The Five Evolution

『"Welcome... to the Before." — The Book』

Surrounding Amara was nothing but white. Endless white.

But it wasn’t empty. Books drifted around her, thousands upon thousands of them, suspended in the white like stars in a sky without a horizon.

Their covers bore no titles, their spines no authors. Yet their pages turned endlessly, revealing fragments of worlds.

On one of the pages, Amara saw a mechanical warrior locked in combat with a robed swordsman wielding what looked like a blade of pure light.

In another, a man wearing a clown mask and a top hat stood beneath a crimson moon, his silhouette stretching unnaturally across the ground.

In another, a horde of zombies chased a man in a leather jacket, a baseball bat gripped tightly in his hands.

Page after page turned. There were worlds she recognized, and worlds she had never heard of.

A question slowly formed in Amara’s mind. Were these stories merely stories? Or did they actually exist somewhere?

Amara blinked once. "...Book?"

Nothing answered.

In front of her, Raj slowly turned in a full circle. "...Did we die?" He stopped turning. "Did the book fucking kill us?!"

"I don’t think dead people’s got sneakers," Sophia replied, looking down at herself.

Hiro rubbed the back of his neck. "...Or anxiety."

"What is this place?" Amara asked. Beside her, Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

The silence returned for a moment.

Then—

Flip.

A single page turned somewhere beyond sight. Its sound rolled through the endless void like a distant thunder.

Following this was the sound of another page turning.

Flip.

Then the familiar voice arrived from everywhere at once. "Welcome..." Another page turned. "...to the Before."

The Book slowly drifted into existence between them, its leather cover closed. It seemed... different. Older. Even its usual smugness felt strangely restrained.

Raj folded his arms. "You know, every time you show up somewhere, I become about thirty percent more uncomfortable."

"I’ve noticed." The Book rotated lazily. "I should clarify something before we begin."

Its pages shifted almost nervously. "I ordinarily would not have brought you to this particular story."

Amara frowned. "What changed?"

The Book was quiet for a moment, then it said, "...He already knows about you." It looked at them. "And this story demands witnesses."

The words of the Book settled over them like ice water, nobody able to speak in that moment.

"Therefore," the Book continued, "observing this story changes nothing."

"He already knows about us?" Hiro slowly lowered his arms. "...Who’s he?"

The Book ignored the question. Instead, its cover opened and pages flipped again, and the Before dissolved around them.

***

A tiny silver point...

After a while, Darkness and a rippling surface.

Amara looked down, and it felt like she was standing on shallow water now.

Sophia instinctively moved closer to the others. "...Okay." She swallowed. "I think hate wherever we are."

"We’re not anywhere," the Book corrected. "We’re witnessing a moment before there was an anywhere."

Raj looked around. "So..." His eyes widened a bit "...this is literally the beginning?"

"The beginning," said the Book. "...or at least the part that concerns you."

Far ahead, if "ahead" still meant anything, the tiny point of silver flickered. It was incredibly small. Yet, somehow brighter than everything around it.

Then that tiny point of silver began to grow. The light expanded until it resembled a lone figure standing outside eternity.

Amara felt every instinct inside her tell her not to blink. Blink and you’ll miss something important.

The figure slowly raised his head. His eyes opened, and the entire void trembled.

Raj whispered without realizing it, "... Who’s that supposed to be?"

The Book’s answer came almost reverently. "The Firstborn. El."

Silence followed.

Amara’s eyes moved to Hiro, who normally couldn’t help asking questions. This time, he simply stared.

The figure stood alone. Amara could sense no anger, joy, hatred, curiosity, or malice. Only loneliness so profound it almost hurt to witness.

For what felt like centuries, or perhaps only seconds, he remained there. Watching nothing. Existing before existence itself.

They saw him make the first sound. A note of frequency that would one day become the hum of atoms and the vibration of strings.

Amara tilted her head. "...He’s alone."

"Darkness and Water," the Book corrected. "His first companions."

The Firstborn lifted one hand, almost curiously. As though discovering movement for the first time, reaching out to the edge of the void.

The loneliness Amara once felt from him was gone.

Then something changed. The Darkness rippled and folded as Light collided with it. Suddenly, Darkness and Water were not all there was.

Knowledge formed. Light emerged. Space folded. Time ignited.

Creation... or the earliest sketch of it, began trying to exist.

Hiro’s eyes widened. "Wait..."

But just as light expanded and realities began to take shape, El looked around the void, and that was when Amara sensed a new emotion.

Anger.

The first Anger, before anger had a name.

Suddenly, entire clusters of unborn stars collapsed before they had fully formed, distances twisted into knots, and dimensions folded over themselves.

The expansion became destruction almost immediately. The Darkness and Water were erased alongside everything.

"What is happening?" Amara whispered. The ground no longer rippled where they stood.

The Book said nothing.

The Firstborn looked at what he had done, and confusion crossed his face.

Then... eight lights emerged from the unmaking.

These eight radiant figures formed a circle around the Firstborn.

Raj instinctively took one step backward, a forced grin on his face as sweat dripped down his forehead. "Why am I shaking in my boots?"

Amara looked down and realized her hands were also shaking and she quickly placed one hand over the other, but it didn’t stop.

"That’s an appropriate response," the Book replied. "They are the Divine Council."

Two of the eight stepped forward. As they did, Primordial Darkness and Water were pulled into being once more.

The Firstborn looked toward the newcomers, and for a brief moment, confusion and guilt faded as hope appeared in his eyes.

Then... the story simply stopped.

Everything froze, and Amara looked at the Book. "...Why did it stop?"

The Book slowly closed itself. "Because..." Another page turned. "...understanding what happens next requires us to observe from a distance."