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

by James Huff

  Other than my morning talks with Mr. Ivaness, I had no further involvement with the BMF. I remained at the first protocol. That does not mean, however, that I never had problems. I found out about many of the Alphae’s punishing kingdoms. The first one I experienced was known notoriously as the box, but that was not the only one I experienced. Every time the Alphae insulted my grandfather I acted out and ended up being punished by one of the pods. Sometimes I would find myself in a barren desert wasteland and other times I would find myself in a terrible realm of arctic glaciers, wandering around for what seemed like an eternity with barely any clothes on. The worst kingdom of all, however, was also the simplest. It was nothing more than an all consuming fire and literally felt like I was being burned alive. Mr. Ivaness and the Alphae told me later that this was to burn away impurities, but that seemed like such an insult to me. After each punishment, however, I always found myself being brought to a more beautiful environment and taken into the palm of the Alphae. Each time he did this, he asked for my submission and promised to never let me endure that again if I but surrendered to him. But I knew I could never do that.

  And so time went on and before I knew it, we had approached the last week of our classes before the upcoming retreat and tournament that would preclude our first initiation. On the last day of our final week of classes before this great event, we had our examinations to take. I was really nervous about this, as I knew that I struggled with the Ritual Instruction material. But I did my best to study and prepare for it because I knew that the more I excelled in Institution, the better off I would be and the less likely it would be that anymore protocols would be activated by the BMF. We were told that the day would be split up into three sections of testing for each academic class and that our physical education class would be canceled for that day. We were advised, however, to try to get plenty of rest and nutrition in order to be prepared for the first Victeous tournament that would take place during our week long retreat prior to our first initiation. The victor of this tournament would award its caste 600 points toward the Caste Cup and I knew that if I was the one to win that all of my caste mates would praise me and I would never have to worry about being mistreated by them again.

  The morning of my exams went fairly well. I managed to have a heart to heart talk with Brian in an attempt to befriend him. He seemed to take to it pretty well at first, but he still remained rather distant. After breakfast and the Morning Ritual, I went to my first class to take an exam on the history of the Alphae. There was no essay portion to this exam and the entire test was taken through the various scenes being shown to us via our eyewear and we were then asked to identify them, with everything we said being recorded to be scored later. I would see scenes of the Alphae shaping the cosmos and asked to identify the various processes as well as seeing scenes with the Alphae’s various prophets and being asked to identify them and what they did for the world. After completing the exam I felt like I did pretty well and it seemed fairly easy, but I knew that the next two tests had long essay portions and I was a bit nervous as to how well I would be able to write material, especially for the Ritual Instruction class.

  The first part of the theology of the Alphae exam was for us to write an essay explaining in detail the mark of the rebel and the Cup of Atonement. We had to list and identify all of the other tenants which sprung from this one teaching. Although we were required to have a fairly high word count, luckily I had spent a lot of time studying and I felt pretty good about the essay portion of the theology exam. Next we were given the names of various prophets and asked to identify the teachings that they spread and their significance. This was a bit more difficult than the essay because it required a lot of memorization. I felt like I did pretty good overall, though, as I was only uncertain about a few of my responses. Finally we were given the List of Submission and asked to identify in detail the meaning behind each tenant on the list.

  For the Ritual Instruction class we had to write one rather lengthy essay explaining all of the significance of our first initiation, ‘From Darkness unto Light,’ in detail. I managed to write this portion very quickly as I had done a ton of studying that week prior to prepare for it, since I knew that this was the class I struggled with the most. Then we were asked to write two smaller essays on the Morning and Twilight Rituals. This part was fairly easy as the symbolism behind these rituals was fairly simple to me. But the fun part of this exam was the last part in which we were shown scenes of the temple and various rituals and asked to verbally identify all of the symbolism inherent within them. With this section luckily I had also done a lot of studying and I liked it better than the essays since it was interactive.

  After completing the exams the rest of the day went by fairly smoothly. That evening during my individual altar time I proved my worth to the Alphae and he actually sent me into one of his Kingdoms that was very much like Vaena. Of course, the main difference was that the Alphae was there and also, to me, it was nowhere near as beautiful as I had imagined it. But it was nice because the Alphae allowed me to see my grandfather again. I had to admit that I doubted how much of it was real, but since my imagination was raped by the implant, it was nice to be able to see my grandfather’s face, even if it was with him lying in the palm of the Alphae. That night I managed to sleep really well and was ready more than ever for the next morning to go to the week long retreat and compete in the Victeous tournament. For the first time since I had arrived at Institution I was actually excited about something and anxiously looking forward to excelling in the tournament, as I was confident that I would.

  Chapter 7:

  I awoke with the sound of the morning bell and the pod around me retratced back into the floor. I didn’t remember much of my dreams that night but I did recall that they were fairly pleasant, even though I did remember seeing the Alphae in several of them. Brian was already in the containment chamber. Right before I entered an announcement was heard. “Inductees please remember to go into the containment and cleansing chambers and then proceed to the dining hall for breakfast. There will be no Morning Ritual and instead you will all be called to the inner sanctuary where your week long retreat is located. The priest of each caste will escort you there and you will finally be given the opportunity to interact with students of other castes. Thank you and remember that all things done be unto the glory of the Alphae.”

  After exiting the chamber I got dressed quickly and made my way out of the door of my dormitory. As usual Mr. Ivaness was there waiting for me. “Good morning John. Are you excited about the retreat? By the way, congratulations on making it into the Victeous tournament. That is a great honor. You should be proud.” I had to admit that I was very proud of that achievement. I was confident in my ability and Mr. Merck had told me that I was one of the finest fighters he had ever seen in Institution. “Yeah, thanks. I am really excited about it. I really believe that I can win and I know if I do that my caste will be very happy with me.” Mr. Ivaness smiled and we both slowed our pace. “How do you think you did on your exams John?” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I feel like I did okay. As you know I struggle a bit with understanding the rituals, but I did as you advised and spent plenty of time studying the material.” “That’s great John. I am very proud of you. You have grown a lot since you arrived here. So far you have excelled in all that is required of you. There is still, however, one small issue. And if left unchecked, this issue could threaten your continued success.”

  I knew what he was going to say before he said it. So I decided to just let him know how I felt. “I already know what you are talking about. You don’t have to say it. In fact, I was talking with one of my good friends here and she told me that I should just let it go. She said that I can still cherish my grandfather and his stories without feeling the need to constantly talk about it. But what I really don’t like is when the Alphae insults my grandfather. No matter how hard I try, I can’t help but to get angry and act out. But honestly I would rather go through th
e punishing kingdoms than to be upgraded to the next BMF protocol.” Mr. Ivaness gazed deeply into my eyes as if he were contemplating what to say next. At this time we were already in the lift and had almost reached the ground floor. “Remember John that I am here to help you, not to hurt you. One day you will understand why all of this has happened to you. All of the bad things I mean. I wish I could say more, but I cannot at this time. Just be patient John. Now it appears that we have reached the ground level. Go ahead and get some food in your system. I will see you at the retreat, although I will not be able to stay the entire week. I will, however, be there periodically and I will try to at least make it to one of the tournament days so I can see you compete and support you. Good day John.”

  I made my way down the hall and into the large double doors of the dining hall. I approached my usual spot near the back of the middle table and noticed the Alphae sitting on his throne in his usual slumber as I walked past him and moved on to take my seat. I wondered what exactly Mr. Ivaness meant when he said that he could not tell me anything more. What was he hiding from me? Could it be that he really is trying to help me? It was hard for me to believe that since, even though the people of the BMF always treated me with respect and were polite most of the time, whenever I acted out things were very different. I shrugged the issue off and took my seat. To my great joy I noticed Amy sitting directly across from me. “Hi Amy, are you doing well this morning?” She smiled and looked really happy to see me. We had not spoken in a few weeks so it was good to be able to talk. “I am doing very well John. Congratulations on being accepted into the tournament.” I smiled as our food was laid out in front of us. For some reason the thanksgiving worship was cancelled for that morning. It must have been because of the worship service that would begin in the inner sanctuary.

  “Yeah, congratulations to you as well. I guess this makes us rivals now.” “Well John, we are in the same caste. Winning is not about the individual. Whoever wins scores for their entire caste. So you see, we are actually teammates. And we will not be competing against each other anyway. We are only competing against students from the other castes. Apparently there are going to be eliminations until there is only one member of each caste left. Beyond that, I am not sure exactly how the scoring will be done.” I shrugged my shoulders as I wolfed down my food. “Yeah, beats me. I guess we will find out soon enough,” I replied through a mouthful of food.

  After eating an announcement was heard from above. “Inductees please follow your priest to the alternative lifts located in sector 9. Remember that you are going to a hidden and exclusive sanctuary so please respect this facility by showing the proper reverence to both the Alphae and the priests. One of the mystics of the palace of the Alphae will be there anonymously to observe the new class of Institution so please be on your best behavior. His identity will not be revealed so please do not ask any questions. When you arrive you will be given an hour to socialize between members of the various castes. Please use this time effieciently as these social hours will be limited during the retreat. The next available time to converse with other caste members will be on subsequent retreats prior to your other initiations. Now go and remember, that all things done be unto the glory of the Alphae.”

  The priest tapped his staff three times to silence the hall, had us usher in behind him in organized rows and then proceeded to take us out of the back of the dining hall and down a corridor that I had never seen before. The hall we were escorted through was very dark and only dimly lit by some kind of plasma torches. The depictions of the Alphae in this place were very strange and eerily dark. They creeped me out. We were each ushered into various lifts, all of them being much larger than the lifts I was accustomed to. I entered the lift with the Silver priest and proceeded to descend. The travel seemed to last an eternity. We must have been taken over 100 floors beneath the surface, possibly even more. After a very long descent the lift halted abruptly and we were then escorted down another dark hall, although this one was much wider. There were no depictions of the Alphae in this place. Finally we approached two of the largest black double doors I had seen thus far. The priest mumbled some kind of password and the doors opened inward.

  As we filed inside I noticed that we were in the most beautiful garden paradise that I had ever seen. Even the hanging gardens of my grandather’s tales were there. There were so many exotic plants that some of them seemed to exude a color not of this world. It was hard to tell what was real, but there were even large birds and strange reptilian winged beasts flying high above. There was also a massive waterfall and a river that ran between the beautiful meadow of gardens. Though I knew we were indoors, this place had every appearance of an outdoor location. There was even golden light that descended upon us from high above, mimicking the rays of the sun. This place was very warm but perhaps a bit humid. Along with the birds there were many other strange animals here, some which even looked mythological.

  Soon members of various castes filed into place. In the center of this majestic garden was a massive bronze statue of the Alphae that dazzled in the golden light. It must have reached 300 feet in height. We were told to gather around the statue and were released shortly thereafter to converse among members of the various castes. Peter and Justin caught up to me. “Hey John, isn’t this place just spectacular?” said Peter. “Indeed it is. I can’t believe all of this is underground.” Justin smiled and looked toward me. “I know, right? This is incredible.” Peter decided that he wanted to go and try to find his twin brother David of the Iron caste. I had a hunch that we might find him by the waterfall so we all made our way in that direction. On the way there I ran into Amy. “Hey John, surprised to run into you again,” Amy said, smiling and looking curiously at Justin and Peter. “Yeah I know. What a coincidence with such a crowd. Amy, this is Justin and Peter. They are some friends I met on the second day.” Justin and Peter both went to shake her hand. They had seen her before but had never been properly introduced.

  Just as we were approaching the waterfall David waltzed right up to us, obviously happy to see his brother. “Hey David! It’s so good to see you,” said Peter as he ran up to his brother and gave him a huge hug, lifting him off his feet. I then proceeded to introduce David to Amy and then the four of us walked right up to the waterfall, wanting to reach out and let the water fall on our hands. Unfortunately when we got closer to the waterfall we were stopped by a surveillance drone and warned about proximity. I guess the waterfall must have been off limits, but that didn’t bother me because it was amazing just to gaze upon. Peter turned toward David. “So did you make it into the Victeous tournament?” David beamed and looked really excited. “Yeah as a matter of fact I did,” he replied. We all exhanged high fives and Amy informed him that she had made the cut as well.

  Amy bumped my shoulder and laughed. “You should have seen this clown on the first day of our physical education class.” My face grew red with embaressment but I managed to laugh it off. “Yeah she threw my ass like a rag doll. But it’s all good. She is the only one to have beaten me at Victeous as well. She’s really good.” Peter and David laughed hysterically. Only Justin remained silent, quiet as usual. “Well I guess if you are humble enough to accept defeat from a girl that you will do well from here on out John,” Justin chimed in, breaking his silence. “Yeah I suppose you are right,” I said. “But Amy and I are great friends. She knows I don’t take that stuff personal.” Amy smiled and squeezed my hand. Her little display of affection caused some odd stares from the three boys. “Only a friend?” questioned Peter. He just had to say it. “Yes,” I replied. “We are just friends. Hey I am 13 what else would I want from a girl?” Amy gave me a puzzled look. “Well of course John, but you know how guys are.” “Yeah well I am not like most guys,” I said, challenging the situation.

  There was an awkward silence that was broken by Justin. “You know I feel like we can all be great friends. We need to make a pact to stick together no matter what. Maybe it will be hard with David since
he is with the Iron caste, but I dunno, I just feel like the five of us need to stick together.” Amy smiled and I could tell she really liked the idea. We all agreed and so right then and there, beside that magnificent waterfall, we made a friendship pact. We all joined hands and lifted them up as we all recited “friends till the end.” I was so happy in that moment, the happiest I had been since the last time I saw Grandfather. But that feeling was cut short as we were approached by three boys from the Lead caste. “I see you guys are trying to buddy up,” said the first, a boy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. “You know this tournament is going to be an all out war. There is no room for friendship. That leaves you only with weakness.” I tried to speak up but he interrupted my thought as soon as I began to open my mouth.

  “And if it isn’t Mr. Crawling. I see that you made it into the tournament. Well, we all know you are with the BMF and from what I hear if you mess up just one more time, even if you do win the tournament, you will be disqualified and lose all of your points. You might be a good fighter John, but you are a fool if you think you can outsmart a god.” Before any of my friends could stick up for me, the three boys walked off, but not before the blonde one pushed me, almost knocking me into the water. Amy caught my arm just in time and as she helped me regain my balance she pulled me in for a hug. “I’m really sorry about that John. Don’t listen to them. They are just jealous because they know you’re going to demolish them in the tournament. That little stunt they pulled was just a pathetic attempt to mess with your head. Ignore it.” At that time our conversation was interrupted with an announcement. “Inductees please make your way to the great statue of the Alphae where we will all gather together for our special exlusive morning Worship Service.”