Chapter 11
Crossing the Ruins
Exiting the woods took the Fun Gang into a wholly new danger zone. The neighboring region of sand dunes was infested with antlions and the likes. The large lions had antennas and traveled in packs, pushed forward by a queen. These lions had a bunch of males serving one female. Susie decided it was best not to think about it too much.
The best way to pacify the beasts was for Kris to wriggle like a worm and grab the creatures' attention. As the antlions were distracted, Susie would tickle and scratch them behind the ears. They go limp and start purring. Ralsei would round everything off by sparing them or pacifying, if he could build up enough TP. Thanks to all the healing fruits they had gathered, they were able to survive the track through the beach sands.
"Hey, looks like we're coming up on the ruins," Ralsei pointed out after their fifth battle. "Slowly but surely."
"About damn time. The map still says that Snowy and Monster Kid are there, right?"
Kris checked the map and nodded.
"We'll want to be careful," Ralsei cautioned. "With this curse in place, I have no idea how we'll fare against the enemies there."
Susie rolled her shoulders. "Don't be a furry worrywart, Ralsei. We've been doing a great job so far! It might be taking us a little longer than expected, but none of us have gotten taken down yet!"
"A little while longer than expected. Hmm," Ralsei said, smirking. Susie blushed, wondering for the first time if Ralsei might have caught her and Kris behind the tree after all.
Changing the subject, Susie asked, "What do you think's been happening to those two? I mean, Snowy is a bard, so he should have charisma for days here, enough to keep him out of trouble."
"Or get him into plenty of trouble," Ralsei said, recalling old adventures.
"But Monster Kid is a ranger. That's got to count for something in a tight spot," Susie grumbled. She also remembered back to previous adventures and recalled the difficulties Monster Kid had with the Dark World. Sure, everyone had grown up a lot and worked together to beat the Knight, but it had been a while since then.
Kris was sure they were both doing fine. It was hard to think of any place worse than the prison Catti ended up in or the castle where Temmie was incarcerated.
"You have a point," Susie conceded. "And really, there's no reason for us to stand around here and second guess what might or might not happen."
"Uh, Susie, we're walking and second guessing," Ralsei pointed out.
"Shut up! You know what I mean!"
The state they found Monster Kid and Snowy in was, however, not anything they were expecting.
The ruins soon opened to them as a sand dune to their right had been excavated and largely cleared away to reveal a road that cut in the ruin's direction. They carefully turned, readying themselves for anything to happen. No enemies pounced. They cautiously entered the ruins, walking within what must have been dried moats. The various sandcastles were all close together, holes blasted between the moats so as to connect all the structures.
Uncovering and researching all these sites were exact replica of the same Professor Gerson knockoff they had met in the Crimson Deep Keep. Even more unnerving was that they were working alongside Relics. A small army of dusty, breaking toys and automatons working hard to clear the sands and excavate the castles. Strange and glittering treasures were being piled and catalogued.
"This wasn't what I was expecting," Susie said in shaky tone. "What are they all doing here?"
"Researching abandoned sandcastles," Ralsei answered.
"Okay, that was a bad question. I should ask why. Why are they doing this? And why are the Relics not going berserk and asking people to kill them?"
"They have something they're after," Ralsei said. "I'm pretty sure you don't just pile all the ancient stuff you find. What if it breaks?"
"You dop pile treasure, though," Susie remarked.
"True. I guess this could be their treasures."
Kris on the other hand was wondering why there were so many Gerson Boom clones running around. The old monster turtle had been Hometown's resident historian, storyteller, and teacher for many, many years. He had become somewhat famous with his famous fantasy series. Kris recalled the last unpleasant time they had to deal with one of Gerson's old, fanatical fans.
Why did so many secrets lead back to the Boom family? Kris had thought they had already resolved everything a long time ago with Father Alvin and the Booms. Unfortunately, an aspect of this Dark World begged to differ.
Kris motioned for them to move forward. They needed to find answers, but more importantly, they needed to find their missing friends. Checking the map, it was clear that they were now in the right area, but the magical parchment didn't exactly pinpoint anyone's location. Monster Kid and Snowy could stuck trapped in a sandcastle. And there were so many of them lying around, ruined.
And that was when they found Monster Kid and Snowy, in a place and doing tings they had not expected: helping a small group of Gersons and Relics uncover a gigantic robot buried underneath a crumbling castle.
"Hey! 'Sup Kris, Sooz, Ralz? It's good to see you guys!" Monster Kid called out to them. "Sorry we didn't come looking for you guys sooner! We got caught up in all the adventuring around here and finding cool treasures! And then we hit the jackpot! Look at this guy!"
"We found the old big kid on the block," Snowy said smugly. "If we can get him up and running again, we'll be the new big kids on the block! Ha! Might come in handy for us to get out of this Dark World."
"We're already working on that!" Susie said annoyed. "We've been gathering everyone in order to storm The Dude's castle, save Temmie, and get out of here!"
"Why is it that the main characters always have all the fun?" Snowy groused.
"I thought we were having a lot of fun," Monster Kid protested.
"Digging is cool and all, but not cold enough to beat this heat! Ha!" Snowy complained. "Besides, our work buddies aren't much for good conversation."
He thumbed over his shoulder to the collection of Gersons inspecting the robot and muttering to themselves. The turtle monsters were absorbed with their work, checking out every inch of the exposed robot. Kris considered the robot and realized it could be a gigantic mech suit, similar to what they had to fight against Queen. Only, this looked far more streamlined and official. It reminded them of a toy Asriel had once been interested in. Something from a long-terminated franchise.
"That's fascinating and all, but we have a bad guy's butt to kick, and we need you guys to come with us. Let's get marching!" Susie barked. "We have to get Jockington and remove the curse we got placed on us. Then we can go and make sure we can all go home."
"Wait, you've been cursed?" Monster Kid yelped.
"You don't look any different from before. Which is a bit of a shame. Ha! No wait, that was just a joke, Susie!"
Ralsei gave Snowy's remark a sympathetic chuckle before quickly explaining everything to their friends. A few of the knockoff Gersons took notice and began waddling over. Kris wasn't sure how to feel about them just yet.
"Very curious," one muttered.
"More Lightners!"
"And a Dark Prince too."
"They have a curse put on them."
"How fascinating. It drains TP."
"We know already!" Susie said, annoyed. "Look, we're here to get our friends and then go back home. Come on, you guys!"
"But wait!" one Gerson called, waving them over. "Before you go, there's something we want to share with you! Since one of you Lightners is a human, we might be able to make sense of what we have found! Please, it would help our research so much."
"Awww, if we could help them, we probably should," Raslsei said. "The more friends and allies we have, the easier it will be take on The Dude. Just like in all our other adventures!"
"You have a point," Susie admitted. "What do you think, Kris?"
Kris shrugged and said it couldn't hurt. Besides, Jockington was in a sportsy area of the Dark World. He was probably having a ball, both metaphorically and physically. They led the way, following the waving Gerson. They did ask, though, who all these clones were.
"That's a mystery to us," the scientist and historian replied. "We all woke up here, abandoned in the middle of the desert and surrounded by all these vacant and lightly submerged castles. To find some cool shade and hopefully some water, we began digging and started excavating all of this. And what we found was utterly fascinating!"
The Gersons crowded the friends and led them into a castle a little ways off. They entered the yawning gates and stepped into the cool, salty dark within. The relics followed and began lighting torches.
"As we opened up these ancient castles, we discovered these entities lying in the dirt, collecting dust and cobwebs. Where the cobwebs came from when there was no room or food for spiders is beyond us. Another mystery!"
"Because you need spiders for a good ancient mystery!" Ralsei said.
"But he does have a point," Susie pointed out to him. "Why do all the adventuring movies have tons of spiderwebs in in places with no spiders?"
The Gersons continued explaining their findings, ignoring their own inquiry. "When we started moving these relics out of the way, they came to life! At first, they were hostile to us, attacking a number of our party. But when we told them that we only wanted to find some shade and water, they offered us truth. They invited us in."
"Really?" Susie asked in full disbelief. "These guys have tried to murder us!"
"Probably because you didn't speak the truth to them?"
Kris considered that that might be the case, but whenever they ACTed they could only find that these things wanted to fight. A chill crept up their spine. Something was off, but they couldn't figure out what or why. These Relics had only ever acted in a self-destructive way, relentlessly pursuing death. What made these Relics any different?
"They led us further in and revealed to us the mural!" one Gerson said excitedly. "We've discovered many others throughout the castles, but we haven't been able to interpret them. All we can readily figure out is that humans are interacting with the Relics. Perhaps, being a human yourself, you can enlighten us."
Kris stepped back and took in the large mural splayed out before them. It was scrawled in chalk and crayon. Lumpy versions of humans played with their toys in the forest, in the school yard, at the beach, etc. However, upon closer inspection, Kris noticed that the misshapen humans were all very similar to each other. Monster might mistakenly think that all humans looked alike, but the reality couldn't be further from the truth.
It seemed as though the artist was trying to capture the same human over and over again. A buff figure with a stylish haircut and overly large arms. Kris tapped their lips thinking. There was something oddly familiar about the character.
Turning their attention to the toys, Kris easily spotted the similarities between the drawings and the Relics. They were one and the same. This mural told the history of the Relics. Kris walked along the entire wall trying to figure out what history might be depicted here. It just seemed like a lot of play time. They asked about the other murals.
Traveling from castle to castle, even though it ate up a lot of time, causing Susie to complain, Kris slowly pieced the long, sad history together. The Relics were forgotten toys, lovingly played with by a singular human. However, over time they were forgotten, lost or purposefully left behind, as the humans discovered something else:
An open book full of endless possibilities.
"It's a sad story," Ralsei agreed once Kris filled them all in. "But that's just a part of growing up. Your favorite toy tomorrow might be lost, broken, or replaced by something else next year. You can do your best to show love and respect to everything you have. The Relics might have not been given any of that, which might be why they're so fatalistic!"
"Isn't that a bit of a leap?" Monster Kid asked. "I mean, it fits, but what if they've just lost their minds after not being played with for so long?"
"Either way, they still give me the creeps," Susie grunted. Monster Kid hadn't yet fought these guys. It was a little disturbing when you were trying your best to be a good hero! "But does any of this help us fight The Dude? No! I say we collect you guys and get going! Kris has given the professors here what they wanted!"
"Oh yes! This will help us out greatly," one Gerson said, bobbing his old head.
"We must next seek who built these palaces! Maybe that will help us give the Relics a greater purpose!"
"Or we can play with them?"
"Why not both?"
"Both?"
"Both is good," the archeologists all chanted together.
"Okay… That was weird," Susie said stiffly, a beat of sweat running down the side of her face.
Kris motioned for everyone to leave, but just as they were going, the mass of monsters, Relics, and one human were greeted by two excited Gersons. "We've figured it out!" they proclaimed happily. "Come! We know how to work the machine!"