Another Undertale

He wasn't sure why he had decided to climb the mountain that day. Perhaps it was simply because he had not in a long time, perhaps he wished to relive a part of his life long gone, or perhaps it called to him for reasons beyond his understanding. Regardless of the reason, he climbed. He climbed, and he fell.

He opened his eyes only to learn that it made no difference. Darkness filled his vision and pain filled the rest of him. He tried to lift himself up, but fire shot through his right arm and he fell back down with a grunt. He had never broken a bone before, but he guessed that was what it had to be. Stuck on the floor, his panicked breaths echoed off unseen walls.

Where am I? What happened? Am I dead? These thoughts and more flooded his mind until his heart pounded in his ears. I was… driving home, but I stopped to take a walk, to clear my head… He took deep breaths to try to force himself to calm down and was surprised to find that it worked. It would not have a year ago. He tried to pick himself up again, slower this time. He moved his legs; neither felt broken, but they were sore as if he had run several miles. His left arm felt the jelly, but it did what he told it to with only a little difficulty.

Steadying himself, he searched blindly for a wall. And when he found one he was surprised that the wall was smooth and warm as if it had spent the day in the sun. As he thought this, pale light suddenly filled the room. Shocked, he looked up. High above him a fissure of sky broke the blackness of the ceiling. In its center was the moon, almost full, as it appeared from behind a cloud. Last he remembered, it had not been close to nighttime.

The cavern now had enough light for him to see his surroundings. The walls were a smooth, sheer gray stone. They reflected the moonlight softly as if they were polished. Along the base of the rock were piles of rubble, one of which was by his feet. They looked too geometric to be natural. If he had to guess, he would have said that it had been a column at one point. The floor was loose dirt, blown or washed in from the hole above. In the center, where the light hit, there grew a patch of yellow flowers.

He looked back to the fissure, high above him. "That fall should've killed me." He thought aloud, and immediately regretted it. A noise from behind him made him jump. It sounded almost like high-pitched laughter. Trying to pinpoint where it could have come from, he saw an opening he could have sworn was not there a moment ago. It was not a natural crack in the rock. It was several feet taller than him with a rounded top and wide enough for two abreast. It had the same polished look as the rest of the rock.

Peering into it, he could not make out much. The light stopped just a few feet into the tunnel making it seem endless. For a moment, he strained himself to listen if the sound came again. Perhaps it had just been water dripping down from above.

Seeing no other option than remaining stuck there, he cautiously entered the tunnel. He walked with his hand still against the wall, half to guide him and half to keep himself upright on his shaking legs, for what felt like several minutes before he thought he saw the ground begin to grow lighter in front of him.

Faster now, he limped towards the glow and stopped to stare at where he found himself. The large dome looked like an overgrown courtyard straight out of a castle in a fantasy story. The dusty ground at his feet turned into paved stone walkways that crisscrossed throughout the cavern. Vines and grass grew over them in places, spilling out from their fenced-off squares and crawling up marble columns that, here, were still standing, though they held up only air now; whatever roof they had once supported was gone. Moonlight streamed in from a fissure in the ceiling as it had where he had woken up. Directly beneath the hole, was a patch of grass strangely clear of extraneous growth. Unlike everywhere else, the circular patch looked as if someone had been by to trim it just that morning.

In the center of the circle, there was a single flower. He missed it at first because it was still just a bud. But as he looked at it closely, he saw that it was moving, its bud lifting itself into the air. At first, he thought it must be one of those flowers that bloomed only in moonlight. But as the flower opened, it did not turn toward the moon as he had read. Instead it turned toward him. The flower's petals were golden and the blossom grew to be as large as a sunflower, though it stayed squat to the ground. Its center almost looked like a face.

"Howdy! You look kinda lost." The flower spoke. The center of the blossom moved like putty being molded as the words were formed; voice high-pitched like an excited child's. Its mouth then split into a smile that did not touch eyes that looked all too real.

"What the…?" he whispered to himself in shock as he backed away from the patch of grass. The flower continued, moving as if in gesture to everything around them.

"Well, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Underground." Its gaze then went back to him. "I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower." The flower waited as if it expected a response. However he could do nothing but stare in fear and disbelief. Anger flashed across the flower's face for an instant, but it was gone just as fast. After a moment, it went on. Concern was writ on its face, but it still held the same cheery tone. "You seem hurt." Its eyes fell on his arm, still clutched to his side. The flower's smile grew wider. "Then this is the perfect time to start learning how things work down here!"

A glow from below him broke his gaze away from the talking flower. Looking down he saw it was coming from his chest; a soft, red light vaguely in the shape of a heart. Thinking something was on him, he swatted at his chest, but it stayed there. He tore off his sweatshirt; it was ripped anyway, and lifted up his shirt only to find that whatever was causing the light was in his chest. With the obscuring fabric gone, it looked even more like a heart. "See that?" The flower said, still sounding cheery. "That's your soul: the very culmination of your being. It looks pretty weak since you're hurt. Here, I'll help you out." The flower shook itself and several white specks flew into the air and hung there. "These are magical seeds. They can heal you. Try reaching out to them."

The seeds began to drift toward him as if nudged by a breeze, but the air was still. In his state of shock, he did reach out to them and, as he did, they seemed to move faster, as if they were drawn to him. They clung to his fingers as they touched him, but they did not heal. Instead, they sprouted into vines that wrapped themselves around his forearm, constricting tighter and tighter until he was sure it would break as well. Large thorns dug into his skin and he screamed in pain. The vines and thorns grew larger by the second and he fell to his knees in agony.

The flower let out a maniacal laugh, and when it spoke again its cheery tone was gone. "You idiot. You're in the world of monsters now." The golden flower loomed over him. It looked demonic through his tear filled eyes. "Down here it's kill or be killed." It let loose another bout of laughter as the vines continued to grow, now almost to Ryan's shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare, but the pain did not stop. The laughter cut through his screams and he started to think that this might be his end.

Then, suddenly, the pain was gone. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid to see the mangled mess he was sure his arm must be now, pain or no. But it looked normal. There was not a mark on it. He turned it over, half expecting the movement to undo some strange illusion, but he seemed to be fine. Could he have imagined it? Then, he noticed the blood gathering in the spaces between the stones in the walkway and knew it was all too real. He looked up, trying to forget he saw that. The flower was gone. Instead, a figure was running toward him. At first he thought it was a human in purple robes, but as it came closer he saw that it did not have the face of a human, but rather that of a goat with snow white fur and small horns on top of its head.

His fear quickly returned and he tried to back away as it approached him, but the monster grabbed him by the shoulders and held him in place. "It is all right, my child." It said it in a soothing voice. If he had to guess, he would say that it was female. The elongated jaw of the monster did not impede her speech. He looked into her eyes and saw care and concern. Her eyes seemed strangely human for her face, but instead of making it seem even more unnatural it had the opposite effect. Somehow, the monster made him feel safe. She smiled, her face seemed to glow brighter than the moon, and she said, "Here, you are still hurt. Let me heal you." She took her hands off his shoulders and held them out before her. He flinched in expectation of another trick. But, in an instant, all of the pain and fatigue in his body was gone, even the pain in his broken arm. "There. That should do it." She said as she lowered her arms. But she checked him up and down for anything wrong anyway. "Are you alright, my child? Can you stand?"

He did not know how to answer her questions. His mind felt like it had been through a tropical storm. "W-where am I? What's happening?" he stammered, "I was hiking a-and then I woke up in a cave and then that flower… What is this place?" The shock of everything was finally setting in; he could not stop himself from shaking.

The monster grabbed him by the shoulders. "Calm down." She told him softly. "It is alright. Nothing will hurt you now. I will answer all of your questions soon. But first, let us get out of this dark cave, all right? We will get you cleaned up and put some food in you, you look like you have not eaten in days, and then we will deal with everything else. Can you stand?" She asked again.

"Calm down?" He was anything but calm. "I almost died, twice! You're a monster! I have to get out of here. I have to get home!"

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "It is all right to be afraid, my child. I would be too. I am sorry this has happened to you." She pulled apart enough to look at him. "But we should not spend any more time in this dreary place. Would you not rather be sitting by a fire with a nice meal?"

He calmed down enough to realize he was being ungrateful. Monster or not, she saved his life. Still trying to stop his shaking, he nodded.

He tried to get to his feet. The soreness in his body really was gone. Shifting his weight to lift himself off the ground with both arms, he barely put any weight on them before sharp pain returned to his right arm and he collapsed face first into the ground with a grunt.

With a panicked yelp, the monster helped him back into a sitting position. "What happened?" she asked, worriedly.

"I think my arm's broken." He said through gritted teeth. "Must have happened when I fell."

"That cannot be," The monster said in confusion, "I had wards in place that should've –" she cut herself off and shook her head. "Too late to worry about that now, I suppose. Come, my child, we will see what we can do about that when we are away from here."

This time, she helped him to his feet. He kept his right arm across his chest. "We should do something about that now, though." She thought out loud. She began searching for something that would be able to stop his arm from moving too much.

He leaned down and picked up the tattered sweatshirt he had tossed aside. "Here," He said as he held it out to her. "This should work."

Together, they managed to get his arm into a makeshift sling. Satisfied, the monster took his free hand. "I am Toriel." She said, leading him away from the circle of grass. "What is your name, my child?"

"Ryan." He responded automatically. A million questions still ran through his head but, in truth, he wanted to be out of this cave just as much as Toriel, so he held them back for the time being.

"Well, Ryan." She said, smiling warmly. "It may be bittersweet, but welcome to the Underground." A shiver ran down Ryan's spine as she led him back into the darkness.