I left Alex in my apartment and I ran to the Nexus building. It was only a mile and I passed several other manifestations confused on the street, but they were not a danger — at least not yet.
The moment I stepped through the metal and glass arch way that was the Nexus the world felt different — cooler and hotter at the same time, louder and quieter. The duality was part of the dissonance of the place.
There wasn’t even an all hands meeting just a packet for everyone to pick up. My handler stopped me before I got to it. He handed me a wooden stake. “Vampire in the park.”
“That’s all I get?” I grinned at Gary with a wide smile.
“One at a time. Bring ’em back if you can, someone will Drift ’em back.”
I sighed. “Got it.”
I took the wooden stake and went off to hunt a vampire. Thankfully it was enraged otherwise it would have remembered to mesmerize me and taken me out with a couple shots.
I took out my first aid pen and pressed it to the boys throat before the others came. They knew the vampire that lay slain on the ground. I felt bad, but not terribly so.
And then a voice I recognized called out and I turned towards it. The voice sounded in my ears and not my head. His eyes were bluer than I remembered. “Alex.”
“Where the fuck am I?” He said.
“Uh. I don’t know.” I said.
“He doesn’t have a halo.” Tall dark and handsome said.
“He’s from Shift #0.” I said.
“You too?” The blond asked.
“No. Strange. I was born here. Can’t anchor. Have a metal feather embedded in my chest. Lots of strange about me.” I said as if I needed to explain myself.
Alex stopped in front of me and I smiled softly and reached out and touched his cheek. I touched his skin. I put my other hand on his face and took a step back. “You’re here. How the fuck are you here?”
“That’s what I just asked you.” Alex chuckled and pulled my hands from his face. He smirked. “It’s nice to finally meet you too.”
I pulled my hands away and blushed and turned towards the other guys, but there was large growl to our left.
A green hulking creature stepped out of the tree line and roared.
Alex yelled “The fuck!” And he backed away from the thing.
I grabbed for his hand but he as out of reach. “It’s okay.” I shouted after him.
The manifested echo charged at me. The halo was golden yellow of the thirty-fifth Shift. “Shhhh.” I said. The oni ignored me and continued to charge. I reached out as it charged past me towards Alex. The blonde next to me reached out too. He smiled. “Calm.”
I grabbed the hulking creature as well and drift to it’s home. There was a pop in my ears and the Oni struggled with my grip and then it ran off confused into the waste land in which it came.
I sought home and found that it didn’t come. I was adrift.
Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0
Effort: 1
Armor: 0
Recovery:
□ □ □ □
Damage:
□ □
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □
Speed: (1)
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Intellect:
■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
XP:
■ ■ ■
Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
Setup
L5 (15) Hulking Oni, 8 damage, 20 Health, Feats of raw strength as level 6; Intellect defense and seeing through deception as level 3; Speed defense as level 3 due to size
Initiative: O: 12, Alex: 15 -1, Ant: 11, Nox: 18 -1, Ryan: 6
Nox, Alex, Oni, Ant, Ryan
Nox determines shift and then drifts (-3 int)
Ryan (-3 int)
GM Intrusion: Nox can’t get back
Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC.
The Mind of Nox 