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Historical Record
On 2 January 2263, the ancient threat known as the Great Evil returns to immediate strategic relevance. By this point, humanity has spread its infrastructure across near Earth space and has developed the ability to observe, track, and challenge incoming celestial threats. What appears at first to be a dangerous mass soon proves to be something far worse. The object is not just large and fast moving. It is aware, hostile, and linked directly to the cycle described centuries earlier in the Egyptian temple records. The old warnings preserved by the priesthood are no longer theoretical. They have become current events.
Earth's political and military leadership responds at once. Aboard the President's vessel, senior personnel review the object and attempt to assess both scale and intent. Conventional categories fail quickly. This is not a drifting asteroid, a damaged ship, or a natural anomaly that can be redirected with standard force. It behaves as an intelligent destructive presence. The decision is therefore made to strike it. The response is decisive and in line with the capabilities of 2263: a concentrated military attack intended to remove the threat before it reaches Earth. Instead of solving the problem, the strike demonstrates the exact nature of the crisis. The Great Evil absorbs or withstands the assault and becomes even more dangerous, proving that firepower alone cannot neutralise it.
This moment reshapes the emergency from a military problem into a civilisational one. It becomes clear that modern weapons cannot replace the ancient defence system described in the old records. The return of the Great Evil forces Earth's leadership to accept that survival now depends on recovering the elemental stones and the fifth element before the object reaches its final approach. The priests who preserved that knowledge are suddenly central to state strategy. Their records are no longer viewed as relics or ceremony. They are operational intelligence. The gap between myth and policy closes in a matter of minutes.
The return on 2 January 2263 matters because it begins the compressed sequence that defines the entire crisis week. Once the Great Evil is confirmed and standard force fails, every later event follows under strict time pressure. The Mondoshawan must be contacted, the stones must be recovered, Leeloo must be brought back into physical form, and the final activation site on Earth must be reached before the threat arrives in range. This is the point where the old cycle resumes in full view of a technologically advanced world, and that world learns very quickly that advanced machines are not enough on their own.
Key details
Date: 2 January 2263
Location: Near Earth space, monitored from the President's command vessel
Source: The Fifth Element, 1997
Significance: The return of the Great Evil starts the main 2263 crisis and proves that ancient defensive knowledge is still essential.
Related events
FAQ
Q: When does the Great Evil return?
It returns on 2 January 2263. That date begins the main week long crisis that drives the rest of the story.
Q: Can the military stop it directly?
No. The first major response shows that conventional force is ineffective against it. That failure pushes Earth's leaders back toward the ancient elemental solution.