Grillby x Reader: Burn the Witch

Part 2

The first thing that (Name) noticed when she woke up was the deafening silence. Her ears rung with a fervor that lead her to believe that she had gone deaf but the faintest sound of the hollow wind lead her to assume otherwise. She spread her fingers and felt something soft and smooth against her fingers. She strained her head to look. She was laying in a bed of flowers. For a moment she wondered if she had died, but the ache in her back and arms told her that she was very much alive.

She slowly sat up, hearing her back and shoulders creak with the movement. She looked up, she had fallen roughly 200 feet (60 meters) and yet, somehow a patch of daisies had cushioned her fall. Not perfectly, but enough to keep her alive. There was no doubt about it, there were magic users here and fairly recently too.

She felt slightly idiotic to come to that conclusion so late. This was Mt. Ebbot: the realm of monsters. Of course, there were going to be magic users here. The humans might have forgotten, but mages wouldn't forget The Great War. It was burned into their history, much like The Witch Trials will be if they managed to survive it.

As she struggled to stand, she realized that she was without her supplies; her food, clothes, tomes, everything was still in the cave above. If she were to be attacked, she would be virtually defenseless. She could do basic attacks and spells, but nothing compared to what monsters and ancestral mages could do. If she were to be attacked now, she would surely perish. She looked for anything remotely helpful, to no avail. With a sigh and as much optimism as she could muster (not a lot) she made her way past a heavy marble doorframe to the next room. 

The next room was dark, with one beam of light shining through a crack in the cave ceiling. She moved with extreme caution. She hugged the wall to stay as much in the shadows as possible. She moved slowly. Too slowly. It was almost as if she was becoming impatient with herself for being a slow walker, but she stayed true not wanting to make a sound. 

Just as she was about to exit the room, a light appeared in front of her. A small flickering flame. Then, another lit floating near the first. Then another, and another, and another, until more than a dozen floated around her. She sensed that whoever cast this wasn't hostile, but that didn't stop her from feeling slightly threatened. In front of her, a rather large goat-like monster stood. Their coat was a brilliant white and their ears her long and framed their face similar to how hair would. As the room grew brighter she saw that they had feminine humanoid anatomy. She seemed surprised to find her here in the darkened room, but more curious than anything else.

The monster spoke softly and sweetly, "Good evening my child, it has been quite a while since I've seen one of your kind. Least of all here."

"My kind?" (Name) asked. "What do you mean?"

"Mages, my dear child. You are a mage aren't you?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

She twirled a paw and the small flames gently floated towards them, forming one large flame. "Not many humans walk in robes used by the ancients. And there is rather powerful magical aura around you."

They paused for a short moment, realizing something. "Where are my manners. I have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

As she introduced herself, she realized that perhaps the monsters weren't as hostile towards wizards as the stories they were told as children made them out to be. Or perhaps she was incredibly lucky and met the only non-hostile monster in the underground.

"Come now, my child," Toriel said holding out a paw to her. "I will guide you through the catacombs."

She lead her through the ruins and into a rather large field with one tree and a house. Toriel welcomed (Name) into her home and even offered her a bedroom to stay in for as long as she needed it. For a moment, she was happy. Toriel was motherly and took care of her as if she was one of her own. In the ruins it was peaceful in a way that she only vaguely remembered from her youth. After eating a delicious pie she laid down in the bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

She was suddenly and violently thrown into a premonition. She stood in front of a large crowd of both humans and monsters, tied to a large wodden pillar. She saw a hooded human light a match and throw it under her. The stage she stood on suddenly erupted in flames. She felt as if her body was being engulfed in flames but the fire felt alive pulsing and beating like a heartbeat. Suddenly, the crowd merged together to form seven human-like figures in traditional mage robes. Most of them were complete strangers, but two looked vaguely familiar. One had blonde hair and blue eyes identical to Kendrik's the other looked scarily similar to herself.

The seven mages were chanting quietly to themselves but their mumbling quickly grew louder until in was all she could hear.

"You must get out. You must get out. You must get out. You must get out."

Suddenly, the mages merged and formed into a small child with short brown hair wearing a green sweater. Their eyes glowed a fiendish red.

Their yell pierced through the stagnant air, "GET OUT!"

The flames suddenly rose around her until they towered over her, radiating even more burning heat. She tried to scream but no sound came out. She tried to move but no strength came through. She tried to cry but no tears came out.

A boney hand reached through the flames. As it was burned, flesh grew ontop of the bare bones until it resembled a human hand. It reached for her neck and grabbed it with a vice grip. She couldn't breathe. She tried to move away, but the hand stayed steadfast on her throat. Just as she thought she was going to pass out, flames erupted within her reaching out. These flames seemed same welcoming to her, but the hand that once held her throat was gone, burnt to a crisp below her.

The flames fell, the stage fell, the pillar and the ropes that bound her fell, everything fell and left her floating in space. In front of her was her soul. Inside was a swirl of colors mixing together like paint but each stayed vibrant and pure. There was a sudden, sharp pain in her chest and her soul began to glow white hot. The pain quickly grew until it felt like it was burning a hole in her chest. She screamed.

A voice, strangely familiar yet unknown to her spoke from an invisible mouth, "You are finally ready, my dear child."

Suddenly, her soul became pure red as her body stilled, glowing as if blessed. For a moment she saw a hand made of flames reached out to her and cover her eyes. It was warm, pleasantly so.

"We will meet soon."