Chapter 11

The House of Forgotten Gifts

The Angel's Tree was looking absolutely gorgeous. The decoration Darkners were putting up their own decorations all over the place! Everywhere Kris and Susie looked, the pine branches were positively smothered in Christmas cheer. The snow was falling even thicker now, adding a glistening blanket to many of the boughs and their set ups. Some unlucky Darkners were shoveling the walkways while others were having snowball fights and building snowmen.

The repaired Darkners were happily setting up, working, and playing alongside the whole and healthy Darkners. It made the heroes especially happy to see everyone getting along. The Krankpus was completely absent, which Susie nervous and suspicious, but there wasn't anything they could do about that. It was also nice that there were no more decoration tentacles trying to catch and kill them.

Asking around as they descended, they found out that Jolly had moved his workshop out of Darkville and into Gift Town. He and some of the others from the darker side of the tree had relocated there for better business.

"Hopefully he brought those pages with him," Susie muttered. "I don't want to go to Darkville when no one is there. That sounds like a recipe for creepy disaster!"

Descending back along the road they had first taken gave the friends an evolving view of the Dark World. The enormous, bedecked tree was like glittering, golden pillar striking high into the black and purple night sky, slicing through the continuous shroud of falling snow. The entire surrounding countryside was obscured in utter darkness. Only other distant, ginormous trees, blacker than the night itself, cut vague silhouettes across the horizon.

Below, Gift Town slowly grew larger as they climbed down. It was a sparkling mess of sprawling buildings made of presents. The Christmas spirit rose from the town like a sweet-smelling smoke.

"Where do you think we'll find the third part of Mr. Boom's book?" Ralsei asked.

Susie shrugged. "It always turns out that someone has a clue for us to follow somewhere. That, or we search and find a hidden place that everyone else seems to avoid, and boom! We find what we're looking for."

"There's a lot of space to search out there," Ralsei said softly.

"We'll worry about it once we've talked with Jolly. He might have a clue since he's been dealing with all kinds of people coming to Darkville. Or, er, thrown down to Darkville."

"Perhaps… But that would depend on if it was one of the keepers who was thrown down there."

Kris listened to their friends discuss the matter. They mulled it over, trying to remember if there was any place or clue that stuck out about this Dark World. There were not any obvious puzzles, which was a bit surprising. These worlds usually came with something like a puzzle to stump their fellow Hometowners. Actually, why were there usually puzzles? When did that become so common that it now perplexed Kris to not come across any?

Well, down in Gift Town, there was a better chance that the Fun Gang would come across someone who knew a little more. Asking around was the order of the day. These side quests normally took a lot of extra time, but Kris knew from experience that they paid off massive dividends in accumulating power and experience.

However, what really haunted Kris was what Gerson's contingency plan could be. He described it as a way of making up for sharing too much information about the Dark World and even beyond through his books. He hoped that he could intercept those who tried to pry deeper by leaving them clues and leading them here, to this Dark World. Set right in the Dreemurr house… But why!? Kris could think of so many things that could wrong! What if in the middle of the divorce, Toriel had decided to stop the ornament tradition and threw out everything they had been gifted?

Kris was missing a crucial piece of information.

"Watch your step," Susie said softly in Kris' ear, taking their hand and helping guide them down the frozen ramp.

Ralsei threw himself down the icy walkway with a "Yippeeee!", gliding along the snowy ground towards the town.

"Damn, we could have used him as a sled," Susie grunted, grinning wickedly. She eyed Kris and said, "We might need a substitute."

Kris gave her a look saying that they would have to flip for it.

Susie was soon riding Kris down the ramp and after Ralsei. They had never flipped a coin for it.

A lot of the Darkners recognized them and quickly crowded the heroes, shouting, "Merry Christmas! Welcome back! We're so glad that you've survived the Krankpus!"

"Is he defeated yet?"

"No, he's running from the light and warmth of the Christmas spirit!"

"Then he's never coming back!"

"Want some hot chocolate?"

"Dearie me, why are you covered in snow and ice? We keep the roads shoveled, you know?"

"You don't shovel anything, Mildred! It's all magic!"

"Shhh! If you share the secret, everyone will want our magic!"

"Isn't sharing what Christmas is all about?"

"No! It's about vengeance! Er, I mean presents!"

"When did these people get so talkative?" Susie muttered under her breath.

"Please everyone! We're looking for Jolly the blacksmith!" Ralsei shouted.

The crowd eagerly pressed in from every side and forced the friends to follow them. Just as up in the Angel's Tree, Gift Town was full of the restored Darkners from behind the tree. They had also set up their own secondhand stalls in the Angel's Market. A few were helping to add new decorations or renovations to the homes that had been scarred by Krankpus.

Jolly had set up his smithy just on the utmost outskirts of the town. It looked exactly as it had back at Darkville, completely derelict and grimy. He greeted the heroes with his hammer hand raised over his head. He barked gruffly at the crowd to let them be.

"They have business with me! Please give us some peace so can focus on serving them! Merry Christmas and go your way!" Jolly then ushered them in and whispered, "I shouldn't have relocated here! There's too many people, and everyone is poking their nose into my business. Worse than how it was back in Darkville! Alright, what can I do for you three?"

"We're looking for pages from Gerson Boom's shredded manuscript," Ralsei said. "Kris believes that they recognized some of the pages you have all over your place. We're pretty certain this is the place. And Mr. Boom already gave us his third of the manuscript."

"Ah… Yes, I have the second third," Jolly said slowly. "I was entrusted with part of his book by the oldest ornament Darkners before they struck off into the storm and never returned. It was a move to make sure that no one could easily trace the book back to me."

"Do you know who else had it?" Susie asked.

"I haven't clue. The rest of the pages were scattered all over the Angel's Tree and left alone," Jolly answered.

"Almost like the rats' musical instruments," Ralsei surmised. "But that sounds dangerous to leave so much that Gerson didn't want anyone to find just lying around."

"Well, people did find those pages," Jolly rumbled. "Alright, what do you want me to do with these pages?"

Kris gathered up all of the loose leaves from around Jolly's house and asked him to reforge the book together.

"It'll only work if I have the whole book," Jolly said, shaking his head and rattling his many eyes. "Bring the completed book to me and I'll make sure that it's remade perfectly! Also, if you need any healing yourselves, I can sort you out."

The heroes submitted themselves to Jolly's blacksmithing techniques and were made perfectly healthy.

"I'd love to know how he and Malius can just beta people back to perfect health," Susie said as they left the smithy. "If I could learn the secret, I'd be able to help you two out without spending so much of our TP for just a little healing."

"Ah, Susie, it's okay! You've learned a significant technique, and it's great that you've kept working it, perfecting the spell," Ralsei said encouragingly.

"Yeah… But I'm nowhere near as good as you or Noelle." She shook her head and said, Forget that for now. Where do we go next?"

Kris took the lead and reentered the main town. They directed the gang to spread out and start asking everyone they met about loose and forgotten pages to a book. If anyone remembered anything useful, it would be great to know. Then let the other two know, and they'd converge on the spot or person where the remaining third of Gerson's manuscript could be found.

Spreading out, Ralsei found himself suddenly help three women do their Christmas shopping as he asked about the book. He got to hear lots of gossip. He was eventually dressed up in a few dresses and suits as the women looked for suitable clothing for their children. Ralsei took the chance to ask store owners and the seamstress about the scattered pages. They did relay that they had heard stories of a broken present that had not been tossed to Darkville. The present in question had been gathered up and delivered to the Keeper. The Keeper was the one who was responsible for taking care of all forgotten presents lost during Christmas preparations.

Meanwhile, Susie was roped into Christmas caroling while she went around asking questions. In between verses of "Away in a Cave" and "Up on the Housetop!" she managed to ask people about the missing third of Gerson's manuscript. The many carolers didn't have a single clue, but their conductor had heard something about a missing book. Susie was directed to the bookstore. She conked herself on the head and shouted, "Why didn't I think of that sooner!? I bet Kris has already gone there!"

But they hadn't. Susie was shocked to find out that she was the only one to ask after the book at the store. The Bookworm manning the shop explained that there had been an incomplete book found under the boughs of the Angel Tree's first level. The pages were all collected and properly organized. The bookworm wanted to sell the book as a unique Christmas gift, but the dusty Keeper had arrived at their shop and demanded that it be turned over into his custody. Since the manuscript was incomplete and not thrown to Darkville, it fell under the category of missing and forgotten Christmas presents. Ever since then, the Keeper was holding onto it.

For their part, Kris wandered around and began making snow demons with the children, asking them if they had seen a book no one wanted. Other than their schoolbooks of course. The children took Kris to the school where the aged telephone on wheels Darkner wove an interesting tale of falling pages from the tree. The loose leaves had been collected and were eventually handed over to the Keeper.

"But beware the Keeper," the phone said through its receiver, as its painted, toy face pulled a concerned smile. "Unless you are the one who is supposed to receive the present, he will not hand it over to you! And I fear what he would even do to the Krankpus if that monster tried to take away a forgotten present that was not addressed to him!"

Kris thanked the school master for the information. They went back to the Angel's Market and reunited with Susie and Ralsei.

"So, what about the Keeper?" they all said together.

Susie scowled and added, "Did anyone even get the address to this guy's place?"

"Yup! I have it!" Ralsei said proudly, waving a note.

He led the way to the old house Kris and Susie had seen earlier. It was the place that looked like a sloppily wrapped Christmas present. There was a slightly ominous feeling to the place.

Ralsei tentatively knocked and waited. Eventually, the door sprang open and puff of musty dust washed over Ralsei.

"The Keeper, I presume?" he coughed.

"Yes," the figure inside wheezed. "What do you want?"

"We've come looking for the book pages that were found under the Angel's Tree a long while back," Ralsei said, trying to not keep on coughing.

The Keeper exuded an impatient aura and moved to close the door. Kris interjected that they had the other two thirds of the book. If the Keeper really did have the rest, they needed to get it and reforge the book so they could give it back to Gerson Boom.

"We met him up there in the tree," Susie added, pointing over her shoulder. "He wants it all back."

"Is that so?" the Keeper asked, speaking in a strained voice, as if he was holding back his own fit of coughing. "Then please, come on in."

The Darkner let the heroes inside the dusty, smelly, dark house. Their footsteps were muffled by a thick layer of fine dust. As Kris walked in, they noticed how the Keeper seemed to be made of a giant collection of dust, as if a ton of dusty bunnies had been thrown into a heap and organized like a haystack. Susie pinched her nose to keep from sneezing.

"Lovely place you have here," she said ironically.

"Thank you," the Keeper replied, missing her tone. "I keep every single missing and forgotten gift here. I make sure they are not messed with or given away unduly. They only leave my custody when the rightful recipient is found again. If you claim to have proof of the rightful owner to the incomplete book, I must see it."

Kris took the book out of their inventory and presented it to the Keeper. Susie and Ralsei waited anxiously, watching the exchange and trying to not devolve into coughing and sneezing. Their eyes watered from the oppressive, musty atmosphere.

The Keeper took the pages from Kris, somewhat roughly, and began leafing through them. He didn't say a word or indicate what exactly he was looking for. The Fun Gang looked around saw that there were plenty of items covered in thick layers of grime and dust. There was a rocking horse that was slowly becoming a dirty burial mound under so much dust. Pillars of untouched books rose through the blanket of filth. There was a carefully built pyramid of unopened presents, the dull shine of the ribbons and wrapping paper shone defiantly through the gloom. Many beautiful decorations and stockings were nearly indistinguishable from the walls, died dull brown and grey by the oppressive dust.

It was nearly overwhelming!

"Hmpf!" the Keeper choked. "Well, this does all appear to be part of the same book. But I do not see any proof of this book belonging to Gerson Boom or to any of you. He may have written it, but this was given with intent. And I have a hard time believing that a brutish girl, a mischievous youth, and supporting Darkner really have any interest in a dusty tome like this!"

"Dusty?" Susie snapped. "Have you looked around at this place at all? It's a pigsty! Even old museums look better than this!"

"See?" the Keeper replied dryly. "That attitude does not belong to a good girl bound to get a present from Santa. You're just adventurers pillaging the Angel's Tree for its hidden secrets and looking to claim another!"

"No, we're trying to save the world," Ralsei said. "And we're hoping to bring peace to Gerson Boom, who went through the trouble of bringing that book here to keep it out of the hands of people who would mean harm if they found it."

"Which is why I must keep possession of this book," the Keeper insisted, nearly losing a lung saying that. "The Krankpus has not just come here to terrorize the citizens, but he came looking for presents to steal. A story this dangerous would be deadly in his untrimmed claws! I cannot allow you foolhardy, so-called heroes to have this!"

"So-called?" Susie sputtered. "Kris, let's show this guy who he is messing with! We've already saved the world multiple times over! And that old man Gerson sent us to find that book and bring back to him! It's all part of his highly convoluted plan! So, we're going to need that book back!"

"If you want it, then you're going to have to fight me to get it," the Keeper hissed, suddenly transforming.

The front door locked, and the room expanded. The Keeper grew, coming to loom over the heroes. The dust whipped up on a great gust, becoming absolutely overwhelming. Kris coughed into the crook of their arm and squinted up at the Keeper. It was time for another battle.