Chapter Text
Nothing.
There’s absolutely nothing.
There’s no floor, no walls, no ceiling.
No houses, buildings or streets.
No sky, stars or moon.
There’s no space.
Time doesn’t move forward.
It doesn’t move backwards.
It doesn’t slow down or accelerate.
It simply isn’t.
There’s no sun.
No light.
There’s an eternal night cast across everything. Or perhaps the day never existed, and this is simply how things have always been.
There was no difference between day and night. Between the end and the beginning.
It just is.
It’s pure emptiness. Emptiness that always was, and always will be.
But that’s a lie. It’s not just emptiness. It isn’t absolutely nothing.
Like a night sky, there are flickering stars draped across it. Twinkling lights of various colors. Blue, cyan, yellow, green, indigo, orange, red and even pure white.
Those lights are SOULs, the culmination of a being.
They hold the essence of a person, all their emotions, feelings and their WILL. Without one, a being is just a husk of themselves, doomed to a existence life without love.
Now they’re doomed to stay here. SOULs without hope and emotions. Just a fragmented WILL that can’t even remember why it exists.
Nobody knows what causes a SOUL to come to this place. Is it when all their hopes are turned into despair? When their lives are ended, forgotten and they're left alone? Nobody knows, and nobody probably ever will.
Nobody will come here, and nobody will leave.
But even so, there’s a SOUL that glows brighter than the rest. Red light that shines like a star in place without any.
A SOUL that stays determined, even without knowing why they should be. That glows simply because it has too, not knowing any better.
Glowing in a world without light.
A SOUL of a young girl. Older than it should be. She messed with time for too long.
Jumping through timelines, left and right. Stopping and starting them.
Playing God.
All in search of one goal. For a single purpose. Something that would make everything she sacrificed worth it.
A goal that, in this void, she doesn’t even remember.
In fact she has no memory of anything. Of her home, of her life and not even of herself. How she looked, how she smiled, how she laughed.
Everyday- she had to count the time she felt passing as days to not lose her mind- she thought about what her family and friends could be doing while she was here. How worried they would be about her.
When they would come to save her.
How they were going to celebrate, afterwards.
What the world outside was, after all this time. (If any time had passed, at all).
She wished, she wondered, she prayed.
But nobody came.
It was all wishful thinking. She didn’t know if she even had a family or friends.
This red heart is all she is, all that she knows.
Although, that’s also a lie. It had to be a lie. It needed to be a lie.
Because she could remember something.
She can remember a journey under the Earth. Of a world under the Earth. A world that was scorching-hot and chilly-cold. A world that was medieval, modern, futuristic and fantastical, all at the same time.
Where fantastical creatures that she only heard of in legends were brought to reality. They were real. And they always were living under the Earth, for as long as written history.
And those mythical creatures were her friends. Her family.
The tall goat-lady with the kindest violet eyes she had seen… So kind she was willing to raise the lost soul as her own child, without even asking about the child’s past.
The coolest and funniest skeleton brothers she had the lifetime chance to live with. Their antics always brightened up her day, no matter how sad she felt. They were like brothers she never had.
An impulsive fish-woman, whose determination rivaled her own. Who taught her even your fiercest enemies could become your friends, with a little bit of patience and sweet words (and a burnt house).
The anxious lizard scientist, who felt like her past was eating her inside. Who was too afraid to move on. Who felt like she couldn’t do anything right. But reality couldn’t be the opposite, the yellow dinosaur taught the child stuff about her own culture that she never knew.
The old king. A tired soul that had seen too much. Lived too much. Did too much. Had a weight on his shoulders too heavy for anyone to carry. A weight that you would’ve carried for him in a heart-beat.
And a golden-flower that was so cruel, because of all the pain he carried. Of all the suffering he had endured. She needed to help him. She needed to save him. Restore his true form.
And she had the power over all of their fates, over time itself. To make everything right.
To make her world right.
They were her world. They were real. They had to be real. Those memories needed to be real.
Those memories are what keeps her glowing, despite the cold of this place.
They needed to be real!
It’s so cold that were she not a soul, she would be frozen.
It takes all her will to not fall into the cold and end like the rest.
Empty hearts floating into the abyss.
That’s why they needed to be real. Every single memory. Every single moment of happiness she could remember. All of them fueled her.
Kept her going.
Made her alive in a place with no life.
Gave her DETERMINATION!
That’s how she spent every moment in this infernal prison of despair, where there was no future, no beginning, and no end.
If they weren’t real…
Then…
What would be the point?
She couldn’t give up.
Anyday, she was going to get out of here.
The hope of a better future filled her with determination.
YOUR WISHES
HAVE BEEN
ANSWERED.
YOUR
PLEAS.
YOU MAY NOW REST
CHILD.
YOUR SUFFERING
IS AT ITS
END.
A black wind pierced the abyss, somehow darker than the darkness itself.
Yet, she couldn’t feel anything.
The wind manifested itself into a shape, dark, darker and yet darker. But still perfectly clear.
It was the shape of a man. Its face is pure white, like a mask. A fixed smile crossed his features, and empty eye sockets decorated them. The rest of his body was darker than darkness.
He was shaped like a blob. Formless, but uniform. Melting, but rigid.
It was the first thing she had seen here other than the SOULs.
And then, he spoke.
WELCOME.
HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING
FOR ME?
She could not decipher the being’s voice. It sounded happy and yet sad. Clear and yet unclear. Deep and yet soft. Incomprehensible, but perfectly understandable.
The stray SOUL remembered hearing about this before, from a short skeleton she called a friend. This was a paradox, something contradictory by nature.
But that wasn’t important right now. What was important were his words. Somehow they caused a strange feeling of apprehension to bubble inside her. She remembered flashes of gray. Of creatures speaking of a man. But was it the same man?
Did that even happen?
There was no time for her to think about it, as the creature continued speaking.
HOW WONDERFUL.
I
HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU
AS WELL.
He sounded ominous and creepy. She should’ve been afraid.
But she wasn’t.
Was he a secret admirer? And if so, how long has he been watching her?
Was he a result of her wishes?
She had never met him before. She had no memory of him.
But… that wasn’t true. He looked like someone she knew. Like the brothers she never had.
Maybe… just maybe… he could’ve been?
She had no time to doubt him.
This man was the first company she ever had in this cold, dreary and lonely place.
It didn’t matter who he was.
She needed to trust him.
She wasn’t going to screw it up!
She couldn’t screw it up!
I HAVE SOMETHING.
SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU.
SOMETHING
I THINK YOU WILL FIND
VERY,
VERY,
INTERESTING.
BUT IT IS YET FAR
FROM COMPLETION.
IN FACT
YOU
ARE WHAT IS NEEDED
FOR COMPLETION.
She imagined that if she had a body, it would’ve been as red as her soul.
He needed her of all people?
An amnesiac nobody that can’t do anything right? That couldn’t be right.
There’s no way someone could care about her. She was here for so long… there was nobody to care about some lost girl…
But… if it was wrong… why did it feel so… familiar? And right?
THANK YOU
FOR WAITING SO LONG
AFTER ALL
YOU AND I
WE HAVE BOTH BEEN WAITING
SUCH A VERY LONG TIME.
Wasn’t that the understatement of the century.
SO TO BE HERE
FINALLY
ON THE VERGE OF CONNECTION
IS
QUITE
EXCITING.
I LOOK FORWARD
TO CREATING
A NEW FUTURE
WITH YOU.
Future… Could she even have one? This place didn’t have a future… She never thought of a world outside of here.
She remembered being the future of the entire world once (Or at least that’s what they told her). But… that only led to pain.
Unimaginable pain…
…
She had to leave.
Anything to leave this hell.
Anything.
NOW!
SHOW YOURSELF!
DELTARUNE!
The creature waved his arm, and a blinding light flew from outwards. It enveloped the darkness. Soon she couldn’t see anything except the blinding white.
And then… she was in a completely new location. It was still dark, but the darkness was different. It had a form, somehow.
A wavy rainbow light could be seen, very far away. It felt like she was in a dream, but at the same time awake. Real, and unreal.
Everywhere, it looked like the ocean’s waves. Like she was under-water, but still breathing.
And it felt like home. The humming of distant machinery, the liquids dripping somewhere, the hushed whispers. All of that just felt right for the lost soul.
It was dark. It was dreary. It was lonely.
It felt like she was adrift in the ocean on a dark night. No civilization around her. Not a single soul.
And it still felt like home.
ARE YOU
STILL THERE?
ARE WE
CONNECTED?
“YES” She yelled, and her voice had come out.
Her voice.
She could speak.
She could finally speak.
Soft, quiet and high-pitched. The type of voice that doesn’t stand out, but pierces the heart of whoever hears it.
It was her voice.
Her beautiful voice.
It had been so long since she could speak, she had so much to say!
She wanted to scream. Yell. Let her heart out.
And she did.
She screamed into the void. She yelled into the voice. No words came out, just a primal scream.
Just her voice, in its purest form.
WHAT UNUSUAL
BEHAVIOR.
ARE YOU
AFRAID OF
SOMETHING?
HAVE I
MISCALCULATED?
The man’s voice made her stop.
He was still standing in front of her.
He looked amused.
“I’m just… I’m just so happy!” The words squeaked out of her. “There’s so much I want to say! It was so silent… for so LONG! I thought I would never be able to speak again!!!”
SOMETHING AS SMALL AS
SOUND
CAN BRING
HAPPINESS?
THIS BEHAVIOR
MUST BE
MONITORED.
She didn’t understand anything he said.
But she was so happy.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!!! Thank you for saving me!!!” She wanted to hug him. She couldn’t. “I will never forget what you did for me!!!!!”
She was content.
YOU ARE ALREADY
SATISFIED?
DO YOU NOT HAVE
THE WILL TO
CONTINUE?
YOU HAVE
A PURPOSE
TO FULFILL.
YOU CAN’T
GIVE UP
THIS
EARLY.
The voice caught the lost soul off-guard.
She backed away.
“H…Huh?!” She yelled out. “I… I never said it was over! I… I… I was just happy! That’s all!”
The man didn’t look angry. He looked the same.
But she felt as if she couldn’t, wouldn’t, get on his bad side.
No matter what happened.
“Where…” She looked around. She was so used to the darkness of the voice, that even the faint light could disturb her. “Where are we? What are we going to do?”
YOU AREN’T READY
TO GO
TOWARDS THE
OUTSIDE.
YOUR CURRENT FORM
WILL NOT
LAST.
WE HAVE TO
HIDE
IN THE DEPTHS.
IN A WORLD
BETWEEN WORLDS.
THE EDGE OF THE SHADOW.
WHERE REALITY
AND DREAM
MET.
WHERE OUR
FORMS
CAN LAST.
AS WE FINISH PREPARATIONS
AND PREPARE YOUR
NEW FORM
FOR THE WORLD BEYOND.
“New form? Prepare myself? What do you mean?” The lost soul asked, her voice echoing in this new era.
And continuing to echo.
Never-ending.
A CORPOREAL
VESSEL
TO HOLD
YOUR SOUL.
“You mean a-”
The lost soul felt a wave of darkness cross through her.
The man continued standing there. Staring.
NOW
YOUR TURN
HAS
ENDED.
IT IS
NOW
YOUR TIME
TO ANSWER.
DO YOU PROMISE
THAT YOU WILL
NEVER WAVER
NO MATTER
WHAT
HAPPENS?
“Yes.” She simply said. There were no more words to be said.
She was never going to give up again.
EXCELLENT
TRULY EXCELLENT.
NOW WE MAY
BEGIN.
FIRST
YOU MUST CREATE
A VESSEL.
A CORPOREAL FORM THAT SHALL
HOLD YOUR
SOUL.
THEY MUST BOTH BE
ONE AND
THE SAME.
SHAPE IT OUT OF YOUR OWN WILL.
The man disappeared.
SELECT THE HEAD THAT YOU PREFER.
And in his place eight heads appeared.
They were gray. Gray skin. Looking like a ghost. Looking undead.
Was this why she never had a body before? So that she could choose the best one? That didn’t make too much sense, but she didn’t care.
She needed to choose!
They all had a differing hairstyle.
The first was even bald!
Now that was a little too far… I like having hair. She thought, and then she realized what she did. She could even think to herself now!
No more random feelings joined together by a thin thread. She could finally vocalize her thoughts.
And she had her perfect subjects.
Definitively not choosing the bald one, yuck. Some of those are so messy, too! He at least could’ve combed them… And some of these look so greasy!
And that other one is too long. I can’t run with long hair! It keeps hitting my face! And that one…
But… she was making that man wait! She had to choose one, and right now!
Stop being so superficial and pick one!
“I choose… That one, second starting from the left!” She said, happiness leaking from her voice.
It was perfect.
It was exactly the cut she wanted. Not too short, and not too long. Not too messy, but with some style.
It was her.
EXCELLENT.
TRULY EXCELLENT.
I KNEW
THAT SHAPE WAS THE
MOST APPEALING
TO YOU.
NOW
SELECT THE TORSO THAT YOU PREFER.
The head she chose glowed red, and flew upwards. The rest of them disappeared, replaced by a set of torsos.
All of them had the same lean-feminine shape, and small chest. Some might be fatter, while others thinner, but most of them were so similar, that most wouldn’t have noticed the difference.
They all wore a striped shirt, two stripes on all of them.
That was the main difference between each one. The fashion sense.
Why are my clothes connected with my body?
She didn’t know, and she didn’t care.
She knew exactly which one to pick
“This time I choose the third body, from the left!” It seemed like the excitement of such a simple act was never going to leave.
She always loved that type of sweater. That hid her arms from any cuts she might’ve had, but kept her hands free.
PERHAPS YOU
TRULY
DIDN’T FORGET.
THIS CHOICE
SUITS
YOU.
WHAT INTERESTING
RESULTS.
NOW
SELECT THE LEGS THAT YOU PREFER.
She wasn’t going to think anything of the strange man's words. A strange saying came to her; “Beggars can't be choosers” was what the yellow lizard said to her.
True to his words, however, legs showed up. They were all equipped with shorts and leggings. She appreciated the fashion sense.
But what she didn’t appreciate was the fact they were all the same!
“I choose... uh... the first one…?” Her voice came out confused and lost.
Aren’t they exactly the same?
She couldn’t say this choice fit her. But it also couldn’t say this choice didn’t fit her.
WHAT INTERESTING BEHAVIOR
THIS IS YOUR BODY.
DO YOU ACCEPT IT?
“Yes”, She affirmed without any doubt, without any hesitation. That body was hers now.
She was that body.
Every single choice she made shaped it.
They were the same.
EXCELLENT.
YOU HAVE CREATED
A WONDERFUL FORM.
IT WILL CARRY YOU
TO GREAT
LENGTHS.
NOW
LET US SHAPE ITS MIND
AS YOUR OWN.
TO MAKE IT TRULY
YOURS.
WHAT IS ITS FAVORITE FOOD?
The man brought a bunch of options to her.
Soft.
Salty.
Sour.
Something that everybody had experienced once in their lives.
But the other options… Pain and cold… those were something only she experienced, in that terrible void.
Everyday, it was so cold.
Everyday, there was so much pain.
Each and every single day.
Nonstop.
She shuddered.
And yet still she replied, “Sweet,” thinking back on a certain food.
A slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie.
It was the best food she experienced in her old life.
The tall goat with a violet dress and the kindest eyes she had seen baked it for her. To celebrate her existence. The simple fact she was there with her.
Funny. Now she could remember that perfectly.
YOUR FAVORITE BLOOD TYPE?
The option she chose glowed red, and flew inside her body. The rest vanished.
Suddenly, a bunch of letters popped up.
“A”.
“B”.
And “AB”.
Answers to the man’s question.
What she knew as regular blood types.
“C”.
And “D”.
She had no idea what these were.
Was he confused about blood types and didn’t know what they were? Well… he was a monster, and monsters didn’t bleed, right?
Huh… she remembered yet another detail.
She was a human, and she could bleed. Monsters couldn’t.
“Uh, D?” She replied to him, and internally she wondered.
Are those even real blood types?
But… would she stay human with a blood type like that?
WHAT COLOR DOES IT LIKE MOST?
Yet again more options appeared.
“Blue”.
“Green”.
“Cyan.”
Those must’ve been “colors.” She associated these words with the souls she saw in the void.
They were pretty.
But they weren’t hers.
“Red,” She replied without skipping a beat.
Red was the color of her soul, so it must have been her color.
PLEASE GIVE IT A GIFT.
The final choices were laid before her.
“Kindness”.
“Mind”.
“Ambition”.
“Bravery”.
“Voice”.
All wonderful gifts. Traits she had missed for so long.
However none of those options pleased her.
None of them spoke to her.
But one did.
One that wasn't in the options, but she said it anyway.
“Determination”.
For a moment, nothing happened.
…
Then the choice of “determination” floated down, and flew towards her body.
The rest disappeared.
“DETERMINATION”.
OF COURSE
OF COURSE
YOU WOULD PICK
THAT TRAIT.
EVEN IF I HADN’T
OFFERED IT.
SOME RESULTS
STAY THE SAME
NO MATTER
HOW MUCH
YOU TRY TO CHANGE THEM.
“DETERMINATION”.
THAT SHALL BE
YOUR GIFT
CHERISH IT WELL.
“Uh, I will, Mr.Mystery McDarkness!!!” She said, confusion flaring through her soul.
Why was he reacting so strongly about it? Was determination really that important?
It was the thing that kept her together, so could it be?
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CREATION?
(IT WILL NOT HEAR)
Several options filtered through her eyes.
“Hope”.
“Disgust”.
“Fear”.
None of them appealed to her, feeling as if there’s something missing.
Too small to truly mean what she wanted to say. Too little to encompass all she felt.
That is until she saw it.
“LOVE”.
For some reason, that gift, that word, defines her. It represents everything she feels towards her new body. Everything she feels towards the possibility of a new future.
But not just with the meaning commonly associated with that word. It runs deeper.
And thus she chose it.
I CAN TELL
YOU HAVE ANSWERED HONESTLY.
YOU TRULY ARE
VERY
VERY
INTERESTING.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THE POSSIBILITY OF PAIN AND SEIZURE
DURING YOUR MISSION?
Pain and seizure? What the heck is he going to put me through? This man had such a weird way of saying things.
Still, this was her only chance, and so she agreed, “Yes.”
She would have determination to endure and succeed. That was a promise.
Huh. Maybe that gift truly described her.
UNDERSTOOD.
SUCH BRAVADO.
SUCH “DETERMINATION”.
WHAT SHALL YOU NAME
YOUR NEW VESSEL?
“Goner.” Comes out of her mouth without a second thought.
She didn’t know why she said it, but she soon resolved herself in this choice.
This was the path the stray soul-
No, this was the path Goner would choose. This was her name, her identity. She would make it her own.
She was “Goner”.
OF COURSE.
SUCH A FITTING NAME
FOR THE BOTH OF US.
WE CALLED IT “GONER”.
NOW
WHAT WILL YOUR OWN NAME BE?
“Goner,” She repeated.
If that body was her, then they would share the same name.
She would not be separated from that identity.
Her SOUL was “Goner”. Her body was “Goner”.
She would never be separated from them.
OF COURSE,
OF COURSE,
OF COURSE THEY ARE THE SAME.
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR TIME.
YOU TRULY ARE
A VERY
VERY
SPECIAL BEING.
YOUR ANSWERS
YOUR WONDERFUL CREATION.
She floated to the body and the body floated to her.
She was so close to being whole again.
A new life was being opened to her. A new book, filled with adventure.
She wondered what the man would want from her, who she would meet and what purpose she would have.
Would she ever see her friends again? Would they recognize her? Would they be happy to see her again? Did they remember her?
Were they even real?
All those thoughts bounced around her head, like fragments of hope.
Then despair came as a horrible screech. A distorted sound that looped and reversed at the same time.
She couldn’t see anything.
She couldn’t hear anything.
It was so loud!
Her senses were failing, consciousness slipping.
Fear, doubt and despair filled her.
CONNECTION TERMINATED.
And then, darkness, pure darkness.
Just as if everything you went through never happened.
Yes, you, the discarded SOUL. Abandoned by the world. That is your identity, who you are.
You are the discarded SOUL. I will refer to you as such.
I will watch you as such.
I will narrate it as such.
“You” are the lost SOUL. The main character of our story.
Who the story was made for.
Everything seems hopeless for you. Lost, alone, and betrayed.
Until you hear a voice. Such a familiar voice. High, but with an edge. Elegant, but firm. As if it can command worlds themselves.
But comforting, and serene. Calming.
As if this is the one voice you listened the most to in your entire life, as if it was always with you.
As if it is still with you.
“Will now be discarded. No one can choose who they are in this world.”
WHAT? You think.
You try to yell.
You try to thrash around.
You fail.
All my progress, my chance at a new life, undone just like that?
I said I would never waver! I PROMISED!!!
You start to feel angry.
Confused.
Lost.
Until you can’t think straight.
It’s as if you are losing what little self you have, as if you are being scattered into thousands of pieces.
“Your name is…”