Underearth/Book 5/Chapter 5

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Rocks exploded from the surrounding walls as spears slammed full force into them. Frisk ran through the dense grasses, evading capture from the armored maniac that was chasing him. Within the grass, Frisk thought about how he ended up in this situation.

Papyrus advanced to tell Undyne about him. Having a pretty good idea of how it would end, Frisk crept forward to the concealment of the grass that lay only a few feet away.

"H... HI, UNDYNE!" Papyrus said. "I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT... URGENT MATTERS FIRST, MY BROTHER AND I MANAGED TO CAPTURE A HUMAN."

"WHAT!?" Undyne shouted. "You did? Excellent work, Papyrus! I'm proud of you. I assume Sans is guarding them now?"

"NO. I ACTUALLY BROUGHT THEM WILL ME TO MEET YOU!"

Undyne stood there, staring at Papyrus. "You did WHAT?!!?"

"I, UHHH, BROUGHT THEM HERE SO YOU COULD MEET THEM!"

"Where are they!?" she demanded.

"UH, RIGHT OVER THERE." he pointed to where Frisk had been standing.

"Over where, Papyrus? There's nothing there!"

Papyrus took a look. "OH SHOOT."

Undyne jumped off the cliff, landing on the level where Frisk was. "Come on!" she said to Papyrus. "They can't have gone far."

Frisk, figuring his chances would be better if he started running now, bolted ahead.

"THERE YOU ARE!!!" Undyne shouted, throwing a spear at Frisk, though missing.

Frisk continued running, not looking back, through the caverns ahead, jumping over dividing waters and breaking through a wall until he reached the broken wooden bridge that stood in the center of a lake.

Running across the bridge, Frisk shot himself across the great divide in its middle with fire magic. Undyne was hot on his trail, summoning more spears and launching them at him.

Landing, Frisk ran the final lengths of the bridge, diving into another (though much larger) section of grass.

A minute later, Undyne walked into the grass and began her search. Despite being as thorough as she possibly could be, no fruit bore from her search, and she left a few minutes later.

"She must *really* hate Humans, huh." Chara said, watching the affair with interest.

"Yeah, she does. I'm sure you two would have *loads* to talk about. Think you have any other things in common with her?"

"Good question. For now, it seems that the way is clear."

"Looks that way, doesn't it."

Frisk crept out of the grass and down the long tunnel ahead. The glowing stones embedded within the walls and ceiling grew more numerous as he walked.

"Heya, kiddo." Sans said from further down, standing next to a telescope.

"Hey Sans."

"Calibri is up ahead. Apparently, he's had an epiphany and is wanting to visit 'major historical locations' around the Underground. Trying to piece together the past or something."

"Sounds... fun? What major historical location is around here?"

"Something important, through that doorway." Sans gestured to a mineshaft-like doorway.

Walking through, Frisk emerged in a dark tunnel, ending in a well-lit chamber. Calibri stood at the end, staring up at a massive plaque.

"Sup Frisk." Calibri said. "Welcome."

"Hey Calibri. Sans said you were looking up history?"

"That's one way to put it."

"So what's around here?"

Calibri pointed to the massive plaque. "This. A first-hand account of the War between the Humans and the Monsters, written by Asgore."

"Really? What does it say exactly?"

"Good question. I'd love to know the answer to that myself, but I don't read Greek."

"Wait, Greek!?"

"Yeah. That's the language the Monsters spoke before the 'Anglification', as Wing called it."

"What's Greek?" Chara asked. "This is Anendotan."

"What?" Frisk said.

"What what?"

"Chara asked what Greek was, saying that this is Anendotan."

"Hmm, interesting. Chara, could you help me translate this?"

"C-can he hear me?"

Calibri didn't respond.

"Can you hear her?" Frisk asked Calibri.

"No, but I assume she can hear me, right?"

"Yeah, she can hear you."

"Excellent. Then, with you acting as go-between, we can all find out what this says."

Chara let out a sigh. "Fine. Yes, I can do it."

"She agrees to translate."

"Brilliant. You can start whenever."

Chara looked up at the plaque.

"The War of Humans and Monsters." she began. "Why did the Humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every Monster just to equal the power of a single Human SOUL. But Humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the Human body, even after death. If a Monster kills a Human, they can take its SOUL. A Monster with a Human SOUL... A terrible beast with unfathomable power. The power to take their SOULs. This is the power that the Humans feared. This power has no counter. Indeed, a Human cannot take a Monster's SOUL. When a Monster dies, its SOUL disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the SOUL of a living Monster. There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species of Monster called a 'Boss Monster'. A Boss Monster's SOUL is strong enough to persist after death, if only for a few moments. A Human could absorb this SOUL. But this has never happened. And now it never will. The Humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy. In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the Humans were too powerful, and us Monsters too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless Monsters were turned to dust. Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the Humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave. There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven Human SOULs, attacks the seal, it will be broken."

As Frisk finished his recitation to Calibri, Calibri brought his hand up to his chin.

"Interesting..." he said. Calibri then turned on his heel and walked down the dark tunnel, saying "interesting" in increasingly troubled tones.

"What do you think is so interesting?" Chara asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Frisk, too, then walked back down the dark tunnel. Exiting back into the relatively brighter area, he then walked down a bridge into the glowing marsh below.