The shine of |RESTART| filled the air.
It sparkled in purple light, which began fading, flashing a few more times, before vanishing. The air of this new place sizzled with heat. Light cast down from somewhere above, illuminating a clearing below. The strands of it breaking from the many cracks in the impossibly high ceiling.
It cast into the clearing of ancient ruins, smothered by heat. Billowing out from broken piles. Surrounded by broken pillars, crumbled stone, and debris. Something glitching, something beginning to form within it. The data starting to set, solidifying into a proper body.
Placed there, laying atop the tangled remains of various plants, and golden flowers. Wilted, but enduring if only slightly. The distortion giving way to a girl wearing a green shirt, and shorts. Her appearance glitching, altering. The shirt changing, adopting new colors.
A black shirt, with a purple stripe in the center. The shorts glitching, growing longer, to go past the knees. The tattered shoes adopting the appearance of a pair of old boots, with purple laces. The outline of a poncho appearing briefly, before fading out. Vanishing, as if it never was.
When it had settled, the space beside her distorted. A man stepping into the clearing. Looking around at this place, before settling his abyssal eyes on the unconscious child. A motion of his hand, prompting a menu to appear. Glitchy, and dark.
He began scrolling down, until a name was located.
|Chara-Perseverance = Subject 921|
A sub-note indicating: |Error. Memory Transfer Incomplete| - This did not bother him.
"You exceeded my expectations." The man said. "Your soul held together, despite everything. Developed proper emotions, albeit with notably instabilities. Regardless, I am left to view this as a wonderful development."
A finger tapped against the name, the data for the child displaying. Revealing that it had defaulted back. Stats once more what they were when it began. No execution points, no levels of violence. A check under |SPELLS| revealing the list had been cleared, save for one thing. Something that read |Phantom Hand|
"I think you deserve a reward." He added. "Something I've been meaning to test. Perfect for you. My little monarch."
There was a warping effect on the page. Darkness began to swirl, and rush around the mans palm. Strands of data forming, pieced together, until it solidified. A small set of letters, formed by hands, which was then released. They flowed down and rushed into her. Causing the child to tremble, and shake.
A new spell appeared on the list. Marked as |Sway| which had the subtext that it was a 'Pacify Ability.' The man seemed pleased, and the menu vanished.
"This ability has been given to only 2 before you, during other tests. So, I expect you to appreciate it." He stepped, distorting space. "Enjoy your new world, Chara." He vanished. "I'll be watching."
Warmth greeted the child, a heavy breath filling her lungs.
It was a shocking sensation in its own right. A purple eye opening to face the downpour of light, cascading from above. A little groan prompted a hand to move and block it. The childs groggy mind reeling, waking up little bit by little bit.
The next thing that registered was the heat. It was unpleasant. The air, the air was stale as well. Tasting of debris. An unpleasant flavor by all respects.
Turning, a hand pushed against some of the withered flowers. Crushing them as she began to move. Rising, and stumbling some as she staggered to her feet. Her purple eyes scanned around the strange place she had found herself in. Tired, at first, but waking up bit by bit.
There were crumbled pillars placed at various points in the strange room. Some more in-tact than others. Rising, pushing up towards the light. Like strange stone trees, at least, in her present semi-conscious mind. A half-step leading to her looking down, hearing a crunch. There was...a bed of wilted glowing flowers to accompany the rest, which...seemed to be about it.
The awakened part of Charas mind had expected another human to be there. Waiting to greet her with the same old confusion and surprise that she was used to being greeted with. Even if she was having a rough time remembering it, she knew instinctively that it was what normally happened when she woke up. Her curious eyes searching, for someone she may have missed.
Before a compulsion reached her. Her head feeling a little loopy. A pain in her chest forcing her to take another deep breath.
The sensation was unexpected. It left her confused. It left her feeling immediately overwhelmed at the prospect before her. It left her excited it...unless this was some delusion?
"No way...I can't be-" She willed herself to take another, feeling the air pulling into her lungs. "I'm breathing?"
Her now living heart began to pump, and pound in her chest. The feeling was shocking to her, her senses already intensified by her shock at this. In response, she placed a hand to her chest. She could feel her heart beating. She could feel the heat in the air. She could breathe, and her heart was beating. Her mind moved to recognize what this meant. What this was implying, struggling for a moment before coming to a conclusion at last. The only conclusion.
"I'm alive?" She repeated the question, laughing a little, while glancing around. "I'm alive...I can't, I-I'm heh, heh, I uh..." Her mind turned to more important things. "Mom, Dad?" She called out. "Asriel?" She paused. "I-I where...am I?"
This question soon became the defining one in her mind, even more than the question of how she was alive. That was undoubtedly magical in nature, after all. A cursory search of the room revealed some kind of door leading out. It was to the north of the space she'd woken up. Chara searched her memories for any additional information, anything at all.
Searching her memory, she recalled...well, she didn't recall a lot actually. Her thoughts were a little fuzzy. She remembered some of her time with the fallen humans she'd accompanied. But also didn't remember them in their entirety.
Chara remembered her family, but even that was splintered. She recalled days, parts of days. Facts about them, without memories to accompany those facts. She recalled her plan. Something that...clearly failed. But then, it was a plan of her own creation. Failure was...the only natural outcome. Like plan, like planner, after all. The girl laughing darkly at that.
Turning from the bleak sensation that was depression, and the prospect of depression, her focus returned to the peculiar place she was standing in. It looked like the ruins but...not. The various pipes jotting out, the off-golden color of the walls, the smell of ash in the air. It was all...just, slightly, off. It was also way too hot to be the ruins she knew.
Taking a half-step, she stumbled. Running into a pillar. The surprise and pain from this prompting her soul to shine before her. A purple glowing thing. It was an immediate surprise to her...that it didn't feel like an immediate surprise to her. It wasn't unexpected somehow, like, this peculiarity was expected, or...known already?
She tilted her head at this abnormal train of thought, and reached out to take it into her hands. It was a brilliant shining thing, a little dark, but fascinating to her all the same. She didn't recall where she'd gotten it from, having been positive up until now that her soul was red.
Releasing the soul, it returned to her. She decided to brush off the question, it didn't specifically matter. Well, it absolutely did, but she had other problems and important things to focus her attention on. Namely, a few little things.
One, she needed to figure out where she was. Two, she needed to find her family. Three, she wasn't a huge fan of this heat...being away from it would be nice.
Chara was filled with the desire to Persevere through the confusion. With eyes shining, she started towards the strange door. Investigating it for potential traps, before opening it up. It...hadn't been a long walk from where she'd been laying.
Stepping out with a vague sense of confidence into the next room she paused briefly to look around. It was a peculiar place, as peculiar as the one she'd awoken it. It had plenty of withered flowers within, spread through what seemed to have once been planters. Some clearly having grown beyond them onto the walls. Only to dry out, as they had now.
The source of this disruption appeared evident, her focus falling on odd pipes that were jotting from various points. Including near her. She reached her hand out, and found this pipe was pushing out hot air. This was no doubt the cause for the unpleasant heat, and the untimely deaths of the flowers. The girl just didn't get why something like that would even be here. What purpose did they serve?
Something she had overlooked shook, snagging her attention back to it. There was a strange cardboard box in the center of the room. It even had words written on the side, and a little sign placed beside it. Inspired to inspect this, the girl got near enough to examine the sign. It seemed it had been defaced and scratched out. For some reason, Chara felt oddly angered by this, but wasn't sure why. Her eyes turning to the writing on the box instead.
"Tem Shop." She raised a brow. "An item shop?"
Suddenly the box tipped upright, and a small form burst from it. Tossing little pieces of colored cardboard around, like they were confetti. Along with a small sign that read 'Hoi!'
Chara hadn't been expecting that. Her eyes falling on the little cat-dog monster holding it. The creature looked rather nervous at first. Before properly taking sight of her.
"WHoaZ, a HooMaN?" The monster gasped. "hOI!, I'm Temmie, WelCome to...the...Tem Shop. Yuz...yUz..." The creature tilted its head, its intense fidgeting stopping. "Wait...you're not new to the underground, are you?" The voice now more composed, and serious. "No, I've seen you before."
Chara felt a bit of whiplash at the strange change of tone. "No, I am not." She hummed. "Greetings. My name is Chara Dreemurr."
"Dreemurr, Chara?" Temmie smiled strangely. "That's an amusing concept. You proclaim yourself a corpse. Walking around, pretending to be alive." Its eyes went dark. "We get the joke...and it's not funny."
Before she could respond to this strange line of thought by the 'monster' the world had flashed black and red. Charas soul shining before her, prompting the red to shift. Becoming a purple and black.
"I-hang on a second." Chara requested. "I don't know what you think's happening, but you're making a mistake."
"What a mad little ghost you are. You even got a little 'soul' how funny." Temmie growled. "You think you can mock us like this?" The creatures teeth seemed sharper. "Die."
Charas attempt at reasoning had failed, and Temmie was enraged. It seemed the fight was on.
This was not the way the girl had wanted to start things. She didn't even have a weapon. But she wasn't going to back down. Perhaps she could get through to this strange being? Somehow?
|Chara - 20/20 HP|
|Fight| - |Actions| - |Items| - |Mercy|
Her attention fell on 'Actions.' It was another thing she wasn't unfamiliar with. Yet, she swore she hadn't seen before. She was certain it usually said ACT, didn't it?
|Actions|
Chara noticed two things were present there. |SPELLS|, and |ACT|. Her mind remembering something, a lesson from...that part of it was blank. But someone had told her that this soul...it gave her the ability to cast spells using...TP? Tension Points...the idea resonated with her.
Her mind projected the bar onto the side of the battlefield. However, she noticed Temmie glancing at it. Could...the cat-thing see the menu?
She opened |SPELLS|
She had two. |Phantom Hand| and something called |Sway| which didn't feel familiar to her. It seemed she couldn't cast them yet anyways. So she focused on trying to talk down the strange creature instead.
|Act|
|Check| - |Talk| - |Threaten| - Joke|
Chara tried to talk to Temmie.
"Who exactly do you think I am?" Chara asked. "Because I promise, you're clearly mistaken." - Temmie didn't waver. "Don't plea with me now, dummy. You made a mistake this time. You're just free XP."
The creature laughed viciously, and seemed to elongate an arm, growing out a big claw. Creating several glowing bullets, that fired out at the girl. She managed to sidestep them with relative ease, only for the claw to swing around. Slashing across her. Her soul flickering as blood seeped from the new cuts on her arm. Causing her to wince.
"That almost looks like real blood." Temmie muttered. "Nicely done."
|Chara - 14/20 HP - 10/100 TP|
The TP bar was higher. She attempted to cast |Sway| but dark text whispered - "The enemy must be more damaged."
Chara felt a little unnerved at that prompt. And decided to try something different. Letting out a pained breath.
Chara tried to tell a joke.
"Tem-permental aren't you?" Chara punned. "I expected a more tem-perate response." - Temmie glared some.
More bullets formed, as both of Temmies arms grew into nightmarishly elongated claws. The monster swinging out, grabbing the air this time. A phantom box appearing in an area around the girl. The creature cackling as it was pushed in, knocking Chara forward. The bullets slamming into her in the process, causing quite a pain of pain. She barely managed to dodge the last one, feeling confused, frustrated, and a little bit more than anxious.
"Wait...that smell...that's...actually blood?" Temmie asked in a grim tone. "You're...real?" She grinned evily. "How unexpected. Then that means that soul is real...heh heh. Give it to me."
|Chara - 6/20 HP|
Chara casted the only spell she could. |Phantom Hand|
The space beside her distorted, as a strange phantom hand materialized there. Much to Temmies confusion. It flickered yellow, and swayed behind the girl. She wasn't sure what it was doing, but hoped it would do...something.
Temmie motioned, as bullets formed all around her. "Die." They began to fire in, in a falling wave pattern, only for the hand to make a whirring sound. Swinging around, blasting out a big yellow beam of energy. The creature surprised to see the bullets destroyed. Growling, and elongating a claw, to swing at her. The hand moving in the way, tearing apart, while blocking the hit.
"Magic...how peculiar." Temmie muttered. "I wonder what your blood tastes like?"
Chara attempted to cast the spell again. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough TP. She was half-expecting someone to show up. But it didn't appear anyone was going to. She didn't want to fight but...
Chara tried to threaten.
"Stop. This will not end the way you want it to." Chara warned the Temmie "I don't want to hurt you." - Temmie grinned evily. "What an adorable sentiment."
The bullets appeared, and the creatures arms grew again. The bullets began to fire, as Chara moved. Weaving through the space, managing to avoid several of them. Nearly getting hit by another, quickly leaning back to avoid it. A claw coming towards her, prompting her to step back. The end of it nearly scraping her soul. The other grasping the air, pushing the strangely projected battle box to the side. The surprise motion knocking her into a few of the bullets she had missed.
The feeling of hitting them was immediately painful. And one tore through her. Prompting her to stagger, and collapse. The sound of unstable laughing filling the air, as the creature slashed her again. Her soul shaking violently, as she collapsed, letting out a pained cry, her soul shattering. The Temmie unable to grab it, roaring in frustration as Chara died, again.
And yet...she wasn't ready to die. Not this early into her revival. Not to this creature. She refused, even as she was consumed by the dark. She had to keep going...she had to...Persevere. A word shining before her.