You are entering an alternate world, where the Philippines didn't achieve its independence but remained a US colony. You will meet four people living in Neo Manila, where the government is repressive, prohibited drugs are legal, and crime is rampant. Undesirables are abducted and imprisoned in the Valley, which is a hidden prison island. A secret society called the Sons of Lapu-Lapu is working to undermine the government and has spies within the Valley and the governmental ranks. A young man and a woman are victims of circumstance and caught between two sides. She initially betrays him but made amends later and became lovers. The government leader (and main villain) have thought of a bold plan to use witchcraft in creating a perfect Utopian society for him and the one-percenters in the colony: the New Gods. The remaining unworthy would not be included and thus eliminated. The soul of Neo Manila and the whole colony is at stake. Will the Sons of Lapu-Lapu or the New Gods prevail in the end? Who will you pledge your allegiance to?
View MoreThe Outcome Zeke and Mary Rose were able to escape with just a few scrapes on their bodies, while the others weren't so lucky. The bombs went off as planned and killed everyone on the penthouse floor including the remaining Higher Echelons that had escaped Jennifer's initial shooting spree. The floors below were relatively unaffected, and the presidential suite was left intact. Later, when a formal investigation was made of the apparent "terrorist attack," the investigators found Trevor's dead body, which had ten stab wounds. Bob the concierge was still alive and sent to a hospital. However, Chief Church had disappeared, and no one was able to find him. He had vanished like magic. The Valley remained a prison island but was not made secret anymore and opened to public knowledge. Rampant abductions and missing persons that were going on in the Colony came to a complete halt. Zeke went back to the province and tried to help his parents with their land problems but was no match agai
Bob vs. Jennifer It was Saturday night. Bob the concierge knew that everything was going to be hectic. The Higher Echelons and their families had always set one weekend a month to check-in at the Olympus Hotel. They were supposed to start coming in that day, and he was nervously waiting for them. He always didn't have a good experience dealing with the Higher Echelons and their families. Most of them were extremely difficult and demanding and used to having their way. Slight inconveniences usually resulted in public meltdowns, with him forever at the receiving end. Everything had to be in tiptop shape, and he also made sure the staff was doing their duties. He had to scold a few of them for dereliction and carelessness since whenever something bad happened during his shift, the blame was always aimed at him. But thankfully, nothing inauspicious had happened yet, and everything was operating like clockwork. The incident with the pink smoke that occurred a few days before was blam
The Point Man Zeke and Trevor arrived at the docks of Manila Bay in exuberance. They had successfully escaped the Valley and had traveled the wide waterways to finally get to Neo Manila. Their only remaining possession was the duffel bag full of money, which they had to give to someone that would meet them on the harbor. There was indeed someone standing not far from them, and at first glance, they assumed a female due to the womanly gait, but upon closer inspection, it was a man. It was their point man. He introduced himself to them: "Hello, my name is Esteban. You can call me Stevie." Hello Stevie. My name is Zeke, and this is Trevor." "You've spoken with Brother Jomar and Bart?" "Yes, they've helped us escape the Valley. We owe them our lives." "You have something for me?" "Hold on. How do we know you're the person we're supposed to meet?" "I understand. Look at this," said Stevie and showed a small tattoo of a native Filipino dagger (kampilan) on his wrist, the sign of a t
One Down, Two to Go Chief Church watched as Secretary La Selva became unconscious and limp after being injected in the neck. The two black-clad men then carried him outside to an awaiting van, with the Chief following closely behind. "Remember: DO NOT bring him to the airport but to Olympus Hotel at the penthouse floor. There's a service elevator you can take at the back of the hotel. Someone will be waiting for you outside," the Chief said. Both men nodded and carelessly threw Secretary La Selva inside the van, then drove off. The Chief got in another awaiting vehicle. As the car was driving away from Waste, he took out his phone and started dialing. He was trying to contact an associate, which was one of the Higher Echelons. The phone rang only once, and someone immediately answered on the other line. The Chief said: "It's me again. Were you able to find two people for the ritual? They have to be a mother and son." "Yes Chief, I've got them. You'll be happy to know they're pe
Laying Low Secretary La Selva went back to his office in Waste. He had gone out feeling energized but had returned with a sense of impending doom. His inquiry about Stevie's so-called death due to mugging wasn't cut-and-dried. He felt it was leading to something bigger and more sinister, of which he did not know yet. But one thing he knew for sure: Stevie wasn't who he said he was. He had only thought of him as an effeminate and lowly assistant, incapable of trickery and subterfuge. And clearly, he wasn't. He now acknowledged that Stevie could do bigger things, and he only wished he had treated him more kindly. Secretary La Selva felt he had fewer choices remaining to take. He didn't want to go home to his wife and son for fear of getting them involved. There was the option of going to Chief Church to tell him of Stevie's botched-up plan to assassinate him and his unwitting involvement. However, it meant his tenure as Secretary of Waste Management, and the corresponding enterprise
Working and Waiting Jennifer had become used to working as a maid in Olympus hotel. She surprisingly discovered she enjoyed doing her duties, which mostly had to do with cleaning. She discovered it had similar aspects in her day job as an assassin for hire where "cleanup" was crucial for success. She had known that Chief Church and the Higher Echelons were due for a meeting the coming week but didn't know the exact date and time. She kept her eyes and ears open for any news from anyone of her co-workers. She had seen Tony the bellhop around. He didn't recognize her when they passed each other since she toned down her overall appearance and dressed conservatively. Her maid uniform had helped in making her look unremarkable and ordinary. Most of the new information about incoming hotel guests came from the concierge and was saved on file in the lobby computer. She needed to access it and planned for a way to acquire it. The concierge was a smallish and bespectacled man named Bob, w
The Sons' Secret Agenda From all the things the Sons of Lapu-Lapu gave to Zeke and Trevor in helping to escape the Valley, money was the most important, which served a dual purpose. The Sons' marijuana processing and distribution business had given them power and controlling influence within the prison system. Their partnership with the Valley administration had been mutually beneficial. In exchange for giving them a percentage of the profits, they had the freedom to operate in relative peace. Any type of wrongdoing a Son may have done was glossed over and swept under the rug. They used the Valley's system for delivering goods in and out of the island to send out sacks of dried marijuana leaves to members on the outside. Once out, the leaves were processed further into accessible amounts and sold to buyers in the Colony. The Sons had amassed huge profits using this system, which was essential in their status in the Valley. However, the money served another purpose only they knew:
The Master Plan for the Master-Race Among the three of them in the family, Chief Church knew he was the less powerful one in the craft of the black arts. His wife Ellie had taught him basic enchantments that were useful in advancing their positions in the Colony, which were mostly mind-control spells. The more elaborate ones needed an expert hand and intimate knowledge about witchcraft, which Ellie had in spades. However, the Chief knew that Mary Rose had raw but unpolished talent and was becoming more powerful and potentially stronger than Ellie. He needed them to put his plan to full effect, a plan that necessitated someone with expert knowledge and someone with a powerful spell-casting ability. His grand plan was to create a Utopia: a perfect state filled with perfect-looking and obedient people, with him as their leader. It was the same plan that his idol Adolph Hitler had, as outlined in his favorite book: "Mein Kampf." All the druggers and people in the lower castes would
The Escape Night arrived, and it was time. Zeke checked and double-checked the necessities to facilitate their escape from the Valley, and everything was accounted for. He had asked for a small compass from Brother Jomar to calculate the information from the GPS and navigate their way to the nearest island. He patted it in his pants pocket. The only thing left was to steel their nerves and follow through. They needed to make two trips each to bring everything in the tunnel towards the awaiting boat at the harbor. They divided everything in two and tied numerous bags and gallons of gas together to make for easier delivery. Zeke went into the tunnel first. He tied the stuff to each other with one end on his right foot, went down on all fours, and slowly crawled and dragged along. It took longer than usual to move in the tunnel and lug the load. As he arrived at the other end, he was out of breath. He popped his head out to check if the coast was clear, and it was. He carried all the
“When the tiniest of infractions, like an unintentional death of a butterfly, could then snowball into drastic changes in history.” – Ray Bradbury, on the Butterfly Effect The Philippines have become a different place. Its history had jumped off a cliff and landed belly-flop onto a pool of peculiar circumstances. From this arose something out of the ordinary and remarkable. It is a weird thing, like a primordial creature with newly evolved limbs, surfacing out from some prehistoric swamp bringing forth strange life. It is something that grasps our imagination and unsettles our core beliefs. An unknown being of a trickster nature and whose motivations are as mystifying as itself resolved to change a particular incident in the country’s established history. At first glance, the incident in question looked unimportant to the ordinary onlooker but proved consequential in the great scheme of things. It was a seemingly ordinary and distinct event, which turned out to be significant in est...
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