Our story begins with a twenty nine year old man. He has short black hair, blue eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses, tan skin, and stands six foot even. He wears t shirts, jeans, the occasional button up, and always has a watch on his left wrist. This man is Alex Robert. Alex is a game designer for an indie company that lives in a small town in western Arkansas. Alex is currently in a government building signing up for a program that allows him to house interspecies or other worldly inhabitants. . These other worldly people, the males called liminals and females called Mamono, are special in that they hail from another world. Their world opened a portal to earth about ten years ago when he was in high school and requested help against an intergalactic demonic threat. The demon threat had originally made the mamono and liminals from different races on their home world and seeded a few worlds with the start of each group.
Alex had been a member of an elite special forces group sent to the world of Lumia and from there to the front lines of the world of Atraxia. He eventually earned the rank of captain and helped end the war five years ago. When he was done with the war he retired and went to college where he learned game design and got in with the company he worked for. He missed his old friends, both the living and fallen, and he currently lived alone after waiting for the people of both worlds to be allowed to travel back and forth. This led to the program Alex was signing up for, the Interworld exchange program. The program, which he was just waiting for his permit to finish joining up and find out where he'd be assigned and who he'd be assigned to work and live with. The military had personally requested him to join the program as he was able to interact with Lumia locals, and even the members of Atraxia who turned against the demon emperor.
He popped a piece of gum into his mouth as he waited and popped his neck yawning mid-chew and wondering what he could do to speed up the process besides show his military ID. After all he was a part of a secret unit so his record was completely classified. Only the empress of Lumia, the new emperor of Atraxia who'd been installed by both the forces of earth and Lumia and was a former general of Lumia who'd turned against the former emperor for his insane practices and monstrous attacks on the lives of civilians. Alex sighed and pulled out a picture in his wallet as he heard the person before him be called in. It was a picture of a female angel with a sweet smile, a succubus with a seductive smirk, a dragon girl with a distant look in her eye, a hellhound girl who was grinning and giving the victory sign, a tiger girl with a glare on her face, and a feral dire wolf that was sitting at his feet howling at the top of the photo.
He was in the middle of the girls and scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish smile as the girls all had their heads turned toward him. He grinned at the memory knowing his sheepish smile was because he didn't expect his friends to agree to the photo. They were the Mamono that were in his squad. In the background and too the edges of the picture were a lizard man with red skin and a ferocious smile at the left edge of the photo, a cat boy with blue eyes and a peace sign on the far right, and in the back were a human man, a kobold man or dog man, and the future king of Atraxia with weary smiles on their faces each watching the seven of them as if they were proud as this was the special unit. His captains' badge was proudly displayed on his chest and he smiled at the memory of the three commands he head who promoted him.
The lizard man and cat boy were the two liminals in his squad who the girls tended to pick on for being a battle junkie, and a softly spoken kid who was quick to anger. He glanced at the hat on the head of the hellhound which had bee given to her by their first commanding officer as he lay dying in a pool of blood, the hat still stained yet the man had been proud to go saying that he wouldn't know what to do during peace time and the that he was proud of the hellhound girl. Then he looked at the lunar rosary around the neck of the angel which had been given by their second commander before he retired from a leg injury that prevented him from fighting at full power. He noticed the angel was fingering the moon on the rosary, and smiled again.
He hadn't realized how much he missed his squad. Their names were Lyra the Angel, Carlita the succubus, Atrea the hellhound, Drasliona, also known as Dras to the hellhound and Liona to the succubus, the Dragon girl, Dianna the tigress, and Luna the dire wolf. Luna was his partner from day one as he'd found her when he first got to Lumia, and had raised her from a pup. The picture was from when he became their commander ad gained his captain's badge. The two males in his group were Lance the salamander, and Axel the cat boy. Of course they weren't his entire squad but they were the lieutenants and up. Axel and Lance were lieutenants, the girls were all lieutenants first class, and the rest of the squad weren't there as they were busy getting drunk and enjoying their day off. The three in the background were the head of the spec ops program Marcus David, former general of the Atraxian army Nicodemus Alistair, and the kobold was the head of the allied forces Leonidas Arento.
The group in the photo were divided into several categories. Atrea and Drasliona, were heavy weapons and demolition specialists, Dianna was an assassin, and Lyra and Carlita were espionage and counter espionage. The infantry was led by Lance and Axel. Meanwhile Captain Lex, as his men called him and his partner Luna were the specialists. They did a little of everything and yet they also were the best at leading with Luna making him an excellent recon specialist.
Alex shook his head and dragged himself from his memories as he heard a voice call out “Mr. Roberts?”
Alex got up and walked to the window saying That's me.” The girl smiled and he said “Do I need to fill out more paperwork or do I need to do something else.”
The woman smiled and said “There's no paperwork you need to fill out, though if you really are former military I need to see you r ID.”He nodded and handed her his ID which just stated he was a combat vet. He still had the scars hidden under his shirt and pants to prove he'd been injured but he had refused to quit. He blew a bubble as she checked his service record and found that there was a lot of things redacted. She sighed and said “Can you tell me anything about your service?”
He shrugged and said “Uh, I was part of the units sent to the front lines of Atraxia with other recruits.” She blinked and he said “Yes I served in that campaign. I'm guessing you thought I served here on earth?” She nodded and he said “Heh, not a chance. I signed up to serve in Lumia and Atraxia when I turned eighteen. After retiring four years ago I went to college then got my current job. Though as you can tell from me being in this office I'm willing to relocate in order to have people from Lumia and Atraxia stay with me.”
She nodded and said “Yes your forms did state as much. Honest question, was the fighting as bad as they said?” He nodded solemnly and she said “Thank you for helping prevent that monster from taking over both worlds then.” He shrugged scratching the back of his neck sheepishly and she said “We have an opening New York where a boarding house for Interworld members who want to come to earth. There's also an option for a caretaker to go to Lumia.” He chuckled and shook his head she asked “Too many memories?”
He shook his head again and said “No, just the people I'm hoping to see were sure they wanted to come to earth and wanted me to have a place prepared for them and others. Besides that I spent six years in Lumia and Atraxia fighting, the four years I spent on earth de-stressing haven't prepared me to go back yet. I'll take the option to stay in New York, unless there is one in the local area?”
She hummed and looked it up then said “There's another boarding house being built to the north of Fort Smith. If you want to take over that one I can put you in the system and you can get input in how to design the building and everything while staying at your current home. Unless you want to open up your current home and use that.”
Alex chuckled and said “Nope. My current home is an apartment in the bad part of our little town. I planned on moving soon anyway so I'll take the Fort Smith posting. Unless there's an opening in Tucson Arizona.” She grinned and he said “YES!”
She smiled and said “Yes there is an opening in Tucson and you can be sent there right away. They were looking for someone willing to take over a boarding house in Tucson. The old owner decided he couldn't be part of the program due to a hear condition. He also said the house was ready to be remodeled but a few of the rooms were ready to be used now.” Alex grinned and she said “Is that where you'd like to be stationed Mister Roberts?”
He nodded and she signed him up then sent the paperwork and said “The government will come to relocate you in three to five business days. In the meantime get your affairs in order. Also you did fill out the entire questionnaire to the best of your ability, correct?” He nodded and she said “Excellent. Welcome to IWEP.” He thanked her and headed home deciding to pack, then sent an email to the company saying he wasn't quitting but he was being relocated so he would send them the new address after the move.
This was fine with the company as they knew he planned on moving to Tucson and they actually had an office there. He'd been trying to relocate both for work and because he missed the desert. With the government paying for him, his plans all set and his name in the program he was ready. This was the start of Alex Roberts' Monstrous Daily Life. Little did the world know, he was ready for this.
