Aftersight

Aftersight is a work-in-progress novel by Julian Loomis, and the first book in the series. Set in a fictional Arizona city in the year 2014, it surrounds the lives of several young superheroes caught amidst a vicious conflict against a ruthless corporate syndicate that plans to use their own powers against them, as well as the supernatural events that begin to take place during the struggle. It is also planned to be released as an open-world third person shooter for the Xbox 360™ and Playstation® 3 [release date TBA], developed by Visceral Montreal.

The story is made unique through its prevalent focus on the past experiences and often-dark personal histories of the charaters within its streamlined and fast-paced setting. It takes place within an alternate reality, in which human-canine hybrid beings known as Canids exist and live among humans, although constantly under moral and prejudicial fire from humans. Also among humanity is the S-Generation, or "S-Gen", a group of genetically divergent individuals with differing physical and mental advantages that are the real-world equivalent of superheroes. A mysterious and valuable substance with narcotic properties, called Osiris, was discovered several decades ago in America, and a massive dispute over control of the substance raged between the world's continents. The North American branch of the United Nations agreed that, to stop Europe and Asia from becoming too powerful, they would completely deny them the aquisition of Osiris, which caused the dissipation of the United Nations. Following this event, America soon became an area known as the Verge, and its conditions degraded seriously due to being severed from other countries. Osiris is adapted and used for many purposes, but also creating an entirely new host of problems on its own, including illegal nucleotide modification, trafficking and other forms of misuse. Aftersight primarily revolves around the actions of emotionally-scarred secondary protagonist Kishra Ward, a former United States Marine and an exiled servant of the Order whom, during his service, is captured by the Colony of Autumn, a covert weapons and genetic research organization, and injected with Osiris, embuing him with deadly powers and converting him into part of the S-Gen. After being discharged and relocated to Seraph City, Arizona, while struggling to collect the pieces of his fractured existence and overcome his addiction to morphine, he becomes involved with the Seraph City Police Department - whom are underpowered and underfunded - and their investigation of corruption amongst NERI, Seraph City's local law enforcement. However, NERI's intentions are far darker than at first believed. Samantha Kirksey, the main protagonist of the story, is a Seer - the last of her kind. She is gifted with the ability of Aftersight, which allows her to see into the near future. The SCPD are dedicated to protecting her unrelentingly, as her ability is beyond crucial in their struggle against NERI. She and Kishra embark on a hunt to uncover the secrets behind the syndicate that threatens not only their freedoms, but also their lives - but before long, the situation complicates as the two discover that NERI is collaborating with the Colony of Autumn in order to amass an army of genetically-engineered supersoldiers with which to exterminate what remains of the S-Gen, which in turn will allow them to autocratically dominate the entire western seaboard. Their plan to accomplish this was originally to infuse Kishra with the effects of Osiris, then reprogram his mind to systematically annihilate the SCPD with his new and lethal abilities; however, he escaped the Colony's clutches before he was able to be brainwashed, so the Colony resorted to a backup procedure: using what remained of the Osiris to awake an ancient evil Seer that would effectively wipe the S-Gen off the face of the Earth, thusforth allowing NERI to initiate their countrywide campaign of oppression. Intent on stopping them, the SCPD set out on an unimaginably treacherous crusade to gather as many allies as possible and prepare for the ultimate struggle of good versus evil - however, unbeknownst to the Colony of Autumn, they may be underestimating Kishra's might, as their desire for power has shaped him into the ultimate living weapon... and he won't stop until he's burned down the entire city to prevent himself from becoming what they bred him to be. Meanwhile, Samantha - determined to justify what was once her life, by any means necessary - must relinquish her fear of the unknown if she is to fulfill her duty; that is, to guarantee a tomorrow for the city and to ensure that those who oppose her will remember the Seers forever - whether they are exterminated or not.

Everyone has a past.