Prologue

It was in the year 1917, that one of humanity's greatest wars for survival began. What was thought to have been a small group of unknown entities appearing throughout history turned into a threat that could wipe out cities and consume lands in an instant. These strange alien beings were colloquially known as the 'Neuroi' by the military forces throughout the world as they wreaked havoc and left waves of destruction in their wake.

That is until humanity found a way to fight back with the power of science and magic in the year 1935. Witches, female humans gifted with the power of magic were able to generate a shield that could block the Neuroi's attacks as well as being able to use a variety of abilities that could cripple each of the individual Neuroi aircraft with one swift stroke. The Striker Unit was invented to augment the witches magical powers with the gifts of flight or superhuman strength.

The young women who go to battle with these powerful devices were praised as heroes through out the world for their efforts. After nearly a decade of war, the Neuroi have been drawn into a stalemate that would most likely end in their defeat in the future.

However, the battles above the surface have been disturbing the sleep of another group of beings. All one would have to do is simply bring one of these beasts out of their slumber...because when a person wakes one, they wake them all.

The large town of Neue Eutin was built several years after the fall of Karlsland, in a small area of the country of Romagna. The area was once home to a mysterious group of Druids, Alchemist, and Astrologist that faded out of existence a few centuries ago, the only signs of their existence was a large stone idol that almost seemingly resembled a Tiki that could be found in the island nations that littered the Pacific Ocean.

Today, it is now a strong community with a market, trading port, and even a small dock for military vessels. Everyone was going about their business, nothing out of the ordinary has happened so far with the exception of some strange behavior from animals.

One boy noticed this behavior on his way home from school. He was about ten-years old, with short blonde hair was covered by a brown flat cap, his eyes were a dark forest green, he wore a white button-up shirt, a pair of brown trousers, and to top it all off he was carrying a dark brown knapsack with one strap over his shoulder. He watched a group of chickens in large wooden cages begin flapping their wings and pecking at the walls inside of them, they seemed to be trying to escape for some mysterious reason. He also saw a stray dog looking about an alleyway cautiously as it swiveled its ears left and right, as if they were antennae on a boat.

Before he could take a closer look everyone around him stopped what they were doing as they heard what sounded like a clap of thunder and a dark cloud rolling in from the distance. But this was no storm. It was coming in way too fast be an ordinary thunderstorm, especially with the wind starting to pick up all of a sudden. Everyone watched as the dark cloud loomed over the town, blocking out the sun and replacing it with red lights emerging from the sky.

Everyone was watching, waiting, for anything that could indicate this was a threat and before they knew it a dark black metallic construct in the shape of a bird descended from the clouds, the hexagonal patterns on its entire body was a clear sign of what it was. Neuroi.

As soon as everyone saw the shape descend from the clouds, they began to panic and run. Bells were ringing, sirens were blaring, and people were tossing away baskets or other items as they tried to scramble away. The boy was still watching the craft come in, as it fired a red beam of light that destroyed a group of townhouses in a massive explosion. After that, there was one instinctive thought and action that came to mind: Run.

And that is what he did, he began running through the crowds avoiding cars and trucks that were racing around with family or friends riding on board. He made it to the center of the town, where the old stone idol stood. He once heard that it was believed to be a guard against evil but he doubted that was true as the Neuroi was tearing the town apart.

Before he could make one final sprint to the edge of the town where he could take refuge in the forest, the idol that stood in the town for years began to crack open from the inside, slowly but surely it began to crumble apart, and then a beam from the Neuroi craft cut through it like a knife causing it to explode in a flash of white light. Being a child, he didn't know what this would mean in the long run. That is until he along with everyone else around him heard a growl, a loud one, it almost reminded him of those large drums he saw in marching bands but the beat for it was faster than anything he could imagine.

That is when he noticed in the middle of all the chaos, the alien had stopped...it wasn't moving, it wasn't attacking, it was just floating up there for some reason. 'Why did it sto-'

He felt the ground quake below his feet, and a low rumbling sound coming from the crater that was once the great idol but soon the pitch of the sound got higher and higher, louder and louder, the kid fell on his bottom because the shaking was so intense. He thought for a moment it was an earthquake until he felt the shaking stop as the rumbling faded into nothingness. He stood up carefully, trying to regain what little balance he had left in his legs. A loud shriek pierced through the air, like nails on a chalkboard echoing in a cave and after a few seconds the crater spat out several large spheres of green flames that sailed through the air and crashed into the ground like cannonballs.

The boy scrambled to his feet, and began running anew as more spheres flew from the hole and crashed into the ground, at the same time the Neuroi craft began firing again only it was aiming at whatever was in those green glowing fireballs. When he saw a straight path into the woods, he went from running to sprinting in an instant. His heart was pounding in his chest, his lungs were burning as he ran faster than he ever thought he could and the muscles in his legs were starting to cramp. He was so focused on escaping he didn't noticed one of the green fireballs crashing behind him, the force of the impact throwing him on his chest.

He shook his head in an attempt to regain some of his focus, his elbows and knees were sore after that landing and it made it even harder for him to get up. That is until he saw what emerged from the green fire behind him. It was a large mechanical beetle-like being standing on two short legs, its body was rounded in the front, back, and bottom, its head had a set of white metal teeth, two glowing green eyes, its head was covered by a silver shield with a black marking of some sort, and its two short arms ending in equally silver shields that resembled circular saws that were used to cut metal for use in the military.

The last thing he remembered was the creature slowly marching towards him, the sound of whispers going through his premature skull, and his legs scrambling towards the woods before everything went dark.