[Plot Summary]
Long ago, humans and monsters lived together in harmony, but one day, war broke out between the two sides to gain control of the land. The monsters inadvertently angered a certain god by offending them. The god cast a curse upon all the monsters: when the war ended and they were banished to the earth, a plague would rage, afflicting some monsters with excruciating pain. If a cure wasn't found, they would become Desollows, a form of monster that caused them to lose their identity and become consumed by despair, their only goal being self-destruction or the destruction of others. To escape this fate, the monsters hastily prepared their forces to fight the Desollows and simultaneously search for a cure. Although some methods were later developed to prevent the formation of Desollows, many still contracted the disease. Much later, the god's anger subsided, and he gave the monster a chance to atone, but the method was rather cruel: it required ten human souls to cure the plague. Though reluctant, the king had to kill Chara, the human child they had both raised. Asriel, wanting to find a way to bring Chara back, sneaked into the soul chamber and carried Chara's corpse to the surface, hoping for a solution. But upon reaching the surface, Asriel lost control of his use of human souls and could only abandon Chara near the village he saw, while he struggled back into the underground. Upon returning, the combined souls of him and Chara vanished, and he too turned to dust, scattering throughout the kingdom.