It has always been a debatable topic, full of guesses and theories. Some believed in it, some didn’t. The doubt arose from the randomness of it.
The first transition from a single-celled organism to a multi-celled organism took hundreds of millions of years, perhaps even billions of years.
If things had progressed at that pace, then Humans would never come into being.
That was until a certain event occurred 541 million years ago.
The Cambrian Explosion.
It was an event that lasted twenty to twenty-five million years, in which the existing species on Earth underwent massive changes.
Not only that, new creatures appeared out of nowhere, exhibiting properties like exoskeletons, eyes, legs, mouths, and even proper nervous systems.
One could debate whether it was the time the Earth evolved into the world we know now.
The projection screen flickered as the professor turned to the students. The bald man was in his late fifties but remained as energetic as ever. After adjusting his black-rimmed glasses, the professor turned on the lights in the darkroom.
"Scientists are still debating over the reason behind the Cambrian explosion," he said in a hoarse voice. "Honestly, I think it’s an unsolvable mystery, but so was flying until someone did it."
He continued, "What do you think, students, any random ideas you’d like to share? We can put on our tin-foil hats for this one."
The class burst out laughing, pulling out the hats given to them at the start of the year. This was the reason everyone loved attending Dr. Alaric Darwin’s lectures.
Not only was he the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, he was a leading expert in paleogenetics, the study of ancient DNA and genealogy. Basically, he was the guy every nerd wanted to be.
Students immediately began pulling thoughts out of their asses. Some said it was god’s work because the creatures didn’t want to evolve, some said perhaps there was another asteroid impact that brought extraterrestrial life to Earth.
It was all for fun, but one student wasn’t interested in the ongoing class. He was Dr. Alaric’s son, Blaze Darwin.
He had been a gifted student since his younger days, rarely having to study to score the top grades. What he lacked wasn’t knowledge, but ambition.
Blaze didn’t inherit the long-standing curse of curiosity within the Darwin family. He couldn’t care less about evolutionary tales or the majestic creatures his father talked about.
Honestly, there was nothing that excited him. Blaze couldn’t even remember the last time he was happy or excited about something.
He had lived a sheltered, yet adventurous life, traveling the world alongside his father. There wasn’t a single continent he hadn’t been to, on his father’s quest of de-extincting ancient species.
He turned his gaze outside the window, only to realize something strange. He could see the sun. The sun’s brightness usually makes it impossible to look at for long, but Blaze felt no discomfort staring at it because it was dimming.
"What the..." Blaze whispered, rubbing his eyes.
It was high noon; the sun should have been at its brightest, yet it appeared as it did during sunset, painting the world red. Soon, he wasn’t the only one who noticed this mess.
People gasped, rushing to the windows. Within minutes, massive cracks had appeared on the star’s surface and the sun had turned crimson like a red giant.
No, it’s like the sun is... bleeding.
People rushed to check their phones, and the same thing was happening everywhere. Both the sun and the moon had turned crimson. Before people could dive in deeper, all the electronic items went off with a pop, with sparks flying everywhere.
"What is happening!?" someone exclaimed.
"Damn it! I just bought the damn thing and now it’s fried!"
"Good thing we had tin foils on our heads or we’d be fried too—"
"Shut up, David!" the entire class yelled at the clown.
Even in panic, only two people remained calm. The Darwins.
Alaric was intrigued by the sudden change, and so was Blaze. For the first time, the father-son duo had something other than their last names in common.
"No solar flare... No atmospheric disturbance... This shouldn’t be possible," Alaric muttered, stepping closer to the window. "This is... something incomprehensible, unprecedented, unbelievable..."
While the father was fascinated by the sun, the son looked down on the ground floor. Students and staff members were running outside, wondering what was going on.
A shrill scream pierced the curious noise, and everyone’s gaze turned towards the courtyard. A female student stood there, clutching her head as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
A few people rushed to her side, but before they could do anything, she collapsed on her knees. And then...
The woman’s head... exploded.
The weak-hearted quickly averted their gaze, but some didn’t, like the Darwins. A thin mist of blood sprayed everywhere as the woman’s body hit the floor.
That was just the start. More screams followed, and so did the heads popping. A guard, a professor, another student. The heads kept popping.
Panic spread through the crowd as people ran back inside. Just like that, the campus peaceful campus had turned into a madhouse. Some were clutching their heads, some were praying to the gods, thinking it was the end of times.
However, only one guy was worried about the important thing.
"...we got an apocalypse before GTA—"
Tsk... that was the one thing I was looking forward to.
Blaze turned back, clicking his tongue. But a moment later, someone fell back, pointing outside like they had seen a ghost.
"Wait... t-that girl! The headless girl... She’s walking!"
People didn’t believe it at first, but it was true. The girl’s body twitched before sitting right back up. The guard and professor got up next, but none of them had a head.
A cluster of twitching tendrils appeared on the girl’s head while a massive eye appeared on the security guard. They stood up and looked at one another before charging inside the building like bloodthirsty predators.
The people hadn’t managed to digest the sight when a sudden buzzing sound filled their heads. People clutched their heads, thinking they were about to turn into one of those creatures.
Just then, the buzzing mysteriously stopped. There was an odd silence everywhere.
"No, LOOK!" David exclaimed, pointing in the air.
Something was written in the sky.
The second spark is here.