The Five Evolution

『There better be a part 2, because it’s been a while — The Book』

The corridor leading to the Library was just as silent as Amara remembered.

Five pairs of footsteps echoed against the floor while Ethan walked several paces ahead of the group, a plain white access card pinched between two fingers.

He stopped before the Library door and held up the card. "The Director had one instruction." He glanced over his shoulder. "Tread carefully."

They all exchanged wary glances with each other before Ethan slid the card through the reader.

A soft chime answered, followed by a click. Then the door unlocked, and Ethan pushed it open.

The Library stretched far beyond what should have fit inside the building.

There was the familiar towering bookshelves that climbed endlessly upward until they disappeared into darkness, and the twisting staircases bathed in warm amber light greeted them.

Scrolls. Glass cases. Ancient relics. Strange artifacts, whose purposes none of them wanted to guess. They’d seen all this before, but it still felt like the first time.

The door quietly shut behind them, and Raj looked upward. "Still sick."

As they walked deeper inside, Hiro slowed beside a peculiar candle resting on a stone pedestal. Instead of a single wick, six wax fingers branched upward from one melted base.

He leaned closer and squinted. "...Yep." He straightened. "Still creepy."

They continued. Several shelves later, something enormous stood against the wall beneath a thick black tarp.

Its outline suggested a piece of furniture almost eight feet tall, but nobody asked what was underneath. They just kept moving.

"Remember," Ethan said. "We’re here to speak with the Book." He paused. "Don’t touch anything."

"Relax." Raj gestured dismissively. "We’re professionals."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "That doesn’t sound encouraging."

The group moved past an aisle, and Raj suddenly slowed.

"Raj..."

His head tilted slightly. "Who said that?"

"...Come closer."

His footsteps faltered. The alluring voice was soft, warm, and inviting.

He frowned. "Anyone else hear that?"

Everyone stopped, well almost everyone. Ethan kept moving.

"What?" Sophia asked.

Raj pointed toward a small dark jar resting high on one shelf. "I think it’s coming from there."

Hiro’s gaze followed his pointed finger and he tilted his head. "Huh..." He squinted at the faded inscription. "It looks..." He squinted harder. "...Is that ancient Greek?"

"It is Greek," Amara confirmed, and they all turned to look at her.

She narrowed her eyes at the label. "It says..." She read quietly. "...Perfume of the Gods."

They kept staring at her.

"What?" Amara shrugged. "I took a Greek elective my first year."

Sophia stared another second. "Of course you did."

Further ahead, Ethan called back. "What are you all doing?"

Raj finally looked away from the bottle. "...Nothing."

They continued walking, but the jar’s whisper tugged at Raj one last time, this time in his head.

Raj...

He hesitated.

"Duuude." Hiro waved him over. "You coming or what?"

"Yeah, yeah. I’m coming," Raj muttered, shaking off the haze as he forced himself to walk away, and the whisper disappeared.

***

At the very center of the impossible Library stood the familiar pedestal, resting upon it... the Book.

It floated lazily above the pedestal before opening itself halfway.

"I shall get straight to the point." Its pages rustled softly. "You desire information regarding the Apostles." It rotated toward Ethan. "And Ethan here knows precisely what I require in return."

All eyes turned to Ethan, and he nodded quietly. "A future favor."

The Book fluttered approvingly. "Nothing that would violate your precious principles." Its voice carried a hint of amusement. "I am well aware how dearly some of you mortals treasure those."

Amara folded her arms. "Can we have a moment?"

The Book closed halfway. "By all means."

They huddled a short distance away, the five of them instinctively forming a loose circle.

Nobody spoke for a while. Then Sophia finally broke the silence.

"This is exactly how horror movies start." She smacked her lips. "’Just one small task,’ they say. ’It will cost practically nothing,’ they say. Next thing you know we’re sacrificing our firstborn children."

"Our firstborn child?" Hiro grinned. "Sophia, let’s not get ahead of ourselves."

Sophia punched him lightly in the arm. "I’m being serious."

Raj nodded gravely. "That does sound pretty inconvenient."

Hiro scratched his chin. "Okay." He sighed. "Playing devil’s advocate here."

Everyone looked toward him.

"The Book is creepy... sleazy... weird... gives off major malevolent vibes every now and then... super cryptic..." He counted on his fingers as he mentioned each trait.

Raj blinked. "Where exactly are you going with this?"

Hiro lowered his hand. "...But." He looked toward the pedestal. "It hasn’t exactly lied to us so far right?"

Silence crept in.

"Right..." Amara admitted reluctantly.

Ethan looked at each of them. "Information wins wars, and right now we’re reacting to everything the Apostles do."

"I dunno," Sophia said. "Reacting doesn’t sound so bad."

Ethan folded his arms. "If we understand why they need the Anchors..." His gaze settled on Amara. "Maybe we can prevent anyone else from dying."

Another silence followed.

Amara looked around. "Put it to a vote?" She raised her hand first. "As much as I don’t trust the Book, I say we take the deal."

Hiro immediately raised his. "Ditto."

Ethan followed, and that made three.

Raj looked toward Sophia as they exchanged a look.

Sophia sighed dramatically. "...Fine." She raised hers.

Raj shrugged. "Fuck it." His hand went up.

That made five.

Amara smiled faintly before turning back toward the Book.

"Finished your little caucus?" it asked cheerfully. "Come to a decision, or shall I conjure up a chair and wait another hour?"

"We have questions before we agree to anything," Amara said, slipping into the negotiation mindset she’d honed in school. "About the favor specifically."

"Of course you do." The Book’s pages ruffled. "You’re not complete idiots, which is refreshing. Ask away."

"The favor," Ethan started. "We need to know there are parameters. Limitations. We’re not agreeing to a blank check."

"Naturally." It sounded almost offended. "Do I truly strike you as unreasonable?"

"...Don’t answer that," the Book quickly added before anyone would respond.

Raj slowly lowered his hand.

"As I already stated," the Book continued. "I will not ask anything that violates your principles."

Amara didn’t lower her gaze. "Then we set the terms."

The Book made a dramatic flourish with its pages. "I’m listening."

"You get one favor. Obviously."

"Accepted."

"It cannot directly or indirectly endanger innocent people."

"What is innocent and what is guilty anyway?" The Book tilted slightly away from them. "Killing babies could be innocent in some far away planet."

Amara’s eyes narrowed without saying a word.

"... Accepted." the Book said.

She smiled and continued. "And lastly, it cannot require us to betray the Institute or anyone we care about."

The Book tilted thoughtfully. "...Reasonable."

"...And absolutely no murdering of anybody’s firstborn children," Raj added.

"..." The Book stared at him.

Then Sophia crossed her arms. "What about loopholes?" She looked at the Book. "If I’ve learned anything from movies, people like you tend to use them a lot."

The Book sighed. "You five truly suck every ounce of fun out of making supernatural bargains."

Its pages flipped once. "Fine. I shall neither intentionally twist your wording nor exploit hidden interpretations." Another page turned. "The favor shall be exactly what it appears to be."

Ethan looked toward Amara.

She held the Book’s gaze another few seconds, then said, "you have yourself a deal."

For a moment, all the lights in the Library dimmed ominously, then brightened again.

"Excellent." Its pages opened wider. "Democracy." It paused. "I never really did get that concept."

The pages began turning. Slow at first, then faster. "But I do so enjoy agreements reached with informed consent."

From there, ink lifted off each page as letters drifted upward, and words followed. Entire paragraphs spiraled into the air like ribbons.

The Library began disappearing beneath an endless storm of written language.

Bookshelves blurred. Lanterns dissolved into sentences. The floor itself became lines of text.

Raj looked around. "...Uh..."

Amara clenched her fist together. At this point, it felt like she was being pulled into a black hole, except, it didn’t hurt. "Whaa—"

Hiro’s hands went up. "I can’t feel my faaa—"

The Book’s voice echoed from everywhere at once. "History..." Another page turned. "...is best understood..." The words surrounded them completely. "...when experienced."

The storm of ink cascaded into the vortex, engulfing them as everything became white.

Then... nothing.

Just like that, they were all sucked into a story.