Underearth/Book 4/Chapter 5

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"AGAIN." the beast said.

"What!?" Frisk exacerbated. "Are you seriously expecting me to defeat something like that boney thing?"

"YES." the beast said.

"How? It moved so fast; I didn't even realize I was dead until it already had its hand through my chest!"

"USE MAGIC."

Frisk paused. Magic? Thinking back to his first eidocide, he remembered the incredible feats he managed to perform. Thinking further on them, Frisk then tried to summon a ball of flame in his hand.

"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY." the beast said.

Frisk looked up at it. "What do you mean I don't have the ability?" he asked. "Look at what I managed to do when I was first murdering my way through the Underground."

"THAT WAS LOV'S POWER. NOT YOURS. LOV CHANNELLED ITS POWER THROUGH YOU OR THROUGH ITS POLTERGEIST. YOU HAVE NO POWER FURTHER THAN THE BUDDING STATE OF SOUL MAGIC."

Frisk thought back further. "What about that shield I summoned back with Undyne?" he asked, remembering himself hanging out with Undyne. "She was amazed at what I could do, and even complimented me on my skill."

"THAT WAS NOT YOUR POWER EITHER."

Frisk gawked at the beast. "What do you mean 'not my power'? Who's was it then?"

The beast went silent, aside from the grinding of the cylinders and the explosions of steam. After a few more seconds, it spoke again.

"IRRELEVANT." it said. "THE TIME FOR YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR WORLD HAS COME. SLAY ALL. SEEK OUT TORIEL. YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN THE TIME COMES."

"Wait, I—" Frisk started saying before a chill overtook him and he awoke on the bed of flowers near the Citadel, letting out a sudden gasp for air. When what happened had finally clicked, Frisk simply hit his head against the dirt. "Stupid machine." he mumbled as he stood up and grabbed the dagger, sheathing it in the scabbard he was also sent back with.

As Frisk entered the Citadel, scaring off Flowey and meeting Toriel, he noticed that something seemed... off. Most notably in that Toriel seemed to be more distant than usual, as though she didn't want him coming close. These feelings were confirmed when, for the first time ever, Toriel crossed the small island of spikes without Frisk, as though wanting him to solve it on his own, despite the danger. When he crossed it easily, Toriel simply vanished, only leaving a note behind that told Frisk that she had an errand to run and that it would be best if he progress to the end on his own.

*What the hell...?* Frisk thought as he read the note. *Something isn't right... This isn't something she would do...* Frisk set the note back on the ground and continued through.

Like the times before, Frisk seemed to just *know* where all the Monsters lay hiding so he could torch them out and exterminate them. Through the great slaughter, Frisk made it to the end. To Toriel's home.

"That's close enough, Human..." a motherly, yet cold, voice said.

Frisk stopped moving. Looking around, he saw Toriel staring at him from her doorway. Her eyes were cold, the same coldness she held in her eyes that she seemed to reserve exclusively for Asgore, Frisk thought. Glancing around the scene, he noticed a piece of paper clenched in her soft, shaking fist.

"That powder clinging to you..." she said slowly. "That's SOUL DUST, isn't it... The dust of many Monsters murdered at your hands."

Frisk stepped back, his hand instinctively reaching for the dagger.

Toriel closed her eyes, tears rolling from them down her furry face. When she shot them back open, the cold look had overpowered all other feeling in her eyes, her dark brown eyes now hosting a small orange ring around her pupils. The paper clenched in her fist now burned.

*Charge!* Frisk found himself thinking.

Without much more thought, Frisk charged Toriel, knife in hand. Before she reacted, Frisk had already stabbed her, twisted the knife, and cut it out.

Toriel brought her hand over and covered the gash in her side. She then brought her other hand up over her head, a fire brewing inside it. Before bringing it down, however, she suddenly stopped. Taking advantage of this opening, Frisk grabbed the front of her robe and pulled down, bringing her head to a reachable level. He then brought the knife down right into her eye, then pulled out to one side.

Toriel, shocked in the face of such ferocity from a child, turned to dust. When the robe had fluttered to the ground, a barely perceivable, small, white heart-shaped object—Toriel's SOUL—rose from the ashes.

*Grab it!* Frisk found himself thinking as he watched the ethereal object rise.

Without hesitation, Frisk snatched it. As soon as he did, red sparks flew along his arm and into the SOUL. A second more and the SOUL exploded, the ethereal matter flying in diverse directions before all imploding into Frisk. As the fragments entered his body, surges of power burst through him until it was all inside him. His thoughts then raced through countless magical, arcane techniques and methods of conjuration. When it was finally complete, and he returned to the present state, Frisk found himself lying on the ground, the sound of a water wheel churning his brain.

As Frisk sat up, pain ached every corner of his body.

*I now have the power I need.* Frisk found himself thinking.

While sitting on the ground, Frisk brought his hands up to look at them. Without much thought or effort, fire manifested itself in his hands. Like flicking a switch, the fire vanished, and ice emerged. Like a switch, it then vanished, and Frisk stood up.

Once on his feet, Frisk looked around. The wall off the left side of Toriel's house was gone, and in its place was a river of water. A water wheel spun as the water moved passed it, presumably powering the electrical objects inside the house.

"So, I *wasn't* just seeing things..." Frisk said as he watched the water flow. After a few minutes, Frisk finally walked away and entered the house. From there, Frisk entered the right hallway, walking to the end. The end of the hallway featured a large mirror hanging on the wall. Looking into it, Frisk brought his hand up and, seamlessly, a small cloud of dust appeared and circulated around his hand. Looking into his own eyes, he saw a narrow red band encircling his pupils. Frisk dispelled the cloud and summoned a shield. The narrow band then glowed ivory. Dispelling the shield, Frisk then manifested a small fire in the palm of his hand. The narrow band glowed orange. Extinguishing the fire, Frisk then summoned a small ice cube. The band then glowed light blue. When he dispelled the ice cube, his hand then started giving off a green aura. Looking into his eyes, he saw that the band was now green.

When the glow faded, Frisk stepped away from the mirror and back down the hallway to the foyer. From there, he descended the stairs, walked the long hallway, and exited through the door to the Snowdin Province.