Then to my surprise, the pellets suddenly disappeared and a feeling flashed in me. I directed my eyes to my health bar to read it. LV 1. HP 20/20. Wait… what?

Flowey seemed just as confused as I did. Before it could say anything though, a fireball rushed in from the side, just to collide with him. The expression on his face was priceless. I couldn't take off my amazed look as I watched it get flinged into the pits of darkness. It looked like he was gone, and I was safe… for now. Now I had to figure out, who had saved me?

Suddenly, a large, white furry creature came out from the shadows. She had small horns on her head, wore a violet dress with a strange symbol on it, and was giving me an apologetic look with her red eyes. Definitely suspicious.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…" She started to say, "Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS." I wasn't really listening. I was still trying to figure out what she was. "I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down." Still suspicious.

"You are the first human to come down here in a long time." She beckoned to me, "Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." My soul quavered before returning back to my body, and then the glow disappeared. "This way." She said, before heading into a door much like the first one I entered. The one I entered before I encountered Flowey.

She was definitely suspicious. Really suspicious. But I didn't have much of a choice now, did I? It was the only way leading out of this dark room anyway…

Without meaning to follow the big fluffy monster… er, Toriel, I uneasily headed into the the purple ruin door, waiting to see what it would bring before me. And on the other side was… a huge purple room. I looked around to see if there were any escapes, but it there were purple brick walls everywhere. Toriel was waiting for me there.

I stepped forward in hesitation before Toriel turned around and walked forward, probably telling my to follow her. And I suspiciously did. But even though Toriel was suspicious, the purple ruins were magnificent.

In fact, the shadow of the ruins that loomed above filled me with determination. I suddenly felt stronger and healthier as i thought this, and something clicked inside of me. What was that feeling? I looked beside my head to see something starting to flash, but before I could read what it said, it had faded away.

By now, Toriel was waiting for me at the top of a white staircase. There were actually two white staircases, but I decided to just take the one that Toriel used. After reaching the top, Toriel stood next to another doorway and I followed her in.

I was in another purple room, and I noticed a strange pattern of grey buttons to my right. I wondered what it was about, when Toriel interrupted my thoughts.

"Welcome to you new home, innocent one." She started, "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS." Yeah, like how Flowey educated me on how to gain love by giving friendliness pellets?

Toriel didn't notice my expression as she walked on the buttons. She stepped on four of them, the ones on the sides, and left the middle ones untouched. Then she pulled down the yellow lever on a nearby wall and the next door opened. She faced me again with a knowing look.

"The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." I tilted my head in confusion, not really understanding. I went forward to inspect the buttons as Toriel left through the newly opened door. I realized I still didn't get it.

I headed to a grayish sign next to the door Toriel exited. It read: Only the fearless can proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road. Now I understood the puzzle! To put it simply, Toriel had just pushed all the buttons except the ones in the middle. Feeling proud of myself, I followed her through the door and into a long purple hallway. There were vines on the walls. I wondered how and where they grew from.

Toriel was, once again, there. "To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labeled the ones that you need to flip." She walked across a bridge that went over a river (that seemed to be coming out from sewers), and I was left alone to ponder her hints.

I went to another greyish sign on the wall, ignoring Toriel's words, and read it. Stay on the path. You realized that you had walked off the light purple path to read the sign. You frowned before obeying the sign's command. Then you crossed the river by using the wooden bridge, and Toriel was on the other side waiting for you.

"The first switch is over on the wall." She said to me. I frowned before reluctantly heading off the path and eyeing the wall. There was a lever that one could obviously see already, but Toriel had worked hard trying to make the lever even easier to see by making yellow arrows that pointed to it. Then, there was the fact that there was also yellow words next to the switch that read: Please press this switch. -TORIEL.

I wasn't sure about this. For all I knew, it could be a trap, like Flowey's lies. I hesitantly raised my hand and slowly activated the switch. I closed my eyes in anticipation. Nothing happened.

I reopened my eyes to see that Toriel had moved on across another wooden bridge. I crossed with her. I noticed that this time, the wall had two switches. But one had yellow writing all over it, and the other one didn't.

"Go on, press the switch on the left." Toriel encouraged me warmly. I raised my eyebrows before heading to the wall. I found the two switches, but didn't feel like listening to Toriel's advice, so I started to reach for the switch to the right.

"No no no!" Toriel shouted, looking disbelieving, "You want to press the other switch. I even labelled it for you…" I sighed before moving to the left switch. There was another note left in yellow for me. Please press this switch too. -Toriel. I obliged.

Suddenly, the ground shook. I thought I had activated another trap meant for my doom until the shaking stopped. "Splendid! I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room." She left me feeling confused. Then I shook my head before following her out the room.

I was now in another purple room. There was a puppet to the side, and Toriel was standing next to me. "As a human living in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you." Yeah, like Flowey. "You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy." She beckoned to the middle of the room.

I wasn't sure that not fighting could get me past monsters and out alive. Talking to Flowey sure didn't do anything. But even then, I headed up to the dummy and tried to do what she asked.

When I encountered the dummy, my soul came out once again. This reminded me too much of Flowey, but this time was different. Of course, my health bar was still there, and the enemy's health bar was too. But this time, there were also buttons in front of me to choose from. There were a total of 4 buttons, and they said Fight, Act, Item, and Mercy. I ordered my soul to go to the button that said Act. So now I just had to act.

I talked to the dummy, and it said nothing back. It doesn't seem much for conversation. I look back, and TORIEL seems happy with me. Another screen popped up in front of me. YOU WON! It said. You earned 0 XP and 0 gold.

I couldn't help frowning. This was what it was like to fight monsters?

"Ah, very good!" Toriel praised me, "You are very good." Then she left through the next door. I frowned again before following her and leaving the dummy behind.

I was, once again, in another purple room. "There is another puzzle in this room…" Toriel stated, "I wonder if you can solve it?" She stood there staring at me. Unsure, I headed to her, but then she headed down a hallway and I followed her. While following her, I saw a sign and started to head towards it, but then my soul came out of my body.

Before I knew it, I was in a FIGHT. Froggit attacks you! Uh… okay. I decided to Act. I complimented the frog, trying to strike up friendly conversation, like Toriel taught me to. Froggit probably didn't understand what I said… but he seemed flattered anyway.

Suddenly, Toriel appeared out of nowhere, looking angry and intimidating. The Frog shrank away from her glare and slowly backed out of the fight. YOU WON! You earned 0 XP and 0 gold. Huh, weird. The soul returned to your body.

I stared at Toriel questioningly, but when she didn't say anything, I turned to the grey sign I was heading to earlier. The western room is the eastern room's blueprint. Uh… okay? I totally knew what that meant. Without further ado, I followed Toriel all the way to a large bridge of spikes.

Toriel looked unsure. "This is the puzzle, but… Here, take my hand for a moment." Confused and uncertain, I took her hand. It was much larger than mine, and the white fur was warm. She then lead me across the spikes, but for some reason, they sheathed themselves before she stepped on them. I was fascinated. It seemed like she was walking in some particular order as to not get impaled by the spikes. I tried to memorize it just in case, but pretty much failed to do so.

She finally lead me to the other side of the spike bridge. I was glad that was over. "Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." She concluded. Then she walked ahead. I took one more look at the deadly spikes before following. I started to suppose that maybe I should trust her, unlike Flowey.

Once again, in another purple hall. "You have done excellently thus far, my child." She suddenly seemed uncomfortable. "However… I have a difficult request to ask of you… I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this." She seemed extremely earnest as she looked at me once before striding ahead.

I didn't know what this was about… but I followed her. Yet soon, she was too far ahead, so I couldn't even see her. I kept walking and walking… but the hallway seemed to stretch for forever. When would it end? I kept going for a couple of minutes, unsure about what to do.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, I met the end of the hallway and saw a white column that very obviously stood out against the purple walls. I headed up to it, and then Toriel emerged from behind it.

"... Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time." So I noticed. "Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise… to test your independence. I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." Toriel suddenly brightened up. "I have an idea. I will give you a CELL PHONE. If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?" She handed me the cellphone, then quickly left.

I eyed the phone warily. Then I sighed before stuffing it into my pocket. What did she expect me to do? Just sit around and wait? For what? There wasn't any use staying around here. I had to get home, and to do that, I had to move forward.

I patted the phone in my pocket once to give myself some comfort before heading out the exit for the hallway.