Kris did not die.

Perhaps it would have been better if they had, if they had simply stopped existing and ceased into whatever hell most certainly awaited them in the afterlife. It would have ended the clamour and chaos that they had been wrapped up inside from the moment they were born, the chaos that had driven them to the point of insanity, turned them into some horrific creature that was not entirely human nor monster.

A hybrid, if you would.

Your spell, the spell without words, the spell laced with hope for a better future that was not full of genocide, it had not eradicated them, it had not killed Kris in the way that you had hoped. Of course, you did not realise this, given the fact that you had reset the timeline and wiped away every memory inside your mind.

Their soul, instead, had been ripped from your universe, spit out and rejected like a piece of foul coding, cast away into a world of white. That was where Kris had awoken now, stranded in a world without beginning or end. It was an infinite plain of white that did not bow to the laws of physics or any other region of science, the place of infinite decay and dust, where the living and dead certainly did not belong.

"What a fool they were," Kris snarled, getting to their feet. And how true that was! The human had evicted Kris from their home, cast them away in hopes that removing Kris from the face of existence would pave the way for a better future, to allow the timeline to return back to normal in order for the human Frisk to once more claim control over the timeline.

How could no one understand the big picture?

It was an endless cycle of resets, a cycle that forever enslaved the universe that Kris had once called home. If the damn human had understood what was really at stake, if (Y/n) even had the faintest grasping of the idea that their universe was forever stuck in an endless cycle of genocide and pacifism, than they would have understood why it had been necessary for Kris to have acted the way they did.

For only Kris was the strongest in that whole damn universe to hijack Frisk's mind, to take over their corporeal form and possess enough determination to shift the balance of the reset, to put a permanent end to the game that this damn human had been playing for far too long. How (Y/n) and the other monsters of the Underground had had the nerve to call Kris the daemon, their ultimate adversary! If only they had known that this was an act of mercy, of putting an end to an endless dictator that could control their minds and memories at will!

Oh yes, Kris remembered all of that. When they had been nothing more than a trapped soul that was forever damned to be confined within the dark catacombs of the laboratory, they had felt Frisk's presence tear through the Underground. And when the human had reset, when Frisk turned back the clock to start it all over again, the memories of those past timelines still remained with Kris' mind, a silent observer to the slaughter above.

Did Kris feel bad for the slaughtering of all those monsters?

Of course not! Genocide was one of the funniest things there was in this futile and fleeting existence, they way you could end a monster's life with a single slice of a knife, reduce a creature that had been full of so much life and so much vitality into a vacant pile of ash and dust that offered no indication of the monster that it had once been.

Kris did not blame Frisk for wandering throughout the Underground and having their own little version of fun, but it was growing to be quite a bore as it was repeated hundreds and hundreds of times, the same old story without anything new. So could Kris really be blamed for lashing out, for trying to take control over the timeline and create a new story, something better, something more grand?

Apparently that had not been enough for (Y/n) who had evicted Kris from their universe without any way back, damning them probably forever in this strange world of white that offered no answers to its secrets. The universe was once more cursed to forever revert back to the way it had been, where Frisk would fall into the Underground, slaughter all the monsters including (Y/n) and then wash, rinse and repeat.

Kris could have been their saviour, the liberator that set the entirety of that universe free. But they had been rejected, not wanting the mercy of the god that could have been. So for that Kris was contented with abandoning that universe, to leave it behind in its endless cycle of death and destruction for the rest of time. Kris would find a new universe, a better one, one where they could once more assert dominance and rule over it as god.

"Strange."

The voice caught Kris unawares as they whipped around to behold the sight of a strange looking skeleton composed of a black liquid. It resembled greatly the comedian within their old universe, though Kris was certain that they were not the same skeleton, not even the slightest. "What do you want from me?" They snarled, not feeling the slightest bit of fear. They were stronger than this creature, for even the strongest of monsterkind could not even begin to rival the raw and untampered energy that was inside a human soul.

"You are lost, banished from your world, I presume?" The demented looking creature cocked its head to one side as if to get a better view of Kris.

"It is only temporary," Kris snarled. "I offered my mercy, my compassion and way of liberating them from the human that was keeping them trapped within an endless cycle of resets. But they rejected me, rejected the only chance they ever would have of escaping the creature that controls them. So I will move onto a new world, a better one and assert myself as its rightful ruler."

"You're one for ambition," the strange skeleton chuckled. "Your soul is full of raw power, power that you have channeled the allowed to become a part of yourself, energy of such a magnitude that it has altered the very basis behind your genetic coding, making you something just short of human."

"All for the better," Kris replied proudly.

The creature eyed Kris for a moment. "My name is Nightmare," he finally said at last. "Where you find yourself now is a place called the Void, the empty space between every universe in existence. Creatures like us, creatures that are evicted from our worlds out of chance or by fate often end up here. If you know your way around these parts, you could find yourself a new and young universe, one you could assert yourself into and rule over it."

Kris inclined their head. "Are you wagering a kind of deal?"

Nightmare began to laugh, a grotesque and chilling noise indeed that even caused a small flareup of fear inside Kris' mind, an emotion that they had not felt in a very long time. "Clever, I'll give you that. Yes, in a way, I do want to make a deal with you. While you may not know, my brother and I are at odds and ends with one another, fighting with one another to gain the upper hand. Opportunities have presented themselves that once were not there for me to gain the upper hand and I am determined to enlist as many as I can to join my cause."

"You want to take over the multiverse?" Kris cocked an eyebrow.

"Pretty much," Nightmare shrugged. "I will show you a universe, one that is just in the stages of creation, and I will take you there. You can rule over it as long as you like, do whatever you will. All I ask in return is that when the time comes for me to fight my brother and those allied with him, you will join me for a few short battles to help me gain the upper hand."

Kris thought for a moment, surveying the world of white around them. There seemed to not be much of an option for if they rejected the king of shadows, if they turned down this offer, than they would forever be stuck in the Void without any way of knowing how to escape to another universe. Plus, wasn't it a win-win? Kris would get their own universe to claim dominion over and would even get to fight in some impending war.

"It's a deal," Kris finally agreed, shaking hands with Nightmare.

The king of shadow began to laugh his miserable laugh, the type of laugh that could stir fear inside even the most primordial of creatures. Kris buried any doubt inside the depths of their mind, turning back to face Nightmare. "Now will you uphold your end of the deal?"

"Certainly," Nightmare replied and walked a few paces forwards before stopping at a random spot in the distance. He remained motionless for a moment as if he was in tune with the very fabric of reality before he dug his thumb into a pocket of air, drawing it down in a single fluid motion, creating a rift in the space-time continuum.

Kris took a step next to Nightmare, peering into a strange world that was full of numbers and code. "This is a strange universe indeed," Nightmare commented. "It has not yet fully formed, so it's the perfect time to jump into it, allowing yourself to become integrated with the core coding."

"Wonderful. I suppose I will be seeing you again on the field of battle," Kris chuckled, stepping into the rift before turning back to look at Nightmare. "And this universe, does it have a name?"

"I think they're calling it Deltarune," Nightmare replied and then nodded a farewell towards Kris as the rift closed, separating the two of them.

And as Kris stepped into the newly constructed world of Deltarune, a universe that was still in the beginning of formation, a universe that they would finally rule over with power unchecked, did the hybrid, the creature that was neither human nor monster, throw back their head and begin to laugh.