You do not wake with a big gasp, as you had expected, but rather with a small moan. You feel like you did when you flew off the swing that one time on the playground and landed on your tummy. Teacher said that you had the "wind knocked out of you," and you didn't know what it meant, but it sounded right.

This doesn't feel quite as bad, though. When you flew off the swing, you'd landed on the gravel with a crunch and scraped up your hands and knees and were picking little bits of rock out of your clothes for hours. Now, you are lying on a bed of surprisingly soft and vibrant golden flowers. They must have broken your fall. Hopefully, you will only need to pick a few yellow petals out of your hair after this.

Rolling over onto your back, you look up. The hole you fell through seems absolutely tiny, and you know that that means it is very far away. The walls are smooth. No way to climb them. You feel like you should be more scared. Maybe the flowers are calming you down.

Shakily, you get to your feet. Nothing is broken or bruised, at least not that you can tell, but your wind hasn't seem to have come back yet. You take a few breaths and look around some more, and notice that you are still holding your stick. You had been using it to hike the mountain. You're glad it isn't broken; you have chosen a good stick. The band-aid from the cut you got on your chin from the playground didn't fall off either. Could you really have fallen that far? Is this the real Mt. Ebott, or is this some kind of… fake one, maybe?

You shake your head. It took a long time to climb. No way anyone would make a fake mountain that big.

In front of the little patch of flowers where you've landed is a path leading to what looks like a doorway. Maybe there are stairs through there. You start walking towards it and notice the small symbol on top.

As you walk through the doorway, you can see another small patch of green surrounded by brown. In the center of the patch is a large yellow flower, like a sunflower, but with a white face. A… face with a smile. A smiling flower.

You don't know what it is, but something deep in your tummy feels wrong. You remember watching the older kids at the home playing a game where happy, smiling clowns beat people up, and for some reason you can't shake the feeling that this flower has the same smile as those clowns.

"Howdy!"

You raise your eyebrows and jump a little as the flower greets you in a high-pitched voice. You say nothing.

"I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!" It introduces itself. One of the clowns in the game was called Clowny the Clown.

"Hmmm..." Flowey looks you up and down. You hope you don't look scared. "You're new to the underground, aren'tcha?"

It seems to be waiting for a response. You give a tiny nod.

"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone oughta teach you how things work around here!"

What things?

"I guess little old me will have to do." Flowey the flower winks and sparkles come out of his eyes. Clowny the Clown used firecracker sparkles to hurt people.

"Ready? Here we go!"

Suddenly, you feel the ground disappear. Your shirt becomes transparent, and looking down at the middle of your chest you can see a glowing red heart. Your arms and legs have gone transparent as well, and you are floating in midair. You stretch your arm to the right, and the heart moves, dragging the rest of you with it. Stretching your arms and legs in different directions yields similar results, but you can't move out of the white lines of the box that has suddenly appeared.

"See that heart? That is your soul. The very culmination of your being!"

Hmmm. That seems pretty important. You guess that's why the box is there.

"Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV!"

Oh, that actually makes sense. In the clown game, LV stood for level, and the higher it was, the better you fought. Was the underground like a video game?

"What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!"

That uneasy feeling sets in again. You don't think that's what LV stands for, but you decide it's best to keep quiet.

"You want some LOVE, don't you?"

You're not sure you do.

"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Flowey winks again.

You're not sure you want that.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through… little white… friendliness pellets."

How stupid does this flower think you are...? Of course, the glint in its eye is scaring you a bit...

"Ready? Move around! Catch as many as you can!"

Tiny white things come flying at your heart—relatively slowly, but fast enough so that you leap out of the way immediately. You wish your heart moved faster, like as fast as your actual heart is beating.

"Hey, buddy… you missed them." Flowey seems to be talking… slower, or something. You can't quite place it. "Let's try again, okay?"

The white things come whizzing at you again. You scramble for the edge of the box.

Flowey's expression has changed. He looks almost disgusted. "Is this a joke? Are you braindead?" Something cold drops into your stomach. For the first time, you wish you were back at the home in bed. "Run. Into. The. BULLE—friendliness pellets."

The pellets seem to move more quickly this time, or maybe you are moving more slowly. Regardless, you manage to dodge them for a third time.

Flowey's face melts into itself like a rotting Halloween pumpkin. You take in a deep breath of air and try not to cry. You can dodge those pellets—bullets—for as long as it takes for you to get away or something. You can't be scared of a flower!

However, his next sentence challenges your assertion of bravery. "You know what's going on here, don't you?" His voice sounds like three of him are speaking at once and they all have terribly sore throats. "You just wanted to see me suffer. In this world, it's kill or be killed. Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?"

Before you can react, a ring of the bullets surrounds your heart, just touching the edges of the box. You're still trying not to cry, but it's getting harder. You hope that this is just a dream and that you'll wake up back on the mountain and go back to the home and play on the playground and—

"DIE."

The ring of bullets begins closing in on you. You hold your hands over your head and curl up into a ball. His laugh echoes in your ears like a broken music box.

Suddenly, the bullets disappear. You blink. So does Flowey. He looks just as confused as you do. Before either of you can react further, you see something like a fireball fly towards Flowey and knock him far away.

You uncover your head, wishing you could stop trembling. You hear soft footsteps that sound like someone running with slippers on. Looking up, you see their source.

A tall creature covered in white fur stands before you. It looks almost like a goat, with tiny horns and dog-like feet. It wears a long robe with a symbol you vaguely recognize. Its eyes are a deep red and it has tiny fangs.

You gulp and continue to tremble. At least you could recognize a flower. What is this? Is this the Devil? You sniffle, longing for your bed.

The whatever-it-is was glaring in the direction of where the flower had landed. "What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…"

The voice catches you off guard. It's a lady's voice, calm, smooth, and gentle. She sounds like the kind old nurse who gave you the bandage for your chin.

The goat-woman glances down at you, and you realize that your lip is still trembling. "Ah, do not be afraid, my child." She kneels down, slowly, and gives you a warm smile. You give her a tiny one in return. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I pass through this area every day to see if anyone has fallen down." She pauses. "You are the first human to come here in a long time."

She straightens up. "Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

You look down and notice that you can see your arms and legs again. Your heart has disappeared. You look up at Toriel, who gives you another kindly smile.

"This way." She walks forward, into the darkness. You follow close behind, hoping that Flowey is still down for the count.

The two of you walk through a similar doorway and into a large, lavender-walled cavern strewn with bright red leaves. You glance up at the arched doorway and feel a strange swelling in your chest.

The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination.