A/N: A big thank you to Lin Lamont for betaing this fic for me. Find her on FFN, AO3 and tumblr under the same username.

Like a virus, Chaos spread throughout the march of history and the vast void of space.

One strain infected the Tau Nebula, mutating into a Pharaoh that was a nightmarish parody of a planet.

Another gestated within the crystalline heart of a young world, turning it black and causing the world to vanish from sight, like a phantom.

A smaller strain took root within a mirror, reflecting back its owner's very worst nightmares.

And then there was the fifth strain. Like the others, it was tiny. Almost microscopic. Far too small for the solar system's outer guardians to have detected. That is, if the system even had guardians.

As it was, the system was far too young for that. Hardly any life existed within it. The tiny Chaos cell drifted inexorably towards the light at the heart of the system.

It hated that light. It wanted to snuff it out. It wanted every last amoeba in this solar system to burn with hate, to suffer, to inflict that pain upon one another and ultimately die screaming.

Hadn't it been the pain, the death, the ugliness and filth of these creatures who had given the progenitor consciousness in the first place? Or…had the progenitor been the one who filled their hearts with darkness?

The Chaos cell wasn't sure. Nor did it care.

It just cared about consuming that light once and for all. About making every world here dark like the void they hung in. Dark like itself.

But alas…it was not yet strong enough. The light was so very big and it was so very small. For now.

But it was not so small for the blue planet. The blue planet that sang with the ambient magic of the universe and sang so much louder than the other baubles in this system.

The strain drifted down towards the planet's surface and began to feed off the life energy of the amoebas it encountered. It might take years, decades, centuries even, but with time it would grow and spread until it was a part of this planet itself. Then it would repeat the process across the system over and over again until it could extinguish that golden light once and for-

It wasn't sure if it had been centuries. It wasn't even sure if it had been minutes. Time did not yet have much meaning to it.

All it knew was there was another light now. This one however was not gold but silver. And it shone much, much brighter.

Instinctively, it fled from the light. It might have fled the whole planet if it didn't fear that light seeing it leave. Instead it fled to the coldest, most desolate part of the blue world, an icey desert where little life existed at all. And then it dug.

It dug so deep it might as well have been in the depths of space. The light could not find it here. No life existed here. It could not feed, though it could still develop, still grow. It would just take longer. But time still didn't mean much to it.

Millennia elapsed.

It could feel the amoebas above multiply and flourish even as it festered far beneath them.

The world shifted around it, but it remained as ever still and silent, though it could hear them all. It could hear the mewling mortals' fear, their rage, their lust and greed. And those other things too. Their kindness, their pride, their love, and their courage. They sickened it.

Then, one day it began to sicken the very rocks around it.

It heard them echo its own thoughts back at itself. Then they began to speak those thoughts differently. Differently not just to itself, but even to one another.

It took little time to deduce what had happened.

Its ambient energy had seeped into the surroundings. Surroundings that were innately part of the magical ecosystem of this world, as were the…what did they call themselves? Humans?

Whatever they were, they had very active little minds. Pathetic, but active, especially the smallest of them. Combined with the connection the great progenitor shared with all life, a trait it had inherited, some form of consciousness had been imbibed into the very rocks and stones it was nesting within. They had mutated, adopting forms shaped by the dreams, imaginings and, above all, nightmares of humanity.

There was little consistency in their appearances. Occasionally some would resemble one another, likely the ones formed from the same minerals in the same proximity to itself. It noted the ones formed from the purest mineral compositions and in the closest proximity to itself seemed to be the most human in their appearance, and to a lesser extent in their mentalities. Such a mentality swiftly got them killed by their 'kin', but the smartest and strongest knew better how to adapt. And, as soon became apparent, they swiftly learned to leverage their superior power over the less humanoid creatures. Perhaps the human form was simply the most optimal for channelling the magical energies of this planet?

It did not know what to do with them at first. It could not feed off of their life energy as they were of itself in the first place. It found them somewhat annoying, but simultaneously felt it would be a waste to slay creatures that, for the most part, reflected itself, especially the less intelligent, less human, and more simple ones.

Gradually, as they began to notice it more and more, it noted them doing something…odd.

Between their frenzies of violence, they were building. They were building a great structure around it. A structure in the image of how it saw the world. Dark, ugly, filthy, and twisted.

And they were worshipping it.

To them, it was unto their God.

Their Queen.

Their mother. Though, the word, when first spoken through a mangled, fanged maw, came out rather differently.

"Metalia"

She decided she rather liked the name.

A/N: For the record, I have no idea of the mineral composition of the underground arctic. But I figure that during the Silver Millennium we have wiggle room to argue it might not have been identical to modern day Earth.

Also, just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!