The Five Evolution

『"I am not one of you. I have never been one of you..."』

The room went quiet as both Ethan and Amara’s eyes narrowed in sync.

Bolivar swallowed and continued, "I was cursed with the power of future sight."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You can see the future?"

"Not exactly." Bolivar looked away. "My visions are specific." His voice sounded smaller now. "I don’t see everything. I don’t even see most things."

"So, what do you see?" Amara pressed.

Bolivar exhaled slowly. "People who are about to awaken." He placed a hand over his face. "I get visions a few weeks beforehand," he continued. "Sometimes less. Sometimes more."

"Visions?" Ethan asked.

"Faces. Names. Places." Bolivar’s hand moved to rub his forehead. "Fragments... and details."

Amara raised an eyebrow as Bolivar continued.

"Details of the type of Awakener they’ll become." His voice dropped. "How powerful they might be." Then Bolivar looked directly at Amara. "I don’t just see who they’re going to become."

His voice trembled. "I see the potential of what could happen."

"What does that mean?" Amara asked.

Bolivar’s eyes were distant now. "It means every possible disaster." His jaw tightened. "Every massacre. Every Awakener who loses control."

His breathing grew heavier. "I see cities burning. Families dead. Entire neighborhoods destroyed." He looked at Angel’s Bane. "And every single time..."

His expression twisted, staring at Amara now. "It starts with someone awakening."

The irony wasn’t lost on her. "You’re killing Awakeners while being one yourself." She paused. "Over a could-be?"

"I didn’t ask for this curse! I’ve hated what I am since the day I awakened!" Bolivar’s voice was filled with self-loathing. "But at least I can use it for something good."

He pushed his glasses up with the back of his hand. "At least I can prevent others from suffering like Melissa did. Like I do every day knowing what I am."

"Hmm," Ethan grunted.

"It’s the only way to stop the cycle!" Bolivar insisted. "The Institute won’t do it. They keep recruiting, keep training, keep turning kids into weapons. Someone has to stop it. Someone has to—"

"You can tell what type of Awakener someone will be?" Amara interrupted, focusing on what mattered now. "Vessel, Anchor, Contractor... you can distinguish between them in your visions?"

"Yes. Why does that—" Bolivar stopped, realization dawning. "You want to know about the Patel girl. What she is."

"Are you going to tell us?" Amara asked.

"She’s just like my Melissa." He let out a bitter laugh. "She’ll make a deal with something. And when she accepts... it’ll consume her just like it consumed my daughter."

"You don’t know that," Amara said. "And I know plenty of amazing Contractors."

"So did I," Bolivar said quietly. His eyes drifted toward the photograph of Melissa. "Before I buried one."

"You’re coming with us." Ethan grabbed his shirt and hauled him up. "You’ll be questioned about every name on those walls, every job you posted, every death you’re responsible for."

"And then what? Prison? Execution?" His laugh was hollow. "I’m a dead man either way."

Bolivar’s laugh died. Then he looked at them for a long moment. "You think the people backing me will let me talk?"

Ethan’s attention sharpened. "People backing you?"

Bolivar said nothing. But he didn’t correct himself either.

"Spare us, Bolivar." Amara sighed.

Ethan grinned, holding on to him with an arm now as the other one dropped to his side. "I mean, if you’re a dead man anyway, might as well talk, right?"

The fight went out of Bolivar completely as his shoulders sagged and he let out a tired sigh. "They approached me about six months after Melissa’s death. Two of them. Never gave names."

"Approached you where?" Amara asked.

"Found me at a Purity Movement meeting... that’s an activist group that opposes Awakener registration and wants stricter controls on our kind."

"We know what the Purity Movement is," Ethan said. "Keep talking."

Amara tugged lightly at Ethan’s sleeve.

"What’s a Purity Movement?" she whispered.

Ethan leaned toward her without taking his eyes off Bolivar. "Later," he whispered back.

"They said they’d heard about my activities," Bolivar continued. "About the hits I’d been putting out on potential Awakeners."

His legs finally gave out, and Ethan caught him before he hit the floor, forced to carry most of his weight as Bolivar sagged against him.

"They were curious. Wanted to know how I could identify people before they awakened. Asked if I could tell what type of Awakener someone would become."

"And you told them," Amara said.

"I told them everything. About my visions, about being able to distinguish between types. Everything." Bolivar’s voice dropped. "They were particularly interested in Anchors."

Amara exchanged a look with Ethan. From his expression, he was thinking the same thing she was.

"Anchors specifically?" Ethan pressed. "Not Vessels or Contractors?"

"Only Anchors. They asked if I could identify them before awakening, if I could track them, if I could provide detailed information about their locations and timelines."

Bolivar looked up at them. "They offered me resources. Money, connections, protection. Said they’d fund my mission to prevent awakenings if I’d provide them with intel on every potential Anchor I identified."

"So you made a deal," Ethan said, throwing Bolivar’s tired body against a wall. "To sell out your own kind."

"And fund your little crusade," Amara added.

"They—You are not my kind!" Bolivar’s gaze shifted to the ground as he slumped down to it, his glasses crooked. "They just wanted to know when and where Anchors would awaken."

"I thought... I thought maybe they were researchers. Trying to understand Anchor abilities better. I didn’t ask too many questions because they were giving me what I needed for my work."

"Your work," Ethan repeated.

"I was preventing tragedies," Bolivar insisted, but even he didn’t sound convinced anymore. The past tense arrived without him seeming to notice it.

Amara pulled out her phone. "We’re taking you to the Director. You’re going to tell him everything, every vision you’ve had, every Anchor you’ve identified, every detail about these people that approached you."

"They’ll kill me if I talk." Bolivar pushes up his glasses. "They said they’d know if I talked. Said they’re always watching."

"You’re dead either way," Ethan said bluntly. "You’re a liability now. We’ve found you, which means you’re compromised. Your only chance at survival is protection from the Institute and full cooperation."

Bolivar looked up at them for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "You’re right. I’m dead either way..."

They moved quickly. Ethan began coordinating transport through his phone, while Amara kept Bolivar between them, her blade ready for any threat.