Studied Stories

"Dear Ms. And Mr. Alexander, I wish to congratulate you that your son, Jacy Alexander has been selected for the New Beginnings and Innovations program. His contract will be effective immediately. Please have him report to your nearest Innovations center by August 1. Failure to do so will result in the immediate deregistration and obtainment of all immediate family members." Fifty years ago, when the fox-people tribes had been discovered hiding among society, humanity's perception of science, evolution, and all other things were crumbled. They responded in fear. Before them, they presented half-man, half-beast creatures that had been hiding amongst them. With fox-like ears propped on top of their heads, yellow eyes with vertical pupils, long k9s extending to the tops and bottoms of their mouths, and claws that retracted out of their hands in response to stress hormones, humanity was terrified. 30 years later, the government created a program that would allow most foxes to live in peace, at the price of a small percentage of their population participating in a program for the betterment of mankind and society. At least, that's what they're told. In reality, being trapped in a lab and treated like an dangerous animal is worse than you can imagine. Follow Jacy as he is presented with the reality that he has now become one the the unlucky few to be selected for the "special program".

The sun is no longer a promise - it is a rumor. For generations, the sky has been a ceiling of ash-gray cloud. Light comes maybe once every few months, bleeding weakly through the cover for minutes at a time before vanishing again. Crops barely grow. Oceans freeze along their edges. Cities rot into blackened husks. Fire is myth. The old texts speak of it - living light, heat without flesh, a star born in hand. But the art of making it was lost centuries ago during The Long Dimming. Now people survive on fermented root crops, bioluminescent fungi, and animal fat rendered into dim-burning oil lamps that barely warm the air. Cold is the true ruler of the world. And then she is born.