Untold Undertales
Chapter 1 – A BEGINNING
*Love, hope, compassion…
*This is what people say monster SOULs are made of.
*But the absolute nature of the "SOUL" is unknown
*After all, humans have proven their SOULs don't need these things to exist
The resounding boom of the barrier was still fresh in the ears of the monsters as they looked longingly down the endless hallway that separated them from their brothers on the surface.
But moments before, their brave caterwauls drowned out the impending doom of defeat. The creatures deemed dangerous to the human race refused to accept their exile without a fight. Even as their forces were chased into the caverns of the Underground, they're sparks of hope and resilience refused to fade. They struggled and scrapped, punched and persisted, howled and cheered. One voice rang above them all: the leader, Asgore. He encouraged every single one of his troops, and he mostly ran around the battlefield, aiding whoever he could. With their fierce, caring leader behind them, the monsters felt strong, invincible even in the foreign land of the Underground. They believed their defense would be successful.
Until they saw the sorcerers.
A group of seven humans, cloaked in robes weaved in stardust. Immediately, the monsters could sense their presence. Human magic smelled like toxic fumes: unnatural, foreign, and dangerous. Fueled with an instinctive urge to eradicate the heretic humans, nearly all the monsters in the cavern turned their attention to the seven sorcerers. However, the human army was ready for the ready for the attack on their sorcerers, and used the monsters' distraction to their advantage. They fiercefully protected their brothers and sisters in magic and slew hundreds more monsters.
Even Asgore himself rushed the magic humans. However, he too was quickly isolated by a large group of skilled warriors, all holding him back from the ritual that was just beginning. In the back of the monster army, Asgore's betrothed, Toriel, watched the new horrors befall her people. Her couple of guards urged her to stay put, but soon they were needed to defend the counterattack of the humans. With her moment to slip away, Toriel snuck around the human soldiers, wearing her own large cloak that hid her white fur.
By sensing her way to the sorcerers, Toriel made it to the edge of the humming circle. The humans were holding hands around a small orb that seemed to be glowing brighter as the group hummed louder. Unaccustomed to this kind of magic, Toriel was not sure how to stop the ritual. Hastily, she rushed forward, under the arms of two the sorcerers and reached to grab the orb. Her hands phased right through it, but her vision immediately blurred to white, and then faded onto the group of sorcerers, conversing casually with their hoods off.
"Are you sure we can't make it more?" one of them groaned, his thick eyebrows furrowed in a deep scowl.
"Well there are seven of us, and I doubt you can focus on more than one lock, Tristen," said a woman.
The one called Tristen huffed, "Given the right conditions, and more time…"
"No situation is ever ideal! Seven SOULs is definitely enough; I doubt they will ever be able to collect even one. They'll never be able to open the Barrier," a gruff voice interrupted.
The only one with a rope tinted with purple stepped forward, and said, "We're ready, then? Everyone have their tome memorized for when the initializing spell is to its maximum potential?"
"Yessir," the others replied in a jumble.
"Great, should be ready any minu—" the man paused, looking in the direction of Toriel.
The rest followed his gaze, all of their eyes wide and glued to the monster.
"What the hell?" the gruff one yelled, breaking muffled silence. "How did this happen? Is this a side effect from harnessing that magic?"
"Our defenses our weak, she's from the outside. Damn soldiers can't do their jobs…"
"Quickly, let's purge her before…"
"Silence," the leader commanded, his voice oddly echoing in the white space. Letting the shout ring out, he stared deeply into Toriel's eyes before asking, "Who are you?"
Desperately, she wanted to keep silent and flee, but as if her words were a rushing waterfall, she could not keep the truth trapped in her mouth. "Toriel," she replied. "I'm Asgore's fiancée."
The name Asgore fluttered around the mouths of the group like a hesistant song bird. The leader crushed it with his next question, "Why you? Where is your husband?"
"Soon to be husband," Toriel corrected with a shaking voice.
"Doesn't matter," the sorcerer snapped. "How did you get here?"
"I…I touched your orb. Your… initializing spell."
The leader pursed his lips and raised one of his eyebrows. "I presume it was an accident?"
Toriel shuffled her feet. "Not necessarily, I…I was trying to stop you."
"Of course," he huffed, a smirk growing on his face. "So, are you going to stop us or not?"
Toriel felt fear tightly gripping her stomach and throat. She was just barely able to reply, "I… I would, but I don't know how."
The group of humans laughed, but soon fell stoic again, eyeing the monster curiously. Only one articulated the group's emotions: Tristen. "Never seen such a timid monster before. You sure you're the one marrying Asgore. Poor soul…" The group chuckled again.
Quietly, Toriel mumbled, "Oh no, well actually, he's rather sweet when you get to know him. He's just has a lot of heart defending those he—"
"Alright, my brothers and sisters," the leader softly interrupted this time, coming down from a laugh himself. "Let us not dangle this creature in front of the fire any longer. She'll have a lifetime of that ahead."
Toriel's knees began shaking, but thinking of Asgore gave her courage enough to meet eye to eye with the leader. "A lifetime of fire?" she asked, trying to give her voice a tinge of a growl.
The leader shrugged, "Mostly metaphorically, but I heard there is a whole land of fire in the Underground! You will enjoy it eventually."
"You can't keep us down here forever. Your blades will not hold us back forever," Toriel retorted.
The leader gave the monster a wide grin. He had been waiting for this moment. Finally, all of their hard work would culminate to give the goat-woman the greatest face of terror. Slowly and deliberately, like he had said a thousand times in his head, the leader said, "We won't need our steel to keep you here. We'll use your own weapon against you. Magic."
The confusion slowly crawled onto Toriel's face, and was soon replaced with dread. "H-How…?" she dared to ask.
The leader's grin curled wider. "You'll see."
A bright blue light blinded the eight in the white realm. Toriel, unable to see past the light, felt as if she was falling. A hot dry air moved past her ears, caring the muffled chants of the sorcerers, bringing the Barrier to life.
The ash finally settled in the corridor. The monsters left milled around, dazed, lost, confused. Their eyes seemed blank, lifeless, permentantly stuck staring at the ground. Those that bumped into each other immediately burst into tears and embraced one another. Some sat together, huddled, shaking. Some were brave and conscious enough to try and become familiar with the rocky, dark surroundings, finding strange illuminating crystals. They used those to try and delve further into the Underground, to find a place to rest.
However, not one monster, even the most emotionally wracked dared go near the rumbling Barrier. They all watched just moments earlier their distraught friends and family rush into the strange anomaly, only to be swallowed by its power and spit out unrecognizable.
Their bodies were turned to ash.
Only two monsters dared to approach the Barrier and sit at its edge: Asgore and Toriel. They sat together, silently, white fur smeared with streaks of black. Toriel grabbed her forehead and grimaced. Her fiancé looked to her and frowned as well, putting his hand on her free one, sensing her headache.
When Toriel regained her composure, she looked lovingly up to Asgore, silently thanking him for his concern. However, her experience with the mages was burned permenantly in her mind. Her eyes fell to the ground, as she coughed out, "Asgore…"
"Shhh, Toriel. Now is not the time for words," the large beast consoled.
"No, dear, please," she insisted, squeezing slightly on Asgore's hand. "I saw the mages."
Asgore shook his head. "We all did. It was a tragedy, but…"
"No, dear," she interrupted again. "I saw them. I met them. I talked to them. I snuck past the human's defenses while the sorcerers were preparing the spell. I interrupted them, but I did not know how to defeat them."
Asgore was stunned into silence, blinking slowly in confusion, allowing Toriel to continue.
"The spoke of the Barrier before they saw me. That's what they called… this. They also mentioned seven SOULs… I think… I think the Barrier has a weakness only able to be penetrated by using seven SOULs. They said something about locks…"
"Human SOULs?" the leader of the monsters asked quietly.
"I would assume so. I mean, you saw how they could just walk right through, taking a slewn monster with them. They only need one of us, but we need seven of them."
Dazed by all the information, Asgore simply turned his head and stared into the void that was the Barrier. Several minutes passed and Toriel began to worry that her fiancé had lost his mind. He always seemed so fragile to her, even if the rest of the world only saw his fierce, fluffy exterior.
"Asgore?" Toriel finally muttered, starting to feel afraid.
At the sound of her voice, the beast stood up, shaking off the ash from his armor. He looked down to her, and offered his hand with a slight smile. Returning his warm façade, Toriel smiled too and got up slowly. They walked arm in arm back to their brethren.
As Asgore walked toward them, all the monsters turned their gazes, eager to hear Asgore's familiar words of encouragement, praise, and love at a time when they all most needed it. Not one to disappoint, Asgore left Toriel at the bottom of a large boulder, kissing her softly on the forehead.
Once he reached the peak, overlooking the sparse crowd, Asgore cleared his throat and let his speech ring over the cavern.
"My brothers, my sister, my kin, please, forgive me for failing to protect you and your family. If I could have foreseen this tragedy, I would have done anything to stop it. This newfound Barrier now keeps us locked in the Underground and we cannot escape without using seven human SOULs to break the seal. I implore you, please, do not approach it or try to tamper with it. Some of you have seen how it disintegrates a monster. We must now accept our lives in the Underground with grace. It will be a struggle, especially if the rumors of nefarious folk living in these caverns are true, but I believe with hard work and collaboration, we can all create new, wonderful lives in this world."
Soft murmurs of approval traveled through the monsters. Several were nodding and smiles slowly returned.
"However, I would also like you all to not forget the home we have all left, the one we fought for. Our family should not have died in vain, and one day I believe we can reclaim the land we were exiled from."
This evoked a few harsh growls and shrieks, but Asgore settled them down with a shake of his head.
"Now, now, we must save our energy to fight another day, because our time will come eventually. Rest, my friends and take this opportunity to remember those fallen in battle. Our time will come, and we, monsters of every kind, will rise from the Underground and reclaim the kingdom that is rightfully ours!"
On the beat of his final few words, the crowd cheered and hooted. A few especially loyal monsters in the front started the chant, "Asgore, Asgore! Asgore our King!" The large beast blushed at the new title, which made the crowd cheer louder. There was never a doubt in anyone's mind that the large beast should be their crowned king.
Except for one: Toriel.
As the chant began, the young monster grimaced. When she confessed her love for Asgore, she never wanted to be Queen. She loved her fiancé for his huge smile and soft hugs, not this vengeful monster that stood far above her, out of her reach. Even as he came down, he simply gave her a small side hug, and then approached the eager crowd, ready to give assurance and direction. They all saw DETERMINATION in his eyes.
Toriel saw bloodlust.