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Strixes Wandering Wolves Preview
The Girl with Auburn HairIn the early morning light, the valley was beautiful. As the sun got higher in the sky, mist rose from the trees and covered the mountains. It wasn't the color-changing fog of Attea's creation, but a common, white mist. As the sun climber further into the sky, the mist burned away. The lake shimmered in the sunlight as a breeze gently rocked through the valley.There was something ethereal about this place. It felt out of an anime or fantasy book, untouched by human hands. I lived my whole life in San Francisco. When I was younger, my parents took me to see the Redwoods, but that was the only time I left the city. It was a very long time ago. To me, the world had become a concrete jungle.Wind Port was a lot better to look at, but it was still a city. Where ever we were, there wasn't a single sign of civilization. And it was beautiful. This place looked like it was out of a dream.I couldn't get the boar out of my head. Through the night, it haunted me. A dum
Strixes Wandering Wolves Preview
In the fullness of time, we would come to find that the bandits were the foolish ones. No one in their right mind would call that place home.There was something worse than bandits in those mountains and we were front and center to see it.We had just gotten near the bottom of the mountains after a week of walking. All around the mountain was what looked like an African savanna. There was one long dirt road that ran straight through the tall grass and scattered trees. I imagined a lion laying in wait for us in that tall grass. Yep, we would be taking the dirt path.Euphy was groaning about lunch, and Gwen was all smiles."How about we make camp here? We can cook those rabbits."I'm glad we had Gwen with us. She wasn't just a top-class magician, she could create magic traps. Traps designed for catching something to eat.I looked at the sky. The sun was still high. "I think we should keep moving. We want to find civilization, don't we.""We already have," Euphy reminded me."Civilization
Strixes Alaric I
New York Times May 17th, 2024 As of the beginning of 2020, coming out of a glob health crisis the likes of which haven't been seen since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919, the world reached an estimated population of 30 billion people. The population increase began in 1989, when an alien ship broke apart over the United States of America and the Soviet Union, splintering into two parts. The result of a failed colonization effort on behalf of a species that we do not even know the name of. Every one of them perished in the crash. From what we have recovered and translated, this species believed the Earth was uninhabited and was planning a settlement operation. The alien ship was over 200 years more advanced than any nation on Earth.. Not only did it jump-start the economy of the two superpowers, medical and agricultural science jumped forwards by leaps and bounds. However, a population of 30 billion people is simply unsustainable for the Earth. In response to this global crisis, th
Strixes Alaric II
The maid gave me a pair of blue jeans, a white tee shirt, and some tennis shoes. When I tried to ask her what was going on, she promised Mireille or Yayoi would explain everything. I should just wait patiently for them to arrive. In the meantime, she let me get dressed, which was nice. She turned on the room's holoscreen with her linker, the device around her wrist. It was a multipurpose tool, phone, GPS, banking, and everything else you could want all in one. Mine had apparently been destroyed in the ambush, so they were in the process of getting me a new one. Which was no easy feat, since they were government issued, normally handed out by the Ministry of the Interior when a kid started schools. Replacements could be issued for a fee. They had to go through less reputable channels. Which the maid assured them wouldn't be a problem from them. She did tell me that, officially, I was born on August 13th, 2696. Today's date was January 1st, 2713. Had I been isekaied to the future? A l
Strixes Alaric III
Nanase stuck me in a room with a great view of the tropical forest and the surrounding area. It was the kind of view someone born and raised in the desert would die for, and I might have enjoyed it if I weren't locked up. Nanase had dragged me back with one hand, effortlessly carrying me like I weighed nothing. Then she plopped me in this room, which was locked from the outside. It had all the creature comforts a guy could ask for. Everything from the holoscreen that I couldn't use, to a huge pod with the name Phantom Edge written across it in English, French, and Japanese. According to my captors, it was a virtual reality machine. Not the primitive augmented reality that was just becoming a thing on Earth, but true, realized virtual reality. That's not to say there wasn't augmented reality in Aquroya, but I was more interested in VR than AR. Of course, most people couldn't afford a Phantom Edge, which cost twenty-thousand credits to buy, so the public at large made do with Virtual
Strixes Evelyn I
I couldn't imagine anything worse than growing old. I had spent my life fighting the monsters in the dark. The monsters this planet made some of us. Growing old was terrible. It was a loss of control. My body didn't move the way it used to. My bladder was small, like a bean, and I was going to the bathroom 20 times a day. My vision was getting so bad that I might need to forgo the glasses and contacts and get implants. Sword would pay for them... Provided I still worked for them.For a seventy-year-old, I was in great shape. Despite my advanced years, I could still perform my duties as a hunter. The question was for how long that would remain. Even in a hardsuit, I was slower than I once was. I was weaker. I was falling behind. My body was failing me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. This wasn't like a strix, lycan, or a titan. This wasn't something I could battle. This was my body, turning against me.The inspector I worked with and a few of my old team members were alread
Strixes Evelyn II
The machine looked like something you might have found on earth, in the late nineteenth century. Big, large, and primitive, something out of Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory."This," Toshiro said, patting the black metal. "That is how we will transfer your consciousness into the homunculus body.""What is it called? The Frankenstein machine?"Toshiro laughed, but none of the other scientists followed his lead. I was getting dirty looks from them, looks I returned with interest. I had stared down Soviet soldiers, strixes, lycans, and leviathans. These kids in lab coats were about as threatening as a weiner dog. None of them could meet my eyes for long. I might be a decrepit old crone, but I'd be damned if I let these snot-nosed brats glare at me like that. These gnats in this oppressively sterile facility would piss themselves if they came face to face with a titan."We don't have a name for it. Perhaps if it works we might come up with one. In the future... Well, I'm getting ahead of
Strixes Evelyn III
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Evelyn. My name is Rumi Shiratori. Going forward, I will serve as both your handler and medical overseer while you remain in Neptune."I frowned. I had been told that I would continue to work with Project Phoenix, but when I brought this up to her, she shook her head. "They will be handling your remote monitoring, and every three months you'll return to Mayfield for an Integration Process Full Body scan, but otherwise I will be going over the normal fieldwork. Project Phoenix has also been assigned more work, though I'm not privy on the details.""I see." I looked her up and down. "Shiratori. Why do I know that name?""My husband is the Branch Director of Neptune, but I assure you that I have earned all of my qualifications."I believed her. Sword didn't tolerate nepotism."So I'm being assigned to Neptune. Any reason?"Rumi smiled. "We believe two or three of the progenitors have taken up residence in our city, and there's been confirmed that an unregist