Underearth/Book 4/Prologue

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Frisk, a young nigh-twelve-year-old boy, felt hazy. Feelings of hours and days all happening in seconds, yet not. He gripped his head, covering his heterochromatic eyes with his hands as a splitting headache engulfed his senses. He thought back to his friends. The two goofy skeletons, Sans and Papyrus; the two kind goat Monsters, Asgore and Toriel; the fish lady, Undyne; even the annoying lizard, Alphys. He pictured them all lined up, ready to leave the Underground after years of captivity. Then, all at once, a red slash formed across each and every one of them, and they all turned to dust.

Frisk let out a scream, screaming into the infinite black that engulfed him. The fruits of his selfish desires for power. All his friends lie dead at his hand, and perhaps one more suffering consequences for his selfishness.

"Interesting." a soft, soothing voice cut through the eternal void. "You want to go back. You want to go back to the world you destroyed."

These words cut into Frisk like a thousand knives. The world you destroyed. Frisk pulled his knees up to his head, holding them tight there with his arms. The soothing voice simply continued, a sly sharpness entering their speech.

"It was you who pushed everything to its edge. It was you who led the world to its destruction. But you cannot accept it. You think you are above consequences?"

Frisk, in response to this question, whimpered out a quiet "... no..."

"Then what are you looking for?"

The voice stopped.

Frisk held tighter to his legs, seeking comfort in the closeness of something in this forsaken void; the very same void where he had decided to slaughter his friends.

"Perhaps." the voice eventually spoke again. "We can reach a compromise. You still have something I want. Give it to me. And I will bring this world back."

Frisk lifted his head. A chance to return? A chance to return to the world? He just had to give her something.

"What do you want?" Frisk asked.

The voice's owner wrapped her arms around Frisk's neck, her head placing itself beside Frisk's.

"Your SOUL." she whispered into his ear, all the softness and soothing aspects replaced with acidic bitterness.

As she held to him, Frisk began to unfurl, her warm body, despite her acidic tone, setting him at ease. His SOUL is what she wanted? Frisk brought his hand out. When he did this, a red heart-shaped object slowly appeared in his hand. All he needed to do was give this to her, and he could return.

As he pondered what to do, Frisk could feel fingers feeling their way up his arms. Moving his eyes to see what it was, he saw Chara extending her hands toward his. Upon reaching their full extent, her hands went under his, palm up, waiting for the SOUL to be placed in them. Seeing this, Frisk slowly rotated his own hands, having decided to give it to her.

Just before the SOUL entered her hands, Frisk's vision was suddenly engulfed in flame; the blackness of the void replaced with Athens; the painful silence replaced with screams of agony as fire consumed countless buildings; in the middle of it all standing Chara, bathing in the anguish of Humanity.

Frisk pulled away, returning to the infinite black of the Timeless Void. He turned to face Chara.

"You'll kill them..." he said. "You'll kill them all."

Chara's lip curled downwards. "They will get what they deserve." she said, her voice now dripping with unbridled hatred.

"NO!" he shouted. Though he himself despised Humanity, what he had seen filled him with horror. It was monstrous.

Chara's face relaxed to a more neutral expression. "Then stay here for all eternity." she said before vanishing.

Years turned to decades; decades turned to centuries, centuries turned to millennia; and millennia turned to seconds. Had it been years? Had it even been a day? The memories of what Frisk had done haunted him as though he had done them yesterday, so it couldn't have been more than a day. Frisk held his head tightly. Time seemed so meaningless. Was it even still Tuesday? How old was he? Each question strained his brain. Eventually, such a headache had been brought on by the questions that Frisk tossed wildly through the emptiness. His thrashing continued until he bashed his head on a solid object. Now his head truly throbbed with pain.

"What the hell was that...?" Frisk said, surprising himself with his own ability to speak. Looking over at what he'd hit, Frisk saw a large crystal-like glass door that glistened a bright light blue like that of a diamond. Drifting closer, he saw a diamond-like doorknob jutting out on one side. Grasping it, Frisk twisted it, opening the door, and stepping through.

Beyond the door was a sight of indescribable beauty. All around Frisk was a great sea of glass like that of the door; the sky clouded with a brilliant contrast of off-white light blue and gold, the sea of glass reflecting this brilliance.

As he gazed upon the awesome sight, Frisk eventually laid eyes upon a massive metallic beast. As soon as his eyes locked onto it, a thousand robotic eyes, both before and behind, opened, their shining red light all pointing to Frisk like spotlights. The beast then approached him, its golden bronze form shifting as it moved, great cylinders cycling as jets of steam erupted from numerous orifices. Upon reaching the point directly in front of Frisk, it stopped. More steam exploded from its body before it then spoke in a digital/mechanical like manner.

"FRISK ANECROS ANENDOTOS." it said. "YOUR SENTENCE IS FULFILLED."

Frisk looked up at the beast in awe.

"W... what are you?" Frisk asked.

"A SERVANT OF A GREATER CAUSE." it answered.

"What greater cause?"

The beast's cylinders and bands cycled again as steam billowed from its body. Eventually, it stopped, and answered. "HOPE."

Hope. A word so lost to Frisk, he felt as though he had forgotten what it meant.

"BEFORE, I SHOWED YOU A FRUIT OF CHARA'S PLANS WITH YOUR SOUL. DO YOU DESIRE TO SEE THE FULL YIELD?"

Frisk thought back to the burning city, remembering it as though he had just seen it. Slowly, Frisk opened his mouth to respond.

"Yes." he said.

As soon as he answered, the sea of glass vanished from around him, and he saw the surface. He was standing next to Toriel, who was smiling down at him. He then found himself, standing a bit higher, in some kind of workshop; Alphys standing nearby holding a shard of a metal blade. Next thing he knew, Alphys was gone, the shop was dark, and he was standing tall. A heavy bulk weighed down on his shoulders as he put on a mask and grabbed a sword. He then saw Humans being slaughtered like it was going out of business through the visor of the mask as he sent the blade sailing through them. The streets flowed in a river of blood. Monsters defended Humanity from his onslaught, only to be slain alongside the Humans they so zealously defended. Eventually, through the holocaust of billions of Humans, the vision faded, and Frisk collapsed to his knees on the ground, back in the sea of glass.

"THEIR HATRED OF HUMANITY IS GREAT." the machine said as Frisk knelt on the ground, gasping for air. "GREATER STILL THROUGH YOUR MURDEROUS EFFORTS AT PEACE."

What the beast said struck Frisk with a horrid question. Was it they who caused this sickening behavior? Thinking back to what she had said back in the throne room, Frisk remembered. She had said that it was him who had guided her to the realization of her reincarnation. Power.

Shaking, Frisk stood back up. Once he was back on his feet, he looked up at the beast.

"What can I do to stop this?" he asked.

The machine looked down upon him, the cylinders and bands cycling again as steam poured from the openings in its body. A minute later, it answered.

"YOU MUST CONFRONT CHARA."

"How?"

The machine went silent again, save for the endless columns of steam that billowed from its bronze form and the ceaseless cycling of its cylinders and bands. Eventually, it spoke again.

"KILL EVERYONE, NO MATTER WHAT, UNTIL CHARA IS DEFEATED."

"Done." Frisk said immediately after.

When Frisk had given his affirmation, the sea of glass began to glow gold, and a chill enveloped the area. Next thing he knew, Frisk was waking up, letting out a sudden gasp for air within the hollow caves of the Underground.