Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Vendigo casually stepped over the deactivated automaton and crouched down to brush off a bit of grime on its back, revealed a very faint Delta Rune symbol underneath, before standing back up and stepping past the Autofender, his gaze lingering on it for a few more seconds before turning back towards Avery with an impassive expression.

“You probably read the inscription, right? The Autofender was built during the war to help fight against the human using some reanimation magic. It was a valiant fighter, but it ultimately fell during battle. Once we were sealed down here, we brought the automaton down here, but King Asgore wanted it packed away. But considering it was built to battle humans, I’d say that your presence probably woke it up.”

* You ask if the Autofender is okay.

“Yes, it is fine. I simply de-powered it. Not too dissimilar to turning a machine off.”

“Ugh… My head hurts…” Onyx mumbled from where she had landed after being hit by one of the Autofender’s energy balls, reaching for her hat and putting it back upon her head. Avery moved over to her and helped her back up to her feet. “Thanks, Avery. What did I miss?– Oh, hi, Mr. Vendigo.”

“Salutations, Onyx,” Vendigo greeted with a slight wave of his clawed hand, before turning towards the closed gate that Avery had their back towards during the battle against the Autofender. “My, this gate must be very old. I can provide a hint if you wish.” The tall monster murmured while glancing back towards Avery over his shoulder.

* You ask why Vendigo can’t just solve the puzzle himself.

“I wouldn’t be a very good mentor if I solved it for you, now would I?” Vendigo said in response with a flicker of amusement in his eyes while stepping aside from the gate so that Avery would have free access to the buttons. “But I’ll help you. The different letters on these buttons represent high-ranking members of monster society. Of course you have the royal family, their two more well-known officials, and two… less well-known officials.”

“Monster society is a hierarchy, much like human society, so let’s order them,” Vendigo murmured with his arms crossed as Avery stepped towards the buttons after looking to Onyx for comfort, who gave the human a silent thumbs-up, before Vendigo suddenly asked: “What do you think the order is?”

Avery stepped on the ‘K’ button first, which they knew stood for the KING.

“King ASGORE is the ruler of monsterkind and has been for centuries. He’s not as intimidating as you may think he is though. Trust me, he’s about as gentle as they come. Everything he does is for the hopes and dreams of his people. Yes, the ‘King’ button is the first one of the order. What comes next?”

Avery stepped on the ‘Q’ button next, which they knew stood for the QUEEN.

“Queen TORIEL once ruled monsterkind with Asgore, but she fled the kingdom a long time ago and hasn’t been seen since. She was an incredibly kindhearted mother, if a bit overbearing at times. Yes, ‘Queen’ comes after ‘King’ in the order. What is next?”

Avery stepped on the ‘P’ button next, which they knew stood for the PRINCE.

“Prince ASRIEL… Correct, ‘Prince’ comes after ‘Queen’ in the order. What is next?"

Avery stepped on the ‘S’ button next, which they knew stood for the ROYAL SCIENTIST.

“The Royal Scientist is the position that works directly under the royal family, often doubling as an advisor. The position’s been empty for years, but we recently got a new one. I believe her name is Alphys if I recall correctly. The one before her… hm. Their name escapes me right now. Maybe I’ll remember later. Regardless, who do you think is next?”

Avery stepped on the ‘C’ button next, which they knew stood for the CAPTAIN of the Royal Guard.

“The Captain of the Royal Guard is probably the most well-known of positions that work for the King. They serve as symbols of hope and devotion towards his majesty, often inspiring young monsters to be just like them. The current one is named Undyne I believe, but the one before her was Gerson, an old friend of mine.”

Avery backed away from the buttons while glancing towards the ‘J’ and ‘E’ ones. They moved over to the sign and tried to see if they could figure out what it was trying to say for any potential hints, but it was completely undecipherable, so they instead went up to Vendigo.

“Hm? Do you need something?”

* You ask Vendigo what ‘J’ and ‘E’ buttons stand for.

“Ah, I see,” Vendigo murmured quietly as he glanced past the human and towards the sign on the other side of the gate. “I take it that the sign is practically unreadable? Very well, I will tell you. The ‘J’ stands for ROYAL JUDGE and… the ‘E’ stands for ROYAL EXECUTIONER.”

Avery nodded before stepping away from Vendigo and looking back towards the gate, alternating their gaze between the two buttons. It made sense that monster society would more than likely have some sort of criminal justice system, but Avery couldn’t recall ever hearing about it up until now. Maybe that’s what Vendigo meant by ‘less well-known officials’?

Now the only question was which one ranked higher. After a bit of thought, Avery stepped on the ‘J’ button.

“Mm. Correct. The Royal Judge is a position that isn’t exactly well-known compared to the Royal Scientist or Captain of the Royal Guard. They officiate judgements of any criminals that may crop up and decide whether or not they are guilty. Not to mention that it’s a family lineage, not yet an elected position.”

With no other choices, Avery then stepped on the ‘E’ button finally, causing the gate to slowly open.

“This is how you know this gate is incredibly old. The Royal Executioner is not a position that exists anymore, having been dissolved shortly after New Home was settled and established. After all, it was only ever maintained out of incredibly ancient tradition. The queen openly despised it and I can’t imagine the king thought much higher of it.”

Onyx stepped up next to Avery with a curious expression, her tail flickering behind her.

“A Royal Executioner? Like… someone who kills professionally? That sounds…” Onyx trailed off as she couldn’t seem to find a word to describe it. Avery was about to provide a suggestion, only for Vendigo to speak up first.

“Morally-questionable? No doubt about it,” Vendigo murmured wistfully in response. “Granted, it was meant to kill criminals that deserved a death sentence, as determined by the Royal Judge. The two roles worked in tandem to form a sort of “Royal Court,” although that’s by no means an official term.”

“Huh. I’m… surprised I didn’t know that. Feels like something I should’ve learned about in history class.”

“Not really. The position’s name was purposefully expunged from textbooks by the queen’s request after the last Executioner retired and advocated for it to be dissolved,” Vendigo replied while averting his gaze off to the side, his arms folded over his chest. “In other words, only older monsters that were around before we were sealed down here would remember it.”

* You point out that whilst you are enjoying the history lesson, there are pressing matters to attend to.

“Ah, right!” Onyx spoke after realizing, gripping the brim of her hat. “Mr. Vendigo, Salva attacked Avery, then she started fighting with Mr. Nanook and Miss Scourm! They all fled down there!” She hastily explained to the taller monster while gesturing down off the side of the cliff. Vendigo casually glanced down where she was indicating before turning back towards the two of them.

“I see,” he noted in a steely calm voice. “It’s par for the course, I’m afraid. Salva… Well, it’s no secret per se, but she harbors a deep grudge against humans.” He said, despite Onyx’s eyes widening in surprise as if it was a surprise to her. Avery, however, simply recalled her first interactions with Salva back in Anchor Town as proof enough of Vendigo’s statement.

“Why would she have a grudge against humans? Has she met one before Avery?”

“No,” Vendigo replied to Onyx’s question with a quick shake of his head. “Remember what I said about the Royal Judge being a family lineage? Well, Salva is the last member of that family lineage, ergo she is the current Royal Judge of monsterkind. The one before her, her father, well…” He paused for a few moments, as if thinking how to word his next statement.

“Her father didn’t exactly have the greatest opinion of humans, to put it simply. He fought in the war against humanity as one of monsterkind’s top commanders alongside the Captain of the Royal Guard, Royal Scientist, and Royal Executioner at the time. When he tried to train Salva to uphold their family legacy, he imprinted his bias against humans on her before passing away.”

“A bias against humans?” Onyx asked quietly before scratching her chin in thought. “That… doesn’t sound like something that a Royal Judge should have.” She pointed out, earning a huff of laughter from Vendigo, who shook his head in response.

“No, it isn’t,” he replied flatly. “Ever since I started mentoring Salva, I’ve been… trying to help her move past it, but I fear my efforts may have been… too subtle. You two can continue forging down this path, I will meet you up ahead.” Vendigo murmured with a nod before turning and then hopping down the cliff, disappearing in a moment’s notice.

“Aw man… I wish I had known that about Salva’s dad. I feel like a bad friend,” Onyx murmured with a slightly guilty look in her eyes as she gripped the brim of her hat. “I hope she’s alright. I know she’s capable, but Mr. Nanook and Miss Scourm aren’t pushovers either…” She mumbled under her breath with a strange look on her face.

* You tell Onyx that you know what she is.

“H–Huh!? Wh–What’s that supposed to mean!?” Onyx asked incredulously with a slight flush on her face before shaking her head. “W–We’re wasting time! We need to go!” She pointed before Avery nodded and ran through the now open gate with Onyx following right behind them. The path continued winding downwards to where the others had disappeared to, Avery only stopping at a SAVE point briefly, silently thanking Onyx for being with them so that they didn’t have to see Flowey again.

* AVERY - LV 1

* Waterfall - Downhill

* Successfully saved to FILE 4.

“Jeez, how far did they go down? I can’t even see the bottom yet,” Onyx commented as she briefly peered over the edge cautiously. “Well, I mean, I can see the lake down there, but that’s only because it’s reflecting the gemstones on the ceiling.” She added on while gesturing towards the ceiling, where several glittering rocks shimmered like stars.

As Avery and Onyx continued moving forward, they suddenly came to a halt as someone walked in front of their path, a face that the human actually recognized; as they had been talking to him in his shop around when they first made it into Waterfall, Gerson, who laughed in his signature manner before addressing them.

“It’s good to see ya again, kiddo! I’ve heard you’ve been doing pretty well for yourself! Surviving witches, miners, scourges, automatons, and more!” Gerson said in a chipper manner with a wave, his other hand on the walking stick he was using, before seemingly reading the human’s confused expression. “Eh? How do I know about all that? Wa-ha-ha! I have my ways!” He chuckled before taking a few steps closer towards the two of them.

“But, anywho, I didn’t visit ya here for just a chat, y’know?” Gerson continued with a smile, keeping his gaze trained on the human. “Feeling up for a little spar, just you and me?” He asked, prompting Onyx to clear her throat and speak up.

“Um… we’re kinda in the middle of something here–”

“Eh, don’t worry! Won’t take too much of your time!” Gerson cut her off with a dismissive shrug before looking back towards the human. “Well, whaddya say?” He asked enthusiastically, which Avery paused at, thinking silently to themselves for several seconds before finally giving a nod.

“…Heh. That’s the spirit, kiddo! Hope you’re ready for this…” The elderly monster murmured as Onyx moved off to the side to watch the match between them. “…Cuz you’re about to see why they used to call me the Hammer of Justice!”

Suddenly, everything turned black and white once more, Avery’s purple SOUL appearing in front of their chest, along with the options on what to do ranging from MAGIC, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. Gerson laughed as he casually tossed his cane aside, before in the next moment a large warhammer was suddenly held in his hand and hoisted over his shoulder.

“Come on now!”

* Gerson attacks! Use your magic to impress him!

Avery paused for a moment as they read that, briefly glancing at the MAGIC button before instead clicking the ACT button and looking at the two options presented before them: Check and Withstand. Curious to learn more, the purple-souled human decided to click Check first.

* GERSON, THE HAMMER OF JUSTICE - 20 AT, 50 DF

* An old war-time hero of monsterkind. His title comes from his weapon of choice.

“An eensy-teensy birdie told me a bit about you. Just a kid with a fascination for magic, eh?” Gerson asked in a friendly manner. “Writing everythin’ into that journal of yours. I respect it! If I hadn’t turned out as a warrior, I probably would’ve been a writer myself!”

After he spoke, Avery noticed as Gerson’s hammer flashed three times - orange, blue, orange - before the monster was suddenly standing directly in front of them and ready to swing the hammer. Avery took a step back as Gerson’s hammer passed through them after it was swung, and then stood still for the second swing, before backing away once more for the final one. In a flash, Gerson was back where he was originally standing.

* You’re holding your breath.

Once it was their turn again, Avery couldn’t resist the allure of the MAGIC button, clicking it and reluctantly targeting Gerson, before charging up the Rushing Water spell and then firing it as a blast of water that soared towards the elderly monster, but with a quick swing of his hammer, the spell was intercepted out of the air and turned into nothing more than a couple droplets.

“But there’s somethin’ about ya that’s eatin’ me up inside. I get your interest in magic and why you wanna learn it, don’t get me wrong…” Gerson trailed off for a moment as he settled his hammer back on his shoulder. “What’s got me curious is what you intend to do after you fulfill your goal? You learn all of these fancy spells, but for what?”

This gave Avery some pause, barely paying attention to red indicators that flashed to the left and right sides of the arena multiple times. Gerson suddenly swung his hammer over the first of the indicated areas and hit the human in the process, taking off five health immediately. This made them re-focus on what was happening and dodge the rest of Gerson’s swings by moving back and forth across the arena.

This time, Avery went back to the ACT menu and clicked Withstand out of curiosity.

* Despite what’s against you, you’re still standing.

* That simple fact encourages you to keep standing.

* Recovered all HP!

Immediately, Avery’s fifteen remaining health went back up to twenty.

“I mean, at the end of the day, you’re still trapped down here. With a bounty on your head just because you’re a human,” Gerson mused before tilting his head in a puzzled manner. “Did you really think this whole thing through when you decided to take the plunge?”

Avery felt a pit slowly form in their stomach, knowing that they hadn’t. They’d been so tunnel-visioned on their goal of learning magic that they hadn’t considered what would happen to them afterwards. But before the human could dwell on it further, Gerson attacked once more. A red indicator flashed on Avery’s position before Gerson prepared to swing, barely giving the human enough time to move out of the way. The elderly monster did this two more times before it was Avery’s turn again.

Conflicted on what to do, Avery just clicked MERCY and used the Spare option.

“Look, I’m not tryin’ to dissuade you, kiddo,” Gerson said apologetically. “I can tell you’re a pretty smart cookie just by lookin’ at ya! You’re just… a bit short-sighted, ironically enough. Maybe you don’t fully realize that your story is in your hands.”

That caught Avery’s attention as Gerson prepared to attack again. Several red indicators flashed across the arena, moving in a counter-clockwise manner, before the turtle monster suddenly disappeared in a blur of movement, striking against the indicated areas one by one, prompting the human to run around in a circle in order to evade them until the attack concluded.

“After all, who’s better to dictate your own story than yourself, right?” Gerson asked thoughtfully after Avery took their turn with the Spare action once more. “You get to choose what path you follow, not anyone else! But that begs the question… What path do you follow now? Maybe you’d be interested in one… where you get to utilize all that magic you learned a bit more?”

Avery considered the old man’s words, before slowly moving their gaze down to their SOUL down in front of them. After a few moments, it suddenly began glowing even more than usual, surrounded in a faint and mystical outline. But before they could ponder that further, the separate halves of the arena were attacked by Gerson, forcing the human to dart back and forth in order to evade them.

And then, what appeared to be a green turtle shell was slid across the ground towards Avery. As it got closer, time seemed to slow down briefly, before the human glanced down at their SOUL and took a deep breath. Suddenly, a small blast of light erupted from their SOUL, deflecting the shell back towards Gerson, who struck it aside with his hammer.

* Your SOUL is glowing a radiant aura.

“Wa-ha-ha! Nicely done, kiddo! Looks like Ol’ Vendy was right! You do got the skills to use that magic of yours!” Gerson cheered happily with an infectious smile that Avery soon found forming onto their own face. “You just needed someone to push ya in the right direction!”

From the side, a shell suddenly slid across the area before bouncing off of the wall and soaring straight towards Avery, but with some quick thinking and timing, the human was able to deflect it back towards Gerson, who struck the shell aside once more.

* Gerson seems excited.

“But we’re not done here yet. The question still remains for ya; what now?” Gerson asked curiously as he scratched his chin in thought with his free hand. “Geh heh heh… Well, that’s ultimately up to you to decide! You’re a smart kid. I’m sure you can think of a productive use for that magic!”

Three different shells slid in from alternating sides, bouncing off the sides of the area and then towards Avery, who was slowly getting into the rhythm of reflecting them back towards Gerson, who kept striking them aside and removing them from the field as a result.

* Seems like the both of you are having fun.

“Will you use it solely for yourself…?” Gerson asked, implanting the possibilities into Avery’s head. “Or will you use it for the benefits of others?” He asked before shells slid onto the field from alternating sides once more, this time being five shells instead of three, but Avery was still able to reflect them back at Gerson, who flawlessly knocked them away.

* The air crackles with fighting spirit.

“Like I said; it’s your story!” Gerson continued on cheerfully. “And while you can’t control every aspect… You do get to control its general course!” He added on before conjuring a shell right in front of him and striking it with his hammer towards Avery, who used their magic to once more reflect it after scrambling to adapt, with Gerson striking it aside once more.

“Hey, wait… Are you still holdin’ back on me, kiddo!?” Gerson asked before laughing in his signature manner. “I may be old, but I’m a lot tougher than I look! C’mon, make use of that other spell of yours!” He said with a nod, before striking another shell towards Avery, who reflected it back, only to have it be reflected back at them with another swing of Gerson’s hammer. This went back-and-forth about five times before Gerson finally struck it aside.

But that wasn’t the end, as Gerson suddenly threw a hammer directly towards Avery. Time felt like it slowed down once more as the human felt like the heavier hammer wouldn’t be reflected by their magic, so instead, they suddenly conjured a shield around them, which the hammer struck against before disappearing.

“Good, good, you’re getting better and better!” Gerson encouraged with an even happier expression than before. “Now, one more question to ask, if ya don’t mind, kiddo. What role do you want to play in this story of yours?”

The elderly monster suddenly disappeared in a flash of motion, before an entire wall of hammers appeared and was hurled towards Avery, who had to put up their shield to block them, although the human’s mind was elsewhere, pondering Gerson’s question about what role they wanted to play. Eventually, they smirked, knowing their answer.

“Hm… Actually, don’t answer that question. I can tell through your expression.” Gerson said in full confidence, resting his free hand on his hip. “At the end of the day, you strive to do what’s right, right? I can relate to that, kiddo. I once had goals pretty similar to that. I wonder if you’ll go further than I ever did…” He trailed off before beginning his next attack, disappearing rapidly again.

Hammers were suddenly thrown one-by-one from random positions around the human towards them at ludicrously high speeds, to the point where the first one ended up striking the human in the back of the head, taking off three health, before they began to successfully block them with their shield. After using the Withstand ACT to heal, Onyx suddenly spoke up from the sidelines.

“Whoo! You’ve got this, Avery! This guy’s got nothing on you!” She cheered enthusiastically before an apologetic look suddenly crossed her face while glancing towards Gerson. “Er… no offense, mister.” She murmured, but the older monster just answered with gleeful laughter.

“Wa-ha-ha! None taken!” Gerson replied with an amused nod towards the witch. “This is the most exhilarating fight I’ve had in a while!” He added on diligently with another bark of laughter before disappearing once more for his next attack, three hammers at a time being thrown towards Avery in semi-circle patterns from random areas around the human, who side-stepped between them while occasionally blocking them with their shield. After avoiding several throws, Gerson reappeared in his original spot with a hearty laugh.

“And on top of wanting to be a hero, you’ve even got friends backing you up?” Gerson asked while glancing briefly towards Onyx on the sidelines. “That’s a step I never really took until I started showin’ my age! Maybe you could teach me a few things, kiddo! Wa-ha-ha!”

As Gerson laughed, a circle of smaller hammers appeared around the human, roughly ten in total by Avery’s count, before one was suddenly hurled towards them, who was barely able to block it with their shield, and then repeating the process for the other nine hammers. Suddenly, Gerson disappeared and two afterimages of him appeared on either side of Avery, swinging their hammers at the human one after the other, who was hit by the first one but avoided the second, losing four health in the process.

“But for now… let’s kick things up a notch!” Gerson said with a wide grin as he took a more battle-ready stance, holding his hammer out in front of himself, after Avery healed back up to full. “This is it, Avery! The Hammer of Justice is going all out! Let’s see who comes out on top!”

* Gerson’s beginning to move faster.

Once again, Gerson disappeared into a quick blur of motion before red indicators flashed around the human, forming one larger square with four smaller ones, before afterimages began striking at the indicated areas in the order that they flashed in, moving across the top before moving to the bottom, allowing the human to properly evade it.

* A bead of sweat rolls down Gerson’s face.

“Havin’ trouble keepin’ up, kiddo?” Gerson asked in an almost teasing manner with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t blame ya! I haven’t moved like this in years!” He said before disappearing once more for his next attack, four red indicators appearing over the edges of the area and forcing Avery towards the middle, before afterimages struck all of them at the same time, followed by four hammers being thrown at the human from the four different cardinal directions, forcing Avery to put up their shield to block them all.

* Both of you grip your weapons tighter.

“Hoo boy! C’mon, Gerson! You’ve still got it!” Gerson encouraged himself after taking a deep breath, his smile persisting on his face. Another red indicator appeared over the human, forcing them to hop backwards to avoid another afterimage swinging at them, as Gerson reappeared while laughing.

“Y’know… kids like you…” The elderly monster murmured thoughtfully, trailing off for a moment before picking up his sentence once more. “They remind me that I’ve still got some things left to teach! Just as long as I’ve got folks that still need to hear it! Wa-ha-ha!”

A shell suddenly came sliding towards Avery as Gerson disappeared in a blur of motion once more, which Avery quickly reflected, before an afterimage appeared and struck it back towards the human before disappearing. This process repeated a few times before the attack concluded.

* You can feel Onyx supporting you from the sidelines.

“No offense to Undyne, but…” Gerson paused before his smile became even stronger. “Well, what monster can say they’ve mentored a human before? Especially one with a future as bright as yours, kiddo!” He added on before disappearing again for his next attack. 

An afterimage suddenly appeared and swung through the middle of the arena, with Avery barely being able to side-step it. Then several more afterimages then appeared and started swinging one after the other, forming a clockwise-like motion around the area, forcing the human to run around in order to evade the constant hammer strikes.

* Your adrenaline is slowly beginning to wear off.

“So… how do you think your story ends…?” Gerson asked curiously, going silent for a few moments before continuing with a slight shake of his head. “No. How do you want it to end? Wa-ha-ha!” He laughed as he disappeared once more, a large red indicator flashing across the area, with no clear area to dodge to. Avery briefly panicked as several afterimages appeared above and ready to swing, but then they all disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, with Gerson standing back where he started and laughing.

Suddenly, the area turned back to its normal colors as Avery’s SOUL disappeared for the moment, with Gerson laughing as his hammer suddenly disappeared and replacing it with his walking cane, moving towards the human with a tired but satisfied expression on his face.

“Geh heh heh! Now wasn’t that just fun! I think that was good for the both of us! You got a learning experience… meanwhile I just got some fun outta it!” Gerson said happily while patting the human on the shoulder. “Y’know… you remind me of someone I used to know long ago. A human magician.” He paused for several seconds before shaking his head, his smile returning to his face quickly.

“Heh. Anyways, I should probably get back to lookin’ for more junk to sell. But before I go… Here. A little partin’ gift from our time together,” Gerson said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a notecard and handed it to Avery. “Be careful out there, kiddo! Hope your story has a memorable ending!” He added on with a wave before he started to walk away, heading back the way that they had come from.

When Avery looked down at the notecard, they were surprised to see that two spells had been written on it, quickly crouching down and taking out their notebook in order to jot both of them down, eager to use them.

* You unequipped the Rushing Water Spell (Increases AT by 10 + SPEED increase in battle)

* You equipped the Word Bullet Spell (Increases AT by 15 + 5 DF)

* You unequipped the Water Bubble Spell (Increases DF by 10 + 1 HP every other turn)

* You equipped the Positive Phrases Spell (Increases DF by 15 + 2 HP every other turn)

The human stood back up and read over what they had jotted down before waving their hand forward, suddenly summoning a floating word with a white font color that read ‘DESPAIR’ before it flew forward and eventually disappeared after making contact with a wall. With another wave of their hand, they summoned a floating word that had a green font color that read ‘HOPE’ instead that floated towards them and disappeared upon making contact.

“That’s a neat spell! You’re telling me that old guy had that on him?” Onyx asked curiously as she approached him, her tail quivering behind herself, stretching her arms over her head idly as she stopped in front of the human. But then a look of realization crossed her face. “Oh, shoot, we need to go! C’mon, Avery!” She said in mild panic before running off, leaving the human behind.

They closed their notebook and put it away before running off in the direction that Onyx had gone towards, going down another level closer to the lake visible below, only to suddenly come to a stop as Scourm suddenly came floating up from below and landed on the same level as them, looking down over the edge with her arms crossed.

“Hm? Oh, hey, Avery,” Scourm murmured quietly as she noticed the human approaching, her gaze briefly shifting from the edge over to them before looking back. “Salva disappeared somewhere while I was chasing after her. Can’t have gone very far.” She was silent for a moment afterwards before continuing in a hushed tone.

“I wanted to… talk with you for a moment, if you don’t mind. I didn’t exactly get to truly voice all of my thoughts back in the Dunes, mostly because I hadn’t properly articulated my thoughts then,” she expressed with a softer tone than usual, a high contrast to how she had spoken to them when they first met. “I can’t stand not being taken seriously. Even though I’m a legal adult, I often get treated like a hot-headed teenager. Granted, I know I don’t do myself any favors, but my point stands regardless.”

Scourm momentarily paused as if gathering her thoughts. “Like that Ketsukane woman who wiped the floor with me back at Oasis Valley once. Acted like she was scolding a child the entire time. That was more infuriating than being beaten to be honest. When you weren’t fighting back during our fight, I thought you were doing the same. Not taking me seriously. But, once I thought about it, you really weren’t.” She rambled on as she shifted her gaze back to overlooking the edge.

“You weren’t mocking me, you were helping me. Thanks to you, I’m reconnected with my dad. He told me that you convinced him to come find me. For as gruff as he may be, Dad… well, he’d say otherwise, but he’s still grieving from Mom’s death. He’s just doing it silently. It was selfish of me to leave like I did. I left my father to grieve my mother’s death almost entirely alone.”

* You tell Scourm that it’s all in the past now.

“Mm. Can’t change what’s already happened, I guess. Point is, I can’t express how grateful I am for doing what you’ve done. You–” But Scourm suddenly stopped herself as she spotted something off the edge of the walkway. “There she is!” She shouted before flying up and diving down after whatever it was she spotted, Avery presuming that it was Salva.

Immediately, the human resumed running down the path, eventually making it down to the lake of neon blue water that reflected the gemstones on the ceiling, making for a rather pretty sight, but they didn’t have time to marvel at it. As soon as they stepped off the walkway leading down to the lake, the path behind them was suddenly blocked by a series of chains that appeared and formed a barrier to block off the walkway.

Having a bad feeling about this situation, Avery took a deep breath to compose themselves before continuing on forward, clutching their notebook in hand as they made it closer and closer to the lake with every step. When they stopped, they were now staring down Salva, who had her back turned to them while gazing out towards the lake.

Off to the side, Avery spotted their other friends - Onyx, Nanook, and Scourm - all trapped with chains wrapped around them and sitting against a wall of the cavern. Suddenly, a familiarly cloaked figure wearing a deer skull-like helmet landed next to them from above, looking towards Salva and then speaking to break the silence.

“I blocked off the paths and restrained these three,” Vendigo murmured while nonchalantly gesturing towards the three chained-up monsters sitting next to him. “No-one will interrupt you during this process. You’re free to take initiative if you think it’s right.”

“Thank you, Master Vendigo,” Salva murmured in response without turning to face him before going silent for a few moments and then speaking to address the human standing behind her. “…I see that you finally made it.” She said quietly before turning around to face Avery, her yellow eyes drilling straight into the human’s SOUL.

“Normally, I wouldn’t do more than cast my judgement. Take a look through your every action and then tell you your morality, but… from a purely surface level look… I don’t see anything,” Salva said while briefly averting her gaze. “No malice or guilt, no hidden intentions, no desire to kill, nothing of the sorts. But… growing up, I was taught that humans were inherently evil. I mean… they locked our entire species away out of paranoia. Out of something that might happen. Something we would have never done to them. Never in a million years.”

She paused for a few moments before clearing her throat. “Originally… I was going to leave you alone. Let you make your way to King Asgore. After all, it’s not the Royal Judge’s job to get involved in combat. Unless it’s a dire circumstance, which this definitely isn’t. But…”

Salva shifted her weight idly, brushing off her clothing as she steeled herself to continue. “Most of the time, the Royal Judge’s job is to judge the crimes of everyone. Monster, human… It doesn’t matter. Anyone within our kingdom is under my authoritative judgement. But… you have no crimes. With… With one exception.”

With an inhale followed by an exhale, Salva continued steadily. “Your existence. I’m afraid that in of itself is a crime. Monsterkind only has three human souls captured. We need seven to be free. We are hopeless and desperate. This is not a matter of personal gain or attachments. This is our desperate struggle to survive.” She said in a mildly shaky manner, taking another deep breath as she paused momentarily once more.

“King Asgore will do anything to free monsterkind. Even if it involves infanticide… Believe me, the irony of me saying that doesn’t elude me. It pains me deeply,” Salva murmured before falling silent again, closing her eyes for a moment before re-opening them, her thoughtful expression replaced with stoicism. “No human deserves mercy. No exceptions. They all deserve to boil in the depths of hell. Not a single one deserves a fair judgement.” She said almost involuntarily, as if it were something she’d been told and forced to repeat many times.

“This duty… it’s embedded into my soul,” she mumbled before summoning her spear to her hand and pointing the point towards the human. “Avery… Tell me… How do you plead?” She asked with a dangerous edge to her voice right before the entire area became black and white once more, their purple SOUL appearing in front of their chest.

* Salva’s flight begins.

The Royal Judge stood across from Avery, spear held to her side with its point angled towards the ground, although clearly being ready to raise it at a moment’s notice, her expression hidden behind a mask of stoicism. When presented with the four orange options, the human went to ACT to see their options, seeing four options presented before them. Check, Remember, Endure, and Confess.

* SALVA DØMME - 45 AT, 20 DF

* The Royal Judge of all monsterkind.

Without so much as saying a word, Salva began her first attack. Red indicators flashed where Avery was standing before a spear came in from above towards where it was, barely giving the human enough time to avoid it, stumbling out of the way. More red indicators appeared, but Avery was more prepared for it this time, staying on the move constantly to avoid the rain of spears.

* Salva tightens her grip on her spear.

Looking at their options, Avery went back to the ACT command and curiously clicked Remember.

* You look towards your friends on the sidelines.

* You remember the time you spent with them.

* Your battles, your conversations, the time spent together…

* The memories leave a warm, fuzzy feeling.

* You recovered 10 HP!

Avery looked off to the side briefly to see Onyx, Nanook, and Scourm sitting off to the side, along with Vendigo, all of them having a multitude of expressions. Onyx seemed concerned, glancing between Avery and Salva worriedly. Nanook seemed exhausted, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead as he watched the battle. Scourm seemed mildly annoyed, more than likely frustrated about being captured. Meanwhile, Vendigo… it was hard to tell with his helmet covering his face.

As their turn ended, two large spears suddenly flew towards the human, crossing each other to form an ‘X’ in front of them, before flashing blue and suddenly spinning, prompting Avery to stay completely still as they spun around before the attack concluded.

* Salva’s expression is considerate and critical.

Once it was their turn again, they clicked Endure to see what it would do.

* You hold your ground and grit your teeth. Defense up for this turn!

Several spears suddenly appeared around Avery, all of them pointed directly at the human, before they noticed one of them shaking slightly before soaring directly towards them, prompting them to side-step out of the way. Another one came from outside of Avery’s field of view and hit them, knocking them down five health, but the rest were all dodged as they came at them one-by-one.

* Summoned storm clouds circle above, rumbling loudly.

This time, Avery clicked Confess as the last ACT on the list.

* You tell Salva about your encounter with Onyx.

* You detail how she attacked you after unintentionally intruding into her home.

* You explain how Onyx lost the will to fight after you asked questions about magic.

* Onyx nods worriedly from the sidelines.

* Salva’s breath hitches.

Several spears suddenly erupted from the ground and boxed Avery into an incredibly small area, before two spears appeared outside of the box, leaving only a corner for the human to stand in order to evade damage, before they shot across. This repeated a few times, with Avery simply moving from corner to corner in order to evade it.

* Lightning prepares to strike from above.

Avery pressed Confess once more curiously.

* You tell Salva about your encounter with Nanook.

* You detail how he attacked you in order to get compensation for your soul.

* You explain how Nanook ran out of stamina and you spared him.

* Nanook nods tiredly from the sidelines.

* Salva’s brow furrows.

Spears were suddenly formed from Avery’s sides, sets of three flying out to form semi-circle patterns all around them, moving slowly but gradually increasing in number over time. The human made sure to take it slow so as to not accidentally bump into any of them as they slowly moved past them, occasionally stepping out of the way of one going towards them.

* The smell of fresh rainfall begins to fill the air.

Briefly glancing towards the other three off to the sidelines, Avery continued using the Confess ACT.

* You tell Salva about your encounter with Scourm.

* You detail how you endured her anger-infused attacks.

* You explain how you helped reunite Scourm with her father.

* Scourm nods reluctantly from the sidelines.

* Salva’s teeth grit.

More spears formed around Avery, but this time the sets of three were fired much faster in the same semi-circle pattern, although there were overall less spears being summoned at a time, requiring the human to swerve between them as they shot past, narrowly managing to avoid them.

* The air crackles with electricity.

Avery clicked the Confess ACT once more.

* You tell Salva about your encounter with the Autofender.

* You detail how brutal it was in its assault.

* You explain that you managed to outlast it long enough for Vendigo to deactivate it.

* Vendigo doesn’t react.

* Salva’s grip on her spear tightens.

A circle of spears formed around the area, trained in on the human, before shooting towards them all at once. Avery tried to sneak between them as they swiftly closed in, but they ended up being accidentally pricked by one and lost three health because of it.

* You tell Salva about your encounter with her and Vendigo.

* You detail how much you were frightened by what happened.

* You explain that you’re thankful for Vendigo stepping in the way of the attack.

* Vendigo nods ever so slightly from the sidelines.

* Electricity begins to spark from Salva’s hands.

Salva’s stoic facade slowly crumbled away to show her true expression of frustration, letting out an angry shout as she stabbed her spear into the ground right next to her, releasing a blinding flash of lightning that caused Avery’s vision to go white.

The next moment, Avery was no longer standing in Waterfall, but was somewhere completely different. It seemed to be the interior of a home, made up of purple stone much like the Ruins and the old monster capital. Sitting in front of them was a bed with a younger Salva standing next to it, looking to be around ten years old or so. In the bed was an elder monster that bore resemblance to Salva. The same short blonde hair, striking yellow eyes, and brown antlers sticking out from the top of the head. But he was in far worse condition than she was.

The elderly monster coughed. “Salva… Remember… Humans are evil… Never trust one… Never forget… your duty…” He mumbled incredibly quietly, clearly straining as if it hurt just to speak, before his form suddenly dissolved into dust, covering the bedsheets in it. Immediately, the young Salva fell down to her knees, her expression contorted into one of confliction.

Everything faded to white once more before the scene shifted to what appeared to be a throne room built over a large patch of golden flowers, with Salva kneeling in front of a large monster that heavily resembled Toriel, but was clearly male with dirty blonde hair and a bird, wearing purple and gold robes, and a crown on his head, handing over what Avery recognized as Salva’s spear.

“It is my honor as king to bestow this position onto you, Miss Salva Dømme,” he said calmly with a warm smile while Salva accepted the spear and used it to help herself back to her feet, nodding politely and about to express her thanks, before the king continued. “Due to the unfortunate passing of your father, there’s someone I’d like you to meet that can help you learn more about your position. The ex-Royal Executioner, Vendigo.” He added on while addressing the other monster that walked into the room as his name was announced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Dømme.” Vendigo murmured with a nod while extending a hand for a handshake. Salva stared at him for a moment, seemingly studying him silently, before offering her free hand to accept the handshake.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Master Vendigo.”

All of a sudden, the scene faded to white once more, and Avery was standing back in Waterfall, staring down the present-day Salva, who had an expression that was a mix of her earlier frustration and exasperation at what just transpired.

“Were you…?” Salva trailed off momentarily before shaking her head and getting a hold of herself. “Were you just inside my head…? Poking and prodding at my memories… So, now do you understand why I’m doing this? My father told me that humans are inherently evil. And I have a duty to uphold.” She murmured, a look of conflict crossing her face briefly before being drowned out by her frustration.

“Are you… Are you a good person? Or is it just a facade?” Salva growled with venom in her tone, her fists clenching as she took her hand off of her spear, leaving it stabbed in the ground as her entire body began crackling with electricity. “…Stop… Stop… looking at me like that! Just… Just… STOP IT!” She suddenly shouted as electricity formed behind her to create two large angel-esque wings.

* The wrath of judgement is now upon you.

Avery took a step backwards out of fear, feeling the world around them getting smaller as Salva’s deadly glare trained on them. If looks could kill, the human would’ve immediately been pitched into the deepest pits of hell to be incinerated. Reluctantly, Avery went to ACT and clicked Check.

* SALVA DØMME - 45 AT, 20 DF

* She seems to be losing her temper.

Now wasn’t that an understatement.

Red indicators began flashing at Avery’s feet before they tried to move out of the way, only for lightning to suddenly strike from above and cause the human to stumble to the ground. More indicators began to form as Avery scrambled out of the way, each lightning strike feeling like it was closer and closer than the last.

* Salva’s spear stands, stabbed into the ground.

Unsure of what to do, Avery clicked Confess, only to be disappointed with what came up next.

* You have nothing left to confess.

During Salva’s next attack, red indicators began flashing in mid-air, before lightning strikes suddenly blasted across the area horizontally instead of vertically, nearly taking off Avery’s head before they managed to duck under it at the last second, but the next one struck the human in the chest, knocking five health off of them.

* Salva is disturbed by her own memories.

Down to twelve out of twenty health, Avery decided to use this turn to heal, going back to the ACT menu and clicking Remember, glancing back towards the four monsters watching the battle from the sides, healing back five health and ending up at seventeen health.

Electricity formed at several points around the human before erupting into beams that flew straight for the human one after the other while cutting entire parts of the area off at a time, getting faster and faster with each one that Avery narrowly managed to evade, and even then they were cutting it extremely close.

* Summoned storm clouds circle above, channeling thunder.

Multiple small red indicators flashed around the human before suddenly exploding into either orange or blue waves of electricity one after the other, meaning the human had to make multiple split-second decisions in order to react accordingly to move or not move depending on which color was coming their way.

* Lighting strikes the dirt, splitting it apart.

Red indicators began flashing across the area in intricate patterns shortly before lightning struck down on each individual one. First, they were organized into an x-shaped pattern, then a plus-shaped pattern, and then a pattern with various columns. With strategic positioning, Avery was able to avoid them and even get themselves a moment to breathe.

* Smells like fresh rainfall.

For Salva’s next attack, lightning suddenly crossed the center of the area, before it was followed up by several more bolts that moved in a clockwise motion, forcing Avery to move with it in order to avoid being hit, only to be hit as it suddenly stopped and turned the other way, downing the human of four health and leaving them at thirteen instead.

* The air continues to crackle with electricity.

Avery took the moment to heal themselves using the Remember ACT and get themselves back up to full HP before Salva continued attacking. Several thin lines of red coloration formed across the area, only leaving one small area for the human to stand. They rushed over and stumbled into the opening just before all of the lines burst with electricity. They took a deep breath before taking their turn once more.

When they were done, a large red indicator flashed in the center of the area, forcing Avery to back away to the back edge, as an explosion of lightning erupted where the indicator was. It was then followed up by multiple red indicators covering the edges of the area, prompting Avery to leap back towards the center to avoid multiple smaller bursts of lightning.

Brushing off their mildly singed clothing, Avery stood to face the next attack after taking their turn once more, rolling to the side as a smaller red indicator flashed under their feet before a miniature eruption of lightning formed in that spot. This repeated a few times before Salva’s turn ended and Avery took theirs once more.

As an orb made of electricity began bouncing around the area and was slowly joined by four more until all five were bouncing around, Avery took notice of Salva’s change in posture. Her shoulders slumped, her legs were beginning to buckle, the wings made of electricity behind her were starting to fizzle out, and even her expression was slowly contorting from one of anger to one of exhaustion.

Once the attack ended, all of the electricity sparking around Salva’s body suddenly died out as the Royal Judge collapsed to her knees, using her spear to catch herself and not risk falling any further. She was silent for several moments, catching her breath while Avery used the opportunity to wipe off a layer of soot off of their glasses using their jacket sleeve.

“I… I don’t…” Salva trailed off before sighing as she picked herself back up to her feet, pulling her spear out from the ground and instead holding it like a staff with the base resting on the ground. “I wonder… will… will future humans be as nice as you, Avery…? We… We shall see.” She paused again once more to take a deep breath.

“Through a very powerful form of magic only taught to my family lineage. Conjuration.”

Avery paused at that word. They’d heard that word before. Conjuration was generally referred to as the performance of something by magical means, usually used in the context of summoning something. They felt their excitement grow at the idea, but it was quickly dampered by Salva’s quiet tone of voice.

“One… final… effort…” She mumbled before holding the side of her head as if she had a headache. “I… I can hear a well of voices… calling out to me… Whispered hints of the future. The voices of those you’ve faced throughout your journey. And the voices of monsters to meet future fallen humans.” She continued before raising her spear up above her head.

“Let… us… BEGIN!” She shouted before smashing the base of her spear against the ground, creating a gust of wind that slammed into the human like an invisible wall of force, feeling as though it should’ve moved them backwards. But when they looked down, they saw something they didn’t expect.

A thin, purple line had formed, running across the area and intersecting with their own purple SOUL. They looked around them to see two other lines in equal length and width, behind and in front of them respectively. And then they paid attention to the sensation they were feeling. How could they describe it…

Weightless. They felt weightless. Of course, they could still feel the ground beneath their feet, but they felt like they should’ve been floating a few feet in the air, suspended by either these lines or their own magical prowess, Avery wasn’t sure which one it would be. 

* Your heart is pounding.

Was it pounding out of exhilaration or fear? Avery couldn’t tell. Rather, they clicked the ACT button once more. While they were disappointed by the lack of anything new to go with this strange feeling, they did click Check to see what it would say.

* She seems… conflicted.

Avery glanced up towards Salva to see that it was right. She looked as torn as they felt weightless. A half-hearted grip was all that remained on her spear despite her bravado moments earlier, as if she were doing something she either didn’t want to or didn’t have much experience in doing. Possibly both at the same time.

As Salva’s first attack began, Avery realized that they couldn’t move in the traditional way anymore. Instead, they were moving in accordance and in perfect sync with their thoughts. They could move left and right freely along the line and move between the three different ones instantaneously, almost in a manner like teleportation. Awesome! They’d always wanted the ability to teleport!

A spear appeared at one end of the middle line before moving across it, prompting Avery to move to the front line in order to avoid it, before moving back to the middle as two more spears flew across both the front and back line.

* Salva’s grip on her spear relaxes ever so slightly.

They quickly took the moment to use the Endure ACT in order to increase their defense while they were at full health before Salva’s turn occurred once more, this time the lines were individually electrocuted for several moments from top to bottom after flashing red and orange as a quick warning, requiring Avery to time moving between them in order to avoid being hit. But rather than the attack ending there, something else happened.

Salva’s eyes suddenly flashed with white light before it engulfed all of Avery’s senses, blinding them momentarily. When their vision cleared up, they weren’t standing in Waterfall anymore. Instead, they were back in Home, specifically in Onyx’s house, who was also standing in front of them in the same position she was in during their initial meeting, her face covered by a convulsing white mass of squares.

“Alright! Take this, human!” She exclaimed in a distorted voice before suddenly attacking. From all four cardinal directions, familiar crescent moon-shaped projectiles flew across the area. Still processing what was happening, Avery ended up getting hit by one and lost two health, remaining at eighteen out of twenty, before quickly adapting and managing to side-step past all the rest.

Once the attack concluded, everything flashed white again and they were suddenly standing back in Waterfall as if nothing had happened. They glanced around confusedly before looking down at the flavor text in front of them that they agreed with wholeheartedly.

* What just happened?

Was that what Salva meant by conjuration? Did she… send them back in time to fight Onyx…? No… manipulating time to such a degree wasn’t magic that monsters knew as far as they knew. What did she say earlier…? Something about the voices of those they’ve faced throughout their journey?

That’s when it clicked for Avery. It was more likely that Salva was briefly looking into their memories in the same way that the human had inadvertently looked into her own. But while Avery was only able to briefly view her memories, this conjuration magic must’ve given Salva greater control over those memories. Like a flashback made real for a few short moments.

But what still tugged at the human’s mind was the other things that Salva had said regarding conjuration magic. Something about whispered hints of the future and voices of monsters to meet future fallen humans? That didn’t sound like it had anything to do with Avery’s memories. It sounded like this conjuration magic was more advanced than the human initially realized.

They soon learned this after avoiding another barrage of spears sent along the purple lines while one was electrocuted at a time, looking back towards Salva as her eyes shone white once more. Once more, they left Waterfall and appeared in… the RUINs? It looked like it, but it seemed… darker.

Some sort of hallway if they had to guess, although it was hard to make out in the darkness. Standing across from them was a monster wearing a maroon cloak with purple trim and a pulled-down hood. Unfortunately, they were unable to make out the monster’s face, given that it was covered by the same pulsating mass of white squares that had covered Onyx’s face in the previous attack.

“I don’t suppose you can just get out the way you came in, could you?” The monster asked impassively, sounding to be male with a light tone of voice along with an accent that they couldn’t quite make out. Suddenly, they opened their cloak and lifted it up, forming large lightning bolts that aimed and then fired at Avery, who narrowly managed to side-step the attack.

More lightning bolts formed and fired one after the other towards the human, but moving from side-to-side allowed them to dodge them all, soaring past them and disappearing swiftly behind them. Soon enough, the attack ended and they were back in front of Salva in Waterfall.

* Salva seems to be deep in thought.

The next attack had spears coming from the sides once more, but instead of simply flying across with their sharp points pointing forward, they were instead spinning as they flew across the line to the very end before shooting back in the direction they came from. The first two flew across the top and bottom lines from opposite directions before a third crossed the middle line before the other two had made the return trip.

Avery moved to the top line in order to avoid the third spinning spear, before moving back to the middle to avoid the first one’s return trip, and then finally returning to the top to avoid the third one going the opposite direction. And then Salva’s third conjuration attack began.

They were in the RUINs once more, but in a location that Avery somewhat recognized. It looked like the hallway beyond the stairs in Toriel’s house, which they had gotten a few looks into despite her request to pretend it wasn’t there. Then they realized who exactly stood across from them, in front of a door adorned with the Delta Rune symbol.

“Why are you making this so difficult?” A memory of Toriel asked with her face blocked by the pulsating white mass before she suddenly attacked, swiping her paw forward and creating a trail of fireballs in front of her, which soon flew directly towards the human. They moved to the side in order to move between them, only to notice them bounce off of the back wall and return towards them.

In a mild panic, Avery ducked down as they soared over the human’s head, disappearing as they got closer to the memory of Toriel. They stood up and ran towards the ex-queen of the Underground, reaching a hand towards them, but everything faded away before they could make contact.

* The storm clouds above are beginning to disperse.

Avery took a deep breath to compose themselves before turning to face the Royal Judge once more, healing themselves with the Remember ACT before bracing themselves for the next attack. Lightning formed from a corner of the area and suddenly shot across the area, bouncing off the walls to form a zig-zag pattern. Before they could finish comprehending the attack, another suddenly struck them in the midsection and removing four health. It probably would’ve knocked them off their feet if it weren’t for the purple lines ensnaring their SOUL currently.

Salva’s eyes made everything go white once more, only for the human to hear the familiar gruff voice of Nanook as they found themselves in Snowdin Cavern once more, holding his pickaxe tightly with his face covered by the white squares.

“Hm. Stubborn lil’ pest, aren’t ya? Guess I gotta give it my all.” He mumbled with a growl before raising his pickaxe, swinging it into the cavern wall next to himself, yanking it out before the cave’s interior began to rotate as it had during their original fight with both the ice spikes and harsh winds like before.

Knowing what was to come, the human began sliding down what used to be the floor rather than let themself fall down naturally, hopping over a series of ice spikes while using the wind to their advantage as much as possible, moving with it as opposed to moving against it. After one full rotation, the attack ceased and Avery returned to Waterfall.

* The debris settles with multiple smoldering holes across the ground.

Allowing themselves a brief moment of respite as their turn began once more, Avery thought about Salva’s magic and she had said about it. Out of the four conjurations that the human had faced so far, they had only fought against two of them in the past. They knew who Toriel was, but had never fought against her as far as they knew. And that wasn’t even mentioning the cloaked monster that they didn’t even know.

It seemed like the conjurations of Onyx and Nanook were pulled from Avery’s own memories, having said things that they recalled being said to them in the past and using specific attacks that they had faced before. But the cloaked monster and Toriel… those must’ve been what Salva was talking about regarding hints from the future and memories of monsters facing future fallen humans.

The implications of that thought worried Avery. They were only the fourth human to fall down here after the third one evidently didn’t leave a good impression, recalling what Nanook had said about the one wearing a dusty tutu. And it doesn’t seem like Avery will be the last either. What was going to happen to them…?

With a quick shake of their head, Avery chided and reminded themself that they were in the middle of a fight right now, the existential thoughts could wait. After avoiding another barrage of spears in intricate patterns, the human was thrusted into the next conjuration attack, this time in the middle of Snowdin Forest if they had to guess.

In front of them was a monster that was humanoid in shape but avian in nature, with blue feathers, wearing a simple pale blue shirt, dark blue pants, and yellow boots with a puffy trim. A book was held in her hand and just like everyone else, her face was covered by white squares, and some sort of wooden kiosk stood behind her.

“Take this, intruder!” She said with enthusiasm masking the nervousness lacing her tone while multiple blue feathers began forming around the human. One of them suddenly spun and pointed at the human before flying directly towards them, but they noticed just in time and managed to leap away from it, only for it to suddenly split into four smaller feathers that flew out in an x-formation, one of which hit Avery and removed three health.

More feathers shot at them and split apart when dodged, but Avery was able to avoid all of them after quickly pulling out the lone feather that had stabbed into their shirt. After the storm of feathers had passed, Avery was suddenly back facing Salva.

* The smell of fresh rainfall is lingering but fading.

After taking a moment to smell the air to see if the flavor text was correct, Avery steeled themselves for the next attack, avoiding electrical bolts bouncing from wall to wall and the lines being electrocuted two at a time. Before long, the scene faded to white once more and they were back in Snowdin. Although where in Snowdin was a bit hard to discern.

A heavy fog rolled across the area, heavily reducing the human’s visibility, only being able to see the snow crunching beneath their feet and the monster standing across from them. A tall skeleton wearing a red cape/scarf that fluttered in the wind behind him with a white chestplate with a gold trim, blue briefs, red gloves, red boots, and a strange black symbol on the chestplate.

Avery was, admittedly, a bit caught off-guard by the skeleton’s outfit that they nearly didn’t notice their SOUL suddenly turn from a vibrant purple to a deep blue instead, suddenly feeling like gravity was pushing harder against them as they tried to stand.

“NYEH HEH HEH!” The skeleton laughed gleefully as if he was having the time of his life while his attack began. Several bones suddenly popped up from the ground and slid towards the human, a mix of small ones, pairs of bones with gaps to jump through, and blue ones, along with a few stranger ones like a dog munching on a bone, a bone riding a skateboard with sunglasses, and bones that spelt out “COOL DUDE” for some reason.

It was hard to describe, but despite feeling like gravity was pushing harder against them, Avery found it was easier to make larger jumps, ones that they don’t feel like they would’ve been able to perform normally, managing to avoid every single bone that came their way.

This became plainly obvious on the very last pattern, which was a large cluster of bones all bunched together in a line with a staggeringly huge bone at the end. At first it looked unavoidable and insurmountable, but when they took their jump, they suddenly found themselves going up and up to the point where they were definitely breaking a few laws of physics.

Finally managing to vault over the incredibly large bone and landing safely on the ground despite the height, Avery was brought back to Salva and the familiar marshland beneath their feet, their SOUL having returned to being purple with a thin line through it. That was… certainly an experience.

* Electricity crackling in the air begins to fizzle away.

Salva’s attacks were beginning to slowly waver, the spears moving at a slightly reduced pace and the electricity not appearing nearly as much. Avery assumed she was conserving her energy to use her conjuration attacks, which the human was quickly subjected to again. This time, rather than Snowdin, they found themselves in the Dunes, surrounded by a whipping sandstorm.

“What are you doing? Attack me already!” The familiarly angry voice of Scourm shouted as Avery realized she was floating across from them, the only difference being that her face was entirely unviewable because of that strange white mass in front of it.

A large red indicator flashed over the spot where the human was standing as they suddenly recalled what happened during the fight, hopping off to the side right as it briefly followed them and then locking into a position before a large pillar of sand formed and erupted upwards, rocketing high into the air. A series of multiple pillars erupted from the ground before the attack concluded and Avery was left back in Waterfall.

Raising their defense once more with the Endure ACT, Avery moved to avoid boomeranging spears and electricity that bounced off the area in a careful fashion before being thrusted into the next conjuration attack, finding themselves back in the Dunes once more, suddenly feeling a lasso being tied and roped around them.

“Huh. Even tied up, you’re skilled.” The voice of the monster in front of them said, sounding to Avery like they were deliberately putting on a Southern accent, while wearing traditional cowboy gear and even a revolver in their holster, with a cowboy hat being atop the white glitching mass that covered their face.

A large bell suddenly appeared above the human before it began to ring back and forth, sending blue and orange soundwaves towards the human, all while guns appeared at their sides and took shots at them with reticles aimed at Avery. They side-stepped a shot before standing still to allow a blue soundwave to pass through them harmlessly, all while handling the restricted movement caused by the lasso wrapped around them.

After dodging enough gun fire and differently colored soundwaves, Avery was back facing Miss Dømme in Waterfall, who was looking even worse for wear with every conjuration attack that went by, her breathing only getting heavier and heavier, and yet she seemed insistent on pressing on. The human could relate to that on most levels imaginable, briefly looking down at their purple SOUL.

The front and back lines suddenly blistered with electricity as a separate bolt bounced around the area, forcing Avery to move back and forth across the middle line in order to avoid it. Then when Salva’s eyes blinded the human once more, they were surprised to find themselves still in Waterfall, although somewhere different than the giant lake.

The wind howled in their ears as a gargantuan rock with a cave through it stood in front of them, blocked by a tall monster in intimidating armor, holding a spear tightly in one hand, and a red ponytail that flowed behind her, barely visible behind the white mass covering her face. She swiped her spear forward, sending a green wave that changed their SOUL’s color to match, before conjuring a spear and tossing it to the human.

“En guarde!” She shouted in an almost triumphant manner as the human clumsily caught the spear before spears began flying from the four cardinal directions at varying speeds. Finding themselves unable to move in order to dodge from their SOUL being green now, Avery instead looked at the spear they held in hand now and held in front of themselves experimentally.

As predicted, the closest spear heading their way clashed against Avery’s and disappeared thereafter. Immediately understanding what they had to do after that, the human alternated their gaze between the four directions, determining which one was closest at a given time and blocking each one with a spear, at least until a yellow one suddenly flipped around and struck Avery in the back, removing three health off of them.

Following that, Avery was back in front of Salva once more. Left at seventeen out of twenty health, they figured it would be fine to use the Endure ACT again to raise their defense, ending their turn. For Salva’s attack, two spears appear at opposite sides of the front and back lines, before Avery noticed the front one vibrate slightly as the middle line suddenly flashed as a warning.

With spontaneous movement, Avery moved to the back line just as the middle line became electrocuted. The spear aimed at the bottom line disappeared as the top one fired across it, before the next conjuration attack began, bringing Avery back to the top of the hill facing the Autofender once more with its face covered.

“IT IS TIME TO DIE.” The memory of the Autofender stated harshly as a ring of fireballs formed around the human and began to close in while the automaton fired individual fireballs at Avery, while they stepped back and forth to avoid them, making sure to keep as close to the center of the circle as they could.

Just before the fireballs could make contact with the human, close enough where they could feel the heat radiating off of them, the attack ended and Avery found themselves back at the lake across from Salva, the cold air of Waterfall hitting them almost as hard and fast as any of Salva’s attacks.

Speaking of which, her next one had spinning spears thrown across all three lines, albeit one after the other. Avery moved up to the top line after the first spear went past in order to not get hit on the middle line, before moving back down to the middle as the top spear came back, and then moving back up to the top to avoid the middle one’s return trip. Then everything went white as Salva’s next conjuration attack began.

They were suddenly standing in a room that sweltered more than the Dunes, feeling incredibly overdressed to put it lightly, along with now holding a trash can lid for some reason. The room was rather small and made from metal with two pathways to the left and right that led out of the room, while the entire room was bathed in a mix of yellow, orange, and brown lights. In front of them was a gray robot with a very cubic shape.

It stared at the human with two unevenly sized pink eyes with four bolts below them that resembled a mouth. A single wheel kept it upright while two yellow hands hovered independently of its body, seemingly connected by steam coming from its body.

“SERIOUSLY??? I AM REACH UNHEARD LEVELS OF [ticked].” The robot said in a tone matching its appearance before lifting its hands above its head as it formed a red energy ball. Avery glanced down at the trash can lid in their hand before coming to a quick conclusion. The robot suddenly hurled the energy ball at them, prompting the human to raise the lid in front of themselves.

As soon as it made contact, the energy ball bounced off of the lid and ended up soaring past the robot, exploding on contact with the wall behind it. Another idea came to Avery’s mind as they saw the robot charging up another energy ball. They angled themselves a bit before deflecting the next one, sending it slamming into the robot, causing everything to fade away as soon as it did.

The trash can lid disappeared and was replaced with their notebook once more as they spent their turn to increase their defense once more before Salva took hers. A thick cloud suddenly enveloped the area, heavily reducing the human’s visibility, but they still just barely managed to realize that a spear was flying straight towards them, moving to the bottom line in order to avoid it before the next conjuration attack began.

Avery found themselves standing on a platform rising up into the air, the surroundings dark aside from faint blue lights and brighter red lights built into the floor. Two spotlights shone from above, one on the human and the other on the robot standing across from them, although it seemed a lot more human than the last one did.

It stood several feet above Avery’s head and was shaped like a human. A thin body with slim arms and long legs, with fake black hair, a pink chestplate with black shoulder pads and a heart-shaped mechanism built into it, black leggings, and pink heels. As if that wasn’t strange enough, the robot was also dancing.

“REAL DRAMA!! REAL ACTION!! REAL BLOODSHED!!” The robot shouted enthusiastically before Avery’s SOUL suddenly turned from purple to yellow and upside down. Meanwhile, two large copies of the robot's legs began heading straight for them, bunched together close enough that there was no space to move between them.

With a strange instinct that didn’t feel like their own, Avery made a finger gun with one of their hands and pretended to shoot forward, which caused a yellow bullet to fly forward and make contact with the legs moving towards them, giving it a yellow hue and causing it to move back and forth, giving the human an opening to slip through to get by unharmed.

More copies of the robot’s legs moved towards the human, who quickly got to use their newfound ability to shoot projectiles. It didn’t feel like magic, or at least not the traditional magic that Avery had grown accustomed to. Either way, it was both fascinating and exhilarating, with the human almost left disappointed once the attack concluded, before focusing on what was more important as Salva entered their field of view once more.

When her next attack began, the clouds reformed around them to obscure their vision once more, before they faintly saw the line they were occupying flashing red, unfortunately not noticing quick enough to avoid being suddenly electrocuted, removing seven health and leaving them at thirteen out of twenty, leaving them feeling mildly disappointed when everything faded to white.

When they could see again, they were still in Waterfall, realizing that they were back to the moment where they were facing Gerson prior to facing Salva, with the same hammer and the same movements he had been performing during the climax of their battle.

“This is the most exhilarating fight I’ve had in a long time!” He cheered excitedly before he disappeared in a blur of movement, while red indicators flashed across the area in a sequence of the left half, right half, top half, and then bottom half, before several afterimages appeared to smash the areas in that order. In a moment of mild panic, Avery was only just able to avoid every single swing by the skin of their teeth before they found themselves facing Salva once more.

The next attack covered Avery’s vision with more clouds after they healed five health with the Remember ACT and restored five health, bringing them back up to eighteen out of twenty. A spinning spear flew across the bottom from the right, before a second flew across the top from the left, and then a third flew across the middle from the right. As with the other spinning spear attacks, Avery moved between the middle and top to avoid them with precise timing.

With the next conjuration attack, Avery found themselves standing atop a monochrome tower-like building with a tree hanging above them that had its reddish-pink leaves occasionally decorate the area from falling off of its ash gray branches. A castle could be seen in the distance and two monsters - the blue bird and yellow cowboy - unconscious on either side of them.

In front of them was a female fox-like monster with beige fur and long ginger hair that flowed behind her and resembled ten fox tails, wearing a short white dress, a cape, a white mask with red highlights on her face, and a staff held in her hand with what appeared to be a bell at the end of it, floating a few feet off the ground. Avery also noticed that their SOUL had turned yellow and upside down once more.

“Why won’t you die!?” The kitsune woman asked desperately and angrily, momentarily reminding Avery of how Salva had acted earlier in their battle, before suddenly attacking. Four lanterns appeared around the human and began to move around the area in a large circle while spitting small fireballs at them. With the same instinct as the last time they had this strange yellow SOUL mode, they made a fingergun with their hand and took aim.

They side-stepped a few fiery projectiles before taking a few shots at one of the lanterns. Eventually, it broke and left only three remaining. Avery ducked under another few before being hit in the back with another one, knocking them back down to thirteen out of twenty health. With newfound invigoration, the human made sure to carefully avoid all the fire balls and destroy the remaining lanterns with their shots, causing everything to fade away back to Salva in Waterfall.

Salva was beginning to look worse for wear as Avery used the Remember ACT to heal ten health, bringing them back up to full, more plainly leaning against her spear for support as her wings had fully fizzled away at this stage, but yet her gaze looked as determined as ever to keep going. Again, Avery could relate.

Electricity began to form around the human as Salva took her turn, but it fizzled out before she could make any meaningful patterns with it. And the spears that she tried to summon faltered and fell to the ground before disappearing. She couldn’t even seem to cover the area in clouds anymore. All she could do was launch them into another conjuration attack.

The room that Avery ended up in was white and seemed nearly infinite in length, pulsating as it crackled with magical energy. Standing across from them was a goat monster that resembled Toriel. A taller Boss Monster with two large horns, a golden blonde mane and beard, and a crown atop his head, along with wearing a purple cape over a golden set of armor, holding a long red trident in hand.

But what struck Avery harder was the seven glass containers that were next to the monster, who the human presumed was the Asgore figure they had heard of a few times now, three on one side and four on the other. All of them filled except for one that remained empty, containing human SOULs. Cyan, orange, blue, purple, green, yellow…

Wait, purple…?

“Goodbye.” The human didn’t have time to process this information as Asgore muttered pitifully under his breath, before his eyes twinkled. Blue, blue, orange. Then he raised his trident and swung it forward, too fast for Avery to possibly avoid, but it phased right through them as the trident changed from red to blue. They stood still to avoid the second swing, before darting through the third one as it turned orange, before it all ended.

They were back in Waterfall, standing in front of a panting Salva, her spear slipping out of her hand and falling to the ground, before she collapsed down to her knees. She was silent for several seconds, her expression heavily conflicted in what she was feeling, making Avery unable to get a read on what exactly she was experiencing.

“…I don’t get it… All my life… I was taught too simple lessons. That humans are the enemy. And to never dissuade that belief,” Salva panted through several bated breaths, shooting a glance towards her mentor on the sidelines. “Master Vendigo… he couldn’t shake that belief, even though he tried.” Vendigo’s expression remained impassive as he watched with his arms crossed. Eventually, Salva turned back towards the human.

“But… you… Avery… You’ve… You’ve planted the seeds of doubt in my mind,” Salva murmured with what little breath she had left, before taking a few moments of silence to catch it and then continuing. “…You’ve won this battle through your persistence, Avery. You’ve got a choice now. Kill me… or let me live.” Immediately, the area seemed to drop a couple of degrees. On the sidelines, Onyx seemed like she wanted to protest, but couldn’t get the words out.

“Just know that I won’t hold a grudge regardless of which you choose. But, keep in mind, if you let me live… I’ll be forced to report you to King Asgore. Your life will become a lot more difficult from here on out if I continue to draw breath,” the Royal Judge mumbled under her breath before taking a deep breath and looking towards the human with an impassive gaze that reminded the human of Vendigo’s own stare. “Go on. Choose.”

In front of Avery, two buttons appeared. MAGIC and MERCY. They alternated their gaze between the two buttons after thoroughly cleaning their glasses, before glancing over to the monsters standing on the sidelines. Vendigo’s gaze remained impassive, although the human could see a brief flash of worry in his eyes before it was masked up. Onyx seemed like she was on the verge of tears, just barely holding it together. And the father and daughter combo of Nanook and Scourm both shared the same look that concealed their true emotions. Overall, they all looked like they were holding their breath while waiting for Avery to make a choice.

Not that it was a particularly difficult one.

* MERCY

Salva was silent for a moment in response.

“Despite what I’ve done for you… you’re sparing me…? I…” the Royal Judge briefly trailed off as she struggled to pull herself back up to her feet despite her exhaustion, managing to succeed, although not without great effort. “You acknowledge that this only makes your life more difficult?” Salva paused, tilting her head slightly.

“Don’t answer, I can see it in your expression. You’ve fully come to terms with that choice, haven’t you?”

Avery nodded with a warm smile. Salva let out a heavy sigh as the area returned to its normal colors, the human’s SOUL disappearing for the moment. Out of exhaustion, she collapsed to her knees once more while Vendigo waved one of his clawed hands, causing the chains blocking off the exits and the monsters he’d been keeping from interfering to unravel and reel back until they fully disappeared.

“About time. Stupid chains. At least that Ketsukane lady let me run away when she got the drop on me…” Scourm mumbled under her breath as she stood up, getting an odd look from her father, who seemed to recognize that name.

“Ketsukane lady? Like… Ceroba Ketsukane?”

“You know her?”

“Scourm, I’ve gone drinking with that woman before. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.” Nanook waved her daughter off while gesturing vaguely towards Avery and Salva, walking towards them with his daughter, Onyx, and Vendigo following closely behind.

“Thank you for sparing her, Avery,” Vendigo said first after letting out a sigh of relief. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you killed Salva.” He added on quietly while adjusting his helmet before offering Salva a clawed hand up, pulling the Royal Judge up to her feet and allowing her to lean up against him to stay on her own two feet.

“I… I can’t believe you were just… holding all of that on your shoulders, Salva,” Onyx murmured as she walked over to Salva and pulled from Vendigo, straight into a hug while helping her stay upright. “Oh, and good job, Avery! You did a good job outlasting her!” She added on while pulling the human into the hug as well. She squeezed them both tightly before eventually relenting and letting them go.

“Yeah, I… ugh… My dad was the person I looked up to the most and he wasn’t that bad outside of his inherent bias against humans. It was the last thing he told me on his deathbed, so I felt… obligated to uphold that belief. It was only strengthened when the last human that fell down here wasn’t… the nicest person.” Salva murmured while scratching the back of her head, managing to stand up without support.

“Morality isn’t exactly black and white. It’s made up of countless shades of gray. As I kept trying to tell you, Salva, you shouldn’t let a few humans with darker shades define the entire species,” Vendigo mused while crossing his arms. “I’m glad you now see that, Salva. You’ve made me proud.”

Clearly, praise wasn’t something that Vendigo offered very much, considering that Salva immediately walked up to him and hugged him, briefly catching the older monster off-guard before he hugged her back, clearly a bit put-off by physical touch, but slowly warmed up to it.

“Great, glad we got that all cleared up, but there’s a bigger matter to worry ‘bout,” Nanook said dismissively before gesturing towards Avery. “What’re we gonna do ‘bout them? Assumin’ Salva wasn’t bluffin’ ‘bout reportin’ ‘em to the King.”

“I was not.”

“Naturally.”

“You’re right. As the Royal Judge, Salva is required to report Avery to the king as per policy. And while we may know them to be a ‘good’ human, your Majesty won’t see it that way,” Vendigo mumbled after a quick sigh, glancing up towards the human. “Until the barrier is broken, Asgore won’t ever let up the ‘kill humans on sight’ policy.”

“What?” Scourm asked in offense. “Avery reunited me with my dad! Like hell I’m gonna let them–”

“Child, how many monsters do you think have tried to point out the good of what humans do?” Vendigo interrupted her in response. “Gerson and I both tried in the past to dissuade Asgore from this path, but he remains fixated on it. So what do you want to do? Have Avery live in the Underground while constantly on the run or have them delivered to Asgore and die?”

The conversation derailed into a full-blown argument, but Avery slowly tuned them all out, fading into muffled background noise, placing a hand on their chin in thought, their eyes eventually fluttering shut as they thought silently to themselves.

“Thank you, kind stranger! Make sure to say hi to my friend on your way out!”

“Heh, you might’ve just helped me make up my mind.”

“To be honest with ya… I’m actually really glad you decided to spare me. I’ve got three kids back home in Snowdin.”

“Well, we don’t need to discuss that! See you later, human! Maybe I’ll bring you on for a second time at some point!”

“Hm… You’re right, I do need one… Aha! I know! I’ll simply search for one! …Right after I find Harry and Larry. I’ll, uh, catch you later… I guess.”

“Heh… Uh, thanks, Avery? That’s your name, right? Thanks… for your help… I guess…”

“Oh, but before I go… There’s a den up ahead meant for spiders. But you’ve been formally invited. Just tell the ones out front that I assured your arrival. Okay, I’ll see you later now, dearie!”

“Y’know… kids like you… They remind me that I’ve still got some things left to teach! Just as long as I’ve got folks that still need to hear it! Wa-ha-ha!”

“Avery?”

“Avery!”

“AVERY!”

Avery suddenly snapped out of their thoughts after hearing Onyx shout their name with a concerned expression written all over her face. It was clear that the argument between their friends hadn’t progressed very far since they had zoned out.

“Are you okay?”

“…Yeah, I’m fine, Onyx, thanks for asking,” Avery responded to Onyx’s question with a nod. “I just… needed a moment to think. But I’ve made up my mind now about how to proceed.” They continued confidently before walking over and clapping their hands to get everyone’s attention.

“I understand that you all have your own ideas on how to proceed, but… well, forgive me if this sounds selfish, but I think I should be the one to decide my fate. And…” The human held out their hand, their SOUL appearing and hovering over their palm. “I know how I want this story to end. All of you… you’re all the best friends I’ve ever had. Learning magic with Onyx, meeting Nanook’s family, helping Scourm reunite with her family, helping Salva get over her human bias, and trying to unravel the enigma that is Vendigo.”

Avery paused momentarily to think before clearing their throat and continuing. “Recently, I had a bit of a shift in perspective. I was told things that made me reflect on myself and why I decided to come down here into the Underground. But I’ve decided… I don’t want to run and die as some sort of criminal. If I’m going to die, I want to die a hero.”

“Kid, you’re already a hero–”

“Precisely,” Avery responded while cutting off Nanook. “I don’t particularly want to die in combat. If I am going to die, I want it to be quick and painless. So I know this is a lot to ask… but please, take my SOUL to the king, will you?”

All of them were silent as they absorbed the information that the human had relayed to them. A long and melancholic sigh escaped from Vendigo as he reluctantly stepped forward, brushing off his cape before kneeling down onto the human’s level.

“I can help you with that.”

“Wait!” Onyx interjected before rushing in and tackling Avery with a hug, tears beginning to form and fall. “Not yet. Just… let me say my goodbyes first. I don’t want you to go, but… you’re right. We’ve been making too many choices for you, pulling and pushing you to the point where I personally would’ve broken. I’m sorry… I’m going to miss you…” She mumbled softly while hugging the human tighter before eventually letting go and backing away.

“Heh…” Nanook chuckled while stepping towards the human. “You know, Avery, you could certainly teach an ol’ grouchy monster like me a few things… I feel like I’ve already told you how much you’ve helped me, so… I guess I can allow this if you’re okay with it.” He said in a masked tone of nonchalance and then pulled the human into a literal bear hug before dropping them to the ground and backing off, gesturing for Scourm to approach.

“Um… I’m not too good at voicing my thoughts, but I’ll try my best…” Scourm mumbled quietly before clearing her throat and attempting to speak clearer. “When I was younger, I never liked the idea of constantly being told what to do, but now that I think about it… I’m being a hypocrite, trying to dictate how you want to go on. Um, I’m not really much of a hugger, so…” She raised her hand a bit awkwardly, which Avery responded with a high-five, which seemed to satisfy Scourm.

“Laying your life down just for the sake of monsterkind…?” Salva muttered under her breath before bowing in respect. “Well, if that doesn’t prove how good of a person you are, I don’t know what will. If it’s what you want, then I will respect your wishes.”

“Now that goodbyes are out of the way, can you four leave? I don’t want you to see what happens next,” Vendigo murmured with crossed arms, watching over his shoulder as the four agreed silently and made their way away from the lake until they were out of earshot. He sighed as he looked back towards the human, rising up to his full height. “I must say, I didn’t foresee this scenario happening.”

“Up until about a minute ago, neither did I,” Avery murmured in response as they set their notebook aside and slid their glasses off of their face, resting the latter on top of the former, before gazing up towards Vendigo with their vibrant dark purple eyes. “You were the Royal Executioner once upon a time, yes?”

He nodded in response, as if it didn’t surprise him that Avery knew that information despite him never telling them, a look of heaviness entering his eyes before he reached up and grabbed the helmet atop his head, lifting it off of his head, setting it down on a nearby rock sticking out of the ground. Just as the human had presumed, Vendigo was very much a humanoid deer monster… with claws and fangs. At least they now knew that the horns weren’t a part of the helmet.

“A long time ago. It was a family lineage, much like Salva. I never enjoyed the role very much. It made others wary around me, making others think I was some sort of barbarian. I retired shortly after monsterkind was locked down here. From there… I wandered the Underground aimlessly, wondering what to do with my life. I felt… purposeless. I didn’t want to go back to life as an executioner, but what else was I meant to do with my life? Once Asgore contacted me about Salva… I was finally given a new purpose. But enough of that. We aren’t here for me, now are we?”

Avery nodded solemnly in response as they held their hand out, their SOUL appearing and hovering over the palm of their hand once more, while Vendigo waved their hand, a glass canister appearing next to him. Reluctantly, the ex-Royal Executioner kneeled down and grasped the human’s SOUL as it was offered to him. With one quick pull, Avery could feel it being torn from their body.

Before they knew it, their SOUL was resting inside of the glass canister as Vendigo sealed the lid shut.

“I will… give you time to yourself, Avery. Goodbye.” He murmured incredibly softly before picking up the canister with one hand and walking away with it resting over his shoulder. Once they were alone, Avery could feel their strength failing them rapidly, collapsing to the ground.

“So… this is how you want to go out, huh?” A familiarly annoying voice asked next to them as Flowey sprouted out of the ground. Unfortunately, Avery didn’t have the strength to tell the flower to go pound sand. “All that work just to be another piece of the puzzle, huh? Y’know… I could reset all of this if I wanted to, but… well, quite frankly, it’s been annoying enough dealing with you and your persistent memory. I think it’s about time I let this go. Maybe we’ll meet again, Avery.”

That was the last thing Avery heard before everything went dark.

-

It was a day like any other in Waterfall. Undyne had passed through a few minutes ago while on patrol, giving her greetings to Gerson before quickly moving on. But since then, it has become quiet and peaceful. But things were about to get more interesting as a tall figure suddenly came into view at the entrance of his little shop.

“Eh, a visitor? Well, come on in, come on it! I’ve got some neat junk for sale!”

“Perhaps another time, old friend. I merely come here for a quick favor.”

Gerson knew that voice, laughing to himself as he adjusted the spot in which he was sitting, several memories coming to mind before they soon faded away to the present, watching as Vendigo bent down to pass through the door, his tall horns meaning that he had to remain slouched in order to fit into the cavern.

“If it isn’t ol’ Ven! Whatcha need?”

“I was wondering if you could hold onto something for me,” Vendigo murmured quietly before reaching into his cloak and setting both a purple notebook and a pair of glasses onto the table in front of Gerson, who instantly recognized the two items. He had heard about what had happened to Avery. The Underground was rather small, information like that spread like wildfire. “They remind the others too much of Avery’s passing. I think it’s best if someone else holds onto them.”

“Heh. If you say so. Y’know, I may accidentally sell ‘em to someone else with my forgetfulness.”

Vendigo huffed in amusement. “At least they’d still be useful to someone, hm? I think that’s what Avery would’ve wanted.” He replied before giving a wave of goodbye and then turning to leave the cave, leaving Gerson to quietly laugh to himself in response at the thought.

“Perhaps…”