As Asriel and the gang made their way up the path, Asriel felt a sharp pain pass through his body. It was there for only a second, but it caused him to fall to his knees.
"Asriel…?! Hey, are you okay?!" asked Karen.
"Mom… She's slipping. Even if we find the Staff, we might not make it in time!" he shouted, standing up again, and breaking into a sprint towards the woods.
"Asriel, wait! You don't even know where you're going!" screamed Karen.
"I'll have to get some help from Flowey! I don't have time for this tri-" started Asriel, before stopping at the entrance to the woods. Standing on top of a lone tree stump was a girl. Her hair was silver, her eyes black, Her dress a blinding white. Her unblinking gaze bore right through Asriel, and although every fiber of his being was screaming at him to run past her, he was petrified in fear of this… child.
"Oh…? Why the rush…? Are you afraid that, by not sparing the time to do my trial, you'll not make it to the Staff? You are wise." Said the child, hovering into the air off of the stump, and towards Asriel, her gaze still unyielding.
"I'm… I'm scared. My time is running short, and I need to get to the Staff!" stumbled Asriel.
"I understand that, and I can feel her life dwindling on the edge of death. I am more than willing to let you through. Your performance in the trials prior have been outstanding. But, if you are to claim the staff, you must make peace with your past sins." Said Typhos.
"What past sins?! I've made peace with my sins years ago!" shouted Asriel, pushing past Typhos towards the forest proper, but an energy pushed him back to the ground.
"No, you have not. You have simply become one with them. If you are to pass through, either he must make peace, or you leave him behind." Said Typhos sternly, her voice bellowing.
"What do you mean, he makes peace?!" asked Asriel. Typhos' eyes narrowed, and cocked her head to one side.
"My eyes are not blind. I clearly see within you an entity whose hands are stained with the blood of many. Either he seeks forgiveness for his sins, or he sacrifices himself and the power he gives you. Make your choice, God of Hyperdeath." Said Typhos. Asriel was shocked and gulped. Karen and Lin had finally caught up with him, and as they reached the entrance to the woods, Typhos turned to them.
"As for you two… do not interfere with his choice." Said Typhos. "Else, you will suffer a pain far worse than his."
"Flowey, what do I do?" asked Asriel internally. Flowey was trembling; for the first time in his life, he felt fear looking at someone.
"A-Asriel… I… I can't put what I've done aside…! But… at the same time… I don't want to go…! The mere thought of being ripped to shreds… it… it fills me with dread."
"If I lose you, I could lose more than just my powers. It was my god powers that helped me save Frisk! If I lose mine, she loses hers, and… I don't know if I could survive…!" stammered Asriel.
"Asriel… Your god powers have nothing to do with mine. They are yours and yours alone, I simply channel mine through you. Your friends and family gave a part of themselves to save you and Frisk. The only thing you'll truly lose if I were to go… is the memories of what you'd done." Said Flowey, trembling, tears welling in his eyes. "And let's be honest here… Are those really memories you want to keep? For the first time in my existence… let me do something for you."
Typhos blinked, and smiled, cocking her head to the side.
"Asriel, you gave me a second chance, and I have learned so much in the years we've been together! I can't see a better fitting end to my game." Smiled Flowey. Asriel was crying, now.
"Flowey… You're my friend, a part of me…! Just remember you'll always be just that…!" he cried. Flowey scoffed and smiled.
"Best friend… to the very end…" he chuckled. "…Come on, furball… wipe those tears… you're embarrassing me." Asriel laughed and ran his sleeve over his eyes.
"…You know… In all my wildest dreams, I never thought saying goodbye to you, of all people… would be so goddamn hard…" he trembled.
"So, it is decided, then?" said Typhos. Asriel nodded silently.
"I relinquish Flowey to you… but… Can I ask a favor?" asked Asriel.
"Perhaps. You may ask." Agreed Typhos.
"You take care of him. Don't destroy him. Don't kill him." Said Asriel.
"Furball… It won't do any good." Said Flowey. Typhos, amused by Asriel's request, began to laugh.
"Destroy him? Certainly, such a thing I am capable of, but I would not destroy such a creature who has made leaps and bounds at rehabilitation. Easily, I could remove him and his memories from your mind, but to destroy him would be… counterproductive to all he's done to change." She explained.
"Th-Then… do what you must." Said Asriel.
"And make it quick." Said Flowey. "I hate long goodbyes."
"Very well. Brace yourself, Prince of Monsters. This will hurt." Said Typhos.
"How painful could it be? After the lives I've lived… It can't be that bad." Asriel sighed. Typhos hesitated momentarily, a single tear rolling down her cheek, before placing her hand on Asriel's forehead. To her surprise… Asriel didn't even flinch at the pain that shot through his head… He didn't even scream. Though his eyes watered, Asriel barely made a move, as Flowey was removed from his mind. Typhos now stared down at the flower in her hands, who was looking sullenly down at Asriel. Her eyes gazed down the stem, and looked towards Asriel; roots were clinging to his head and limbs.
"I'm surprised he's not screaming… This has to be worse than when Aberon swapped his soul with his." Said Flowey.
"This is the first time I've seen something like this. I'm not sure he can survive this." Said Typhos.
"Wait, what?! No, no, NO! If he's going to die, then Frisk will lose her life, and her unborn child!" shouted Flowey. "You have to put me back! Just wipe my memory, sever my power from his! Do something! Just don't let him die!" Typhos smiled and knelt down.
"Your roots run deep, Flowey. To remove you from him entirely would kill him. Even with the connection between your consciousnesses being broken for this moment, the second your roots are cut… he'll be no more than a corpse. I cannot do this. Not with three lives of great significance on the line. It would go against our code, our laws. Therefore…" sighed Typhos, placing Flowey back into Asriel. Asriel gasped and lurched forward to vomit.
"Frisk…! The baby…!" he exhaled.
"They did not feel a thing. The baby is safe, and Flowey is still with you, his sins washed clean."
"Why didn't you take him out?! Didn't you say that-" started Asriel, before Typhos placed a finger on his lips. She pulled back.
"His roots are so grounded in your body that, by removing him, you would die. And, so would Frisk… and little Cooper. Killing children is against the Ancient Laws… So, I have resigned Flowey back into your custody." Explained Typhos. "All memories of the previous timelines have been removed, save for this one, where his memories have been altered to where he was originally and always evil at the start.
"So… I'm free…?" asked Asriel. Typhos nodded silently with a smile.
"Arguably, my trial is simple… but it is also painful. For all the memories I remove… I take into myself." Sighed Typhos, whose hands were trembling. She placed her hands on his cheeks and her forehead against his.
"Such pain you've endured. How have you kept living with that guilt in your mind?" asked Typhos, tears now falling freely from her eyes. Asriel sighed.
"Pain…? I can only imagine what pain you endure. How many people have come for the Staff before me, to have their sins taken into your being? …It's your curse, as the most powerful of the Lesser Gods… isn't it…?" he asked. Typhos nodded… and slowly began to break down. At that moment, Asriel wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a hug. Typhos burrowed into his chest, with every sob wrenching her body.
"I understand… the real trial wasn't making peace with my sins… It was to help you find your peace." Said Asriel. Typhos sobbed even harder.
"So, you finally figured her out." Said a voice. "After a millennia of feeling nothing… you finally got her to feel." Typhos turned and saw Miphos sitting on the stump. Her eyes widened.
"Sister…! Wh-What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling away from the group and drying her tears.
"Observing. As have the Greater Gods… Even they are surprised by this change in you." Said Miphos. "And even more surprised that he understood your pain."
"It's one I'd felt before… a long time ago… But I don't let it define me… not anymore." Said Asriel. Miphos walked over to Asriel and kissed him on the forehead.
"I am glad… glad that someone finally understood my sister's pain. And with your compassion, she can finally find peace, knowing that the Staff will be in good hands." Smiled Miphos. "I wish you luck in The Woods Of Sombus, though knowing you, you won't take very long." Miphos then disappeared in a flurry of papers, leaving Typhos to look on.
"Well…? What are you waiting for?" she asked.
"You to… give me your blessing, I guess…?" said Asriel.
"That's my sister's thing. I… I have no need for an excuse to kiss a guy." Said Typhos, disappearing and reappearing in front of Asriel, pecking him on the snout. "I'd just do it."
Karen pouted as Typhos giggled and disappeared in a flurry of faces.
"…Cocky little minx, that one." She growled.
"Pay it no mind, Karen. We have to get through the woods. Everyone, take a hand. Flowey will be our guide." Instructed Asriel, as the girls took his hand.
"Um… about that… When she wiped my memories… she wiped that info from my mind. She didn't want us to cheat, I guess." Said Flowey.
"…Okay, I should have expected that. Lin, do you remember how to get through here?" asked Asriel.
"Vaguely. It's been years since I've traversed these woods. But I do remember this: It's a Reversewood Forest. The trees in this forest have a magnetic field that inverse compasses, and make their cardinal directions law. East is West, West is East, and likewise, with us, we should follow their direction." Said Lin. "But only after the fog sets in. First thing we do… Is pass into that stone archway." Lin pointed out a large stone archway, with a reptilian skull carved into the keystone.
"For Mom. For the Kingdom. For Rayburn." Said Asriel, stepping forward through the archway. Immediately, a thick blue fog enveloped them and the rest of the forest. Behind them, the archway disappeared. In the center of the clearing was a torch with a blue fire.
"Lin…? What do we do, now?" asked Karen.
"I think… we… um… walk backwards, and… I…" started Lin, before a faint giggle snapped Asriel to attention.
"What was that…? Sounded like a kid laughing…" said Asriel.
"What are you on about?" asked Karen. "I didn't hear anything."
"I heard it, too." Said Lin. "Sounded like it came from our left."
"Then we should go right." Said Asriel, moving towards a parting in the trees to their right. The fog seemed to part where they walked, and once they got far enough along, the laughter could be heard again.
"There it is, again. Which way did it come from this time?" asked Asriel.
"Right. So, left, now." Said Lin, pulling Asriel now. Far off in the distance, a pair of orange eyes glared at them, and as they got closer, they disappeared, and the laughter could be heard from in back of them.
"Keep going forward." Said Asriel.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Karen.
"Yes!" said both Lin and Asriel in unison, pulling her along. Before long, they reached another small clearing in the trees. In the center of the clearing was a stone.
"Asriel, I don't like this. I may not have heard the laughter, but I saw those eyes." Said Karen.
"I know what you saw. I saw it, too. And so far, they've not led us wrong, yet…" said Asriel, kneeling down in front of the stone to examine it.
"There's some text here… It reads… "Follow my directions in reverse, then follow my directions forward."" Said Asriel. "Only then will the gate reveal itself."
"Okay, so we just go back the way we came." Said Asriel, turning around, and starting to move back in the opposite direction.
"Wait a moment. It said follow the directions in reverse. That means we have to step backwards the way we came, and then follow the directions forward. Meaning, if we go back the way we came facing forward, our memories would be wiped." Said Karen. "It didn't just say go back, it said go backwards."
"Good catch, Karen… Alright, so… backwards, and wait for the laugh." Said Asriel, taking their hands and following the directions facing towards the stone. Each time they came to the clearings, they made the necessary turns, and each time the laughs could be heard. Eventually, they reached the torch again, but this time, the flame was orange.
"So, now… We go… left…?" said Karen.
"This time facing forward, yes." Said Lin, turning around and going down the left path. Following the laughter, which was slowly getting louder, the group moved right, and then backwards. As they turned around, another stone graced their presence.
"If you can read this, you've gone in the right direction. Go forward, and the mountain shall reveal itself to you." Said Asriel. "This seemed… almost too easy."
"What do you mean?" asked Lin.
"This was supposed to be harder. The way Rayburn wrote about it in his journal, he made it seem-" started Asriel, before realizing what he'd said.
"Wait, you had Rayburn's journal the whole time, and you didn't say a word about it to me?!" shouted Lin, visibly hurt.
"Well, to be fair, at first, you lied to us several times, and we couldn't trust you. And then all the stuff with Gassoul happened, and it slipped my mind that I even had it!" said Asriel.
"Well, I'm sorry, but the least you could have done is told me that you had it! I poured my guts out to you, and you just… hide the one thing I wanted from Rayburn when he died." Blasted Lin, tears forming in her eyes.
"I know, but… Look, Lin, we've come this far, and we barely even needed the journal because of you. Can you even blame me for forgetting about it?" asked Asriel. Lin, still hurt, scoffed.
"I don't know… but you're right. I hadn't been honest, and with your trust issues with Aberon, and me taking his side during the war, I can see why you wouldn't trust me immediately."
"But I do, now, and if you want, I can give you the journal, as long as you let me make two copies of the journal; one for my mother and the second to be put with the staff in my vault of relics. At least until I can find someone to archive it at a museum. I want people to know his story, to know he wasn't a fraud." Said Asriel.
"I need to think about that." Said Lin. "Rayburn was, and still is, considered to be my closest friend, and to make copies of his work… it seems… almost disrespectful."
"Then I would rather it go to my mom." Said Asriel. "She was the one person besides you who knew he was telling the truth. And having her father's written works by her side would make her so happy. I'm sorry, Lin."
"I… understand." Said Lin. "Let's just get the Staff. Hopefully, with all the trials finished, the door will open for you, and you can save your mother."
"Yeah, I can only hope. We've come too far to go back empty-handed." Said Asriel, moving past the stone. As he exited the clearing, the fog lifted, revealing a great stone mountain, and at its base, was a large stone wall, with markings and runes upon it. In front of the wall was a woman sitting by a fire.
"So, a new champion of Sombus has arrived. Ah… and I see he hasn't arrived alone." Said the woman. "State your name, Champion, and I shall see if you are worthy of the Staff." Asriel stepped forward, removing his hat. The woman glanced up, and was taken aback slightly by his appearance.
"Rayburn? So, back after all these years to try your luck?" scoffed the woman, poking at the fire. Asriel laughed.
"No, ma'am. Rayburn Galingale was my grandfather. I'm Asriel Rayburn Dreemurr, heir to the Dreemurr throne, and son of Rayburn's daughter, Toriel Galingale." Explained Asriel.
"Rayburn is dead?" asked the woman, shocked.
"Yes, ma'am. When he came back empty-handed, he was shunned. Called a fraud and a liar. And he killed himself over it. Not even his closest friend, or even his family could stop him." Continued Asriel, sitting by the fire.
"…I apologize. I fear that I may have had a hand in it. My duty to the staff is sacred, and without all the trials, the door would not open." Sighed the woman, poking the fire absentmindedly.
"I've completed all six, now the seventh. Typhos found her peace, and Miphos found my versed nature of the Ancient Laws against Gassoul to be more than enough." Said Asriel.
"Well, there's only one way to prove that. Place your hands on the door and see if it opens." Said the woman, gesturing towards the door. Asriel stared at the woman, before standing up, and moving towards the door. Extending his hand, Asriel placed his palm against the cold stone wall, and immediately, the text and runes upon the door shined a bright green. On the back of Asriel's hand, a marking appeared, similar to that of his Family Crest. He had not seen it before, yet it seemed so familiar. He couldn't place it, however, and the marking quickly faded. As he retreated his hand, the text on the door became legible to him.
"To you, The Lightener who bears the Mark of Sombus, The Staff of Our Founder passes to you. With each trial you passed, you proved that you are worthy of such a power. Sombus's compassion is not easily found within Lighteners, and it is with great consideration that you be named Sombus's heir. Be wise, however, as the power of Sombus will be sought by Darkeners looking to conquer and subjugate. Do not let this power fall into the hands of Hatred."
After reading this, the stone wall parted, revealing a staircase leading down into the earth. Asriel summoned up his courage and began his descent into the depths below. Karen and Lin stepped forward to follow, but the door slammed shut.
"My apologies, ladies. I can't let tainted hands enter such a sacred place." Said the woman.
"Tainted…? But, I don't understand… I haven't done anything wrong." Said Karen.
"I wasn't referring to you, child." Said the woman, turning to the two of them. "Since we're all friends here, how about I tell you all the story of a dejected woman who played a part in her best friend's murder? It's quite the tale."
"Ooh, I love a good murder mystery." Said Lin. "Let's hear it."
"Hear it? Why don't I just let the fire show it?" said the woman.
