Rise of the Alphae: From Death unto Life (Wastelands Saga Book 1)

by James Huff

  I rounded the corner and proceeded down the hall to the lifts. I took the lift to the dining hall and was joined by a few of my caste mates. They sneered at me with a look of disgust and I did my best to ignore them. It was my second day behind the walls of Institution and already I couldn’t wait to get out of there. And I had a feeling that the worst was yet to come. I exited the lift and took a left down the hall and approached the large double doors of the dining hall. I wondered if I would get to sit with Amy again. It sure would be nice to actually get to have a real conversation with her for once. But, to my dismay, she was nowhere in sight. I guess I couldn’t have expected to catch up with her at every moment. It was surprising enough that I had run into her as many times as I had.

  I took a seat toward the end of the middle table, as far away from the Alphae’s throne as possible. My roommate Brian was sitting across from me. “Hello John. Man, these lecture halls sure do have some crazy technology. Did you guys get to wear the glasses for the…” I cut him off. “Yeah, I think we all have the same experiences with the classes, just different instructors. Say, do you know anything about our last class of the day?” Brian shrugged his shoulders and just then the Nutritional Drone Squad came out with their trays. As the tray was placed before me I looked down and saw an ovular piece of gray matter. I touched it and it felt firm but slimy. It smelled like a dead fish that had been sitting out in the sun. Accompanying the entrée were two short green cylinders and a light violet colored drink. I was starving so I wolfed it down as fast as I could, trying to ignore the horrible taste as much as possible. I noticed there was not a thanksgiving prayer before this meal. Instead the Alphae was just sitting on his throne in the same trance-like slumber as I had seen him in many times before. The priest of our caste knelt down in front of him in a state of mesmeric adoration. It made me sick to my stomach. Or maybe that was just the terrible food.

  Only a few minutes after I finished the food, an announcement could be heard above. “Inductees please make your way to your next class on Ritual Instruction. Thank you and remember, that all things done be unto the glory of the Alphae.” I got up quickly this time, rather than waiting for the crowd to disperse. I rushed to the lift in no time and was grateful to get there before it became too overcrowded.

  I exited the lift and proceeded to walk down the hallway. I passed three class rooms before approaching the Ritual Instruction Class in room number 18A. I walked in and immediately found myself in a very different environment. The banner bearing the crest of the Silver caste hung high above the instructor’s desk. There were no depictions of the Alphae in this room, however, there were many banners hanging all over with various symbols upon them, many of which I had never seen before. I took my seat near the back and noticed to my dismay that Amy was not seated near me. I assumed she must have taken a seat near the back. There was a projector machine hanging above the desk in front of the banner, but this one had more of an ovular shape and three “eyes.” The instructor was a tall, thin man with small framed glasses and wearing the usual white lab coat. He had long black hair and green eyes and was fiddling with a pointer in his right hand.

  As the class settled down, he spoke up to introduce himself. “Good day inductees of the Silver caste. My name is Mr. Signe. I will be instructing you on the rich symbolism of the rituals you will be performing during your stay behind the walls of Institution. Today I will be giving you all a brief overview of the symbolism behind your first initiation, ‘From Darkness unto Light.’” Mr. Signe clicked his pointer in the direction of the projector which then emit a beam of green light that hit the back of the domed ceiling and then a panorama opened up all around us. I found myself amidst another abyss-like setting but this time I could see a myriad of tiny lights being held by little children who were stumbling around blindly in the abysmal darkness.

  “You see students, right now you are all like these children. You are wandering through the darkness because you have not yet been christened to the Alphae’s holy and mighty will. It is the Alphae and him alone who is the source of all light in the cosmos. Even the tiny lights that these children carry merely allow them to see but a few feet in front of them. Only the pure golden light of the Alphae and the dawn of his illumination can shelter them through the blackness until they are born anew into the light. Your initiation will be very similar.”

  The instructor clicked his pointer once more and the scene dissipated. He then aimed his pointer at the middle eye in the projector and another scene opened up all around us. This time the Alphae could be seen handing a torch to some ancient prophet. “You see students, the Alphae bears the torch and shall pass it on to each initiate when the time is right. You can all be just as this prophet was. You can even surpass the prophets of the ancient past as you bask in the infinite light of the Alphae. The dawn that approaches each of you shall be brighter than any you have awoken to in your entire life. You all should be honored and privileged to be a part of a tradition that stems from all the way back to antiquity with the first prophet of our omnipotent god and king.”

  I never really saw myself as wandering around in the darkness. And I found it odd that, with all of this talk of light and of the dawn, here in Institution the actual sun was blocked off from us. The entire building was windowless. The only light we ever saw had to be artificial. This troubled me and I knew that there had to be a reason for it. I decided to speak my mind and so I politely raised my hand. “Yes child, do you have a question?” I hesitated for a moment before answering. I really didn’t want to be reported to the BMF for this, but I could not hold it in any longer. “You place a lot of emphasis on light but I find it ironic that we never get to see the actual sun while staying behind the walls of Institution. Why is that?” Surprisingly I did not even receive a stern expression from Mr. Signe. “Think of it this way child. When you have graduated from Institution, your initiations will be complete when you walk back through those opulent doors and the golden rays of the sun kiss your face for the first time in three years. And then you can rejoice, as you will be forever marked as a living child of the Alphae.”

  Mr. Signe clicked his pointer once more and the scene dissipated again. “Now students, are there any other intelligent questions?” No one raised their hand this time and so the instructor continued. “Very well. Take notice of the banners hanging in this room all around you. Many of these symbols date from antiquity. You will come to know them all very well in time. What you all should see now is how your first initiation ties in with the morning ritual as well as your actual graduation. It is all about the Light. Now I dismiss you all to go to your physical education class. I am sure many of you are looking forward to it and I can promise you that it will be fun. But hopefully by the time you graduate you can come to see ritual as being just as fun and exciting. Remember that you are all so privileged. Now go and remember, that all things done be unto the glory of the Alphae.”

  I exited the lecture hall and upon hearing an announcement, I walked down the hallway to the lifts. I entered the lift and heading to sub sector 12, where the gymnasium was where we would be training for our physical education class. I had no idea what to expect. I wondered why the Alphae thought it necessary for us to be in good physical shape when we were eating garbage everyday. It didn’t seem very consistent to me. But that thought soon dissipated as I reached the level and exited with the rest of my caste mates close behind. I found myself in a very wide hallway where there were two huge black double doors that led into the gymnasium. To my surprise when I entered there were no statues or depictions of the Alphae. The only décor were the many banners of the Silver caste; the half-moon crest hanging from the ceiling. There were also several arcs marked onto the floor in various positions. For this class we had two instructors, one male and one female.

  The male was a tall, well built man with brown curly hair and brown eyes. He looked to be in his early twenties but may have only had the appearance of being young. The female was also tall for a w
oman and had long wavy red hair with green eyes. Both of them were dressed in some kind of strange silver robe that looked almost like something that a martial artist would wear. Once all the students were gathered in the standing room of the gymnasium, the male instructor spoke up first. “Good afternoon inductees of the Silver caste and welcome to your physical education class. My name is Mr. Merck and this is Miss Elana. Now, as you both know each caste will be scored while you are staying here behind the walls of Institution. But I am here to tell you that over half of the points you will all incur will come from the competitions that you will be training for in this class. The specific art that we will be teaching you is known as Victeous and gets its name from the physical conviction of the Alphaean dogma.”

  Miss Elana spoke next. “Your training will eventually involve the use of our special suits called symbiotic bio units that will contour perfectly to your body and be used to control the avatar as chosen for each individual by the Alphae himself. Notice that you will be able to feel pain as well as other tactile sensations with the use of these suits.” Mr. Merck then chimed in again. “But before we can train you in the proper use of your SBU’s, you must demonstrate your ability to use your body in hand to hand combat. These will consist of various sparring sessions with your caste mates in the use of several forms of martial arts.” Mr. Merck then clicked his pointer at the ceiling and the images of two people appeared on the floor in front of them. They each raised their right hand up in front of their faces, while turning their bodies to the side and letting their other hand go down over their groin. Then they began to strike at one another until one of them got the other into an arm bar and hurled him onto the floor. The scene then dissipated with another click of the instructor’s pointer.

  Mr. Merck then clapped his hands. “Now then, I want each of you to pair up with one of your caste mates of the opposite gender. And stand inside one of the many arcs you see on the floor before you. Then, when I clap my hands a second time, I want each of you to assume the same positions you just saw and begin your first sparring session. I will be walking around with Miss Elana to help assist you on various moves, but for the time being I want each of you to rely more on instinct.” I had no idea who I would want to spar against and no one came near me to offer. I wondered why they would have me fight a girl. I didn’t quite feel right about that. I guess the Alphae was all about duality. I lazily walked around the gymnasium trying to find someone who looked like they may be willing to pair up with me, when Amy caught me by surprise and bumped my shoulder. I spun around violently and she was standing their smiling at me. “If you want to pair up with me you can John.” I nodded in agreement and we took our position near the middle of the floor inside one of the arcs.

  We each positioned our bodies as we were instructed and before I knew it the instructor clapped his hands, signaling for us to begin. I decided that, even though this was an awkward moment, I would try to talk to Amy some. “Do you find it kind of strange that we keep bumping into one another?” She ignored me and took advantage of my occupied mind to strike at my torso and then moved in to put me in an arm bar and immediately flip me onto the floor. All the wind got knocked out of me and at first I was upset, but then Amy gave me her hand and helped me back to my feet. Miss Elana saw the whole thing and was beaming at Amy. “Great form! And it is always wise to take advantage of any distractions of your opponent. Nice way to catch him off guard!” My face grew red with embarrassment. I couldn’t believe that I just got thrown by a girl. My grandfather would have been laughing hysterically at me if he were here. The thought brought a smile to my face. “I guess I better pay closer attention to my surroundings next time. Thanks Amy. You could have been rude about it and gloated but you weren’t. I appreciate that.” She smiled weakly. “Relax John. We are only sparring.”

  After a few more sessions with Amy and a brief closing speech from Mr. Merck, we were released to the common area for our social hour. I was sweating profusely and dying to get a drink. Mr. Merck made another announcement. “At the back of the room there is a locker room with containment chambers to cleanse as well as extra clothes for all of you. We would not want any of you to attend the Twilight Ritual this evening while sweaty.” He chuckled slightly and pointed in the direction behind him where there were two separate quarters for boys and girls. I didn’t like the idea of being in close quarters with a bunch of my caste mates. I had a feeling there would be a lot of sneering going on. Because of this I decided to rush over there as soon as I could, figuring that I may get cleansed and dressed before anyone could confront me. But I was wrong.

  Although I did manage to enter the containment chamber before anyone else came into the locker rooms, when I came out I discovered to my dismay that there were three boys from my caste waiting for me. One of them had reddish brown hair, was very short and stocky, and had green eyes. He spoke up first and seemed to be the ring leader of the trio. “Well, well, look who we have here. If it isn’t the special one. We all saw you get taken by the drone squad on the first night. But what was even more hilarious was seeing you get your ass handed to you by a girl.” Then another boy with blonde hair, who was slightly taller, sneered back a remark. “Yeah and we all see the way you look at Amy. How pathetic is it that you like the very same girl that can throw you like a rag doll? Who would be interested in someone like you? And what makes you think you deserve to be in the Silver caste? Everyone knows it is only the elite chosen who make this caste.” The red haired boy chimed back in with a warning. “You better watch your back Crawling. Yeah that’s right. We all know you now thanks to you being chosen this morning. I warn you right now Crawling; you cause our caste to lose points and you will pay the price. You’re lucky we are warning you now.” The boy then pushed me hard on the shoulder, which caused me to lose my balance and slip on the concrete floor. Luckily I caught the fall, but unfortunately it was with my already maimed wrist and I screamed aloud with pain.

  Mr. Merck must have heard me, because he rushed in just in time. “What happened here?” I started to speak up as Mr. Merck helped me to my feet, but the three boys ran out of the locker rooms before they could be scolded. I feared what may happen if I told the instructor what those boys had done, so I just explained to him that I had tripped. But he could tell I was in pain and so he offered to take me to the medical station just down the hall from the gymnasium. I tried to politely refuse but he would not take no for an answer. As we were walking he started talking to me, actually showing me kindness. “Listen Mr. Crawling. All of the staff here behind the walls of Institution have been briefed on your status with the BMF. We want the best for you and I want you to know that if your fellow caste mates ever bully you in any way, you can tell me and it will be taken care of. We are all concerned for you and want to help you in anyway we can. Also, don’t take it to heart about getting thrown by a girl.” He chuckled slightly and continued, obviously reminiscing. “Miss Elana has thrown me multiple times. But a greater challenger I have never found when it comes to my own skills in combat. You should see the things she can do with her avatar. In any case Mr. Crawling, inductees like yourself have been known to graduate with the highest accolades and find a place of prestige in society. Plus…the cure rate for DDD is extremely high and believe it or not, the form of physical training you will receive here will help you overcome it more than you know.”

  We rounded a bend and then he led me into a small room where a medical drone scanned my wrist. Then the drone gave me a shot of something and instantly the pain in my wrist went away and it resumed its former functionality. Mr. Merck then chimed in one last time before ushering me out of the door and in the direction of the lifts. “I want to let you in on a little secret John. Can I call you John?” I nodded in agreement. “The shot you just received was loaded by billions of microscopic nanomites that have the ability to rebuild bone in a fraction of a second. You never need worry about sustaining an injury for long while behind the walls of Institution.” I admitted
that I was grateful for the advanced medical care. I still wished the food was better, though.

  I walked down the hall toward the lifts with a new sense of self worth. Maybe Institution would not be as bad as I had thought. Mr. Merck was very nice and Mr. Ivaness always treated me with the utmost respect. I just wished that my fellow caste mates, other than Amy and Brian, would have treated me the same. It would have been nice to have made some new friends. For the first time since I had entered Institution I finally felt a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, I could meet some people who were like minded…or at least respectful enough to treat me with dignity. I entered the lift alone and waited for it to take me to the common area. I was trying to think of what I would say to Amy. So badly I just wanted to tell her the truth. I decided right then and there that I would be as open with her as I thought I could be.

  I exited the lift and proceeded down the hallway and into the common area. There were already a swarm of caste members there all socializing amongst each other. I approached the bar area and waited in line to get a drink. I looked up at the monitor above and noticed to my joy that we actually had a choice between beverages. There was substance D49, substance A19, substance E23, and, to my excitement, acai berry juice. I was floored to see that they actually offered a real juice, however I would not have been surprised if it were just some kind of artificial flavor. I ordered the juice and sat down on one of the many hovering sofas and took a drink. It didn’t taste like berries, but it did have a nice fruity flavor that was much better than any other drink I had so far.