Monster Age

by GR Griffin

  Private Perro scoffed. “Oh please,” he said, “if you think that stick will stick me, then you are sorely misticken.” He shook his furry head. “I mean, stick are stickly mistaken.” He was drooling unconsciously. “Stick, sticker, stickly stick, stick stick stick!”

  The husky dropped down at all fours, panting, tail wagging. Fleck tossed the stool leg behind them. Perro charged, ignoring the target completely and going after the stick. The four monsters screeched to a halt as their fellow guard bounded toward them.

  “Down, Private Perro,” the guards shouted. “Down, dow—!”

  Too late. Private Perro smashed into them, knocking them flat like bowling pins.

  Fleck kept going and reached a square staircase. Tall steps lined with royal blue carpet. Fleck approached the marble guard rail and risked a look down. The gorge must have been five floors deep, and there were five floors further up. The ground floor was barely an inch in Fleck’s vision. A bird’s-eye view of a statue stood at the bottom. There was a twisted pillar at each corner of the stairs, the crevices carved deep.

  Logic dictated that down was the best way to escape this crazy castle. Fleck’s foot hovered on the first step when they heard the thud of many steps echoing up. Ten guards, two rows of five, half a floor away. Fleck took the stairs leading up, clearing them two at a time, keeping low so that the patrol does not see them. After clearing one floor, Fleck heard more steps coming from that hallway and even more approaching from the floor above.

  Fleck needed to act fast. With bad guys all around, the protagonist would make their most daring escape ever. They ran to the railing and gazed down once more, nothing but a one-way drop from the seventh floor to ground level. Their eyes turned to the nearby pillars, the twisted pillars. Deep spirals that ran around and around the columns, deep but small. It would be impossible for a fully grown adult to use as footholds, but not for a child. Fleck hoisted themselves up onto the railing, fighting every urge to look down

  Already, the guards from below had encountered the ones climbing the stairs. “We chased the target this way,” a gruff voice said, muffled by stone and carpet. “Have you spotted them?”

  “No,” a woman’s voice replied, “they must’ve went up.”

  The target stuck the tips of their fingers and the tips of their boots into the gaps and shimmied across, following the upward spiral. Out in the middle, without any flooring beneath them, their brain became a broken record; look down, look down, look down. Fleck forced themselves to look up at the white ceiling. They drew a breath and then heaved themselves up, climbing up one gap at a time. They reached the bottom of the next floor up just in time as the guards raced onto the seventh floor and ran into each other.

  “Don’t tell me you lot didn’t find the human either,” one of them said, sounding flabbergasted.

  “No, sir. Not a trace.”

  “They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air. Where could they go?”

  “We searched the halls from top to bottom. There was nowhere for them to go. Unless…” A helmeted head with large ears poked over the rail. For a second, Fleck thought they had been seen until they grasped that he was looking down. “They fell down there.”

  A second guy joined in, gazing down the deep pit. Fleck hugged the pillar and went as still as a statue. They did not even dare to breathe. They just beckoned that those monsters did not look up.

  The second guy said, “Uh oh, the emperor isn’t going to be happy about this...”

  “Well, I don’t think there’s anything down there,” the large eared guard said as he pulled away. “And since when has the emperor ever been happy about anything?”

  “Send a squad to search the ground floor and lower regions. Everyone else, double-check these floors. The human could not have gotten far.”

  The sentries began to march away, going different routes. Fleck breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the footsteps fading. For now, they had given those clowns the slip.

  Fleck reached to grab the next crevice up and felt their boot slip. They grabbed hold before they could fall. Then, the unthinkable happened…

  They looked down.

  Hanging above a pit. The ground, hundreds of feet below. Fleck’s heart dropped. No safety net to save them if they fell. No determination to bring them back if they fell. A yelp escaped from Fleck’s mouth.

  “Huh?” was heard from below. “What was that?”

  One pair of footsteps started to come back. Fleck regained their grip and climbed as fast as they could to the next floor.

  “There!” A loud voice brought Fleck’s head down. On the floor below was one of the silver suited troops. She was pointing up at them. “The human’s up there!” Her colleagues were right beside her. “Come on, let’s seize them!”

  Fleck clambered up and over the rail as the squadron of over twenty monsters jangled up the stairs, moving as fast as their heavy plates would allow, determined themselves to apprehend the child. Fleck took to the hall that looked identical to everywhere else in Castle Highkeep. They sprinted as fast as they could, through aching legs and sore hands, with the monsters hot on their tail. The child passed through an adjacent hall just as another team came through. Fleck dodged seizing hands and pointy ends and kept going, now with even more monsters in pursuit.

  Up ahead, more monsters turned a corner. “Nowhere left to run, kid,” they shouted, closing in.

  Fleck spotted the tiniest gap in a doorway to the right. They ducked toward it, slamming through the thick, wooden door. On the other side lay a textiles room full of women weaving luxurious garments. All eyes shot to Fleck as they burst in.

  There was silence, then screams. “Oh my god! A human!” More screams and points. “Get it away! Get it away!”

  The crash of three guards trying to get through the door at the same time forced Fleck forward. There was an open window at the other end of the room. Fleck moved past baskets of blankets and linen, past shrieking maids – one of which swung at Fleck with a broom heavy with threads, missing – straight out the window, and down a steep roof.

  Sliding down, Fleck groped and kicked at the tiles but was unable to stop themselves. They landed where the steep roof met another, this one at a slight gradient. Fleck slowly rose, thankful to finally have a moment to breathe. Even after dropping a few floors they were still high in the sky. In the distance was the western wall and the two circular towers that connected it to the northern and southern sections of wall. The sun drew their eyes up, pink and shimmery, as if gazing at it through thick glass. It was a good thing that Fleck was looking up too, it allowed them to spot the overweight guard falling toward them.

  Fleck dived out of the way. The guard crashed through the roof, getting stuck up to their armpits. Weakly, he reached for the target who was too far away.

  “Stop…” The pained guard tried his best to still sound commanding as the target took off down the length of roof. “I order you to stop… please…?”

  Even though that unfortunate guard showed such good manners, Fleck still refused. The red tiles proved difficult to gain much traction on, causing them to slip across the rooftop. Down below, countless numbers of Zeus’s goons stampeded through the grounds, pulverising courtyards with steel soles and funnelling through archways. They shouted and hollered and pointed at the human running dangerously up high. Now it was safe to say that this Monster Military, with hundreds of soldiers, seriously put the disbanded Royal Guard, and all of its seven former troops, to shame.

  “The human’s up there,” one shouted; “They’re heading for the towers,” another yelled from among the stream of voices; “Cut them off at the walls, don’t let them get any farther,” someone’s voice got lost in all the noise.

  More bad guys appeared at nearby windows, even more started to climb onto the roofs, not allowing this chase to end so easily. The tiles cracked and bent beneath their frames whilst keeping strong against Fleck’s meagre size. Fleck kept going, stopping for nothing. A guard caught
up to the human and reached with gripping gauntlets. Fleck reached the end of the roof and jumped, leaping over a wide gap and onto a neighbouring roof. The guard saw the looming drop and slipped over the edge, managing to grab on before they could fall. Two of his teammates ran up to help him.

  Fleck shot a glance across and spotted another team on a faraway roof. The line of monsters stretched their hands out and materialised magically bows armed with magical arrows.

  “You, human! Stop right where you are or we will open fire!”

  Fleck moved. Up ahead was a chimney, beards of smoke rose from the top. The arrows came loose. Fleck dove for cover, two arrows whizzed past, missing them by inches. Magical arrows embedded themselves into the tiles and the chimney.

  “Hold your fire, you fools!” A guard of higher authority barged onto the roof and straddled past the archers, pushing down bows. “We need the human alive,” she bellowed.

  It was only a short distance and a short drop until they reached the wall. To the left was a watchtower, to the right, another watchtower. Fleck stumbled over to the ledge and gazed downwards, despite the fact that they already knew what awaited them below. The river was just as wild and rapid as ever. In the distance was an island of green pastures and blue waters. The rapids below trailed off towards it.

  Already, the guards were scaling the steps outside the walls. The door to the north-western tower opened, their numbers would not stop growing, followed by more orders of the human to cease their fruitless escape.

  Fleck may have been exhausted, but they had come too far now to get caught. Gathering up what little energy they had left, they ran toward the south-western tower, past lines of untouched cannons. By now, their heart was beating faster than their steps and a thin veil of sweat had covered the skin. More troops had formed on the south wall. Fleck was running out of places to run.

  They slipped into the south-western watchtower and slammed the door behind them. Nothing special in here except some bunkbeds and some wooden stools. The rattling converged from behind, below, and from the front, forcing Fleck to take the spiral staircase up. On the next level, a lone guard blocked them at the top of the steps. They were everywhere and closing in. One more route lay across the landing. Fleck bolted toward a thin window, onto the ledge, then stopped.

  No more paths. Fleck had hit a dead end. Nothing but whistling wind and a long plunge into the churning rivers below.

  The army piled up behind the human. Dozens of troops flooded the tower and trained their swords and spears on the target, having finally cut off their escape. Grabbing hold of the sides, Fleck stepped closer to the edge.

  For what seemed like minutes, everyone remained still. Fleck breathed heavily. Their little arms and legs shook. Fleck did not know which was worse, the armada in front of them or the deadly drop behind them.

  The quaking frame of Emperor Zeus trudged up the steps, his loyal sentinels went out of their way to clear of path for him, parting like water. He came to a stop before the line.

  “Two options stand before you,” Zeus said without any shred of concern for the hunted human by the ledge. “Either you willingly surrender yourself and I collect your soul, or you jump, my men collect your mangled body from downstream, and then I collect your soul.” His tree trunk arms folded. “Make your decision quickly… Fleck. Don’t make me wait.”

  The sweat broke on Fleck’s forehead only to be carried off in the wind. They peered at those silver eyes, certain doom lay behind them. They worked up the courage to look down at the silver waters, another type of doom lay down there. The only question was: which one was Fleck going to take?

  All of a sudden, the short patience of Lord Zeus came to an end. He abruptly cut across the floor and reached for Fleck’s arm. Fleck pulled it back before Zeus could snatch it, then felt their boots slip.

  Fleck fell. Zeus’s silver eyes watched them plummet, unblinking and unremorseful.

  Fleck closed their eyes and reached deep down for their determination. All fear was taken away as they floated above the empire, far away from Castle Highkeep, above the lands and the waters, where nobody could harm them, where they were free.

  …And then they hit the water.

  The impact hurt, taking all the air out of their lungs. Fleck’s world deafened in a blur of blue and white bubbles. The powerful stream carried the human away, tossing them around. Fleck kicked and paddled wildly, desperate for air. They emerged to the surface and drew a slither of oxygen. Nothing could be heard over the raging waters. Before being pulled under, they managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of the shrinking castle.

  At the end of the island was a waterfall, which dropped to the island of green meadows. Unable to escape the stream, Fleck was pulled over the falls.

  For some strange reason, while they were in the air, Fleck remembered falling into the Underground. Ironic. They were so high up where even the birds won’t fly… and still they found themselves falling.

  Fleck slammed into another river. The pain unbearable, lungs empty, and all their strength was sapped out of them. The child’s limp body drifted in the soft current, submerged in water.

  In those final moments, Fleck was suddenly warm, and felt Toriel’s warm embrace. It went cold, they were in Snowdinn, solving puzzles with Papyrus and Sans. It was so wet, they were trudging through the waters of the garbage dump.

  Something snagged on their sleeve.

  Fleck remembered cooking pasta with Undyne. Watching Sans as he stacked hot dogs on their head. Roleplaying with Dr Alphys. On a date with Papyrus. Posing dramatically before Mettaton.

  Something burst through the water’s surface.

  Fleck was before Asgore on the bed of golden flowers. Before all their friends. Before Flowey. Before Asriel…

  As the land of eternal darkness consumed them, Fleck was holding Asriel in their arms.

  “I don’t want to let go…”

  Chapter 6: Where there's a Will

  “W-what,” Alphys muttered, staring into the sky, “what just happened…?”

  The truth was, they had no idea. Five minutes ago, they were enjoying a lovely get-together with the sun and the butterflies and the laughter. Mere seconds ago, they tried in vain to stop their human friend, Fleck, from being carried off by a shaft of light – tried and failed. Now, all they could do was blankly watch the sky, as if at any moment Fleck was going to come crashing back down again. One minute, Fleck was there, the other, gone. The day was still young, but already, everything felt like it was ending.

  Papyrus looked like he was about to cry. “I should’ve known. I always knew that Fleck was too good for this world,” he blubbered as he fell to his kneecaps. A tear dropped from an eye socket. “Human heaven got tired of waiting for their next angel, so they took them away ahead of schedule. They’ll be giving Fleck a pair of fluffy wings right now, so they can fly with all the rest of them.”

  “Uh, right, Papyrus, right,” Undyne said while rolling her right eye and patting the skeleton on the back of his battle armour. “Somehow, I doubt that was human heaven, dude.”

  “No? Then what do you call that just now?” Papyrus asked.

  Undyne mumbled something, pulled an uncomfortable smile and answered, “…Aliens?”

  Toriel stumbled back to the picnic table and slumped onto the bench, feeling the burden of loss heavy on her shoulders. She buried her head in her hands. “Not again,” she whispered, shaking. “Not again…” It was happening all over again. First Chara. Then Asriel. Then the six children afterwards. Now this. “How many more children must I lose? Do I not deserve happiness? Am I destined to be alone forever?”

  Sans was the first to go to her. “No way, Tori, don’t say that.” His grin remained permanent, but the whites in his eyes said it all. He sat down beside her. “You do deserve to be happy. You’re an awesome mom, Fleck is lucky to have you.”

  Alphys ran up to Toriel, tears swelling beneath her glasses. “I’m… I’m so sorry, Toriel,” she said with a quive
r. “I let go. I t-tried so hard to hold on… but… but I couldn’t.” Her head dropped. “It’s all my fault.”

  “It’s nobody’s fault, Alphys,” Asgore responded, placing a burly hand on the ex-royal scientist’s shoulder. “We tried, but none of us could stop Fleck from flying off into the sky. Whatever that was.”

  Toriel ceased shaking, everything around became a blur. Heaven? Angels? The sky? Why did those terms sound so familiar to her? Those words reached deep into some memory, something once thought forgotten through time, resurfacing as if beckoned, like children hearing the calls of their master.

  “It’ll be okay,” Undyne said, looking over from Papyrus’s side. “Fleck is one tough wimpy loser, I’m sure they’re fine. If fact, I’m sure the wise guys behind this are in for a big surprise when they realise just what Fleck is capable of.”

  Sans patted Toriel’s arm. “Don’t worry, Tori. We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Or, in this case, the top. He wanted to make that a promise, but his personal ‘no promises’ policy came into play.

  “The only question is,” Alphys asked, “what do we do now?”

  Toriel’s hands fell from her face. “Go home,” she whispered.

  “What?” Alphys blurted.

  Toriel rose. “I need to get home, right now.” Her voice was monotone.

  Asgore looked confused. “Um, Tori, why do you—?”

  “Now, Asgore,” Toriel interrupted, “grab your keys and get us home, right now!”

  “Alright, alright. We’ll go.” Asgore turned to the others. “Come on, let’s all head over to our house!”

  Leaving the supplies scattered on the picnic table, the monsters bolted back down to the carpark. The other two cars parked there previously were gone, only Asgore’s SUV and Papyrus’s red sports car remained, parked at opposite ends of the lot. Asgore, Toriel, Undyne, and Alphys scrambled into the big car, Papyrus and his brother jumped over the doors of the flashy one