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The once skeleton, now void creature's dripping black tendrils barely restrained the flame he had given his life to contain, and for thousands of years he had, but now, his hold was slipping. For every tendril that wrapped around the unstable fire elemental, containing his arms legs or chest, two more burned away.
The elemental laughed mechanically as he freed one of his arms. The void creature was beyond trying to reason with the flame who's mind had deteriorated over the years Gaster had helped bind him here though it hadn't been in a very good state before, that was why the bound him, it seemed the flame was finally about to break free. The free hand went directly to the fire elemental's belt, where a sword hung still sheathed. They, hadn't the heart to take it from him. He reached the hilt and gripped it. He tore it from its sheath and slashed at the writhing mass of black that contained him grinning and laughing all the while.
Gaster shrunk away releasing the old god, deity, fallen warrior what he was mattered not any more, he may be able to resist the flames that cut him to his soul, but the blade would end him, it was forged by the flame when his mind was sound and his power stable.
Gaster let out a shriek and disappeared into the shadows, the other guardians would stop the old god... and if they didn't, well... they had a failsafe though he regretted even the idea of using it.
This was their lot in life, the old gods and demi gods and mortals of their court had traded fame and mortality to care for the old god of flame who had saved them from the corrupt twin gods of determination at the price of his sanity. Now they contained him as best they could.
The fire elemental staggered forward, he had not walked in along time. Somewhere in the back of his mind the still sane part of him remembered that they had locked him away when he had defeated another old god, who had cursed him with this madness. There was a way to cure him, but he could not remember what, it did not matter to him now, all that mattered was to silence the voices, to ease the pain in his soul a searing fire, that even his own could not quench.
He did not know how, but the pain in his soul eased just a bit when he staggered through the door.
A large room, the floor made of sand that shifted beneath his feet.
Suddenly from the ground popped up a golden flower with a face.
"Howdy, I'm Flowey the- Oh golly, sorry buddy, you finally got out?" Yes, Grillby knew this flower, a earth spirit he had known him once, when the madness had set in this flower had tricked him. The fire elemental said nothing and simply let his hand fall to his sword as his shoulders heaved with silent laughter, a jack-o-lantern mouth flaring.
Fifty or so elementals of all clans rose up from the sand, all armed to the teeth. Grillby stood there a few moments before lunging into battle.
His flames radiated out from him in complex patterns, lava spilled across the floor, he lunged forward, his sword blazing with a blue fire. Blue and orange blades danced about. He was fighting a stone elemental, no water, no a sand, no this one was air, they all fell so quickly into dust before him that it hardly mattered, he cut a fiery swath in their ranks. Then in the mist of crossing blades with one, and blocking arrows from another (or just hoping his full metal alloy armor would protect him.) Something wrapped around his ankle a vine with red thorns.
The flower's vine.
Grillby paused and a blade clashed against his back but he did not notice, a memory wandered through his head looking for something to connect with.
Yes, before the madness struck, the flower had tried the same trick, how had he dealt with it before?
Yes, before he had let out a roar and flames had radiated out from him scorching the land around him.
The power coursed through him he could feel it building the rumbling in his chest as his soul discharged huge amounts of magic, that were regained quickly as fire eats up dead leaves. The roar that escaped him belonged only to those who knew the pain he felt within his mind and soul.
Dust and ashes blew about him as he stood alone on the sand, he took one staggering step, falling to his knees in laughter collapsing on his face, chest stilling only heaving with breath he didn't need.
The dust stirred regaining the form of a golden flower, that changed into a young goat child, before becoming a young goat man in royal's robes. The dust blew into the air the elementals returning to life, they had traded their mortality to guard the fire elemental.
"Are we ever going to repay you properly?" He asked sighing. The heaving of the elemental's shoulders turned out not to be breathing but silent laughter that rose in volume as the fire elemental pushed himself up on one arm and raised a hand, palm facing out to the young goat man. A spear made of fire buried itself in the goat monster's chest.
"hmph Figures." The elementals and the goat monster stepped away from the elemental letting them pass before joining Gaster in the void to spectate.
Slowly the fiery figure tried to stand, pulling them selves to their feet laughing all the while in fits that would hardly pass before another started as they headed to the door, falling in the shifting sandy floor from time to time.
It was strange seeing the man who had just killed them all (some of them more than once) reduced to the mind of a child when not in battle, the man's mind was so far gone, it returned only to what it once was when he entered the mode he had been in before the curse on his mind had begun. Fight.
When the man entered the next room the laughs broke into out right hysterics. The two goat monsters who stood in the room, married, the parents of the goat monster in the room before. as soon as they saw him blazing fire rose up in a maze before him.
The laughter of the fire elemental slowed to chuckles as he stared at them. Sticking a hand through the wall of the fire his health bar appeared, he watched it silently for a few moments judging how fast his health ticked down. Pulling his arm out of the inferno he sized up the maze and walked into it wandering the paths, occasionally he would stumble and put a hand against the flaming walls, the fires stilled supporting him.
He was their king, and in their hearts the flames wanted nothing more than to obey him, at their core they were all a part of him.
Walking into a dead end annoyance played in the high licking flames of his head, he turned around and walked only to find another dead end, no matter which way he went he found a dead end. The elemental clenched his fists and reached into the depths of his soul, his tongues of fire called out to the maze walls and the maze walls listened.
His hands radiated out, as if slamming open two big doors, and the flames before him opened like such, on and on directly to the exit.
He made it out before his mind slipped and the flames of the walls crashed around him.
Freedom was close, he could taste it in the air and his flames rose higher because of it.
The next room was much simpler, a fish woman with long red hair in silver armor wielding a blue spear. His laughter died in his chest as he formed a similar spear, his was orange. They clashed, The fire elemental stilled when the spear passed through him, and the fish woman constantly moving to avoid the orange magic's wrath.
Suddenly the fire elemental noticed a black radio piece tucked behind one of the fins protruding from the monster's head. He blinked blocking an attack with his spear as his flames radiated out from him, he almost missed the nervous stuttering voice that came from the radio piece.
"L-let him through, H-he's awake."
The fish woman backed up from the flame, still holding her spear in a defensive position watching as the flame exited the room.
Two figures stood with their backs to him talking, his burbling laughter made the slightly taller of the two, a yellow lizard monster turn around and eep, before retreating from the room.
The other figure turned around slower, a skeleton, very short, in a big blue jacket that made him seem smaller than he was, he had a lazy grin with half lidded eye sockets.
The laughter died in the air, in his chest, the pain ebbed away. Mouth slightly agape, his eyes behind the glasses wide.
The skeleton grin widened and he strolled both hands in his pockets over to the fire elemental. One of his hands withdrew from his pocket, cupping the elemental's face.
"hey buddy. c'mon"
The skeleton led the still shell shocked fire elemental back into his prison, past the fish woman who stood watching with the lizard, through the fire maze, past the army who were trying to find where one of the stone elemental's arm was, back into the room where Gaster stood watching the two.
The skeleton sat down and pulled the fire elemental down to sit across from him, the flame didn't even realize the magical cuff that clicked over his wrists he was still staring at the skeleton.
The skeleton moved to stand as the void guy moved to return to his position as the jailor of the flame, when the little skeleton started to leave the fire elemental let out a screech nearly breaking bonds that could have withstood the apocalypse before the skeleton turned back to him and the elemental calmed.
"hey g, maybe we swap, i'll guard him, maybe i can keep him from escaping."
The void creature nodded and left them alone, the fire elemental staring at the skeleton.
"Your... your alive..."
"you couldn't kill me if you tried."