I walked forward.
The crystalline air receded, and the air began to warm, as I stepped into a relatively narrow passage in the cave wall, the riven still running alongside the path. I began to hear the cacophony of a hundred distant waterfalls. The walls took on a bluish, almost purple tinge in this dimmer light, lacking the covering of snow to reflect the light of the crystals in the walls and the distant dots of radiance above.
The pain in my head continued to linger as I walked. Thoughts of what had just occurred brought on only further pain and confusion, but like a child running its tongue over the gap where a baby tooth once rested, I couldn't help but return again and again to those thoughts. Still, I continued forward. I couldn't not.
Then, as I came to a bend in the road, I saw… what appeared to be that same little monster I'd seen in Snowdin. I thought that it surely had to be a different, identical-looking one, however, as I didn't see how it could have gotten here before me. But, on second thought, I recalled that short skeleton's strange warping abilities, and remembered that I was dealing with magic, here, and therefore nothing could be counted on.
Its back was half turned to me, and I noted that it had a series of spike-like protrusions on the back of its head. With one hand hovering near my sheathe, I stepped quietly by, and it simply continued to… admire the waterfall, I suppose. However, as I rounded the bend, it noticed me somehow (probably heard me with its lack of ears) and turned in my direction. As I instinctively reached a hand to my sheathe and shifted my posture, ready for fight or flight, it began to speak.
"Yo!" It said enthusiastically, its tone matching the voice from that town about as exactly as one could expect. "Are you sneaking out to see her too?"
For a moment, I stared at it, completely uncomprehending. After a long moment, I finally recalled the concept of a conversation through my slow as pitch train of thought, and replied "'her' meaning Undyne, right?" I paused, trying to recall what it was the creature had said about this person. "The, uh… leader of the royal guard?" I ventured, hesitantly.
"Yeah!" It confirmed. "She's the coolest, right!?"
"Sure, why not." I replied. Another human-hunter, I guessed, as that seemed the way my life had been going. Every time one of these bozos that haunted me all throughout an area of the UNDERGROUND was dealt with, another would take its place. First Flowey, then Toriel, then… and now Undyne. What unique way would she find to torment me, I wondered.
"Hey, uh… you," I said to- you know what? It's cumbersome not having a decent term for it. Let's call it… stripy, why not. "You're… probably a bigger fan of her than I am. What do you know about Undyne? The way she operates, the way she catches baddies and all that." Not the most subtle of probes, admittedly, but it seemed like a real fan…thing, so I doubted it would take much to get it talking. If I was lucky, some of it might even be usable information!
…If nothing else, it would take my mind off of… well.
"-So she's some sort of upright land-dwelling fish creature?" I ventured, what felt like hours later.
"…Maybe?" Stripy replied, more than a little hesitantly. "What is a fish, anyways?"
I opened my mouth to reply, then paused for a moment. "Good question," I returned at last. "Not a wise one." There wasn't really a good answer to that one, as far as I was aware. "Well, regardless, she does indeed seem like 'the coolest'," I continued, then gave Stripy a confident smirk. "At least, until I got here." The smirk felt off-kilter, somehow. Was I doing it wrong? I fought the urge to shift my lips around to try and get them in the right position.
Stripy chortled at this. "Oh, shut up," it replied. "Undyne would wipe the floor with you!"
"Oh really?" I retorted. "Do tell." Finally, we were getting somewhere. I fought the urge to reach into my backpack and pull out a pencil and paper to jot this all down. It's not as if I'd have time to sift through my notes in the middle of battle, after all.
"Well, first of all, she'd skewer you good with her-"
"-and even if you somehow manage to evade all those deadly barrages, she'll keep hounding you, tirelessly, and soon enough she'll be on you like… like…" Stripy seemed at a loss for an appropriate simile.
"Like white on rice?" I offered.
"Yeah!" it eagerly replied. "…What's rice?"
"Nevermind that now," I replied, dismissively. "That Undyne sure sounds like a ruthless sort of character."
"Yeah, if she sees a bad guy, she gets downright vicious!" Stripy said, then looked a bit sheepish. "Or, uh, that's what I've heard, anyway. I've never been there to see her in action, in person, before today. But I've heard she has… what did Alphys say it was called? Killing intent? Yeah, that. She has it in spades!"
Killing intent… it wasn't a phrase I was familiar with, but the meaning was intuitive. That ruthlessness, that will to push forward, ever forward… like a spear, launched by itself, that sends itself forward through the air in stark defiance of gravity…
Well. It would be downright admirable, if it weren't so misplaced. How many innocent children has that ruthless will murdered? How many people, just trying to survive, who might have proffered a sincere hand in friendship if they had but a chance?
Well, if nothing else, this made things a lot simpler. I was sick and tired of monsters trying to win my trust so they could stab me in the back. I'd take being stabbed in the front any day of the week, month or year.
"Well then," I continued. A ferocious, lopsided grin came to my face. "She seems like… my kind of gal."
"Yeah!" It eagerly replied. "…What's a gal?"
"Nevermind," I said, and with hardly another word, I was off again. Moving forward, ever forward.
And so I walked for a long while, finding my way through the tunnels, not encountering much along the way. There was a sizable waterfall across the path at one point, and naturally I checked for a hidden passageway behind it, as any good adventurer knows to. There was, in fact, a hidden passageway, but instead of hidden treasure, all that I found was a single dirty tutu. Left behind by one of Undyne's victims, no doubt.
Whatever, it doesn't matter. More walking. More tunnels. More crystals. More water. Onward onward onward onward. Onward!
Tall strands of dark blue. Dark blue, in this dim world. What would it have been in the light of day? Teal? Maybe teal. Teal is the strongest color, as we all know. I felt one strand in my hand. Grass, maybe? It felt strangely dry, despite the humidity; like it was meant for somewhere even wetter. There was no way around. I pushed into it, spreading the blades in front of me like the red sea.
Sea… yes, that's what this reminded me of. It's like very large, dried up seagrass. Would it die off, outside of water? Well, that was a stupid question: all of these plants should be dying off without the sun. I didn't exactly have the wherewithal to launch a twenty year-long research expedition to determine the precise mechanisms behind all of this strangeness, so that sort of thing can just go into the box labelled "magic".
Over the sound of the grass rustling, I heard the sound of metal on rock, coming from above and… to the left. Like a sabaton-clad foot shifting its posture. I looked up, and beheld a figure covered entirely in armor; a bright red plume coming out of a fearsome helmet, its face cast in a visage of a sharp-toothed skull of some primeval creature.
For a long moment, a very long moment, I stood there, struck by the sight. The armor, half cast in darkness, half gleaming in the light. The bearing of this creature, as it stared down into the grass. The intricacy of its details, the elegance of its design.
It was magnificent.
I knew then. I knew precisely who this was. It could only be one creature. The Captain of the Royal Guard. The king's finest killer. An elegant engine of extermination.
Undyne.
"Here was the strength to end the reign of man!"
I stared up at her as she strides forward toward the edge, shifting, with the ease of a highly practiced killer, into a stance that promised swift death to anything she beheld. In the same flowing movement, she conjured a teal spear in her left hand, one that shone even in the gloom of her shadow.
Inwardly, careful not to make a sound, I shook myself out of my admiring trance, and started to look around. Glancing forward, I considered making a run for it, but lacking any knowledge of what's in front of me… that would be an excellent way to run right into a trap, or corner myself. On the other hand, I knew precisely what was behind me. I turned back to where I'd come, and-
…
…
…
There was a figure there, standing on the cliff that overlooked the way back. A figure, staring this way, its face cast in shadow. A tall creature, its form the pale white of polished bone, except for what was covered in red and gold.
Perhaps I should have felt… afraid? Disturbed? Curious? …I didn't feel anything at all. I didn't think anything at all.
I simply turned around, and ran.
And ran.
And ran.
And ran.
Onward onward onward onward onward onward onward onward.
The sting of a spear grazing my cheek brought me back, some time and some distance later, in a tunnel I didn't recognize. I felt the sting of exertion in my legs, and heard the distant sound of metal hitting stone over and over. The armored figure (Undyne, surely) was chasing me along the cliff, conjuring spear after glowing spear to cast at me. And so I continued running, ducking and weaving through the onslaught.
A spear soared at me with no room to dodge, and I spun around, still moving forward without missing a beat, and deflected it with a decisive slash of my knife. For a moment, I dipped a spectral hand into that sea of flame… but there was no sense giving up the element of surprise so cheaply.
My flight brought me to another waterfall, this one recessed into the floor, and too deep to wade. Peculiar plants floated atop it, appearing to be connected to each other, as well as anchored to the sides, which seemed to be what was keeping them from being dragged off by the current. I had too time to pick flowers, however. Even the slightest delay could be fatal. I couldn't afford to spend time swimming across. Instead, I ran as close to the edge as I dared, and leapt across, diving for the opposite edge as hard as I could.
I landed with a painful thud, just barely clearing the water. The impact had knocked the wind out of me, but I had no time to lay there and catch my breath, so I rolled to my feet and kept moving forward. Across a narrow bridge the path curved to the left, then again, almost doubling back on itself, putting Undyne, who had already caught up with me, almost directly between me and the exit. As I turned, I bent low grabbing a large rock from the floor of the cave. There was another recessed flow of water blocking my way, but it was a fraction of the width of the previous. I ran for the water edge, preparing to leap across.
But Undyne was also prepared. She'd conjured up a spear and held back her throw, ready to toss it the moment I leapt and made myself incapable of dodging. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I came closer… and closer… and closer…
Finally, I leapt, and she drew back that arm for that deadly throw…
I heard a clang of stone hitting metal, and the muffled sound of a deep, feminine voice crying out in irritation. I made it to the other side unscathed, and lunged through the narrow opening in the wall on the other side. A series of teal flowers slid by my eyes as I pushed through, as well as a tripod bearing a silvery telescope pointed at the false-stars above. But I had no time for false-stargazing. I ran onward, through another narrow opening, this one seeming rougher, like it was naturally formed, or shattered carelessly.
I stepped through, finding the cliff walls that surrounded me falling away, in favor of a sea of pitch black waters, the shapes of what might have been cattails drifting above them. The stone beneath me gave way to raised planks of wood above those inky black waters, like that of a dock or somesuch. The armored form stood on the cliff behind me, seemingly unwilling to leap down from the cliff and follow me. I kept running until the spears stopped coming, and it disappeared into the distance.
Then, finally, I slumped to the floor, trying to catch my breath. My heart was racing. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. My legs twitched here and there, unable to stay still. I breathed in and out, in and out. In, and out. For a long moment, I just sat there, trying to catch my breath.
Eventually, my lungs stopped burning, and my legs stilled. But my heart still raced, and my breath was still going in and out, heavy and fast.
No, that wasn't the sound of heavy breathing. That was… laughter?
Was I…
…smiling?
Perhaps it was the adrenaline. Perhaps it was the exhilaration of risking life and limb and coming out nearly unscathed. Or, mayhap, I simply found it refreshing to have a foe so bluntly vicious, one that struck at me with great fury the very instant it beheld my form. An uncomplicated foe, seeking not to befriend me, or torment me, or slide a knife into my back, but purely to cut me down where I stood. Elegantly brutal, and magnificently fearsome.
Whatever the reason, I couldn't keep the smile off of my face.
I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed some more.