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Evolution

Phase 1: "Random" Mutation

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Chapter 1:

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           Nature has taken it's course over the millenia our planet has enjoyed in many ways. It sorts out the weak and favors the strong with every push but with those evolutionary leaps there is always conflict. Eventually it becomes so severe that one side of the species dies out for the stronger, newer, species. Sometimes the old model just seems to work out better.

           We have been taught that man was originally a type of simian. What the animal really looked like and how intelligent it was is still all theory, of course, but the general belief is that it was an ape. We have one man to thank for this model of human evolution. His name was Charles Darwin, a naturalist from England who studied the finches of the Galapagos Islands. From his findings he found that certain traits when passed along to the children made them more suited to their environment and so over time the species would acquire more of these traits until they appeared very much different from the first generation. Seeing the behaviors of man and how similar we are to apes Darwin believed this was the origin of man. Darwin, however, only had it half right.

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           "Fox Hunt team delta reporting in. Order received. Moving squad into position at the rear of the residence." Came the voice of Lieutenant Sarah Hendricks over the radio as she moved her team of three to the rear of the house. It was a small home in a rather standard neighborhood as seen in thousands of places in the US these days. This one just happened to be cream as compared to the white next door and the blue two doors down. It was almost like there was a standard house mold that was used for every home in this entire development.

           The neighbors were of course all gawking at the spectacle. It wasn't every day something out of the ordinary happened here. Judging by the homes Sarah assumed it was probably a once in a lifetime event for these people. This was daily life for a member of Fox Hunt. It was her ordinary; the feel of her tactical vest gripping her chest and stomach; the tight fit of her leg guards and the weight of the equipment on her belt; smoke grenades, tear gas, flares, knives and of course her M4 assault rife.

           "Get away from us you monsters!" Came a masculine voice from inside the house as a bullet whizzed past the Lieutenant's ear and she hit the deck quickly holding her rifle at the ready looking down the laser sight and through the windows for movement.

           "go go go! Storm the house!" Came the commander's voice over the radios and the soldiers all quickly got to their feet charging the front and back doors.

           Sarah got to her feet and hurled a tear gas grenade through the rear window while pulling her mask down over her face and charging the rear entrance. She put her shoulder down and slammed into the aluminum door breaking it's hinges free of the frame only to be met by the face of a tall and rather angry looking two legged jackal. It stood at least eight feet and it's teeth were as sharp as razors. She brought her weapon about but it was too late. The great beast lifted her off the ground holding her rifle firmly and tearing it from her grip.

           "Fox hunt bastards... I'll tear you limb from limb!" Shouted the beast as the voice was easy to recognize as the one that fired upon the soldiers.

           Sarah's breathing was quick now as she struggled to free herself from the beast's grip but it was too late. Her squad fired on the Jackal hitting it's knees and gut while it held Sarah in front of it as a shield. It yowled in pain before gripping the woman's head and her legs tightly while turning her horizontal. The soldiers began to shout for the canine to stop as Sarah let out a scream and was torn in half and thrown at her squad.

           The Jackal limped forward grabbing the fallen woman's weapon and fired on her comrades leaving them to stew in their own blood and Sarah's ichor. The great beast began to limp away from the squad only to be met with a hail of bullets from another as it was finally put to rest near the fallen soldiers.

           Fox Hunt stormed the house quickly filling the bottom floor and finding it empty. Two squads rushed the upper floor while the other two rushed the basement. A man in a suit with dark sunglasses stepped into the house as a woman's scream and a crying child filled the air around them with their heart wrenching chorus. The man took off his glasses and frowned as a gunshot is heard and only the child's cries were audible.

           The man lifted his radio and the spoke, "Bring the child to me." The voice was that of the Fox Hunt commander. His name was entirely unknown to even his closest of guards. He was a young man, only in his mid thirties still with a full head of jet black hair that was slicked back and a fit physique.

           The soldiers ran down the stairs carrying a bundle of blankets that were stained with the mother's blood and handed the wad of cloth off to the commander. He lifted a flap and saw the infant and he frowned as he looked into it's slitted green eyes. This had to be the earliest case of emergence he had ever seen. Normally the transformation didn't take effect until puberty but this child of barely a month was showing signs of the evolved.

           The Commander put the cloth back over the crying baby's face and spoke softly, "We'll take good care of you little Raine... We'll make sure you don't end up like your parents. Just be a good little boy and take your medicine."

Twenty years later

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           "Raine you gotta check this out man! We got the release date for that new genocide game!" Shouted Tucker from the other side of the apartment which was only greeted by a thump on the ceiling from the old woman that lived upstairs.

           Raine sighed and rolls his eyes as he slumped back in his chair with a frown on his face. His computer screen was covered with browsers searching for what was wrong with him and all of his searches ended at one site. It told him to go to the world behind the looking glass. What the hell was that supposed to me.

           He was smart enough to recognize the Alice in Wonderland reference but it made no sense in this context. He wasn't a druggie or looking for some obscure hidden meaning. He just wanted a way to fix the problems he was having with his ears and eyes. At times they would become incredibly sensitive to anything giving him terrible headaches. He'd tried pain killers but they didn't seem to work and left him feeling dizzy and drugged.

           Raine slowly got to his feet holding his head as he heard the knock on his door. He was a lean young man with long black hair and emerald eyes. He had a strange birthmark on his chest which at the moment was bared do to his lack of a shirt. It looked something like a skull but others said it looked kind of like an animal head of some sort.

           He staggered towards the doorway in his dark room and cracked the door open letting the light of day in from the living room making him shield his eyes as he whispered, "Not right now Tucker I'm having a bit of an episode."

           Tucker frowned a bit and nodded, "okay man... dude you should like see a doctor or something. This is gotta be some really screwed up shit."

           Raine nodded slowly as he smiled a bit, "thank you for your concern but the doctors have no idea what's happening. I'll just have to live with it for now."

           Jericho stood up from the couch and looked to the cracked door speaking softly, "Raine what's the matter?"

           Raine looked to the tallest of the three men that shared the apartment and spoke, "It's nothing Jericho... just a headache."

           Tucker was already headed back to his room as Jericho made his way to Raine's room pushing the twenty year old out of the way and closing the door behind him as he spoke, "Why haven't you told me about this? How long has this been happening for?"

           Raine frowned a bit and sat down in his computer chair as he shook his head and whispered, "I don't know... maybe two months or so..."

           Jericho rubbed his chin and nodded slowly as he looked to the door and then back at Raine. The young man's eyes glowed in the darkness as if he were some kind of animal confirming that he had been right all along. This was the Raine they were looking for. The one stolen away from them at birth and raised by Fox Hunt, "And you have been taking your medicine? This isn't some kind of reaction from not taking it is it?"

           Raine shook his head slowly, "Of course I've been taking it. If I don't my brain will shut down man."

           Raine frowned a bit deeper as he looked at Jericho and noticed that he saw extraordinarily well in the darkness. It was like it were clear as day in the nearly pitch black room and while they were talking in whispers he heard everything as if it were shouts. He couldn't take much of it as it only made his head throb more. It hurt so much that his whole body shivered with aches and pains.

           Jericho nodded as he saw Raine's pain and he whispered a bit more quietly, "I see... I guess I'll leave you alone then. I don't want to aggravate your problem. I think I know of a doctor that can help you though. Want me to talk to him?"

           Raine held his hands over his eyes as his fingers were held over his ears and he let out a pitiful little whine, "If it will stop these headaches I'll do anything..."

           Jericho nodded again as he stood himself up and walked to the door, "I'll talk to him then... oh and Raine... when someone asks you to look behind the looking glass... don't be afraid to see what is on the other side. You may just find the answers to questions that have haunted you." Jericho opened the door and closed it quickly behind him before Raine could say anything.

           Raine quickly stood up and ran for the door but he heard the apartment door close and knew Jericho was already gone. What did Jericho know that he wasn't telling Raine? The twenty year old turned back to his monitor and his eyes went wide as the text had changed from "Go to the world behind the looking glass" to "Find your answers written in stone."

           Raine quickly got back in his seat and saw the text change again now reading, "Find you way home to the familiaris." The black haired man frowned a bit deeper as all of this was so confusing. There was no gif image or flash file on this site. What was happening was impossible unless someone had a direct link to his computer. Was someone hacking him?

           Raine quickly crawled under his desk and pulled his network cable. He grumbled a bit as this excitement wasn't helping the headache and as he got back in his chair he frowned as the message was a series of pictures of various old ruins including stone henge and a few easter island heads as well as castles and monoliths. He shook his head and looked closer as in every photo written in the stones was the same symbol he had as a birth mark on his chest.

           He nearly fell out of his seat and ran to the mirror in his bathroom adjacent to his room to look at the mark and make sure. His symbol was definitely a match to that drawn into the ruins. His heart was racing and his head throbbing as he was afraid to look back at the monitor. He turned slowly and peeked out of the bathroom to see the message had stopped on, "Welcome home, undying one."

           Raine made sure he had disconnected his network before shaking his head and plugging it back in. It obviously wasn't a hack if he wasn't connected after all. He sat himself back down in his chair and quickly went to a search site looking up, "Undying one."

           The first site was a wiki about an old legend. He frowned a bit as it seemed to be the only real result that made sense. He clicked on the site and began to read.

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           The Undying one is a legend that seems to pop up in almost every culture on the planet. It tells of a man who would awaken a special power inside of them that would bring humanity into an age of immortality. It is however true that the same legend warns of the use of this power. That it would change the face of the planet forever and that a great conflict would cause it to come about. It is believed that this man would be marked with a special symbol on his chest. To some it would appear as a skull, and obvious warning. To others it would appear to be the head of a wolf or a fox. All the legends seem to come to one conclusion however, the Undying one would be the harbinger of Armageddon for humanity. In biblical terms he would be the horseman of death.

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           The article went on into detail about the various different culture's view on the undying one but Raine couldn't read anymore. He wanted to cut the symbol out of his chest after reading what he had. There was a new weight on his shoulders as every time he thought about that symbol he got the feeling that he had some sort of terrible purpose in life. He wasn't the type to cause mass destruction and war.

           With a sigh he shook his head and spoke softly, "It's just a legend... an old superstition."

           Raine opened up his search engine again and typed in Familiaris. Once again he was met with a Wiki page and not much else. He opened the page and began to read.

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           The Familiaris are a band of international terrorists known for their incredible brutality and violence while committing their crimes against humanity. Torture, dismemberment, use of poison and hallucinogenic substances is not above them when they take hostages. This large crime family is still quite at large and very dangerous. It is believed they are searching for the "Undying One" in accordance to a legend they believe is coming about.

           In a deeper look it is also believed that the Familiaris believe they are the next step in human evolution. Their name comes from the psudo-scientific name Homo Familiaris which they have attached to themselves. No evidence can support their claims of course as no Familiaris has ever been captured. They seem to carry pills that destroy a persons genetic structure which they take to commit suicide if they are about to be captured. Due to this fact very little else is known about them other than their apparent hatred of humanity.

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           Raine rubbed his chin and knew there was a link here but again he wasn't someone violent or angry with humanity. He couldn't help these people destroy life. There had to be some sort of mistake. He scrolled to the bottom seeing the author of the page was someone known as Fox Hunt. He went back to the previous page and saw the author was a user named Familiaris.

           He sighed softly and slumped back in his seat as he looked over the links on the wiki page and stopped with his mouse over one reading, "Behind the Looking Glass" He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching and clicked the link. His printer came to life as his computer screen fizzled and lost resolution then his computer began to overheat to a point where he had a massive system failure.

           He stood up quickly opening his case and looking inside only to find that everything was fried. He sighed heavily and smashed his fist into the desk, "God damnit... I didn't even get a warning from that fucking virus protector... piece of junk."

           Raine looked to the floor where the printed paper lay and picked it up. It was directions to the middle of nowhere death valley. It was all the way across the country. Did the familiaris set this up as some sort of recruiting test or was it specifically made for him to find? He frowned as he rubbed his chin and jumped as his room door opened and the tall Jericho was standing there with sunglasses on, "You are awakening Raine... It is time to move you to a safer location."

           Raine quickly backed away looking for some sort of weapon in his room to fight off the man he thought was his friend, "Get away from me Jericho... are you one of them!?"

           Jericho frowned a bit, "One of the Familiaris? Yes... I was assigned to look after you but now that your computer has been traced by Fox Hunt we have to get out of here. I will explain on the way."

           Raine fell over holding his head as he hit it against the wall, "No no no... I don't want to kill everyone! I don't want to be the Undying One!"

           Jericho quickly ran forward and picked up the young man with little effort before turning to one of the curtained windows, "No one knows if the legend is true. But it is believed the undying one will bring peace... sometimes death is required to bring about that peace. Of course it could just be a legend. We have to move before Fox Hunt gets here Raine."

           Raine struggled a bit but Jericho had an inhuman strength to him that held him close and unable to hurt himself as Jericho pressed against his ear and spoke softly, "Cretila it appears he is awakening sooner than expected. We need you to do a fly by now. Fox Hunt is already on their way."

           Jericho nodded slowly as the reply seemed to come but Raine didn't hear a thing. Jericho began to count down while still holding Raine and facing the window, "6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" The sound of the door breaking down to the apartment was heard and soldiers rushed in quickly as Jericho leapt through the curtains and out into the sunlight nine stories up. Raine let out a shout as they began to fall only to be picked up by a massive Red Eagle. The Eagle quickly changed direction to avoid a hail of bullets while diving down closer to ground level.

           "Cret we are not to be seen by the humans!" Shouted Jericho as he started to remove his glasses.

           The Eagle quickly responded with a loud voice that seemed to come from every direction, "Then tell that to the Fox Hunt scum on our tail. Hold on tight you two we are going to have to get a little fancy. Lady Jezibel please would you be so kind to jam the radar? Columbia I'll need you to do your thing and take out the fliers."

           Raine held on tight as everything was happening so quickly. His head was spinning with pain and confusion. It wasn't long before he leaned over a bit and lost the contents of his stomach to the street below and passed out.

           Jericho frowned as he removed his glasses and he began to change into a tall black wolf holding tightly to Cret with one arm he swung around to look behind them, "Cret give me your gun!"

           The Eagle made a screech as it flipped and tossed the huge anti tank rifle into the air for Jericho to catch, "Tell me before you fire that thing. I don't know if I can carry the two of you and keep steady with a blast from it."

           Jericho nodded as he looked through the sight and saw the squadron of attack helicopters with the support of a few harriers, "We may have a problem Cret. There's like seven of them."

           "Then don't fucking miss. Columbia they are coming in from the north north east, Set up position on the building to the south of the underground railroad stop. Jezibel continue to jam the radar and use your sonics to disrupt their communication." Shouted the great eagle as a huge bat fluttered by making a loud screeching noise before firing off a few rounds from her own large rifle.

           Cret was taking them in really low to the ground and at break neck speeds as he used the streets of the city as a canyon run to try and lose their pursuers. They turned a corner and a helicopter was waiting for them at the end. Jericho shouted, "Firing!" before pulling the trigger and Sending the eagle and company back several feet from the kick. The shell flew true into the cockpit and leaving a visible red splatter all over the windows before the chopper became a flaming mess on the ground.

           Cret took some time to recover as so much of their speed was lost. He began to flap hard as the weight was beginning to wear him down, "Almost there... We have a transport waiting for us in this stop. If we get there it's impossible for us to be caught."

           The company turned the corner only to be met with a hail of bullets from a Fox Hunt blockade on the ground. Cret dodged and swooped in low only to hear Jericho let out a yelp and fall free from his grasp. He knew without looking back that Jericho had been hit and he was surely dead before he even hit the ground.

           Several missiles flew by Cret and took out several of the air support which subsiquently crashed into the barricade and sent Fox Hunt members flying about several of which were already burning. The Eagle frowned deeply as he had lost a good friend but knew he couldn't stop to recover the body, "Jezi... if you can... pick up the corpse... I'd rather keep it away from Fox Hunt. He deserves a hero's burial."

           "As you wish Commander." Came the spanish woman's reply. The bat quickly dove into the burning mess and recovered the broken body of Jericho before falling into place next to Cret for the final stretch.

           A dark form leapt from one of the buildings ahead of them and Jezi caught the falling lynx on her back as they dove into the subway and began to fly through the tunnels where Fox Hunt could not reach them. They still flew fast and hard taking corners at speeds even the most skilled of pilots wouldn't dream of trying. It wasn't long before they landed and hurried into the odd looking train.

           It was on a hidden track as a part of the underground railway the Familiaris had established in secret. The Train was propelled by magnetic thrust moving it along at nearly three hundred miles per hour and the ride was as smooth as silk. Cret quickly put on a pair of sunglasses and began to change. His wings disappeared and his red feathers became a long red trench coat. He appeared to be human again. He was a young heavy set man with a short beard and mustache. The man was built like a tank.

           Jezi and Columbia put their glasses on revealing them both to be human in shape as well. The two of them were both dark haired and rather slim. All three of them seemed transfixed as the train moved along looking down at Raine who at this point appeared to be a black fennec with the red mark plain on his chest. He had finally awaken and would be returned to his home in Neo-Mesopotamia.

           Cret rubbed his breaded chin and frowned a bit, "This kid is supposed to be the Undying One?"

           Columbia nodded slowly as she examined the symbol on his chest, "This is definitely the mark of the Undying One but no one knows if the legend is true or not. He could put us all at grave risk."

           Jezi nodded slowly as she spoke softly, "Yes but he could be the one that ends this war." She reached into her long black coat and pulled out a small device she dropped into Raine's ear letting it fall into it and settle itself inside. It was a technology Fox Hunt couldn't jam or tap into. A psyonic emitter. It allowed for communication from mind to mind though few had mastered non verbal communication as seen with Jericho and Cretila's conversations.

           Cret shook his head and looked to the broken body of their fallen comrade, "This kid better be fucking worth it..."