I took my position toward the center of the ring, while my vanguards, scions, and guardians took their places behind me. The other sages gathered around the circle, waiting for our leader to take his position at the center of all of us. By the time we were all in place, there were several rings of the members of the Brotherhood, with one central walkway for one last person, the Ghost.
Masks hid the faces of every single person there. Even as a sage, I only knew the names and positions of those in the branch that I led. I didn’t know any of the other men and women in any of the other branches. I knew none of the other sages. The only person who knew all of our true identities was the reigning leader of the Brotherhood, but none of us knew anyone outside our own branches. I’d been a member of the Brotherhood ever since I was small. Even I didn’t know our leader’s identity. I’d never seen his face.
I knew the reason for it. If any of us were ever captured by an enemy, the rest of the Brotherhood would never be betrayed because a single captive couldn’t reveal information that he didn’t knew no matter what kind of torture he was put through.
I looked up and saw the moon high overhead, just breaching over the tops of the trees and bathing the clearing in a soft light.
I heard feet shuffling behind me as even more men and women joined the circle. I had my suspicions as to what this meeting might be about, but I had yet to voice them. It was likely a political cause, if I had to guess and there was only one recent event that seemed even remotely possible to be the cause.
The nearby city of Valgertha had undergone a recent change in their ruling infrastructure. The previous king had been sympathetic to our cause and hadn’t needed much guidance on the trade routes and the surrounding cities and towns that he could raid and conquer.
But now, there was someone new in place. A woman. Rumors were that she was also an alpha, which was posit
ively unheard of and would require a special sort of handling if that was true.
Already, she’d begun to move outside of the city walls, moving against the surrounding territories of Kaldar from the central trading Port of Skali. She was strengthening her position as queen in the city, and it was certainly causing tension amongst the members of the Brotherhood. She was proving herself to be quite adept at conquest and if left unchecked, it would eventually work against our cause. She would need to be dealt with. And soon.
The chanting grew louder, the drumbeat faster and more intense. Everyone pressed their hands together in a divine showing of solidarity as our leader entered the ring.
The Ghost took his place at the very center of the circle, which was lit by two much stronger lanterns. His mask looked fierce, and the shadows highlighted just how much more ornate his was than anyone else’s. He was our leader and his mask clearly showed it.
He cleared his throat and raised his hand, signifying that the meeting was about to begin. Both the chanting and the drums ceased to make any sound at all immediately, and the clearing descended into silence. We all waited for him to speak.
“Tonight, we gather together to give honor to the gods and to ensure that their wishes are fulfilled. I want to remind you that the gods control the universe in two equal parts, through a delicate balance of order and chaos, and without it, the world would cease to exist. It is the mission of the Alpha Brotherhood to safeguard the will of the gods and use our power to protect those that cannot protect themselves. It is our duty,” the Ghost said.
Every meeting began this way. It was to remind us why we were here and what our central mission demanded. If the balance tilted too much in the direction of order, the world would eventually falter. If there was too much chaos, it would lead to madness. It was seen time and time again throughout history, and it was our role to keep that balance in check.
The Alpha Brotherhood has existed for centuries. Long ago, it was established to uphold the very theory that the Ghost was talking about. To this day, the Brotherhood had remained a secret organization that worked from behind the scenes to control the world for own interests. Our members have long infiltrated or are currently in the process of infiltrating every sector of every city on the planet, even those at the very edges of civilization. We have established our own allies and puppets as leaders in most cities, and in some cases, even some of our own members. We control trade, politics, entertainment, and all travel in and out of the world. If there is a war or a battle for power, on some level, the Brotherhood is involved.
The Ghost cleared his throat.
“I’ve called you all here today to discuss an issue that has arisen over the past few weeks with the warrior settlement known as Valgertha,” the Ghost continued.
I had been right in my suspicions after all.
“There has been a recent change in power structure that was unplanned and quite unexpected. King Vageir has been unseated by a woman. Her name is Freya and she is quite unique in that she is a very rare female alpha.”
One of my alpha soldiers gasped in surprise. The Ghost waited for a moment, letting the information about her status really hit home for all of us.
“That’s not all though, my disciples. She’s a conqueror. She’s moved beyond the town of Kaldar and is using the Port of Skali as a central location to move outward and take more land for Valgertha. Unknowingly, or at least as far as I know, she’s working to upload the Cult of the Blood Moon’s objectives and the Brotherhood can no longer stand for that. She is going to need to be dealt with, especially before she aligns Valgertha with Ravenrath. This cannot be allowed to take place,” the Ghost said.
I shivered. The Cult of the Blood Moon had been our enemy for centuries.
They were a sinister organization that worshipped the dark deity Odiyen. They had always been in direct conflict with the Brotherhood and had no qualms about doing whatever they needed to do to accomplish their goals, whether it be the murder of young children, the distribution of omegas on the black market, or the circulation of illicit drugs. They had long been attempting to infiltrate our organization and unseat several members within the Brotherhood, but we had outmaneuvered them at every turn. There were some places that they still continued to keep power though and it was a constant struggle for the Brotherhood to deal with. The cult stood for everything we were against and eventually, we would take them down. They currently had a stronghold in Ravenrath, and if Freya aligned with those that ruled there, we would lose our grip on Valgertha. The Ghost would never let that happen.
I looked around the circle, taking in the hard gazes of everyone gathered here. The eyes were the only defining feature that could be seen through the mask. Many of them were turned to the Ghost, waiting to see what he would instruct us to do next.
“I’ve sent a disciple into the city of Valgertha to look into the phenomenon that is this unique female alpha. We’ve researched into her ancestry in order to find out more about her. Her mother was an omega and her father an alpha, as you might expect. We’ve observed her in secret on many different occasions, watching her ruling style within the city and her combat on the battlefield. Everything about her behavior suggests that she is an alpha. But we learned something different when we had the opportunity to place a healer within her ranks. That healer was able to procure a blood sample,” he continued.
I narrowed my eyes. It was long understood how the genetics of our instincts worked. Occasionally, there would be cases of mutation where a very rare emergence of an omega male or an alpha female, but they were not well documented or studied because they existed at such low frequencies. This Freya presented an exceptional opportunity to further understand how her kind had developed, and I wasn’t surprised the Ghost had already begun the process.
“We have sequenced this sample of blood and what we found was already quite surprising,” the Ghost said. He paused, looking around the room and his ice blue eyes met the gazes of each and every sage until he finally stopped with me.
“Freya is extremely unique in that she has both an alpha and an omega gene. Both genes are in direct opposition to each either, each one vying for dominance in the central backbone of her DNA. All her life, her alpha gene has reigned over her development, but it is becoming increasingly unstable. According to our research, it will take the right transformative event to fully break down the alpha gene and let the omega within her reign free,” he explained.
For a long time, he was silent.
“Our scientists believe that this event could be triggered by the presence of a very strong alpha with the right epigenetic capability to her, causing the breakdown of her alpha gene and forcing the emergence of the hidden omega inside her. King Vageir had foolishly tried to claim her for himself, but he was genetically weak and wholly incompatible for a woman of Freya’s caliber, therefore, he ended up dead. She killed him and took the throne for herself,” the Ghost continued.