She was in the middle of riding her horse when she heard it.
A loud breaking sound as if someone just broke a large mirror right in front of a powerful microphone.
Stopping the stallion which has been galloping through the planes, Y/n looked around and listened intently. Nothing. Just the quiet swaying of grass and the gentle rustle of leaves.
No, that couldn't be right. She definitely heard something.
The young Archmage looked around again. Somewhere deep in her SOUL, however, she already knew the answer.
"No...no, nononono- No. I'm just going insane. Even that's more plausible than-" It couldn't be. It just couldn't.
Y/n looked at Mount Ebott, which was standing just beyond the forest. Somehow, however, it felt like the strange sound came from somewhere else. That's good, right? Y/n's eyes drifted to a smaller mountain standing right across the forest.
If it wasn't Mt. Ebott, then maybe it was nothing major...She should still investigate.
As the raven-black stallion navigated through the forest, a million thoughts ran through her mind.
She read the legend. It was so long ago, nothing that could be considered evidence remained in the Guild's castle or anywhere else. Even if it was true, her teachers once told her, most likely Mt. Ebott was a mass grave, a crypt, the final resting place for the mythical beasts. Was there even a barrier? The place where it should have been was lost to time and was probably covered by a landslide or something anyway, right? Should she call for help? Her phone was in the pocket of her jacket, she could- No. She should make sure first. If she made a fool of herself it would do no good to her what if, what if there were actually...
"Monsters..." was her one and only thought as her horse stopped at the foot of the mountain and she saw the inhuman figures standing high above, on the edge of one of the mountain's protrusions, a huge gaping hole behind them.
She felt like her heart dropped into her stomach. She felt lightheaded yet painfully aware. This was...Oh stars, this was a disaster in the making! Soon the army will come and she'll be the one leading her mages into battle and there'll be a war. Will there be a war?
As she came out of her panicked thoughts, she realized that she'd lead her horse up the mountain and in mere moments she'll reach the place where she saw the monsters.
"At least, if the legends are true, I can take them on, they say monster souls are weaker than-"
That was her last thought before her stallion took a turn and she was met with 7 pairs of eyes staring at her in shock.
There was a nervewreaking silence.
She took the seconds to eye each creature warily, her mind working in overdrive due to adrenalin. There was The King - undoubtedly, he wore a crown and royal armor and was the largest monster in the group. Y/n couldn't help but think that he looked like the Monster king described in the legend - could this one be his descendant? Then there was a fish...monster...woman? She was also quite tall, not as huge as the monstrous goat-type king, but easily a good 2 meters and she had an eyepatch covering her left eye. Behind her, a smaller yellow dinosaur-lizard monster in a labcoat raised her hands to her mouth in shock. There were also two skeletons - though with somewhat inhuman skull proportions - one was about her height and had a terrifying stare, one eye socket being pitch black and the other bearing a magical eye that burned cyan, the other was almost as tall as the fish-monster and bore very unusual clothing as well as a shocked expression on his face...skull. Lastly, there was a goat-like monster, similar to the royal one, but it's features were softer, Y/n was sure it was female. When the young Archmage's eyes landed on the small figure the monster was holding by the hand, time seemed to unfreeze for her as she called out:
"A human?...Where did-"
"OH MY GOD IS THAT A HORSE-"
"papyrus wait-!"
"SANS THAT IS A HORSE!"
The skeleton ran forward, arms outstretched and Y/n could only hold on as her stallion reared up, standing on his hind legs, raising a cloud of dust with a loud stomping sound.
"WOWIE IT IS MAGNIFICENT!"
The taller skeleton didn't seem scared by the horse's thrashing but still stopped running and stood still, maybe acknowledging that he spooked the equine. As Y/n expertly calmed the stallion down and he stood on all four hooves again, she spoke absentmindedly, the stress of seing monsters and calming the huge stallion down scrambling her thoughts a bit:
"If you like the horse, you may pet him. Just make it slow-"
"OH WOWIE-"
"...and speak softer."
"OH. Oh. Right."
As the skeleton approached, the situation dawned on her again and she looked over the group of monsters again. They seemed as on edge as she was, but somehow her absentminded agreement to let the skeleton pet the horse seemed to put them at ease a little.
They all, Y/n included, watched in silence as the monster cautiously neared the stallion.
"T-That's it, good horsie...Wowie, Sans, look, a real horse, just like in my book..."
Out of the corner of her eye Y/n could see that the smaller skeleton's eye no longer glowed cyan, a white speck of light appearing in each eyesocket. And...was he sweating a bit?
"sure bro, just be careful," she heard him speak, a voice much deeper than the first one's.
As the skeleton was close enough, he reached out with his mitten-wearing hand and Y/n could hear herself muttering softly:
"Slowly...you can start at the mane or neck."
This was unreal, she thought as the skeleton began petting her stallion, battling with himself not to scream from excitement. "A skeleton. A skeleton in petting my horse. Monsters are real. They're here. One is petting my horse."
"Wowie...this is amazing. What's the horsies name?" the skeleton looked up at her and she stared into those eyeless eyesockets for a moment before forcing herself to remain calm and unfazed. The creature did not seem to harbor any ill intent as far as she could feel from his magic. The stallion seemingly thought so as well as he let the monster pet him.
"Obsidian," she replied, petting the stallion's mane, "Sid for short."
As the skeleton was petting and murmuring praises to the stallion, completely ignoring the delicate situation of the first surface monster-human contact in centuries, Y/n looked at the other monsters again. By now, it seemed that everyone has calmed down quite a bit. This seemed the best time to try talking again. Y/n cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry for startling you all. My name is F/n L/n."
"H-howdy, Miss L/n," the huge goat-creature spoke, his golden mane catching the setting sun's light and his deep, soft voice making it hard for Y/n to believe that he meant her harm...at least for now."My name is Asgore. This is Alphys, Undyne, Sans, Toriel, Frisk and Papyrus. We, ugh, don't mean any harm. The barrier just broke so we are here enjoying the lovely sunset."
Right. RIGHT. Oh shit, they haven't seen the sun in ages, in generations! She was so dim, she told herself. She looked at the sun, it was almost half-gone, hiding behind the horizon.
The monsters did not seem hostile, not now anyway. She should offer a gesture of good will, shouldn't she?
"You should at least be considerate," she thought to herself, half-scolding."It'll also give you time to observe them and think," a more pragmatic thought followed.
"It's your first sunset on the surface, right?" she asked softly, letting her gaze drift over the monsters and the perfectly content human child - she WILL find out about what's the deal with that the first chance she has - and looking back to the king. He nodded.
"Then please, don't let me stop you from enjoying it. Sunsets are a fleeting thing, we can talk after," she spoke again, earning a look of surprise from the monsters.
"Oh, well...thank you, Miss L/n," king Asgore nodded. The fish-monster gave her an "I've got my eye on you" look before resuming to look at the setting sun, taking the dinosaur-like monster's hand in hers. The goat-lady nodded and with a soft "Thank you, child" resumed to marvel at the setting star together with the...boy? Or was it a girl? Asgore called them Frisk. The shorter skeleton, however, did not stay at his spot and walked over to where she and Papyrus were. As far as she could tell the tall skeleton was telling her horse about all the adventures they could have together.
"so, ugh, mind getting off your high horse and greet a new friend, bud?"
Oh shit was her sitting on her horse offensive? She should have thought of that, she just felt more secure when she could look at the huge goat- and fish-monsters straight in the eye and not from her average human height. Were they offended or was Sans the only one who noticed yet?
"SA-Saaans, do you Have to use puns now?"
Oh. Was he joking? Y/n blinked in confusion as she looked at the two skeletons discussing the timeliness of puns. Her teacher would freak out if he knew how she botched the "greeting the monsters" part. Not that they ever had any classes on that.
She decided that she should get off the horse anyway and in a swift move her feet hit the ground, causing the two monsters to stop talking and look at her.
"Wowie...you're not that tall at all," Papyrus said, looking at Y/n, who was now reaching his clavicle at most.
"I guess, " she laughed a bit nervously and petted the stallion's side more in an effort to calm herself than the animal. It was not that she was too short, the skeleton was just tall enough to go pro at basketball.
"so, about that greeting," the smaller skeleton extended a hand and she looked at the bones, the phalanges moving without any muscle needed. Magic. Pure magic.
It was...amazing.
Before getting too excited, she reached out and took the bony hand in hers, shaking it heartily but without too much force.
"sans. sans the skeleton," he declared.
"Y/n," she answered although she already introduced herself earlier.
His fingers, however, did not unclench immediately and he quietly said:
"listen, buddy, we really don't mean any harm, y'know?"
"I...find that more and more likely by the minute," she honestly answered. The skeleton seemed to like the reply and let go of her hand.
"good. good. 'specially Papyrus here, he's a real cool guy, y'now? a real kind soul," he continued and Y/n felt that his words carried more weight that could be thought at first. The young Archmage looked at the taller skeleton, who was entranced in watching the sun set.
"I believe that, Sans. You care about him a great deal," she pointed out. Sans shrugged.
"well sure, he's my brother. the best bro one could have. so I just wanna make sure no harm comes to him," his last words were laced with seriousness that Y/n could understand all too well, having used smiles and laughs to mask her emothions her whole life. There was a spark of understanding between them and she nodded, looking the monster straight in the eyesockets.
"I come in peace, Sans. I would never harm someone as cool as your brother," she smiled, her nonchalant words being betrayed by her serious tone.
"good," the shorter skeleton nodded too and turned to admire the last few moments of the sunset. "because, y'now, nobody wants to have a bad time."
"Nobody wants to have a bad time," she agreed supressing the urge to gulp at how thinly veiled the threat was. Y/n turned to face the disappearing sun, thinking that this skeleton may have the strongest magical aura she had ever felt - and he made sure she felt it.
The sun had set. The last golden rays have died down, the sky was now colored in blues and violets, getting darker by the minute.
Soon, Sans and Papyrus left, Sans saying it was Papyrus' bedtime and the latter protesting that he wanted to go meet humans right now, but already yawning. The one called Undyne was reluctant to leave the king's side, but Asgore insisted she and Alphys get some rest and, shooting Y/n a glare, the captain of the royal guard left, accompanied by the royal scientist. Only Y/n, Asgore, Toriel and Frisk were left, the child seemingly very tired.
"I don't suppose we can postpone your questioning regarding Frisk?" Toriel's voice was somewhat concerned, but content. Y/n saw them talking about something earlier, but did not overhear what about, only that it left the goat-lady very happy. The young woman looked over to Frisk. She was watching them all this time, they didn't seem scared or depressed, they looked perfectly happy. Y/n crouched infront of the child, looking them in the eyes and asked:
"Frisk, are you okay? Did the monsters treat you well?"
"Yep!" the kid enthusiastically nodded and gave her a thumbs up.
"I see," she smiled. "Then, you want to go with Lady Toriel and get some sleep?"
"Yep, I wanna go with mom, have some butterscotch-cinnamon pie and go to sleep," they answered.
Y/n's eyebrows rose as the child called the goat-monster "mom", but if that wasn't a telltale sign that they would be okay for a day at least, then she didn't know what was.
"Okay then, Frisk, we'll talk later," she patted the kid on the shoulder and got a huge grin from them. She rose to her feet and nodded to Toriel. As the two were walking off, Frisk turned around and asked:
"You'll come back, right? I need to bring my other shirt so you can sign it."
"Frisk, my child, why in the world would you want the young miss Y/n to sigh your shirt?" Toriel giggled.
"Because she's the Archmage of course! It'll be kinda cool to have her autograph on my stuff!"
It became dead silent. The two Boss Monsters looked at her wide-eyed and the only thing Y/n could do is keep calm and be glad Undyne wasn't there anymore.
"I figure we need to talk, Your Majesty."
***
Asgore lead her to his throne room and, to be honest, it wasn't like anything you could imagine the King of Monsters would have. It was a garden, a beautiful garden with golden flowers blooming everywhere and with a throne standing in the middle of the room. Asgore seemed hesitant, but asked it she was willing to take this to the study, but judging by the king's willingness to stay near his garden Y/n thought it best to opt for that. Asgore appreciated the gesture.
He put a chair and a small coffee table in front of his throne and offered her some tea. She thought about politely refusing out of caution, but a feeling in her soul told her to accept. So she did. As the king poured the tea from the same pot in both their cups and took a sip himself, she was comfortable enough with tasting the pleasantly smelling drink. It was delicious.
But she wasn't there for the tea.
"So, Your Majesty, " she started, but was cut off by Asgore raising his fur-covered clawed hand and softly speaking:
"Please, Lady Archmage, you may call me Asgore," he smiled and if she was more naive, she wouldn't have noticed that the smile was, although warm, but nervous. Somehow, it pained her to see the majestic king being so uneasy even if she understood that in this situation it was completely normal.
"Then please call me Y/n," she answered with a smile of her own, hoping it would have a calming effect. Somehow she managed to stay relatively calm in this situation, she gathered it was because she couldn't feel any violent intent from the king or the other monsters.
"Very well, Y/n, " the huge monster seemed to calm down a little, his broad shoulders relaxing.
Then they talked. They talked about what monsters were, how Frisk had fallen to the Underground, what the monsters were expecting from living on the surface. It was...overwhelming. It was the middle of the night when Y/n distressed eyes found Asgore's and he worriedly asked her if she was too tired. Huh, souls of love and compassion indeed.
"Asgore...Asgore, listen," she said, her voice thick with worry."You can't go to the surface...Not now." She corrected herself when she saw the shock and pain clearly written across the king's face.
"Not just yet. Asgore, listen to me, please," she let out a sigh, not breaking eye contact, somehow hoping that that way the monster could see she was honest."You know about the War of Humans and Monsters, you know that if humans are scared they band together against the thing that scares them and do absolutely everything to wipe it from existance. Humans have much potential for good things, but we are horrifying when it come to ways we can do harm. Please, Your Majesty- Asgore, you need to give me some time to speak to someone who can help us with this. You need to ready your people, to remind them to be careful, to let them know what to expect."
She stared into the monster's eyes, clearly seeing the moment when her words reached him. It should have been hard to stomach, with freedom in hand's reach.
Asgore gave an exhausted sigh, but at least he was not furious with her. No matter how polite and soft-spoken, he was still a giant compared to her and she would hate to anger him.
"You are very kind, Y/n," she heard him say and snapped out of her thoughts, looking at his face again."I doubt many in your position would be so considerate."
"I..." her voice fell silent. This was, indeed, not what was expected of her. But what was expected of her, exactly? The protocol on such an event was lost and the only rule she had was that in was the Guild's jurisdiction when things came to magic and monsters. So, basically, she had to deal with it. And as to how - it came to her decisions as Archmage.
"I refuse to let this end in a massacre," she stated finally. Asgore nodded.
They've reached a conclusion that Asgore would tell his people to wait two weeks. Going out to where the barrier once was was acceptable, but not further. Y/n would supply the monsters with enough historical and other information to how best to act when they come to the surface. She wouldn't leave out facts as to how cruel people can be to remind them to be always careful. She would give them books with anatomy facts, especially helpful for monster children so they know how not to harm humans. No one besides the group she already met would need to know about Y/n's involvement. The less possibilities for it later being discovered that the Archmage did something like this - the less problems she would have.
When she was about to leave, she noticed that Asgore seemed uneasy. Taking a moment, she thought she knew why.
"You think I'm lying to you," she spoke, her voice soft. The king didn't answer, just looked at the sky that was beginning to brighten as dawn came closer.
"You think I'll run, gather the mages and we'll seal you away again," she continued and could clearly see how the king's hand twitched and his eyes narrowed.
"Asgore," she called and, when the monster turned to her, she could feel her heart breaking for the king who's people were so badly mistreated by her own. She couldn't have the nerve to just tell him to make his people wait that long and hope she honors her word. She almost never gave promises, but if she did she always kept them. But he did not know her, so she couldn't expect him to trust her.
She took a deep breath and brought her hand to her chest.
"You're right, humans aren't trustworthy creatures," she said quietly as she slowly, carefully pulled her soul from her chest. Asgore's eyes widened as he saw the bright glow of the heart-shaped soul and he looked at Y/n unsure what she was going to do as she did not seem willing to fight him.
"That's why," she continued, slowly circling her soul with her finger multiple times, almost touching it, "mages invented a spell. It is known that the only magic there is - well, at least, for us - is soul magic. We can't cast fireballs, but we can use soulprojections and a few spells that affect things that have a soul. Ourselves included."
There was a thin white magic string appearing in places where her finger hovered over her soul until, finally, it wrapped around it completely.
"So, you see, this is a Vow Spell, " her voice wavered, she only used this spell once in her life and that was in context of studying it. "If I break my word, you get to pull the string."
She stepped toward the shocked monster, extending her hand with the string lying in her palm, shimmering as if it was a spiderweb.
"You get to shatter my soul, Asgore," she spoke, her voice quiet but determined. The monster king, however, looked terrified.
"N-no, no! I will not," he sighed, almost howled painfully and it was almost as if the color has been drained from his golden mane and amber eyes. "I shall not. It is a horrific spell, Y/n, I shall not use it."
Y/n smiled sadly.
"I want you to trust me, Asgore. This is the only guarantee I can give you."
It was painful to watch the huge goat-monster, he seemed to be falling apart, looking at the white string in her hand.
"I-I don't need this to trust you, Y/n," he said, finally. "Your readiness to go this far and, most of all, the vibrant color of your soul are enough."
She stared at the king, surprised, but letting go of her concentration, making the thread disappear and letting her soul back into her body.
"Yes, that's better, my child..." the king spoke softly and Y/n could see tears in his eyes. Before she could think she was already hugging the monster, his arms embracing her as well. She could feel his muzzle in her hair, but she didn't mind at all, letting the king go only when his breathing evened out. She assured the king that she would be back tomorrow first thing in the morning, bringing the promised books and videos and ready to discuss their plan in more detail.
Next morning she was there with the first morning rays, bringing two mages along with her. Asgore was waiting.
***
It was four days after her fist encounter with monsters and Y/n was visiting the Underground again.
She wasn't there for the last two days as she had loads to do on her end, especially since she didn't bring anyone into this except her Second in Command - an older mage by the name of Wolfgang Graustein - and his husband, Arkady. Both mages were shocked as expected, but fortunately trusted her enough to give monsters a chance. After the first meeting with Asgore, Toriel and the others who were already involved, the two men agreed that steps had to be taken to make the reunion of the two races as peaceful as possible. The mages even found a minute for making friends, Arkady participating in a friendly battle with Undyne while Wolfgang somehow mostly coaxed Alphys out of her anxious state and spent a while discussing the mix of science and magic.
After that Y/n was slammed with things to do and she could only hope that the preparations were going well on Asgore's side as well. Now sitting in his study, drinking golden flower tea, she listened to Asgore and was glad they were. The monsters, while at first disappointed by the delay, quickly saw reason and were now eagerly studying the do's and dont's, the cultural norms and even some basic legal laws. In fact, Y/n spent the night compiling some PowerPoint presentations on human history which she gave to Alphus as soon as she arrived in hopes that it would help. Thank the maker monsters had computers. Old ones, mostly, but still. Alphys was a remarkable engineer to salvage and bring to life so much technology even if she did use magic to help herself out. Asgore, it seems, did not get much sleep too. It was understandable, he was a king who was about to lead his people into a whole new way of life, he was under a lot of stress. But still he was always kind and Y/n admired that.
"So, Asgore," she said as she put her empty cup on the matching cup plate."You really want to hear the history of the Mages Guild? I didn't think you would have much interest as you don't have any reason to like us."
She stated that plainly, refusing to hide under pretty words or avoid the subject. The mages took part in the War and created the Barrier, monsters had every reason to hate them.
"I have you," Asgore said with a tired smile."And Wolfgang, and Arkady. So far, I have a reason to give the Guild a chance."
"You're too kind," she said with a half-smile, but in her tone he could hear she was thankful.
"Well," she started, but then fell silent. Asgore, as she learned on their first meeting, was Old - he was a Boss Monster, he was born on the surface, was the same king who fought in the war and, in the end, made the choice to retreat to Mt. Ebott to save the rest of his people. Since then, all these years he lived in the Underground, as they called it.
Y/n got a lump in her throat everytime she thought of that.
"Huh, I think someday you'll maybe tell me a few things I don't know about the early years of the Guild, hah, as we humans tend to forget our own history fairly easily..." her voice faltered and she looked at the concerned monster's face before looking at her hands.
"I'm so sorry, Asgore."
It was the only thing she could think of recently - what Asgore has been through, how the monsters have lived, what humans did to them all those centuries ago. The more she thought about it, the more horrifying it became.
"Y/n, you already apologized," she heard the soothing voice of the king, but only shook her head.
"No amount of apologies would ever be enough, Asgore," she sighed heavily. "History showed that with monsters or without - it's humans who are the bloodthirsty beasts. We always find who to turn against. It's our nature."
Asgore seemed like he wanted to protest, but she shook her head again.
"I know there are people, good people, people like Frisk. Like my parents, like Herr Graustein, like his husband and many more. I want to believe that in the years that you were here we as a species became at least a bit better. I think we did. I only hope that will be enough to make this all go over well."
"Not a big believer in people, I see," Asgore's smooth voice was filled with understanding.
"I believe in those I know. I want to believe in those i don't. But, as my father always said 'Hope for the best, be ready for the worst'."
"You're the Archmage, Y/n, won't the people listen to you?" Asgore tilted his head to the side, a thoughtful expression on his face. The young Archmage chuckled grimly, a hollow, joyless sound.
"Maybe now. Good thing it's not what, a couple hundred years ago?"
The king stared at her in confusion as she took a deep breath, concluding it was finally time for the brief overview of history she promised him.
"Long, long ago, if legends are to be believed then it would be right after the Human/Monster War ended, right near Mt. Ebott a castle was build with stone and magic to serve as a home for those mages who were supposed to be the first line of defence if the Barrier ever broke," Asgore poured them both some more tea and Y/n nodded in thanks before continuing. "Decades went by, some started to wonder if it was necessary to guard the Barrier at all and if their gifted brethren were the new danger. It was unnerving, humans who used magic as if they were monsters, who understood the subtle workings of a thing so intangible, so abstract as a soul."
That caught Asgore's attention, he furrowed his brow a little, no doubt sensing where the story was heading. Y/n just looked at him with a small frown and continued:
"Years passed, and in a couple generations the war was but a distant echo in the minds of people, the monsters - no more than legends, the last free one destroyed not long after the Barrier was put in place. In time, the ruling class and the simple folk alike turned on those whose powers were "otherworldly", "blasphemous", "satanic" and a new bloody page was written in the history of mankind - shamans gunned down, wizards thrown into rivers with boulders attached to them, witches burned at the stake."
Y/n paused, giving the king time to process that. Sad e/c eyes met shocked amber ones as the king stared at her in disbelief.
"No..It could not be. Mages were revered. They were beings who could be more in-tune with their souls than most others, people came to them for help-" the monster stopped himself and cast his eyes downward, the cruelty of mankind dawning on him. Y/n sighed.
"The mages should have seen it coming. In a way, maybe it was karma catching up to them for having a hand in the war against creatures who, from the very beginning, meant humanity no harm," she chuckled, again, the sound bore no joy in it, only sadness and some irony. When Asgore looked up at her again, she continued:
"Those who were lucky to escape, to hide, to blend in would teach their children that there was no magic and, if the signs were too obvious to ignore, would teach how to suppress the "strange" and "dangerous" abilities."
She saw by his expression that what she was saying was blasphemy to the king. Monsters were made of magic, teaching a child to repress and hide their magic was telling them to repress themselves.
"It was either that, or to die and bring your entire family down with you," she pointed out and the king nodded, it was clear that he understood, however it still made him sorrowful.
"For a long time, there were "no wizards" in the land. And then war came. A hellish thing, a messy, bloody festival of death, of poisonous dust falling from the sky. That was when, even while knowing what could happen to them, some people came forth with their gifts - healing soldiers, shielding fellow men, displaying feats no simple human could do. It was somewhat clumsy, people gingerly trying to recreate how their grandmothers or grandfathers used to do it "that one time" sometime in their life. Humans, as you know, are not as attuned to their souls as monsters, we are only capable of magic that is tied to the soul directly. So it was more than often when as a mage's green shoul-shield was broken, the next bullet or two were the ones that shattered their soul or caused a fatal wound to the body.
That was when the higher ups noticed, when old records were pulled, when the descendants of the proud wizards of old were deemed a very useful strategical advantage. There weren't many, the Dark ages was the time when the majority were hunted down and killed, after all. By the end of what was later called World War I, there was even less."
She took her cup into her hands and took a sip while at the same time looking at the monster king with worry. He was, with all of his strength, moral and physical, a very kind soul. The loss of innocent life seemed to be a trigger for him and Y/n tried to gauge when to pause her narrative to give him a moment to breathe. Asgore seemed terrified by what he had heard - sure he caught snippets of information from what books and movies fell through the waterfall, but never would he ever think of something like this. Y/n took a deep breath and continued.
"Then came World War II."
Asgore visibly shuddered. The young Archmage reached out and put her small hand on his massive paw-like one. They just sat there for awhile before the king looked at her and nodded.
"By the time it was over, the number of the world's magic-wielding humans was somewhere around fifty. By then, however, the knowledge of mages and their abilities was widespread and for their efforts in the war the government recognized them as a special, useful people. The status of mages was restored after World War I, the remaining historical landmarks tied to mages given to them to use as they saw fit. Not that there was much left, the dark ages, the war and time itself having done it's damage. After WWII, mages were given priviledges if they chose to be useful to the government. Not long after, however, the Guild of Mages was reformed and their duties returned to being somewhat what they have been in the times of old - aiding humanity through use of magic. Though, it's mostly research on our part.
As the castle near Mt. Ebott - while in an awful state of disrepair - was still standing, the government recommended that the Guilds Headquarters should be there. The Guild's Archmage was not against the idea, as the castle had a very important enchanted maze under it and the area around it was known to be a very bountiful place for magic-users. 70 years have passed since then. The castle was restored to it's former glory and became a place more for research and study than for anything else. A part of the castle is used as an academy for gifted children, where they are taught how to control their magic. As mages are incredibly rare, people come from different parts of the world and - excluding some classes - are usually taught individually, the number of students in the castle never in all these years being higher than...well..nine. So, that's where we are now."
Y/n looked at Asgore, waiting for his reply, for his judgment on the human race. Would he say the mages deserved it? Would he say that humans were awful, disgusting creatures?
The king closed his eyes in sorrow and took her hand in his more firmly.
"I see now why you were so worried about us leaving the Undergroung too soon," he finally spoke. She only nodded. "Those files you brought to Alphys, they were on human history, correct?"
"Yes," she sighed.
"Good," he nodded. "We were here long enough to become somewhat naive to the workings of the world. We are fortunate to have you, Frisk and your advisor to help us."
Y/n let out a heavy sigh she has been holding for a while.
"Y/n?"
"I was worried you'd be disgusted by humans altogether, me included," she honestly replied, the look of confusion on Asgore's face making her smile, a shy little smile the king had never seen before.
"I would never...I couldn't have asked for a better Archmage to discuss the future of monsters and humans with. Or to call my friend."
Looking at the huge goat-like monster and his gentle smile, Y/n swore it was impossible not to want to hug what the heck. She hugged him as tightly as she would her own father. He gladly hugged her back.
These monsters were just too good for this world, really.