Most Powerful Monster

Chapter 2

(Y/N)'s POV

After a long walk of Toriel guiding me through puzzles and a few other curious monsters, we ended up at a little purple house made of brick. She led me to the door and opened it wide for us to pass through. I assumed this was Toriel's home. The first thing I saw was a staircase that led down into darkness. Toriel led me to the left where I was met with a crackling fireplace leaning against the north side of the house. A large, plush chair sat beside the fireplace with a line of bookshelves facing the chair on the opposite side. A wooden table with two chairs to match sat at the far side of the room to the west. The place looked cozy enough.

While we were journeying through the Ruins, as Toriel called it, she taught me that monsters were nothing but harmless and just want to live a happy life. Her description of monsters was very different from the stories that humans told about them. I decided to take Toriel's word for it. After all, she was a monster herself. She's been around them longer than the humans have. Everything she did for me was to help me, not the opposite. I started to trust her after a while. Maybe I should show her my powers.

"(Y/N), dear, do you like cinnamon or butterscotch?" Toriel asked sweetly. I thought about it for a moment and told her that I preferred butterscotch. She nodded with apprehension and glanced into another room that looked like a kitchen. "You don't dislike cinnamon, do you? Like, would you turn up your nose if you saw it on your plate?" I giggled to myself softly at her insecure behavior and shook my head. She let out a sigh of relief and nodded again. She grabbed a book and settled herself on the chair next to the fireplace and became lost in the book.

I thought of this as the perfect time to go exploring. I wandered back in the room where we entered the house and stared at the gloomy staircase. I took a deep breath and slowly descended down the stairs into the depth of shadows. Once I reached the bottom, I spotted a faint glow against the wall deeper down the hallway. I crossed over to the safety of the light to find it was a torch. I grabbed it out of its metal holder and continued down the hallway. I walked for about a few minutes until I reached the end of the hall, and two gigantic purple doors greeted me. I stared at the doors for a long while until I decided to see what was on the other side. I held the torch away from the door in case they were made of wood and pressed my ear against them. I only heard the howling of wind. Maybe these doors led outside! I put the torch down and attempted to tug on one of the doors, but I was stopped by Toriel clearing her throat behind me. I spun around to see her; she looked very upset. I was about to explain when she cut me off. "Child, you were not supposed to venture down here," she said with a stern expression. "The world out there is dangerous. It is not a place for an innocent youth like you."

"B-but Toriel, I thought you said monsters were nice," I retorted. She covered her face with her hand for a moment, but removed it and started to speak again. "Monsters are nice, but when they are ruled by someone who would do anything to kill a human, then I wouldn't describe them as 'nice'," she explained. I could tell there was a hint of worry in her tone, and I looked down at my feet. "I wanted to see what was outside, Toriel," I mumbled, raising my head slowly to meet her gaze. She let out a sharp breath and looked me in the eye. "Alright. Prove to me you can survive out there," she commanded, flames appearing in her hands. My eyes widened at them, and I stared up at her. I could clearly see she didn't want to do this. Despite the fact she was engaging in a fight, I held up my hands in surrender. I looked up to see she was faltering slightly but quickly regained her composure. "Fight me or go upstairs," Toriel said in a grave voice. Flames started to shoot out of her hands. I quickly dodged them, but one managed to hit me in the arm. I gasped in pain and saw my health lowering until it read, '18/20 HP'. Despite Toriel's attack, I tried to spare her again. She hesitated before readying her attack. That's when I decided to use my power. Instead of dodging the flames, I raised my arm, which was now glowing white, and a wall of ice rose at the same time and blocked the attack. Toriel gasped at the sight and stopped attacking. I lowered my arm, and the ice copied. She stared at me miraculously, and I gazed steadily back.

"M-my child. Ho-how did you do that? I thought humans didn't possess magic anymore," Toriel gaped at me. 

I looked down at my faintly glowing hands and sighed. "I think I'm the only human that has magic. I've been keeping this a secret, but I promised myself I would use it if I absolutely needed to." I looked back up at the still-shocked Toriel. "Now, someone knows."