Chapter 3: Evolution Begins

It was as he had feared.

Silas, an aging scientist, stared at the notification hovering before him, his trembling hands losing grip on the pages of his research.

“Professor Silas, are you seeing this? Everything you predicted… it’s happening!”

His assistant, Karwick, burst into the room, clutching a device resembling a voltmeter that spun wildly and emitted erratic beeps.

Silas ignored him, his gaze fixed on the table cluttered with machines and materials.

If only the government had listened. We might have avoided this catastrophe.

He adjusted his glasses, frustration evident in his movements.

“What do we do now, Doctor?” Karwick asked in panic.

Still in his twenties, Karwick had a wife and a young daughter waiting for him at home. His fear was understandable, but Silas knew there was no longer any solution.

“This cannot be stopped.” Silas’s voice carried a grim finality.

The statement hit Karwick like a physical blow; the device slipped from his trembling hands and clattered to the ground.

“Sir?”

“I said there’s nothing we can do. This is a dimensional rift theory brought to life. I dreamed of this moment, and it heralds the end of the world. What happens next…” Silas faltered, goosebumps prickling his skin. “We can only observe. If my calculations are right, survival is still a possibility—however slim.”

Karwick’s eyes darted to his arms, where an unbearable itching sensation had begun. His skin crawled as though fire ants were swarming beneath it, or acid was eating it away. He screamed, his body convulsing in pain.

“What the hell is happening?! Aghhh!”

Silas endured the same torment but gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain composed.

“Despite humanity’s greatest advancements—curing advanced-stage cancer, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, plumbing the ocean’s deepest trenches, inventing phones with infinite battery life, and reversing climate change—we are powerless against this disaster,” Silas muttered, his voice filled with bitterness.

Before he could continue, Karwick’s frustration boiled over. He lunged at Silas, ramming his shoulder into the older man and knocking him to the ground.

“Stop spouting nonsense, Silas! Tell me we didn’t waste the last year doing nothing! Tell me you can save my family!”

Silas remained silent, his focus shifting back to the ominous notifications.

{Name: Silas Auron}

{Race: Human}

{Population count: over 8.2 billion}

{Impact in 5 seconds}

“Are you even listening to me, old man?!” Karwick roared, grabbing a metal rod from the table and raising it to strike.

But it was too late.

The timer hit zero.

The earth began to tremble violently, shaking the lab as though caught in an earthquake.

Silas’s heart sank as he watched the world around him disintegrate. The walls, the machines, even the air itself seemed to decay into dust.

Karwick froze mid-swing as the rod in his hand dissolved, starting from the tip and spreading up his arm. His body followed suit, disintegrating in an instant without so much as a scream.

Silas barely had time to process what was happening before he, too, was consumed by the wave of destruction.

—

Meanwhile, on the bus:

Elsa threw herself into Kael’s arms, burying her tear-streaked face against his chest and screaming in terror.

Her panicked grip startled Kael, but his attention was fixed on the notifications hovering before him.

{Name: Kael Auron}

{Race: Human}

{Population count: over 8.2 billion}

{Impact in 8 seconds}

“Elsa, are you—”

“No! I don’t want to see it anymore; it hurts, Kael!” she cried, clutching him tighter.

Kael’s mind raced. What can I do? There has to be something! His eyes darted to his friends.

Ron was thrashing in his seat, while Miller had been knocked to the floor and was being trampled in the chaos. The bus was a scene of utter pandemonium.

Taking a deep breath, Kael glanced back at the timer.

{3 seconds… 2… 1}

The ground beneath them erupted in a violent quake. The deafening screams of people inside and outside the bus filled the air.

Skyscrapers toppled like dominos, crumbling into dust. Cars disintegrated as if struck by an invisible wave. People shattered like fragile glass, their forms breaking apart in seconds.

The bus dissolved into nothingness.

Kael held Elsa tightly, bracing for the inevitable. His final thoughts were grim but resigned:

This is death.

And then, silence.

The last notification appeared, hovering in the void.

{Extinction complete: Genetic evolution begins.}

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