Long ago in a time the world itself forgot, there were two races; humans and monsters. They lived in absolute harmony for many a century, until a war of blood casted the peace away. The humans with numbers and more powerful souls, defeated and banished the monsters deep underground. They stayed there, locked in a rocky tomb of darkness and despair for thousands of years.
Then one day a human child had fallen into the tomb of monsters and changed everything.
A solid thump echoed the small pocket of the underground. The rare bit of sunlight that was created, gleamed on a human child that was laying down on a circle of black feathers. Not a sound was heard from the child, not even breathing or the rustling of the feathers.
Then they started to shift and stir with life that was almost lost. They rolled over with a wide gasp of the cold and musty air. They looked to the left and to the right, only to see the dark cavern of which they had fallen in. Feeling disappointed at this turn of events they had proceeded down the cavern.
There was no light further down and the feeling of having the senses depraved followed. It felt weird to them, the cold and senseless feeling on their body. The only sound was their footsteps barely slipping on the damp limestone below.
They tripped and collided with a pillier of eroded stone. The little drips of red liquid streamed acrossed their face, blinding their right eye. The pain in their mind was literal hell and their senses were impaired by it. They felt around the pillar and a slight gust of wind behind it. They followed the new wind, with nothing to go on except the wall that they followed.
A new beam of light invaded their sight, the concussion they gained didn't help at all. When the light died down, they saw a black bird that was staring at them dead in the eye.
"Didn't except a human to fall shorty there after the last." The bird hummed before flying around the child's head. "So small to, so small this child is! The life you have will live no more in these last hours!" They chirped as the human clutched their ears even more. "A child so little must be innocent, therefore a fight will end you in a casket!" The child tried to swipe them away. "Oh a fight this child somehow brings, an idiot they must be to fight a new ally!" They stopped, a insecure smile on their face.
"F-Friend?" They were going crazy, they must be for a bird to be like this. They wiped the blood off their face, but the bird was still there.
"Did I chime twice like the clock of midnight, ha!" It then perched on the top of their head. "In this world death is the only option, so a temporary ally would benefit most greatly in a reaper's world!" The bird then cawed at the opposite end of the small pocket of light. "The gatekeeper approaches, she will never let you escape this prison of black kindness!"
As soon as the bird finished a soft pattern of thumps enter their ears. Then a bipedal goat with purple robes and eyes that are yelling for sleep stepped into the light. There was a depraved smile on her face, a ghost of smile one might say. "Oh, another child in need of protection." Her was soft yet lost in another world. She approched with a quick, annoyed glance at the black bird. "My name is Toriel, caretaker of the ruins." She held out a giant paw for the child. "My child, so small and fragile, would you like a home?" There were red flags going off in the child's head, but the injury they sustained did make her words convincing enough.
"O-Okay..." Toriel then led them into the Ruins, a heavily eroded dungeon. The first room looked like a pressure plate puzzle with no clear indication on what to do.
"There are traps to test humans, I will solve the first for you." She stepped on three of six rusted pressure plates, which caused a door covered in an ivy overgrowth to open. However the other three plates sprouted decaying wood spikes. The child started to cry from the sudden and deadly surprise. Toriel went to the child in distress, and hugged them. "It's alright my child, Toriel is here..." The soft voice and the petting from the furry paw, calmed the child down. "Now, let's not dawdle for to long now." She took a quick glare at the black bird. "Who knows what lies waiting in the future?"
The bird cawed in humorous laughter. "You fear the future, yet you hurl in disgust at the past!" The glance of hatred was directed at the bird and over the kid's head. "Hypocrisy you are, gatekeeper.."
Toriel growl slightly before looking at the nervous child in her arms. "Why is this..thing with you!?" The gatekeeper says with irreplaceable fury.
"I'm a crow, blind gatekeeper, not a toy or your dishes!" The crow yelled back with equal negativity.
"He's m-my friend, please d-don't hurt him." The voice was almost quiet enough to go past even the goat's ears.
She then picked them up like a mother would and proceeded deeper in the ruins, leaving the crow behind. "You need a better choice of friends down here, that bird only know death and decay."
"And yet the pet of death has eternal wisdom, more so then you at least." The voice of the crow followed the gatekeeper and the child. The human looked towards the right and found them, flying at pace with the gatekeeper. "You know they need the knowledge of war, everybody does."
"Not this one, foul bird!" She hissed at him, her pace quickening. "Peace and kindness are the only thing one needs to live."
He cackled as if it heard a truly funny joke. "Funny, your mind is. An illusion you want to be, an impossible utopia." The crow succeeds in passing her fast movement. "Do other monsters share your illusion, is so why carry them like it was your newborn!" It flew towards a torn and beat up dummy, resembling a human with a scarred face. "So, let them, at the very least to get use to this underworld that is your twisted dreams!" There was a brief pause of tension between the crow's bright red eyes and Toriel's dim crystal blue.
She let out a tired sigh of defeat. "Fine, it's not like they need it!" The crow perched on the dummy's shoulder and pulled out a stick from it's stuffing. The crow then circled around the child before dropping the stick at their feet.
"We will let the child prove your dream false." The crow looked at the child. "One swing, that's all it takes." The child picked up the stick and paused.
Toriel crouched down towards the child and gave them a reassuring touch on the shoulder. "My child, no one will judge you if you swing, but one should not resort to violence." The child's hands starts shaking.
"Ha, advice, the one thing nobody listens to." The crow starts to snicker from it's own dark joke. "They will not listen to you or I, but only to themselves." The child starts to shed tiny tears. "So choose in you own fragile self, decide your own fate."
The tension was to much for the young human and they broke down and bawled. "I can't, I-I.." They start to fumble with their own words.
Toriel then hugged them tightly. "I think the child has had enough of this, you dirty Crow!" She muttered the last part for the sake of the child's innocence.
"The only one dirty here is your delusions of a peaceful utopia, Gatekeeper!" The Crow then dodged a minuscule fireball from Toriel, which the human did not notice in thier tears. "I also forgot that temper you posses, well then..." The bird started to fly away before giving the child one last glance. "Like I said the choice is yours alone. What happens next is up to you and you alone!"
The bird then disappears in the shadows of darkness. "..." The child was silent, suddenly tired from the outburst of their own emotions.
Toriel notices and picks them up with vigor. "I can see you're tired, so sleep and wake up nice and cozy." The human then blacked out, exhausted from this experience and pressure.