I wasn't really sure why I had bothered with that whole speechifying earlier. What I said was true, of course, at least as far as I could tell, but did I care about the puzzling habits of some undead abomination? Did I care so much about the principles of puzzle making in general? Was it simply a symptom of addled cognition from sleep deprivation? Or did I simply see something being wrong and couldn't help but correct it?

Probably the latter.

Onward, then.

And so I strode across the remainder of the narrow bridge between the cliffs. And before me spread an unexpected sight: a broad sign, covered in multicolored lights, stretched across the frozen ground, reading "WELCOME TO SNOWDIN". And behind it… countless snow-topped roofs stretched into the distance, warm and welcoming lights shining through the windows.

Civilization.

I'd seen tantalizing hints of it, before. Right from the start of all of this, there were hints. The symbols and constructions I'd seen along the way; the kill teams that had hounded me; the "human hunting fanatic" Papyrus (why would there be human hunters if there were no humans down here?); that vast city I'd seen stretch off into the distance, grand and magnificent and lifeless and dark. This was not some undiscovered cave system; people lived here.

And here was the frozen proof. Buildings, real buildings, stretched into the distance. Some bore signage above their door, reading things like "SHoP" or "INN", written, just like the sign and all the signs before it, in a plain and human script. For a moment, I dared to hope. I strode into the town, turned to the first door I saw, and swung it open confidently, a warm and friendly greeting on my lips.

But nobody came.

I should have noticed it to begin with. The empty streets. The deathly silence. Perhaps it was all the lights in the windows that slowed me realizing. But when I stepped into that warm, bright, inviting store, and there was not a single person there behind the counter, not a single sign of life at all… I knew immediately.

This was a ghost town.

But as I scanned through the building, I realized that this wasn't like the long quiet of the ruined city from before. There were signs of inhabitation still there: discarded bits of food, not even rotting yet; Powered devices still running; a refrigerator with food still in perfect condition; a note on the table, reading "Please don't hurt my family", the paper still fresh, lacking any fading or mold. People were here, recently. Mayhap I just barely missed them, which would be exactly the sort of thing that would happen to me.

But why? A struggle was easily ruled out, given the lack of damage or bloodstains. Although, could magic… no, even if they could clean it all up with magic, why would they bother? Let's call that strong evidence against a violent removal. So the obvious next option would be… evacuation, then. They all fled, leaving everything they couldn't carry with them. To where? I couldn't know.

But from what… well, the answer to that one was obvious. The monsters. They must have been fighting them off for ages, and this seems like an excellent defensive position up on these cliffs for them to do just that. But, at some point before I arrived, something happened that spooked them off. Something to do with all those patrols I ran into? Or maybe the skeletons. Or maybe even me, if all the ruckus I'd made along the way had spooked them, although evacuating an entire town in the… however long I'd been here… seemed a little implausible.

Either way, the results were the same: me, standing here, in the midst of a ghost town, with absolutely no way of knowing where they all went. Typical.

Well, if they were all gone, there was no sense leaving the stores of this store sitting here to rot or get looted by the monsters. I figured I might as well stuff my pack with whatever I could find. So I stuffed a pouch full of a bounty of gold coins from behind the counter, piled several packages of frozen treats and sweet looking pastries.

In a cupboard, I stumbled upon a very sturdy looking glove, lacking a partner. It was hard to tell just what it was made out of, but it seemed durable enough, and thin enough to not inhibit flexibility. I tested it by attempting to dig my knife into the palm and a couple of the fingers, and I struggled to even scratch it. The hide of a monster, mayhap? I wouldn't have been surprised if there was some way to prevent them from collapsing into dust when they die. I slipped it onto my left hand, not wanting to obstruct my other. I didn't know if the glove would have been damaged when I started throwing fire around, but I didn't want to learn.

And wasn't that just a nutty train of thought? I could throw fire around, almost casually. I acquired this ability when I slew a goat-monster that nearly burned me alive with fireballs and ate her soul. And soon, I'd probably use it against a walking, talking skeleton, and a whole verdant, snow covered cave system full of monsters that throw magic around and collapse into dust and coins when they perish.

Oh well. That's life.

Soon, I had left the shop, and found myself gravitating over to the inn next door. It really hit me, then, just how mind-numbingly tired I was. How long had it been since I'd last truly slept? I couldn't know. And with all the nonsense I'd gone through, with how all the fighting and betrayals and epiphanies and outright magic had drained me… surely, even I would be able sleep at this point, even out here, far from… well. I had trouble sleeping at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times, but sheer exhaustion could go a long way, surely.

There was a brief moment of adrenaline as I stepped into the inn lobby, as I saw a small, rabbit-like figure standing behind the desk. But it was only an inanimate object, a decoy or somesuch, not an actual monster. Without any further interruption, I grabbed a room key from the desk, and strode up the stairs, into the room, and flopped into bed.

I felt my body slowly begin to relax in the soft, smothering embrace of the sheets. I laid there for countless long moments, letting my stress and my worries drift away. I felt so tired, then, that it seemed as though I could fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

Past ten minutes, I still felt that way. My body had long since gone limp. My mind flitted between aimless thoughts, as it always did when I went to bed; some pleasant, some disgusting, most indifferent.

Past twenty minutes, the first of the twitches began. Subtly, at first. Just a little twitch of a limb here and there.

Past thirty minutes, and they intensified. My thoughts could no longer remain relaxed

Past forty, and my muscles truly began to spasm. I tried to relax my mind, but instead all I could do was fixate on sleep and how I couldn't sleep and why can't I sleep and why won't my mind just stop and what am I doing lying here uselessly and sleep and how I couldn't sleep and why can't

At around minute 45, I finally wrenched myself out of the bed like a wound up spring, shaking like a dog coming in from the rain just to relieve the horrible tension in my body. My fist slammed into the side of my forehead to force my mind out of its endless circular thoughts. I felt more exhausted now than I had before, but it was clear that sleep was a long, long way off. If I would ever sleep again. I cursed once again the weakness of this body, that it would be incapable of functioning without something as wretched and vile as sleep. It turned my stomach every time people proclaimed their love for sleeping. I'd give up a lot to be rid of it permanently.

But that's not the world we live in, is it?

I dragged my body out of that inn, pushing myself onward once again. And then, suddenly, I stopped, coming face to face with just the sort of sight I didn't need to see at that moment. A little monster stood next to what appeared to be a Christmas tree. The creature was striped black and yellow, with an odd bow-like protrusion on one side of its large, round head. Its legs looked something like dark grey boots, and it seemingly had no arms to speak of.

I really couldn't be asked to deal with this crap right then, exhausted as I was; still shaking off the drowsiness and awful tension from lying in bed. I elected to simply walk past it, and hope it would be smarter than to try and stab me in the back.

"Yo!" it called out as I went past. "Everyone ran away and hid somewhere."

"From you, probably!" I replied, without much thought. The stripy creature gave me a bemused look, and I continued "they heard you were coming by, and they knew they couldn't possibly handle such a big, strong, terrifying monster like you, and ran away like the weenie babies they are!"

It was laughing now, although I was only half joking. For all I knew, it was as terrifying as all that. When magic is involved, even a tiny little rabbit could be a vicious killer. "That's right, I am! And they are!" it said, still giggling. "And soon, I'll get real strong, and go off to join Undyne, and be her top lieutenant in the Royal Guard! And I'll take down all kinds of villains and criminals and humans and… a fourth thing! Just you watch!"

"You do that, mate," I replied as I continued to walk by, and soon the creature was out of sight and mind. Soon, so too was the little ghost town.

I walked, for a while, following a path beside a river. I felt an urge to take a dive into it, despite the frigid cold. It wouldn't be the first time, and I could probably warm myself up after back in town. But no, I couldn't afford to sap my strength any further. It was a foolish thought to begin with.

As I walked, I felt the wind… shift, somehow. Not a chill, precisely: more as though the air itself had crystallized. A feeling which seemed somehow opposite to that of that sea of flame. Opposite, but not truly alien to it; like two sides of a coin. Both made of the same metal alloy. Everything around me seemed to fade away in the face of this strange sensation.

And then I saw it. Through the crystal air, the form of a tall skeleton faded in.

"Halt, human!" Papyrus called out, its voice taking on a strange texture in this space. I stepped forward, almost without thinking. I had to get past him. I had to get out. "Hey, quit moving while I'm talking to you! I, The Great Papyrus, have some things to say."

"And why should I bother to hear you out?" I thought. "You're a 'human-hunting fanatic', aren't you? Just like the rest, you've been hounding my step this whole time, protected mainly by my wariness of that strange, reality warping brother of yours, and only your incompetence has prevented you from graduating from nuisance to deadly threat. Well, Sans isn't here, is he? Maybe I should kill you right now, while you're busy talking. If you even can die. How do you kill that which has no life?"

As I ruminated on my thoughts, the skeleton continued to speak. "First: you're a freaking weirdo!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"Well, thank you," I said, sincerely. It was hardly the first time I'd been called that. Generally I was called that when I was doing the things that I was most proud of. So I'd learned to take it as a compliment. Or, more precisely, I'd never learned to take it as an insult.

"I can respect your ideas about puzzle making," Papyrus continued, "but the way you shamble about from place to place… the way your hands are always covered in dusty powder. It feels…" the skeleton hesitated, struggling to put its thoughts into words, or maybe struggling to get the words out. "…Like your life is going down a dangerous path."

"However!" it continued, seeming to rally itself again. "I, Papyrus, see great potential within you! Everyone can be a great person if they try! And me, I hardly have to try at all! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh!"

My eyes narrowed as it spoke. It thought it had some kind of moral high ground, here? That it could judge me for "going down a dangerous path" because, what, I shamble around dead tired and have dust on my hands from all the damnable monsters that tried their hardest to murder me? Who the fuck did this abominable walking corpse think it was? I inhaled a deep breath, and it burned. My hand slid over to the side with my sheathed knife almost of its own volition. This was going to come to blows, I just knew it. I walked forward again. without another word. I needed to get out of there.

"Hey, quit moving!" the abomination said. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! Human! I think you are in need of guidance!"

Yeah, I'd heard that one before as well. Funny how the ones saying were always such wretched creatures themselves. They look at me with such contempt in their eyes. As they aren't utterly contemptible degenerates themselves.

"Someone needs to keep you on the straight and narrow!" The creature droned on. "But worry not! I, Papyrus… will gladly be your friend and tutor! I will turn your life right around!"

"And you're just the one to do it, are you?" I retorted in my head. "The Great Papyrus? The one torturing random passersby with awful puzzles for your own amusement? The 'human-hunting fanatic'? Surely, you must be the most qualified person In the world to help me 'turn my life around', whatever the fuck that means!"

I began moving again, but stopped myself, taking a moment to clear my head. It'd struck a nerve, there, but looking back on it with a cooler head, it was obvious what was going on here: this was a trap. An obvious, obvious trap. The creature thought it'd established enough of a rapport that I'd fall for its overtures of friendship, while also trying to establish itself as a paternal sort of mentor figure to take advantage of a child's instinctual clinging to authority figures. It wasn't a very good attempt, but that was entirely in keeping with this skeleton's displayed level of competence. And, give it credit, it probably would have worked on a lot of kids. Kids are pretty stupid (or, at least, ignorant and immature, which aren't quite the same thing).

But I'd gone through far too much betrayal in the last day alone to fall for such a tactic, nevermind in the days before. I'd been fooled by far better lies.

"So," I had to ask myself, "what do I do?"

"I see you are approaching," Papyrus said as I pondered all of this. "Are you offering a hug of acceptance? Wowie! My lessons are already working! I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!" And it actually stretched its skeletal limbs out wide. It was laying it on rather thick, wasn't it? It was a little pathetic to watch. Although… that did give it an excuse to raise its arms into a position that would let it shift into a combat ready stance that much quicker… and with magic, its lack of weapons was no obstacle. For all I knew, this was a perfect spellcasting stance for skeletons. Certainly, if a fireball, or… ice spear… or somesuch appeared in its hands, it'd be almost perfectly positioned to send it flying into my face with the slightest movement. Did it suspect that I'd seen through its trap, or was it simply preparing to spring it? I couldn't know.

Either way, I'd have to decide how to deal with this little ploy, and fast. Fleeing was an option… but not a good one, for the same reason rushing past wasn't: too easy for it to simply spike me in the back, if it had any reliable ranged options at all. I could try reversing the trap, but it'd almost certainly notice I wasn't falling for it before I could get in hugging/stabbing range… although it did have a certain karmic element to it… and if I got close enough, I could maybe rush it down before it could spring the trap and escape.

It'd be risky, and it'd certainly get some hits off before I can take it down… but I didn't see any better options. Maybe if my head didn't feel like molasses from lack of sleep, maybe if I had more time… but no, the time for deliberation was over.

I walked forward, my gait carefully incautious. I stretched my arms out wide to match the skeleton's. The walk seemed to take hours, days, years. And then, finally, when I could take it no longer… I struck. One arm dropped, my hand finding the handle of the knife at my hip. The other began to move as though stirring it idly in a lake, collecting whisps of fire as it did.

A perfect pair of strikes. One with metal, the other flame. They cleaved through the creature's bone like it wasn't even there, and in but a moment everything from the neck down had already collapsed into dust, leaving only a skull falling to the floor.

"W- well, that's not what I expected…" said the skull as it fell.

I grinned wildly, a mix of vicious satisfaction and sheer relief. "Ha… hahaha! I did it! I got you!" I said, "You… you…" And then, slow as molasses, slow as pitch, my mind began to catch up with itself. I began to tremble, my smile fading quickly, replaced with confusion.

My strikes had been perfect. Too perfect. Why? Why had they gone off perfectly, and why had I come out unscathed? Because…

Because…

He. Just. Stood. There. And. Took. It.

He. Just. Stood. There. And. Took. It.

He. Just. Stood. There. And. Took. It.

HE. JUST. STOOD. THERE. AND. TOOK. IT.

Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHYWHWYHWYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWWHYWHYWHYWHY?

It didn't make sense. It didn't make sense. Why did he just stand there? Why did…

I leaned down and picked up the skull from where it lay in the snow. "Why?" I screamed at it. "Why did you let me do this?!"

But it didn't have the strength to respond. Nor did it have the time. The skull collapsed like the rest into dust, and Papyrus was dead.

I didn't understand any of this. Even in the slim chance that this hadn't been a trap… it just stood there, arms open wide, as I struck. It didn't even try to dodge. Did he want to die, or did-

A piercing pain shot through my brain, as I struggled to make sense of it all. My head felt like burning pitch. None of this made sense. Was any of it real? My vision swam. My thoughts spiraled, as they tried to make sense of nonsense and became nonsense themselves.

I felt like collapsing into the snow. I felt like tearing off my skin and washing it in the river. I felt like turning back time to before I'd ever fallen down here, if I ever did. I felt like sinking my teeth into the dust that he'd left behind, and choking on it.

I struck my fist into the side of my forehead, once, twice, three times. My thoughts were sent into even more disarray. But through it all, a single, overriding impulse took hold of me, with the grip of a… of something with a strong grip: that eternal driving force pushing me onward, always onward. I couldn't process any of this. As it was, I could hardly even think. I had to get out here. I had to get out of here.

Onward, always onward.