The Engima

Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. They are is no uncertainty in their meanings, across the land and sea, everyone understands their power. Just the words alone carry weight, they carry authority, and they hold control. After years of leaving them undefined, the world has finally realized their meaning and brought them into modern life. Everyone has a handle, a sub-species that they are associated with. No one is without a label, and no one is forgotten. However, these labels aren't assigned. Instead, they became the natural order of the world and upon a baby's first arrival into the world, it is clear to everyone what they are. An Alpha, Beta, or Omega. Alphas are the leaders, they hold the most power in the world. Everyone wishes to be an Alpha. No authoritative position is held by any other person than an Alpha, they possess the most power over others. They control the world and how it is run, making sure that they keep the peace between the Kingdoms of the world, each run by their own Alpha King or Queen. Some Alphas possess unique abilities. However, they are no different to any other Alpha and still hold as much power as a regular Alpha. Betas, on the other hand, do not have as much power. They are considered to be the Alpha's underlings, their second-in-command. Betas never gain authority. Instead, a Beta can only hope for a role that fulfils an Alpha's duty when no Alpha is available. They are the common workers of the world, unable to achieve highly above the level of an Alpha. Yet, they do better than the Omegas. Omegas are the runts of the litter, the true underlings of the pack. They are fed the scraps of society and barely scrounge enough to survive. Instead, Omegas live off the kindness and needs of Alphas and Betas. Their role in society is as the child-bearer, the family carer. Omegas are good for one thing, and that is to maintain the health of the pack and multiply it. Omegas can only mate with Alphas or Betas, they are not allowed with another Omega. They are certainly not allowed with an Enigma. Enigmas are considered the worst sub-species of humans. They are powerful, uncontrollable Alphas who seek to control the world. In their thirst for power, they led to the collapse of the Five Kingdoms 2,000 years ago. Since then, Enigmas have been hunted to extinction and into hiding. Enigmas hold the powers of Alphas, Betas and Omegas, able to disguise themselves as any one of the three and perfectly blend into society. Yet, because of their power and status, Enigmas only appear every 200 years and are a very rare species to exist in the modern world. They are hunted, they are killed, and they are hated. Most of all, they are feared. Enigmas are forced into hiding, burying their powers deep inside themselves and never allowing their true identity to be revealed. Keeping all that raw, unwieldy power contained inside such a fragile human body slowly kills it from the inside. As such, many Enigmas only last around 30 years before dying. Nevertheless, Ellie needn't worry about that yet as she is still making her way through university at 21 years old and doesn't see death in her near future. Her powers lie dormant inside her body, ready to break away at any moment as she tries to get on with her life like any other young adult her age. Living away from home, studying for mindless hours in the hopes of a useless degree, whilst also eating mountains of junk food to keep her hungry stomach happy. She has plenty of friends and still searching for her soulmate and true love. Despite her efforts, she remains single as though there has been a wicked curse cast upon her body. Drowning under her studies, Ellie has tried to make her way in life working every kind of part-time job she can, earning money wherever she can. Ever since she was little, money had been a precious commodity and one that her father often took advantage of wherever it came into his account. There was never enough money, and luxuries were a rarity to Ellie. She was always used to the word 'no', to never being able to afford things that she wanted, to never being able to buy things that she needed. That was her life. So, working any part-time job to earn the pittance of salary they were willing to give her was the only bit of respite Ellie could have in her suffocating hellfire of life. Luckily, there was one special thing in her life, something that gave her life meaning and prevented her from running away to the nearest quarry and surrendering herself to the gods. That was her best friend Amy. The pair had been thick as thieves since they had met in high school and had stuck together ever since. Now that they were both in university, they both needed a place to stay, and it seemed only logical that they housed together. The two of them stuck together like glue, loving their messy, chaotic lives together and Ellie wouldn't have traded it for the world. Nevertheless, life doesn't always give people a choice. Sometimes, their lives are forced in a direction they are unwilling to take, and had Ellie decided to stay at home that day, perhaps her life would have turned out differently. The day had seemed like any other. The sun was shining beautifully overhead and the town's high street was bustling with life, people milling about in every corner, hiding under every shadow. Ellie loved the life of the place. How it breathed full of excitement, dread and wonder. Everything seemed so alive in that busy high street, and whilst others found the place loud and intrusive to their peaceful lives, Ellie relished every moment on the busy high street. Yet, as she held the phone to her ear and listened to her boss drone on about the upcoming week's quota, Ellie found herself unable to enjoy that usual bustling energy of the town. Instead, she found its fast-moving life draining on her body and she wished everything would slow down and stop. To give herself a breath. "And I have you and David covering the evening shift on Thursday as well," Her boss reminded Ellie sternly, as though she hadn't already reiterated that point several times over during their phone call. A phone call that had already lasted ten minutes, which was ten minutes longer than Ellie would like to be listening to her boss for "And then you'll be on from 9 till 7 on the weekend. Is that still alright?" She asked, even though she knew that Ellie took as many shifts as she could and couldn't decline the prospect of money even if she wanted to. Ellie was trapped. "Yeah, that's fine," Ellie answered boredly, her voice filled with apathy and exhaustion. Her body felt drained of energy, the thought of working so much over the weekend completely emptied her body of life. It all felt too much, and Ellie wondered whether this was her breaking point. "That's wonderful, thank you." "Is that everything?" Ellie asked, hoping this conversation was coming to an end as she looked up from the cobblestone street beneath her feet and stopped in place. She waited for her boss's answer, expectantly waiting for her agreement. "I think so..." Ellie hated how unsure she sounded, "Tell you what. If I think of anything else, I'll text you," Her boss announced, not understanding how inconvenient it was for Ellie to have her schedule texted to her on short notice. But Ellie agreed and hung up the phone after a brief farewell. Frankly, Ellie was glad to be free of that phone call, to finally be able to put the conversation behind her and get on with what she was meant to be doing. Originally, she had wandered onto the high street for a couple of necessitates and one or two luxuries that she treats herself to once a month. It wasn't anything big, and it wasn't anything overly priced, but it was something that Ellie had her eye on and was eager to purchase. However, as she strode up to the shop window, she saw that the figurine she had fallen in love with had gone. It had been sold. As she stood at the window, looking helplessly at the empty space on the shelf where she had first noticed the figurine, Ellie felt a buzz in her pocket. She knew that was her phone, and was most likely a message from Amy asking for more snacks, or her father asking for more money. Instead, when she unlocked her phone and checked her messages, she saw a text from her boss. From her already heightened state of devastation and loss, Ellie felt a sudden rush of anger flow through her upon sight of the words on her phone. A message, asking her to cover her co-worker's shifts next week, which would require her to work every day for 8 hours a day. She wanted to scream, she needed to scream. As she looked at the empty shelf, and her ghostly reflection in the shop window, Ellie found herself doing just that. Burying her head into her hands, Ellie found her voice begging to be let out and her hands quickly moved to her hair, pulling on the strands in an attempt to calm her suffocating anger. "Argh! Just stop it!" Her scream echoed around her, vibrating off the shop windows and rippling through the streets. As its sound died down, a strange eerie silence followed. Nothing. An odd emptiness filled the air, and Ellie looked up from the floor and turned around. The once bustling street had turned still, and its life had frozen in place. Ellie stood still, her heart hammering in her chest as she looked upon the sea of people populating the streets. All stood frozen in place.