Triad
Arc 1: Ruins
Part 1

Genocide

When the human fell into the Underground, they awoke on a bed of flowers. Golden flowers. They had a rather pleasant scent.

It was surprising that flowers capable of growing, down here.

The human stood up, leaning on the stick that had fallen down with them, and toddled forwards uncertainly. The human child was uneasy on their feet, and the stick aided them greatly.

Things were so different here, and it terrified the human.

The human entered a new section to the cave, only to discover that they were not alone.

“Howdy!”

The stranger was so different from anything they had ever seen A six-petaled yellow flower with simple dot eyes and line mouth, perched on about a foot of bright green stem. The flower smiled at them.

The flower smelled of the golden flowers that had broken the human’s fall. He seemed nice.

He smiled.

“I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!” the flower introduced himself. “Hmm… You’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha? Golly, you must be so confused.”

The human nodded. This was not untrue.

“Someone oughta teach you how things work around here!” Flowey continued. “I guess little ol’ me will have to do it!”

The human nodded in appreciation.

“Read?” Flowey asked. “Here we go!”

Everything flashed. The surrounding area faded into void. The color drained from Flowey. The human felt a strange, unnatural tugging from deep in their chest as a small red heart appeared in front of them, the only spot of visible color. The heart was colored bright red.

“See that heart?” Flowey asked, cheerful grin spread across his face. It made the human feel better, somehow. “That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV! What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don’t you? Don’t worry, I’ll share some with you!”

Flowey winked, sticking his tongue out.

The human nodded, and cupped their hands, reaching out.

Several small white spheres materialized around Flowey, spinning in space. “Down here, LOVE is shared through little white…” He paused.

Flowey’s smile shifted slightly. The human took no notice.

“‘Friendliness Pellets,’” Flowey finally finished his sentence. “Are you ready?”

The human nodded, and gave Flowey a thumbs-up.

The friendliness pellets began helpfully moving towards the human. “Move around! Get as many as you can!” Flowey advised.

The human moved towards where the pellets were congerging, cupping their hands around the small white spheres… Before dropping to the ground, tears leaking from their eyes. The pellets exploded into their cupped hands, causing their palms to turn an angry shade of red, and start bleeding.

The human dropped to the ground in shock as more friendliness pellets bombarded them. They squeezed their eyes shut tight, and clutched their stick as hard as they could, like a child scared by monsters under the bed would clutch a teddy bear, under the mistaken assumption it would protect them.

The stick did not protect them.

“You idiot!” Flowey’s tone remained as bright and cheery as ever, the words he spoke clashing terribly with it. “In this world, it’s kill or be killed! Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this!?”

The human curled up into a ball as a ring of the friendliness pellets encircled them.

“DIE.”

The human was curled up into a ball, and so did not notice a fireball smack into Flowey and cause him to flee, and the friendliness pellets to vanish.

Nor did they notice the new creature enter the scene. At least, not until she ran to the small human, comforting and healing them.

The human first flinched from the unexpected physical contact, then looked up at the creature.

She was tall. Very tall. She was wearing a long robe that reached down to her paws, with a strange sigil sewn on to it. A winged circle above three pointed triangles. She looked like an anthropomorphic goat, with long floppy ears and petite, curved horns.

She tried hugging the human close, and they stiffened up. “What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…” When she had assured herself that the human was okay, she stepped away and smiled comfortingly down at the human. “Do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I shall guide you through the catacombs.”

It occurred to the human that catacombs were tunnels meant for the dead.

The human uncertainly followed Toriel as she walked ahead.

They came across the facade of a large purple building. Was it that the building’s walls were high enough to meet the distant ceiling, or that the ceiling was low enough to touch the sturdy walls?

Nevertheless, the shadow of the Ruins loomed above, filling the human with Determination.

They walked up the steps, through the door, and came to a smaller chamber. There were raised stones in one side of the room, and the door seemed to be closed, blocking them off from the rest of the Ruins.

Toriel explained to the human how puzzles in the Ruins looked, and the human stared ahead, not seeming to see anything. They followed the commands Toriel gave them immediately and obediently. They followed after Toriel like a lost puppy, uncertain if they should trust a monster after their experience with Flowey, but suspecting Toriel was at least marginally better than the alternative.

“As a human in the Underground, monsters may attack you,” Toriel was saying. “You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly c--”

The human stepped towards the Dummy.

FIGHT. They punched the Dummy’s head clean off, scattering cotton everywhere. Cotton flew everywhere, up the human’s nose, making them sneeze.

The Dummy’s remains disintegrated into dust. The human looked confusedly down at their powdered white hands, then looked back up at Toriel, a questioning expression on their face.

Toriel gave the human a stern look. “Ahh, the Dummies are not made for fighting! They are for talking!” She knelt down, vigorously brushing the dust off the human. The human felt tempted to squirm away, but did not react. “We do not want to hurt anyone, do we…?”

The human did not want to hurt anyone. But they did not want to be hurt, either.

“Come now.” They moved through the corridor beyond the Dummy’s chamber. While they walked, Toriel mused aloud. “There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?”

While the human was walking, something familiar happened.

Everything flashed. The surrounding area faded into void. The color drained from Flowey. The human felt a strange, unnatural tugging from deep in their chest as a small red heart appeared in front of them, the only spot of visible color. The heart was colored bright red.

Froggit attacks you!

The human’s breath hitched, and they began hyperventilating. They remembered this happening when Flowey attacked them.

FIGHT. Kick the Froggit away. It wants to hurt me. Why else would it FIGHT?

It crumbles into a pile of white dust that lies forlornly on the ground.

Dust was all over the human’s shoe and leg now.

Toriel simply brushed it off, not saying anything about what the human had just done.

Toriel continued down the corridor, until she stopped in front of what looked like a bridge of spikes over of pool of indiscernible depth, and turned to face the human. “This is the puzzle, but…” She paused, thinking, then took the human’s hand. “Here, take my hand for a moment.”

Toriel led the human across the bridge of spikes, walking in a very specific way. The spikes retracted before him, leaving a perfectly safe and flat path.

“Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now,” Toriel remarked once they crossed the bridge safely. Upon entering the next corridor, Toriel stopped, and faced the human. “You have done excellently thus far, my child. However… I have a different request to ask of you.” She paused for a few moment, worry darting across her face before she managed to replace it with a smile. “...I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this.” Without another word, Toriel ran out of the human’s sight.

The human hugged themself tightly, before walking hesitantly forwards. The corridor seemed intimidating to them. Even if they were sort of scared by Toriel, they figured they were far safer with her than without. They walked in silence, their footsteps and breaths echoing off the purple brick walls.

After several minutes of walking, Toriel stepped out from behind a pillar at the end of the corridor. The human whirled around, startled by this, holding up their stick like a sword.

“Greetings, my child,” Toriel told the human, trying to sound reassuring. “Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me.”

The human gave no response as they lowered the stick.

“However, there was another important reason for this excercise,” Toriel continued. “...to test your independence. I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while.” The human gave Toriel a look of fear. The motherly smile evaporated from Toriel’s face, leaving a look of concern. “Please remain here. It’s dangerous to explore by yourself.” Toriel’s face lit up. “I have an idea! I will give you a cell phone! If you have a need for anything, just call.” Toriel handed the human an old flip phone. They gave her a hesitant thumbs-up. “Be good, alright?”

Toriel turned around and left, more hesitantly this time.

She did not look back.

The human wandered forth, ignoring Toriel’s warning to stay put.

As they walked, they could not shake a sense of utter terror. They had not seen where Flowey had gone. He could pop up at any time. Or another monster like him could appear.

They clutched their stick tightly, ready to use it if they entered a FIGHT.

They encountered many denizens of the Ruins, and each time, the human hit the monster with the stick as hard as they could before the monster had a chance to attack, causing the monster to explode in white dust.

The dust was getting everywhere. All over the human’s striped sweater, dusting their hair, getting in their eyes and up their nose to make it hard to see and breath. They coughed the dust out of their lungs and rubbed it out of their eyes.

Froggit hopped close.

FIGHT.

Whimsun approached meekly.

FIGHT.

Moldsmal blocked the way!

FIGHT.

The human’s wanderings were interspersed with constant calls from Toriel’s cell phone.

Ring.

“Hello? This is Toriel. For no reason in particular… which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?”

The human informed her that their favorite was butterscotch.

“Oh, I see. Well, thank you. Goodbye for now.”

Ring.

“Hello? This is Toriel. You do not dislike butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but… would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate? Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way.”

Ring.

“Hello? You do not have any allergies, do you? Huh? Why am I asking? No reason… No reason at all.”

The human managed to successfully navigate their way through the Ruins uninjured. Although they were terrified by the revelation that one enemy they fought, a depressed ghost lying on crimson leaves, had been lowering his ‘HP’ ‘just to be polite’. The thought crossed the human’s mind that maybe there are monsters like both Flowey and the ghost, Napstablook. What if there was monster that wanted to hurt them like Flowey, who didn’t want to lower their HP just to be nice?

...What if Flowey could do what Napstablook did, and they didn’t know because they never even tried to hit Flowey with their stick?

Nothing they could do then could make a difference, and their death would be certain.

They made their way through the Ruins, until they finally found something.

A black tree. The ground littered with blood red leaves.

The tree filled the human with Determination.

The tree filled the human with fear.

They did not know why. It was just a tree, not something that could potentially hurt them. But there was such an aura of sheer wrongness emanating from the tree, permeating the surrounding atmosphere and striking dread deep into the human’s heart. They clutched their stick tightly, backing away from the tree, unable to take their eyes off of its bark, black like the void of space.

The human was focused on the black-barked tree, and did not notice that Toriel was nearby for a few moments. “How did you get here, my child?”

The human stared blankly at Toriel.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, checking the human over, before standing up and looking somewhat awed. “...Not a scratch… Impressive! But still...” Something flickered across her face, as her eyes settled on the human’s dusty stick. “I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this.” She blinked, realizing what she had just said. ‘Err… I suppose I cannot hit it any longer. Come, small one!”