CORRELICTUM

The Mountain's Secret

A whispering cold seeped its way through every opening it could find in the oversized jacket Frisk wore, desperate to dissipate what warmth was left within. Red-nosed and regretful for not bringing better protection than the thin cotton gloves they wore, they continued making long strides towards the old hardware store on the corner.

It was a small store that came under new management just under a year ago. A monster from the snowy underground region of Snowdin had taken the role, bringing in a large crowd of monsters seeking a familiar atmosphere.

But that wasn't the reason they valued the shop now. It was the comfortable chatter and warmth that greeted anyone and everyone coming in from the biting cold. Frisk noticed familiar faces in the crowd, and those who caught their eye gave a friendly wave or nod in greeting, which was returned in kind.

"Frisk? Is that you?"

Frisk turned to meet the familiar fuzzy figure belonging to the former king of the underground. He was wearing a pale tan shirt with an image of a whale on it and over that was a thin woolen coat many times too small for him, evidenced by the small tears in the seams. Frisk had to bend their neck back to meet his eyes.

"What are you doing here so late?" Asgore was smiling, yet he looked around anxiously. "Er... Tori's not with you is she?

Frisk smiled. "Hey, it's been awhile... and uh, she's at home."

The former king gave a sigh of relief. Frisk couldn't help but think this hulking boss-monster was silly for his trepidation. It's not as if Toriel would attack him if she was here.

"Are you here by yourself?" Asgore asked.

"Just out for a walk."

"It's a bit cold for that." He laughed.

"Heh. You're tellin' me..."

"..."

"Nice shirt... Are you a fan of—"

"Ah! This? It's such an interesting little design, isn't it? I found it at the store last week. It looks a bit like Levi, doesn't it?"

"...Hm?"

"...you didn't meet Levi...?"

Frisk scrunched their face in thought.

"They lived in Waterfall..."

"...I don't think I met them."

"Really? I could have sworn..." Asgore trailed off.

Frisk shrugged.

"Oh well..." Asgore scratched his head. "Anyway, you must have a reason for coming here, yes?"

"Yea, I'm going camping. I need to get some... stuff. I actually don't know what yet."

Asgore seemed amused. "You certainly have grown impulsive..."

Frisk wasn't sure what to say about that. They've always felt impulsive.

"Since you're out, would you like to join me for a cup of tea? It has been a while since we last talked."

That sounded nice actually, a warm drink would do some good.

"Where... are we?"

Asriel gathered what he could from his jumbled senses to make sense of his surroundings. A difficult task. His head was spinning and it was difficult to breathe the musty air. Walking was becoming more of a challenge so he buckled at the knees, holding his head.

"...Are you alright?" Napstablook asked.

"Grh, it depends... Are you seeing all this?"

The ghost nodded slowly.

"I think I'm fine then..." Asriel's head was throbbing, steadily increasing in its cruel tempo. "Ugh... Never-mind, I think I might be sick..."

"Um... Wait here, I-I'll go see if there's anything nearby that could help..."

Before Asriel could question what Napstablook could possibly find 'nearby', the ghost disappeared.

"Great..." Now he was alone.

For now, he figured it would be best if he found a place to rest. All of the nearby buildings—so assumed—appeared locked or without entrance. Just leaning against one of the many alleyway walls would do.

Squish.

Asriel sighed. He had forgotten that his clothes were still soaked from the flood. That probably wouldn't help him recover. How long was he out for anyway? Certainly not long enough for them to dry. He would have to ask Napstablook when he came back.

Whatever. The stone tiles were surprisingly comfortable and his vision was beginning to blur. Maybe a nap would do some good. He nestled further into the nook of the wall, wet clothes be damned, and looked up.

Once again, Asriel was dizzied to the vastness of his surroundings. The larger of structures were looming far over the walls that surrounded him and the musty air blurred anything beyond. That would make them... something big, he supposed. Asriel was too tired to think clearly anymore. To see.

He barely caught glimpse of a warm flicker of light come from one of the numerous alcoves adorning the cavern's most nearby surface before his eyelids fell.

Frisk didn't realize how much time had passed since the conversation with Asgore began. Only by the ringing of their phone did the fact occur to them. It was well passed nine, and they had received many unnoticed texts from Toriel in the last hour.

Asgore pushed as many worried apologies to Frisk as he could, despite the lack of blame or fault the youth placed on him. They found that humorously typical of the monster. Maybe it would have been a frustration in another life. It took many forgivinesses to get him to calm down.

"It's fine, I'm the one who forgot."

"But still..."

"Thanks for the advice, I'll be sure to talk to you later." Frisk got up from the small table and made way to the exit.

"Mmhm, please do." Asgore waved goodbye.

His farewell was met with the jingle of a bell and a cold rush of wind from the open door.

Frisk was hit hard by how dark it was outside and how much colder it had gotten. The streetlights seemed blinding after a minute of walking. They didn't manage to find any supplies at the store. Although the advice Asgore gave would make up for that they supposed.

It was an odd thing talking with the king. His slow and somber way of speaking made it difficult to view the monster as any level of authority. Despite that, Frisk felt that Asgore always knew a little more than he let on, and was very cautious when talking to others to maintain that image. He seemed calculating. Thoughtful. Whenever he spoke up, they would listen intently. Just to see if there was something hidden in his words.

As it was, not five minutes ago.

Frisk told Asgore what they had told Sans. That there was still someone left behind, and that they were unsure of what to do about it.

"Then why don't you save them?"

It was... a very different answer from what Sans gave. It was direct, given almost as reflexively as breathing, as if he didn't even have to think about it. He didn't even look up from his cup of tea. Of course they wanted to 'save them', but...

"...you don't think you have enough information to decide, do you?"

Almost as if he had read their mind. Asgore's tone felt rehearsed and Frisk couldn't help but put to memory every word he said.

"Frisk, listen. Sometimes you must make a decision without knowing all of the details. I've... had my fair share, and sometimes those decisions lead to consequences I wasn't prepared to face... But even a poor decision is better than no decision at all."

...

"Just look at what you already know. What do you think might happen If you put off making this decision?"

...

"Does it really matter who it is? So long as you want to save them?"

Frisk had already decided to find Asriel, but hadn't anything past that. There were a million possibilities and it would be impossible to anticipate all of them. Likely, there was no information that would simply appear without digging around. They had spent enough time brooding and pondering.

It was time to act.

Dry fabric.

It seemed wrong considering the day's events. Asriel woke to a droning buzz and the comforting warmth of an oversized blanket. Looking around, he found that he was no longer in that strange cavern he fell asleep in. Instead of the hard stone floor, he was resting on a lightly padded table. Rather than the open yet humid expanse, his surroundings were that of a small chamber with walls filled with strange handheld tools and equipment. How did he get here? Did Napstablook carry him? Could the ghost carry anything at all?

"Wait, then how did he pull that lever?"

Again, he was bereft of answers. And the questions were accumulating quickly.

At least he was rested. He had a rather nasty bump on the back of his head last time he checked. But now all that he felt was an itchy bandage wrapped tightly over the wound. Asriel questioned the need for a bandage for such a thing, but he was no expert. He left it.

There was a dim light coming from the wall across the room. It was small and pulsing. Asriel got up and off the table to have a better look.

As soon as he did, the room lit with an intense brightness that caused him to recoil. The 'wall' began displaying numerous lines of words in quick succession, many of which Asriel didn't understand. Jargon, but there were a few terms he was familiar with. Specimen, trauma, abrasion, laceration, anomaly, unconscious, among others. Was this treating him? Who controlled it?

Asriel made way to stand in front of the monitor. It had halted its creation of words. Only the gentle blinking of the typing reticule gave movement to the otherwise still screen. He read the last few lines in hopes he could make out what they meant.

...

process {diognostic[12]} 100% completed

result:[concious]; please wait for standby

12%

39%

89%

100%

standby

request:processstart communication[0] 0% completed

waiting for confirmation

"Communication?" He thought aloud.

"Greetings, Anomaly." A robotic voice buzzed harshly. Asriel jumped back.

"Uh..." Was he supposed to talk to it? He read more of the lines that appeared.

...

CONFIRM Y/N

Y

processstart {communication[0]} 0% completed

process {communication[0]} 1% completed;subprocess {greet}

waiting for response...

response not recognized

"Um... Hello?"

"Greetings, Anomaly."

"...Am I an anomaly?"

"Correct. How are your wounds?"

"Wounds? Um, better I think... Where am I?"

"Your current location is Medical Ground seven. Fourth floor."

That didn't help. "How did I get here? Who brought me here?"

"You were carried."

Asriel waited for the voice to continue, but it remained silent. Maybe it could only handle one question at a time.

"Who carried me here?"

"Communication successful. Recording saved and backed up to database three. Terminating SEI voicecom."

"No, wait!"

But it wouldn't respond. Asriel punched the table in frustration. He was hoping to finally get some answers out of this. How much longer would he be kept in the dark?

"What the hell is happening..."

In all the hassle, he failed to notice the dark cloaked figure standing in the doorway.

Looking back fifteen minutes ago, Frisk felt that persuading Toriel to let them go camping would be more difficult than it was, at least they expected more than one refusal. Her expression was a mixed one of clear worry and something indecipherable. She even made provisions for them to take with, handing them over with limp arms in a supposed attempt of conveying approval.

That made it harder to leave.

"Good luck."

Luck? There wasn't a goal in camping, what luck would they need? A 'have fun' or a 'be safe' would do better for this type of thing. Did Sans tell her about the conversation at the music store? Did she know that Frisk was heading underground?

It was already decided though, too late to second guess.

Frisk saw the entrance to the forest coming up. Just on time, it was barely past nine in the morning. That should give plenty of time for them to set up a camp and attempt their first expedition. They brought a rope ladder and a hammock tent so they could climb back out and sleep in familiar air. If it went that long.

It was a beautiful day, despite the rain. Sunlight was speckled throughout the forest's floor, broken by the trees without all their leaves and the wind that moved them. The occasional squirrel could be seen scampering away, acorn in claw and the last of the birds were flying south above, cawing occasionally. The cold was gone for now and the weather was supposed to stay reasonable for the next few weeks. Perfect.

But as they made way through the woods and found the campsite they had in mind, they found it occupied by a small pitched tent, a portable grill, and a tooth-baring skeleton roasting sausages.

Sans was there.

"Hey, kid. Ready for a fun week of camping?"

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hey everyone! Merry Chrismihauniquanzaka, or whatever it is you may celebrate.

Apologies for the late upload. Both finals and the many Christmases of my extensive family tree gave birth to a hectic schedule. I meant to post this in the morning, but I was dragged out of town before I remembered.

So as I said before, I went back and made some small corrections to the old chapters. Changing the numbering system to better work with the website, fixing some rough areas in my writing (I can almost guarantee that I missed something. Let me know if you notice anything worth fixing, even if it's petty grammar or spelling), and deleting the blurb at the end of last chapter.

On that note, same thing goes with this one. It will be deleted with the next upload.

By the by, how's the pacing in this?