Chapter Text
The soul is the culmination of a Monster’s being. As such, it reflects the specific Monster in its color or texture.
For a flame Monster, their soul might have a tinge of the color of their specific flame, an ice Monster might have a tinge of blue.
It also depends on a Monster’s magic.
Monsters are made of magic, it is their very essence. Each Monster’s magic is a bit different, for no two Monsters are the same.
A Monster who specializes in healing magic’s soul might have a softer texture or appearance, compared to a Monster who has a more battle-oriented magic whose soul might be coarse or scarred.
Changes a Monster might go through in their life will, as such, reflect in their soul.
Take King Asgore for example.
Being a soft-hearted Boss Monster with a specialty for flame, his soul used to look pillowy soft with sharp edges and a tinge of orange within.
After the War, and the first few Humans who fell, his soul appeared scarred and thick, though still soft, with a stronger red glow to it due to his specialty for his Trident.
Though every Monster is different, they all share one thing in common. The soul, as a base, is usually white, with the colors acting as a sort of aura around it.
There is an exception to all this though. About an era ago, there was one documented case of a Monster’s soul changing drastically in texture, color, and SHAPE even.
It was rumored that this particular Monster had undergone a trauma that altered basically everything about them, from their personality to their appearance. Even their magic, a special type for this specific breed of Monster, had been changed.
This particular phenomenon has been rumored to occur a couple more times before present Monster history, and only in response to drastic change to that Monster themself. It was taken to be called Soul Mutation.
Dust has learned all this information throughout the time he spent ‘saving’ the Monster race. He saw first-hand the many differences a Monster’s soul could have, the different colors, textures, size.
He has also been witness of the rumors of Soul Mutation. In his own soul.
Dust’s soul used to look like every other Monster, white in a reversed heart shape with an aura of blue and orange. Also a tinge of yellow deep in the center, but that was often overlooked.
The edges of his soul were sharp-looking but dull, due to his status as a Boss Monster. His soul was also just naturally more dull than a usual Monster because of his low stats.
Dust, or ‘Sans’ as he used to be called, was a more calm Monster by nature back then. He would make jokes and generally try to avoid any kind of stress or pressure. He was fiercely protective of his brother, and cared for many of his friends.
Of course, then the Human fell and ruined everything.
Killing everyone had never been something ‘Sans’ would ever do. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t JUST. It would betray his very being.
He did it anyway, and his soul changed with him.
Gone away was the orange hue, replaced with a vivid red instead, choking the light blue of his identity of a snow Monster.
The brittle texture stayed, the signification he was a skeleton. However, scars now laced across the entire surface, especially a long diagonal across the center.
The biggest change was in the white, and the fact that it wasn’t white at all anymore.
From a distance, the color could appear white to the untrained eye, but Dust was VERY FAMILIAR with the sight of a normal Monster’s soul.
His soul was now a very light shade of lilac, with the yellow in the center completely removed. There seemed to almost be a pit where the yellow used to lie, but he tried not to look or think of it.
This change in his soul affected him more than he thought it would. It made him feel even farther removed from who he used to be, and his race as a whole.
Especially his brother. They used to talk about how cool it was that they had such similar souls for two different Monsters. It always made Papyrus so happy.
Those thoughts echoed through his head every time he looked at his soul. It caused the edges to start crumbling after a while.
He transferred his data that he gathered from his own soul to the official records in the palace, even if no one would ever see it. An era’s worth of waiting for another documented case has ended with him.
The Era of Monsters has as well though, huh?
Dust stopped researching after that.
He detested that the decision changed his soul further.