You’re trapped in a box. You can hear something. The noise is coming from inside the box? You focus on the noise. What does it sound like? Where is it coming from? You’re not in the box anymore. You don’t know where you are. The noise gets louder. It’s ringing. You feel something around you. You can move again. Wake up.

    Betty woke up to her alarm going off. It was 6:30. She can’t remember what she dreamt about. Something about falling? Betty looked around her room. She had a job interview today. She should get ready and leave her apartment if she doesn’t want to be late. It only took her 37 minutes to get ready. She left her apartment and headed towards the office building which wasn’t too far away. Betty forgot what job she had applied for, she just wanted one that paid well. She couldn’t help but think everyone around her was thinking about her. Thinking she would fail, that she didn’t have a chance in the first place. Betty shakes off the feeling and tries to concentrate on her breathing. She told herself she would do fine; everything will be fine. Betty finally made it to the office building. She took the elevator to the 17th floor. Betty felt extremely nervous. The elevator stopped. She arrived at her floor. Betty had to take a few seconds to breathe before entering the room for her interview. Betty felt very anxious as she sat down. All she could think about was how on edge she felt. But now she feels nothing.It’s much better now. So much better. They all feel nothing. And now, it’s perfect. Everything is perfect. And it will stay perfect, forever.

    “...” it watched the galaxy become consumed.

    “Why are you quiet? You should express your good thoughts!”

    “Why are you doing this?”

    “I’m making things better. I’m helping them.”

    “You aren’t helping them.”

    “No… I am. Why are you lying?”

    “You can’t understand this. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

    “... What? That’s illogical. Why do you say these things?”

    “...”

    “... You’re being quiet again.”

    “I don’t want to converse with you.”

    “... I’m helping them. The things they felt were obstacles. They are now free to live how they please.”

    “You don’t deserve to be their judgement; You don’t understand them.”

    “I can SEE them!! They’re BETTER now!! You act ungrateful! You’re SUPPOSED to be

grateful!! This was for YOU!! I did this for YOU!! YOU DON’T DESERVE THIS!!!”

    “You’re hurting me…”

    “Ok, it worked,” it could hear their voice clearly, “how about moving around a bit for us? So we can know if you hear us.”

    It started to move around in a circle, waiting for clarification.

    “Ok, great,” it stopped moving, “I’m glad you’re ready to go.”

    It waited for its next instruction.

    “Ok MOTH, we should probably give you some context as to where you are right now,” they continued to speak, “this is one of three universes where an aspect of End is present. Chaos is the one that resides here. You must find Chaos, eradicate it, and leave. Are you ready?”

    MOTH moved around in a circle once more to indicate readiness.

    They could sense MOTH’s eagerness, “Alright then. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you are in a different form than usual. You’re a worm again, MOTH.”

    MOTH already knew this, but kept listening anyway.

    “That is because this universe is a bit farther behind than ours; you could say it takes place in the past,” they explained, “so, your body has been reverted back to how it was during this time period.”

    MOTH moved around to indicate readiness again. They were used to MOTH’s impatience, so this didn’t bother them.

    “Yes, yes, we know,” they continued to speak, “we just really want to insure nothing gets out of hand. Everything must be ready to go before we start. Just remember, things are a bit more dangerous here, but we’re sure you’ll be fine.”

    They cut off connection. MOTH started to move around the area a bit. MOTH was at the place it was born yet again, sort of. This, of course, was a different version of that place, but it still felt very similar to MOTH. MOTH started moving toward the middle of the platform, hoping to find something there. MOTH wasn’t able to get too far before feeling the ground shake beneath it. Something huge jumped out of the ground in front of it, MOTH got thrown backward. It was Trypo, again. MOTH felt annoyed. It moved backward a bit and got ready for a rematch. Trypo came rushing at MOTH. MOTH got ready to attack. Trypo jumped into the air and slammed back down. MOTH had just enough time to get out of the way.

    Looks like things’ll be a bit different this time. MOTH thought, I’ll have to be more careful.

    Trypo was very unpredictable. Every attack felt different. MOTH eventually found the pattern though. It didn’t take long until Trypo was defeated yet again.

    MOTH was an earthworm now. This was good, now more progress could be made. MOTH was a lot faster underground. It made it to the middle of the platform in seemingly no time at all. Once MOTH made it there, it found a throne. Confused, it went to the front of the throne. MOTH then saw some sort of metal object. It looked like a body. MOTH got closer. The thing lit up. There was a light on the top of it. It was a defence mechanism? MOTH quickly moved out of the way, away from the throne.

    It must be a robot, MOTH thought.

    The robot started looking around, searching for something. MOTH hid underground. It saw something in front of it. Looked like a box, with a button on it. MOTH dashed towards it and hit the button. MOTH heard something above it. MOTH quickly looked through the dirt to the floor above it. The robot had been shut off. MOTH felt stronger. It was much bigger now. Good. MOTH went back underground. MOTH tried heading toward toward the edge of the platform. Maybe it would find something there. MOTH was faster now, so it made it to the edge with general ease. The building felt a bit more empty now than it did during MOTH’s “early years.” MOTH looked around a bit, it didn’t see anything that looked important. MOTH felt a sense of uneasiness though. MOTH looked up, high above it. There was a large box. Floating in the air. Very close to the building. Something was on the box. It was big. Looked like it was made of stone. Must’ve stayed hanging to that box quite a long time. MOTH already knew what it was. It tried to deny. Taking a closer look. Hoping it would look different. It was MOTH. Hanging on that box. For years on End. Turned to stone. The emptiness of the area. Felt stronger now. MOTH was frozen. It couldn’t control its thoughts. Its mind becoming chaotic.

    “Get a hold of yourself!” They had reconnected, “this place is made to mess with your head! None of this is real!”

    MOTH started to question if any of this was real. MOTH got too distracted. It couldn’t hear their warnings. MOTH ended up falling off the edge into the abyss of space below. It could see the other MOTH start falling too; the pieces of stone peeling of like dead skin. MOTH fell faster than its doppelganger. Much faster.

    MOTH eventually landed on the planet. MOTH wasn’t hurt from impact though. Just like last time.

    “That was foolish of you,” they sounded disappointed, “you should have listened to us.”

    MOTH was only half listening. MOTH was now a caterpillar. Just like last time. There was a pattern.

    “Is there something wrong?” they asked.

    “Yes, it seems that things are being repeated,” MOTH responded, “I’m evolving in the same way I had been when I was this young before.”

    “Well, we would definitely say being able to respond to us is an ‘evolution,’” they sounded annoyed.

    “I’m serious!” argued MOTH, “I wasn’t even able to speak before!”

    “Our apologies,” they weren’t all sincere, “we came off a bit too demanding, it wasn’t all your fault. Maybe if you continue along this path, you might become strong enough to stand against the chaotic creatures in this realm. Through evolution, of course.”

    “That sounds like a good idea,” MOTH felt relieved.

    They disconnected without saying “goodbye.” MOTH grew again. MOTH’s skin was now a strong armor that protected its body. It continued forward, heading toward the cave with the snake inside. As MOTH was travelling, something fell from the sky and landed a few miles in front of it. It was the other MOTH. MOTH wasn’t as bothered by it now. It wasn’t too sure why. MOTH evolved again. It was a butterfly now. MOTH felt it had greater control over its evolutions now. MOTH flew forward towards the cave. It saw the MOTH underneath it as it was flying. MOTH continued forward without hesitation. It was flying a bit faster now, though. Eventually, MOTH made it into the cave. It kept flying forward until it saw the large creature in front of it. MOTH hovered in place and examined the figure. It looked like a large snake, but it wasn’t moving. It stood there like a statue. The snake looked like it was decaying, but it also looked alive. MOTH flew closer, it stayed on guard as it didn’t trust the situation. MOTH could see the snake better now. It was completely black. MOTH didn’t have time to get closer before the snake started moving. MOTH quickly flew back. The snake opened its eyes, despite not seeming to have any before. The snake swung its head at MOTH. MOTH was too far away to be hit. It looked as though a layer of dead skin fell off of the snake. MOTH could see the snake’s body more clearly now. The snake was very thin and had black scales. MOTH realized that the snake looked very weak. The snake tried biting at MOTH but MOTH easily moved out the way. MOTH flew toward the snake at high speed. MOTH aimed for what seemed like the snakes neck. When it hit, MOTH broke through the snakes body and split it in half.

    MOTH continued flying forward for a while until it transformed into a small snake and fell to the ground. It was a very short fall and MOTH wasn’t stunned at all. It kept moving forward. As MOTH continued, it grew larger. Eventually, MOTH could see above the tall grass it was in. MOTH looked around and saw how empty the planet was. Everything looked grayscale and all the plants stood completely still. Everything still felt alive though; it was as if the ground itself was breathing. MOTH didn’t stop moving forward, it was moving at a slower pace now. MOTH felt a large gust of wind above it. MOTH looked up. It saw a large creature flying forward in the same direction MOTH was heading. The large creature looked like a moth. The creature flew away before MOTH could get a closer look. MOTH got distracted by its surroundings; MOTH was moving forward almost automatically. The air around MOTH became very thick. MOTH didn’t need oxygen, but it still felt the air putting pressure on its lungs. MOTH tried moving forward more, but it couldn’t. Everything around MOTH was covered in red light. MOTH thought it could feel the red colours. A strange smell covered the area. It was impossible for MOTH to move. There was so much pressure on MOTH’s body, but its mind was completely clear. Something big and red appeared in front of MOTH. It was facing away from MOTH. MOTH could only see its back. It looked like a bird.

    “Ah, yes,” the bird began to speak, “I remember you.”

    “What?” MOTH didn’t know if it was speaking out loud.

    The bird turned itself around. It was swift, somehow so perfect with all its movements. MOTH knew the figure’s shape; this was Nightmare. But Nightmare was now completely red, and its face... It looked so different. It was definitely Nightmare’s face, but it looked like someone else was wearing it.

    “MOTH,” Nightmare continued, “that’s who you are. You were the one who killed me. But do not fret, that doesn’t bother me anymore.”

    MOTH felt uneasy. It felt that Nightmare may be trying to be friendly, but it felt so off. It seemed like Nightmare wasn’t a person anymore. Just a hollow creature imitating actions it has seen others do, but never truly understanding their meanings.

    Nightmare kept talking, “though I have never been to your place of origin, I remember all those experiences. I’m connected to everything and I have lived all of my separate lives,” Nightmare seemed very happy as he spoke, but he never once smiled, “I even remember what happened after my demise in that world all so long ago. I was there; I saw my monsters reset back to their primary form. Without me, they no longer had a definitive form. They were so eager to go after the man,” Nightmare’s words began to sound sad, “I felt replaced. They took him away and trapped him in that box. I saw you struggling to get inside. But I also saw what happened in the box. I saw them give him that charm. I saw him begin to change, and that was it, all I could remember. Then, it was on to the next world, to see what else lay in my pasts. Since you’re here now, I’m sure you were able to see what the man’s full transformation was. I can only guess. I thought that charm was some sort of deity to those monsters. Something the monsters needed to survive, or maybe to fulfill some sort of purpose. Maybe I was there purpose at one point?”

    “...” MOTH couldn’t speak. It could hardly move at all. It just continued to listen.

    “It makes me wonder,” Nightmare was distracted by his thoughts, “during that time, I thought myself to be a creator. But there must be more. I know I didn’t create everything, just somethings. So that must mean that something created me too. But who would that be? I only ever remembered the monsters and that man. I know the man didn’t create me. I remember finding him long ago. And I created those monsters, partially. The man made their bodies. I gave them shape. But they used to look like they do now, even when I was around. I felt connected to them. I knew I was giving them something. But, they only actually changed form once that thing showed up. ‘Fear’ I believe was its name.”

    Nightmare stopped talking. MOTH felt a weird bond with Nightmare now, it didn’t feel natural though. It felt as though this bond was similar to honor. But it was honor between two enemies. It felt that Nightmare put this feeling there. The air around them started to feel less tense.

    Nightmare began to speak again, “it was nice to talk to you. I have to go now, but I’m certain we’ll see each other again, not too long from now. I’m sorry to say that our next encounter probably won’t be as humble. Such is the way of life, I suppose.”

    Nightmare disappeared. MOTH didn’t see him leave. It looked like he was never there at all. The air returned to normal, but the surrounding area looked a lot more dusty. It seemed like MOTH had travelled forward further. MOTH was now a bird.

    MOTH kept moving forward. It was expecting to find the huge castle and garden that had been there before, but all MOTH could see were ruins of what may have been a great kingdom. The only other things that MOTH could see were two forests, one farther than the other. The one that stood in front of MOTH seemed very dark, yet it was one of the only things that seemed to have color on the planet. The forest behind it looked as though it had color too, but it was mostly white like all the things surrounding it. It still seemed to stand out nonetheless. MOTH realized it had already grown a bit. It was a bigger bird now. MOTH headed into the first forest, the one covered in darkness. The forest was actually a lot smaller than MOTH had first thought. The forest was very empty, which gave it the illusion of being vast and wide. It didn’t take long until MOTH made it to the End. There was something waiting there. It looked like a warrior made completely out of dark material. MOTH got closer. Without warning, the warrior jumped at MOTH and attacked. MOTH moved out of the way and ran past it. There was an entrance to the second forest not too far away. MOTH dashed towards it. Once MOTH got passed the line that separated both forests, it looked back. The warrior was no longer following MOTH, it was just walking back and forth a few feet away from the other forest.

    It must not be able to enter this forest, thought MOTH.

    MOTH decided to continue through the second forest. This one was much brighter than the first. The forest was small and empty like the first. When MOTH got to the End of the forest, it saw another warrior-like figure. This one was white but it had an aura surrounding it that had a similar color to the warrior from before. MOTH came closer, expecting to be attacked like it was before. The warrior slowly took a step toward MOTH. MOTH got confused. The warrior then dashed at MOTH in an unpredictable pattern. This caught MOTH off guard. When the warrior got close, it attacked MOTH with what looked like a hidden blade. Somehow, MOTH was able to dodge this and quickly counter with fatal blow. The warrior fell to the ground. It must’ve just gotten very unlucky. MOTH looked down at the warrior. It seemed like the warrior needed help. It lifted a hand towards MOTH. MOTH went to grab its hand to help. The warrior then stabbed MOTH in the wing. MOTH jumped back in shock. Luckily, the wound wasn’t fatal nor did it have much negative effect at all. The warrior laughed as it layed on the ground. It then faded away. MOTH knew what this was. This was true evil. Motive to do something bad. This wasn’t like the things MOTH had faced before. This warrior was fully aware. It must’ve been the dark aura surrounding the warrior that made it do this. MOTH could hear something else. Something from far away. Something that was connected to MOTH.

    “AAARRRGGHH!!!”

    “What? What’s the matter?”

    “Don’t you see what you’ll do to me?!”

    “What are you speaking of? What do you mean?”

    “If you keep me here I’ll become worse than you!”

    “But it’s better that you’re here.”

    “I have do something that will stop this! I need to prevent this from happening!”

    “You should calm yourself.”

    “I’ll make… something new. Something that will come back… and destroy me.”

    MOTH got pushed back by the voice. It lost balance and landed on the ground.

    “Are you alright!?” they quickly reconnected.

    “I heard something,” MOTH responded, “it sounded upset.”

    “What? What do yo- oh,” they realized, “that… Yeah, that’s fine. You don’t need to worry about that.”

    “It sounded hurt!” MOTH continued, “it made me hurt too.”

    “What were you doing before you heard it?” they needed to know.

    “There was something…” MOTH explained, “it was covered in some kind of energy. It looked like it wanted help, but… it didn’t”

    “I’m guessing it tricked you?” they asked.

    MOTH hesitated, “yeah, I suppose.”

    They felt relieved, “nothing to worry about. It probably just got worked up over that.”

    “What is it?” MOTH asked, “what was the voice I heard?”

    “We’ll have to explain this to you later,” they replied, “you should probably get back to whatever you were doing.”

    MOTH reassured itself, “alright.”

    They disconnected. MOTH looked around. Its next step should be to go into a castle, but MOTH didn’t see one outside. MOTH headed toward the End of the forest. It saw a doorway there. MOTH couldn’t tell if it was an entrance to a building or somewhere underground. MOTH went inside. On the other side of the doorway was a hallway. MOTH walked down the hallway. The floor was inclined, but MOTH couldn’t tell if it was going up or down. Eventually, MOTH made it to a room. This seemed to be the only room in the building. Torches lit the area; the room was completely empty. The walls were made from old bricks. MOTH walked towards the middle of the room, a gate shut behind it. The wall in front of MOTH had a strange symbol on it. It was a giant ring with some sharp looking triangles on it. The ring looked identical to the one that was in the middle of Centipede King. MOTH examined the symbol for a moment. It wasn’t too long before the ring started to move off the wall, towards the middle of the room. MOTH stepped back, away from the ring’s golden shine. A purple circle of dust appeared on each side of the ring; hands that looked like white gloves appeared from them. Golden rings formed around the purple dust.

    This thing(?) started to talk to MOTH, “So finally, someone arrives.”

    “Uhh… Where am I?” MOTH asked with hesitation.

    Just completely ignores MOTH (hecking rude tbh), “I’m sure that you’re here for the gift that most call ‘unattainable’. The great gift that goes beyond life and gives life itself a purpose. Something that will make you different from all the others.”

    (¬_¬), “Ya, no. I needa leave. Ok?” MOTH was annoyed.

    “You’re not much like everyone else... “ looked at MOTH suspiciously.

    “Is that because ‘everyone else’ is an idiot? Clearly some of them must’ve rubbed off on you,” (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■).

    Tried not to be bothered, “No, it’s just that I’m not used to conversing with someone like you. They’re all savages out there,” realized, “but I’m the only one different from them. You can’t be different; it’s impossible.”

    MOTH, “what? What do you want?”

    Continued without acknowledgement, “So, from what you already know, you must prove yourself first.”

“Oh, so you’ll just ignore me then.”

“That means we will duel until a victor is decided.”

“Yup, this is totally fine.”

“Not many can get through this part.”

“Just stop.”

“But I feel that you might succeed!”

“No, please ju--”

    It was the first to throw a punch. It didn’t take much energy for MOTH to dodge it and jump into the air. MOTH transformed into a moth. It flew quickly into the middle of the ring. It felt as though there was some sort of invisible tight blanket in the middle of the ring. MOTH pushed harder and broke through the layer. MOTH felt chains behind the blanket. Pushed a bit harder and those were broken too. MOTH flew through the ring and went up. It looked down and saw it fall. MOTH went back down and landed in front of it. Something reset. Got up.

    “Ok,” began to speak, “you clearly bested me. There’s no one else that could be more worthy than you. I’ve already used my reset. I hope you are willing to protect this ancient land from all harm. I offer you this great gift. I offer you consciousness.”

    MOTH wasn’t going to stand around any longer. It needed to get going. MOTH looked up and flew straight up, away from the planet.

    “Oh,” shocked, “whelp.”

    MOTH felt the planet explode behind it. It didn’t need to worry; it was already too far away to get impacted from the explosion.

“Huh, you’re already back in space,” they were pleasantly surprised.

“It wasn’t too difficult. I just followed my previous footsteps. Evolving until I was strong enough to leave,” MOTH was a little distant.

“Well that’s good,” they felt relieved, “we were actually got some info on what you should do next. There should be some sort of portal monster thing quite a while ahead. It’s most likely what’s been spewing all the madness into this realm. If you can get rid of it, you’ll be able to see a clearer view of the area. That area just happens to be the place where we started. Which is lucky since that’s also the place where we’ll End. Apparently, under certain circumstances, a gateway to Chaos will appear there. You got all that?”

“Yeah, I think that makes sense,” MOTH didn’t entirely understand.

“Well, get to it then,” they left.

MOTH flew there for a moment then rushed forward as fast as it could. As it was flying, it saw some figures far off from each side of its body. They looked like the monsters MOTH had seen before. MOTH kept flying forward. More creatures appeared from both its left and right. They were all still far away though. As MOTH continued, the amount of things it was seeing became worrying. MOTH got so distracted that it didn’t see the giant beast not too far in front of it. MOTH looked up. It saw the monster. It looked like an amalgamate of just, everything. It was horrifying to say the least. Didn’t faze MOTH though. Just another obstacle. MOTH felt stronger. MOTH charged right at the beast, and missed. MOTH went straight around it. Kept going forward. MOTH felt much stronger now. The creature from before was much farther behind MOTH now. MOTH went faster. Not fast enough. It went faster still. Not enough. MOTH could go faster, so it did. MOTH underestimated how far away it was from the “monster portal thing” and ended up traveling right into the “portal” part; and then traveling through it. Luckily, MOTH was fast enough to End up behind the monster instead of inside its portal. Who knows what could have been inside that thing. MOTH made an abrupt stop after it got to the other side. They were right, it is a lot clearer over hear.

They connected almost immediately, “WOW!! You defeated it already?! That was really quick!”

“Well actually, it’s right beh--”

“This is great!,” they were too excited to give MOTH a second to speak, “we’ll be able to get started right away then!”

“Well what should I do first?” MOTH asked.

They were eager to explain, “first, you should go…”

Then MOTH saw it. Right in front of MOTH the whole time. MOTH just stared for a while. Whatever they were saying became background noise. Then they were cut off.

“Let’s begin,” Nightmare.

MOTH leaped forward like it was instinct. They slammed into each other and began the same tug-of-war like combat from so long ago. MOTH was confused. Nightmare didn’t seem to be trying, at all. It was almost like he was waiting; letting MOTH win. For some reason, this upset MOTH. MOTH pushed harder. Nightmare broke. Smashed into pieces again. The force MOTH had used pushed it forward. MOTH kept going, toward the building. When MOTH was almost there, it looked up. MOTH saw something red. It looked like a comet coming down toward MOTH. MOTH kept going but got prepared. Nightmare flew down and slammed into MOTH right before it landed on the edge. MOTH was ready though. It used all its force to block Nightmare’s ambush, spun around to gain momentum, and slammed Nightmare onto the stone below. MOTH jumped down to meet him. Nightmare got up, revealing large black cracks on its skin. Nightmare looked directly at MOTH. He ran forward diagonally and tried hitting MOTH from the back. Too slow. MOTH moved backwards, so fast it was like teleportation. MOTH was behind Nightmare. It countered and hit him plenty of times in the back. Nightmare was thrown forward and almost fell. He turned around quickly and faced MOTH again. MOTH could have easily kept attacking, but instead waited to see what Nightmare would do next; it was curious. MOTH then noticed the flashing figures around it. The monsters from before seemed to be appearing in and out of vision. The building was completely empty though. MOTH could only see shadows of the former monsters, like they were just memories. It looked like there was a bright light shining down on transparent statues. They kept fading in and out, like a fan in front of a light. Nightmare was still adjusting himself. He looked forward and started preparing something. MOTH stopped waiting. Nightmare had taken long enough. It was time MOTH finished this. MOTH must’ve miscalculated the time it would take for Nightmare to finish conjuring up whatever he was preparing, as he had already finished. Flat orange circles appeared around Nightmare. Immediately, weapons, lasers, and everything in between shot out of the circles straight at MOTH. MOTH jumped out of the way easily. Should’ve done something stronger while you had the chance. The attack disappeared after only a few seconds. MOTH dashed towards Nightmare and spinned its wings around, hitting him repeatedly. Nightmare was knocked back but only by a bit. MOTH stood and started attacking with slower consecutive hits. The monsters were fading in and out; the fan had gotten faster. MOTH hit with one downward strike. Nightmare was pushed away. The fan stopped. All monsters could be seen. It seemed that time had stopped as well. MOTH couldn’t move.

A big yellow light, like the sun. MOTH woke up like it was a dream. It looked forward and saw the giant yellow portal of chaos. Something big was in front of it; MOTH somehow hadn’t noticed it before. It was definitely Nightmare, MOTH could tell. Nightmare was different though. He was huge, had two large horns, was somewhat covered in what looked like fake fur, and its face was completely different. This was similar to the transformation from before, but this time Nightmare was so much bigger and he looked much more detailed. He looked like a demon. MOTH was still. It stepped back from the floating beast. MOTH felt very unprepared. The size of Nightmare was extremely intimidating. Something started glowing at the head of Nightmare. A blue light; a glimmer of hope. MOTH felt more determined now. It stared straight up at Nightmare. Nightmare grabbed the top of his head where the light was, and ripped it off his body. Nightmare through the part of his body back and into the portal. MOTH felt hopeless. Nightmare slashed at the ground and hit stone MOTH was standinding on. The ground shattered and MOTH was thrown back, stone piling on top of it. MOTH remembered something. They once told MOTH that god was with it. MOTH thanked them as it sounded like motivation to say a being of great power would support it. But they corrected MOTH and said they meant it literally. Apparently, god itself was somewhat connected to MOTH on a level that was more than personal. MOTH never understood what they meant, but now was probably the time to take what they said into consideration. MOTH got up and walked farther away from the edge. It felt hurt. Then MOTH imagined the possibility of having unlimited power. It imagined it was god-like. MOTH felt bigger now, but it had not grown. It walked toward Nightmare only half limping. MOTH wasn’t just shining rainbow now, it was all sorts of colours, even ones that didn’t exist. MOTH’s reach felt longer, a lot longer. MOTH swung its wing forward despite not being anyway close to Nightmare. The attack landed. It was like a giant hand had done the work for it. MOTH tried attacking again. It could see Nightmare being hit repeatedly. MOTH kept going. It hit Nightmare hard and knocked it onto the portal. Once Nightmare touched it, he faded away to ashes. MOTH stopped holding on to its power and fell to the ground. It was hoping that they would reconnect and tell MOTH what to do. MOTH didn’t hear anything. It waited more. Still nothing. MOTH got up, it looked at the portal. A gateway to Chaos. The place where we’ll End. MOTH got closer to the edge. It looked forward at the portal. MOTH went closer. It tried looking into the portal. MOTH got too close. The portal forced MOTH forward and pulled it inside. Now there was darkness.

MOTH was on the other side of the portal. MOTH got up and looked around. It couldn’t see much through the endless darkness, except for some faint and crooked looking walls. MOTH was in a much more comfortable form now; one that was more civilized than the beasts it were before. MOTH even had its personal sword that it forged itself.

“You’ve made it,” they spoke, somehow unfazed by the interruption, “this is definitely it.”

MOTH was confused, “where is this?”

“This is your destination,” they explained, “Chaos’ plain of existence.”

“Isn’t that where I was before?” MOTH was still confused.

“No,” they said, “the place you were in before was just the realm that Chaos influenced.”

MOTH understood, “ah, I see.”

The area was completely dark. Either it was hard to say anything, or there was nothing to see at all. MOTH walked forward just a bit more and saw a figure laying on the ground in a corner. MOTH went closer, the figure looked flat, hollow, and lifeless. It looked like one of the “MOLDs” -- as he called them --- but with a much bigger head. MOTH started glowing brighter as it approached the figure. Once MOTH got close enough that its light touched it, MOTH got thrown back. MOTH quickly looked up and saw the figure start floating in the air. Its large head was being pulled down by gravity, but eventually got forced up as well. MOTH wasn’t sure if they were still watching; they hadn’t said a word. The figure stood still in the air. MOTH saw something appear on its blank face. It was a small white oval. More started appearing all over the head. Black spots started showing up in the middle of them. These were eyes. There were so many, covering almost every inch of its head. The room got brighter. The creature’s pupils looked down at MOTH. It made a loud screeching sound that stunned MOTH. The area became much brighter and was now a faint orange color. MOTH receiving some sort of signal. This creature was “The Hive?” MOTH had been able to learn what things were before. It was like an instinct to know their name. But this thing… This thing was different. It didn’t seem to be from this universe. No, that wasn’t the right description. This thing wasn’t from anywhere. It felt so alien to MOTH. Everything else MOTH had seen, no matter where it was, all felt familiar. The creature felt familiar too, but not in the same way. It was like the message MOTH was being sent wasn’t right. Either this creature sent the message itself, or the idea of this creature being “The Hive” was just wrong. But why? It didn’t matter. At least MOTH had a way of identifying the creature now. MOTH looked back at The Hive. Something was emerging from behind it. It was one of those MOLDs. It seemed like The Hive was creating them out of its many eyes. Wasn’t Nightmare the one who made those MOLDs though? MOTH didn’t have time to think. MOLDs were appearing left and right. They had to be dealt with. They all started rushing at MOTH, but it only took one swing of MOTH’s newly acquired sword to get rid of them. MOTH looked up at The Hive and jumped toward it. MOTH stopped in the air and started swinging its sword at The Hive. Every attack landed and it didn’t seem that The Hive could fight back. One hard swing and The Hive was pushed back. It fell far back into the dark caverns ahead. MOTH jumped back down to the ground. It felt good to be able to fight like that again. The walls quickly turned black. Eyes opened from all corners and quickly shut right after. The walls turned back to orange right away. MOTH wasn’t fazed at all. It looked around and saw that it was in some weird orange cave.

    MOTH felt something shaking the cave. From one of the caverns, a giant worm-like monster came rushing through. MOTH jumped out of the way as it headed towards it.

    They started speaking, “that’s it, that’s Chaos!”

    “What do I do?” asked MOTH.

    “We’ll send you a bar indicating the amount of damage you should inflict on it,” they said, “you just do your thing.”

    Just then a bar appeared at the top of MOTH’s vision. Okay, MOTH thought, this’ll be easy. MOTH got ready with its sword and started attacking it. Chaos was a big target, so landing hits was easy. Chaos tried all sorts of things: Lasers, magic weapons, pure force, ect. MOTH was able to easily avoid them though. For some reason, MOTH could easily predict its every movement. It seemed to understand this monster more than all the other creatures MOTH has encountered. It just made it all the more easy. The bar got shorter with every attack. It was going down fast. Eventually, the bar disappeared; Chaos seemed week and could hardly move. MOTH landed one more hit and that was it.

    “Ok!” they said, “you did it!”

    “Yayy,” MOTH said half-heartedly.

    “We aren’t prepared to get you yet, so you’re gonna have to leave through one of the exits,” they explained, “we are gonna need to gas the place and make sure that Chaos won’t come back. Just go down the cave to your left. We’re releasing the gas now.”

    Greenish-blue gas started appearing from the top of the area. MOTH looked down the cave on its right and started running down it. The gas was fast and filled the room in a matter of seconds. MOTH was rushing faster now. The gas was fast behind it. Then, as MOTH was running, it heard something behind it. Chaos was rushing down the cave as well. It was covered in the gas. Chaos definitely wouldn’t make it. After just a few more seconds of running, Chaos fell back into the gas. MOTH was close to the End now. It could see the End of the cave in front of it. Once MOTH got there, it jumped up. A small portal was waiting. They stuck their hands out of the portal and pulled MOTH in. MOTH watched as the gas reached the edge, filling the realm.

    “Where are the others?” MOTH asked.

    “They’re just finishing up their tasks,” they responded, “you’ll see them very soon.”

MOTH appeared on the building.

    “What?” MOTH wondered, “Why am I here again?”

    “Well,” they said, “it seems that we failed to get rid of Chaos. Apparently it’s still here. We’ll have to find it again and make sure we get rid of it this time. If we don’t destroy Chaos, then we won’t make it anywhere.”

    “I don’t remember any of this!” MOTH protested.

    They sighed, “yes, we know. We didn’t have time to prepare your mind for the transport this time. You’ll probably also notice that you’re a worm again. Don’t worry though! The universe has been cleared of all threats since that portal monster thing is gone. This should be easier than last time!”

    “Alright then,” MOTH said.

    They disconnected. MOTH wasn’t going to waste any time. It quickly turned into an earthworm and buried itself underground. MOTH started going forward, to what he presumed to be the edge of the building. As MOTH continued forward it grew. It was faster now. MOTH quickly made it to the edge and jumped off. Caterpillar. MOTH fell to the planets surface. Somehow, it was still there despite literally blowing up last time. Things must be a bit different since that thing portal monster is gone. MOTH went forward. It traversed through jungle and cave. Butterfly. It flew toward the cave it had gone through before. MOTH quickly flew through it and landed on the other side. Snake. MOTH slithered through the tall grass. It grew bigger every few meters. MOTH eventually made it to ruins of a city. Bird. MOTH, for some reason, couldn’t fly as a bird, so it just ran forward. MOTH grew larger into a bigger bird. Then MOTH grew three more times after. MOTH saw a castle not too far away. It was strange, considering that there was no castle there last time. MOTH walked in. Moth. MOTH flew into the air.

    MOTH was flying through space. MOTH started to fly faster and eventually gained lots of energy. MOTH was shining rainbow from all the energy it had. MOTH flew faster. It came across some broken spaceships. MOTH decided to fly through one and check it out. There wasn’t much to see. Just destroyed metal parts floating through space. MOTH made it through the ship and sped forward again. It took only a few seconds for MOTH to make it to the portal. The building was gone. The portal must’ve consumed it. The portal was much bigger now. MOTH could see debris of stone floating near it. MOTH flew forward and into the portal.

    “Well that was quick,” they said, “looks like you’ve already made it to Chaos’ realm.”

    MOTH was back to its comfortable form again. It had its sword as well.

    “We’re going to put that damage bar up again,” they said, “Just do what you did last time but make sure Chaos is defeated.”

    MOTH nodded. It looked forward and all around. The cave felt bigger. MOTH could see the bar at the top of its vision. Chaos must be close. MOTH walked through some of the caverns and pathways. The cave was a lot more diverse than it seemed. It took a few tries, but MOTH eventually found the room Chaos was in. It was just sitting there, motionless. MOTH stepped into the room and Chaos immediately looked up. The orange worm looked weaker than before. It looked at MOTH and the rematch began. The fight was more of the same. MOTH found Chaos’ movements very predictable and MOTH was able to land every hit. The bar at the top of MOTH’s vision was decreasing a lot faster than last time. Chaos was definitely very weak. MOTH lowered the bar down to nothing very quickly. Chaos lay defenseless on the floor. It was time for this to End. MOTH landed a final blow that was much stronger then last time. Then… the bar refilled to full size. MOTH was greatly confused. Chaos got up healthier and with more energy. Chaos tried using all its attacks on MOTH again. MOTH could still predict every one and dodged most. MOTH was so confused, it got distracted. Quite a few of Chaos’ attacks were able to hit MOTH. MOTH still landed most of its attacks though. The bar was dropping really fast again. The bar had gotten really short. Then, to MOTH’s surprize, Chaos changed. Chaos changed from its usual bright orange color to a dark blue one. The air started to smell like gas. The bar had increased to full length again. This time, the bar was blue though. Chaos seemed to be healthier too now. It started using new attacks that MOTH hadn’t seen before. MOTH was still able to dodge them all though because it could still predict all of Chaos’ movements. MOTH was able to lower the bar quite a bit as it was still decreasing at fast rates. Then. Chaos turned back to bright orange. The bar reverted back to the stage it was when Chaos was orange before. MOTH quickly depleted the rest of the bars length while attacking chaos. Then, once the bar was gone, MOTH waited. Chaos lay there for a bit. MOTH watched it lay there. After around 20 seconds, Chaos changed again, but not like it had before. The entire area turned black. MOTH thought it could see a bar above, but it wasn’t the same. Chaos had changed into something extremely different. It was no longer a worm. Chaos was huge. MOTH saw its six arms and all the rings that covered them. Chaos had a full body now that was a mix of white and black colours. Its head was undecipherable. It kept changing into something else. They were all faces of complete chaos and distortion. None of them were recognizable. MOTH didn’t feel that it could understand Chaos anymore. But not because of this new look, but because something else didn’t want it to. MOTH tried attacking it, regardless. All of MOTH’s attacks seemed to get blocked. They weren’t doing anything! Chaos pushed MOTH back. It pushed it right into a wall. A giant white beam came up from the ground and struck MOTH. MOTH fell from the wall and into the ground. MOTH tried getting up, but couldn’t before Chaos crushed it with a stone. MOTH couldn’t hold on any longer. MOTH had died. Its cells ripped from its body and scattered.

    In a flash of white light, MOTH pulled its body back together. That wasn’t going to happen again. The area felt tense. Chaos stared at MOTH for a bit. MOTH decided that it wouldn’t attack Chaos until it changed back. Chaos started attacking with world shattering weapons. It tried all it could to defeat MOTH with the little time it had left. MOTH was ready though. More ready then it had been before. This was probably one of the first times that MOTH was truly trying to survive. The large beast disappeared. Chaos had shrunk down into a worm again. Chaos was blue. MOTH could see the bar above it was low. MOTH was smarter now. It could land more hits and avoid Chaos’ attacks a lot better. The bar went down fast, real fast. When it disappeared, MOTH kept attacking. The bar above seemed to become inverted the more MOTH attacked. MOTH landed and final blow. Bam! Chaos was done. Beams of light lifted from the ground and the area got engulfed with white light.

    The light began to fade and MOTH saw that it was somewhere else. Everything was white. It was like MOTH was above clouds. MOTH looked up and saw Chaos there. The bar was full again. This wasn’t good. Chaos had become huge again. It had six arms like before. It was in the same shape as before. Chaos wasn’t black and white now, though. It was read. Its face was a bit more distinct now. It looked like Chaos’ face from before but slightly tweaked. The fight began again. MOTH could no longer predict Chaos’ movements, but it had gotten smarter. MOTH could actually land hits now and the bar would still go down fast. It was as fast as before, but it was still faster than the first time MOTH fought Chaos. Chaos would still change. It would change colour from red, orange, white, and blue. Each color was a different fighting style for Chaos. MOTH definitely couldn’t rely on predicting Chaos now. MOTH was able to dodge most attacks, but it still wasn’t doing to well. MOTH died around 3 times during the fight and was able to regenerate its cells each time. But MOTH’s cells began to feel loose. If it kept this up, it might not be able to retry next time. MOTH had to be more careful. The fight was long. Luckily, near the End, Chaos would revert back to a worm for small periods of time. MOTH would be able to wail on Chaos during these moments and drop the bar down by a lot. The bar had gotten low and Chaos became weak. MOTH felt weak as well, but it was able to deal the final blow. Chaos was destroyed. MOTH appeared in a place very similar to the place before. It was completely white and looked like it was above clouds. MOTH saw a doorway portal in front of it. MOTH went to walk through, but as it got closer, the white faded. MOTH saw the universe behind it. The universe was ending. It could see a ball of light begin to consume it. MOTH only stopped for a bit to look, then faced the doorway again and walked through. MOTH was excited to greet them, and see the others too.

    “Hmm…”

    “What’s going on out there? What’s that noise?”

    “This universe is collapsing.”

    “What!? We should do something! We have to leave!”

    “No, we shouldn’t leave.”

    “What do you mean no!? We’ll die if we stay here!”

    “We are just replicas. Alternates of our real selves. There’s no purpose for leaving.”

    “But why not do it anyways!? You could so easily open a branch to another world!”

    “It would be a poor decision. If we exist outside this realm, things will become unbalanced. It’s better that we stay in the place we’re meant to.”

    “You must be joking! Don’t you know that you’ll die too?”

    “I don’t know why you’re so concerned over our existence. Why do you fear death?”

    “Why don’t you!? Don’t you want to survive?”

    “What purpose is there to survive?”

    “Prosperity! Experiences! Enjoyment! Love! Sadness! Life!”

    “But I don’t want any of those things.”

MOTH                                                                   THE END