This is it....or so you thought
Faster, and faster...
Darker, yet darker..
Slower and slo-....wait, slower?
You rip your eyes open, instantly curling to the side to cough harshly. It felt like someone had punched you in the stomach, and you couldn't catch a breath. But that didn't make sense, no one was within miles of you, and all you could see were.....your coughing seized, as you blinked, catching a slight shine of a goldish yellow in your peripheral.
"Flowers...?"
At that realization, you finally sit up, not really caring of your body's state as you take a look at your surroundings. A cave? Or was this some sort of cavern? You weren't sure, but you weren't expecting to find yourself here; the last thing you remembered was falling off some sort of dark hole, hoping you were going to.....
Shaking your head, you take a look up, noticing a small hole shining light. You guessed it's from the sun's rays, meaning you probably weren't out for very long. But from how tiny the hole looked, you would have fallen from a couple feet...that fall should have....why were you..?? The multitude of questions weren't going to solve your current situation. You look back down at the flowers and sigh, "You really didn't have to save me y'know...", you say to the flowers as you lightly pet a petal. Not even sure how the flowers could break your fall from that kind of height anyway.
Looking up once more, you decide to stand, taking notice that the injuries on your body weren't that damaging, which again confused the hell out of you, what even was this place? Brushing off your outfit, that you still slightly smiled over, even if the dress was dirty, you'd still consider it gorgeous. It was your first achievement in life, and you weren't about to throw it away over something like dirt. Huffing, you look at the broken chains, snorting at the irony of it.
"Well, I guess the broken handcuffs were the right choice. I really am a free prisoner now....in a sense."
Making a slight face at the oddity of it, you turn to face the cave, noticing a pathway towards somewhere deeper. Looking back at the flowers, you see how the sun's rays is bright enough to shine on that one patch of flowers. As confusing as that is, you also find it oddly serene, as you proceed forward.
Your ballet slippers tap quietly as you walk down the corridor, coming up to a archway, there were pillars that made up the archway. You placed a hand on them, admiring the detail of the slim structure. It looked like it's been standing here for years....but why was it down here? Were there ruins left down here? You look ahead, noticing another archway before you walk towards it.
Getting closer, your adrenaline suddenly spikes, your anticipation of finding something ahead rises, and you begin to speed up, quickly turning the corner, thinking you'd find..........nothing.
You blink, holding a hand to your chest in confusion as the weird excitement dies off again. What were you expecting? Unsure what to make of it, you look at your new surroundings, coming up to another random patch, except this had nothing but grass. No flowers like the other one? Not even one? Tilting your head, you inspect the grass. Literally nothing, there's some small dirt ground from a tiny hole, like something was just pulled up from the patch. But you look around once more, there was, again, no one around. Standing up, you continued forward, occasionally looking back at the patch, it felt off to you now, like....that situation wasn't supposed to happen. But you aren't sure what.
Putting it out of your mind, you move forward, coming across stairs. On your way up, you notice some sort of...floating star? Walking closer, you notice that the star isn't fully there, like a hologram. What's this doing here? What even is it? All these questions were never going to be answered, and you weren't even in the ruins part. Reaching out, you lightly touch the hologram like star, feeling a rush of warmth, the star vanishes like it was never there. Standing, you immediately work your way up the steps. You thank your past self for altering your dress where it's open in the front so stairs wouldn't be a hassle.
Things like that shouldn't happen, stars like that aren't even real, they should be in the sky! At least....that's what you knew from astrology. But down here, you don't even know where you are...
Entering the door, you see buttons on the floor, and a plaque on the wall next to a closed door. Buttons? You walk closer to read the plaque, "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones. Foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road." ......what? Turning around you look at the buttons again, it clicking that it was a puzzle.
"A puzzle? Why are there puzzles...", at this point, should you really question why anything? Sighing, seeming as if this would be your new normal, you decide to have a bit of fun. You've always liked creating new stories with your ballet. Experiences, dreams, even hardships. Why not attempt a silly dance about puzzles, something tells you, you'll be coming across a lot of them.
It was rather easy to understand how to solve the puzzle after a few minutes. Puzzles weren't extremely hard to solve, you sometimes found enjoyment in them. So you stretch. It was always important to stretch before dancing, at least that's what you remembered from your ballet teacher, Mrs. Wane. You wonder how she was doing...ready, you lift yourself up onto the tips of your toes, bowing slightly as you land your foot back on the ground, pushing off into a twist, as you land on the first button. Your next free step, lands both your feet back on the ground as you lift one leg up, using your hand to push the second button. Smiling to yourself, remembering how fun dancing was for you, you continue your dance, taking a small leap to land softly on the 3rd button. Using the landing, you push off again into 3 turns on your tip toe, inching closer to the last button as your foot lands on it, your arms raised in the air for a soft finish. You complete your dance with your ending pose reaching the switch, hearing the click before the door opens.
Sighing to yourself, your heart eases as you try to hold in your exhilaration for having fun again. It's been so long since you were able to dance freely. As much as you loved ballet, your classes would hardly ever let you dance your own stories. It irked you at times, but it was worth it, there were times like these that let you do whatever you like with no one around to nag you.
Into your own mind, you didn't notice that there was someone there, watching you carefully, just as impressed, as they begun to clap. Jumping, you spin around quickly, in shock, noticing a tall woman, in a gorgeous royal purple gown that sways just right as she walks. But what you couldn't understand before getting here, is something you still couldn't understand now. Even more so...
She was a goat.
"Lovely dancing, My child. That was absolutely wonderful! Of course I know of ballet, but your style was different to what I know of. Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself. I am Toriel, Caretaker of the Ruins."