Hello newcomers and followers alike, and welcome to FirstTale. This is the first story I've ever actually written and published. As of right now I'm in the process of rewriting the first couple chapters to include more detail and better writing, as well as making some edits to later chapters before writing a new one. Please bear with me while this is ongoing, and I hope you enjoy the more polished work!

If you have anything you want to say, leave a review. I reply to most of them in the next new chapter. I love getting feedback on my work.

Demon. Abomination. Mistake. They had many names given to them in their village. They hated them, the ones that gave them those names. The cruel aunt who 'cared' for them by beating them senseless time and again. The preacher who said they killed their parents and many others in the village just by being born. Mostly though, they hated themselves. Their deep red eyes which were signs of possession. Their complexion, too light for some and too dark for others. Their hair, which they had been forced to cut on their own or risk being lost under the shaggy locks. Everything about them, they hated.

That night had been the last straw. With no where to go and no one to help them, they decided that if the world was going to turn its back on them, they would turn their back on the world. They would run. Run away and never return. To where was another hurdle all together, yet once they set eyes on the mountain looming in the distance, they knew.

Mount Ebott. The place of no return.

Oh, they knew the tales, everyone did. Staying at the base of the mountain was fine, but try to climb it and you'd never be heard from again. Everyone knew someone's best friend's cousin that tried to climb it and didn't return, or heard from a reliable source that a group of campers wanted to camp up it, only for their abandoned campsite to be found months later. Despite all this, no one actually knew first hand someone that disappeared. That never stopped the rumors.

The forest around the mountain was relatively peaceful and quiet, allowing them some rest before the rays of the late morning sun found their way through the canopy and woke them. The hard dirt was about as comfortable as the floor of the house they lived in, meaning they were well versed in sleeping on it. They knew no one would look for them as they continued, keeping their eyes on the mountain peak through the trees. In fact, they thought, people might rejoice at their vanishing.

Their stomach rumbled as they reached the mountain proper, but they paid it no mind. It wasn't the first time they'd gone a day without eating, though a grim thought that it might be the last time floated through their head. To keep such thoughts at bay, they concentrated on scaling the overgrown hill.

The climb was treacherous and took days. Some times, they looked down at the bottom, and wondered how far they could fall and still survive, shuddering at the thought. At last they reached a place near the top, a plateau with a cave in the mountainside. It was really well hidden with trees surrounding it, giving them the idea to stay there for the night. With the sun setting on the other side of the mountain, they couldn't see anything inside the entrance. A step too far, and an out of place root, caused them to fall into the yawning abyss hidden before them.

The drop seemed to both last forever, and end abruptly. They landed on unyielding stone with a hard thud, only surviving thanks to their small frame and below-healthy weight, though they could not realize this as they had blacked out upon impact. Above them, the last light of the day faded, leaving the cavern they fell into bathed in moonlight...

-X-

As they slowly regained consciousness, they weren't aware of anything, as though there was nothing around them. Their eyes did not want to open, worrying them. They tried to move a muscle, any muscle, and just barely managed to shift their body a bit, but even that small movement brought a sensation with it. One they knew well, but with an intensity they'd never felt before: pain, from every inch of their young body. A sharp, hot sting flared from their arm as a lesser version traveled up their leg. Their head gave up its own dull, throbbing ache, making it hard to think. The rest was a soreness all over, as though from a bad fall...oh, right. That's exactly what happened.

Memories came back, breaking through the pain in their head. The days spent walking and climbing, the feeling of their foot getting caught on something in the cave, and finally the fall into wherever they were now. They weren't dead, they decided based on a few things. First, they could feel, even if it was just pain, but it also wasn't the horrible torture the preacher said they'd endure eventually. There weren't any clouds or pearl gates either, so between those they had to still be alive. However, that thought didn't fill them with any sort of positivity.

Using their arm that didn't feel like it was on fire from the inside, they forced their body off the ground so they could look around. They opened their red eyes, only to close them immediately as the dark cavern around them seemed to spin and wobble. Even after closing their eyes, they still felt a queasiness, as if the room were moving and would throw them from one end to another. Yet, through that brief glance, they were able to discern the truth of where they were. Deep, deep inside the ground, where the soft glow of the moon had just enough light to illuminate the spot they landed. They were lucky they survived such a fall. Or perhaps unlucky, considering their current state.

They slowly, ever so slowly tried to get to their feet. First they tried putting one leg under themselves so they could lift the rest of their body. Although they got the first part down, they discovered that any attempt to push themselves up resulted in a sense of vertigo and they would fall to one side. Landing on their arm caused them to scream in pain and take a break from trying that again.

Their second way involved simply lying on their back and sitting up. What should have been an easy task was made monumentally difficult from the pain in their head reacting to every little movement. They had an idea that, instead of taking it slow and getting nowhere, they'd do one big sit up and deal with the consequences, then move on to the next part. On an internal count of three, they forced their back up straight into a sitting position. It worked...for a moment. The spinning feeling they had before was now multiplied, making it feel as though the whole mountain had gone topsy-turvy around them. It was all they could do to stay sitting up after that. The wave of nausea caused them to dry heave, their stomach desperately trying to get rid of anything, but it was completely empty.

The next step was tricky: moving from sitting to standing. They knew they couldn't use the same trick, else they would just end up falling, and probably hurt themselves even more. They leaned forward, placing one leg under them so they were sitting awkwardly on one knee, then millimeter by millimeter pushed their body up. It was agonizingly slow in a very literal sense for them. Eventually, they hand managed to stand on their good leg, though they tended to teeter one way then another.

Now they were at a loss though. They hadn't thought they'd get this far, and didn't know where to go from here. They pondered as best they could how to move. They could not use one leg at all, so they would have to hop, but they could barely stand up without being overwhelmed by the pain and dizziness. Afraid, but determined, they tensed their leg and gave a small bunny hop. Next thing they knew, the floor had risen up to slam into them. At least, that's what it felt like. Their entire body flared up in agony, seemingly begging them to stop. They had to choice but to obey, writhing and grinding their teeth as they lay back down against the hard stone. It was all just too much for them. They could feel tears welling in their eyes and couldn't help but let out a pained and worried sob.

"Help! Please help me!" Knowing it was futile, they let out a desperate cry for help as loud as they could, the sound of their wail echoing off the hard stone that surrounded them.

"Someone, anyone! Help!" They called again, quieter this time, their voice repeating fewer times before dying down.

"Please. Just this once, help me..." they said quietly now between sobs before their strength gave out and their body gave out. Fighting back more tears, they waited, hoping beyond anything that for once in their sorry, pathetic life, their plea would be answered. The sound of some wind above was their only response. This was it, they knew. They would die here, broken in both body and spirit, all because of some stupid mistake. Well, that seemed to be the theme of their entire life so far, so why would the end be any different.

"It sounds like it came from over here... Oh!" Was that...a voice? They were underground, far from any village or roads. No, they must be hearing things, life playing one last cruel trick on the demon before banishing it. They ignored it, wondering if this is what happened to people in their last moments.

"You've fallen down, haven't you. Are you okay?" It was definitely a voice, and it was closer now, perhaps right next to them. They struggled to turn their head, squinting to keep from looking at the room too much. All they saw was a white blur beside them, unable to make out if it was a person or a figment of their imagination. Another thought came up that this might be an angel, sent to take them to whatever afterlife waited for them. They tried to speak, to answer them properly, but they found their voice had given up too.

"Here, get up..." A hand moved under their chest, pulling them gently yet insistently up off the floor of the cave. Despite the protests of their body, they found themselves following this new person's lead. They felt themselves begin to topple over again, only for their companion to hold them tightly and keep them upright. They were able to stand on one leg and, with support, take a small bunny hop forward. They still felt like they'd just done a flip and expected to land face first in the dirt, but again the white blur held them fast. A moment later, they took another hop. Then another. With their eyes close, they didn't know where they were going, and could only trust this other knew where they were going. They weren't aware how long they moved for, cradling their hurt arm and keeping one leg off the ground, but they were given small encouragements and reassurances the whole time.

"So who are you?" That caught them off guard as it seemingly came from out of the blue. The question was asked innocently enough, and for anyone else it would be an easy answer, but for them? They could say they're a demon, show this person or angel or whatever it was their red eyes, warn them about how they're not to be trusted. That's what led to them being shunned back in their village. Then again, look where that got them.

Maybe they could claim they're no one, start over fresh. They could claim amnesia from the hit to their head and possibly start a new life. However, they weren't sure if they could keep that up. They were sure to make a mistake eventually that would let others know they hadn't forgotten things, and that would ruin any chance they had.

In the end, they decided to use the one thing their parents gave them before being taken by the disease, the one the red eyed child had been blamed for since.

"F...Frisk." They gave their name, barely loud enough to be considered a whisper. They thought it wouldn't be heard at all.

"Frisk, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel." That surprised Frisk in two ways. First, that they were heard with such a low voice, and second, that someone had called their name nice. As the duo slowly and carefully made their way down a small passageway towards an ancient door, Frisk thought as much as they could and came to a decision. Asriel could be a person, or angel, or imaginary thing their mind made up, but from then on Frisk would consider them their savior and would forever be in their debt.

The thought of something going right for once filled Frisk with Determination.