Without even bothering to ask the name of the person she just saved, Wendy began to lead Mabel out of the darkened room, breaking the silence with some much-needed explanations. "Good thing I found you, huh? I walk around every day to check if anyone's fallen down." Here she shot Mabel a grin. "Easiest job ever."
Mabel gave a small laugh as she followed behind the redhead. "Weird, though. You're the first person to fall down here in a long time. But that's okay, I've got Ya."
Now in a new room, Mabel found what looked like a glittering golden triangle settled in a large pile of leaves. She walked over to it and poked it softly with her index finger.
The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination.
Mabel smiled at this, feeling better about her situation, and ran through a large doorway to catch up with the monster.
While walking to the next room, Mabel got a good look at her new friend. Wendy was tall, at least a foot taller than her, and she had long red hair that fell past her shoulders. She was pale, but her face and arms were dotted with freckles. She wore a loose-fitting purple shirt with a picture of a weird six-fingered hand on it, and wore tight pants with muddy boots. And from the lumberjack hat on her head and the axe hanging from her belt loop, Mabel decided that Wendy was undoubtably very tough. She was glad the ginger was her friend and not her foe.
This next room was smaller, and contained six stones lines up in a pattern, as well as a sign and a golden door. Wendy gestured towards the stones. "So! Welcome to your new home, man! Make yourself comfortable. Not on those rocks, though. See, in the Ruins, there are tons of rooms filled with puzzles. I know the puzzles like the back of my hand, so just stay close and you'll do great!"
Wendy then rushed forward and stepped on four of the stones, then pressed a switch on the far wall. The door opened with a small click. "See? Back of my hand! Now c'mon to the next room; You're gonna love this one!"
The redheaded monster raced through the door, leaving Mabel to look at the sign on the wall.
"Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road."
Mabel nodded seriously and walked through the door, encouraged. She was brave. She could make it home.
"Alright!" Wendy called as Mabel walked up to her. "Now, in this room, you've got to press some switches. It's cool, I've marked them for you. They're the yellow ones." And with that, Wendy walked to the end of the room to wait, leaving Mabel to walk around and press the marked switches. It wasn't hard, which Mabel was grateful for. She was going to need some sleep and nourishment if she was expected to do anything harder than this. She would try, though.
When Mabel had pressed both switches, Wendy cheered. "Woo! You did it! I'm proud of you, kid! All right, now to the next room!"
The human beamed in pride as Wendy led her through some disarmed traps and to the next room. The one contained a wax statue of an old man, wearing a suit and a fez. The statue was giving Mabel a winning smile and a thumbs up. Mabel returned it, and Wendy laughed.
"Okay, but seriously. Since you're a human living here in the UNDERGROUND, monsters are going to want to attack and possibly kill you." Mabel gulped, but tugged on Wendy's sleeve to ask a question.
"How will people know you're human if humans and monsters look alike? Simple. That." Here she pointed at Mabel's chest. To her shock, Mabel realized that the little red heart from earlier was still there. She looked back up at the teenager in amazement. "Yeah, it's pretty neat. You've got a pretty powerful soul, and monsters are going to want to take it from you, and you'll enter a FIGHT. So you're going to have to either SPARE them or just stall for time, and I'll come save Ya." She gestured towards the wax statue. "That's what this is for. For practice! Now, just step up to the statue and start up a nice conversation."
Mabel nodded, understanding, and stepped in front of the wax figure.
ENCOUNTERED WAX STAN!
Mabel decided to follow Wendy's advice and talked to the statue. It doesn't seem much for conversation, but Wendy seemed to be happy. Mabel took that as a win.
"Great job, dude!" Wendy called to the human as she stepped away from the statue. Mabel was slightly disappointed that she hadn't earned anything from the battle, she might need money to buy some snacks, or a human sized hamster ball. But the monster had seemed happy, so it was prize enough. Mabel followed her to the next room.
This next room was long, and had a curved path. "There's another puzzle in this room. Bet Ya you can't figure it out!"
Mabel dashed after Wendy, grinning, ignoring the path. But then then she had to come to a stop when...something jumped in front of her.
SCHMEBULOCK ATTACKS!
This... "Schmebulock"... Was a very tiny person, with unfocused eyes and a scraggly gray beard. He wore a red hat and overalls, and had several teeth missing. Mabel wondered what she should do.
Her first thought was to talk, like Wendy had advised her. So she did just that, offering the little person a nice compliment.
The...Schmebulock blushed and smiled widely, but had a slightly confused face. It was if the small being didn't understand what Mabel had said, but was flattered anyway.
The tiny thing readied a stance and looked like it was about to attack in reply when Wendy walked up, hands on her hips. She gave Schmebulock a glare, sending a shiver down Mabel's spine, and made sure the small thing was looking when Wendy threateningly ran her fingers over the sharp blade of her ax.
Needless to say, Schmebulock left immediately.
Mabel made sure to thank her protector politely as they carried on, but had to ask Wendy just what that creature was.
"Oh, that thing? It was a gnome." Wendy said offhandedly, and started to explain more when the human gave her a questioning look. "There are mostly monsters that live down here in the Underground, but there are some indigenous species that live here too. I think they're as eager to escape this place as we are.
There are actually a ton of different species. Merpeople, gnomes, ghosts, spider people, demons, you know, that kinda thing."
She abruptly stopped speaking at the mention of a demon and upped her pace, and leaving Mabel to check another sign.
"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint." A puzzle! Mabel grinned at the realization and turned to the path, making sure to memorize it. She stepped into the next room with courage, but her expression faltered slightly when she saw a long rectangle of sharp spikes arrayed in front of her. She gripped Wendy's hand tightly when she thought she saw dried blood on one of the spikes.
Wendy looked down at the small human with pity, noticing the way her SOUL beat quickly, like a frightened heart. She grilled Mabel's hand back firmly, and led her through the spikes with no difficulty. When Mabel gave the taller redhead a questioning look, Wendy hid her new fond feelings for the child and said, "Well, puzzles seemed a little too dangerous for right now. I want you to make it to my house in one piece."
Mabel smiled at these words and swung their hands a little as they walked, feeling calm for the first time since her fall to the Underground. Everything was going to be okay, she would be able to go home, because Wendy was going to help her. It was a comforting thought.
The next room was a long hallway, so long Mabel could barely see the end of it. Here, Wendy stopped, and turned to the small human.
"Well dude, you've done really well so far! I'm proud of you!" Mabel blushed and grinned, showing metal braces. "But," Mabels heart sank, "I have to request something from you. It's not very hard, don't worry. All I want you to do is walk to the end of the room on your own."
And with that, Wendy ran off.
The human girl didn't much like this exercise, partly because she was afraid a monster would hurt her while Wendy was wherever she was, so she upped her pace and basically ran to the end of the room. There was a large column at the end of the hallway, and as soon as Mabel reached the end of the room, Wendy walked out from behind it. Mabel jumped in surprise, and Wendy laughed.
"See, look at that! You're doing so well, dude! Now, I'm sorry I worried you, but I gotta do this again. I got some stuff to do and take care of, so I'm going to have to leave you here for a little bit. I won't be too long, hopefully. I have an ex-boyfriend that lives around here, and he will literally talk to me for hours, it's so freakin' annoying. I wish he would move on already..."
Mabel gave the monster a confused look, and Wendy quickly waved a hand to dismiss the subject. "Eh, whatever. It's too dumb for you to care about, I promise. You just gotta stay here! Look, I'll even give you a CELL PHONE."
The girl smiled at the old flip phone she had been given. That was nice of her protector. Wendy grinned, putting a hand on her hip. "My numbers on there. Just hit me up if you need anything. So, I'm out! Peace!"
Wendy sent Mabel a "locked lips" gesture, and then sprinted away, leaving Mabel on her own.
Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter is mostly exposition, but I had to have a setting going and everything. And thank you all so much for all the likes and comments! They mean so much to me, you don't know. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to reveal who each character is yet, you're going to have to wait and find out ;) , but I absolutely LOVE to hear your theories about who each character is and what will happen! Seriously, I will be your best friend and love you forever if you do that.
Thanks again and see you soon!
-Star
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