Free at last!

It had been a particularly long time since we had found ourselves once more roaming through the world of the living, where those susceptible to the wounds of the flesh and could fall so easily to trivial wounds, wither and decay like their fleeting lives meant nothing. It hadn't been easy for us to once more regain a physical form, not since the human had gained the upper hand, banished us into oblivion and set aflame our corporeal vessel.

But that was a mistake we were determined to not let happen twice, to allow our guard to so easily blind us and distract us from the task that was at hand. We had the advantage now, knowing that not a memory of us existed within the minds of those that wandered through these underground catacombs, our entire coding having been ripped from this world and existence like it had never been there at all.

Oh, but we would give them all something to remember, burn our memory so deep into the heart of this dying world that no mere whim of magic could ever hope to erase us from existence once more.

We walked through the forest for some time, lost amongst our thoughts of the future that awaited, one full of blood and pain and revenge upon those who had ever dared to defy or harm us. We clung to the flanks of the shadows, revelling in the presence of the darkness as we took step after step, unseen to any pair of prying eyes that might be delving into the darkness, the prey trying to hunt down their predator that would ultimately sink its claws into their neck, drain the life from the blood while they screamed into the cold of this world, beginning for someone, anyone to hear their name but nobody would come, they never did.

How heightened our senses were! It was hard to imagine our lives before this one, before our consciousnesses has merged into a singular entity, the human and the scientist having once lived two separate lives. But we had ascended such a state, our minds merged into one consciousness that hungered and burned for the bloodshed of thousands, eager to seek vengeance and justice upon those who had wronged us in a previous life. For there was no Gaster, no Kris. It was just we.

We tightened our grip on the knife clutched within our hand, holding onto it like it was our lifeline for it was the very harnessing of our power, the tool that we used to channel our hatred and our anger into a single weapon that could cut and bleed and slice and dice, death and genocide that was one big party that would never stop until the ground was coated in dust and blood.

Already had one monster fallen victim to the blade and they would be the first of millions, the first to fall in the mountain of bodies and dust that were sure to follow as time progressed. How fun it had been to see the knife cut through their chest, tear through their flesh and clothing like it was more difficult than it was for a pair of scissors to cut through paper. They had been surprised, amazed at how fleeting and unimportant their mortal life had been, how they had spent years of their futile existence enduring struggle after struggle only to meet their ultimate demise at the last second, withering away into a pile of dust and in a decade's time, not one would be alive that would remember their name.

That was what life was after all.

Many thought that life was important, that it was the symbol of hope and resilience against a universe that was trying so hard to extinguish any living creature that crawled around in its dark catacombs. But life was not hope. Life was a disease, a burden, an embodiment of delusion and grandeur, those gifted with life often believing that they were so important and special when they were nothing more than naive little apes and monsters that would die and never be remembered by future generations.

Except us.

We were the exception, the living creature above that rule. For with us was the strength of dragons, the roar of thunder that hammered inside our veins and fuelled our magic, an endless source of energy that would never fade, never falter. We would continue to exist and rule as god amongst the lesser creatures generations after they had fallen victim to death such was the fate of all living creatures. We would not succumb to age or illness or the wounds of the flesh as the other living things often did. We would exist, we would be remembered and burned into the minds of every life form for the rest of eternity.

For we were the darkness, the shadows of the night that were ever so patiently waiting, never ceasing from existence, the shadows that had existed since the beginning of the universe and would continue to exist even when the last star heaved its last and gave way to death. For in shadow was how the universe was born and in shadow would it end. How then could one hope to best us, to defeat us when we had been there since the beginning of time? Shadow and darkness always won in the end.

For to have light, one needed energy, someone to bring about that light and change. Light was a nuisance, unneeded clamour inside a universe that would best be left quiet. We were nothing more than an embodiment of the universe reclaiming its rightful place in the dark and the cold, reducing this planet and all planets into a state of perfect peace and harmony as the universe had once been.

At least, that is what the human part of us thought. For even if we tried to accept the fact that our two identities had merged into one being greater than the two people we had once been, there was still evidence that the scientist and the human remained as two independent entities, each with their own thoughts and emotions. A part of us wished to see the world bathed in darkness, but there was another part of us, perhaps a ghost of the scientist's dimming consciousness that did not like that idea, of setting fire to the few friends he had once made in the Underground.

This often left us conflicted, these two separate plans for the future. We should not have different plans for the future for we were one entity, one being with a shared consciousness. But that did not matter, that was a concern for another time. For there was a greater task at hand, the task that we had been working on since the beginning.

We stood on the edge between the forest and the town that seemed to thrum with life below. We were not idiotic in the sense that our presence, the ghost of a rumour that echoed amongst these forgotten worlds that a human was walking once more in the land of monsters, slaughtering down their kin as if they were nothing more than puppets. But that would make the sport of killing all the more fun, would it not? To drag them from their homes and cut them down one by one?

It had not been easy taking on the form of the human. For once the human had reduced our corporeal form to ash and dust within the halls of the laboratory, our consciousness had risen above the world of the living and travelled through the air for quite some time, neither perishing nor fully existing for human souls can persist even after death. And it wasn't until a human had ventured into the Underground, happened to fall down into the world of monsters on a mere whim could we once more seize a living vessel. The human had gone by the name of Frisk, but it was a name that mattered not to us for we only needed their body and not their mind.

And with a vessel finally secured, could we once more begin our work, liberating the living and damning the world into silence.

A slight giggle escaped our lips. How fun this was going to be!

You awoke to a chorus of screams.

There was light outside, but it was not the friendly glow of a street lamp nor was it from any neighbouring house. There was a sinister glow to this kind of light, belonging to a force that was contented with damning the entire world in agony and suffering without any regard to the lives it might take. A part of yourself seemed to recognise and realise that whatever you would find waiting outside would mark the end of the life you had tried to live for all those months you had walked through the Underground, trying to convince yourself that you could rid yourself of your past that lay shrouded in mystery and uncertainty.

But the appearance of the stranger within the diner and the rumours of a murderous human child prowling the dark of night all seemed intertwined, small pieces of your past that were linking together, threatening to break through the wall that held back your memories. But would you welcome it, welcome the knowledge of who you had once been in a forgotten life, welcome the revelation of how you could possibly be connected to the two skeleton brothers with whom you had mysteriously appeared besides?

You did not know if you even wanted to remember the person that you had once been. For what if you had been some serial killer with the dust of hundreds upon your hands and you had torn your memories from your mind to go into hiding, to run from the deeds that you had committed during that life? Would you morph back into the same demented killer if your memories returned, fall back into the same sadistic lifestyle as you had all those years ago?

"What's going on?" Sans emerged from his room, rubbing the sleep from his eyesockets. He had long since lost the humorous attitude about himself, a hardened attitude evident in his features.

"I don't know, a lot of people are screaming outside." You looked over your shoulder as the screams of the damned and dying continued to mingle together in a sadistic chorus, full of such sadness and sorrow that it chilled your very blood to ice.

"Do you think it's the human, the one that everyone was talking about earlier?"

"I don't know," you replied through gritted teeth. "Whatever's outside, it's definitely not friendly. I'm going to go see what's going on, but I want you to stay here with your brother in case anything goes wrong, especially with - "

"My condition," Sans finished, the tips of his bony fingers tracing the outline of the metal handplate he had hidden underneath a black glove. Like the piece of metal, the comedian's unexplainable disability, the way that he had only a sliver of health keeping him alive, meaning that the slightest cut could reduce him to ash and dust, was yet another reminder of his past that remained hidden, no explanation as to how and why he had ended up the way he was.

Your gaze softened as you bent over so that the two of you were eye level. "I'll be right back," you promised him and as you turned to leave, the comedian rushed forth and hugged you before retreating backwards, the sudden gesture ending just as quickly as it had started.

You found yourself staring at the darkened shape of the door that led to Papyrus' room, wondering why the tallest of the two skeleton brothers had not emerged amidst the chaos and commotion that was ravaging the world outside. You couldn't help but feel the same subconscious horror manifest inside your mind, the same horror that you felt whenever you saw Papyrus walking and talking, gathering the sense that something was not quite right and yet you could not figure out why.

You shook off the feeling, mentally scolding yourself for allowing such instincts and trivial fears to dictate your logic. "You might want to check on your brother and see if everything's all right," you nodded towards the direction of Papyrus' room, not able to fully overcome the sense that something was very wrong with this picture, that the shadows surrounding your home in the dark of night seemed slightly more foreboding, the way that they seemed to be grinning at you, holding back knowledge of a future that lie masked in ruin, a future that was streaming towards you that you could do nothing to change.

Red and gold.

You decided that you could spend not a second longer in this home, which was saying quite a lot since you were willing to venture into the unknown where a possible serial killer was slaughtering your friends outside rather than face the shadows within your own home. But what was there to fear about shadows, for weren't they nothing more than the result of when light was cast upon an object?

But these shadows were different, the way that they seemed to have hearts of ebony rather than a vacant pit, the way that they seemed to be watching you silently, waiting for the command from their master who was far away to set the entire world alive with flame.

You pulled your gaze away from the shadows and turned back to face Sans. Why wasn't Papyrus awake yet?

"You stay safe kiddo," you slugged him playfully, shouldering on your blue jacket as you forced the door open, stepping out into the blinding cold. Sans shouted a farewell as you closed the door behind you, wondering if you were really leaving the skeleton for a few minutes or perhaps sealing him in his coffin where his ashes would lie in rest for the passing of an eternity.

You had never seen fire in the Underground in the way that it was displayed tonight, tongues of heat that happily ate away at the roofs of nearby homes, consuming them and their inhabitants in a wonderful display of light and chaos. Screams of those trapped inside rang out through the awful silence that was already beginning to engulf this town, the kind of silence that often followed after periods of long slaughter, when there was not even one alive to tell the tale of the genocide that had happened here. You wondered if that was the fate that would await this town, one full of silence and streets full of ash and dust and decay...

You walked past the bar that you and the comedian had been inside only hours ago, watching in horror as flames began to consume the diner. A sadistic part of yourself wondered if the waiter who was literally made of fire would survive such a fate if he was even inside at all. You could make out the feeble screams of those trapped inside the diner but knew that it would be suicide if you tried to rescue them.

"Chaos is beautiful, is it not?"

You stiffened at the voice, one that rang with familiarity, brushing against the part of your mind that had been cleansed of your past memories. Like Sans and Papyrus, this voice was perhaps another glimpse into the life that no longer remained in your mind, part of the memories that you both wanted to remember and keep forgotten all at once.

You had never seen another monster like yourself. You had seen a multitude of bird-like creatures and rabbit monsters and dogs that were very insistent that you pet them. Hell, even the two skeletons had one another, little pieces of evidence that they were all part of the same species, that there were others like them. But not once had you seen another monster that even bore the slightest semblance to yourself until you gazed upon the creature staring at you.

"It's been a long time," the creature that looked like you rasped, taking a step forwards. Your gaze wandered to the lone knife that was clenched in your hand, feeling slightly repulsed at the fact that they had taken something so ordinary and used it to slaughter everyone in your village.

But there was another thought coming to your mind, one that you wished to bury deep inside your mind and forget, to ignore the truth that was so plainly staring at you in the face. For if the rumours were indeed true that there was a murderous human running throughout the Underground and you now had the unfortunate luck of standing face to face with them, a create that seemed to carry the same physical features as you did, did that mean you were human as well?

"Y-You're human," you stammered, feeling bile rise in your throat at the sight of the human in front of you. "But how can you be a human? You look just like me and I'm not a human - "

"Of course you're a human!" The daemon cackled, its eyes glinting a familiar crimson that you did not even want to wonder why you felt as if you had gazed into such eyes before. "But you've been living in the Underground for all these months, thinking that you were some monster rather than ignore your kin, ignore your heritage? Such a pity."

The human shook their head. "We've been waiting a long time to speak with you (Y/n), waiting in the dark and the cold, a banished soul that was forced to wander this world as a ghost thanks to you. It was only until a human fell down into the Underground could we seize their mind and body to once more regain a corporeal form."

"We?" You looked around but saw only one human, one twisted creature full of hatred and anger. "There's only one of you."

"In the flesh there may be," the daemon mused. "I assume that you don't remember much of what happened, but in the life that no longer exists in your mind, the mind of Kris and the scientist fused together, melding into one consciousness that is us, we."

"I've never met you before," you shook your head. "But that doesn't matter, none of it does. Your reign of terror ends here, you won't be hurting anyone else!" You slammed your foot into the ground, a radiant beam of white light that illuminated from the base of your shoe piercing through the darkness, driving back the gathering shadows.

"How foolish you are," the daemon sighed. "Your petty light show is nothing compared to the ancient fire in these veins of ours. But first, before we fight, surely you must remember from whence you came, do you not?"

And before you could object, before you could run or struggle or hide, the creature leaped from where it stood and placed its hands against your temples, a knowing smile carved into its horrific face.

"Remember."