The Five Evolution

『"Reboot and Rebuild."』

They stood inside a small room lit only by the wavering golden flame of a lamp.

Kai, much older now, sat at a plain chair next to a wooden table.

Across from him sat the silver-streaked girl whose life he had saved many years ago. She shuffled a deck of cards. Each one bore the image of a monster.

Neither of them noticed the Five as the lantern cast long shadows across the walls.

Kai slowly unfolded a weathered map across the table.

"Twelve Anchors," he said, both hands placed on the table. "They touch what Creation was built upon. Something that is needed if we’re to save the world."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You keep saying that."

"We’ll need as many of these twelve as we can get." He ignored her comment. "Even if we have to scour other worlds for them."

"You still haven’t told me what happens when we gather them all," Rachel asked, her voice going up. "Or are we not a team anymore?"

Kai exhaled. "We are..."

After a long moment of silence, he stood up. "We are going to build a bomb."

Rachel’s eyebrow went up as she stopped shuffling. "A bomb?"

"Remember when I made the Firstborn known to you?" he asked her.

"Yeah?"

"The Firstborn cannot be reasoned with, and he will not be imprisoned again when he escapes." Kai met her eyes. "So he must be erased."

Rachel searched his face. "...That’s what all this is for?"

Kai gave a small nod. "To destroy the Firstborn." His voice never rose. "To return Creation to nothing... and build it again."

She asked quietly, "And what do we have to become to accomplish this?"

"Apostles," he answered without hesitation. "Messengers." He gently lifted her face by the chin. "Not of a god... of necessity."

The deck in her hand disappeared. "I trust you," she said, before walking away.

He watched her leave.

And as soon as the door closed, the room became eerily quiet.

His gaze moved to the middle distance, to nothing in particular, and settled there.

Then, slowly, his transformed eyes shifted to the exact location in empty air where five people stood, who believed themselves invisible.

Every single one of them went still.

"...He can’t see us," Raj said. "Right?"

"He’s looking right at us," Sophia said.

"That’s not possible," Hiro started. "The Book said—"

Kai’s gaze settled on Hiro. "I will not be spied upon."

Before anyone could react, one hand tore through the boundary between fiction and nonfiction. Straight into the space where the Five were standing, and closed around Hiro’s throat.

Hiro’s eyes widened as his feet left the ground.

"Get us out of here!" Amara screamed. "Now!"

Reality shattered, and the Library slammed back into existence.

The floor materialized under them so fast that they all stumbled. Ethan caught Amara. Raj caught the edge of a shelf.

Hiro crashed onto the polished wooden floor, both hands clutching desperately at his throat.

"Hiro—" Sophia dropped beside him immediately.

Hiro’s chest was moving wrong, too shallow, hitching between breaths.

"Hk—"

"Khh—"

"Oh no," Amara said.

"What’s happening?!" Raj asked.

"Asthma." Sophia’s voice was flat and immediate.

"Hk—hkk—"

Raj crouched next to him. "What do you need?!"

Hiro desperately pointed toward the exit and Amara’s eyes suddenly widened. "Your inhaler?!"

He nodded frantically.

"Where exactly?" Ethan asked.

Amara was already moving. "His comic bag. Outer pocket..."

Raj and Ethan were gone before she finished the sentence.

"I should have seen that coming," the Book said.

"Shut up," Sophia and Amara yelled simultaneously.

Amara looked at Sophia. "Stay with him. I’ll be right behind them," she said, then ran after the boys.

Sophia sat beside Hiro on the floor of the Library. All around them, books stood in silent rows, and the amber light did nothing useful.

"Hhk—"

His face had gone a shade that made her stomach drop.

"Hey." She put one hand on his shoulder, then thought better of it and moved it to his back, rubbing slow circles. "Stop trying to talk. They’ll be back. Just breathe."

"I—hk—can’t—"

"I know. I know, stop—don’t tell me that, just—" She ran her other hand roughly through her hair and made a short, frustrated sound.

He was getting worse.

"Khh—hk—hkk—"

"Okay," she said, mostly to herself. "...Screw it."

With one hand pressed flat against his chest, and the other braced on the floor, she leaned in and kissed him.

His lips were slightly parted from the gasping, and she stayed there, still and quiet, for a moment that stretched longer than she’d planned.

Then she pulled back.

His eyes were very wide. He was breathing normally now, his chest rising and falling in steady rhythm.

Sophia sat back slightly and observed him, while also avoiding eye contact. "I assumed that would work," she said.

"..."

"It did," Hiro managed.

"I assumed correctly." She reached over and straightened a book on the nearest shelf that hadn’t needed straightening. "Don’t think too much of it."

Hiro touched his lips. Slowly. "I’m not—" he started.

"Good."

"—thinking too much of it."

"Good," she said again.

He looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Sophia."

"Please, don’t."

"I was just going to say thank you."

She was quiet for a second. "...You’re welcome."

The sound of running footsteps made Hiro and Sophia turn toward it.

Raj burst through the aisle first, inhaler already extended, Ethan two steps behind him and Amara three steps behind Ethan.

"We got it—" Raj stopped. He looked at Hiro, who was sitting upright. Breathing normally. "...You’re okay."

"Yeah," Hiro said.

Amara put both hands on her knees and caught her breath. "Don’t scare us like that."

"Sorry," he said.

She exhaled. Straightened. Then looked between Hiro and Sophia, who were both looking at different sections of the bookshelf.

"...What’s that all about?" Raj asked.

"Nothing," Hiro said.

"Nothing," Sophia said.

At exactly the same time.

Raj raised an eyebrow. He looked at Ethan. Ethan looked back at him with an expression that communicated: Not my concern.

The Book cleared its throat.

"Shut it," Sophia said, without looking.

"I think I speak for everyone else when I say we’re done with story-walking," Amara said.

Everyone murmured in agreement.

The Book fluttered once, then settled into its pedestal at the center of the Library. "Everyone’s a critic..."

They filed out of the Library in a loose cluster, nobody particularly eager to discuss what had just happened, the asthma attack or otherwise.

As they passed the shelf with the small dark jar, the alluring voice returned.

"...Raj..."

Raj slowed. He looked to his left, looked to his right, then reached up and took the jar off the shelf.

"...Just borrowing." He casually tucked the Perfume of Gods under his arm, and kept walking.

Nobody noticed, and the jar certainly didn’t object.

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