There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community. These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, some from other worlds, and others have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us. These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales. *** Growing up is never easy. Growing apart... well, no one likes the thought of that. Three friends balance on the razor-thin edge between being boys and becoming men. They have one last summer to goof off, but they never could have imagined the turn that would take. One night's harassing of a nearby cult compound ends up in a head-on collision with a local legend that proves all too real. Can they get the creature back to where it belongs without getting deeper into trouble? What seemed like a lark will mark one of them for life...