First rays of the morning sun shone lazily from behind few small hills, brushing the tips of tall, old trees softly. Few dim stars that were still visible in cloudless sky far in the west turned dimmer by second.
The night was slowly unveiling, cloaking the world in warm gold. Just before the rays reached calm waves of a small lake deep in the woods a large dapple grey horse dashed past it. Its rider taking course deeper into the darkness as if racing against the light. Still, undisturbed silence of the sleeping nature was only broken by the rhythmical sound of heavy hoofs clashing against rare flat stones scattered on the narrow path.

Soon the rider was out of trees' shadows trailing up on a crooked edge of a high cliff: significantly slower, but confident in every step of the creature below her, visibly familiar with every turn.
The, still rising sun now shone gently upon the silvery mane her long fingers were brushing. Cool breeze flowing through her locks ruffled few rolled up papers carefully placed in a half-closed saddlebag.

"Thank god nothing collapsed here" – she said out loud, even though no one could hear her voice – "I guess I should be happy they finally let me come here… isn't that right, buddy?"
She fixed her eyes down on her only companion rubbing its neck. Looking up once more she took a turn and found herself on a wide area she mostly passed by, though this time something caught her attention. A small crack on the cliff wall spread upwards opening up a gap high above: it wasn't hard to guess the reason behind this change, but the strange thing about it was the long, thin streak of smoke hanging over it.
Needless to say it wasn't a natural phenomenon, at least she didn't think it was, Ebott wasn't a volcanic mountain either.
"Kinda looks like a smoke from a campfire… Maybe there's a cave" – her mind yelled – "I bet it's pretty"

With that thought she lightly tugged the leather rein, leading her horse to the right and around the cliff. The few boulders and trees were, luckily, far enough from each other to make a pathway for both of them to pass. After about thirty minutes another crack could be seen between sharp rocks. This one was a lot lower and wider. Getting off the horse the girl walked up to it and, standing on her tip toes, glanced inside.
The space was pitch-black, unconsciously she narrowed her eyes stretching her neck a bit further in an attempt to make out something.
A sudden silent movement not far from the opening startled the girl into taking a quick step back, her eyes fixed on that spot. When it repeated a couple of more times she sighed.
"Stop being such a scaredy-cat, Casey, grow up" – she mentally scolded herself looking back up.
Right when she did one more water drop fell from somewhere above and giving out a sharp sparkle disappeared far below. Actually not that far when she looked closer: only few feet lower she saw a ripple shine dimly under sunlight on surface of seemingly endless black water.
"There's a lake in there" – she smiled, excitement visible in her eyes, then turned and continued her way on foot.
Eager to find what she was searching for, she completely ignored the fact that it would be faster to ride. But none of that mattered when she spotted another opening and darted that way, her horse trailing behind. At this point it felt like a scavenger hunt for her: something she never had a chance to do, but always loved the idea of.

This time the crack was covering a large area of the cliff, trailing from ground upwards and ended a couple of feet above her. Though quiet narrow at the base the crack widened enough for her to pass through, but by the looks of it she wouldn't be able to get out the same way, as the ground inside was deep and the walls were steep. Leaning on either side of the crack she stuck her head in looking around.
Her eyes widened then narrowed when her gaze spotted something in the depths of the cave. It glowed Cyan blue, its bright but not blinding light reflected in dark water near it. For a moment it wavered and few sparkles drifted up like small fireflies frightened by a sudden movement escaping the safety of a…
"Is that a flower?" – Casey asked in a half-whisper, her eyes not leaving the beauty of the scene.
The moment she questioned it the image cleared in her mind as if answering her. Breaking out of her daze she ran back to the horse that didn't seem to pay any attention to her. In a minute she was completely lost in her mind: with a sketchbook on her lap and few pencils on her side she made few quick sketches of the flower, new ideas and images racing through her mind as she did.
For the next couple of hours she spent drawing everything her mind created, sometimes mixing few ideas to create a new world. Finishing each, Casey wrote few words about what the mood and colors of the finished painting should be. Though very few of her works ended up on canvas, she cherished every image she thought of and those few words scribbled on each page of her sketchbooks helped her to never forget any of those.

The morning sun felt nice, it was Casey's favorite, warm and gentle, never burned or made the air unbearably hot. Leaning on the cliff she closed her eyes letting the rays rush over her as dreamworld loomed closer.

A quite groan escaped Casey's mouth and her eyes slowly cracked open as an unfamiliar sound reached her ears. Tuning in a bit more she distinguished a voice, two of them. She straightened her back and looked around, searching for the source, but there was no one in sight.
"We should, at least, tell Undyne! She's my friend" – said a slightly high-pitched male voice, he seemed upset.
"I'm sorry, Pap, but I can't do it" – answered the second one: a deep, slightly rough voice – "can't let her, or anyone else, learn about my shortcuts, you know how it works"
They echoed quite close now, yet there still wasn't anyone, even though she was facing the voices the space in front of her was remaining empty.
"Wait, echoed" – she muttered – "they echoed!"

She turned to the gap and looked inside. After the bright sunlight she could only make out faded outlines of two figures moving through darkness. Nevertheless they were there, inside that cave and that meant that they could direct her to the entrance.
After few more words spoken the two men grew silent, making their way to where Casey was slower than she'd appreciated. While pondering whether she should call out or wait for them to notice her first, she kept watching the strangers. Now that her eyes adjusted to darkness she could make everything out a bit better.

The walls and ground of the cave were black, or dark at least, with not a single blade of grass sprouting, which was understandable considering the lack of sunlight. Far to the right was a lake or a river, its dark waters reflecting the light of few crystals on the ceiling like the night sky.
And then there were those two guys, they seemed a bit strange to Casey, yet she couldn't understand why. One was few inches taller than her, though a lot larger: with broad shoulders and round face. He was wearing a, from the first glance, thick jacket with fur lined hood that was, currently, covering his head. That was a bit odd: it was warm outside, sure the wind was chilly, but clothing like that would be an overkill, for the wearer that is. Casey imagined herself slowly dying in that thing, wasn't a pretty image.
The second guy was… let's just say that calling him tall would be underestimating. He was at least 7 feet tall, slim, his arms long and his gloved hands huge.
"Slim, huh?" – Casey thought – "a bit too much I'd say, he almost look like a... skeleton"

A shriek echoed as the girl fell on her back. Ignoring the dull pain in her shoulder she kept gazing into the black opening in front of her. Her eyes wide in horror, her breath a mess of short gasps, her heart pounded in her chest and her mind went blank.
A weak whimper escaped her lips and she crawled further back not looking away from the pure white figure that appeared on the other side of the crack.
A long pale skull was far above her: teeth exposed, no lips, a turned heart shaped hole had replaced his nose. Two oval shaped holes were devoid of light, yet she knew he was staring at her.
A short white top was covering his chest, but from the ground Casey could see few of his ribs clearly, a thick spine locked between them was revealed between his ribcage and hips with a long red scarf hanging from behind.
The skeleton leaned his large body placing his hands on his knees.
"Are you ok?" – He asked, concern present in his voice, but the girl didn't notice it – "you're not hurt are you?"
Barely visible tears pricked in the corners her eyes, but disappeared the moment she felt a gush of warm air on her shoulder. She didn't need to look back to know that her friend was near. With her eyes still locked on his Casey slowly stood up and backed away, her palm tracing the horse's neck. She could see the skeleton's teeth part and shut as he obviously spoke to her, but she blocked off all sounds. In her blank mind was only a single thought, like a command controlling her 'get out of here'.

With one swift movement the girl hopped onto the large creature and muttered a quite command. The horse's ears twitched slightly and in the next moment it turned towards a familiar path and darted away faster than anything the skeleton had seen before.

Numerous trees were passing by, wind gashing by her head muted every sound of the forest as the horse moved on its own accord. Memories of the recent incident were flooding Casey's mind, images of the tall creature still in front of her eyes.
"It was a skeleton, it really was. Why was there a skeleton, why did it move or talk? Why was it alive…?" – Questions swirled in her mind – "What if it comes out? If I tell anyone they'll think I'm crazy. What do I do?"
Her hand moved up and she gripped a silver cross hanging around her neck firmly.
"God, please help me" – she prayed – "please guide me"
Even if her future actions were uncertain for her, she knew she couldn't simply leave the matter. But for now, she only wanted to get home.

Lost in her own mind Casey didn't notice how much time had passed since she sat down in front of an empty canvas, staring blankly into it. Her mind kept repeating the images over and over for hours, each time coming up with different scenarios that could follow. The one currently lingering in her mind terrified her more than anything in the past.
If they find a way out would they hurt anyone? Now that one of them saw her, would they hunt her?

The front door opened with a creak and the loud voice of Casey's mother filled the hallway as she greeted her daughter. The young girl, now free of her trance, stood up lazily and made her way to the entrance of her little studio, somehow knocking off a stool on her way. She was, kind of, relieved that her mom wasn't around to see her panicked state, it would've been complicated to explain the reason behind it, she'd probably blame it on her 'wild imagination'. Though she couldn't really blame her, she always used to see things that weren't there, getting scared of a shadow that looked like a man, or cloths that, in her mind, took a form of a large dog.

Casey let out a sigh and walked out – "hey, mom" – she greeted the woman that was slightly taller than herself. She had bright green eyes, long ginger hair and pale skin that never tanned, despite her constantly being outside. She was slim, with the most beautiful pear-shaped body, the warmest smile and voice. In Casey's eyes her mother was utter perfection both her appearance and personality, she always looked up to her, but never dreamed of getting close.

"Are you hungry, honey?" – Asked the woman – "I'm going to heat up some leftover chicken, you want some?"
"Nah, I don't want any" – Casey shook her head looking down – "I'll just have some tea with something sweet. I'm not feeling too well"
"What's wrong, did you catch a cold or something?"
"Probably. It was a bit chilly in the morning. By the way… any news from dad?"
"Not really, he's still working and doesn't know when he'll be back" – her mom spoke, she only nodded.
They exchanged few more words while the kettle was on. Casey never liked to share most of her thoughts and emotions with even the closest of her friends, that included her parents too, as much as she loved them. Throughout the years she learned to hide her emotions quiet well and today wasn't any different: not a hint of her worries was visible.

With a nice, hot cup of green tea and a bar of chocolate Casey sat down in her neat little room staring at the mountain through wide window and light summer rain. Soon enough sun was hanging over the western horizon, its light dyeing the world fiery orange and the girl pulled the curtains close, she always hated the color of dawn.
Turning on her PC she put on calming music and closed her eyes, trying to hush her troubled thoughts. After a while a picture of a glowing flower appeared in her mind: it was so beautiful, so peaceful she could watch it forever. A little smile made its way to her lips at that thought, but it soon faded into a frown of both confusion and sadness. If someone was to see her now they'd think she would cry any at second.
"I forgot my sketches…" – she muttered, hurt and disbelief in her quite voice – "How could I? Stupid! Stupid!"

She clutched her hair with both hands trying her best to stay calm… more or less. She stood up walking back and forth in quickened pace, biting her nail as she did.
"What do I do? What can I do? It must be next to that hole thingy, right where that sk... skeleton was… Oh, God, I'll never be able to retrieve it. What if it waits for me? What if it's already out?" – A tear ran down her face when she imagined the creature in front of her in full height. Since the ground of the cave was much lower she only saw half of his body, and that was enough to make her run without looking back.
Unconsciously her hand traveled up and a single digit traced the cold metal on her chest: it calmed her down.
"Ok, think rationally. Maybe it's gone, they walked there, which means they're not always around. I just need to sneak there, grab my sketchbook and run, simple. Who knows maybe he's even friendly…" – she froze for a moment – "yeah, no. I'm not sticking around to find out"

Last rays of sunlight drowned behind the horizon and dim twilight filled the air. It was almost 9pm when Casey felt her eyelids grow heavy as she cuddled in soft blanket, slowly falling asleep. Some of her "acquaintances" found that routine of her odd, some tried to explain or show her how fun it can be in the evening, or during parties that lasted till midnight or longer: another reason to never talk about herself.
It wasn't long before reality began to fade and, despite her anxiety during the day, she soon entered an undisturbed sleep.

It was still dark outside when Casey woke up. After staring blankly at the ceiling she was ready to fight another day, so she locked herself in her studio with a bowl of chocolate cereal.
Leaning on the door she stared out of the window. On the other side there was Mt. Ebott cloaked in mist. No matter how beautiful it looked, at that moment she hated it for the amount of stress it made her go through, she hated that stupid earthquake that opened a window to a nightmare and she hated the part of her that panicked over that smallest of things.
As the sky slowly turned from black to dark blue Casey sat motionless. Her eyebrows slanted, her mouth shifted into a frown moved slowly as she slowly munched on her breakfast.

About half an hour later she was, once again, riding her horse up the hill, this time much slower. Honestly speaking, if she had a choice between going there again and jumping into boiling lava, she'd take a dive head-first, though that feeling was gradually getting weaker. Casey knew it would bother her for the longest time if she gave up now and she was perfectly fine with not losing sleep over something that, potentially, could be harmless.
Looking up in the sky she let out a sigh – "I can't go on like this, I need to be braver" – she thought.

The sun was already peaking from behind the horizon, cold wind was spreading sweet scent of mountain flowers, birds began to chirp all around the girl: it was peaceful even when her destination grew closer.
Finding the way was easy, the rest wasn't any harder: just look out for giant skeletons and a sketchbook with few months' worth of work in it… that would be fun.
On the way she kept staring into distance, almost like a prey looking out for a predator, her grip, not even for a second, loosening on the rein.
With a soft tug the horse slowed its pace when an all too familiar scene caught the girl's attention. An opening in a cliff her curiosity brought her to the day before, still calm and dim, it carelessly revealed what lied on the other side.

Casey tugged the leather strip in her hands to the right, making her mount walk further away from the cliff in an arc. Once in a comfortable position she looked inside. There, under bright rays of morning sun, leaning against the far cavern wall sat… it.
She could never forget that shape: long bones forming its body were too thick for a human, joints as if glued together created a firm structure, yet could stretch ad bend freely. A weird looking white shirt with puffy half sleeves covered his chest and a blood red scarf: his neck. His, now visible, legs were cloaked in black cloth, blue shorts on top of it and long red boots completed the weird outfit of the creature.
"Is he cosplaying someone?" – Casey thought then shook her head remembering what was in front of her.
In large red winter gloves the creature held something. He seemed to be reading a book as he continuously stared at white pages. Turning one he let out a small "heh" and… smiled? Somehow he looked happier even though nothing on his face changed.

Casey flinched when the creature raised its head, his pitch black eye sockets fixing on her. For a moment she looked around as if searching for a way to get away, but held herself back muttering a quiet "I can do this" that no one else heard.
"Hello, human!" – The skeleton said standing up, as faint orange hue covered his cheekbones – "I'm sorry I startled you yesterday. My brother said humans are not used to seeing awesome skeletons like me, is that true?"
He exaggerated the word "awesome" taking a heroic pose, with his question he cracked open on an eye socket waiting for the girl in front of him to respond. After short hesitation she slowly nodded and the skeleton stepped closer with a beaming smile. For a moment Casey tensed up, before making herself to calm down.
"I'm glad you decided to return, you left this behind" – he said showing what was in his hand.
Casey's eyes widened at the sight. Well… she found her sketchbook.
"How did you get it?" – She blurted out – "I thought I left it pretty far away"
"A stick helped us"
"A stick?"
"Yes…" – the skeleton's hand rose, while the rest of his body remained motionless, holding up a long dry stick with a crooked end – "because, you see, it was about to rain, so we thought it would be better to keep this inside"
He looked down at the object as he spoke, then held it forth, just far enough through the crack for her to be able to grab. Despite his friendly attitude, Casey was still suspicious of him… she'd probably bet all her money that this was a trap, if given the chance. But she couldn't bring herself to miss this opportunity.

Letting out a shaky breath she went closer, her plan was to get the hell out of there if something felt off. The skeleton, on the other hand, didn't move, only watched her with patience.
When close enough she reached out, she could hear her heart pound in her chest, but she chose to ignore it. Moments felt like eternity, as if time slowed down to give her a chance to reconsider, a chance she almost took.
"Calm down, you can do this, it's ok" – she kept repeating in her mind.
The moment her fingers traced the old beige cover, locking around its edge the tall creature let go, seemingly proud of himself.
"Thank you" – Casey muttered – "I was worried I… lost it"
"There was no need for that, for I, the Great Papyrus, would have never let such a tragedy to occur"
He struck another pose, calm wind rushing by his side blew at a perfect time raising the red scarf like some kind of superhero cape, the only thing left to complete the image were sparkles around his form.
A quiet chuckle escaped the girl's lips followed with a gasp as she covered it with one hand. Her eyes pinned to his for a moment: would he be angry with her? But he only smiled, somehow it warmed her heart.

"Papyrus, huh? Is… Is that your name?" – The girl asked shyly in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
"Why, of course, and you are?"
"Casey"
"Nice to meet you, human Casey" – he greeted politely, bowing his head slightly – "you know, you're the first human I've seen"
"Really?" – She said a bit louder looking around – "well, I guess this place is isolated"
"By the way, did you draw all that?" – Papyrus pointed at Casey's hand and she nodded – "Is that all surface?"
"Mainly, yeah" – she said assuming that "surface" was the world outside their little cave – "But there are also things that I imagined… umm, Papyrus, do you mind if I draw you?"
"Wowie! I didn't think I'd become this popular so quickly. What should I do, human Casey?"
"Just stand there, however you'd like" – she answered getting off of her horse and sat down on grass.

Like a kid in a candy store, Papyrus looked overexcited and for good ten minutes moved constantly trying to find "the perfect pose that will reflect his inner self". In the end he froze like a bodybuilder showing off his muscles: an odd choice for someone who had none.
It took Casey about an hour to finish few rough sketches and one more detailed one. Each time she looked up from her work Papyrus looked a bit more impatient, in the end she had to constantly ask questions to keep him distracted.
Their chat continued even after she was done, it was fun and refreshing and time passed without neither of them noticing. The way he behaved and talked, the way he formed his thoughts and the words ho chose, his entire being emitted sweet innocence, just like a little boy. Casey mentally scolded herself for acting the way she did, for hastily jumping to conclusions.

"Well, I've finished a while ago. Wanna see?" – She asked. Papyrus got closer and she turned the image towards him.
"Wowie, you're really talented!" – He almost yelled making faint blush appear on girl's cheeks – "can I have it?"
Casey froze for a moment, before coming to her senses – "that's new" – she thought. Then nodded and gently tearing the page out handed it to the skeleton.

Noticing something on the ground Casey turned around: the sun was almost above her head, it wasn't long before noon.
"Is it this late already?" – She mumbled to herself getting up as she watched the large creature in the cave silently observe the piece of paper in his hand – "I'm sorry, Papyrus, but I have to go now"
As her voice echoed in the dark cave the skeleton looked up at the human tilting his head.
"Already?" He asked, a hint of sadness present in his tone – "we barely even talked"
"I know, but I still have work to do back home"
"Hmm… you should visit later than" – he smiled – "when you have more time"
"Definitely" – she promised getting on the horse that moved closer the moment she called – "It was nice to meet you"
Papyrus nodded watching the girl disappear from his gaze.

Wind rushed by her as they moved down the hill, through familiar areas, over well-known paths. Casey felt excitement and happiness build up in her chest: she loved the speed, loved the wind. But even that couldn't take her mind off of the unexpected events that had occurred leaving confusion linger in her mind.
She met a skeleton: a leaving, breathing, quite enthusiastic skeleton that liked her art. If she told that to anyone she'd, probably, get locked in a mental hospital the next day. And if that wasn't enough she befriended him and promised to meet again.
She couldn't help but wonder if that was the right thing to do. Sure he was sweet and nice, though a bit loud Casey found herself enjoying his company. He seemed like a type of friend she always wanted to have: sincere, understanding, not judging, someone she could share her thoughts with, without a worry. Though this was only her first impression of him, she wanted to believe it was true.

A wide smile crept on her face as thoughts of him swirled in her mind, followed by a quiet, but happy laughter.
"I'm definitely going there again!"