A World Made Of Glass

When You're Swallowed by the Unknown

Hoo boy! Got this one done! Now this one is pretty long, but bear with me. This is stuff pretty important to the overall story I'm trying to portray, so if you don't want to be super confused later, you might want to read this one. I swear one of the ACTUAL Undertale characters is making their first appearance in the next chapter. I'll try my best to be on time next week with that chapter, but it's finals week and I'm drying inside.

I also post these chapter on Archive of Our Own under the author name MerderIce421, same as on here with the same story name as well. Thank you, thank you! Hope you enjoy! Comment, vote, and all that jazz!!! :)

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One of the most important aspects of society is retribution for broken principals. Though punishment is the most effective solution, sometimes even that is not enough. After all, there are plenty of instances where something is technically legal, but is still morally frowned upon. No, when is comes to the rules, people must get creative.

It wasn't till Caroline had been living in Ebott for a good year or so, that she was finally introduced to the story: small town legend adults told their kids to will them into being obedient--much like Santa Claus, but with a bad ending.

To put it simple, adults would tell their naughty kids that repeated disobedience would summon a man with the head of a goat. The goat fed on rebellious children, and it would find, capture, and carry them into the underworld to feast off their willfulness for eternity. That was the short story. Caroline never truly trusted their portrayals, but even she felt a ring of truth in their few words. It wasn't until Caroline did some digging for a middle school project that she fell upon a myth in some old books that was surprisingly similar to the legend.

It started out with the tale of a young child who didn't listen to their mother. Everyday she would tell her child, "Don't go into the mountains. It is dangerous up there; you could slip and fall." For a long time, the curious child obeyed, believing once they were older, they could do whatever they wanted. However, the child's determination to trek up the apex transformed into impatience. One day, the child disappeared. The mother thought her foolish offspring was gone for good until one afternoon, a figure was seen coming down the mountain. When the figure came close enough to the village, they were recognized to have the head of a goat.

The book that contained the tale had ripped pages and Caroline never did get to know the ending. But perhaps that was point. For those who break the rules... There is no ending. There is no moral. There is no future.

Caroline hadn't thought about the story in ages. It was rather ironic that it came to mind now- while sitting in the sheriff's office for doing something bad.

After slapping Madison, Caroline had been dragged to Dan's office. Perhaps it had been a foul judgement on her part, given she was already up a creek without a paddle for breaking into the underground. After being pulled away, Dan explained for what seemed like the thousandth time that Caroline was going to be in a lot of trouble. She was expected to sit in the office and await whatever punishment the town council saw fit. He said it could take a while--they had to send people to investigate any damage Caroline had caused to use as evidence.

But that had been nearly 4 hours ago.

The door creaked open, and a seemingly nervous Dan made his way inside. He moved behind his desk and gradually lowered into the chair across from Caroline. For a second or two he merely studied Caroline, but eventually, he spoke up, "Yer not gonna like it."

Caroline scoffed, "I don't like anything that has to do with this dump."

He looked to his lap, "Yeah, well, you won't have ta deal with it for much longer now..." Caroline's eyebrows knit together. "We all had ta have a meetin'--the mayor, the council, the whole shebang. Considerin' we don't actually own the property that got damaged..." He shot a glare a Caroline, "we had ta contact the rightful owner." He stopped and observed Caroline. His expression seemed expectant, like his words were meant to hold some deeper meaning. Caroline had no idea where the man was going with his spiel. Regarding her confusion, he heaved an enormous sigh and closed his eyes. "Caroline. We just had a video conference with The King of Monsters 'cause of you..."