#archtale

He didn't know what they were planning, but each reset he tried to find out ways to get into their office, he always found himself pushed away. Something would deny him access and he would find himself back in that yellow field of flowers in the Ruins. He would hear Toriel's footsteps crossing the garden, and he would wonder if he deserved enough forgiveness to call Toriel his mother.

He knew nothing about the Judge, or the souls that Asgore had kept. Not even his coaxing to see the souls had convinced Asgore. His father! At one timeline, he had admitted to being Asriel just to see what happened.

The less said about that embarrassing timeline, the better. Dying would have been better than awkwardly trying to play family with his… family.

Now here he was, leaves crossed and glaring at the flowers as the Judge sat beside them. He did nothing, because any time he tried to even dust them, no soul would come out to battle, and none of his bullets hit them. They never seemed intimidated, not even when he had surrounded them with the bullets.

"You've been sitting here for a while," the Judge said nonchalantly. Flowey hissed a warning at them, but they only chuckled. "Don't you want to go and see if Toriel will make you a pie like the last dream?"

Flowey stayed silent and hoped hard they would disappear, but they didn't. They remained a silent watcher, observing the monsterkind with eyes that never failed to capture a single flaw, and yet... they did nothing. The first few resets they stopped him a lot, but now… They did nothing to stop him, not even from killing all those monsters. They saw, but they never interfered with Flowey’s actions. They never did after the previous ones. They just watched, like some kind of stone-faced idiot that lazed around and counted stars.

Something about it incensed him enough to huff a growl.

"Aww, what’s wrong, buddy?"

"DON’T CALL ME BUDDY!" Flowey snarled, feeling the freaky twist on his face and realizing his leaves shook with emotion.

"Okay," they replied. "What do you want to be called?"

"SHUT UP!"

Flowey held onto his terrifying form, but the Judge was not intimidated. They were just staring at the scenery around them, all the echo flowers screaming of monsters being dusted and his own words.

The Judge’s words did not echo. At all. Flowey blinked, and then he blinked some more. He glanced at the echo flowers, ones that usually echoed sounds and yet—it did nothing when the Judge had spoken. Why hadn’t it echoed?

The Judge glanced at him and did nothing. They simply sat there, mask grinning at him serenely.

"Are you curious?"

"What the hell are you?" Flowey growled.

"You know," the Judge continued, ignoring him this time, "I’ve seen a lot of monsters dying, from fading away to being murdered to dust. I’m used to seeing it, so I’m not surprised at what you did."

Flowey frowned. He didn’t know what that meant.

"Some time ago, when humans were still our friends, mages and shamans and witches and a lot of magical humans existed."

The Judge waves a hand over the echo flowers. The echoes stop, and the flowers dim. Flowey’s eyes widened as everything around them disappeared. His roots faltered in the darkness, where the ground had disappeared from under him. He hurriedly glanced at the Judge, only to see them in empty space, completely at ease. In this darkness, he felt something stare at him, like many eyes.

"GET US BACK, GET US BACK, GET US BACK!!!" he shrieked, trying to pierce his thorns into the other monster.

"In a moment," the Judge replied, waving his useless thorn away. The magic dispersed immediately, without affecting the other monster. Flowey shouted at him more, screaming words and insults.

He became exhausted after a long, long time. He didn’t know how much time had passed. Flowey only felt the eyes of the Judge staring at him patiently.

"Are you ready for story time?" the Judge asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Flowey huffed, crossing his leaf-arms.

"No," the Judge said in a low, dangerous voice. "You’re in time-out, remember? You don’t have a choice. I gave you your playground, so you’ll also have to deal with the playground restrictions."

Flowey looked at him, confused. What did that mean?

The Judge turned their attention away. "As I was saying, monsters and humans were friends before. Monsters back then were considered gods, since their magic seemed to support both soul and nature. So, humans worshipped them, and monsters gave back when they received things from the humans. After all, monsters had simple needs, and humans needed so much more than them. A physical body, for example, and all the conveniences they created for the betterment of humanity. Monsters, on the other hand, only needed magic to exist. The exchange gave monsters a boost in their emotional magic, since it made them happy to help the humans that needed them.

"Unfortunately, some human had accidentally dusted a monster and earned their power. Of course, they didn't know it at that time, since it was a small bug monster. This kind of thing happened at other places, too. The power went down the line of humans, and their descendants fully received a type of magic that humans could use. Magical humans existed, and suddenly monsters were not needed anymore. Miracles could happen, manifestation of willpower can empower a town for months. Humans had earned their own gods and started worshipping them—"

The Judge shrugged, and the world around them brightened. Flowey's eyes shut, wincing at the gross feeling of heat that crawled over his face. When the heat resided, he cautiously opened his eyes, gaping at the scene before him.

A small town stood under them, and around it, the land stretched as far as he could see. Above him, the blue sky. There were animals and trees and humans, things he hadn't seen on the surface that he'd been to.

A place where monsters should be.

"This is where the greed reached into the sky," the Judge told him, laughing. It didn't sound funny at all, so Flowey glared at him. "The magic humans finally discovered that killing a monster will empower their magic. So, monsters disappeared over time, with other monsters looking for them. It turned out horribly for the humans, since the lack of protection for monsters… created boss monsters. Monsters that could take charge of a group of monsters to ensure their protection. They had magic more powerful than ordinary monsters. They had sharper senses and a higher intelligence that could discern truth and lies. They can almost read your soul, actually. That's how they found out the humans that killed monsters."

"DID THEY AT LEAST KILL THEM BACK?" Flowey snarled, unable to stop himself.

"Of course," the Judge answered. "I told them to."

Flowey's face dropped from shock. The Judge's mask suddenly seemed more sinister than he realized. How was the Judge there at that time? How long… ago?

"Humans with high enough kill count can be killed," the Judge explained. "They're under a different law than monsters, and that was enough to excuse our lawful execution. Humans may not kill monsters, and those that do it on purpose will be executed. At this time, we already have monster kingdoms in most places in the world, this kind of thing was very normal back then. Humans would kill monsters, and monsters would execute them."

"What the hell," Flowey whispered, shrinking away from the Judge. He'd killed so many monsters… how was the Judge so calm about it? How could the Judge look at him, gently, and forgive him?

"It's not like your situation,” the Judge said to him. “You may have managed to use your power to repeat time, but I have experienced this before. I have already preserved the monster SOULs under my power long before you came along.”

Flowey’s face blanked. What did that mean? Who was it before that used the resets that he’d done?

“There are many talented humans,” the Judge continued. “The Seven Mages were the best of them. They worked to make the world a better place, for both humans and monsters, until the Human King became greedy and devised a plot to incite war between monsters and humans. We lost, very badly.”

“We should have been stronger,” Flowey spat.

“I’ll show you why.”

The images that flashed before Flowey burned into his memory. Monster kingdoms falling left and right, the Seven Mages that led the wars throughout the world with their power, crushing monsters to dust and leaving nothing but empty space in the land. Gone were the towering kingdoms, gone were its people. Many monsters with families and friends perished together. Homes and fields burned, until only a few monsters were left.

To see monsterkind dwindle down to such low numbers, Flowey felt a spark in his hollow self. “We’re the last ones.” The monsters that were left were the ones in the Underground.

The Judge seemed to notice his confusion, and laughed again. “The Winged Monarch told me that the Essence of Magic trains their chosen people. Do you know what happens to monsters chosen by the Essence of Magic? Usually, they wouldn’t know it at all until they’re in the position. However, I walked into it, and my training… was unique. I had, unfortunately, the special privilege to become the Judge by going through many generations of monsters. Among the monsters I’ve met, a flower with the same name as you had existed.

“He had several human SOULs accompanying him, teaching him to feel. He’d been dead long before I came, so I couldn’t help him. You, however…”

“You have my SOUL!” Flowey gasped, looking at the Judge. “You know. You know who I was, when I started killing and when I…”