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Chapter Twenty-Five: Evolution
"No, no… don't leave me alone…
Yelena…
Yelena…
I wish you had never been born…
Yelena, sister will protect you…
No, sister, don't leave me… I'm scared…
Yelena, you are not our daughter… you are not my sister…
No, no… I'm afraid of being alone…
Someone save me… I'm afraid of the darkness…
Nooooo…"
William burst into the room, listening to the muffled gasps for breath. A flash of lightning illuminated the space just enough for him to see the shadow of a girl curled up on the bed, trembling. He approached and heard the quivering voice—slightly similar to Selena's:
"I'm sorry I woke you up… I was having a nightmare."
Her words carried fear and anxiety.
– "What are you afraid of?"
– "I'm not afraid of anything!!"
– "Are you afraid of being alone?"
This time, Yelena shouted her reply:
"I'm not afraid of anything… I'm a killer… I… I am fear itself… others should run from me… I… I…"
Her sobs broke her voice.
William said gently,
"I understand that feeling, Yelena…"
He sat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Loneliness… In these past weeks with you, I realized how lonely I used to be. You, me, Beta, and so many others… we are all alone. But I broke that loneliness with you. How about you, Yelena?"
In the darkness of the room, Yelena looked at the man before her and nodded.
"This place feels so good… it feels like a home… but I can't stay here forever… neither can you, William."
– "That's true, Yelena… but you shouldn't run away from these moments. The more you run, the lonelier you become. These moments should be engraved in our hearts, so when we drown in darkness, they'll be the anchor that saves us."
– "You don't understand… when your family sees you only as a tool for their desires, and whenever they want, they discard you like trash… when your own sister looks at you once and gets tired of your existence… then you too feel loneliness… you too start to hate your own existence in this world…"
Her voice was filled with self-loathing. She blamed herself for everything.
William pulled Yelena into his arms, gently stroking her hair.
"Cry, Yelena… turn all your hatred into tears… cleanse yourself of this darkness… you deserve the purest heart in this world. Your purity and beauty make this world brighter. Yelena, don't hate yourself, and don't hate others either. Your existence has a purpose—just as you came here to save me from the cold of this land with the warmth of your soul… let me be the remedy for your wounded heart as well."
Before William could find more words, his lips were silenced by Yelena's. After a few seconds, she pulled back, lowered her head before his bewildered gaze, and whispered softly:
"Thank you… and I love you…"
Now it was Yelena's turn to be surprised, because William raised her chin, lifted her face, and kissed her lips. After a few seconds, he pulled away, his gray eyes gazing into hers as he said in his calm voice:
"I thank you as well… and I love you too…"
Wiping away Yelena's tears, William embraced her tightly, resting her head against his chest.
"Yelena, maybe I can't always be with you… but I am here now… and I love you."
– "Me too, William…"
They held each other tightly, letting the warmth of their presence drive away the cold loneliness the world had forced upon them.
Three days after the deepening of William and Yelena Belova's bond and their peaceful life, something happened—a reminder that they did not live in an ordinary world. Perhaps "magical" wasn't the right word, but it was close enough… a world of wonders.
That morning, William was seated cross-legged, practicing the breathing techniques of ninjas. In recent days, by creating positive emotions within himself and Yelena, he was able to train more calmly. Yelena busied herself with her shock device, while Beta was lying lazily under the shade of a tree. They were all happy, each occupied in the rare sunny day of Siberia. But none of them knew that thousands of kilometers away, in the endless void of space, several people aboard a space station were running from disaster—towards a new chapter of existence…
– "Susan! If you go out there, you'll die like the others!"
– "Maybe, Victor… but I can't abandon my brother and my friends."
A beautiful girl ran through the corridor of the space station. Victor, a tall man with black hair and a stern, rugged face, sealed the shelter doors. At that moment, two others stood waiting outside the station's airlock, trying to pull inside a man wearing a spacesuit. But the cosmic storm gave them no time. It first struck the suited man outside, then the two at the door, and finally Susan as she reached the end of the corridor. A fragment of the storm even penetrated the shelter's defenses and struck Victor.
The pain was unbearable, and all five fainted. Ten seconds were enough for a chain reaction to be triggered in their DNA sequences—each one slightly different. The cosmic storm swept past the station, across Earth, and struck the uninhabited northern lands. Even this small dose was enough… enough to bring both wonder and chaos to the three friends in the cabin.
Reed Richards' calculations were correct, but he was not omniscient. The timing, the scale, and the exact location of impact—all had small but devastating errors.
Auroras painted the Siberian skies with lasting patterns. Cosmic energy swept like a storm, leaving strange traces in its wake. Four beings drew that energy into themselves like sponges.
A colossal creature in the heart of Siberia opened its massive jaws, filled with sharp teeth, and swallowed the energy. A shockwave rippled across Siberia, forcing it back. A deep sound—like the roar of a dragon—echoed, then fell silent. Siberia returned to its stillness.
The other three beings were none other than William and his companions.
Yelena lay unconscious on the ground, sparks of electricity flashing from her hands.
Beta was nowhere in sight, but the shadow beneath the tree had grown unnaturally dark, taking the shape of a massive wolf.
And William—calm, seated cross-legged with eyes closed, as if nothing had happened. Yet the greatest change had occurred within him.
Cosmic energy is the purest form of evolution granted by the universe. Whenever it touches a living being, that being evolves toward a higher state. Just as, hundreds of thousands of years ago, when a monkey encountered such energy and gave rise to intelligent humans.
But what about William?
He had always been different from other humans; he knew it, and so did the king's physicians. With Merlin's training, William grew stronger than ordinary men. His progress in physical training was faster, his results greater. His strength, before his illness worsened, rivaled that of someone infused with a weakened Super Soldier serum.
He could sense his surroundings without sight, relying on heightened senses. He once thought everyone had this ability—but they did not.
The doctors claimed William's illness was caused by excessive energy consumption. On a graph, if he had enough energy, he could endlessly climb higher—growing stronger in every way. Like a certain famous bald man everyone knows! But his incomplete gift had left him not bald—but blind. His genetics showed blindness as if he had been born without sight.
That flawed gift had consumed his vision entirely, leaving behind an irreparable wound.
Yet, by fate or luck, William received at that very moment what he needed most. If he had encountered the cosmic energy at birth, perhaps the Marvel universe would have witnessed its strongest being. But… William's evolution took another path.
At the microscopic level, a small but extraordinary change occurred in his DNA. The part once meant for vision was now vacant. William lost his sight completely. But something new took its place. A thin thread linked all his other senses together with the power rooted in his soul, creating a new perception.
This sense could now be trained, and unlike before, it no longer drained his life. Deep within his forehead, behind skin and bone, a new organ had formed—like a vertical eye. Slowly, it split open; within it shone a golden ring.
With eyes shut, William could perceive dozens of meters around him—not through normal sight, but in a full 360-degree, three-dimensional awareness. He saw the white energy of the trees, vibrant and joyous. He saw Yelena, radiating power greater than his own. He saw Beta, a mixture of white and black energy, like liquid spread across the ground.
After several moments, William opened his eyelids and touched his eyes, realizing hollows lay behind them—as if no eyes had ever grown there since birth.
He breathed deeply, stood up, and felt a freshness and lightness he had never known—like a man freed after walking years under a heavy burden.
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