I Can See Evolution Paths

Steven was standing.

Elaine was standing.

Arthur scratched his cheek. "Was that actually a lot?"

Nobody answered.

Steven slowly sat back down. Elaine quietly closed her notebook. She took one slow breath. "Start from the beginning," she said.

Arthur nodded. "Sure," he said.

He started explaining the siege exactly the same way he always explained everything. Like he was describing yesterday’s weather.

Arthur explained that the moment Dawn awakened, the Beast Kingdoms surrounding the city noticed. Not dozens. Not hundreds wandering randomly. An organized army. Beasts moving together. Different species. Different directions. The city surrounded.

Athena quietly walked over. She pulled one of Steven’s blank maps toward herself, and without saying anything began drawing.

Arthur pointed. "They came from here."

Athena marked it.

"And here."

Another mark.

Sun pointed. "There were Behemoths here."

Leon casually added, "The Thunderbirds attacked from above."

Athena continued drawing. Slowly Steven realized they weren’t describing a monster attack. They were describing military formations.

Steven quietly said, "They encircled the city."

Athena nodded. "They intended to overwhelm every entrance simultaneously."

Elaine slowly said, "That isn’t instinct. That’s strategy."

Arthur nodded. "Pretty much."

Nobody said anything. The map suddenly looked terrifying. It sat there between them on the desk, and for a moment nobody wanted to be the one to break the silence it had created.

Elaine asked quietly, "How many leaders?"

Arthur thought. "Five."

Sun raised a finger. "Six."

Leon smiled. "Seven."

Arthur nodded. "Oh right. They kept showing up."

Complete silence.

Steven blinked. "Seven Beast Chiefs against first-years?"

Arthur smiled. "It was pretty hard but we made it work."

Elaine’s eyes lowered toward Athena’s self-created map once more. She quietly traced the circles surrounding Dawn with one finger. "Even a Silver Rank Beast would still find taking on so many peak Bronze Rank dangerous." She slowly looked back toward Arthur. "And you five stood on those walls?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not just us."

"The Mu Tribe."

"The Su Tribe."

"The Yan Tribe."

"Everyone fought."

Steven slowly pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course they did."

Arthur naturally began talking about everyone else instead of himself.

Arthur smiled. "Kong actually evolved because of the Ape Chief."

Steven blinked. "What do you mean?"

Arthur thought for a moment. "It threw a town-sized boulder."

Silence.

Steven frowned. "A what?"

Athena quietly spoke. "It wasn’t simply large." She looked toward Steven. "It was larger than the Academy."

Elaine immediately looked up. "Larger?"

Sun nodded. "It blocked out the sky."

"It wasn’t aiming at us but into the city." Arthur’s smile became a little brighter. "It wasn’t just Goblins who were fighting that it was endangering."

Steven looked up.

"There were children."

"There were elderly Goblins."

"Teenagers."

"Healers."

"They were all still evacuating."

Silence.

Arthur continued. "The boulder would’ve crushed all of them."

"So Kong..." Sun nodded. "Didn’t even hesitate and just jumped."

"Wait... don’t tell me he—"

"Yes, he did," Arthur laughed. "I don’t even think he thought about it. He just saw people that needed saving."

Sun smiled proudly. "He pushed against it."

Steven blinked. "By himself?"

Arthur nodded. "For about a minute."

Sun laughed proudly. "He pushed until his arms were shaking."

Arthur nodded. "He couldn’t stop it. But he refused to let it fall."

Steven quietly smiled. "...That’s a hero."

"We know." Sun looked down to the floor with a faint smile.

Athena quietly added, "He bought the city enough time."

Sun smiled. "Then I joined him, and with the help of the Goblins on the wall, we were slowly pushing it away from the city."

"But then the Ape pushed down against it, leading to Kong surpassing his limit and evolving," Arthur smiled.

Steven laughed softly. "I suppose congratulations are in order."

Sun scratched his cheek. "He’s actually more annoying now."

The atmosphere relaxed, the way it does after a story that started somewhere heavy finally lands somewhere safe.

Arthur let the laughter settle before he continued, in no hurry to move past it.

"Melo evolved too," he said.

Mithra proudly nodded.

Steven immediately smiled. "I’m happy for both of you," he said.

Mithra beamed.

Elaine tried writing but her pen stopped halfway. She looked at the page for several seconds before forcing herself to continue.

Arthur pointed toward Athena. "Athy surprised everyone," he said.

"How did she do it?"

Arthur’s smile faded. "Athy actually wasn’t fighting."

Steven looked over. "What was she doing?"

Athena answered. "Saving everyone."

Silence.

She slowly explained. Finding the final page. The hidden instructions. The defense system. The crown. Her collapsing. Mara collapsing. Athy flying alone. Thirty seconds. Every wall shutting down. Every beast rushing inside.

Nobody interrupted.

Arthur quietly finished. "She touched the crown and suddenly the entire Kingdom entered her mind."

Elaine frowned. "Everything?"

Athena nodded. "Every street."

"Every citizen."

"Every battle."

"Every scream."

Steven whispered, "One mind, trying to process an entire Kingdom?"

Athena nodded. "She almost broke."

Arthur smiled. "But she refused."

"Then she evolved."

Steven thought that was the end.

Arthur smiled. "Then she evolved again."

Complete silence.

Elaine slowly looked up. "Twice?"

Athena nodded. "Within the same battle."

Elaine frowned. "There are only three recorded cases of a Beast evolving twice within such a short period."

Steven slowly nodded. "Every single one eventually became a legend in Beast Tamer history."

Silence.

Arthur blinked. "Really?"

Athena smiled as she glanced toward the little owl resting inside her Mana Realm. "Looks like Athy just became the fourth."

Arthur laughed. "She actually evolved faster than Vedas."

Steven paused. "What?"

Arthur nodded. "Vedas evolved from Goblin to Goblin Warrior, then Goblin Commander, in around six hours during the entrance exam."

Silence.

Elaine slowly turned. "Steven."

Steven blinked. "Yes?"

"Why was this never included in your reports?"

Steven genuinely thought about it. "Truthfully? I forgot."

Complete silence.

Elaine’s eyebrow twitched. "Forgot?"

Steven laughed awkwardly. "The convoy crashed. I was trying to make sure children were alive. Evolution timing stopped feeling important."

Elaine slowly exhaled. "I’m beginning to notice a pattern," she said.

Sun immediately nodded. "Arthur attracts disasters."

Athena quietly shook her head. "I’d call it extraordinary misfortune."

Leon smiled. "I’d call it the most interesting semester Pathfinder has ever had."

Mithra giggled. "I think Arthur just makes everyone’s lives exciting."

Arthur smiled. "I try."

Everyone immediately looked at him.

He let the moment sit for a second, unbothered by all the eyes on him, before picking the story back up where it belonged.

"Anyway, it’s because of Athy’s effort that we were able to activate the city defense system."

Steven paused. "Defense system?"

"The city that is over a thousand years old still has something like that?" Elaine pinched the bridge of her nose and then her forehead.

"Yeah, and it was an awesome one too!" Arthur continued. "Stone Guardians climbed out of the streets!"

Elaine slowly looked toward Steven.

Steven didn’t say anything.

He simply nodded once.

As if confirming...

Yes.

That really was what he heard.

"Goblin Statues walked out of old buildings!"

"Even the spirits of warriors who died protecting Dawn returned!"

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Elaine closed her eyes. "How many?"

Athena quietly added, "One hundred and sixty defenders."

Steven slowly leaned forward. "The Kingdom itself entered the battle."

Arthur nodded. "Pretty much."

Arthur explained Leon’s arrival.

Steven immediately smiled. "So you ignored orders."

Leon nodded proudly. "I had a feeling Arthur would find something interesting."

Steven laughed. "That sounds exactly like your father."

Mephistopheles fighting Strax.

Leon and Arthur dealing with two Thunderbird Chiefs.

Elaine slowly muttered while writing, "I don’t know whether to call this courage or insanity."

Sun quietly said, "Both."

Arthur smiled. "Then Vedas evolved," he said.

Steven nodded. "Goblin King."

Arthur smiled. "He went to take on and defeat the two Beast Chiefs."

Silence.

Elaine’s notebook slowly lowered as the pen slipped from between her fingers. It rolled across Steven’s desk but she didn’t even notice. "By himself?"

Arthur nodded. "They were blocking the road."

Steven quietly laughed. "I suppose that would solve the problem," he said.

Arthur nodded. "It did."

Steven quietly smiled. "He prepared a Kingdom, for a thousand years, for a group he would never meet."

Silence settled over the room. His eyes naturally drifted toward Mithra. "I can understand."

Nobody interrupted. The silence stretched a moment longer than it needed to, and nobody rushed to fill it.

Arthur smiled. "Yeah. He was really amazing."

Arthur then talked about how after the Chiefs were killed, they could now start to push back the beasts out of the city.

Then the atmosphere immediately changed as Arthur’s smile vanished. This was the first time it did since he entered the office, and everyone in the room felt it happen before he even said a word.

"Then it came back," he said.

Nobody interrupted. Arthur described the ceiling breaking, the pressure, the sea of lightning, Judgment.

Athena quietly said, "I still believe Gold Rank—"

Leon slowly interrupted. "Higher."

Steven looked toward him. "Higher?"

Leon nodded. "I’ve fought beside Father. It felt stronger."

Silence.

Steven froze. "Dues Draken?"

Leon quietly nodded. "Yes."

Steven slowly leaned back. "Dues Draken once killed multiple Gold Beasts before. And I even watched him split apart an entire mountain."

Mithra’s eyes widened in shock. Athena blinked before pinching herself. Leon nodded slowly.

Sun’s lips twitched as he muttered, "What’s up with these Gold Rank figures and destroying mountains?"

Steven continued. "And you’re telling me this creature felt even stronger?"

Leon didn’t hesitate. "Yes. It wasn’t close."

Arthur then quietly said, "It was the same thing."

Steven looked confused.

Arthur continued. "The lightning above the convoy. The shockwave. The thing that made us crash. It was that."

Elaine’s eyes widened. "It followed you," she said.

Arthur quietly said, "The creature wanted Eden."

Steven looked toward him. "And?"

Arthur smiled. "Nobody agreed."

Leon nodded. "Not even for a second."

Sun laughed. "I don’t even remember discussing it."

Mithra smiled. "I don’t think anyone did."

Athena folded her arms. "It wasn’t worth discussing."

Elaine blinked. "You immediately decided to fight something stronger than Gold Rank?"

Arthur looked confused. "Well, she’s our partner. So we all stood in front of her."

Leon nodded. "Every single one."

Sun smiled. "I don’t even remember deciding."

Mithra laughed softly. "We just moved."

Athena folded her arms. "If someone wanted Eden they had to get through us first."

Elaine slowly looked away.

Steven smiled. "Good."

Silence. Nobody spoke. It was a different kind of quiet than the ones before it, less shock and more something closer to respect, and Steven let it hold for a moment before he moved forward.

Steven quietly asked, "Then how are you alive?"

Arthur smiled. "Dawn Sanctuary," he said.

He explained everything, and the room stayed quiet through all of it, nobody willing to interrupt while he walked them through the barrier, the silence, and the escape that had somehow kept all of them breathing.

Arthur finished. "Then we woke up."

Athena quietly added, "Almost two months later."

Silence.

Elaine slowly realized why the time dilation existed. "It wasn’t trapping you," she said. She looked toward Arthur. "It was hiding you."

Athena nodded. "Until it could no longer detect that entity nearby."

"I see. So you think the entity was still looking?" Steven questioned.

"It makes sense. If it knew we survived, then it would have kept looking for us through the Ruins of Evolution. And only leave if it thinks we aren’t there anymore."

Elaine slowly looked down at the notebook and saw blank pages still remained. She quietly closed it anyway. "It wouldn’t matter."

Steven looked toward her.

She smiled weakly. "I don’t even know where history begins anymore."

"Sorry for that," Arthur scratched his cheek.

Steven crossed his arms. "Still, Halburn really left you all with an amazing gift."

"Yeah, I agree," Arthur perked up. "He really was amazing," he said.

Nobody disagreed. Everyone let that sentence sit a little longer than the others, a quiet kind of tribute nobody needed to explain.

Arthur smiled. "We actually stayed another week."

Elaine blinked. "Why?"

Mithra’s expression softened. "They needed help and we couldn’t just leave. There were still homes destroyed."

Arthur smiled.

"The school reopened."

"The Builders kept arguing over who built the better houses."

"Stone Guardians fixed crooked walls."

"Children kept trying to climb them."

Sun laughed. "They eventually gave up trying to stop them."

Leon smiled. "The Direwolves started playing with the children."

Athena smiled. "The Spectral Goblins went back to quietly watching the streets."

"Besides, it was fun helping them out and seeing their happy faces..." Mithra said softly.

Steven quietly watched his daughter’s smiling face. "...You’ve grown."

Mithra blinked. "Hm?"

Steven smiled. "Nothing."

Arthur nodded. "I agree with you, Mithra. I kind of miss them too."

"The Goblins in the city?"

"Yeah. They’re family now, after how much we took care of them and they helped us."

Steven simply looked toward Arthur. "I believe they feel the same."

And by the time Arthur reached the end of the story, the tea Steven had poured at the beginning of the meeting had long since gone cold.

Arthur smiled. "And that’s the reason for the two delays."

Nobody answered.

Steven slowly looked toward Elaine.

Elaine slowly looked toward Steven.

Neither spoke.

Sun quietly covered his face.

Mithra looked at the floor.

Athena adjusted her glasses for the fifth time.

Leon quietly took one step backward.

The office held that silence a while longer than any before it, five students slowly realizing exactly what kind of reaction was building on the other side of the desk.

Arthur blinked. "Why’s everyone acting weird?"

Steven slowly inhaled.

Elaine slowly exhaled. "Arthur."

Arthur smiled. "Yeah?"

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