Chapter Text
Many years ago, Humans and Monsters lived together on Earth.
Humans evolved on one continent and Monsters on the other. For a long time they were oblivious of the other until the Humans, who had multiplied rapidly and used up all their land, started setting up colonies all around the Monsters’ continent. When the Monsters and Humans met, there was curiosity and suspicion. Monsters wanted to befriend the Humans but the Humans did not trust the Monsters or the magic that Monsters naturally possessed. So the Humans decided to create weapons that could counter the Monsters if they should ever try to attack. However, their guns were not as effective. Monsters could control various elements; they could create spells that could destroy the Humans easily. There were even some rumors that a Monster, when provoked could absorb a Human’s soul and become unstoppable.
So in this fear, the Humans created technology that could give them the upper edge. First it was simple things; electricity, cars, roads and indoor heating and plumbing. Then it led to airplanes, tanks and machine guns not long after. Some Human scientists experimented with nuclear energy but that only hurt themselves and the environment.
During this boom of invention, the Humans gradually pushed the Monsters farther and farther away from their homelands until they were near the mountains on the western coast. This was for the widely held belief that Humans and Monsters should never mingle and that they prospered apart. Propaganda was spread about the Monsters’ violent tendencies and how if they wanted to, they could easily destroy Human kind. Hatred grew for everything that was Monster or magic. If a Human wanted to befriend the Monsters, they were ostracized from Humanity. If the Human wanted to share their technology and learn magic from the Monsters, they were dubbed a witch or wizard and burned at the stake. It was only until all the fossil fuels were used up that suddenly the Humans realized how helpless and vulnerable they were without their powerful technology.
Fear for anything different had turned the Monsters into an enemy they could never defeat. Ruin fell upon the Humans. Their once shinning cities full of technology became no more as there were no ways to maintain it. Once beloved relics like cars, video games, anime and TVs were thrown into dumps or buried. These things were useless without electricity and people were more focused on surviving then bringing back things like Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. What was anime without TV? What was TV without electricity? In their haste to expand and grow, the land became hard to salvage and grow their crops on. Food ran out and Humanity started dying off.
To protect themselves from other Humans, swords and spears were used. Chain mail was worn and armor was forged from the scraps of metal found in their former technology. Feeling sorry for the Humans and their plight, a few Monsters came forward to teach Humans how to use magic. At first Humans refused but over time, a select few Humans became knowledgeable. Magic was never a popular skill but no Human could deny that there was power in learning it.
Villages that were closest to the Monster territory were the ones who learned magic first. The Humans then taught it to their children and those Humans could protect their land from people who wanted to steal their food instead of trying to grow it themselves. Monsters were no longer as demonized as before but as the Human royals noticed, they realized there was a new threat. If Humans learned magic, they could revolt against their oppressors. Monsters weren’t the oppressors, the Human royals were. Monsters were just a convenient patsy for the Human rulers to manipulate their subjects. That’s why Monsters and Humans must be separate. If Monsters were treated as friends, suddenly the kings and queens of various territories no longer had the power of control. What were a few royals to magic wielding Humans and their Monster allies?
New laws were created. Now only Human royals could learn magic from Monsters. The kings and queens wanted to be the most powerful in the land. So any non-royal Human who performed magic was arrested, put on trial and publicly executed in their village. If the royal Humans were feeling particularly threatened, they would not even bother with a trial. It did not matter if it seemed unfair, the Human King at the time, King Edgar ruled with an iron fist. These systematic killings of non-royal Humans caused bitter resentment among the people. There were now frequent talks of rebellion. Around this time the Monster King decided it was time to attack.
King Asgore had recently taken the throne after his benevolent old father died and after seeing what the Human royals had done to their own kind and to Monster kind, he decided to rally the Monsters to fight back. He was young, reckless and had every intention of stopping the violence for good, to end all the centuries of persecution. This war became known as the Big War and the chaotic time leading up to it was called the Dark Ages, as electricity was no more.
Monsters were magically powerful but Humans had their strong souls and excess amounts of determination. The Big War was brutal and never seemed to end. Many years went by and soon there were hundreds of casualties, primarily on the Monster side. Despite an effort to end the Big War quickly, it now looked impossible. Non-royal Humans protected their Monster friends the best they could but the Human royals were winning. But one day the Human royals realized the truth. Non-royal Humans vastly outnumbered those with royal blood.
If these Humans were willing to die for the Monsters, to die for the enemy, who is to say these non-royals wouldn’t become angry enough to overthrow the royals who were in power? There had to be a different way. They had to think of a better plan, a plan that would safeguard the Human royals’ status and positions.
This was around the time when there were rumors of a huge cavern found under the mountains.
The Underground space under Mount Ebbot was the largest cavern in the world. It could easily hold all of the Monsters inside and if a strong barrier was put up, perhaps the Big War could finally be over. Just like when the Monsters were forced into small territories in the west, so too would they be forced into the Underground. The Humans, royals and non-royals alike would forget about them over time. A Human lifetime was much smaller than a Monster’s, it was inevitable. If enough time passed, Humans would forget that Monsters were supposedly kind creatures. If enough propaganda was used, perhaps the royals would return to power permanently. So the Human King Edgar met with his most trusted royal magicians and decided on a scheme that would entrap the Monsters forever in those hollow volcanic caverns of Mount Ebbot. It was conveniently located near the Monster territories and soon, the plan was put into place. That became the last battle. Many Monsters were killed in this battle for their survival and freedom.
The Skeleton armies, known for their intelligence and strong magic were nearly wiped out save for a few survivors. A few other races were wiped out completely. It wasn’t until it was too late that King Asgore realized what had happened. The Monsters were forced to retreat into the Underground, facing near extinction if they remained. The Human royals were too powerful and the barrier was cast. If Monsters were to ever escape their prison, there were only two options.
For an individual Monster to escape, they had to kill a Human and use the power of their combined souls to escape. For the barrier to be broken and freedom restored, the Monsters would require seven Human souls to achieve a godlike power. By forcing the Monsters to commit genocide, the Human royals knew this would keep them trapped forever. If any Humans entered the Underground, the Monsters would not attack simply because they would not kill in cold blood. Monsters were pacifists by nature and even if one did manage to escape, the death of an innocent Human would only prove that Monsters were just as capable of violence and murder.
A few decades after the barrier was put up, there was one Monster who escaped. This Monster was the young son of King Asgore who had obviously absorbed a Human soul. He wandered into the Human Capital and was instantly attacked. When the Monster retreated back into the Underground mortally wounded, he became the last Monster seen in a century. As time went on, life worsened for the Humans. Tensions between the royals and non-royals continued and without any way to prevent it, famine and sickness were common and the population dwindled.
Trapped under Mount Ebbot, the Monsters were slowly losing hope of ever being free again. King Asgore had become very old, feeling older still when he realized that he would have to once again resort to genocide. The truth was the Underground could not sustain them indeterminately. Pacifism was all well and good. It was taught and every Monster preferred it but freedom for every Monster required Human souls. Freedom required him to earn LV and EXP. Knowing the Humans were responsible for his son’s death, so soon after losing Chara, Asgore was tormented by grief and guilt. It did not lessen the fact that he had to do his duty as the king.
During the Monsters’ imprisonment, the Humans who had been their friends never forgot the initial kindness of the Monsters. They passed down the knowledge of pacifism and magic to their children. The non-royal Humans knew that this war was wrong, that Monsters were never evil. Even when that one Monster escaped, he did not hurt any Humans. The propaganda was wrong. With their citizens no longer obeying the laws set down during the Big War, the Human King and his son were becoming desperate. Their citizens were now actively rebelling. Every day there were new accounts of non-royal Humans blatantly breaking the most sacred of laws, they were learning magic or teaching it to other non-royals. No matter the threats or punishments, the Monsters’ influence still remained. No one respected the Human King’s right to rule like they used too. So in one last ditch effort to hold onto their power, every few years a child from one of these non-royal magicians would be sacrificed to the Monsters in the Underground. While the parents watched, children were thrown into the dark depths of Mount Ebbot, screaming in fear.
This horrid tradition was designed to keep rebels from misbehaving and for a while, it worked.
By the time that Frisk was born, King Edgar had been dead for sixty years. His son had now taken up the mantle as the Human King and he was far crueler then his father had ever been. He was relentless. He didn’t bother to arrest non-royal magicians; he merely went from one village after another and killed them all. The children were taken and trained to be his personal soldiers. All non-royal magicians were dead or in hiding. For a time, Frisk’s village was spared by sheer dumb luck. Every day there was an expectation that the Human King would come but he didn’t.
Frisk had a happy life. Her village was on the edge of Mount Ebbot and while it was not a popular skill to have, her Papa knew magic and told stories to Frisk and her big sister. He told them of the kind Monsters who lived underneath the mountain. All seemed well but soon their luck started changing for the worse. First her Mama died, then not long after, Frisk’s big sister succumbed to a terrible fever. Soon all that remained was Frisk and her Papa in their old house.
Despite keeping under the radar, Frisk’s Papa was found out. The Human King sent soldiers to the village. They ransacked the village, killed the magicians and kidnapped the children. Frisk’s Papa sacrificed himself so that Frisk could escape. He told her to go to Mount Ebbot because everyone knew that the soldiers were scared of the Monster legends. Frisk would be safe at the mountain. So Frisk ran and like all the children before her, she fell into the Underground. She was an ordinary child, a ten year old that was kind and determined to survive, yet she managed to do the impossible. Frisk saved the Monsters, freeing them from the Underground. Frisk was treated as their hero.
However there was one more hero, a hero that so many had forgotten. What had become of him?