Karma jumped up at the sound. Stepping back and attempting to let out a little yelp (that never came), Karma looked at where the voice came from. Karma couldn't find anything but a bright, aquamarine blue, luminescent flower. Poking the flower, Karma noticed it had a face.

And the face was blinking.

"hey, uh... kid? you gonna keep poking me, or what?"

Karma didn't jump this time. They were actually rather curious as to how the echo flower ended up talking, let alone living, so they decided that it was nothing to be afraid of. They sat down, and smiled at the flower, hoping it was friendly too.

"uh... heya. i'm echo, echo the flower. how about you?"

Karma didn't talk unless mandatory, so they thought of ways they could get their name across without speaking. Karma glanced around, and laid their eyes on a stick. Picking it up, Karma drew their name in the dirt.

"karma? nice name there. kinda gives an impression that anyone who messes with ya will get bad luck. well anyways, why you out here all alone? don'tcha know that you could get killed out here?"

Now, one thing that Echo knew that Karma didn't is that if Karma died, they wouldn't die for good. When they fell down, their soul had acquired a determination to get out of there that made their soul the most determined being. That being so, if you have the most determination, you can come back from the death at the last point you saved. It's like a video game - save, die, reset. But this is no video game, and this is no reason to be reckless.

Karma shook their head, having no idea about this ability. All they knew was that their mom had left with their aunt, and didn't know that they could die.

Echo sighed. "well, i guess i'm gonna have to help you, huh? bend down, i'm gonna hold on to your horns."

Karma did as Echo instructed and, thankfully, nothing bad happened. Karma waited for instruction, and Echo caught on quickly.

"all right, i'm going to be your guide through the ruins. fasten your seatbelts, and enjoy the ride. we'll be going through that gate over there, and then finishing this puzzle, over. Psshp!"

Karma laughed a little then realised he was serious - they did have to finish a puzzle to go the the next room. Karma surveyed the room - there were 6 buttons on the ground in pairs, with the middle shifted slightly. The floor underneath the middle 2 buttons was a lighter shade of indigo than the rest of the room.

Karma looked around the room and saw a lever, a door (which had a black symbol Karma recognised as the Alpha rune), and a sign that had writing on it. Moving closer, Karma read the sign.

"Only the fearless may proceed. Brave one, foolish ones. Both not walk the middle road."

"At least, that's my opinion on the matter..."

Stepping back, Karma surveyed the room again. Walk not the middle road... Karma looked back at the buttons. There was a middle section, so they decided to try only pressing the buttons not on that middle section.

Click!

The door slid over to reveal a corridor with levers, and little bridges over streams of water. Karma looked around and saw that there was writing on some levers. Karma took a closer look.

Please press this switch.

Karma couldn't read it.

They looked to the end of the hallway, and saw that the spikes guarding the door were relatively far apart, or at least far enough to scoot through. Walking over, Karma noticed Echo on their head again. It was comforting to know that they had a friend, especially since they just got here. Karma was devastated when they fell, and even more when their father died. Karma decided to not think about their father at the moment, but to think about the puzzles instead.

The next room was empty, save for a few scraps of cloth and stuffing. Karma saw that there was a needle and thread with the scraps, and stuck the needle in their shorts, and gave the string to Echo. He understood that they were for another time.

Moving on, Karma saw a small path on the ground. Moving onward, they saw another spike puzzle. Like the last spike puzzle, the spikes were relatively far apart, so they scooted through the spikes.

This time, however, the spikes scratched Karma's arm and cut it open.

The blood dripped onto their boots, and Karma was loosing a lot of blood. Fast. Karma made it across the spikes before they realised what they could do - they took the needle, motioned to Echo to give them the thread, and sewed their arm together.

This method was similar to stitches, but also very dangerous. See, the monsters had diseases that humans conquered, and humans had diseases that monsters conquered. Karma, being half-human half-monster, was not able to get sick due to this. So even though the string and needle could have been infected, Karma would be okay.

Karma was still taking a risk, as when you use string, it doesn't fully close the wound. Karma had never sewed before, which made this even harder for them, but even a professional could have pierced bone, muscle, or even nerves, leading to worse injury. Being only 14, Karma wasn't able to be educated in that sort of thing, so they had to wing it.

Karma took the needle (threaded, of course) and stuck it in their arm. A wince of pain broke across their face, and their arm was throbbing. Karma slid the needle under their skin, and to the other side of the wound. Karma pinched their skin together to make it faster, and stuck the needle through again. Karma couldn't feel their arm anymore, but kept on stitching the wound.

After many painful stabs, Karma was done. Karma tied a knot around the string to end the stitch. Karma could feel their arm again, and it burned and stung and throbbed with the pain induced. They noticed this and whimpered, but continued on.

Karma looked ahead to see a long hallway. This hallway was the size of two houses back to back, with no walls in the way. Just a blank space where you have to walk to get to the end.

Echo jumped off Karma's horns and burrowed into the ground. Echo could see him pop up at the other side, and a vine shot over to them and grabbed them, and then pulled them over (impressively fast) to the other side of the hall. Karma bent down to allow Echo to get on their head again, and then they were off.

After many, many more annoying puzzles, Karma got to a giant tree. Its leaves were red as blood, and the bark was a milk-chocolate brown. Staring ahead, they saw a house made out of the same purple-blue they had seen all the was through. It had some leaves from the tree on the ground, but were pushed over to make a little path. A sign above the door read "Toriel's House"

*Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the Ruins gives you the DETERMINATION to get JUSTICE.