Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

"Go ahead," Grey said, but he didn't open the door for them. He simply stepped aside, gesturing for the others to go first.

Elias was suspicious. He didn't think the door was as simple as Grey made it out to be. It was especially strange since he couldn't see the material composition of the door. He stayed back, letting the others test the waters.

"What's there to be scared of? It's just a door." Rey was the first to move. Even if the Professor was dangerous, he believed that he wouldn't kill him.

He was a descendant of the Esterin family. It would be different if he did something wrong and was killed during class. But if a Professor messed with him here for no reason, even the Academy would have a hard time dealing with the consequences.

He placed his hand on the door and pushed. However, the door didn't budge.

"Is it locked?" Rey frowned, using even more force to push the door, but it still wouldn't move.

"It's not opening." He looked back at the Professor in confusion. "Is there a special method to open this door?"

The Professor simply smiled at him. "There's no special method."

"Then why isn't this door opening?" Rey didn't know what he was doing wrong. Was it because he wasn't strong enough to push the door open?

He had many questions and wanted further clarification. But before he could even ask the Professor, he noticed the strange expressions of the others.

Even Elias was frowning while looking at him. Or, to be more specific, he was looking behind Rey. He saw the wooden door coming to life as a mouth appeared in the center. The mouth extended from the door, slowly approaching Rey.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked, wondering why everyone was looking at him so weirdly. He was puzzled and turned back. But the moment he looked back, his expression darkened.

He reacted fast and conjured his flames against this monstrosity that seemed to be made from wood. Unfortunately, before he could even react, darkness appeared around him as he was eaten by that mouth.

His flames flickered uselessly against the shadows, unable to hurt that thing even if it was made from wood.

"Aah! He's eaten alive!" A shrill cry rose as many of the lower ranks in the class were frightened by the sight they had seen.

They started stepping back in fear as the door didn't return to normal. Instead, the mouth was still extending towards them, with the beast seemingly hungry even now.

Elias looked at the beast, if it could even be called that. Was Rey killed just like that? It felt unreal. He was a descendant of the Esterin Family. He wasn't a random person that could be killed like this.

Even as Rey was eaten, the Professor did nothing but watch. Something was definitely out of place. The more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed for Rey to be dead.

If it was anyone else, he might have believed it. But it was different for the descendants of the Major Families. If it wasn't the case, then they would've tried so hard to save Rey Esterin's life during the awakening ceremony.

Elias was trying to put the pieces together as that monstrosity approached him. He was ninety percent sure that it wasn't dangerous, but there was still that ten percent hesitation.

"Don't worry. It's not dangerous. He's just messing with you. Just step forward and let it take you to the Land of Fables." Out of nowhere, a voice appeared in his head which stunned him. He looked around him, but he couldn't find anyone who could have spoken.

This voice didn't belong to Professor Grey. It also didn't belong to any of the children, as it felt like the voice of an adult. He even wondered if he was hearing things. But it felt too real to be his imagination.

Moreover, the voice seemed to confirm his assumption. Rey was alive, and this thing was not dangerous.

Instead, it might be the way that this 'door' was opened. It was just as the Professor had said; there was no special method to open this door.

Instead of staying in his place, he stepped towards the monstrosity.

"Hmm?" The Professor appeared to grow somewhat interested as he observed Elias. He thought that they were going to be scared and try to run away until he told them the truth, but it was different from his assumption.

"Elias Ashborn, huh. Not bad." He nodded in satisfaction.

When Elias came closer to the door, it 'ate' him as well. The other descendants of the Major Families were not far behind and did the same.

Some of them already knew the secret of this door and just wanted to see some fun before entering, but with Elias' entrance, they knew that the fun was over.

After the descendants of the major families entered, the rest also started realizing that something was wrong. There was no way that the descendants of the major families were going to kill themselves intentionally.

"It's the Guardian of the Forest of Fables. Just do as the others did, and enter," Grey also chimed in, telling those who were still scared.

Once his official confirmation came, the weaker rankers became even more confident and approached the door, getting eaten as well. As for the ones that were still scared, Grey simply sent them flying into the mouth.

Grey was the last person. Even if he was a Professor, he had to follow the same method as well. Soon, he also disappeared, leaving the corridor completely empty.

After Grey left, the sound of footsteps appeared in the corridor. Almost all the subjects in the painting trembled at the sight of the person, as if they had seen a ghost.

They were trapped in a nightmare inside the paintings, but still they appeared so frightened of the person, as if he was worse than their punishments.