It took a few minutes for Blaze to calm down from the fight, but once he did, he slowly got back to his feet, wiping tears out of his eyes.
“Alright, let’s get going…” Blaze sighed, walking into the room he’d been trying to get into before Penilla attacked. It was a small room, much smaller than the previous rooms, with just a lemonade stand. There was nobody at the stall, but there was a seemingly fresh bowl of lemonade sitting there.
“Nobody’s here…” Phantom murmured. Blaze frowned but didn’t say anything, just glancing at the sign.
“5g for a glass of lemonade.” Blaze read aloud, crossing his arms over his chest with a small huff of annoyance, “That seems cheap. Not that I know anything about monster economy…”
“Yeah, that’s cheap. Where I come from, it’d probably cost more like 20g.” Phantom explained, “But then again, who knows how long that’s been sitting there for. There’s not even anyone here to make sure you pay!”
“Guess you’re right.” Blaze remarked, glancing at the lemonade, grabbing a glass from the side and dipping it in the bowl, filling up the lemonade, “But I’ve been getting money from the fights right? It’d feel wrong not to pay.”
“Well, it’s up to you.” Phantom replied. Blaze hummed in response, pulling some gold out of his pocket. He wasn’t sure how he got it from the fights, but 5g was the majority of his money. Not that he particularly cared, he just put the 5g down on the counter, feeling proud of himself. With a light consciousness, he left the room and went the other way.
This room was definitely strange. It was completely empty, but it was a fairly big room with spikes on either side of the room. They didn’t block anything so Blaze just walked around the room, glancing around in confusion.
“This place is empty.” Blaze scoffed.
Out of nowhere, a giant piece of corn jumped in front of him. Blaze yelped in surprise, jumping back and staring at the monster. According to the menu, she was called Sweet Corn.
Unsure of what to do, Blaze pressed the act button, glancing at the option. He frowned in concern at the ‘lick’ option. He was almost definitely not about to lick a very clearly sentient being.
It took a second to decide what to do, but Blaze eventually chose to hug Sweet Corn. She got stuck to his shirt for a few seconds but Blaze still managed to pull away easily enough, just in time to see a piece of corn coming towards him. “I’m feelin’ the love!” Sweet Corn chirped. Blaze certainly wasn’t feeling any love.
Confused, he was quick to start trying to avoid it, only to quickly realise it was following him.
“A homing missile? You’ve got to be kidding!” Blaze snapped. Sprinting for his life, he tripped to the ground, hitting the ground pretty hard. Thankfully, Sweet Corn’s attack stopped as she stared at him, looking concerned.
Blaze didn’t say anything, just hit the spare button, so Sweet Corn hesitantly hopped away. Getting back up, Blaze noticed something on the ground where Sweet Corn had been a few seconds ago. A piece of candy corn.
“Oh, she left a gift…” Blaze muttered. He picked it up and put it in the bag he had brought with him. While he didn’t plan to be stuck down here, he had brought it to carry some food on his way up on the mountain.
“How sweet of her…” Phantom sighed.
Glancing at the two exits, Blaze decided to go to the one on the left. This one was even smaller than the lemonade room, with a bridge towards another part of the Ruins, but it was broken and there was no way across it. There were a few oddly-shaped pebbles, but other than that, the room was empty.
“Maybe you should pick those up. That way if we have to, we have something to use as a weapon.” Phantom remarked. Blaze frowned, not saying anything as he crouched down and picked the pebbles up, shoving them in his pockets.
Then he just turned around and went back out to the large empty room. He walked across the room without any more monsters attacking him. The next room was a pretty large one, and Blaze could see there was what used to be a bridge, which was now broken. Across from him, he saw the cloaked figure again.
With the only other exit blocked by spikes, Blaze rushed over to the broken bridge, standing on the edge and looking at the cloaked figure. He could hear them muttering to themself again.
“I enjoyed life before, I did… But I can’t go back… What happened that day would only repeat…” They muttered, before turning around and noticing Blaze, who was staring at them in confusion, “What is this? Why do they appear every time I start monologuing… I need more rest…”
“H-Hey! I promise I’m not a hallucination!” Blaze shouted, but it fell on a deaf ears as the cloaked figure rushed away. “Rude.”
“You’re probably freaking him out. You are a human after all.” Phantom huffed.
“Right…” Blaze sighed, turning around and pulling the lever. The spikes from earlier went back in so Blaze rushed over, crossing the spikes. Continuing further down the hallway, he could see a couple of pillars. One pillar had a drawing of a cat on it. “That’s a nice drawing…”
Before he could exit the room, however, another monster appeared. This one was much bigger than any of the previous monsters (other than Toriel and the cloaked figure), being a large mirror with a face and arms on its side. Rorrim, according to the menu.
“Do you think if I threw a rock at him the glass would shatter…?” Blaze muttered, narrowing his eyes, “I’m not gonna do it. That sounds mean.”
“...It would.” Phantom confirmed.
Blaze awkwardly smiled at that, which seemed to make Rorrim grin slightly.
“Smiles are never out of style!” Rorrim remarked, before starting to attack, making glass shards out of magic and shooting them towards Blaze. He yelped in surprise, barely managing to dodge it, but one did manage to scratch his cheek. The attacks stopped shortly after and Blaze forced a smile back on his face, glancing himself in the mirror.
“Ow… That’s gonna leave a mark…” Blaze groaned.
“You look perfect!” Rorrim remarked happily. Blaze gave him a cold glare. This time, he expected the shards of glass flying at him, so he managed to dodge them without being scratched again. When the attacks stopped, Blaze just spared Rorrim, trudging through to the next room.
While it was another hallway, this time it was significantly darker so Blaze had to stumble through the darkness blindly, careful to not fall off what felt like a ledge. He couldn’t see how big of a drop it was and he certainly didn’t want to find out. Still, he felt like he was being watched, making him nervously look around the room. It was too dark to see anything, but he felt a gust of wind blow towards him and a bat monster appeared, with two sets of wings. Decibat, according to the menu.
Processing what he was seeing, Blaze just stared at Decibat, completely silent. He seemed to like that.
“Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Hush, hush!” the bat monster whispered, shooting sonic waves out of his mouth. There was no way to dodge them, so Blaze just stared, in shock as the attacks went right through him. To his surprise, he wasn’t injured by them.
“Blue attacks won’t hurt you if you don’t move. Orange attacks won’t hurt you if you’re moving when they hit you.” Phantom explained.
Blaze nodded, continuing to stare at Decibat in complete silence since it seemed to work last time. Decibat seemed to be even more pleased this time.
“Move in silence! Hush, hush!” Decibat whispered again. He shot more sonic waves from his mouth, this time orange ones. Blaze just ran right through them, coming out uninjured. Still, he couldn’t help but shake a little at the sensation.
Despite his discomfort, Blaze remained silent, not wanting to upset Decibat, since he seemed to appreciate the silence.
“More quiet please…” Decibat muttered, sounding rather relaxed. He shot more waves at Blaze, which were switching colours. The ones coming to him from the front were blue, while the ones coming to him from the sides were orange. They were definitely more difficult to dodge than the previous attacks, but Blaze barely managed. “You hear that? No? Good!”
At first, it seemed like Decibat wasn’t attacking, but Blaze quickly realised that magic stalagmites were breaking off the roof, crashing down towards him. Blaze narrowly avoided them, jumping back with a panicked gasp. He winced, glancing at Decibat, who didn’t seem bothered by the small noise.
“Sweet silence…” Decibat sighed, closing his eyes and seemingly falling asleep. Blaze spared him and the bat seemingly woke up. “I declare you an honorary sentinel of silence. I trust you to keep peace and order hear. I shall conquer new lands in the name of quiet. This is a very high honour so keep it hush hush.”
With that, Decibat flew off, leaving Blaze alone.
While the hallway was still dark, the rest of the journey through it was uninterrupted. When he left the hallway, everything suddenly became light again. Blaze narrowed his eyes, adjusting to the new light. The next room wasn’t too interesting, just another bridge over a fall even further down into the underground, so Blaze crossed it without much thought.
As he reached the end of the bridge, a loud yell made him jump, and he quickly realised a giant floating scroll with angry-looking eyes was right in front of him.
“OH FUCK-” Blaze yelled, scared.
“WAIT! DO YOU SPEAK FLUENT REFERENCE?” the monster, Crispy Scroll, asked, sounding excitedly. He seemed to think that Blaze had just joined in his excited yelling.
“Yes…?” Blaze muttered, unsure. He certainly didn’t expect Crispy Scroll to start shooting massive lasers at him, but he narrowly avoided them, hitting the ground hard when Crispy Scroll finally stopped shooting. Despite the fact that he was pretty sure he had hit his face hard enough to cause a nosebleed, Blaze stood and started screaming, this time to join in with Crispy Scroll.
“I CAN FEEL THE POWER COURSING THROUGH MY RIBBONS!” Crispy Scroll yelled. His next attack was easier to dodge, with him sending slashes of magic towards Blaze, he just had to move away as fast as possible and Crispy Scroll would completely miss. The attack didn’t last long and Blaze was quick to spare Crispy Scoll. The monster happily floated away.
Continuing further into the room, Blaze was certainly unhappy to see that the puzzle with the light and dark buttons from earlier was back, this time with even more cards. Groaning in annoyance, Blaze approached the cards. Thinking for a second, Blaze pressed the second on the bottom button, then the one next to it and finally the one diagonal to that, activating all the buttons.
“Good thing I played so many of those dumb games…” Blaze muttered, continuing forwards. He could see a gate out of the corner of his eye, but it looked tightly shut so he didn’t bother going that way. The next room was another hallway, but it seemed to be a dead end, with the bridge broken, preventing further access.
However, there was a poorly hidden hole, covered by a sheet that was painted to try and look like the wall. Blaze pulled it aside and went through the hole.
Just like the hallway Decibat was in, this room was incredibly dark. Blaze felt for a wall, carefully walking through the room, quickly finding there were two ways to go. Frowning, he decided to continue the way he was going, not wanting to risk getting lost in a dark maze he couldn’t properly see. Thankfully, it seemed like that was the right because Blaze could finally see a light.
Rushing towards it, he found himself in a large room, with a small pond in the middle and a staircase either side of the pond. Blaze could see the cloaked figure again, so slowly began approaching them, hoping to not scare them off this time.
“Hello?” Blaze asked quietly, making the cloaked figure spin around, jolting in fear. They started to step backwards, looking terrified.
“Umm… I don’t know who you are but I ask you… Please leave!” the cloaked figure.
“Wait, but I can’t!” Blaze shouted, watching as the cloaked figure tried to scramble away, “I can’t back the way I came, I just wanted to know if there was a way to get out!”
Barely paying attention to where he was going, Blaze paused when he realised there were large bodies of water either side of him. The cloaked figure had stopped, turning around to face him.
“You’re… still following me? I thought I made it clear that I wanted to be left alone.” they snapped.
“I’m sorry, but I want to get out, and this seems to be the only way I haven’t gone yet…” Blaze apologised, frowning.
“I don’t understand… You’re a human but you look nothing like them…” they muttered.
“What? Who’s ‘they’?” Blaze asked, frowning in confusion.
“And I was just starting to accept my reality. The cruelty… Nevermind, words aren’t enough. I… I don’t want to fight anybody but you’ve invaded my home. The exit is blocked and you can’t stay here. I will not allow it.” they muttered, pulling their hood down, revealing an anxious-looking monster with purple skin, darker purple hair and fangs. Blaze flinched. They looked so similar to…
“You…” Blaze growled, gripping the rocks in his pocket, “You’re just like my father.”
“Only one thing to do…” the vampire monster muttered, frowning at Blaze’s words, seemingly confused.
As soon as the fight started, Blaze chucked one of the pebbles he had picked up at the vampire monster, Dalv apparently.. It hit him in the face, making him cry out in surprise, stumbling back. He clearly hadn’t expected that but Blaze didn’t care.
“This would have been much easier for both of us if you could just leave the way you came, wouldn’t it?” Dalv sighed. He shot lightning at the ground, which made it so Blaze had to jump to the side.
Blaze threw another rock at Dalv, this time hitting him in the jaw. This time he didn’t cry out, clearly having expected it this time.
“Where did you come from anyway? There aren’t any accessible entrances…” Dalv muttered, looking down to the ground, before shaking his head before shooting at the ground again. Blaze once again jumped to the side, but he hadn’t expected a horizontal attack, so he got hit, sending him hard to the ground with a cry of pain.
Shaking, he tried to push himself to his feet, barely managing to get to them. Everything hurt.
“All I know is that somehow… You found me… Sorry to make things difficult, but I’m not cowering away this time.” Dalv sighed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them up to try and shoot orbs of lightning at Blaze. Trying to sidestep them, he quickly took one too many steps and fell straight into the water. Dalv seemed to be surprised, his attack ending prematurely.
He rushed over to the edge, staring at Blaze as he desperately tried to scramble up to the surface.
“...But you’re not them…” Dalv muttered, seeming to be considering something. Blaze just held on to the edge, trying to drag himself up but finding he didn’t have enough strength, “You know, despite whatever beliefs you have, us monsters aren’t evil… Monsterkind stands for hope, for good. Everyone here is only trying to find a little joy. I know I’m the one who got hostile first but…
He seemed to hesitate, before grabbing Blaze by the arm and pulling him. Blaze sat up, staring at Dalv in confusion.
“You’re not like them, I know that.” Dalv muttered, rubbing his cheek where Blaze had hit him with the pebble, “You aren’t really trying to hurt me, are you? This got out of hand. I apologise, I truly do. I… I don’t know how I can make this right.”
“He’s not like your father, Blaze.” Phantom sighed. Blaze stared down at the ground.
“I’m sorry for throwing those pebbles at you, it’s just…” Blaze trailed off, shaking his head before offering his hand out to Dalv. The vampire monster stared at his hand, seeming surprised.
“You want me to… shake your hand? Even after I wrongfully attacked you? But that is… that is a sign of friendship. You’re a human. Is that the same where you come from?” Dalv asked. Blaze didn’t say anything, just nodding his head. Dalv seemed to smile at that, “I didn’t ever expect to meet another human, let alone befriend them. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a friend! I mean, I think… I don’t really remember what it entails. I guess I’ll give it a shot if you will.”
Blaze smiled slightly at that. Dalv gave him a small but genuine smile. Phantom was right, Blaze supposed, Dalv really was different from his father.
