Even in the ruins of a kingdom's former capital, monsters live. Some had already claimed the land and didn't feel compelled to follow when the capital was moved, some liked the ruins and settled down in the secluded ruins, and some simply lived in the ruins without a care in the world. And there was one monster who left the ruins and returned to the ruins because he didn't like the look of the new capital.
That monster, Toriel, tended to the ruins that day, just like any other day. First, he raked leaves from the trees in front of his house and stuffed them under a puzzle with a falling trap. Then I walked around the deserted ruins, greeting the neighbors who lived in the ruins, clearing out the vines that were covering the walls, and making sure the puzzle was working properly. Once I was done with all of that, I headed to the tip of the ruins. At the head of the ruins, there is a pit where the sunlight from above reaches the ground. It is a pit that you can fall into from the surface, but you can never climb out of it. At the bottom of the pit is a garden of golden flowers. It is the last place I tend to, and the place I spend the most time.
Until he stepped into it, Toriel hadn't expected what he would see.
On his way to the pit of golden flowers, Toriel encountered a human child. The child looked her straight in the eye, unfazed by what must have been her first time underground, and Toriel was taken aback, but quickly introduced herself.
The human before her wasn't the first human to fall underground, after all, how could anyone have fallen underground after all these years since the monsters were sealed underground?
"Hello, are you all right? You must be so confused, lost. Ah, don't be afraid, my dear. I am Toriel, the caretaker of these ruins. I make the rounds here every day to see if anyone has fallen. You are the first human to come here in a long time. I will protect you as best I can while you are here."
As I spoke, I had a strange premonition that I should have met someone other than the child. Toriel shook her head as she looked at the spot where she thought someone should be, but there was no sign of anyone except the dirt. The human child looked up at Toriel as if he were strange, but Toriel smiled and said, "Nothing.
"It's nothing."
Toriel led the child to the ruins and explained the rules of the ruins. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done this, but she'd done it many times before, so she wasn't clumsy. She was an excellent teacher of the Ruins.
The child was bright, and quickly worked through the puzzles she gave him. Toriel smiled brightly and praised him.
"Well done! I am so proud of you, child."
Up until this point, Toriel had no worries. Until I told her to say something kind to the monster when she encountered it, and I'd come to her aid, and set her up in front of a practice dummy as a precautionary measure before she encountered it.
The child stood in front of the doll and, without thinking, hit it with the stick he was holding. Not just a flick, but with all his might. Toriel was surprised, but she didn't show it, and with a stern look on her face, she said to the child, "Oh, they're not fighting! They're talking!
"Oh, dolls aren't meant to fight, they're meant to talk! You don't want to hurt anyone, do you...?"
The child didn't nod or protest. Instead, it just stared at Toriel with unadorned eyes. Toriel's mind was stirred by the innocence of that gaze. She knew that purity was not synonymous with goodness.
Toriel led the child through the ruins. As she explained more about the ruins, she glanced back to see that the child had disappeared.
"Child?"
