"Get up."
But I didn't want to. The soft petals of the flowers beneath me were so comfortable.
"It's time to wake up."
Shut up. I want to sleep.
"You can't."
Yes, I can. Look at me, I'm sleeping right now.
"Save them."
Leave me al- wait, what?
"Save. Them."
Wait, what was happening? Flowers? Voices? What was going on? WHAT WAS GOING ON?
I forced my eyes open and sat up, brushing a stray petal off my cheek. What was going on? Where was I?
"Good, you are awake. About time."
Every thought I had as I looked around the dark room was wiped away in an instant, and for just a moment terror coursed though me. "What? Who said that?"
"Nobody important." came the nonchalant reply. "Stand up."
I obeyed without really thinking about it, shakily getting to my feet amid the scattered yellow flowers. "Who are you?"
"I told you- nobody important. Let's get going. You have better things to do than sit here wasting time."
"Alright, random voice, whatever you say." I tentatively stood, shifting my feet among the yellow flowers beneath me.
"Well? You going to try to leave the room?" the voice snapped in annoyance.
"Alright, I will!" My shoes scuffed against the gray stone floor as I ventured forth down the hallway before me.
"There. That's more like it."
At the end of the hallway, something glowed in the distance. Curiosity piqued, I quickened my pace. "What's that?"
"It looks like a computer to me," ventured the voice as I grew nearer. Indeed, it did- a laptop, to be precise, connected to the wall by a green cable.
"I wonder if it works?" Hesitantly, I reached out to touch the screen, but it didn't respond.
"Well, of course it's not going to work if you try to touch the screen, dummy! Use the keyboard!"
"Alright! Geez, somebody sure got up on the wrong side of the bed today." I tapped the enter key, instinctively flinching back as the screen brightened.
Before I could do anything, a new window appeared on the screen. As I watched, text scrolled across it.
* You found me.
* Well, congratulation are in order! I have to admit, I figured you'd just walk right past me.
* Still, I have to wonder...
* Why bother?
* ...it does not matter. You really need to continue on, after all.
* Just know one thing:
* Down here, your choices really do matter.
* When you do something? You're forcing your helpless marionette to do it, not some shallow projection of yourself.
* Your actions here? They'll affect them. Whatever you decide to do, they're the one who will have to live with it.
* So think a little about what you do before you send them blindly charging into battle.
* But above all, keep this in mind:
A pop-up appeared, a new one, above the window- as in, floating just above the screen of the computer- causing me to instinctively step back. "What the-"
It said:
* Despite that? You're still above consequences, William. You have as many chances as you want. So don't hesitate to use them.
William? Who was William? Before I had the chance to even begin to process that, the pop-up vanished.
Weird. Brow furrowed, I leaned towards the screen as the text began to scroll again.
* So let's give your competence a test, shall we?
* After all...
* In this world, there is no such thing as mercy.
For the first time, I realized that something looked off about the green cable plugged into the side of the computer. It was... oddly thin, wasn't it? It looked almost like a vine...
And then it yanked loose from the computer and vanished into the wall as the window disappeared from the screen, and I realized it had never been a wire at all.
"DUCK!" screamed the voice, and I just managed to throw myself to the side as a thick green vine, hundreds of sharp red thorns scattered along its length, smashed through the wall and completely obliterated the computer, shards of glass and plastic scattering around the room and tearing bloody gashes into my face and hands. As I desperately shoved myself backwards, scrabbling my battered sneakers against the smooth gray stone, another vine punctured a hole through the wall, erupting from the other side, and then another, and another, and between the four of them, emerging from the shattered wall in the dusty haze...
...of all things, an old TV that looked like it was from the 1970s, ringed with six yellow petals, countless vines of all lengths hanging from the bottom of the box, static scarring the screen. As I watched in horror, the static cleared, revealing a condescending humanoid face that somehow reminded me of a goat.
It was almost cute, in a way.
"Howdy!" chirped the thing in a high-pitched voice, a sociopathic grin stretching across its face. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"
And then the voice distorted into something horrific and grinding, something downright satanic, screeching, "NOW DIE!"
A vine lashed out at me, stabbing into my leg, and I let out a sharp cry of pain as it yanked it out, blood pouring from the wound. That thing laughed maniacally, raising another vine to stab down into me-
-and then the back of the TV erupted into flames. The monster reeled, scrabbling to regain its balance before collapsing at my feet, the screen cracking as it smashed into the ground. The face was gone, static filling the intact parts of the screen once again.
"What the-"
"Child, are you alright?" a new voice spoke from behind the shattered hulk of the monster, and a figure clad in purple robes with some strange insignia emblazoned on the chest stepped forwards. At first I thought it was a person, but then I looked up and saw its goatlike face, peering at me with something like... concern?
"Oh! Please, don't be afraid, my child. I assure you, unlike that thing, I mean you no harm." The woman clasped her... hands? Paws? What were they, exactly? "My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the Ruins. I pass by here every day to see if any humans have fallen down." A shadow crossed her face. "I'm sorry I did not find you before that thing did, but... at least you are safe now."
"I-It's alright." I stuttered, biting back a scream of pain.
"Here, let me heal your wounds." Toriel reached out for my injured leg, and fear overcame me. I tried to yank it back, but all this earned me was another surge of throbbing pain. A yellow glare clouded my vision, and by the time it had cleared, Toriel was holding a hand over the injury, ethereal green fire gently cascading from the tiny claws at the end of each finger and pouring over the gash, some parts of it inching up from there to the smaller injuries on my face. As I watched in awe, the muscles and skin threaded themself back together as though they had never been split in the first place, leaving only a vestigial ache behind that faded quickly.
"Th...thank you." I managed.
"Please do not worry about it, my child." Toriel stood, clasping her hands together again. "Come! I shall guide you through the catacombs."
Hesitantly I stood, gingerly applying weight to my once-damaged leg. It barely even hurt anymore, but after... after that thing... and what it did...
It almost killed me.
It would have killed me, if Toriel hadn't arrived in time.
Honestly, I just wanted to stay there, curl into a ball, and block out the rest of the world. But something... something else forced me to follow Toriel, stay on my feet, ignore the screaming fear in the back of my mind.
I didn't know what it was. All I knew was that I had to keep going, and that whatever it was... it would not let me stop.
Not for anything.
And that scared me.
