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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
Strixes Alaric IV
So this was true augmented reality? I touched one of the windows, feeling nothing but air, and it opened. The best way I could describe it was like a holo HUD, displayed in my vision. Dozens of apps were laid out for me, ranging from bank and credit union accounts to messaging services, to entertainment. It was like I had a portable computer with me, better and more flexible than any laptop."Linkers are connected to the Oracle System," Mireille explained. "You could say Oracle is the system that runs our society. Or the backbone of our it. That's why they're so hard to procure. Counterfeiting a linker and having it link to the Oracle System is nearly impossible. The few talented criminals that can do it charge top dollar.""What, are you rich?""Yes, we are. Richer than you can imagine. Our holdings and revenue sources are extremely diverse. They have to be, given our nature as strixes.""What does that mean?""According to the Leviathan Charter, we strixes aren't allowed to exist. W
Strixes Alaric V
When the chance came, I jumped on it. I wanted my second chance at life, I had wanted it for so long, but in the silence of my room, when I had nothing else to think about, it came back. I had irreversibly changed four girls and chemically altered their brains to make them fall in love with me.Mireille described it as love, but could it be called love? Really? Perhaps infatuation would be a better way to describe it, a powerful, unnatural infatuation. The kind that Jim Jones might have brought out in his most devoted followers.Did that make me like Jones? The leader of some kind of cult. It wasn't just Kaya, Mireille, Nanase, or Yayoi, but there were dozens of people in this compound. Because of my supernaturally good hearing, nothing in the compound was hidden from me. I could hear everyone. Why were all these people here? Was I really running some kind of cult?I wished I hadn't been distracted in the meeting. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask but I had let myself get d