I watch the metal walkway above get smaller and smaller, the light of the core around me getting brighter and brighter, until…

Nothing. I suppose I should feel pain, or at the very least in some way uncomfortable, but I feel nothing. It's like my senses have been dulled to the point of malfunction. I try to collect my thoughts as to what's happening; shouldn't I have been dusted? Even if there wasn't magma in the channels running through the CORE, the distance of the fall should have been enough. What could have possibly caused me to end up… alive? Is that even the right term for being… wherever I am? My mind is whirring exceedingly fast in an attempt to comprehend everything.

"Gah!" I gasp in shock as I abruptly come back to the present. A pale frown looms over me, perhaps a centimetre from my own. I jolt back in surprise, stumbling backwards and falling over. I briefly take note of the never-ending darkness that makes up almost everything in site. The face above me looks down in concern.

Once I have my wits about me, I take in who this figure is. They look like a child in their mid-teens, looking for the most part to be a human. They have wavy inky-black hair that is barely distinguishable in the blackness around us that falls to partially cover their eyes, which are bottomless pits with white pupils floating inside, identical to a skeleton's sockets. Their skin is consistently pale, almost a milky-white, and their lips match in colour. Two of their canines stick out, similar to the king and queen's fangs. They're wearing a plain black hoodie (the hood down) with no special features to it, besides being a tad bit oversized, and their hands are in their pockets. Underneath the hoodie is a white T-shirt with a black printed message on it so faded as to be illegible. They also wear grey trousers with an exceptional amount of pockets on them.

"I'm sorry." The child's voice is filled with understanding, of what I don't know.

I reply curiously, "Whatever for?"

"How you ended up here, it wasn't a very good experience."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of which, where is… here?"

"This is the void, the place between time and space. Anything and everything that resides here doesn't exist to the universe."

"Are you saying that we don't exist?" My voice sounds completely calm, despite the overwhelming anxiety inside of me.

"Precisely that." I stare unseeingly at the child while I try to comprehend this new information. I… don't exist? What about my family? How are they going to live without someone to provide for them? Do they remember me? After a moment, a terrible realisation comes over me in the form of a question: do I remember them? I rack my mind for information on my previous life, but all I find are simple facts: I was a skeleton who, like all the other monsters, was trapped in the Underground. We lived under the reign of a king and queen. I had a family, skeletons like me. But try as I may, I couldn't summon an image of them.

A comforting hand is placed on my back and I'm brought back to reality. I'm on my knees, curled in on myself. I slowly sit upright; the child is standing beside me, hand on my back rubbing in relieving circles. They look me in the eyes, their face full of worry and fear. Their voice quavers slightly as they speak, "I know this is a silly question, but are you okay?" Its in this moment I have to choose whether to trust the child or hide my feelings from them. I don't know who this child is, or even what they are, but they seem to know about me, enough to understand me anyway. At this stage, though, there isn't really a point in trying to deceive them, especially after that breakdown. They're in the same situation as me, stuck in the void. Plus, I'm not really in the state to deny help. My mind is made, and I answer them, "No, not really."

"I thought so. Again, I'm sorry that you ended up here, Gaster."

"Gaster?" The name rings with familiarity.

"That's your name, W D Gaster. Mine is Myst. Myst E Rious."

I can't help but chuckle at the pun. "Heh, that can't be your real name."

They smile warmly at me, "Yeah, but it's my name now."

"Alright, Myst, why don't you show me around?"