Hey guys! Glyph here, and I feel like Adaptus has gotten a raw deal lately.

Yeah yeah yeah, the Adaptusians committed horrible crimes against Cybertron in his name, but he's not really Unicron incarnate. Unfortunately, in their constant focus on making Adaptus the top god, they ultimately erased MUCH of Adaptus' mythology and as a result, his identity.

Okay so, first thing's first. Adaptus? Embodies the concept of transformation. Sometimes he's a god, sometimes she's a goddess, sometimes they don't use gendered terminology, but most surviving myths have him as male, so I'm going to be sticking with whatever pronouns are used in the myth I'm cataloguing, like this one!

Secondly, in terms of personality, Adaptus is basically the complete opposite of a Functionist. He's not a conformist. There are SEVERAL stories where he deliberately pits his brothers against each other because he's bored and wants to shake up the status quo. His entire moral code is based around change, so he tends to play the part of an agent of chaos. There's never any real MALICE behind his actions, but the reason so many of his myths were censored is because he was the antagonist.

Sometimes, this translates to him being a karmic trickster, causing chaos in order to ruin some exhaust pipe's day.

Other times, this results in him guzzling more than he can swallow, and that results in some pretty good comedy, like that time he almost

destroyed the world!

… I promise that it's funnier in context.

So now, without further ado, I present to you:

The Death of the AllSpark

The waters of Adaptus' moon were gentle, calm, and still. Tranquility reigned over both Cybertron and her moons, the sun warming the metal of all four celestial bodies.

"This is dull!" the ocean declared, "Nothing's happened since we formed our pact!"

The oceans churned.

"There's absolutely nothing to do here!" the ocean concurred, "So, I suppose there is only one thing to do."

All of the liquid on the moon's surface evaporated, the vapors coalescing in a ring around the moon, before siphoning across space to the nearest moon.

Solomus meditated quietly on the surface of his moon, Cybertron's golden surface gleaming in the sky above.

Perfect tranquility, the embodiment of wisdom observed. At that moment, the vapors from Adaptus' moon condensed into the ever-changing form of the embodiment of change, transformation, and chaos.

"Hello!"

"What do you want, Adaptus?" Solomus questioned, opening one optic to glare at his brother.

"I want something to happen," Adaptus answered.

"Plenty of things are happening as we speak," Solomus replied, "Our creations peacefully and happily coexist, their society is thriving, and soon they may even be able to explore the stars."

"But nothing's changed," Adaptus replied.

"Things are changing, just at a somewhat gradual pace," Solomus replied, "Necessity breeds innovation, but desire and comfort breed entertainment. Just listen to their songs, or take a stroll down their streets! They make the most of every second they have of their time among the living!"

Adaptus simply leveled his gaze at his brother.

"... Look," Solomus sighed, "Why not use your powers to nudge things along if you're so bored?"

"... Last time I did that, Morty came out of the AfterSpark to personally throttle me," Adaptus deadpanned.

"You turned an Energon-ore deposit into something called 'The Dweller' and then let it loose in the depths of Cybertron," Solomus replied, "What were you expecting?"

Adaptus was nowhere to be seen.

"... I don't have to be me to know this won't end well," Solomus commented as he ceased his meditation and stood up, "Of course, until I know what my brother is planning, the most I can do is remind my followers not to grow complacent."

And so Solomus stepped onto Cybertron's surface, concealed from the optics of the masses, and sought out his followers.

Epistemus glanced over his data records, deep within the depths of his moon, when he became aware of another presence approaching.

"I take it that you're bored and hoping I will entertain you?" the embodiment of knowledge commented as he sent the data he had collected to the Underbase.

"How did you know?" Adaptus asked.

"I am the avatar of knowledge," Epistemus stated, "If I know whatever I want to, as well as some things I'd rather not."

"In that case-"

"No."

"You didn't let me finish!"

"I didn't have to," Epistemus replied, "I already knew that you were going to ask me to take knowledge away from some of my creations in hopes of causing some chaos. But seeing how poverty has been all but annihilated, the fact that the ecosystem is in perfect balance for the first time in eons, and that there's more than enough Energon for our creations to get to work exploring the stars, I'd much rather let things happen naturally."

"But they're taking forever to actually do anything!" Adaptus whined.

"Just wait until the abundance leads to overpopulation," Epistemus replied, "Then we might get some company on our moons."

Adaptus wordlessly grumbled.

"Oh come now, if you're so bothered by this you could easily provide some incentive for them to expand into the stars," Epistemus replied, "Like by offering them a reward or- And he left before I could offer any examples." He sighed. "I'd better speak with Solomus before our brother does something stupid…"

"- But anyway, that's why I came here," Adaptus finished as he floated above the glowing port on Cybertron's core, "So anyway, since you are part of Cybertron, I figured you'd be able to help me with my predicament, Primus."

Primus did not reply, remaining in AllSpark mode.

"Hello! Did you hear me?!" Adaptus questioned.

Primus did not reply, remaining in AllSpark mode.

"... Okay then…" Adaptus transformed into an energon harvester, "If that's how you want to play it." He siphoned the energon out of Cybertron's core, but Primus didn't notice. "Okay, let's try this."

He transformed into a loudspeaker, and played the following sentence:

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

Nothing happened.

"I honestly don't know what I was expecting," Adaptus admitted, before shifting into a colony of space slugs with loudspeakers on its back, and played grating noises while firing off sparks and fireworks.

Primus didn't react, remaining in AllSpark mode.

Adaptus transformed the loudspeakers into cannons that fired trains, which in turn carried loudspeakers that fired sparks and fireworks. Eventually, the space slugs were crushed under all of the trains as the chamber ran out of space.

"Well, there's only one thing left to do…" Adaptus stated, before transforming into another form. The trains all decayed out of existence revealing Adaptus' new form, an imitation of Mortilus, his hand brushing lightly against the no-longer glowing port.

"Now hopefully that will solve…" his voice trailed off as he stared down at the port, "Where'd you disappear to?"

Primus reverted to his incarnate mode as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Strange, I'm normally more rested than this," he groaned as he scanned his surroundings seeing blurred echoes of what once were and the lord of the dead, "Wait." He turned to face his brother. "Mortilus, what are you doing here?"

The AfterSpark incarnate sighed.

"The real question is, how did you die?" Mortilus questioned as more and more extinguished Sparks poured into their space outside reality.

"I'm sorry… What?!"

The core of Cybertron collapsed on itself as the inner-workings of the planet grinded to a halt, Cybertron itself groaning in pain as the lifeforce that sustained it dimmed. The planet quaked as it began to break apart, bits and pieces of the planet's mechanisms plummeting into the core chamber.

"Well… Scrap," Adaptus muttered, before transforming the decayed alloys into more durable materials as he tried to reverse the collapse of the planet. Broken pieces floated back into place, mending themselves as Adaptus rapidly waved his arms around, catching every last piece that fell even the tiniest bit out of alignment and shoving each back into place. He gave his surroundings a cursory scan, noting that the core itself was the only damaged object in the vicinity. With a thought, Adaptus shifted it back to its proper shape, then glanced around the room.

"Thankfully, I was able to fix this before anyone noticed!" Adaptus commented.

Solomus and Epistemus stood above the ruins of a city on the surface, silently granting rationality and inspiration to the survivors of the planet-shaking cataclysm.

"Of course, if Primus doesn't come back from wherever he scurried off too, the mortals are bound to realize that new Spark Crystals aren't forming," Adaptus realized as he surveyed the hollow core. "Someone will have to fill in for him until he returns." The one with many forms glanced around the chamber. "Preferably before someone finds out I almost broke the planet…"

Adaptus transformed himself into an exact copy of the AllSpark inside the core.

"There! That should do it!" he declared.

"Okay so, this could be a problem," Primus stated.

"Indeed," Mortilus replied, "It usually takes you, me, and one of our brothers working together to resurrect just one mortal, but even then there's always some kind of catch."

"Missing memories, dulled emotions, declining health," Primus remarked, "Where are our brothers?"

"Solomus and Epistemus are currently on the surface of Cybertron, slowing the deluge of extinguished Sparks by granting their blessings onto the living," Mortilus replied, "While Adaptus is currently-"

"In the core of Cybertron, in AllSpark mode," Primus interrupted.

"... How did you know that?" Mortilus asked.

"I just… Reached out and noticed," Primus remarked, "I can still see parts of the realm of the living."

"That… Should not be possible," Mortilus stated.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean, is that Extinguished Sparks shouldn't be able to perceive the living world," Mortilus replied, "It is why I collect them here. It is better to do that than let them wander an endless void forever."

"I can still 'feel' my body as well," Primus replied, "Is that unusual?"

"Yes," Mortilus answered, "What is going on?"

The two brothers fell silent.

"... Do you remember Daiakuron's brother?" Primus asked.

"Considering that his consciousness is locked away in my domain, yes," Mortilus answered.

"Okay, but didn't he keep his ability to interact with the living world even after his body was destroyed?" Primus continued.

"Yes, that's why I became this…" Mortilus' voice trailed off, "... Of course, a god can never truly perish. We just have to find a vessel for your consciousness, and you should be able to restore yourself to life without the usual drawbacks!"

"Then it will be a simple matter of determining how I 'died'," Primus noted.

"Ugh… How does Primus deal with this?" Adaptus questioned as civilization rebuilt itself on the surface, "I can feel the change from all the way down here, but I can't stretch my consciousness beyond this core without risking somebody noticing what happened and- Why do I feel some of the residual energy in this chamber draining away?"

The embodiment of change didn't have time to further pursue that train of thought, as he was swiftly ripped from the core and forcefully unfolded into Incarnate mode, coming face to face with a disappointed Solomus, an irritated Epistemus, an overworked Mortilus, and in the grasp of a thoroughly unamused Primus.

"So… Let's have some words about 'change', shall we?" Primus asked.

Solomus' and Epistemus' moons were placed between Adaptus' moon and the surface of Cybertron, leaving the change-bringer to piece himself back together, bit-by-bit, as Cybertron healed from the cataclysm.

And life went on.

Okay so, you're all probably more familiar with the Adaptusian version of the fable, where instead of Adaptus, Mortilus is the one who kills Primus, forcing Adaptus to become the new AllSpark after defeating Mortilus in an epic battle that ends with Adaptus' optics becoming the third and fourth moons because Primus-forbid Adaptus have any flaws!

The origins of this myth are unknown, but probably have something to do with what we now believe to have been a meteor-strike, one that caused a great cataclysm and set-back Cybertronian civilization by Millenia.
The few surviving records we have of that time period indicate that Adaptus' moon was always the third, though, so I don't know when or how the bit about his moon was added to the tale. Then again, there might've been a period where the moons' assigned deities were flipped around and that cultural context was just lost as the tale survived into the present.

Additionally, we don't know what "bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong" is supposed to mean. I've seen a few theorize that it's supposed to be some sort of "universal greeting", but if that's the case, it must've fallen out of disuse between the tale's original recording and today.

Of course, the mythology buffs out there probably recognize that there are other tales about a being with far too many Alt-Modes who ends up killing a god and then ends up being forced to fulfill their job in the most pit-like fashion imaginable.

There's one which I only just recently learned of, when a nearby Mini-Con community shared it with me upon learning of my project, in hope that this dying tale may be preserved for future generations.
Having never heard of this once-censored tale before, next time I'll be presenting one of the many legends associated with Galvatron, what the Mini-Cons claim to be their version of this tale. Assuming I'm not smelted by religious extremists for sharing this story with you all!

This is Glyph, signing off!

Beta-Readers

Biosword (who also came up with Adaptus' pre-Mortilus Transformations)

Convoy914

Master Chief Spartan-117