Ralsei The Lonely Prince | Fluffy boy

Kris had hardly started class when they and their untimely arrival partner Susie had been ejected. Their teacher Alphys wasn't impressed by Susie's chalk eating, and through the power of guilt by association had them both tasked with finding a replacement in the dusty old supply closet down the hall. The school's chalk reserve was reportedly located inside, but upon peering in it seemed as if it'd been abandoned long ago. No light penetrated the black abyss of the closet. It was like darkness on top of darkness, a darkness so deep it felt layered. Bravely fumbling around inside, the two heroes set forth on their chalk retrieval quest. Their first goal: Find the light switch. Unfortunately for our brave heroes, the floor abruptly vanished from beneath their feet, and sent them tumbling through the air into a helpless free fall.

After what felt like far too long for the insides of a supply closet, Kris and Susie hit the ground with a THUD, and surprisingly not a splat. Quickly jolting back up on their still-attached feet, an impetuous Susie scouted ahead, leaving Kris behind. Wandering through the echoing cavern now opened before them, the two found themselves moving along separate paths through the same canyon, at the end of which loomed a towering structure. It was a vast, black, empty-looking Castle, so big it seemed able to swallow their entire school. A few buildings displaying recognisable signage were scattered about outside the castle. They looked like they were bars or shops, but they were empty now. There wasn't anybody in them, or around this desolate, cold place at all. It's hard to imagine anyone really living here. Moving forward, the gates to the castle were left open, torchlight flickered from inside.

In the chambers immediately beyond stood a lonely hooded figure covered in mended robes, who turned towards them when they entered. The shrouded figure took a step towards the two and began to speak, though their voice was muffled and faint underneath all of their clothing. He explained that he was a 'Darkner', a type of being found only in the dark world as opposed to Kris and Susie. He also explained that he was a Prince, and Kris, Susie and he were fated to meet here as part of the prophecy. The three of them were heroes and they needed to help the Darkners of this troubled world restore peace and order. He was named Ralsei, and he had waited here by himself for the two of them to arrive so he could finally fulfil his part of the prophecy: to be a guide, hero and... friend? However, by the time Ralsei had finished his spiel, Susie had already left, scouting off ahead again by herself. That left Kris and him.

Ralsei encouraged Kris to walk around and explore his castle, and followed behind them, until the two of them stumbled upon a spacious room, at the end of which stood an awfully familiar-looking dummy. Upon spotting it, Ralsei began to take the lead, walking right towards it. "Oh, Kris! It's the training dummy I made!" Ralsei declared excitedly, in a soft voice. "Now seems like a great chance to prepare for the enemy! Would you like me to teach you how to fight? We can head into The Field of Hopes and Dreams after, I hope."

Ralsei turned to Kris with a sweet and shy smile, gesturing towards the dummy with an outstretched hand. His big pointy wizard hat and robes cast an unnaturally dark shadow over him, making it hard to discern most of his features other than his black furry silhouette and expression. Although he couldn't hide his impossibly nerdy Windsor glasses or the way his horns strained against the brim of his funny hat, nor the long magenta scarf around his neck, which seemed to twitch every now and then. "Er, sorry, it kind of looks like me... I've been alone, so I didn't have anyone to model it after... Kris, since it's me, please be kind to it, OK?"