"𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪."

Epilogue 1: Sonder

( Set between Creation and (In)purity. )

( Content warnings for this chapter: Graphic depictions of violence, character death. Reader discretion is advised. )

After it was born, it wasn't let out of the darkness. Father said that it wasn't strong enough yet, that it couldn't spread his word effectively enough yet. In that darkness it could see others like it, confused and eager to serve. They all wanted to do as Father said, and if that meant waiting, then they'd wait.

It didn't know how long they spent in there before Father came back. Keeping track of time was useless in the unchanging darkness. It just served to make its loneliness grow, and it knew the others felt the same way. But Father returning meant change, something more than the encompassing black they'd all grown accustomed to, and there wasn't a single one of them not eager for said change.

"Hello, my children. I hope you've all had a good time in the dark. You are all now old enough to be of service to my cause, but I am unsure if you are all strong enough for it."

Father extended his arms, a wide grin on his face as he did so. His eyes were narrowed, filled with a sort of maliciousness that put them on edge.

"So, I decided that the only way to see who was strong enough and who wasn't was by pitting you all against each other. Fight, my children, until I say to stop. The ones that are left alive will continue to serve me."

The alternates were still for a few seconds, the weight of Father's words sinking in. It wasn't long until they heard the first scream, and smelt something rotten and metallic in the air. Blood, though none of them knee what it was back then.

Soon the room was a flurry of blood and violence. It hurt, to see the other it'd been living so peacefully with dead around it, or trying to kill it themselves. But it had always been the runt of the pack, able to dodge their moves, its spider-like limbs catapulting it forward. It didn't like the feeling of blood on its claws, but it didn't want to die. It had to keep going.

And then, after so long of the senseless violence, Father made himself known again, stomping one foot against the ground. The remaining alternates stopped, looking at him silently, reverently.

"You have all passed. I will come give you your names at a later date, my children. Please, clean yourselves up. It's unbecoming of you all to be so messy."

It knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Father didn't mean that. If he did, why would he be smiling so widely?