Underearth/Book 2/Chapter 9

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Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Frisk looked around. Not a single one of those creatures in sight. Having come from the left, Frisk decided to head right. The trip wasn't all that far, and Frisk soon found himself in the next room.

The following room was quite a sight to behold. The entire center and back portions of the room were completely consumed by a massive pit. Above the pit, hanging from the ceiling on thick cables, hung a massive skull-shaped machine.

Behind the machine, behind its left side, Frisk found another downward staircase. Following it down, Frisk soon found himself within quite the large workroom. The left corner of this room featured a desk, upon it sitting a large tube-monitor. To the right of the desk stood a couple of bookshelves filled to the brim with VHS tapes. Between the bookshelves sat a large tube-television sitting on a short table, in front of it lay five VHS tapes caked in dust. To the right of the bookshelves was another machine embedded in the wall.

Upon seeing the machine, Frisk walked over to it first. The central slot was yellow. Almost immediately, Frisk brought up the yellow cylinder still clutched in his left hand and slid it into the slot. Just as the other two had, this machine began glowing to, just yellow instead of red or green. Soon after the cylinder was slotted into the slot, Frisk saw the computer screen on the other side of the room flicker to life. He then walked over to investigate.

"NECROTIC SOUL PERSISTENCE PROJECT" the top of the screen read.

One by one, Frisk read the eight entries. The entries detailed how somebody was seeking a way to "kill Cerberus". The one who made the entries, over the course of the project, discovered seven TRAITs of the SOUL, a prominent focus for the researcher was the TRAIT they called "DETERMINATION", which took the form of a golden liquid. They then described how they planned to use this "DT" to force a Monster SOUL to persist after the destruction of the body. The final entry detailed the researcher injecting a flower with "DT" for many days, though nothing ever happened. Eventually, they scrapped the project, favoring an alternate method not detailed.

Just as Frisk finished reading the last entry, an unearthly roar rang out from the top of the stairs. Frisk snapped back, getting ready to be attacked.

*What was that?* he thought, approaching the stairs slowly.

Frisk then slowly started climbing. Slowly and cautiously, he peaked his head over the top. Nothing. Stepping up the rest of the stairs, Frisk looked around the room. Still nothing.

*Where did that roar come from?* he thought, looking around.

Frisk then felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. Looking over at it, he saw that it was some of the white sludge these creatures seemed to be made of. Frisk turned around and looked up. There it was, a massive writhing mass of white sludge clinging to the wall above the door-frame. As soon as he saw it, Frisk sucked in a gasp of horror. Backing away slowly, he hoped, prayed, that it hadn't noticed him yet.

As Frisk started to reach the corridor he'd come from, the creature started... laughing? It then looked over at Frisk, its eyes, though looking closed, were still showing in very narrow slits; its massive teeth poking out of its gaping mouth. The creature then fell to the ground, its large, muscular serpentine body reforming from the mess of sludge.

While it did all this, all Frisk could do was watch. After it finished reforming, the creature, still looking straight at Frisk, let out a roar that could send gods quivering. As soon as Frisk heard this roar, he ran for it, back down the hall. The serpent creature gave chase.

Running through the hall, Frisk caught sight of the doorway that lead to the bed room. Running through it, Frisk slammed his back against the wall next to the doorway, hoping the creature would pass him.

As the creature neared the doorway, it came to a halt, sniffing at the air. It then began advancing toward the room Frisk was hiding in.

Frisk, knowing from the sound that it wasn't leaving, raced through his thoughts, trying to think of a way out of this situation. It then came to him. The golden liquid in his pocket, the DETERMINATION. Frisk pulled out another vial and threw it at the wall far to his left, the wall next to the doorway that lead to the mirror corridor.

As soon as the vial shattered, the beast charged into the room, coming down hard onto the golden liquid. While it was distracted, Frisk slipped away back into the corridor. From there, he made his way back to the room with the giant skull-shaped machine hanging from the ceiling.

Upon arriving, Frisk crossed the room to the other side. A cold draft emanated from the room beyond. Stepping into it, the room beyond was filled with refrigerators. The room itself was as cold as a fridge. As he walked through, Frisk thought he heard... crying.

At the end of the room, Frisk found another staircase that lead down. As he got near it, he thought he heard a woman's voice come from the refrigerator closest to him.

"Sn... o... wy...?" it said.

Frisk looked at the refrigerator. Suddenly, the metal exterior started shifting until it fell off entirely. Within the metal exterior hid another one of those creatures. Upon shedding the metal, it started morphing until it reached the shape of what looked like a snowflake merged with a Human. Like all the other creatures, it seemed to barely be holding itself together. Unlike the other creatures, it didn't seem to act aggressively.

"He... llo..." it said upon seeing Frisk.

"Uh... hi." he said back.

The creature didn't seem to care that Frisk was here. It just kept looking down at something it was holding. Moving to see what it was, Frisk saw it was the blue cylinder.

"Excuse me." he then said. The creature looked up at him. "Could I have that please?"

The creature just stared at him for a few seconds. It then looked down at the cylinder it was holding. After a few more seconds, it brought it up and handed it to Frisk.

"Thank you." he said, walking off to the staircase.

"You...'re... wel... come..."

Frisk walked down the staircase. Just as he'd suspected, it was another room with a machine in it. Frisk inserted the blue cylinder into the machine, and it too began glowing blue. Frisk then turned around and went back up the stairs. The creature was still sitting in the same place. Not bothering with it, Frisk walked past, leaving the refrigerator room.

Frisk continued walking until he'd made it to the bed room. The serpent creature was gone. Looking around, Frisk couldn't find it anywhere, not even on the ceiling.

Frisk, cautiously, entered the room, crossing it so he could get to the lobby.

*This should be it.* Frisk thought, walking down the hallway beyond. *Four lights, four cylinders, four machines. All lit. The door's lights should also be all lit.*

With that thought in mind, Frisk entered the lobby.