" Humans may be cruel,
Say so... and you'll be a fool,
our hearts are as hard as a jewel,
but it's used as a tool.
They are used,
they are made,
no one to be there,
no one to aid.
We humans... run away,
from our problems, as they say:
"Nothing will matter at the end,
Our lives are nothing to be spent,
we're all easy to blend and bend.
I blame you, my friend!"
They blame, they claim, it's all the same,
why would God give us such a pitiful life?
when we just know how we strive.
The child grabs the knife,
and it strikes!
Without knowing... they just throw,
they don't know,
why they did do such,
they don't know
why do they hurt much,
but they know society did so...
Because humans
give a cruel blow. "
"Woah... That sounds poetic, Mother!" you'd say with a tint of joy in your voice. A young child, held under their mother's protection, in aid of her comfort by the cool blow from the sound of the rain outside and the warm and cosy feeling of the fire on the chimney. You sat on her lap by a nearby chair, your mother, with a weak smile, gently caressed your hair as she spoke to you.
"Poetry was always my most valuable art back in my day," she'd said, "but this isn't just poetry what it all represents. Think, what may all matter in the end? The component or the meaning of such lecture."
You'd tapped your chin, thinking thoughtfully before snapping your fingers, "AHA! People suck!"
Your Mother chuckled to herself, her laugh was quiet yet comforting to you, familiarized with the feeling of love and care radiating from her. "Why yes, the majority does! But it is not quite so, my dear Y/N."
"Then does it have anything to do with some adult stuff?" you'd groaned, "like- 'politics' and such?"
"We could say that... but no" at this point, the whole conversation had given a glint of curiosity to the young toddler. But before she could go any further, your father entered the room.
"It's about those spooky MONSTERS!" he'd hold onto you, making you scream a bit before laughing along with him. Your mother laughed as well, it all amused her very much.
"Hahaha! but.. hehe... you both ain't making any sense!" you'd finally gasped some air after your father had given you a strong grip on your waist, "What monsters?"
"Well," you're mother finally said, "that was what I was going to say before your father interrupted my story. But yes, the poem was found near Mount Ebott, where the legend of the monsters originated."
"Wher a BUNCH of monsters was told be underground and trapped by the 'magic of the POWERFUL HUMANS!' " once again, your father joked around, still earning a smile from the rest of the family members. You'd remember your father being ever so not serious about certain things, your mother on the contrary was always stern and quiet as a mouse, yet had her soft sides.
"Hush now! And stop interrupting my story!-"
"Awww, don't give me misses pouty face now!" he'd walked next to his wife, hugging her. "Besides, you know I'm just joking around! Those monsters don't even exist in the first place! Like, how would we know with certainty that it wasn't some creepy old man trying to be made about the economy and such? Besides, that legend is supposed to be CENTURIES in the past! The war between humans and monsters, we all know the story. It would be weird if people just erased every trace of the story among the creatures in there after a victory. And- and-"
"Oh, leave us some imagination Dad!" You'd called out, interrupting him, "I and Mommy do believe the legend, right Mom?"
"I would so as well," she'd responded with a smile, "one of the biggest proof is the disappearance of so many children over the past years, there isn't quite proof of where their bodies have gone but... I do wish to believe in the 'underground world' "
"Well, that world stays as that world for each other's views alright?" Your father called out, walking over and back towards the kitchen, "let's stay in our world, alright? And our world is saying that dinner's ready!"
"OH! are we going to have (favourite food?)" you'd called excitedly.
"You bet your hungry stomachs that it is!" He'd responded with a smile, "Come on now, it's getting cold!"
You'd giggled, about to hurry over towards the kitchen before your mother stopped you, she'd knelt towards your level and kept that familiar smile, as always. "Before you go, there's a reason why I read you such a poem.."
She'd then, taken out a book that was early on in her hands. It was old, very old actually, with a few pieces of the brown cover breaking down and what told you off the most was the unnoticeable dust covered inside and out. You'd grabbed onto the cook, held it on your chest, and looked back at your mother with curiosity.
"This book was an inspiration to me back when I was your age, when I took it home from the library, I thought to myself that one day I would prove to the world that whoever wrote this was real. That somewhere down there, there was the hope of the stories written inside the ink. I want you to take it, and take care of it. Because one day, you'll do great things with it. I know so"
You'd smiled at your mother, walking towards her and up for a hug. After a few minutes, you two broke it apart and walked forwards to the kitchen table.
"Now, let's go before your father goes all in with the unnecessary sauces/spices/salts/sugars." She'd laughed along with you. Both take a space at the table and eat as a full happy family. Ever since that day, as far as you'd know. You'd never let go of the book, always keeping it near you by any cause and for some reason, you'd never stopped reading it.
Years later...
You ride your bike along the street of your town, occasionally stopping by the neighbours to wish them a good afternoon, before continuing your ride. Reaching away from the houses that felt a repeated line of house, yard, house, market, house... you'd reached the end of the road by the forest. The tree loamed eerie on top of you, giving some shadow and mystery to whatever was hiding further into its world. That aside, with a bright smile plastered on your face, you'd heard a conversation nearby a corner on the left side of the road. Chilling two people as they spoke, one already had arrived way before the other and you knew what it was all about. Quite familiar ones as well. It came too from your two childhood friends, opposite from one another, yet compliments themselves almost perfectly.
Carla is a sweet and fun exchange student from Latin America that arrived many years ago, specifically around the same neighbourhood as you. She was a soft-looking gal with an amusing way to speak, anyone and everyone will always get a good first impression around her, but she can and will defend herself if someone disrespects her. A long-haired brunette that always found her way to look back at people with style, which in your opinion was awesome. What characterized her the most though, other than her innocent yet 'will kick your ass' personality, was her blue eyes with a mixture between her tan skin and white spots covering a few parts of her mouth, side eye, and others that were covered by her hair, of course.. until now you've learned that it's called having 'hypomelanosis'. You always made sure, of course, to never be insecure about her beautiful skin, which never seemed to be a problem.
While in the other hand, you had Jacob. A completely other story. He was stubborn and immature, in which you were almost certain that he never heard the definition of privacy and danger. He looked like a total jock every time you saw him, always with his jacket, always with his attitude around his classmates. But by heart, you knew Jacob. Nobody at school would recognize him right now for all you knew! For some high schoolers, a popular-wanna-be attitude went all the way to what you were seeing. Some blonde tender boy, wearing a beanie and some glasses at the moment, wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt with pants that reached down to his feet. His freckles showed off his smile, and the one thing that made you smile the most was the LGBTQ+ pin on his shirt, specifically talking the gay one.
"Santa purisima madre- FINALLY!" Carla exclaimed, hugging Jacob with a wide smile. "So you finally came out huh? After ALL this time, eh compadre?"
Jacob chuckled a bit, you finally arriving with your bike. Once you placed it down, you joined the group hug. "hahaha... I know I know." he'd said, "Not even I can believe it!"
"Damn Jacob!" you'd spoken once everyone separated from the hug, "Never thought you'd be able to convince your parents to buy your that pin. How did it go?"
"Well...." Jacob sighed, "it didn't go as planned at first, a few um... arguments and such- but I'm ok! I'm just-... happy they didn't kick me out and such, ya know?"
"Well!" Carla added, placing an arm over his shoulder playfully, "good to know we can ALL talk about them.. and I quote... M E N!"
"Are you serious, Carla?" you'd said unamused, crossing your arms.
"But it's something we all can agree on!" Carla spoke back, "COME ON Y/N! You know that men are GUAPISIMOS! Just- M U A."
She'd attempted to place her hands on her lips, blowing out a kiss. That of course earned a few giggles coming from us. But after you'd cleared your throat you'd spoken.
"Alright alright, guys, let's not forget why are we here." you three sat around in a triangle, you taking your trusty book from your backpack as you turned page by page. The words being as clear as day to you, you knew the book from left to right, yet something was strange about it as well. For some reason, you always felt empty on every single page, as if for the art of magic you'd forget what you'd just read. You'd turned and seen every single poem that was written in the worn-off black ink, you'd ping-pointed what you'd found. "There! See?"
You'd turned the page of the book, pinpointing what you were looking for. As the two of them leaned to take a closer look, both gasped! No one would have ever imagined such a thing! The paper was scattered in random 0s and 1s, all around the page and back. Formed the shapes of walls, floors, and houses to create... a map. A map that gave the illusion as if it was underground, right below Mount Ebbot and continuing down, right under their feet. The pages looked ancient, the words looked sloppy but neat. And from what you could see, there was some sort of unknown language to you.
It was all just a bunch of lined-up..... symbols?...
A secret code?
Probably.
All you knew was that near some description in the poems, its language was called 'wing-dings.'
"DIOS MIO!" Exclaimed Carla, Jacob just stood there, eyes widened as he stared down at the page.
"Cool right?"
"Is THIS what you meant by 'group project activity to earn year' when you messaged us?" Jacob asked once he left the trance. He did not believe his eyes and you knew it.
"YUP!" you exclaimed, closing up the book and standing up, "we will not only 'earn a year' for that dumb high school! This, my dear besties... This will be revolutionary!"
You stood proud, almost as if you tried to copy a pose from an anime you've watched. looking at the horizon, straight at the mount with pride and confidence. Both of them stood behind, looking at each other with a bit of nerve.
"Just think about it!" you'd turned once again to their direction with a smile, " 'Y/N, Jacob and Carla, BFFs that discovered the hidden dark places of the Underworld!-' wait no... I got a better one... 'THE LEGENDS OF THE UNDER-LEGEND!' no... no... that doesn't sound right-..."
" 'The tales of the Undertale?' " Said, Jacob.
"..." You and Carla stood quiet for a moment. "... Jacob that title sucked-."
"Aw :c"
"-SUCKED SO GOOD THAT IT SOUNDED AMAZING!" You interrupted yourself with a smile.
"Really? :D"
"YES!" you'd got on top of a rock, posing heroically.
"UNDERTALE!"
"It still sounds dumb to me" added Carla, you turn over with a 'for real now?' look on your face. "Not the part of Jacob's title, that sounded stupidly good, but the whole deal on what we are going to do. Just so what do you think is the plan? Climb up that god-forbidden mount, over the forest, down the river and get passed all the SECURITY that covers up the surroundings of the protected forest just to enter through a cave thingy? Just how are we supposed to- "
"-OKAY WTF?"
Carla exclaimed, already right in front of the cave that led downwards to the underground. She'd looked back to the spot we were in, miles away. We were able to surpass every single obstacle, including security.
"Come on guys!" You exclaimed, already stepping in with your book nearby and a backpack ready. "The underground cannot wait any longer!"