I Can See Evolution Paths

Chapter 45: Evolution Memories

The doors closed behind them.

The noise of the Academy faded away.

Arthur looked around. "Oh."

Athena had already adjusted to the Archive’s atmosphere. "It tends to have this effect," she said.

They began walking.

Endless crystal shelves stretched into the distance with thousands of crystals drifting silently overhead. Athena walked beside Mithra and, after a moment, looked at her directly.

"What actually happened?" she said.

Mithra let out a small breath. "There were dozens of reports filed already, I assume."

"None of them agree on anything past the lightning appearing."

Mithra began explaining, with Arthur chiming in occasionally. Athena’s expression became progressively quieter as Mithra spoke, each piece of information landing in visible increments.

When Mithra finished, there was a pause.

"Are you attracted to trouble?" Athena said, and turned toward Arthur. "Or is trouble attracted to you?"

Arthur scratched the side of his cheek. "I honestly don’t know."

"Is there a difference?"

"Philosophically—"

"There isn’t," Athena said.

Arthur smiled. "It does give me another story to tell Mom."

Mithra laughed. Athena did not.

"Arthur," Athena said, with the specific tone of someone delivering information they wanted received seriously. "Stories that involve Gold Rank presences tend to end before the storyteller reaches home."

"I won’t die," Arthur said.

Mithra covered her mouth.

Athena stared at him. "Why?"

"I’m just saying—"

"Please do not say things like that."

"It’s optimistic."

"It is tempting fate in the most direct manner available to you, which is something I would strongly suggest you avoid doing while standing in a building full of preserved memories of extinct species."

"You would’ve loved researching it."

"W-What–"

"Don’t worry, I will bring you along next time."

"There will not be a next time."

"That’s what I thought before this time."

"Arthur," Athena said.

"I’m just saying you would have found it interesting," he said.

"You find everything interesting."

"I find things interesting from a safe distance."

"You ran toward the Hobgoblin and helped fight them during the raid," Arthur said. "And then went on to take notes."

A pause.

"That was research," Athena said.

"While people were fighting."

Athena’s jaw moved slightly.

Mithra had both hands over her mouth now.

"The point," Athena said, with great care, "is that I would not have wanted to be on a convoy that fell out of the sky."

"The falling part was the least interesting part," Arthur said. "It was the shadow above the clouds that was worth seeing."

Athena went very still.

"The shadow," she said.

"Before the lightning. Something large enough that its shape was visible through the cloud layer. Moving fast." Arthur looked at the ceiling of the Archive. "I’d never seen anything like it."

Athena stopped walking.

Even Mithra looked over.

"...Arthur." Athena’s voice had become quieter. "Don’t tell anyone else about that."

Arthur blinked. "...Why?"

"I want to confirm something first." Athena’s notebook was suddenly open. "What kind of shape," she said.

Arthur looked at her and then at the open notebook. "We don’t know, but maybe you could have if you were there. Oh well, next time," he said, very gently, "you should come."

Athena looked at the notebook and then at Arthur. Then at Mithra, who had turned completely away from both of them and was trying not to laugh.

"I..." Athena said. She stopped. "The shadow is a separate point from the convoy falling."

"They happened on the same trip," Arthur said.

"Correlation is not—"

"You’d have to be there to document both," Arthur said.

Athena closed the notebook. "Please," she said, "continue walking."

A few minutes into their walk, Arthur remembered something. "The King Maker Tournament," he said. "I told Steven I’m entering."

Athena glanced at him. "I assumed you would the moment you heard about it."

"When does registration start? What are the simulations like? Can first-years actually make it to the Student Council?"

Athena raised one hand. "We will discuss that later."

"But—"

She gestured at the Archive around them, at the crystals and the lights and the moving books and the scale of everything they were walking through. "For today, just be here. The tournament questions will keep."

He laughed. "That’s probably right."

Athena rested her fingertips against a crystal.

"Watch."

The world disappeared in darkness.

A vast forest appeared around him.

Rain fell from above.

The smell of wet earth filled the air.

Screeches and roars echoed through the forest. Then a tiny reptile burst from beneath a fallen tree. It searched for food, and Arthur felt the same instinct.

Eat...

Or die.

Relief flooded through him, and the hunger disappeared.

Then—

The forest shook as a massive shadow passed overhead. The tiny reptile froze, and Arthur froze with it. His heart hammered against his chest as something in his mind kept screaming.

Run.

Run.

RUN!

The creature disappeared beneath tangled roots just as enormous claws tore through the place it had been standing a heartbeat earlier. After a bit, the fear faded, and the tiny creature cautiously stepped back into the light.

It had survived.

Arthur realized... He hadn’t been watching hope but feeling it.

And then again.

The forest changed as trees fell, mountains rose, and rivers shifted. The years continued flowing again and again. Until something changed within the tiny creature. It stood still before its entire body trembled.

Excitement exploded through him.

Then—

The world exploded with light.

His body began growing bigger; the scales on his body turned sharper, and the feeling of spikes growing over his tail could be felt.

Excitement.

Confusion.

Joy.

Then one clear thought that he had become stronger. It wasn’t pride or arrogance but instead relief.

But then everything dissolved.

Arthur blinked.

He was back.

"...I don’t think I’ll ever forget that." Arthur slowly touched his chest. His heartbeat still hadn’t settled. "...It felt like a decade had passed."

Athena gave a small nod. "You didn’t watch the memory. You lived it."

Arthur held his chin. "...That’s why it felt real."

Athena nodded. "Exactly."

"The memories aren’t trying to teach you. They don’t want to be forgotten." Mithra finished with a sigh.

"Amazing..." He whispered in awe.

Athena continues. "But there are rules."

Arthur looked up immediately.

"Some memories last only a few seconds."

"Some last hours."

Arthur blinked. "...Hours?"

Athena nodded. "And some have lasted days."

Arthur slowly lowered the hand he had been reaching toward another crystal with. "...Days?"

"Yes."

Mithra smiled at his expression.

Athena continued calmly. "Never touch two crystals at the same time."

Arthur frowned. "...Why?"

Athena was silent for a moment. "Your mind will break from two memories clashing. Even in the best-case scenario, you would just have an identity crisis..."

"...Noted." He slowly lowered his other hand. "Probably."

"Yep, so don’t mess around with the crystals," Mithra said with a giggle. "We want to keep our Arthur."

"At the very least, we don’t need you getting even more insane."

"I’m perfectly sane."

Arthur looked around.

Shelves.

More shelves.

Then even more beyond them. His voice became almost a whisper. "...I’ll never finish all of these."

Athena smiled faintly. "No one ever has."

Arthur looked back toward the endless shelves.

Then smiled. "...Good."

Athena blinked. "Good?"

"It means I’ll always have something new to discover." He clenched his fist. "And I’ll never run out of stories."

Mithra laughed. "I agree."

Athena smiled and nodded before looking away to put back the crystal.

Arthur glanced away and then took a step toward the nearest shelf. Athena turned to explain the organization system, and Arthur was gone. Mithra pointed toward the far left aisle without being asked.

Athena sighed and came over to him before asking. "Have you decided on your branch?"

"My branch?"

"Mithra..."

"Don’t blame it on me; he was getting distracted too much. We were meant to find the dorms but somehow ended up here instead."

"That... makes a lot of sense."

"It’s not my fault this academy is too amazing."

Mithra laughed while Athena chuckled.

"Alright, well. First-year students select one Branch," Athena said when they had relocated Arthur and resumed walking beside him. "A specialty area of the Archive’s collection. Most students remain with one Branch for their full enrollment."

Arthur looked up from the crystal he was examining. "Only one?"

"Many for their entire career."

"Can I choose all of them?"

Athena stopped walking. "...Technically," she said.

"Has anyone ever mastered every branch?"

Athena simply said. "No."

Arthur’s eyes shone, but then Mithra gave him a look with a smile. "No."

"I didn’t even say anything!"

"We could feel the implication. And you would die from the workload."

Arthur smiled. "So it’s possible."

Mithra put one hand over her face. "That is exactly what he heard."

"There is a chance an organized person could do it." Athena said, "But no student in the Archive’s recorded history has."

Arthur smiled. "Then someone should try."

Mithra immediately answered. "Are you volunteering yourself?"

Arthur looked confused. "Well..."

"You absolutely were." Mithra laughed.

"Well, I guess I expected it." Athena’s lips twitched.

Arthur walked ahead with Athena following and answering more of his questions. Mithra tagged along, enjoying Athena’s reactions.

...

At some point in the deeper section of the Archive’s ground floor, Arthur stopped in front of a particular shelf without anyone directing him there. He had not been looking for it. He had simply arrived.

The section devoted to Goblin evolution was not large by the Archive’s standards. Several dozen crystals, a few floating records, one book that appeared to be primarily illustrations.

He looked at them without touching anything.

Athena had observed the path that brought them here, tracking the casual wandering that had looked purposeless but had resolved into this specific location. She made a note.

"I expected this," she said.

"Is it obvious?" Arthur asked, not taking his eyes from the crystals.

"You always end up where your questions are." Athena smiles.

...

They made their way back toward the entrance as the afternoon light appeared. Arthur stopped at the doorway and looked back.

Arthur looked around one last time. "...Tomorrow." He nodded once. "Tomorrow sounds good."

"You were already planning tomorrow?" Mithra asked.

Arthur looked genuinely confused. "...Wasn’t that obvious?"

Athena adjusted her glasses....Somehow, yes."

The three of them slowly made their way toward the Archive’s entrance.

The drifting crystals continued their silent paths overhead.

Blue.

Gold.

Silver.

Arthur stopped just before the doors.

He looked back one last time.

"...This place is amazing."

Then he smiled.

"...I think I’m going to spend a lot of time here."

The three of them stepped through the doorway.

The enormous doors began closing behind them.

Athena was the last to leave.

She glanced back out of habit.

The Archive remained as quiet as ever.

The drifting crystals floated through the air exactly as they always had.

Until...

One crystal stopped.

Not blue.

Not gold.

Not silver.

The cracked crystal.

Dark fractures spread slowly across its surface.

Then...

A faint black light flickered deep within it.

Athena froze.

"..."

The crystal gently turned.

Not toward the shelves.

Not toward the center of the Archive.

Toward the closing doors.

Toward where Arthur had just left.

For a single second, it remained perfectly still. Then the light vanished. The crystal quietly drifted away into the countless shelves once more.

Athena stared after it. Her hand slowly tightened around the notebook she was holding. "...That..." For the first time, she sounded genuinely uncertain. "...That has never happened before."