The Five Evolution

『"Overlook this you piece of shit."』

"Ugh, my head..." Raj groaned, collecting himself after taking a punch from a fist he didn’t see coming. Only an Awakener, or something not human, could punch a person that hard.

Then it hit him. How long was he out? Shit, his sister. He looked around, all the photos and camera were gone. He checked his phone and saw five minutes had gone by.

Raj rushed down and jumped into his car. Once he started it, his phone buzzed. Amara, calling again.

He almost didn’t answer. Almost sent it to voicemail, but something in him, some part that still remembered they were a team, made him pick up.

"Where are you?" Amara asked."Raj, I’m worried."

"I’m handling something," Raj said, massaging his head.

"Raj, if you’re in trouble—"

"I’m not in trouble, okay? I’m sort of preventing it." He sighed, backing away. "Look, I gotta go."

"Raj—"

He ended the call before Amara could say anything else and immediately felt bad about it.

He shook his head as his grip tightened on the wheel. "Priya," he said, before driving off like a maniac.

***

The house lights went dark one by one—kitchen, living room, upstairs hallway. His mother and sister were preparing for bed, trusting the locks and walls to keep them safe.

Raj knew better.

He parked his car in front of his family house, didn’t matter how wrong the car looked. He got out of it and ran before conscious thought caught up.

There was no time for strategy, calling backup, or for anything except the primal need to protect his family from the monster that had probably already invaded their home.

He hit the front door at full speed, ripping the lock clean through the frame.

"Ma!—"

The house was dark and silent, like nothing was wrong. But Raj could feel it now, that wrongness in the air, the sensation of someone present but imperceptible.

He took the stairs three at a time, heading for Priya’s room, and the door was open.

Standing over his sister’s bed, faintly glowing from his point of view, was the outline of a man reaching toward her sleeping form.

Raj hadn’t told his family he was an Awakener yet. Much less, one of five saddled with the responsibility of protecting the world when it needed it the most.

As far as they knew, he was part of a scholarship program.

So he simply grabbed the nearest object, a heavy bookend from the passage shelf and hurled it through his sister’s open door at the glow with enough force to crack a wall.

The bookend connected with something solid, and the shimmer flickered, then broke. Suddenly there was a man stumbling backward, hand clutching his shoulder, face twisted in pain and shock.

"Fucker!" The man shouted, muffled from his hands over his face.

At that point, Priya woke up screaming.

Lights flicked on, and in a matter of moments, his mother appeared in the doorway. She took one look at the stranger in her daughter’s room, and started screaming too.

Raj stood between his family and the stalker, his Spirit Weapon still not summoned as he tried to hide the fact of what he was.

"Get away from my sister," he said, his voice deadly calm. "Last chance."

The man smiled. Then his form started to fade again, perception sliding away.

"Which is it? Are you a white knight?" He looked at Raj’s mom. "Or you just don’t want mommy to see what you really are?"

He was fading from view, becoming imperceptible again.

Raj had to think fast.

He grabbed the desk lamp and swung it like a club at where he remembered seeing him last. Fortunately, it connected with his face.

The man grunted, stumbled and reappeared. "Always with the fucking face," he said, wiping blood from his lip.

"You’re one to talk." Raj shot back, already taking another swing at him but missing twice because perception was still being distorted.

The man ducked below the third swing that would have been a lucky shot if he didn’t evade it. "You can’t keep swinging forever."

He moved away from Raj, creating distance. "Eventually you’ll lose track of me. And when you do..." His eyes found Priya, cowering in bed. "I’ll finish what I came here for."

"Raj?" His mother’s voice was trembling. "Raj, who are you fighting? What’s happening? Where’s the man that was just here?"

Raj realized this Mom couldn’t see the stalker. "Mom, take Priya and get out. Now."

"I’m not leaving you with—"

"NOW!"

His mother grabbed Priya and ran, dragging his sister toward the stairs while his sister screamed questions and protests.

The moment they were gone, the stalker’s smile widened. "Brave, just like little Priya who I’ll take my sweet time with." He reached for his rod.

Raj’s fist clenched so hard his nails drew blood from his palm. "She’s fourteen you sick fuck."

"And?" He moved, positioning for an attack. "You’re just in my way. So I’ll have to deal with you first."

Raj tried to dodge the first strike but the rod got him in the chest. Anyone looking directly at him unconsciously refused to process his presence. But Raj had learnt from the last encounter.

He held his chest and closed his eyes, they were only a liability to him now. Instead, he focused on his endurance and quick reaction.

The man swung again, striking Raj in the skull. Almost instantly, Raj caught it the moment it hit, ignoring the pain.

It also helped that the sick fuck was predictable. Raj had a feeling he would go for the head.

He then used the momentum to throw him into a glass mirror in the room without letting go.

"Problem with perception manipulation," Raj said, gripping harder. "Doesn’t matter if I can’t see you clearly. I can still feel you when I grab you."

"Let go." The stalker gasped in pain.

Raj drove his knee into the man’s stomach, he heard the sound of his ribs crack from the impact. The stalker folded, wheezing, and Raj followed up with an elbow to the back of his head that dropped him like a stone.

He’d been relying on Juggernaut Shell so much he’d forgotten, he was strong even without it.

The stalker tried to crawl toward his fallen metal rod, and Raj stepped on his hand, grinding down until he heard bones break.

"You’re going to tell me everything," Raj said coldly. "Who you are. What you want with my sister. How you found her. Every detail."

"Go to hell—"

Raj’s foot pressed harder. "Wrong answer."

The stalker screamed.

"Raj!"

He turned to find Priya standing in the doorway, his mother behind her. Both of them staring at the scene of Raj over the injured man on the floor.

His chest rose and fell in slow, controlled breaths as he held his entire body in a tense stillness, like he was one heartbeat away from tearing the man apart.