(Braided Man of Pyramid Mountain)
*January 15th, 1906*
*Pyramid Mountain*
The Braided Man stared at Dorothy and her friends with a smile as he began to answer Dorothy's question.
"Well, I've come from Kansas, and I had my factory just about halfway up this mountain for many years,s" The Braided Man responded with a smile; this shocked Dorothy and the others as the young girl began to speak.
"K-Kansas?! I'm from Kansas as well! I'm Dorothy Gale, and it's a pleasure to meet you," Dorothy responded in a rather surprised voice as she saw the Braided Man pointing at the door behind him with a smile.
"Gale? That surname sounds familiar? Do you happen to be related to Henry Gale? I was good friends with him during my youthful days," The Braided Man asked Dorothy in a rather excited tone of voice; this shocked Dorothy as she quickly nodded in confirmation.
"Henry Gale? Yes, he's my uncle but not by blood since I was adopted as a baby, and I've taken his last name but both Uncle Henry and Aunt Em take good care of me," Dorothy answered back with a smile on her face as this made Braided Man feeling delighted.
"I see; well, I'm glad my friend is doing great these days, and please follow me to the shop! I have plenty to tell you and your friends," The Braided Man responded while motioning his hand towards the shop as he proceeded to walk towards the shop, followed by Dorothy and the gang doing the same thing.
"I did recall Uncle Henry telling me about the disappearance of his friend when I was little, but I never thought I'd see him in this strange place," Zeb had thought to himself as he and the others finally made their way toward the shop which the Braided Man was currently standing at.
The shop was filled with many books, antiques, and other such things, with the shop being illuminated with many candles, which Dorothy found beautiful.
"What a marvelous shop! If we had the money, then I'll buy something from here, but we're out of money now," Dorothy had spoken out in wonder as she walked around the place while Betsy nodded in agreement.
"I agree; there are so many books filled with knowledge! It's no wonder your uncle's friend has spent so much time here instead of coming back home, "Betsy responded to Dorothy's compliment, looking over to see Braided Man walking towards his supplies.
"This box here contains twelve dozen rustles, enough to last any lady a year or two, so are you interested in buying? It's on me," The Braided Man offered Dorothy while showing her the box which contained the supplies; however, Dorothy declined the offer by shaking her head in denial.
"No, thank you, my dress isn't silk, so I must decline your offer," Dorothy responded while observing the shop and seeing Braided Man placing the box of rustles on the floor as he eventually walked over to Dorothy and the others.
"Braided Man, how did you end up here? I'm sure the story behind your appearance here could be fascinating for us to hear," Oscar asked Braided Man while sitting on the floor alongside Dorothy, Betsy, and Zeb.
"He's right; we would love to know about your background and why you came here, and everything else in between," Betsy spoke out to Braided Man as well, as everyone was eager to hear his story, which made him smile.
"I'm glad to hear the responses, but I was once a young man in Kansas working in a great cheese factory that imported Swiss cheese across America. I've also made doughnuts and other such marvelous things during my time working in the factory," Braided Man explained to his listeners in a rather engaged tone of voice as he saw Dorothy raising her hand so she could speak, which was acknowledged by him as he pointed at her so she could speak.
"A factory? I remember Uncle Henry telling me and Aunt Em that he used to work there before the factory shut down many years ago, so I believe that's the same one that you are referring to, right?" Dorothy asked Braided Man in a curious tone as she was met with the strange man nodding his head in confirmation.
"Correct! I always chatted with Henry back in the day, and we were good friends, but going back to my story. I've invented some huge post-holes since I thought it was going to skyrocket my career to greater heights; however, the main issue was that I wasn't able to place them in a storage room, so I was forced to take matters into my own hands by standing on top of the post-holes and managed to push them down. Still, I was so busy with my work that I failed to notice how deep the hole was. Thus I've fallen deep into the Earth's surface. I would have fallen to my death if I didn't hang on to the cliff's ledge in time, but that's how I've fallen here." Braided Man responded to Dorothy as he was finished telling his story, which caused the others to be rather surprised at this.
"I see, so you came upon this place by complete accident, just like me and Dorothy. Do you want to join us so you can return home, or are you content with staying here?" Oscar asked Braided Man curiously; however, he declined his offer by shaking his head in denial.
"No thanks, I'm very content with staying here with all my books, but no worries! I shall be fine right here in my comfortable home." Braided Man responded to Oscar, much to his and Dorothy's surprise since they expected him to accept the offer, but they knew there was no point in convincing him otherwise.
"I see; well, we wish you nothing but goodwill toward your way, and with that, we shall bid you farewell." Oscar responded while tipping his hat in respect as he, Dorothy, and the others prepared to resume their journey once more as Braided Man walked over to show them the exit.
"Just take these stairs, and you shall be with the Gargoyles; however, don't make any noise since these critters despise noise, and trust me, you do not wanna test them at all." Braided Man warned the gang while pointing at the stairs behind him as Dorothy and the others approached the stairs.
"Thank you for showing us the way, and I'll be sure to tell my Uncle Henry that you are doing okay and that you were okay with staying here, okay?" Dorothy spoke to Braided Man while smiling warmly at him, making him smile back.
"Of course, tell Henry I've said hello, and I wish him and his wife, Em, nothing back the best of wishes." Braided Man responded in a joyful tone while seeing the gang walking the stairs to get to their next destination.
"Goodbye! Thank you for telling us your story, and if I ever end up in Oz again, I hope we can see each other." Dorothy spoke back to Braided Man for the final time as everyone said farewells to Braided Man before resuming their journey again.
The gang continued to climb the stairs for a few more minutes until they finally came to an exit, much to their relief.
"This must be the exit; I hope we don't run into those terrible gargoyles once we arrive at our destination.." Jim spoke out to his human companions in a rather cautious voice as the horse finally made it out of the cave; everyone had gotten out of the carriage; however, there was no landing beneath, which was a problem for the gang.
"How strange, I see no landing! We must have been going the wrong way, or that Braided Man lied to us somehow, but maybe we should head back." Betsy spoke to everyone while sighing as she returned to the carriage while Dorothy disagreed with her friend's statement.
"No, He pointed in that direction, and I could tell he was confident that it was the way, but maybe we either went the wrong way or he might have misremembered the direction, but let's head back where we came," Dorothy responded to Betsy's comments as she went back to the carriage alongside Zeb and Oscar as Jim had turned the other direction; however, the horse noticed another set of stairs which caught his attention.
"Guys, I see another set of stairs! The Braided Man wasn't tricking us! I guess he just forgot to tell us to take another flight of stairs!" Jim spoke out to his human companions joyfully, which made Dorothy and the others happy.
"See? I knew Braided Man didn't trick us, and he had probably forgotten about the second pair of stairs we must take." Dorothy spoke out to the others; however, this moment was short-lived as Jim wouldn't take the stairs, making Zeb curious to know why.
"Jim, why won't you take the stairs? Are you sick or something? I hope not; otherwise, we'll never get back home." Zeb asked Jim rather curiously while stepping out of the carriage to check on his horse but; however, Jim was in good health, much to the boy's confusion.
"Jim, you're in good shape! You had me worried for a second! Let's go; we don't have all day!" Zeb spoke out to Jim in a tone of relief; however, he noticed Jim looking at him before nudging his head over at the flight of stairs, which prompted Zeb to peak and his horror, the stairs were structured quite crooked, thus making it impossible for Jim to carry the carriage much to the shock of Zeb.
"Rats! We'll have to abandon the carriage then, but our folks will be furious if that happens.." Zeb responded that Jim Oscar could hear this as he jumped out of the carriage and took a small bottle from his bag.
"No worries! I'll have Jim drink some of this strength powder I've kept during my days as the wizard." Oscar reassured Zeb with a smile as he brought relief to Zeb.
"Really?! You're a lifesaver! My folks would have been furious if I didn't return the carriage," Zeb spoke with joy as he saw Oscar making Jim drink some of the strength juice before returning to the carriage.
"This only works for a few seconds but will help you climb these troublesome stairs." Oscar advised Jim, as this made him smile.
"Thanks, Oscar. I feel as strong as one hundred men! Now let's resume our journey, shall we?" Jim spoke back to Oscar in a tone filled with confidence as the horse was ready to arrive at the next destination of their journey.
Jim had finally climbed up the crooked stairs, which led to another exit, much to the relief of the gang.
"We finally made it! I hope this is the exit." Betsy spoke out in joy and relief while Zeb and Dorothy nodded in agreement as Jim walked over to the exit and peeked his head out.
"Let's go down again! This path doesn't seem like the right way.." Jim advised his human companions in a cautious tone, much to the annoyance of Oscar and the surprise of Dorothy, Zeb, and Betsy, who began to question him.
"Nonsense! This path has to be the right way! What makes you sure that it's not the correct path" Oscar asked Jim in confusion as Jim began to speak again.
"Everything! This place is not fit for anybody since everywhere I see has no flesh, blood, or growing thing; it's practically empty." Jim responded in a rather surprised tone, which also surprised the others.
"W-What do you mean.." Dorothy responded in surprise as more detours were beginning to show up for the gang.
*Land of Gargoyles*
The Land of Gargoyles is filled with wooden homes which were shaped like trees as many gargoyles roamed the area with such speed but unknown to our heroes below, Aurora, the Princess of the Mangaboos was commanding the gargoyles with a small fee of course.
"Dorothy and her little friends will be there soon; I want you to kill them as quickly as possible! She and her little allies shall pay for ruining my beautiful faceā¦" Aurora ordered the gargoyles while letting out a smile filled with determination to take down Dorothy and the others.
