The first thing that welcomed Frisk was a scent. This scent was sweet as honey, but foul as death. After that came the sunset, that fell onto their sleeping form as if a beam of light from the heavens. Then they saw white, black, gold, and green. At last, Frisk was awake.
Frisk sat up and found themselves on a bed of yellow flowers. Surrounding them were ancient pitch black walls, and an earthy floor covered in a layer of dust. Columns held up the lack of ceiling, aged with vines and cracks. Off to the side, there was a small hallway, hiding in the darkness. Curious as to where the hall would lead, they stood up, dusted themselves off, picked up their stick, and journeyed down until they reached a doorway. Above it, a strange symbol, reminiscent of an angel, was engraved.
Through the mysterious doorway they walked, and they came upon another room. This room was also dark, but it had a single ray of light casting down on a single flower. This flower looked no different from all the others, except it had a white face with black beady eyes and a friendly smile. It began to speak with a childish voice and a southern drawl.
"*Howdy!" it said, lively and cheerful as could be. "*I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" Frisk only gave a confused look in response. They had never seen a talking flower before, and hearing him speak reminded them of those boring baby shows. Flowey cocked his head to the left slightly. "*Hmmm… You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?" Frisk confirmed this by nodding their head. "*Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready?" Another nod of the head. "*Here we go!"
All of a sudden, the most incredible thing happened. A red floating heart popped out of thin air and into reality, remaining where it spawned a foot or two away from Frisk. Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump, it said. Every double beat pulsed through the air, and stirred something inside of them. Flowey's only response was a blank smile out of pure amusement.
"*See that heart? That is your Soul, the very culmination of your being!" Frisk stared in awe at their Soul. They almost thought about touching it, but decided against it. "*Your Soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV." Unsure, Frisk asked what LV stood for. "*Why, LOVE, of course!" That sort of made sense. "*You want some LOVE, don't you?" Frisk shrugged as a reply. Flowey was beginning to sound more and more like a baby show character, but they only had 1 LV. Who knew what lied down here in the Underground? They reasoned it was better to be safe than sorry. "*Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Winking at no one in particular, Flowey summoned an arch of white spinning dots.
"*Down here, LOVE is shared through… Little white… 'friendliness pellets.'" Frisk was no expert at knowing if someone was lying, but something didn't feel right from the way Flowey said "friendliness pellets". They decided to dismiss it though; perhaps he just forgot what they were called for a brief moment. "*Are you ready?" Once again, the human nodded their head. The friendliness pellets flew toward Frisk as dandelion seeds in a summer breeze. "*Move around! Get as many as you can!"
Excitement began to grow inside the little human. This idea of catching the friendliness pellets actually sounded like fun! Maybe being down in the Underground wouldn't be as dangerous as they thought. Waiting for the right moment, Frisk crouched down like a frog, and then jumped!
They quickly fell to the ground once again, this time near the point of death.
"*You idiot," he said, his voice now tainted with insanity. Flowey's welcoming smile twisted itself into a menacing grin. His eyes became filled with hatred, madness, and murder. Frisk's blood ran cold. "In this world, it's kill or BE killed. Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?!" Friendliness pellets spawned around Frisk, not allowing them to escape their deadly hits. Then, Flowey's face changed again; this time, it deformed into a face with soulless eyes and a fanged mouth. "*Die." Maddening laughter filled Frisk's ears as the friendliness pellets quickly tightened their lethal circle around them. They watched everything unfold petrified, waiting for the moment that all would be silenced forever.
But the moment never came. Instead, Frisk's health was completely restored, and the friendliness pellets mysteriously vanished. Flowey's smile fell and laugher ceased. He seemed to be just as confused as Frisk. Then, a flaming projectile struck Flowey, causing him to fly across the room and become swallowed by the darkness.
From the unknown came a creature that reminded Frisk of a white goat of sorts. Her twinkling eyes appeared to be red in color, just like theirs. A purple robe draped over her, with long white sleeves, and with the same symbol surrounded in blue. The hands and feet were no more than apposable paws. The goat-like being wore a distressed look on her face, looking at the place where the mean flower was last physically seen.
"*What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…" she spoke to herself, the voice gentle and ancient sounding. She then turned her attention to Frisk, who was still shaken up from what just transpired, and was weary in trusting her.
"*Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel: caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." Frisk processed what Toriel had said. There were others? Maybe… Their faith now laid in the hands of Toriel. The moment they felt safe in her presence, their Soul disappeared in thin air. "*This way." And with that, Toriel walked through another doorway, with the child close behind.
Out of the darkness they ventured out, and before them stood a grand wall. It was dressed in violet-stained stone, and adorned with ivy. A face was carved in the stone, using two windows, an entryway, and a sign, written in a language that has now been lost in time. A gray stairway that split at the bottom lead to the architecture, and surrounding it were piles of red leaves. All the while, the presence of a shadow loomed over Frisk with an ancient power.
...
The sky had never looked so blue before. And there were so many! They didn't need to count to know that there were more than one hundred. Daddy was there with them, holding their hand. Smoke escaped his lips every time he breathed. He too was mesmerized.
"They're so pretty..." they whispered, not wanting the silence to leave.
"And old," Daddy added. "They say those stars are over millions of years old. Possibly billions." They didn't know how many a million or a billion was, but sounded like a bigger number than one hundred.
Jack Frost continued to sprint through the snow, freezing their faces in the process.
...
They were filled with DETERMINATION.
Frisk followed Toriel up the staircase and through the Ruins' entrance. What met them was a room with six big stone buttons to the right. The other side had a purple door with the symbol covered in black. Toriel stood sort of in the middle of the room, hands clasped in front of her. A warm smile adorned her fuzzy face.
"*Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS." Toriel then proceeded to walk on top of the buttons in a specific pattern, and flipped a switch on the wall, causing the door to open. "*The Ruins are full of puzzles: ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."
As Toriel continued to the next room, Frisk decided to explore the room a little bit. Who knew what secrets laid unseen by living eyes? Much to their disappointment, there wasn't anything of interest. Before they left to follow Toriel, they caught sight of a sign they failed to see next to the door. They decided to read it to see what it said:
Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road.
Frisk cocked their head to the side. What did it mean? There were no cars down here to their knowledge. But the part about being fearless struck a chord in them. They were brave, were they? After all, they made it this far. Surely they would be able to make it past. Shoulders broad, and breath deep, they stepped into the next room without any form of resistance. Frisk internally gave a sigh of relief.
The next room was bigger in width, with two streams rushing through, and bridges stretching their backs across. Toriel stood close by, waiting ever so patiently. Her smile never wavered.
"*To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches." That didn't sound too hard of a task. Frisk began to scan the room for any switches. Before they could begin searching however, Toriel added one more piece of information. "*Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip." With that little piece of information, Frisk began to hunt for labelled switches. They found the first one beyond the closest bridge. There were big yellow arrows drawn on the wall, pointing right at it. There was also writing that read the following:
Please press this switch. – TORIEL
The second switch was very similar, only the text was different.
Please press this switch too. – TORIEL
It wasn't a huge difference, but Frisk could spot even the tiniest of changes.
Once the two switches were pressed, the spikes that blocked the entryway to the next room disappeared. Toriel's eyes lit up with pride.
"*Splendid! I am proud of you, little one." Frisk's face beamed like the sun. "*Let us move to the next room." With a skip in their step, they followed Toriel to their new mini mission. This was actually quite fun!
But what the next room had in store was not what they were expecting. This room was quite bare, with only a poorly made mannequin shaped in a way they did not recognize. It only had one button eye to its name, and it seemed it could fall over any moment. It reminded Frisk of a well-loved stuffed animal. But what was it here for? Fortunately, Toriel was there to explain. However, her smile was replaced with concern.
"*As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. 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."
But Frisk didn't want to fight. And they certainly didn't want Toriel to fight for them either. Fighting caused bad things to happen. But could it really be true? Was this world's philosophy "kill or be killed", just like Flowey said?
…No. They wouldn't do it. There was another way. There's always another way. Frisk approached the dummy, summoning their soul. Fight, Act, Item, Mercy, it spoke. Fight, Act, Item, Mercy. Act, Item, Mercy. Act, Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Spare. Frisk spared the dummy.
Nothing. Nothing happened. Just like they wanted. They continued to spare the dummy until, out of nowhere, the dummy levitated away. It grew tired of Frisk aimless shenanigans. All the while, Toriel could do nothing but stand there bewildered, not fully understanding what was going on. Eventually, she spoke up.
*"The next room awaits."
They didn't mind if she thought what they did was unusual; it was the right thing to do. And to them, that was more important than winning a battle.
"*There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it." Frisk examined the room from ceiling to floor. There were no objects to be seen, but the floor's design was rather odd. Perhaps it was a clue to the solution. After looking very closely at every corner of the design, Frisk followed Toriel down a narrow hallway to the other half of the room.
Ribbit ribbit! A frog jumped in front of Frisk, summoning their soul. But this was no ordinary frog. This frog was white, with black triangular patterns and smelled of mustard seed. Why, it wasn't a frog at all; this was a Froggit! It seemed to be leading a difficult life…
Perhaps a compliment would cheer it up a bit. After all, he was a rather good-looking Froggit. Although it gave a puzzled expression, it seemed flattered anyways. But the Froggit didn't stay for very long. Toriel had noticed the confused creature, and began to stare at it with a feeling of death in her glare. Intimidated, the Froggit hopped away. Frisk waved good bye to the being before continuing.
The two then came across a bridge covered in spikes. Simply avoiding it was impossible, for doing so would cause one to fall into the water below. This in indeed a challenging puzzle in Frisk's opinion. While examining the obstacle, they failed to notice the rather worried look on Toriel's face.
"*This is the puzzle, but…" Self-doubt lingered in the air until the silence was broken. "*Here, take my hand for a moment." Soft paws met dirty hands. A warm sensation glowed inside Frisk's chest. They could barely remember the last time they held someone's hand. It felt as if they were somewhat whole. Like subjects bowing to their queen, the spikes hid from sight before Toriel could step on them. Monster and child safely made it across the bridge without a single drop of blood.
"*Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." Frisk didn't argue that they could have solved it if Toriel had only given them a chance. They were too busy soaking in her love. The next room awaited them, and off the two ventured until they reached a room that seemed to stretch for eternity. There, Toriel let go of their hand; her face was solemn and ached. Frisk looked up at her with concern.
"*You have done excellently thus far, my child. However… I have a difficult request to ask of you." The child waited to receive their new mission, even they had a feeling it was going to emotionally hurt them. "*I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this." Those few words lingered in the air as Toriel left Frisk where they stood. To say they were confused would have been an understatement. What was so bad about walking by themselves? They've done countless times before. Besides, they could just follow Toriel to the other side. But as they walked, the mother-figure sped up in her steps, until she just vanished in the blink of an eye.
Panic filled the child as they tried their best to quick their pace. For the longest time, there was someone who loved them as their own. But now they were gone, and Frisk wasn't going to lose them this easily. Their walk soon turned into a sprint, hoping they would reunite with Toriel. But as they reached the end of the room, they found not even a patch of white fur, much to their despair. Just before the tears could begin to form in their eyes, lo and behold came Toriel, smiles and all. Relief came over Frisk.
"*Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me." They wiped their eyes as a grin grew on their face. "*However, there was an important reason for this exercise… to test your independence." Frisk wasn't too worried about taking care of themselves, as long as Toriel would return to them. They've been alone longer than that. But it wouldn't be long before disappointment would settle in again.
"*I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." Seeing the child's deflated form, Toriel gave a thoughtful look before thinking of a solution to fix the problem at hand. "*I have an idea. I will give you a cell phone." She reached into her pockets and pulled out a rectangle device with an antenna, yellow screen, and buttons with numbers from one to nine. Toriel handed it to Frisk, who held it carefully and with curiosity. They never had a cell phone before. "*If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?" They nodded their head in response, and Toriel went off to run her errands.
