Larry’s web quivered as he cautiously prodded the strange human contraption, the buttons on it emitting soft clicks beneath his tarsus. The machine fascinated him beyond measure. As he scrolled through its numerous options, his many eyes gleamed with curiosity. Then, with a startled chitter, he stumbled upon something entirely unexpected. He found what the mortals called a meme.

  A laugh of genuine amusement escaped him. Of all the things humans had created, this was what captivated him most. When he first gazed down upon Earth, he dismissed them as nothing more than hairless apes fumbling their way through their meager, short lives. They were weak and extremely vulnerable to the elements, and yet, like the other gods, he soon found himself drawing near to them. Their shaky but steady rise in evolution and peculiar sense of humor really made them stand out among the vast majority of the species that lived in the multiverse. This softened his heart and maybe changed his views towards them, but only a little.

  After all, what kind of God of chaos and change would he be if he weren't delighted by the constant chaotic situations the creatures found themselves in, which ultimately brought a new change to the world?

  The moth, from her perch in the corner of his cavern, which had been completely covered in darkness, observed him cautiously, still trying to remain as small and unnoticeable as possible while blending in with her surroundings. Amusingly enough, this failed, since he could clearly see the soul and life force dangling in her small body. Maybe it was because she thought she was out of sight, but he quickly noticed that she was less shy than she had been when interacting with him before. “Larry,” she said slowly, her antennae twitching a bit, “maybe you should just… leave the thing alone.”

  “Leave it alone?” Larry scoffed, adjusting his grip on the device with the nimbleness of his spindly legs. “You must be joking! This could be the key to my writing success. The mortals use this thing to spread their stories, do they not? If that’s the case, then perhaps my words have simply not reached them in the right format.”

  He turned to look back at the contraption, pressing another button on it to see what it would do.

  The screen flickered, and an entirely new image filled Larry’s many eyes. It was another meme, but this time, a crudely drawn depiction of a mortal’s face twisted in exaggerated horror, with a tiny army of angry chickens staring back at the boy, as giant, bold-lettered words that were beautifully written into the image stated, "Beware of chickens.”

  Larry let out an amused chitter. “See? This is precisely what I mean! Mortals encapsulate such universal experiences in mere images and a handful of words. It’s practically a form of divine communication, only without the pompous arrogance to go along with it.”

  The moth wisely decided to stay quiet, which, in his assumption, meant that he was right. This also managed to stroke his already very fragile ego about being right.

  Larry’s spindly legs twitched with excitement as he continued exploring the strange device, pressing buttons with increasing fervor. His many eyes darted across the screen, each viewing a different piece of the new little world he had discovered.

  Had he still had his face, he would have shown the device to every single god he could, but he didn't have the luxury anymore to do that. He was a being of change, and he was utterly fascinated by how this small box these mortals had crafted was something he couldn't possibly think of making on his own.

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  He stayed like that for hours, completely entranced by the device, not even noticing that a whole day had passed. His focus only broke after the device had completely lost its power and shut down on him. Larry let out a disappointed hiss, his many eyes flicking back and forth across the now lifeless screen. He clicked the buttons multiple times, as if somehow the contraption might come back to life if he tried hard enough. But the screen remained dark.

  Reality briefly stirred for a moment, but the energy leaking through his vessel was quickly absorbed by him before it could cause any meaningful change in reality that might have alerted someone to his presence. “What happened?!” he yelled in panic, his many legs skittering wildly across the stone floor. He flung himself around the device in an almost frantic dance, trying to figure out how to bring it back to life.

  But he couldn't.

  Hastily looking around for a solution while rummaging through the vast collection of artifacts he had gathered in his dimension, he found no solution to the cause of his current dilemma. The moth watched Larry's frantic movements with a growing sense of amusement. She had never seen the spider so utterly enraptured by something before, much less by a human's creation. "It's out of power," she finally said.

  Larry frowned, turning the device over in his hands. "I can't sense any mana in it, nor any other type of energy. I don't even see a core. This isn't even enchanted, is it?" The moth flicked her antennae, her wings twitching in amusement. "It is, and it isn't," she said cryptically. "I don’t know exactly what it is, but humans seem to use them all the time. Right now, though? Your precious little contraption is nothing more than a glorified rock.”

  Larry's legs twitched in frustration as he turned the lifeless device over and over. This was treachery, was it not? No, it was unacceptable. Yes, that was it. He had just begun his deep dive into the strange and wonderful realm of mortal humor and was genuinely enjoying himself. No way would he let it end like that. His many eyes locked onto the moth, glowing with an intensity that made her wings flutter in mild alarm. “How do I fix it then?” he demanded.

  Perhaps sensing an opportunity to escape, the moth told him that he had to find a new battery that belonged to the human contraption and that it was the only way to replenish its energy, as mana and every other sort of energy might just disrupt or even damage the contraption.

  “I can't exactly leave here; if I do, I will be in grave danger.” Larry clicked his mandibles impatiently. “Well? What do you suggest? I refuse to be separated from my newfound source of entertainment! If I must navigate the mortal world to retrieve this battery, then so be it!” But he knew that wasn't possible. Entropy would erase him from existence the moment he stepped out into the multiverse.

  But that was fine.

  There's no reason he had to go out.

  There's no reason anyone had to go.

  “Stay still, I'm going to do something to you.” He told the moth.

  The moth recoiled, her wings fluttering in alarm. “Wait, what? No, no, no—what are you planning?” she chittered, trying to scuttle away deeper into the darkness.

  His consciousness left the temporary shell that was his body as he scoured through multiple universes where said battery might exist. As he did so, he bore witness to the birth of stars, their incandescent light igniting the darkness and laying out the groundwork for creation. He beheld planets crumbling into cosmic dust, only for new worlds to rise from their ashes like phoenixes. He saw civilizations take their first trembling steps upon a newborn lands, only to be swept away by the tides of war. Then, his attention latched onto something, and every other piece of his self that was staring off into the multiverse snapped to that one location.

  Before the moth could react, he seized her midair with his mind, holding her effortlessly in his telekinetic grasp. His consciousness expanded, sweeping across the vast expanse of the universe, scanning countless worlds in search of a suitable vessel. Finally, he found one. "It’s a bit of a journey from here," he murmured, his voice calm yet absolute. "Your true body will remain here, but I will bind your soul to a new form in another universe. Consider it… a second chance.”

  She screamed.