UnderLove

9: Welcome To the Safe House

The halls were still filled with minor monsters here and there. A save point soon came into view. *The beautiful pillars masterly made fills you with love. Progress saved, it was 2:25. You came across a hole in the ground a little while later. It was only wide enough for you to stick most of your foot in. *Motleys made this hole. Motleys? Maybe it was something like a mole but smaller and misshapen. The hole didn't have any color or texture but the never-ending black abyss. Like there was only one thin layer of purple you stood on keeping you from falling into the void... or space. This confused you and planted images of aliens into your mind.

Afraid something might pull you down into the black hole, you didn't stick your hand in there. You kept staring at the hole, wondering what a motley was and what else could possibly be down there. Just then, something stuck its head out from the hole. It was a small round blue creature, like a tall jellybean. It didn't have any facial features or detail. You flinched as it came out of the hole.

You entered a DUEL. *Motley popped out from the ground! This was a Motley. You checked its status, 4 HP/ 2 ATTK. You checked your options in PURSUE, *Request, *Compliment, and *Dig. You tried complementing the motley, *Motley was confused, but its face turned orange out of embarrassment. The Motley's attack right after the text was rapid-fire clumps of dirt and rocks. Three clumps hit you, lowering your health to 14 HP. *Request.

The Motley's face morphed and long arms flopped out of the sides, it was a small deformed... cat. *Motley morphed into a cat! The eyes weren't the same size, the paws were oversized and the overall look of it was toony.

The stones and dirt clumps came flying again, your HP was lowered only once. This reminded you of a dirty fight your mother had footage of. You and your older sister were standing in the rain, throwing globs of thick mud at each other. But that was years and years ago, and your family had been tragically torn apart.

Back to the current time, the Motley's attack ended and you chose to dig, maybe this would entertain the Motley or give it the idea you were one as well. *Motley was confused at why you were scratching the ground. The floor was so hard it made your fingernails squeak on the purple cement-like substance. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard, but it gave you more shivers than even that.

Rocks and dirt flew in your direction again, but none lowered any HP. You tried requesting again, its overall shape transformed into a lopsided version of you.

The arms and hands shrunk into stubs, the Motley's large eyes became small and black and the body morphed into a blue and brown mess. Its head was smaller than human proportion and the colors of tan and bright yellow swirled into a long drooping flower at the top of its head. That wasn't you much at all. *Motley: incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate. A definition, you learned a definition, you do learn something every day like they say at school.

Attacking rock and earth didn't hit you this turn, you dodged every attack skillfully. The deformed "you" stayed in place, rocking forward and back, waiting. A new action in the PURSUE menu appeared, *Approach. You weren't going to take any risks, you chose to compliment the Motley again.

*Motley was flattered at your words. After the next attack, which you almost lost all your health from, the Motley's name was shown in the light green sparing color, so you spared it.

The Motley disappeared down its hole along with your glass box and menu that evaporated just as quickly. You walked back over to the hole leading to the black abyss of an underground system. You heard air slowly whispering through the hole. Unnatural whispers, unnaturally.... human.

This idea rushed through your mind, as those tortured souls, captive, fallen, or lost, whispered through the hole, the black nothingness, your mind, your memory, to insanity. The whispers grew louder and louder until they were deafening. Deafening!! They flooded every crack and crevice of your mind-

You died. Your pink soul shattered into the oblivion and your motivator said a line of encouragement, "Get up and seize the day.... Lisa, this world depends on your actions!"

You returned to the save point you recently passed and continued down the corridors and came upon the gaping hole again. The Motley didn't pop up this time. But there was a stone plate similar to the one much earlier in the hall, it was stood up against the wall near the hole. It read Stmp thre tims en of hll. So, Stomp three times, end of the hall. You simply avoided the hole and continued on walking. About half a minute later, you came to the end of the hall.

The end of the hallway was a wall. A simple, purple wall. There was nothing special was about it. The message. You stomped your feet three times, and...

*Nothing happened. You waited ten seconds, still nothing. You turned around to find another route, maybe something was notified by the noise of your shoes and was coming up. Never knew what might come at you in less than twenty seconds from below. You started walking away from the wall, then...

You fell. The floor fell in the precise place where you put your left foot. You saw a flash of three white stripes in the black while you fell.

Impact. Wet. cold. You realized you fell into water when you were fully submerged and sinking. Swim! You swam upwards for air, but it was difficult. The water was thick, but you managed to surface after a few kicks and arm strokes. You bobbed around and looked around for a way out. There was to your right an illuminating doorway. You made your way over to the passageway, not bothering to dry off at all.

When you passed through the doorway, a beep sounded, lights turned on, revealing walls decorated with plush towels and vents. "Initiating drying phase one." The name of the voice was T.I.S.H. Interface. The vents roared with rushing air, drying you violently but not enough to push you around. You walked forward, welcoming the warm air. The air smelled of meat, like the turkey in a Thanksgiving feast, this smell was strange but welcoming.

The vents died down at the sound of the interface's voice, "Initiating drying phase two." Two metal hand came down from the ceiling, like one of the hands in an outdated claw machine game. The metal hands swiftly grabbed a towel on the wall, brought it over to you and rubbed you down, tangling your hair and shifting your clothes in position. It soon stopped and put the towel back on its rack and disappeared into the ceiling. You combed your screwed-up hair with your fingers, letting it fall into straight locks over your shoulders.

A different voice then came over the intercom, the voice's name was Erog, "Welcome to the Safe House. I believe you are the human that the Cattle House just told us about. Come on in, you must be tired."