Momoko released Flere from the keychain, setting him next to the forgotten plate of sweets, and he glanced around warily. "I don't know what you're expecting from me, lady."

"What is your name, phlox?" Midnight bent down to speak with the fluff.

"I am Flere." It puffed proudly.

"Flere, a grand name. Have you come to seek the source?"

Flere bristled. "What would you know of it?"

"I know a lot. You are not the only other-worldly being in this place. If your mission is to seek the source, why tap the girl?"

"My mission..." Flere squinted, as if it had difficulty finding the words. "Is to assist the advocate chosen for me. The quest for the source is their mission."

"Wait, what?" Momoko stared at Flere, incredulous. "What do you mean my 'mission'?"

"How far did you get on your own learning about Phlox spores, Momoko?" Midnight stood to address her.

Momoko involuntarily took a step back. "Just that there may be some correlation with them and the cataclysm from the 21st century?"

"It's not that there may be." Sylvia interjected. "They, and their source, are the cause of it."

Momoko glanced at the little fluff ball on the desk. It was almost comical, imagining an army of Fleres trying to destroy the human race.

"Don't make light of the Phlox." Midnight shook her head, as if she had read Momoko's thoughts. "For some reason, yours has not fully developed."

"Well...." Momoko chewed her lip. "It just hatched... so it's a baby, right?"

Midnight looked to Sylvia. "Show her."

Momoko glanced at her guardian. Sylvia stared back, her jaw twitching. Her guardian's anger wasn't directed at her though, and that made a pang of guilt shoot through her. If Midnight wasn't here, they would've been able to talk things out calmly, and come to an understanding. She was right to be angry, but Sylvia was right, too. Momoko had done everything conceivably possible not to talk about what had been happening to her. She had been too afraid, and she hadn't trusted Sylvia.

'Don't forget, though.' Flere's voice warned in her head. 'Your guardian has a lot of secrets.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'She loves you dearly, but remember she knew all about this before you did.' Flere shot her a meaningful look. 'You're allowed a little mistrust if she won't share her secrets as well.'

'You're just taking my side, but thank you.' Momoko sniffed.

Flere made a noise that sounded a lot like a snort. Sylvia, who had just reached for another dusty book startled, and dropped it.

Momoko coughed nervously. "Sorry, must be the dust."

"Indeed." Midnight glared at their surroundings. "Do you actually enjoy the ancient library décor, or are you that lazy at housekeeping?"

Sylvia shot the woman a dirty look as she retrieved the book from the floor. "Some of us can't just manifest a room clean, you know."

"What does that mean?" Momoko asked.

"Nothing." Sylvia murmured, flipping through the book. "Forget I mentioned it. Ah, here."

She handed the book to Momoko. It was very worn, probably in one of the worst shapes Momoko had seen in Sylvia's collection, the cover had been replaced recently, but the pages inside were torn, caked with dirt and some appeared singed. The ink was faded, some pages worse than others, but as she skimmed the multi-colored ink on the pages Sylvia had opened to, she felt the room grow a little darker as she began to read the words aloud.

"The proof of what I am about to write is the fact that I've been scrounging around for bic pens every chance I get to write in a composition book that's nearly spent. Otherwise, I wouldn't hardly believe what I'm going to tell you, and I won't blame you if you don't believe it, either. Someone has to explain what's happened though. Humanity will survive, somehow, and you need to know this if we're to avoid the same mistakes."

The next lines were all but indecipherable, Momoko could only make out a few, so she found herself trying to decode the writing outload.

"Black death.... Can't believe this... their choice? Demon destroyed. Phlox.... Again."

She shook her head, skipping to the next, more legible part.

"With the advocates all but gone, there's nothing left but to pick up the pieces of the world we've inherited from them. I wasn't there, when the last battle occurred in Nebraska. Hah, can you imagine that's where the end of the world would have happened?"

She paused, glancing up at the still figures watching her intently.

"This..." she swallowed. "This is about the cataclysm? Is this for real?"

Sylvia nodded. "It has been in Midnight's keeping. Her specialty is rare antiquities."

"The item is authentic." Midnight's voice was harsher. "But you should save your questions for the things that really matter."

"Midnight." Sylvia warned. "Her skepticism is reasonable. There is so little information for people to piece together what really happened. To hand her a personal account is a little.... Formidable."

"Is it really such a stretch? The book's contents are only confirmation of what she should already know... and an explanation to help her understand why it matters."

Sylvia shook her head, then met Momoko's questioning gaze. "Continue reading for a page, and then I'll answer any questions you may have."

With a sigh, Momoko focused back on the scrawled writing. "There is proof, of course. For those that want to seek it, I heard there is a large scar from the battle, burned into the very earth where no plants will grow. An eternal reminder that evil was there. I have been unable, so far, to get an exact fix on the battlefield, but I'd like to see it one day. There should be a memorial there for the ones that gave everything they had to stop Epiales."

Something stirred in her chest at the last line. It was like the warmth left the room just from her speaking the name. She could feel Flere bristle on her shoulder.

She pushed forward, hoping for clarity. "That, as I understand it, is the thing... man, monster... I'm not sure, but the consensus of the survivors seems to be that he was responsible for the cataclysm with some device that the advocates seemed to focus on. This.... Source of his power, where it is now, I don't know. I've done my best, with my limited ability, to sketch out the various fragments I was able to get from the last living witness. Without being able to locate any other sources in this post-apocalyptic mess, I can only hope the narration is faithful."

Below this, there were various small sketches crowded by notes. Momoko could make out a dark figure holding some sort of light, and a beast all too familiar. Her heart leapt into her chest. The four eyes stared passively from a more rounded face, but she could tell from the mess of horns what it was supposed to be.

"This!" she jabbed her finger to the drawing and showed it to the other women in the room. "What is this creature? It's been haunting me!"

"That..." Midnight's dark eyes glittered. "... Is a much better question. That, my dear, is what a Phlox is supposed to look like... and as far as we can tell after weeks of research, it was somehow responsible for causing the catalyst."

"We're not sure how...." Sylvia interjected "It seems that these creatures were supposed to help the advocates, but maybe—"

"One went rogue." Midnight crossed her arms. "It is the most logical explanation. The advocates are chosen to protect humanity.... If one of them chose to destroy it—"

"Wait." Momoko threw up her hand, her brain trying to keep up. "You keep using that term... isn't that what you called me... a... 'An advocate for humanity.' What does that even mean? Who chooses people to.... How do you even be one?"

"We're still fuzzy on the details." Sylvia admitted. "The journal you hold's been our best lead, but it's incomplete and some passages, even with thorough image scanning, remain unrecoverable. The best we can tell, is that there's some process that involves the phlox bonding to humans, and this gives the advocates some sort of advantage to protect people against some threat.... In this case, it seems like one of their own."

"But to destroy the world.... How can one person be as powerful as that?"

"You're not thinking about it properly." Midnight took the journal. "It's not that a single person could destroy the world, like some super villain... but rather, that they did something to cause the destruction of the world.... And the advocates found a way to save enough of it for the world to live on."

"Partially." Sylvia clamped her hands together and rested her chin on them. "There was an enormous power anomaly of some kind. It's enough not to rule out a 'super villain' scenario... especially because...."

Her eyes travelled up to the picture frame that held a photo of Momoko's mother on the bookshelf by her desk. "Rumika believed that severe genetic mutations began appearing in humans post-cataclysm.... Possibly even before, but the frequency has increased over the last 300 years.

Momoko twitched, instantly thinking of the brown beast-like thing she had seen earlier. She clenched her fists, forcing the question through gritted teeth. "Mutations.... Like my hair?"

She had never asked it, and Sylvia had never brought it up.... But now seemed like as good a time as ever.

"....like your hair." Sylvia agreed.

"What happens to people..... with these mutations?" Momoko trembled. "Why don't I know about anyone like that, if it's such a common occurrence?"

Midnight shifted, crossing her arms. "Society does not look kindly on those who differ to far from the 'normal' standard. While most genetic differences are passive, there are some so extreme, that sometimes it's easier to hide it than let people face the reality of this changing world."

"What she means." Sylvia cleared her throat. "Is that people with mutations too severe to hide are put out of sight, in places like Park Asylum."

"So they're just locked away?" Momoko blanched. "Like criminals?!"

She jumped up, the anger coiling up within her again. Her mind was full of the image of an oversized coat and cap and the words "It's not what everyone thinks..."

"Who knows about this, does everyone know, and they're okay with it—did mom know?"

"Momoko..." Sylvia soothed. "Momoko, sit down—"

"Did she know?!" Momoko whirled on her guardian, every nerve tingling with electricity.

"Yes." Sylvia slumped. "Park Asylum was one of her usual assignments."

That was it-- something in Momoko snapped, and she fled the room, was down the stairs and practically to the door before Sylvia's shouted protest tried to catch her. She was too fast, though, and she was out the door into the cold air, her feet screaming against the pavement in time with her thoughts.