I slipped an old record out from its place near the player on my dresser and took it out of its makeshift cover. It was the old black record W.D had found years ago and it was still in working condition, and I was about to let it sing its songs. I placed the record in the player and gently lay the needle on it at just the right spot to start playing my favorite song. A few seconds of static was soon replaced with a real swinger of an ensemble of piano, horns, drums, bass, and fantastic vocals by a group of humans. I danced around my room to it as I straightened things up, I had left it in a mess the last I was here. Mom was never one to clean up after me and W.D, especially now that we were paratactically grown, teaching us the importance of keeping up after ourselves. I still had a lot to learn in that area apparently.
The door to my old room suddenly slammed open. It was W.D, right on time, just as I had planned.
"SEMI! What have I told you about playing that so loudly at this early of an hour?!" he yelled over the music.
"To always make sure I played this specific song?" I answered as I folded some of my clothes on the bed.
"SEMI! You annoying little-!" he pounced me and pinned me to the floor. "THIS is exactly why I don't come the same time you do! You seem to enjoy waking me up like this, and annoying me to no end! When will you grow up?!" he poked my face.
I grabbed him with my magic and tossed him up onto the bed, the folded clothes bouncing off of it as he landed. I got myself up and leaned towards he's face at the edge of the bed, squinting my eyes.
"I am grown up De, heh, this is as tall as I'm going to get, you can't expect me to grow up any taller than this." I told him.
I had him all worked up now, like I always did, and always planned. Keeping him annoyed was my job after all. It's what brothers are for, especially older brothers.
He roared in anger and tackled me to the floor. We wrestled with each other, tossing and turning around the room. I shoved him off of me, but he quickly countered by throwing me with magic over the bed to the other side of the room. He took the free moment to stop the record player, carefully taking the needle off the record, then sighing with relief that it was now off. With his back turned to me, I had the perfect chance for revenge. I hopped onto my bed and bounced off of it onto his back. He immediately reacted by shaking around to get me to lose my grip, but I managed to knock him off balance with my weight. He caught himself on the dresser to stop his fall and quickly stood back up. He tried to reach me on his back, but I was well out of his reach.
"Kinda funny how I'm riding on your back now, huh?" I laughed.
When he was a little baby bones I'd sometimes let him ride on my back around the house, but now, the tables were turned.
"I never made it into torture for you Semi!" W.D growled annoyed with me.
He rolled forward across the floor to knock me off, but I was still holding on tight, he slammed into the wall, shaking the whole room just about, then laid still for a moment, with me still attached.
"Now that you're the 'big' brother, it's my turn to hitch a ride!" I snickered.
"Semi you-!" he growled.
He got up and ran out of my room into the hallway, nearly falling into the wall as he rushed out with my added weight on his back. As he started down the hallway I threw my weight forward and threw him off balance again, causing him to fall and hit the floor. I jumped off before he made impact so I wouldn't crush him under my weight; and he was quick to realize that. As soon as I landed on the floor in front of him he grabbed my leg and dragged me back to him, raising his sharp clawed hand over me as he got ready to pick me apart bone by bone. I instinctively summoned bones to throw at him—
"Boys! What in the whole world of the underground is going on here?!" our mother shouted as she walked in on us.
We froze in place; W.D's hand quickly going behind his back, and my magic quickly recalling the bones I'd summoned. Mom tapped her foot as she crossed her arms, clearly upset with us, her expression made me and W.D both tense up. We sat up and smiled at her for a moment, then immediately pointed at one another.
"He started it!" we both shouted out.
"You're both nearly grown now, and THIS is how you behave?" she lamented.
"Sorry mom." "Forgive me mother." we replied.
"What's going on?" Dad came in on the scene.
"Look at these two, pouncing each other like kats and fighting over nothing like they're still baby bones!" Mom told him. "What are we going to do with them?" she sighed.
"No breakfast." Dad stated factually.
"What!? No! Mom makes the best breakfast!" I shouted in shock.
"I agree, no food until you two say you are sorry and make peace." Mom sternly stated.
Dad nodded in agreement.
Me and W.D looked at each other, we knew what this meant.
"I am sorry for tackling you Semi." W.D started.
"And I'm sorry for waking you up." I rolled my eyes.
"Semi." Mom threatened me, catching my eye roll.
"And for playing the music too loud..." I added.
We waited for a moment. Was she going to make us do it? Her still angry face said yes. Me and W.D reached out and hugged each other awkwardly, patting the other's back, we did our best to make it look genuine.
"Good. Now I expect there to be no more fighting from here on. You two are members of the Palace staff and it's about time you started acting like it." Mom stated with intensity.
Ouch. A valid point...
She left for the kitchen, Dad following behind her, shaking his head in disappointment at us. W.D let me go as soon as she was around the corner. I quickly stood up and leaned on his shoulder before he could get up.
"Glad to see things haven't changed between us brother." I winked him.
"Speak for yourself brother. I much rather you mature and begin acting your age like mother wishes." he told me, still upset.
"Says the guy he made the first violent move." I pointed out.
"You were asking for it by waking me up with that music of yours!" he growled. "It makes me wish I had never invented that infernal machine!" he complained.
I slapped him on the back and ran for the kitchen.
"Last one to the table is a melting egg!" I slid around the corner shouting.
"Have you learned nothing?!" he shouted back.
Long after that visit home, I found myself late to report in for work. I somehow overslept and was kicking myself out the door for not setting my watch's alarm to wake me up, I didn't usually need to. When I finally made it to the briefing room at the barracks, I found I wasn't the only one late, everyone was here except the Captain. No.3 walked over as soon as she saw me come in.
"Where's the Cap'?" I looked past her for him.
"I was hoping you saw him on your way here." No.3 she looked down at me.
"He's late? That's-"
"Unlike him, yes. It has me worried."
"Maybe he had a rough day and slept in like I did?" I shrugged.
"Doubtful." she replied. "Go to his house in Waterfall and see if you can find out where he is." she ordered me. "As for you lot, follow me." she told the others. "We will conduct a city wide search of New Home, and the entire underground if we have to." she ordered them.
"Has Asgore seen him?" I asked.
"No. No one has reported seeing him today." she informed me. "Now go, time is of the essence if he is indeed in trouble." she ordered.
"You got it No.3!" I saluted to her.
I hurried towards Waterfall, using my gravity magic to throw myself through Hotland as fast as I could. When I came to the crossing into Waterfall, I ran into W.D, of all monsters. He was just as surprised to run into me here.
"What are you doing here this early?" he tilted his head at me with interest.
"Going to go find out why Mystrium was a no show at the morning briefing." I told him.
"Are you sure he was not just late?" he asked.
"It's been well over and hour now De, and no one's seen him anywhere." I explained.
"I just came from Waterfall and did not see him myself…" he looked back.
"Did you go by his house by any chance?" I asked.
"No, but I will go by there now to see."
"Stick close than, there's no tellin' what's kept him."
He nodded and followed me into Waterfall towards Mystrium's home. The way there was through a narrow crystal covered maze of caverns. We wandered through here lots of times as kids, trying to find the pattern needed to find our way through to Mystrium's house, we ended up out at the swamp cavern a lot, going the wrong way. Being in the Royal Guard I had to come through here pretty often to visit with Mystrium over things, he even held some of the Guard meetings in his home, both for security reasons, and for the company. We easily navigated through the crystal maze and came upon Mystrium's home, carved into the rock wall out of sight, save for the wooden door marked by a sign and mailbox. As we came to the door, Gerson walked out, holding his hammer at his hip. W.D flinched at the sight of him.
"Gerson! What's happened?" W.D asked him before I could.
Gerson glanced our way as we hurried up to him. He sighed heavily, and turned to us with a serious expression. The expression made me nervous. Having been the previous Captain of the Royal Guard, now long retired, he had seen everything in his long life since the war of human's and monsters, so for him to look so serious over something, it had to be big.
"I had a feelin' somethin' was wrong. I didn'catch Mystrium diggin'round for crystals the other day, so I decided to come check on him..." Gerson said, his voice trailing off as he glanced to the side.
"And?!" I asked with anticipation of what he had found.
"I didn't find'em'ere of course. I've searched all of Waterfall, but found nothin'. There're no clues here either as to where he's wondered off too." he stroked his scraggly beard in thought.
"Where could he have gone then? And why?" W.D asked.
"I got a pretty good idea..." Gerson whispered to himself.
"You have an idea? What is it?" I was eager to hear.
Gerson held his hand to his chin as he looked us both over. Me and W.D stood in suspense as he took his time before answering. His eyes narrowed in on us as he let out a soft hum.
"Did he ever tell you boys about the war?" he asked us.
"The human monster war? Yeah, he mentioned it once or twice." I replied.
"No boy." he shook his head at me. "I mean the war between monsters." he stated.
Me and W.D exchanged confused glances at each other. A monster war? Where was that in my history class? Or I was I not paying attention the year we studied it?
"It was a war for control of monsterkind. And it ended very badly." he began to explain. "It's about when Mystrium showed up really, and where he had to make a lot of hard choices. If you boys want to help me find him now, know that we might well be facing the results of one of those choices." he rested his hand on his hammer.
"That had to have been centuries before the human war. How could a choice made back then effect anything now?" W.D asked as he started to tense up.
"You'd be surprised sonny." Gerson answered with a muffled chuckle. "Now, are'ya coming wit me or not?" he then asked us.
"Of course." I answered confidently.
"No question." W.D answered with similar determination.
"You may find yourselves facing trouble where we're goin'." Gerson informed us.
"All the more reason to find Mystrium as soon as possible, before he must face such trouble alone." W.D told him.
"So let's stop with the jabbin' and get goin'!" I got excited.
"Alright. There's no backing out now than." Gerson smiled at us impressed. "I'm guessin' since ol'cloud top didn't tell'ya about that war, he never told'ya why he always visited The Abyss here in Waterfall?" he asked.
"The junk pool you mean?" I was unsure.
"He means the cliff-side beyond that Semi, where most of the surface debris truly ends up." W.D corrected me.
"That endless ravine no one's ever explored?" I recalled.
"That's the Abyss." Gerson nodded.
So Mystrium wasn't visiting the junk yard all those times, it was the Abyss? But why that? There wasn't anything down there. Was there...? If only I'd asked him about it before now, like I kept telling myself to, but kept forgetting.
"And I wouldn't say never explored." Gerson laughed. "But regardless, you're about to find out why it's held Mystrium's attention." he stated, walking past us out of the cavern.
Me and W.D followed him closely from there as he led us to the Waterfall dump area, whose main waterfall flowed right into the aptly named Abyss. I shivered at the sight of it. The Abyss was the lowest point of the underground. It was a massive ravine that ran under the entire mountain, from Home to Hotland. Was there actually something down there besides the water and garbage that flowed down there from here?
"I wasn't around when the war for the throne happened, but I and Mystrium fought side by side in the human war. We kept the humans busy while Asgore got the other monsters to safety." Gerson explained as he stood fearlessly at the edge of the Abyss. "Mystrium was always... a mystery, to me." he chuckled. "I heard tales of his heroics saving the Dreemur crown, and even saving humans, and of his ultimate battle with the greatest enemy of all, an enemy he always feared would one day resurface..." he gazed down into the darkness of the deep Abyss.
I tried to look into it myself, but uh… That's a long way down...
"Which is...?" W.D prompted Gerson to continue.
"Let's go see! Har Har!" he laughed.
"Uh, no offense," I began to say. "but, you're not saying we're going-"
"Oh yes!" he said with a wide smile. "We'll be taking a safer route though mind you. Follow me!" he waved us on to follow him.
"He's going to lead us down into the Abyss." I stated in fear.
"That is really the only place left to look, and given that Mystrium visits this area daily, it would make the most sense." W.D stated factually.
"How does him being down there make sense? Why would he be down there?" I asked him as we started to follow Gerson.
"Let's go see." he quoted Gerson with a smirk on his face at me.
I groaned and slapped my hand to my face. None of this was making sense to me. How was Mystrium's disappearance connected to this old war? What did he do, or who did he face I guess, that would still be a threat this far in the future?
I'm going to start asking questions more often.
Gerson led us down a path that me and W.D both were not aware of, which was saying something since we grew up exploring this area of the underground like miners searching for gold. The cavern grew more narrow the deeper in we went. It also got darker. Pitch black even. It was cold too, yet, humid as Waterfall.
"I've never fully explored this part of the underground, but I know enough'bout it to know where Mystrium may be if he came down from the dump area." Gerson said as he lit a lantern with his lightening magic.
He led the way with no signs of fear, while me and W.D kept close to each other as we followed closely behind him. Something felt... off, about this place. The fact that there were no crystals to light the cavern was like living in a nightmare. Without the crystals we had up top, monsterkind would no doubt have lost their minds in darkness like this. I know I was losing mine the deeper we went. Soon enough, we found water flowing through the main cavern of the Abyss, which was happily much more spacious. Gerson pointed out that the water was coming from the same waterfall at the dump, so if we followed it upstream, we might find Mystrium. He continued to lead the way as we followed close behind, looking out for trouble.
"So... what else can you tell us about this war of monsters? And Mystrium?" I matched my pace to Gerson's to ask him about it.
"Mystrium would probably rather tell you himself." he replied. "Feel free to ask'em if we find him alive!" he then laughed.
Me and W.D both started to worry about that. WAS he still alive down here? If he fell from the dump area to down here... There was no way, unless he landed in the deep end of the water.
Gerson suddenly swung his hammer in front of us to stop us. The cavern was silent except for the water flowing by us. The creek we had been following was a deep river at this point, rushing by without hindrance through the rock it had carved through over the centuries no doubt. I looked around in the darkness but saw nothing. Then... I felt something. I sensed…
"You sense that?" Gerson asked in a low voice.
"W-What is that?" I replied in fear of it.
It was a feeling of dread. It felt like, at any moment, something was going to jump out at us and attack. I already had the heebie-jeebies from the dark, but now I was truly scared of it. Was there something, or someone, lurking in the surrounding darkness?
"I got the same feelin' last time I was down here years ago..." Gerson scanned around us. "But it's not scaring me off this time!" he shouted out.
His voice echoed around us into the darkness, then it was quiet again...
"This is a bad sign..." W.D whispered.
Before I could think about it myself, the sound of footsteps came from ahead of us. Gerson quickly held the lantern up towards the source, and I caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure. A black, kinda terrifying, figure. As it got closer, the light revealed it was Mystrium. He was battered and torn, and soaking wet. I saw a few sparkles of dust flicker off his arm where he had been hurt. His usual magical glow was dim, telling me he was worse off than he looked.
"Mystrium! What's happened old boy?" Gerson hurried up to him.
Mystrium took a long, uneasy breath, before answering.
"It's still alive..." he stated in a weak voice.
Gerson growled in a low tone at the sound of that.
"We should tell Asgore right away." he stated.
"Y-Yes... Asgore..." Mystrium struggled to say.
He began to collapse, but Gerson was quick to catch him, lowering him to the ground gently. W.D rushed over and knelt down to cast healing magic on him, putting into practice Toriel's healing knowledge she had shared with us over the years.
"He's not in good shape. We need to get him to Toriel right away." W.D informed us.
"Right. Can you-"
A sudden roar echoed around us throughout the cavern. Mystrium grasped his sword at his side, trying to stand, but W.D held him back.
"Is that it than?" Gerson held his lantern out, holding his other hand at ready on his hammer.
"Yes.." Mystrium replied as W.D braced him up. "The accursed Dark Soul Monster..." he strained to say.
"Dark Soul...?" I felt myself shiver.
"So this is... the Dark Soul..." I caught W.D saying to himself.
In front of us in the darkness rose a pitch black... something. It was formless magical energy. Black, dark, cold, magical energy... The feeling of dread and fear was coming from it. It was facing us with clear intent. It intended to kill us-!
Mystrium's bright white magic cut through it as he threw a barrage of shards at it. It shrieked as it was hit, but quickly countered with its own black shards of magic at us. We all jumped aside to dodge the attack, as well as Mystrium who suddenly gained enough strength back to be able to do so. He stood in front of W.D with his sword in hand, staggering as he held his stance to defend him.
The living darkness swirled around itself, its energy based form unable to hold together for more than a few seconds at a time as the energy kept moving. It leaned forward towards Mystrium and spoke in a deep, airy, voice, in the Old Mons language. Mystrium was quick to reply in the same language, but in a much more angry tone.
"What are they saying?" I asked.
"Basically that Mystrium should give up, but he refuses to of course." Gerson explained to me.
The darkness shouted loudly at Mystrium, speaking more words I didn't understand. Now I wish I had paid more attention to Mystrium's lessons, who knew I would actually need to know it one day?
"Have we got a plan?" I asked Gerson.
"Nope." he chuckled.
Mystrium shouted out boldly, mentioning a name of some kind that I made out among the old language. Brianzar. He held his blade high towards the darkness as he spoke to it, the blade's white glow revealing his white determined face among the darkness. The darkness softly spoke back to him, as if not threatened by his words.
"Nothing is ever meaningless! Not when it's backed by hope!" W.D suddenly shouted.
The darkness shrieked back from him in surprise with its dark energy sparking off of it for a moment. W.D kept speaking, now in perfect Old Mons, saying something I could actually partially pick out. 'Hopes and Dreams' I could hear. 'Better Future'. W.D was confident in what he said, not showing any signs of fear.
The darkness shrieked in anger and charged at him, but Mystrium's sword cut through it when he attacked. The dark blob of energy quickly separated and melted into the ground out of sight. Its voice echoed around us as it continued to speak, mentioning what I translated to be 'Angel'. The angel of the prophecy?
"Gerson! Get these two out of here!" Mystrium shouted to him.
"Not without you right behind us!" Gerson replied.
I noticed the ground near me and Gerson grow darker, so I shoved him aside, just as the darkness rose in a spike out of the ground. W.D grabbed me with magic and pulled me towards him to help me avoid another strike from the ground. We quickly darted away from each other as the darkness rose out of the ground where we were standing. I lost my footing and went tumbling across the rocky floor.
"We mustn't let it leave this place! If it escapes to the main caverns-" Mystrium began to say.
"The entire underground could go dark." W.D finished.
The dark being mourned a roar as it stood above us in the darkness. I quickly summoned a barrage of sharp bones and threw them at it without a second thought, hoping to weaken it, but it absorbed the attack, not even flinching as it turned its attention to me.
"Splinters-!" I gasped, seeing it get ready to attack me.
Before it could, Mystrium, thankfully, fired his magic at it. The white shards shattered in a flash of light as they made impact, stunning the darkness. I tried to grab its soul with my magic, but was hit with a wave of negative energy that nearly knocked me off my feet. Gerson was quick to reflect an incoming attack away from me with his hammer while I was down.
"Keep yer focus son!" he held his ground in front of me.
The darkness shot its magic at us, which Gerson was quick to hammer away at. It slapped Mystrium and W.D aside towards the river at the same time behidn it, and I saw W.D fall into the river, while Mystrium was thrown across it into the rock wall on the other side. I got up as quick as I could and ran for the edge of the river pass the darkness.
I called out for W.D, searching the river for him. He wasn't the best swimmer, and had a crippling fear of water I knew.
FEAR
When I spotted his tail come above the water I grabbed him with magic and pulled him out and up into the air. Before I could toss him towards dry land though, the darkness struck me from behind, knocking me clean off my feet towards the water. W.D pulled me towards him with magic before I hit the water and we rammed into each other mid-air. Before we began to fall, I tossed us both towards land. We hit the rocky ground hard and went tumbling across it, skidding to a stop a few feet away from the raging waters of the river.
As I got up, I saw Mystrium's white magic dart across the cavern at the darkness, each one erupting into bright flashes of light like before. Gerson summoned his lightening magic onto his hammer and gave the beast a good whack with it. The darkness froze as the lightening pulsed through it, making its form even more unstable, it looked like it would fall apart completely. It recovered form the effect and disappeared into the darkness above. It was still here though, I could sense it. Me and W.D stood by Mystrium as he struggled to catch his breath.
"What IS this thing?" I peered up at the darkness above for it.
CONFUSION
"Someone I had hoped to never face again, but it seems that was a mistaken hope." Mystrium gasped.
"This thing is a person?" I asked, even more confused.
"It is a being that feeds on negative energy from souls." W.D stated. How he knew anything about it beats me. "So don't let-"
The darkness came down on Mystrium and grabbed him, shoving me and W.D away as it pulled him up into the thick darkness above, his blade hitting the ground he lost his grip on it. Gerson was the first to react, charging his hammer with lightening and tossing it up into the darkness. It hit and the darkness promptly let go of Mystrium, dropping him for Gerson to catch as he leapt over the river. Gerson landed on this side of the river with Mystrium, and caught his hammer as it came down. I recovered from being thrown back, and saw W.D make a mad dash for Mystrium's blade. He snatched it up, not slowing his pace, and countered an attack from the darkness with it. W.D leapt up and struck the darkness multiple times before it shoved him back to the ground. W.D blocked the attack with the blade and landed safely, skidding across the ground. He was unfazed by any of it, looking at the darkness with determination. I sensed immense power coming from him now. Where— What is that? How was he doing any of this right now?!
"I'm getting Mystrium out of here! I suggest you get yourselves out of here as well!" Gerson dodged an attack and jumped back across the river.
I kept my focus on W.D and the darkness. W.D stood ready with the blade, fearless before the darkness as it fell to the ground in front of him. I got by his side as the darkness rose up, taller than before. I could hardly make it out against the actual darkness, but it was definitely bigger than before. Was it... stronger too?
"We need to leave W.D, we can't beat this thing!" I warned him.
"We can't let it follow us either, we have to at least weaken it!" he bravely stated.
"You sound pretty sure that we can do that." I glanced over at him.
"I know we can. This sword is its weakness!" he stated with confidence.
The darkness charged at us, so we threw each other aside with magic to dodge it. W.D quickly countered, striking the darkness with the blade dead center. It curled up and whipped out at him, knocking him into the wall. I heard the blade hit the ground as well, meaning he was defenseless. I had to distract the darkness before it hurt him.
VIOLENCE
I summoned multiple sharp bones and tried to pin the darkness down, but it absorbed the majority of the shots. As it got free of the others, I skid forward and grabbed the blade that was twice my size, and held it up as I saw a wave of dark energy coming towards me. The darkness flinched back from the blade, knocking me on my back from the impact. I lost my grip on the sword and it skid across the ground towards W.D. He was quick to pick the sword up and defend me from another wave of dark energy. I'd never seen him so confident, and experienced with a sword! But I could tell he was weakening as he gasped for breath after that attack. His tail was sweeping side to side in excitement behind him, so he wasn't going to give up anytime soon it looked like. I hopped to my feet and stood beside him again.
The darkness shouted at us, almost in a rage. I made out the words for 'human' and 'magic' in its angry rant, but had no idea why they were said.
"W.D..." I warned him, getting ready for whatever would come next.
W.D returned the angry tone at it, telling it its dark soul had no power, or something like that, I think? He held the sword up at it, ready to strike at a moments notice. The darkness roared at him and sank into the ground, coming up below us almost immediately. We threw ourselves up out of its reach, finding ourselves caught mid-air above it. As we came to the peak of our jump and began to fall, W.D reached a hand out and focused his magic in front of him, I held my hand out next to his and channeled my magic along with him.
"Remember Georgia's special attack?" he said in a stressed tone.
"Let's make it happen bro-!" I focused all my magic into making it appear for us.
The darkness' voice echoed in my head as our magic began to build.
THOU SHALL FALL TO ME MONSTER... THOU SOULS SHALL CORRUPT AND BE MINE...!
We'll see about that...!
HATE.
We both focused on the special attack in our minds, focusing our magic on memories to form it. I recalled when Grandma Georgia showed it too us as baby bones, telling us to never use it. But this I think she'd except as an exception. Our magic surged, and in front of us appeared a large dragon bone skull. We managed to do it-! We summoned one of O'lGrammy's Scarlet Blasters!
PRIDE.
We both fed every ounce of magic we had into it and had it fire down at the dark monster. The blaster fired concentrated magical energy out in a blinding white beam of light, I could barely hear the dark being shrieking over the sound of the blaster as it fired. Its light filled the whole cavern as we let it fire for as long as possible, pouring everything we had into it, when we finally let it go, the skull dissolved into raw magic. I couldn't make out anything below us due to the light my eyes just took in. Everything was dark.
I knew I was falling though, we were still in the air, kept afloat by magic this whole time I guessed. I felt W.D grab me and pull me to him before we hit the ground. Hard. I didn't have that feeling of dread anymore though… or any feeling really... so I guess we beat that... thing.
"Semi...!" I heard W.D call in a strained voice.
"Did we get it...?" I struggled to say.
"Yes...! Semi...! Don't—" his voice faded as I fell unconscious...
Everything went... black...
Dark….
Darker…..
THE POWER OF A MONSTER'S SOUL WHEN CORRUPTED... I WILL BE HINDERED NO LONGER...! I WILL RETURN TO THIS WORLD-!