An error that changed everything

Late August 2023, Tokyo. There were still traces of the Obon that had ended the previous night, the feast of remembrance of the dead. In some places, floating paper lanterns had even landed, launched by those who didn’t like the traditional option of floating them down the Sumida River.

Not a very fire-safe way to remember the dead. However, few people cared about it in a world that was bursting at the seams and waiting for war. The Tokyo cleaners, who had been cleaning up since early morning, had no idea that the Obon decorations could be left in their chaotic state. After all, the real celebration of death was already on the doorstep. And in just a few hours, the safest city on the planet was about to turn into hell.

But for now, in a classroom in central Tokyo, with the famous television tower visible from the window, the first classes after the summer holidays were beginning. A young teacher, Jesu Kurisu, was enthusiastically talking about Darwin's evolution.

“So, as you all know, man descended from apes…”

“Teacher, we've been hearing this since childhood! But isn't Darwin's evolution just a theory?”

“Just? Darwin was a smart guy; he would have been offended to hear such a dismissive tone!”

“Guy?”

“Sorry, I meant respected sir! Ahem. Let’s continue. Thanks to natural selection and other evolutionary factors, you and I — Homo Sapiens — evolved from humanoid apes that appeared about 20 million years ago…”

The school bell rang, and the lesson ended. The students happily hurried to lunch, but Masuto decided to stay and approached the teacher.

“Teacher! And yet it is hard to believe that we evolved from monkeys. Why don't they become humans now?”

“Haha, I love inquisitive minds. Evolution requires millions of years of trial and error. Conditions have changed now; people are too short-lived to notice changes on such a scale.”

“How complicated this all is! You should be teaching at a university!”

“I prefer working with immature minds.”

Masuto ran out of the classroom.

“More than seven million years have passed…” Jesu looked at the biology textbook with illustrations of human ancestors with unusual nostalgia.” I can hardly believe it… That I was there.”

Jesu looked away to the window, behind which the TV tower was peacefully showing off. And silently continued his thought.

“More than seven million years of searching for God. To no avail. I created nanobots that surpassed all human technology, and… Captured all the people on the planet? I just wanted to speed up evolution to… get closer to God. And this is what it led to?”

Jesu couldn't take his eyes off the Tokyo Tower, as if he was waiting for something. Until he was interrupted by a surprised girl's voice that rang out in the classroom.

“T-teacher?”

“Oh, I didn't notice you, Masami… I thought everyone had gone home.”

“You just said…”

“I was just daydreaming.”

“But you said it so seriously, like you believed it. Were you really there?”

“What? Is that possible?”

“But we evolved from monkeys. I think everything is possible in this world!”

“You're right, everything is possible. Do you want to hear a story?”

“Yes!”

Jesu began his story, describing that world in vivid colors, as if he had actually been there at that time.

Seven and a half million years ago, the Earth looked very different. It was inhabited by different living organisms.

“People” didn’t yet walk upright. Their ancestors, the hominins, walked on all fours and looked more like chimpanzees than massive gorillas. Hominins were social primates, so they lived in groups.

“I was in one of those groups… I mean, the hero of our evolutionary history…”

But this monkey – let's call it that for simplicity's sake – had a peculiarity. There was something wrong with its vocal cords. Perhaps a mutation or a neoplasm. That's why it made strange sounds in relation to others. For the same reason, Jesu…

“What is this monkey's name? What is yours? Teacher, you are acting too strangely…”

“Well, every hero has to have a name, right?”

Jesu became an outcast. Other monkeys avoided him, they had difficulty communicating with each other.

Jesu felt somehow wrong. Often, he tried to hurt himself, maybe even kill himself. But to survive he had to interact with the group and somehow adapt. One day their group was attacked by the ancestor of tigers - panthera palaeosinensis. The monkeys weren’t predators, so part of the group ran away, and the rest hastily climbed a tree.

The panther gave chase. Jesu broke away from the group, and the predator took advantage of its chance. The panther trapped the monkey: Jesu hid in a small cave, where the huge cat could not get.

“Did the panther have a name too?”

“Um… no. Although… one thing will fit: Fear.”

Jesu waited for a long time for the panther to get bored and for Fear to leave. But she didn’t give up. Probably, she hadn’t eaten for several days. None of her brothers came to help, to distract or do anything else. Jesu spent the whole day and night in the cave, and then another day, until it was replaced by another night.

Jesu was hungry and thirsty, but he couldn't get outside. He sat there and hit his head, as if he wanted to come up with a solution. The night was cold, Jesu, like any animal, felt the approach of death. The only question was what would kill him first: hunger, thirst, cold, or the panther.

At that moment something amazing happened. First thought.

Jesu felt something that was both frightening and inspiring. It was like seeing his reflection in the water. And although he didn’t know the language yet, he felt a certain concept in his head. He saw its murky streaks. Jesu tried to… Understand it.

Somehow materialize his feeling. Then he began to make sounds, trying to pull that thought out of himself. But all that came out was a strange hoot, even for a monkey.

Jesu continued his attempts to express what he felt that night, but it still came out as an ugly hoot. At some point, the weather turned bad and a heavy rain with thunderstorms began. Water began to flow into the cave, and Jesu was initially happy with the gift of fate, drinking his fill. But then he realized the full horror of what was happening: the cave was flooding. And quickly.

The panther got tired of waiting in the cold rain and, taking advantage of the opportunity, she began to break inside, trying to grab Jesu with her sharp claws.

Horror was penetrating deeper and deeper into the newly born young mind of the monkey, Jesu began to panic, splashing around in the water. The panther managed to touch his «hand», leaving a bloody mark on it. Jesu cried out in pain, and at that moment he finally succeeded. As if by itself. Jesu screamed: “Death!”

This is what he felt and what he wished for his enemy. Jesu was enveloped in rage and primal fear. After all, there were seconds left before he would either drown or be torn apart by the powerful paws of Fear. He grabbed a strong stick that floated to the surface and hit the panther's paw. It recoiled for a moment, Jesu took advantage of this and crawled out of the cave. The panther towered over him, anticipating a long-awaited dinner.

Fear swung, but Jesu rolled to the side and screamed furiously again.

“Death! Death! Death!”

The cry seemed to spread throughout the forest. Then Jesu noticed in the darkness many small lights on the trees, watching him. They were his brothers. The panther jumped at Jesu, but he deftly dodged again, and then struck his paw with a stick. A loud crunch of bones was heard, the panther growled in pain.

The panther itself became enraged and struck many blows, but all missed. Now it was even easier for Jesu to dodge and strike.

But Fear was bigger and stronger, so he was able to wound Jesu several more times, he was bleeding. A storm began, and lightning struck a nearby tree, starting a fire. Jesu noticed the panther's confusion and fear. He realized that she was afraid of fire. Jesu set fire to his stick and began waving it in front of the beast. It backed away in horror.

In the heat of battle, Jesu accidentally scorched his wounds. He noticed that this stopped the bleeding. Then he decided to cauterize all his wounds. But the pain was unbearable, Jesu howled loudly. This greatly frightened his brothers, they howled, but the panther was much more frightened, looking at this.

But the panther continued to try to grab Jesu. He scared her away with fire and with the same stick he broke and burned all her paws. When the cat was exhausted, Jesu again shouted menacingly:

“Death!”

And he dealt a crushing blow to Fear's skull.

The trees began to hoot with praise from his brothers. They descended from the branches and circled around Jesu, raising their hands up. A new feeling was born in Jesu. He was finally acknowledged; he felt the taste of victory over the enemy and death. He tried to understand this and share it with those around him. He gathered his few unformed thoughts for a long time and shouted.

“Victory!”