Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell. Many years later…

Mt. Feldsmore, 201X

Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return…

The mountain’s opening was huge, she realized. A lot bigger than it looked from far away. It was probably big enough to swallow her house—a modest two story dwelling, just big enough to fit her family of four comfortably within it. Possibly even their yard, too (it was quite small).

Stepping up to the edge, the small girl peered down into the mountain before her.

It was dark. She didn’t even know a place could get so dark. Yes, it was the inside of a mountain, so of course it didn’t get much sunlight, but still. This was the kind of darkness that awoke visions of terrifying monsters and terrible evil in her twelve-year-old mind. Her father would’ve told her it was all her imagination, and that she needn’t be afraid, but she couldn’t help it.

It was about noon now, and the sun was shining directly into the hole, yet she couldn’t see the bottom. She couldn’t see anything.

Was she really going to do this?

She startled as the cries of her name rang through the clearing. They were so close. Any minute they’d stumble upon her, and everything would be ruined. They might even stop her, and she couldn’t have that. She couldn’t bear this anymore.

She couldn’t bear to face them if they saw what she was trying to do. Or, not trying, she corrected. Doing.

Her features scrunched up with newfound determination to see her plan through. Carefully, she removed the crumpled sheet of paper from her sweatshirt pocket and set it on the ground, using a rock to hold it in place (they deserved to know why, at least). Then, she straightened up, and stepped closer to the ledge, with her back facing the abyss below. The wind blew her hair wildly around her face, and she closed her eyes.

Five, four, three, two…

“Ella!”

Her eyes opened wide as the headmistress ran out of the trees, hair messy and clothes spattered with mud and leaves, and a few brambles, too. She was followed by some of her classmates. Ella felt bad for making them run after her like this, for making them get all dirty. Involuntarily, she took a step back, and her heel snagged on a root hidden in the dirt. She stumbled back, placing her other foot behind her to steady herself, but there was nothing.

She was falling.

The last thing she saw before she was too far in was her classmates’ shocked, and some even tear-streaked, faces as they watched her fall.

Two thirds of the way down, Ella realized she didn’t want to die, after all.

Chapter Text

Ella woke up to a gentle prodding at her thigh. Groaning, with her eyes still closed, she assessed the situation. Obviously, she wasn’t dead. That in itself was surprising, since she literally just jumped into a mountain and fell who knows how far.

She then noticed she was lying in something soft. That must have been what broke her fall.

And she was also in pain, which meant she probably broke something—or several somethings—in the fall. She didn’t even try to move her limbs just yet, for fear of the pain it would inevitably cause. That could wait until she was fully conscious.

But every breath she took felt like she was being stabbed on her right side, and her head throbbed in time with her heartbeat. There was a ringing in her ears that drowned out most sound, but it was fading gradually, so she wasn’t too worried about it.

Then she blinked her eyes open, and stared up at the sky. Or, where the sky should be. There was, in fact, light shining down from above her, through the hole she fell through, but she couldn’t actually see the sky. It was like there was something there, some sort of barrier, separating what’s inside and outside the mountain. It was translucent enough to let light through, yet cloud her vision and prevent her from seeing anything else beyond it. It was strange, but she tried not to think much of it. She had enough to deal with at the moment.

Something nudged her again, and she decided to finally sit up and take a look around. After testing her arms and legs to see if anything was broken, and determining that it all seemed to be okay, she slowly sat up, careful not to move too quickly. Just in case.

Her chest and back still hurt, and breathing was becoming quite the pain, after all. She didn’t want to make any of it worse.

Once she was upright, she closed her eyes for a few seconds to gather her bearings. She was dizzy at first, and the entire cavern spun and doubled as her head swam. When she felt that it stopped, she opened her eyes and took a better look around.

The ceiling was high and dome-like, with jagged columns and cones of rock hanging down. The walls were carved with intricate designs, and ivy grew up on all of them. The ground was dirt, and in it were beds of golden flowers, like the one she was lying in right now. She took a moment to thank whatever higher beings existed for her luck. If these flowers weren’t here, she’d be dead.

She rubbed her arm as she looked around, finding a hole in her beloved sweatshirt. She let out a sigh, then, she glanced over at her feet, where the creature that poked her rested. It whined when it realized it got her attention, nuzzling her again.

Ella didn’t know what to think of it. It was the size of a dog, maybe slightly smaller than a golden retriever in height, but rounder and fluffier. Its fur was auburn red, similar to her hair but shaggier and thicker. It had the paws of a large cat and the ears of one too, and the snout and tail of a wild boar. She couldn’t decide if it was a weird species of feline she’d never heard of, some sort of pig, or just a really odd dog, based on its behavior.

But whatever it was, it wanted her to get up. Nudging her foot with its snout, it bounded a short distance away and spun in a circle to face her, tail wagging. Then, it ran back to her to prod her again, and repeat the process.

As she climbed to her feet, a call rang out through the cavern.

“Olivia!” It was a man’s voice. When it heard it, the creature at her feet halted, turning towards the eastern end of the cavern, where the cave ended and an opening in the wall led to another room. “Olivia! Where in Lorien did you run off to?”

The beast—Olivia—barked loudly, sprinting in circles. On it’s third loop, it’s rear end knocked into her, and Ella lost her balance and fell back onto her butt in the flowers. She patted Olivia on the back, trying to calm it down. She heard footsteps, and watched the entrance as a man walked through.

Well, not really a man. More like… a goat?

He was standing on his hind legs, like any normal human would be, but he had the white fur and horns and ears of a goat. At the top of his head sat a patch of neatly trimmed… hair? It was reddish brown, darker than Olivia’s, and slightly longer than the rest of his fur. And, he even had a little muzzle. But unlike any goats she’d ever seen, he was dressed in baggy tan sweatpants that were elastic at the ankles and waist, and a faded green tunic. And to top it all off: a fanny pack.

Ella resisted the urge to laugh. He almost looked comical, like some sort of character you’d seen in a bizarre cartoon network show from the 90’s. Maybe she was really dead after all, and this was the afterlife. The very, very strange afterlife.

But sure enough, once he saw her, he gasped audibly and dashed to her side, kneeling down next to her, concern etched into every hair on his chinny-chin-chin. He pressed one hand gently to her back and helped her sit up properly.

“Are you okay?” he asked, starting to look over her. “Are you injured? Where did you—“ He looked up at the opening above, then at the ground where she lied, and made the connection.

“Did you fall?”

She could only nod, wincing as she thought of why. What was she thinking?

Most of the events of earlier that day were a bit of a blur to her. She remembered she felt particularly horrible, though she couldn’t quite remember why. Something must have happened. But, she shouldn’t have… It never got to the point of…

She thought she was getting better. Everyone did. She was on medication, seeing a therapist. She was so close, so close. She…

Her medication. Oh no. She forgot her medication. She didn’t have it then, and… oh god no. She didn’t have it now, either.

He gasped again, drawing her out of her thoughts. Then, even quieter, he whispered, “Are you a human?”

She nodded, and his eyes widened. “Oh dear, this is, this is… Oh, but you need help! You are hurt! Come with me, I can help you. Can you walk?”

“Yes,” she croaked, and he looked surprised that she spoke. He quickly shook it off, and stood and offered her his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her.

“My house is this way,” he said gesturing to the door. They started to walk, and he whistled for Olivia to follow. She trotted ahead of them as they made their way out, and Ella watched her, smiling.

“What is that?” she questioned quietly, pointing at Olivia yet trying not to raise her arm too high to aggravate the pain. The goat man raised his eyebrows, shrugging.

“I don’t know, exactly,” he said sheepishly, “but she is my faithful pet and friend, and she has been with me for as long as I can remember. Why do you ask?”

She stepped over a rock, giving it a little kick. “No reason. I just—I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Ah, yes. That would make sense. You come from the surface, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” They stopped at a door, and she took a moment to press her palms to her lower back and stretch. She wheezed, and winced as she brought her arms over her head. Having heard her, the goat man looked back at her, worried. She held up her hand in the “A-Okay” gesture, and he nodded, turning around and continuing to open the door. He pushed a few buttons hidden in the weathered stone of the wall, and then pulled a lever. It slid open with a low groan, and he led her through, taking her hand. She kept her other hand down to massage the place where she was sore. It was a bit easier to breathe after she did that.

He continued. “So, I bet you have never seen a monster before, correct?”

She shook her head, curious to where he was going with this. “No, I haven’t.”

He smiled. “Well, you have now!”

She stopped walking, turning to face him. “Wait, are you..?” He interjected with a chuckle.

“Yes, I am a monster. Olivia is a monster. Everyone living down here is a monster.”

“And you’re all… real?” She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Monsters? Well, she was in fact conversing with a bipedal goat, so she couldn’t really be that surprised. But monsters, though!

“Yes,” he laughed warmly.

“Huh.”   A beat of silence, then: “How did you all get down here?”

He paused. “Certainly, you have heard the stories, no?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t.”

“Oh dear. Well, I guess I’ll start from the beginning, then.

“A long, long time ago, monsters and humans lived together in peace on the surface. But one day, the humans, who feared our power to take their souls, attacked us. War broke out between the two races, and the humans were eventually vict—“

“Wait,” she interrupted, pulling on his tunic. “What do you mean, ‘take their souls?’”

“Ah, well, what makes humans and monsters so different—besides our appearances,” he winked at her, and she giggled. “Is their souls. A monster’s soul is made entirely out of magic, and it is what gives us our physical form. Because of that, we are all able to perform some level of magic. Our lives are entirely dependent on our souls, and our hope. The more hope we have, the stronger our soul is, and the more damage it can withstand. However, if a being were to attack us and gravely injure our soul, we would turn to dust.”

Ella shuddered, and he continued.

“Humans, on the other hand, are not made entirely out of magic. They have physical components to their beings as well, making them stronger physically, but weaker magically. Some humans were able to do magic, but not many. This physical component makes human souls far stronger than monster souls, and even allows them to persist after death. Monsters can then absorb them.

“This is what the humans were so afraid of. This is why they attacked. They were afraid of our power to take their souls. So, they fought us and sealed us down here with a magic spell. We’ve been trapped here since,” he finished, staring down at the ground. Ella grabbed his hand, giving it a tight squeeze, and he looked down at her, giving her a weak smile. They started walking again.

“Is there any way to break it? The barrier?” she asked.

“Yes.”

He seemed hesitant about this subject, but she prodded him further, desperate to know. Maybe she could help free them, make her life actually mean something for once, and make use her second chance. “How?”

“Seven souls, we need seven souls to break the barrier.”

“Well, you have more than seven monsters down here, don’t you?” she said.

“No, dear, we need seven human souls.” He avoided her gaze. “We need to take the lives of seven humans.”

“Oh.” She shifted uncomfortably, and he seemed to pick up on it. He rubbed her back affectionately.

“Don’t worry, as long as you stay in Lorien, you will not be harmed,” he assured her. Ella was confused, but she didn’t ask any more questions. She already had so much to take in, she wasn’t sure she could handle any more information dumped on her.

The walk from then on was filled with small talk as he led her through rooms full of puzzles. In one room, he stopped and offered her a drink from the river, which she declined until he insisted it was safe. In another, he led her through a maze of spikes that would’ve impaled her had she been alone. They stopped by a bowl of candy, where she grabbed a few pieces, and bought a donut from a spider bake sale. Ella munched on it happily as they made their way through the remaining puzzles. As she ate, she felt a warm energy surge through her, and some of the pain melted away.

Then, after almost a half an hour of walking, they arrived in a clearing. In the center sat an old, dead looking tree, its bark as dark as night, with absolutely no leaves on it. “Ah,” he exclaimed. “We are here!”

“What’s wrong with the tree?” she questioned, gesturing to it.

“Oh, I’m not certain. Whenever it grows leaves, they fall off instantly.” He tilted his head to the side, studying it. “It’s perfectly healthy, though, so you do not need to worry about it. Come, let us go inside.”

He pulled her to the house sitting at the end of the cavern, and ushered her inside. She looked around.

It was a very nice and cozy looking house, with old, worn wood floors and a few frayed rugs here and there. Picture frames hung on the walls, some empty, some filled with artwork. There were some stairs that probably went to some sort of basement, and a hallway to the left and a doorway to what looked like a living room on her right.

“Uh, feel free to make yourself at home,” he said. “I will start preparing dinner.” He started to leave, but she called out to him.

“Wait, uh, mister—“ she realized she didn’t even know what to call him. She’d just been referring to him as Goat Man this whole time.   “I—I don’t know your name.”

“Oh, goodness me!” He laughed. “I forgot!” He held out his hand. “I’m Crayton. And you are?”

“Ella.” She shook it.

“Well, Ella, welcome to my house. I think there’s a guest bedroom down that hall there, and the third door on the right is the bathroom. Feel free to nap and wash up before we eat.” He started to leave again, then stopped once more and looked back. “Oh, I almost forgot, do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?”

“Um, I don’t really care. Either is fine, I guess,” she answered. Crayton nodded and waved, then left.

She was alone.

She considered following him, but decided against it. He told her to go get settled in a room, after all, and a nap was starting to sound like a real good idea. So much had happened in such little time, it was hard to believe that only hours ago she stood on the surface, about to… no, she refused to think about that.

Instead, she ambled down the hallway he pointed her to, admiring the art hanging on the walls. She found the bathroom, and took a little time to freshen up and take a quick shower (she was covered in dirt and pollen from her fall). Then, she explored each of the rooms.

After finding a closet, and a room she assumed was for laundry, she accidently stumbled into a sparsely decorated room—like the inhabitant knew they weren’t going to be staying in this house long. There was a bed in one corner, and a desk at its foot. A wardrobe sat in the other corner, with a few tunics and pairs of pants hanging inside. There was a little bed in the other corner, with a bowl of water and food next to it, and a few chew toys.

This must be Crayton’s room. She stepped out, closing the door quickly behind her. She didn’t want to intrude, no matter how curious she was.

The room next to this one was closed for renovations, and the room after it was open. She peeked inside, and found it almost completely empty, spare the basic furniture needed in a bedroom. This was the guest room, she knew.

Upon walking in, she immediately made a beeline for the bed, and collapsed on top of it. She fell asleep almost immediately.

It was dark when she woke up. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she sat up, pushing the sheets back. Had she even pulled them over herself in the first place? She wasn’t sure, she was really tired.

She swung her feet over the side, and her eyes fell upon something sitting on her bedside table. It smelled good, she realized. Really, really good. Her stomach growled, and she remembered she hadn’t eaten since early that morning, if it even was the same day. How long was she asleep for?

She got up and reached over to turn on the light, squinting as she did so. Once her eyes got used to the brightness, she looked over and saw it was a pie. Eagerly, she picked it up. There was a note sitting next to it, with scripted writing that took her a few seconds to get used to. It was the type of writing you’d expect to see on some sort of royal letter, or like calligraphy done by an artist.

Ella,

You fell asleep and missed dinner. And dessert. Fortunately, I saved some leftovers. It’s in the fridge if you wake up while I am asleep. I will try to stay up and greet you, but I do not know how long you will be sleeping. I apologize if I’m not there. If you get hungry, I left you some pie to tie you over. Feel free to wake me up if you need me.

Sincerely,

Crayton

Ella stood up, stretching her arms over her head, yawning. She looked over to her side, and she saw her sweatshirt, neatly folded (with the hole sewn up) next to a striped t-shirt, some pants that looked suspiciously like Crayton’s but cut and hemmed to be much, much shorter, and a pair of boots one size too big. She smiled. He was so nice. She didn’t know where she’d be without his help (probably still unconscious, left to be found by some other, less friendly monster). She shuddered at the thought.

She changed clothes quickly, eager to get out of her ripped shirt, tattered jeans and worn out shoes. As she lifted her shirt, she noticed the bruises on her arms were already fading. In fact, she felt a lot better than she did earlier, after her fall.

Leaving her bundle of abandoned clothes on the bed, Ella picked up the pie and walked out into the hallway. If Crayton wasn’t awake yet, she could just wander around the premises, eating her pie and taking in what she had missed yesterday (or was it still the same day, it felt like morning). She walked to the front door and peaked out the window, but she couldn’t tell if it was day or not. Of course she couldn’t, they were underground! Duh!

She smacked her forehead, feeling quite stupid, and turned to look at the clock hanging over the stairs that she missed the first time. According to it, it was 4:00pm. Wow, she really slept a while. It couldn’t have been much later than two or three yesterday when she went to sleep.

Shaking her head, she made her way to the living room, taking a bite of pie.

It was delicious.

Despite being cooled off and being left in her room all night, it was still amazing. It practically melted in her mouth, with a creamy custard filled center, and crunchy crust. There was the distinct flavor of both butterscotch and cinnamon, and somehow, they blended together perfectly.

She was in cinnamon-butterscotch heaven, which in itself was surprising, since she didn’t usually like the two flavors by themselves.

She hummed, closing her eyes and savoring it.

The living room was empty when she entered it, which was strange. She hoped Crayton would be waiting for her, like said he would be, but she was wrong. Of course he couldn’t just waste his time waiting for her to wake up, he must have other things to do! Maybe he was even at work. Surely, he had to have some sort of job to go to. She would just have to wait for him, then.

She finished her pie as she inspected the living room, taking her time as she walked around it and looked at everything she came across. In the center of the right wall there was a fireplace, with a fire burning low over the logs. Beside it was a chair. It looked worn, like it had been sat in a lot. There was some white fur dusting the cloth. Crayton. It must’ve been his chair. She smiled warmly, and moved on, looking up and the mantle. There was a single photo sitting on it. The frame was old, and the glass was cracked a little at one corner.

She picked it up, studying the picture inside.

It looked just as old as the frame, slightly faded and crinkled at the edges. Five people were in it, standing in front of some huge building, floating in what appeared to be a sea of lava. They looked proud.

She recognized Crayton standing in the middle. He looked much younger than the man she knew, and his fur was much shorter, like it was shaved almost down to his skin and thinned out. Wherever he was, it must have been warm. Very warm. He seemed uncomfortable in the heat, but still looked as if he was having a good time. He wore a white lab coat with the sleeves rolled up, probably to help keep him cool.

On his left was a being that looked like a literal shadow dressed up in a lab coat and went for a stroll. It was completely black except for its eyes, which contrasted the inky color of its face. Its hair—if that even was hair—was curly and shaved close to its skull. It stood much taller than Crayton, with its arms crossed. It was smiling, though.

To Crayton’s right stood another monster with its arm draped over his shoulder. It reminded her of something but she couldn’t put her finger on its name. Instead of skin, it had scales—yellowish green and razor sharp. Around the top of its head, the scales got longer and almost feather-like. Like hair, but for a dragon. That’s what it reminded her of, a dragon! It was wearing a lab coat just like the shadow and Crayton, and it was grinning proudly, its teeth jagged and pointy and surprisingly white.

Next to the dragon, stood a very short monster with pointed ears, long nose, and angular cheeks. It had a tail, and… an extra arm, it seemed. It wore a lab coat with holes cut out on the sides instead of sleeves, to make room for its third arm.

And, last but not least, on the shadow’s left stood another monster that seemed much older than the rest of them, probably because it was a skeleton. It was taller than Crayton and the dragon, but shorter than the shadow. It was smiling (it kind of had to, it’s jaw was fixed like that) but somehow, she knew it was real.

They all looked so proud.

She flipped the photo over to see if there was anything written on it to indicate who the monsters where or what they were doing. There was.

Congrats on the CORE

It wasn’t Crayton’s handwriting, she knew. Crayton’s handwriting was swirly and in cursive—quite beautiful, actually. This handwriting was printed and linear, angled sharply almost as if italicized. It was so neat it practically looked like a font.

“That’s Sandor.” She jumped as someone spoke from behind her, shattering the pleasant silence of the house. She spun around quickly, her eyes falling onto Crayton, dressed in a green apron covered with dirt. A pair of dirty gloves hung out from one of his back pockets. He looked like he’d been gardening. “Oh, I’m, sorry. Did I startle you, child?”

Ella flushed, shaking her head. “Nah, its fine. I was just… surprised. I didn’t know where you were, so I started looking around, and…” she trailed off, feeling like she was intruding. Crayton took the photo out of her hands, smiling wistfully as he ran his hands over the wood frame.

“Sandor,” he repeated, gesturing to the dragon man in the photo. “One of my colleagues, and best friends. He helped us build the CORE, the source of all electricity in the underground. Practically designed it, more like. He’s a brilliant engineer, probably one of the smartest in the underground. This was him before…” He stopped talking and changed the subject suddenly. “And this,” he pointed to the shadow. “Is Lexa, she did most of the programming for the CORE’s systems, through she was a pretty good engineer too. She and Sandor worked together like a well oiled machine.” He sighed.

“The skeleton man, that’s Malcolm. I didn’t know him as well as I did Sandor and Lexa, but he’s still one of my closest friends. He also helped build the CORE, and came all the way from the city of Lorien itself.”

“And who’s the short one?” she asked, pointing. Crayton practically growled, and she recoiled slightly. She wasn’t expecting him to make a noise like that. She didn’t even know he could.

“All you need to know is that he was a very, very bad man with very dangerous ideas. He’s gone now, thank the elders,” he snapped, his voice going from nostalgic to bitter in seconds. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that, whoever he was, Crayton hated him. Ella didn’t press him, quickly changing the topic to one she hoped he’d be more comfortable with.

“Uh, what did you have to do with building this, um, CORE?” she inquired, her voice slightly higher than normal. Crayton didn’t notice, thankfully, and visibly relaxed.

“I’m a biologist. My job was to make sure the CORE was safe for monsters to be around,” he answered, smiling thinly down at her. “That’s why I’m here in the Ruins, actually. I study the indigenous species of this region, as well as those all over Lorien. About half my research is done here. This place has become a second home to me.”

Ella raised her eyebrows at him. She knew he had some sort of job, but she didn’t expect him to be a biologist. “Oh, really?”

“What were you expecting?”

“I don’t really know, I just—I’ve never met a biologist before! You must be really smart, if you worked on the CORE!” Crayton blushed.

“Nah, not really. Sandor, Lexa, and Malcolm—they’re the smart ones. I didn’t actually contribute to the whole thing being built, I just kind of… ran tests and observed.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I still think you’re smart. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met!” He opened his mouth. “And before you protest, I haven’t actually met your Sandor or Lexa or Malcolm, so it’s true! Don’t deny it!” Crayton laughed.

“I won’t, then, child,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair. “Come, let me cook you something to eat. You must be hungry, having missed dinner yesterday.” He led her to the kitchen. “What would you like?”

“What do you have?” she asked, bouncing in after him.

“Well…”

An hour later, she lied on the frayed carpet of the living room, her head resting against Olivia. The fire was blazing steadily now, immersing her in warmth, and Crayton sat on his chair, telling her stories of the monsters and the underground. He told her how they arrived, built their first capital in the Ruins, then left and moved to the end of the cavern. He narrated the legends all young monsters heard at some time in their lives, and recited poetry.

But her favorite parts were when he recounted tales of him and his friends from the photo, and some of the misadventures they got up to.

Before she knew it, she was asleep again, dreaming of monsters and magic and adventure. They quickly morphed into nightmares, causing her to toss and turn in bed. Her friends screaming her name, rushing wind, a crack, goat demons reaching towards her as shadows climbed the walls, screeching, dragons spitting fire, evil flowers, the headmistress grinning down at her with petals instead of hair…

She woke up in the guest room again, gasping and grabbing desperately at the covers. Her forehead was slick with a cold sweat, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe, her throat constricting as the darkness around her suffocated her.

She didn’t waste any time getting up, hurrying to her feet and out of the room, memories of her classmates’ frantic faces still fresh in her mind. She had to get back to them, had to let them know she was okay.

She had to get back to the surface.