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Darkness.The only thing she knew at the moment was darkness, yet the young child pressed on, pulling the collar of her green sweater above the lower portion of her face to shield it from the claws of the winter air. She stopped and sat down to give her aching legs a small break, looking up at what she could make out of the night sky.Another explosion, but she dared not look back at the ruins of what was once her home. She stood up, dusting off her sweater, and pressing onwards up the fearsome mountain."Just a little more..." she muttered to herself.Legend has it that whoever climbs the mountain never returns...but that's merely legend, right? Surely, she knew better than to get too close to danger, and if somehow, danger found her, she'd outsmart it in whatever way she needed to. She wasn't going to be like the dozens of people in the past who'd lost their lives due to their own curiosity. She wasn't climbing Mount Ebott for fame, or any sort of recognition, for that matter. She was climbing this mountain for peace...for tranquility...for......freedom...And she was determined to have it.A gust of wind and snow battered her once again, blowing her back. Luckily, she managed to steady herself against a small dead tree. She took a deep breath, calming her anxiety, and pressed forward up the mountain, wiping the snow from her face. After a while of trudging through the night, she stopped once again.That was enough for one night.She mustered every ounce of strength within her, and looked back.Nothing but snow.Her home was out of sight, and out of mind. Finally, she'd come closer to freedom.She stretched out her arms, and gathered some snow into a pillow-like fashion, after which she buried herself in more snow, leaving out the upper portion of her body. Of course, it was still cold, but better than being exposed to the howling wind.The wind was howling now.Strange...She stood up and surveyed the area around her, her visibility strictly limited by the snow falling around her. She couldn't see anything, but she knew that if the wind was making some sort of a sound, something hollow was nearby.She took a few steps forward, and froze dead in her tracks. Directly in front of her was a large, gaping hole which extended farther than her limited range of visibility allowed her to see."The entrance..." she whispered to herself in awe.She smiled up at the sky, emitting a triumphant laugh that echoed farther into the night. She was free, miles away from anyone who knew her on a mountain she'd conquered, and now it was her sanctuary...Her haven...Her new home...She was going to stay at Mount Ebott forever.She took one last look at the entrance, her smile of triumph morphing into a smile of hope."Just me and you, okay, Ebott?" she muttered. And the mountain seemed to respond.A gust of wind struck her from behind, and she pierced the air with a shrill scream as she was lurched forward, her foot striking and snapping a small vine being the last thing she felt before plunging into the complete darkness of the mountain.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Frisk sat up, putting a hand to her aching shoulder. She immediately removed it at feeling a liquid substance, and looked to see that blood was drizzling from a large gash. Quickly covering the gash with the shoulder portion of her sweater, she stood up and surveyed the area around her. It was completely dark, with an exception to a warm golden light that shone down on a small patch of buttercups she was standing in.“Hello?” Frisk called into the darkness, but there was no response.She hesitated, then stepped forward into the dark, taking deep breaths to calm the anxiety that struck her the moment she left the safety of light. Continuing through the darkness, she eventually came to an arch which led into what looked to be a room. A light shone down on a patch of ground in the middle, and Frisk immediately shot forward to stand in it.“Is…anyone here?” Frisk called once again, but still received no response. She continued further, her anxiety returning to her the moment she stepped out of the light. She stopped at another arch which began a long tunnel, and sighed at seeing that it was completely dark with no way to light it. Wherever she was, she was already beginning to hate it.Frisk gulped, then closed her eyes and sprinted forward, ignoring the sudden and strange rise in temperature in comparison to the room she’d just exited. To her surprise, the tunnel wasn’t nearly as long as she’d thought it to be, and she reached the ending arch rather quickly. The arch led into a much larger room which contained two broad staircases that curved upwards toward a platform. Between the staircases was a large patch of red flowers. Hovering in front of the flowers was a flare of golden light.Stepping forward, Frisk slowly approached the flare, reaching out to touch it. The moment she touched the warm flare, a black box outlined in white appeared in front of her.FRISK LV1Ruins – EntranceSave ReturnA bit confused, Frisk stepped back, blinking a few times.FRISK LV1Ruins – EntranceSave ReturnNo...she wasn’t hallucinating, the box was definitely there. What was she supposed to do with it, though?Frisk reached out towards the SAVE option, it turning yellow when she hovered her hand above it. She pressed it, causing it and everything else to disappear into one line of yellow text.FILE SAVEDThe box then faded away....What the hell?
Frisk stood there for a moment, then decided to keep moving. She stepped up the right flight of stairs, running her hand along the wall which seemed to be built out of a faint purple brick, one she for sure wasn't familiar with. At the top was a pathway which led to a large, purple door with some sort of symbol engraved within it. To the immediate right of the door was something which looked like a switch. To right of the pathway were 6 gray buttons arranged on the ground in a sort of hopscotch fashion, with one button, then two next to each other, then one, then two.Walking up to the buttons, she stepped on one, then pressed the switch, but the door didn’t open, after which she tried stepping on all of them and pressing the switch, yet the door still didn’t budge.Great, a puzzle.She stepped backward away from the buttons and caught sight of something to her left. There was a gray plaque on the wall. The text on it was slightly faded, but still readable.
“Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road.”
Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road? Come to think of it, I’ve been in the middle of everything until now. I fell into a huge hole in the middle of a mountain. I stood in a patch of light in the middle of a dark room. And let’s not forget the random thing of light in the middle of that flower patch. So which one does that make me?
Frisk studied the text on the plaque.
“Both walk not the middle road.”
Strange how something like this was conveniently placed in a puzzle room…Could it be a hint?Frisk looked around on the walls for some sort of secret button, but found nothing. She then tried searching the path of ground that lead to the door, still finding nothing.“Both walk not the middle road…” she repeated to herself, pacing back and forth. She looked back over at the buttons. Oddly, there was something that looked like a pathway which ran through the middle of them, which she hadn’t noticed before. She walked over to the buttons, stepping on the ones on the path, but leaving the others unpressed. The door still didn’t open. She then tried stepping on the buttons outside the path, leaving the ones within it unpressed.CLICKBingo.The door ahead of her clicked, then slid open, revealing another room. Frisk approached the door, then stepped gingerly through it, looking around to ensure no traps would catch her off guard before proceeding towards another plaque on the wall.
“Stay on the path.”
She thought for a moment, then looked to her right, her eyes following the path, which would occasionally branch off into another path that led to a switch on the wall. At the end of the path were metallic spikes which had been placed on the ground, enough to keep her from passing through to the next room. “Pfft…easy.” Frisk mumbled to herself as she began down the path, activating the switches at the end of the branch-off paths while leaving the ones not on the path untouched. At the end of the room, the spikes clicked, then sank into the ground, leaving the entrance to the next room open. As Frisk approached the next room, something shuffled behind her, and she whipped around and jumped out of the way of a frog-like creature that had leaped towards her. She yelped, dodging the monster again and sprinting for the exit as it summoned five fly-like pellets and shot them at her, one of them striking her in her injured shoulder and causing her to fall to the ground. A stinging pain shot through her shoulder, amplified by the open gash, but Frisk ignored the agony and stood up, picking up a rock and throwing it as far as she could at the nearest switch. Surprisingly, she made the shot, and the switch dislocated, causing the spikes to shoot back up and impale the frog monster that had begun pursuing her. She stood there for a moment, surveying the now lifeless monster that hung limp from the metallic spikes, which were now covered in a thick blood-like substance. Its head was unusually large, and it was wearing some sort of cape with three outward triangles sewn into it.As Frisk studied the monster, some sort of feeling resonated within her. It wasn’t remorse or shock, rather it was some feeling of a new strength. She’d never killed anything before, worse yet felt good about it, so why was this suddenly different?Is this where power comes from? Eliminating those who try to hurt you? Killing off your enemies?If that was true…then who were her enemies?She didn’t know yet, but she had to keep moving.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Okay, what next?
Frisk studied the next area. In the corner, there was a dummy that appeared to have been stitched of white cloth, with two buttons sewn into both sides of its face to give it the appearance of having eyes. Frisk approached the dummy, poking at it with her pointer finger."Are you alive?" she asked it. At hearing no response, she decided to leave it alone. She entered the door to the next room, which was much larger than the last. It seemed to just be a corridor, as it contained no puzzles, but was completely empty with nothing but a few vines that scaled the wall. The pathway, which occasionally sharped to the left and the right at oddly random points, led to a much narrower section which contained a plaque on the wall. Frisk proceeded, instinctively stopping to read the plaque.
"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint."
"What?" Frisk whispered to herself in confusion. At turning away from the plaque, another frog-like monster sent pellets at her, one of which tore through her sweater, exposing part of her side. The monster then leaped towards her, and Frisk immediately sidestepped to the left to avoid the attack, causing the beast to instead smash head-first into the wall and collapse, blood pouring from its neck.Frisk stood there for a moment, studying the monster. She then approached it, lifting its right arm and looking for any special markings to identify its species. At seeing none, she sighed, then backed away from the monster and continued into the next room, leaving the corpse of the monster in the hallway. Inside the room ahead of her was a bridge covered in metallic spikes, rendering her completely unable to pass until she figured out what the words on the plaque earlier meant. Under the bridge was, of course, water, which appeared to be enough to drown her if she wasn’t careful.“The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint? Then why is there nothing in the western room?” she asked herself, taking a glance past the hallways and back at the previous room.
The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint…
Then…is there something in the western room that also applies to the eastern room? What was she supposed to do?Frisk sighed in frustration. This puzzle was already getting on her nerves, and if she was honest, she didn’t have the patience to try and figure things out. She planted her foot onto one of the spikes, which was over half her size. It immediately jolted down, causing her to lose her balance and nearly fall over. Another spike ahead of her partially lowered, and at her approaching it, jolted down.
Looks like I don’t have to figure things out after all…
And so she continued, stepping forward, then pausing, then stepping forward again, until she reached the end of the maze-like expansion of spikes. Frisk chuckled to herself, then continued to the next room, which, as she expected, was larger than the previous one. It was more or less a large hallway, with nothing but a pathway and a single pillar at the end of it to fill the broad, empty space. As Frisk traversed the near-empty room, she thought of the many things her father used to say to her about Mount Ebott, and the ones he called “monsters” that dwelled beneath it.
“Lunatic creatures, they are! In their world, it’s kill or be killed, Frisk. I shouldn’t feel the need to say this, but if you ever find yourself tempted to go near Mount Ebott – even if just for the sake of sightseeing – don’t. Understand?”
Yet, here she was. After all, she couldn’t say she was one to follow orders.As Frisk neared the exit of the room, she looked behind her. There seemed to be no creatures to jump out at her, so she continued into the next area ahead of her, hoping she was at least close to the exit of wherever she’d found herself in. In the next room was another flare of golden light that twinkled above a pile of bright crimson leaves. As Frisk approached it, she was tackled to the ground by another frog monster. The monster croaked, jumped off her, and shot a pellet through her side, causing her to fall to the ground and shriek in agony. The frog lunged at her again, but Frisk was quick enough to dodge it and get to her feet. Running and picking up a sharp stick, Frisk darted swiftly at the monster, driving the stick through its face with all her strength. The frog immediately fell backward, convulsing and coughing up thick blood at hitting the ground. Eventually it stopped, laying lifeless on the ground, its eyes and mouth still open.Frisk approached the corpse of the monster, grabbing the stick and pulling it out of its face. After cleaning away the blood with her sweater, she lodged it safely within the pocket of her shorts. If a stick was enough to take down the monsters that seemed hellbent on killing her, she would definitely hold on to it.Frisk approached the light that shimmered above the leaf pile, stretching out her hand to touch it. When the box appeared, she pressed the SAVE option, causing the box to fade away and leave her wondering what it actually did. A strange sensation crawled on her shoulder, and at looking down, she saw that in an instant the gash that had once been there had completely healed, along with the other scrapes and cuts that covered her sides, back, and legs. The rips in her sweater had also disappeared.She stood there for a moment, looking at the flare. What kind of magical power was within it?She’d think about that when she got to a safer place.Looking to her right, Frisk noticed a rather large gap surrounded by vines in the wall, which appeared to be the entrance to another room. She observed it briefly, then approached and stepped through it, looking around the room. On both edges of the room were two trenches filled with bright-blue, still water. In the middle of the room was a pillar. On the pillar sat a bowl full of candy, each piece being a bright pink, orange, or red color.
Finally, something I’m used to seeing…
At approaching the pillar, she took notice of a small note that had been taped onto the bowl of candy.
“Take one.”
Frisk rolled her eyes, digging her right hand into the bowl and taking out a fist full of candy. At stuffing it into her pocket, she took out a red piece and unraveled it, popping it into her mouth. Its distinct sour taste caused her cheeks to heat up, but eventually the sourness subsided, morphing into a semi-sweet licorice-like flavor. She was quite fond of the candy, so she took a few more pieces, placing them into her pocket as she left the room. When she came back into the room containing the leaf pile, she gripped the stick in her pocket, searching the room for any threats.No monsters attacked, so Frisk continued, leaving the shimmering light of healing behind and entering the next room.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Frisk approached a patch of damp, cracked ground, grimacing as a putrid smell overtook the air around her. She eyed the area for a moment, then planted her right foot onto the corner area of the patch, shifting part of her weight onto it while holding her back against the wall. The ground sank slightly, but held up, so Frisk slowly raised her left foot and brought it towards her right one, standing completely on the patch and silently praying that it wouldn't send her tumbling down into whatever was beneath it.
Surprisingly, the ground held firm despite sinking in under her weight. Frisk held her breath, then slowly inched across the ground to the other side, begging it to stay put. As she neared the other side, a sigh of relief welled up within her chest. It was immediately forced back down as the ground suddenly began to soften, its cracks spreading and crawling up the walls. Frisk's heart raced as she began to sink into the ground until the moist, sticky brick had reached her knees. Finally, despite her pleads, the ground caved in completely, taking Frisk with it.Frisk screeched as she plunged downwards, scraping against the wall and crashing onto the ground below. A portion of the ground above her slammed into her backside, knocking the air out of her and causing her to gasp as she struggled to breath. After a fit of coughing and wheezing, she managed to catch and steady her breath, and she lay there for a moment, watching the rest of the ground above fall around her.Finally, the area settled, and Frisk groaned in pain as she twisted her upper body around, pushing at the rock that held her to the ground with all her strength. At its refusal to move, Frisk began trying to lift herself from the ground in the hope of dislocating the rock in the process, but to not avail. She then reached forward, grabbing a stone that had firmly lodged itself into the ground and using it to pull herself forward, ignoring the pain that came as a result of her now exposed backside and legs scraping against the stone on top of her. Inch by inch, she slowly freed herself from the stone’s weight, stretching herself out to rest on the ground.As she lay there, she realized that the horrible smell of the area around her had intensified, and she put a hand to her nose, covering it as she looked around for a way out of the area she'd fallen into. It seemed to be a room hidden under another room, as if simply having rooms normally placed wasn't the formality in this land.As she continued to survey her surroundings, Frisk saw something move in the corner, then stop. As she approached it, it wiggled, then stopped, causing her to approach it further out of curiosity. When she got a clear view of it, it looked to be a larger than usual mound of black jello, it standing at almost half her height.Frisk stretched out her hand to touch the mound, when suddenly it summoned a large pellet which hovered down in front of her face. The pellet then burst into many much smaller pellets which struck her directly in her face, cutting into her skin. Frisk staggered backward, clutching her burning face with one hand while she reached for the stick in her pocket with the other. Another jello monster appeared at her side, sending her to the ground with another pellet that shot through her side.Frisk shrieked at the nearly unbearable pain, yanking the stick out of her hand and struggling to her feet. She charged at one of the jello monsters and plunged the sharp end of the stick into its center, causing it to immediately disintegrate into a bright white dust. She then whipped around, sending the stick completely through another jello monster and causing it to disintegrate like the first.Panicked, Frisk looked around as more monsters began to slither into the area. She dodged a pellet, tripping over and flattening another monster as she fell onto it, causing it to turn to dust which clouded her vision as it rose into the air. When she'd wiped the dust away from her face, she froze at seeing a hoard of jello monsters positioned around her, their pellets hovering in the air as they slowly closed in on her. Suddenly the pellets rapidly shot toward her, and agony seared at her insides as the world around her blackened, and a red heart appeared in front of her, cracking and shattering into the darkness.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Stay determined!"
Frisk jolted upwards, startled by the voice that appeared to have come out of nowhere. At opening her eyes, her heart began to race as she saw that she was surrounded by complete darkness, and she scrambled to her feet, looking around for any glimmer of light that would guard her while she figured out where she was.Her attention was caught by two small lines a distance ahead of her. Upon approaching them, they were found to be two small lines of text which hovered next to each other.CONTINUERESET"Continue where? Reset what?" Frisk asked, hoping the same voice that had spoken to her before would respond.No answer."Hello?" Frisk queried again, but she still received no answer.She briefly positioned her hand over the RESET option, but lowered it at realizing she knew nothing of what it would do if she selected it. She glanced over at the CONTINUE option, but decided against selecting it, instead stepping backward and surveying her surroundings.
Is this the afterlife?
She sighed.
Looks nothing like I imagined.
If this was the afterlife...then was she dead?It was completely empty except for the text before her, contrary to what she expected.But "Continue..."Did that mean she could leave?Without further thought, she lurched forward, slamming her hand onto the CONTINUE option. Slowly, the world around her began to brighten until she had to close her eyes, and at opening them, she found herself at the pile of leaves, standing in front of the same shimmer of golden light she remembered encountering some time earlier.
So that's what this does?
Immediately, her thoughts drifted onto the monsters that had landed her in the afterlife.
Big mistake.
Drawing the stick from her pocket, she raced around the corner and launched herself into the air, bringing every ounce of power from the landing down onto the soft patch in the ground. It immediately collapsed, and Frisk tumbled down with it, but this time made a swift recovery. She rolled over from her back and got to her feet, shielding her face from the falling debris as she rose.As soon as the area had cleared, a silhouette of her enemy caught her eye. She charged towards it, driving the sharp stick through the body of the monster and reducing it to dust before it had the slightest opportunity to react. She whirled around at hearing a slither behind her, and crushed another monster with her foot just as it was beginning to attack. As she looked up, a pellet shot towards her face, and Frisk quickly swung the stick, sending it back towards its owner at twice the speed it'd come at her.That was three down, now how many more?More monsters were beginning to crawl into the area, and Frisk looked around, trying to count how many she'd have to deal with before advancing. She counted at least seven or eight before they began to attack, sending more pellets at her than she could number. She managed to somehow dodge the first wave, but on came the second, and she was hit by quite a few before she had the chance to recover."Haha...nice!" Frisk jeered at the monsters, flashing them a smile before she held out the stick in her hand, her voice dark."My turn."She lunged at and fatally stabbed three, and as they dusted, she kicked another into the wall, watching it splatter across the brick and dust before she turned to face her remaining foes."Are any of you actually friendly, by any chance?" she questioned the final three monsters.One of them wiggled and responded by jumping at and landing on her chest. She staggered backward, digging her hand into and ripping off a portion of the monster's body. It went limp, and the segment that remained on her sweater dusted first, then the other, covering her sweater and hands in powdery gray dust."Well damn, it was just a question." Frisk muttered bitterly. But at looking around, she saw the last two monsters were no longer there.They'd fled.She beat them.