Aurelius had learned three things so far:
Its powers were terrifying.
Its backyard was a miniature war zone.
Cosmic evolution did not come with a user manual—or even a pamphlet.
Hovering above the cratered remains of the sandbox, wings crackling with faintly dangerous energy, Aurelius contemplated the next step. The world below looked absurdly small, almost like a poorly drawn map, yet it felt as heavy as a universe—or at least like a universe-shaped headache.
"Okay," Aurelius muttered to itself, "lesson eight: maybe I should… find guidance. Someone wise. Experienced. A… mentor."
Finding a mentor was not easy. Most beings who had surpassed Level 3 of evolution didn't exactly leave breadcrumbs or Yelp reviews: "10/10, helped a fly achieve interdimensional awareness, would recommend." Still, the universe, ever whimsical, decided to help.
A shadow passed overhead. Not the cat, not the raccoon, not even the judgmental pigeon. Something… bigger. Something glowing. Something that made Aurelius's wings quiver in equal parts awe and mild terror.
Hovering in front of him was a creature that defied explanation. Part owl, part nebula, part something else entirely, its eyes were swirling galaxies, spinning in hypnotic orbits. Its wings shimmered like solar flares. Its very aura screamed: I know everything, and you are going to learn it the hard way.
"Greetings," the being said. Its voice was a chorus of whispers, echoes, and low cosmic static. "I am Lumulith, Observer of Forgotten Paths. And you, Aurelius, are… interesting."
Aurelius hovered, buzzing nervously. "Uh… hi. I'm Aurelius. Nice… uh… plumage?"
Lumulith's galaxy-eyes twitched. "A curious designation. Noted. Aurelius, you have awakened a spark of evolution that has lain dormant for eons. Your path… could reshape worlds."
Aurelius twitched his tiny wings. "Reshape worlds? Like… organize them alphabetically? Or… destroy them?"
Lumulith's laughter was a sound like stars exploding and sighing at the same time. "Both, perhaps. That is… entirely up to you."
"I mean… I was just trying not to vaporize the backyard," Aurelius admitted, "and now you're telling me I could—"
"Yes," Lumulith said, unfazed. "You could ascend beyond physicality, beyond thought, beyond reality itself. You could choose to be nothing… or everything… or slightly inconvenient."
"Ah, excellent," Aurelius buzzed. "Slightly inconvenient is kind of my specialty. But… wait, is there, like, a manual? A rulebook?"
Lumulith's laughter flared like a miniature supernova. "There is no manual, Aurelius. Only experience. Only experimentation. Only… chaos. But I can teach you the rules that remain."
Aurelius's wings quivered. "Wait! You're serious? I can… learn stuff? Like… cosmic lessons?"
"Yes," said Lumulith. "But first… you must understand the scale of what you are. What you could become. And to do that, we will start with a demonstration."
A pebble hovered as Lumulith extended a glowing wing. It split into shimmering shards, orbiting in perfect symmetry. The air thrummed with raw energy, vibrating with possibilities Aurelius had no business comprehending.
"Lesson one," Lumulith intoned. "Everything is connected. Power is intention. And intention… is everything."
Aurelius twitched nervously. "Okay… but… intention is hard. I once tried to intend not to hit the cat, and that… didn't exactly work."
Lumulith's laugh was like a meteor shower across a black sky. "Precisely. That is why you are interesting, Aurelius. Small, chaotic, wildly unpredictable. The universe may never forgive you—or even understand you—but that is exactly why you may succeed."
Aurelius's wings shimmered. "So… I get to be a cosmic bug superhero? That's… awesome."
"Yes," Lumulith said, fading into the sky like stardust carried by the wind. "But first… we practice. You learn. You fail. And perhaps, in time… you will evolve far beyond even your imagination."
Aurelius hovered over the backyard, looking at the scorched sandbox and displaced garden gnomes. "Lesson nine," he muttered, buzzing in slow circles, "don't underestimate tiny flying superheroes. Especially ones named Aurelius."
And somewhere, just above the horizon, the first classroom of a universe-sized school of chaos waited.
Because evolution had only just begun.