummed in curiosity. “What’s a Penrose?” He asked, trying to keep his tone respectful but his curiosity was slowly waning in. The woman chuckled, “it’s a space ship sent out into the brink of the end of the solar system, in hopes of finding new planets and moons to habit or rich in resources.” The woman explained. Laios looked surprised, and almost excited. “So that means we’re pass the clouds?” Laios asked. The woman nodded again, “Yes we are, may I ask what is your name and how’d you get here?” The woman tilted her head in slight curiosity. “Oh right, I’m laios touden. And I kinda just woke up here,” laios explained, he shrugged slightly. The woman hummed, “well I’m Ariane yeong. It’s nice to meet you,” Ariane smiled at laios.
It was nice to see an another person after a while. Laios looked over at the painting again, “so what were you painting?” Laios asked out of genuine interest. Ariane looked back at her painting, she took a small deep breath before she started to explain. “I was painting something of vineta, a planet filled with beautiful sky’s, ocean and views.” Ariane smiled as she described the beautiful world of Vineta, a place she always wanted to visit. Laios looked a bit confused at what vineta was, it honestly just sounded like where he was from. “Vine-ta?” Laios butchered up the pronunciation, Ariane let out a small chuckle. “No, vin-ye-ta.” She corrected his pronunciation, Laios nodded. “Ohh, Vineta.” Laios smiled a little, “I’ve never heard of that before.”
Ariane looked at laios’s appearance, he dressed like he was from an older time period. It reminded her of the fantasy books and illustrations she had read and seen, So she wasn’t surprised that laios had no idea of what vineta was. “It’s a beautiful place, I’ve never personally seen it.” Ariane let out a small sigh, her tone was a bit solemn. Laios tilted his head in confusion, “but you are a tall man are you not?” Laios asked, Ariane looked at laios with a dumb founded expression. “What is a tall man? Do I look like a man, do I look even tall??” Ariane let out a small chuckle, Laios cleared his throat. “Ah probably different terms, tall man is a term used for humans since there’s many races so it’s easier to differentiate.” Laios explained. Ariane looked intrigued, “ohh, I’m assuming like elves, dwarves, and others?” Laios nodded.
”yeah! What about your place?” Laios asked, Ariane shook her head. “We only have ‘tall men’ or what we would call ourselves, gestalts.” Laios repeated after her but with messed up pronunciation. “Ge-stat?” Ariane couldn’t help but to laugh at his messed up pronunciation. “No- Gey-Slalt.” She corrected again, Laios nodded. “Gestalt.” She smiled at him, he was a fast learner she’d admit that. “So other than the other races in your home, what other cool things?” Ariane asked, she was really interested in learning about laios’s home. Laios started to explain, “well there’s all type of cool things, Magic, Dungeons, Different terrain, different sights and the best of all— monsters!” Laios exclaimed excitedly about monsters. Ariane hummed, “like, as in freaky scary alien monsters, or monsters like chimeras, harpies, griffins?” She asked with her tone filled of curiosity. Laios nodded, “monsters like chimeras, harpies, griffins and others.” He confirmed her suspicions. He seemed a bit more hesitant to share his fascination about monsters, a bit worried he might freak her out.
“Can you tell me more? What about their habitats, their biology?” Ariane asked, she always had liked the concept of mythology creatures so the idea there was a place where they actually existed made her more than happy to learn more about them. Laios was more than surprised when he heard her want to actually learn more about monsters. It made him more than excited to teach her about monsters, “yeah of course!” Laios smiled brightly. The rest of the time that laios was there, he explained all the types of monsters.
But soon he had to go, as he awoke up back in the dungeon. For some reason, he felt a disappointment in his chest, he knew that he had much more important things to focus on than a dream.