Around an hour later, Orcilla and Yassmay joined Angelo for breakfast. To their delight, there was a huge stack of pancakes next to a plate of mixed fruit on the table.
‘Oh, I didn’t know you could make pancakes down here,’ said Yassmay as she plonked herself down on a chair.
‘It’s our first attempt,’ said Angelo excitedly. ‘We haven’t had access to ingredients to make it work until now.’
‘Your effort to make us feel welcome is greatly appreciated,’ said Orcilla, grinning.
Yassmay began to desperately shovel pancakes onto her plate.
‘Preparing your staple breakfast is the least we can do,’ said Angelo as he cut into the pancake on his plate.
‘It’s a bit different, but it’s still super yum,’ said Yassmay as she squirted more sweet sauce onto her pancake.
‘I’m so glad you like it,’ said Angelo as his face lit up when he tasted it.
‘I never see you eat; you should join us,’ said Yassmay as she turned to Julio, who was standing in his usual place.
‘It is not my place to dine with the High Philosopher,’ replied Julio.
‘He endures our staple of baked potato,’ chuckled Angelo.
‘I feel privileged to eat,’ replied Julio. ‘Many of the followers miss meals because of shortages.’
‘With access to the surface, that will never have to be the case again,’ said Orcilla. ‘Even in our post-apocalypse world, food is abundant.’
‘Pancakes every day, if you want,’ chuckled Yassmay.
‘That I can get used to,’ replied Angelo as he shoved another piece of pancake into his mouth.
The three of them joyfully continued eating their pancakes until all of them and the fruit were gone.
‘I can give you a strong passing score on your pancakes,’ said Yassmay contently as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. ‘I think your next challenges are to make cakes, pies, ice cream, and donuts.’
‘Sounds delightful,’ replied Angelo as he glanced over at Julio, who shrugged his shoulders in response. ‘You’ll have to pass on the ingredients we need.’
‘I’d be happy to do so,’ said Yassmay.
‘As promised, it’s time for me to share our knowledge of the loops,’ said Angelo as he got up to grab several books off the bookshelf in the corner of his room.’
‘I don’t mean to sound ignorant, but what are the loops?’ asked Yassmay, slightly nervously.
‘Asking questions to acquire knowledge are not the actions of someone who is ignorant,’ replied Angelo as he placed the books on his table. ‘A thirst for knowledge is a cure for ignorance.’
Yassmay smiled proudly and nodded her head.
‘Civilisations run in loops,’ said Angelo as his tone became more serious. ‘Civilisations emerge, they rise, they grow, they mature, and eventually they fall. This is to give rise to a new loop. We have found ourselves moving from one loop into another.’
‘Your theory is that this is inevitable and does not fall on anyone?’ asked Orcilla.
Angelo paused for a moment as he looked thoughtfully at Orcilla. He then turned to Julio, who responded by nodding.
‘You’re not the reason for the end of the twelfth loop,’ said Angelo in a calm tone.
Yassmay glared at Orcilla.
‘The Sentray attacked because of me,’ said Orcilla as she turned to Yassmay. ‘I called them using the infant’s scream.’
Yassmay did not respond. She looked down at the table.
‘I couldn’t live with myself for years,’ said Orcilla. ‘I brought about all this destruction and suffering. However, I also know that this was the only way. Complete destruction had to happen for us to rebuild. For us to build something that would never be possible otherwise.’
Yassmay got up from her seat. She was about to walk to the door.
‘Sometimes the truth can hurt, but it is also necessary,’ said Angelo. ‘Enlightenment is always worth the pain.’
She turned around and looked at Orcilla. Orcilla stood up as well. They looked at each other for a few seconds. Then Yassmay put her arms around Orcilla, and the two hugged each other.
Angelo looked at Julio and smiled. Julio nodded his head.
Both Orcilla and Yassmay sat back down.
‘The content of these books has been compiled by the great leaders and High Philosophers that have come before me,’ said Angelo as he patted the books. ‘They contain content from the House of Divine Knowledge’s hidden libraries as well as writings from the tunnels and underground cities themselves.’
Julio frowned slightly.
‘And of course from divination from the higher power,’ added Angelo, who looked across at Julio, who was now nodding.
‘Is it all written in Parelic?’ asked Orcilla.
‘That’s right,’ said Angelo. ‘It is the language of the higher power. I have some translated summaries I can give you.’
‘That’s very considerate of you,’ replied Orcilla.
‘Ah yes, well, it helps us spread the word,’ said Angelo as he opened one of the books. ‘Okay, let’s begin with Loop One.
In the beginning, as it is today, Sapey was one large continent surrounded by a vast ocean. Unlike today, thousands of different species of Sapes populated Sapey. They were quite different from the most common Sapes of today. At some point, as depicted in text and art, a species known as the lower power visited Sapey. The lower power has often been mistaken for the higher power. The lower power were a group of mysterious beings who had exceptionally long lifespans. Thus creating the impression of immortality. They had the ability to create life. This was not through divine power but scientific knowledge. Their intelligence provided them with the means to create, but they lacked the wisdom to understand what to create and why.
The lower power studied the Sapes. They wanted to genetically change a species of Sape so that species would have the ability to serve them and worship them. They found a strong boar-like Sape that was very strong and hardy that could work hard for them. They genetically changed this Sape with their own DNA. These Sapes became more intelligent, but they could not utilise this intelligence. They were unable to use their four legs and trotters to perform tasks using sophisticated tools. They were also unable to adequately communicate because they had no speech and limited ability to use body language. They did not consider this species a failure. Instead, they considered it a lesson in what needed to be done to create their ideal creature. They created many more of these Sapes. They studied how they interacted and observed their shortcomings.
Based on what they had learned, they searched all of Sapey for a more ideal species. They came across a rare Sape that had two legs and two arms instead of four legs like the other Sapes. This Sape more closely resembled the lower power. They believed they could recreate this species in their own image. Thus, this would make them the perfect servant. The genetic changes to this species were a success. This species was more intelligent than their first attempt but considerably less intelligent than they were. This species could also speak and communicate more easily using their body language. The lower power called their new species ‘Servi’, meaning ‘servant’ or ‘slave’. The other species they created were not renamed. They were still called ‘Sapes’. However, to a certain extent, these Sapes were considered sacred. The Servi were not permitted to eat them.
The lower power were happy with their newly created species, the Servi. They fervently worshipped the lower power, and they worked very hard to provide them with whatever they needed. This relationship continued for several generations of Servi, who had vastly increased in numbers. Eventually, the Servi became aware that the lower power only wanted to exploit them. Their loyalty and devotion towards the lower power were starting to turn to anger.
An angry group of Servi decided to rebel against the lower power. This rebellion failed, as they did not have the numbers or capabilities to defeat the lower power. The rebellion enraged the lower power. They forced the Servi to execute the disloyal Servi as a form of sacrifice. However, the lower power were still not satisfied. They decided to punish all the Servi for the disobedience of the few. They made them work twice as hard, worship them twice as often, and halved their daily rations.
The lower power’s strategy to punish the Servi backfired. Instead of building loyalty, it made the Servi angrier. This led to a second much larger rebellion. This rebellion was more successful. The lower power left. The Servi believed they were free from their rule. However, the lower power were not finished with the Servi. They found their new betrayal unforgivable.
The lower power decided the Servi were evil. The lower power felt the name ‘Servi’ was no longer appropriate. They initially wanted to rename the ‘Servi’ to ‘devil’. The ‘devil’ was the name the lower power used to personify a creator for all evil, which they considered the opposite of themselves. However, the name ‘devil’ carried too much status, which they considered the Servi undeserving of. Instead, the lower power rotated the word ‘devil’ 180 degrees so that it appeared upside-down. The lower power considered inversion symbolic of evil.
When rotated, the last letter ‘l’ became the first letter, and ‘i’ became the second letter. The third letter, an inverted ‘v’, now became an ‘n’; the inverted ‘e’ became an ‘a’; and the inverted ‘d’ became a ‘p’. The Servi were now known as the Linap.
The lower power decided the evil Linap must be destroyed. The lower power decided they would create enormous, powerful and almost indestructible monsters to hunt and kill the Linap. These monsters would be created using a combination of the largest land and water Sapes. They added their own genetics to this monster to make them carnivorous, intelligent, and almost invulnerable to attack from a smaller species such as the Linap.
Several decades passed. The lower power had dedicated an offshore facility to breeding an army of this monstrous creature. Once they believed they had enough of them to wipe out the Linap, they released them. The lower power decided to call their new monstrous being the ‘Sentray’. They were ‘sent’ as a ‘ray’ of light to cleanse the world of the evil Linap. This was the last recorded mention of the lower power. It appeared they had disappeared as mysteriously as they had appeared.
Once the Sentray arrived on the mainland, they went on a rampage. They ripped through the Linap settlements with ease, killing any they encountered. The Linap were unprepared and suffered huge losses, but they were not wiped out. The few survivors hid in caves. The Sentray were too big to enter these caves, thus offering them protection. However, the caves offered little in terms of food. Therefore, the Linap were forced out to forage or hunt. This put them in great danger. Many of them were killed; only the most skilled survived.
The number of Linap dwindled further; this was both bad and good for the Linap. It was bad because the Linap population was becoming dangerously low for their survival. It was good because the Linap were no longer a sufficient food source for the Sentray. The Sentray turned their attention to the Sapes. This meant the remaining Linap could become more effective at collecting food.
Most Sapes could not escape or fight off the Sentray. The only Sapes that had a chance of defending themselves were the species created by the lower power. This species was stronger and more intelligent. They worked together in herds. This made attacks more dangerous for the Sentray. Therefore, they focused on the easier-to-kill Sapes.
The Linap decided that they could exist underground. They used their intelligence to invent tools that would allow them to tunnel into the ground. This also allowed them to tunnel out into safer locations where they could find food. Eventually the Linap became so successful that their populations began to increase again. The food gatherers had developed techniques to camouflage themselves so that the Sentray would not detect them.
The Sentray were beginning to struggle, as they had overhunted the Sapes, and the remaining modified Sapes were putting up strong resistance. The Sentray decided that the vast ocean was now the most reliable and safest source of food. Over the next several decades, the Sentray migrated almost entirely to the vast ocean. The Linap eventually learnt of this and gradually began to move out of their caves.
In the absence of the Sentray, the Linap had no natural predator. Their intelligence could have allowed them to thrive unhindered. However, things did not work out that way. The new enemy was themselves. The Linap divided themselves into tribes. Most of the Linap desired to live peacefully with the other tribes. However, the leaders of these tribes did not share this desire. Instead, they desired power over peace. To do that, they would manipulate their tribe members into believing the other tribes were the threat and desired to attack them to steal their wealth and resources. They used this as an excuse to prepare for war with the other tribes.
Eventually wars broke out. Tribes would conquer each other, but the conquered tribes would rise up again at some point. Under new leaders, they would eventually succeed. These new leaders, like the old leaders, desired power, and the wars would continue with control bouncing back and forth between tribes.
The tribe leaders desired to have a decisive advantage. New technology and weapons helped swing the wars in their favour, but most of this technology could be replicated by the other side, and the balance swung back again. A tribe leader from one of the larger southern tribes decided that they should use the Sentray as a weapon against the other tribes. They sent out several boats into the vast ocean. They did not need to travel far before they encountered a Sentray nest. They took many of the Sentray’s eggs, and they sailed towards the coast closest to a rival tribe. The Sentray found out their eggs had been taken. They followed the scent of the eggs to the coast of the rival tribe.
The Sentray went into a rage and destroyed the tribe. However, they did not retrieve their stolen eggs and leave. They went on to attack other tribes. The tribe that drew them in was next. The leaders of the tribes and many of their most loyal followers escaped underground into their old tunnels and caves. The aboveground settlements were completely destroyed in a matter of weeks.
Some of the Sentray returned to the vast ocean, while others remained. The Sentray had learnt from their past mistakes. They were now better hunters. They did not greedily kill every Sape they encountered. They only took what they needed and enabled the rest to thrive. They even protected them from Linap hunting parties to maintain their numbers. It appeared the Sentray were going to keep a permanent land presence. The Linap appeared to be stuck underground for the long term. This is how the first loop ended.
‘Oh wow!’ exclaimed Yassmay. ‘That was a wild first loop. It would be great if it were re-enacted. You just need to add some fun characters.’
‘We were unable to establish who the main characters of that time were,’ replied Angelo. ‘This account is based mostly on wall art with a few collaborating excerpts from scripture.’
‘So the creator is the lower power and not the higher power,’ said Orcilla. ‘That is a great contradiction to what is taught by the House of Divine Knowledge to both Linap and Sapiens.’
‘It is a common misconception,’ replied Angelo. ‘The higher power offers much more than creation. It offers universal knowledge to whoever opens themselves to receive it.’
‘Which loop does that happen in?’ asked Yassmay excitedly.
‘It happens in every loop,’ replied Angelo. ‘In Loop One, the Linap did not understand it.’
‘How do we understand it?’ asked Orcilla.
‘You must read the signs,’ replied Angelo. ‘Let me take you into Loop Two. There is much more to explain.’
Yassmay nodded emphatically.
Many of the Linap tribe leaders met underground. They decided to form a truce and work together for their own mutual benefit. This time underground, they had better knowledge and some of their more advanced technology. They expanded their tunnel network further and even built an entire underground city located near a large source of glow rocks. They cut through the roof of the city and replaced the removed rock with glow rocks. These glow rocks gave them a source of light that would enable them to grow their own food underground.
Many generations passed, and the Linap population had grown significantly. The food they could grow from the glow rock light source was no longer sufficient. They were forced to collect food from the surface. However, the Sentray were still roaming the land. The tribe leaders sent out their best-trained scouts to search for locations where they could collect or even grow food. The Sentray soon became aware of the Linap’s presence. Many of the scouts were hunted down and killed.
Some of the scouts managed to avoid detection by being able to blend in with their surroundings. Their skin tones could change to match the foliage, thus making them hard to see by the Sentray. This ability was triggered automatically when the Linap became afraid. This was a huge potential breakthrough for the Linap. They decided to start a breeding programme to enhance this genetic feature. Within a handful of generations, many of the Linap could become partially invisible.
The Linap used this ability to venture above ground more frequently. This allowed them to collect more food. The Linap population continued to grow. Food collecting was not sufficient to feed the larger population. The tribe leaders decided they needed to farm and hunt; however, their newfound invisibility was not sufficient to protect them from the Sentray to do this. They needed to force the Sentray to leave. The easiest target for them was the eggs and the infant Sentray.
The Linap used their invisibility to get close to the nests. Once inside the nest, they would use their weapons to destroy the eggs. The Sentray were furious when they found out, but they were unable to find the culprits. The Linap continued their attack on the eggs. In most cases, all the eggs were destroyed, but there were a few occasions where the infant Sentray survived the attack. This was the beginning of the evolution of the amazing healing power of the embryos and infant Sentray.
The Linap relentlessly went after the Sentray’s nests in the surrounding area. The loss of infant life became too high for the Sentray. Some of them retreated into the ocean, and others relocated far from where the attacks were occurring. The Linap were finally able to safely spend enough time above ground to grow crops and farm Sapes again.
The Linap population continued to grow. The tribe leaders, who were now known as the elite, had grown more interested in breeding and genetics. They wanted the best genetics. They wanted to be healthier, stronger, and smarter and, above all, have the ability to become invisible.
Several generations passed. The elite Linap had managed to differentiate themselves from the other Linap. They had an advanced ability to become invisible and were considerably smarter, but they were neither healthier nor stronger. They had achieved a trade-off for what they valued the most in exchange for what they valued less. For most, the compromise was small, but for a few less fortunate, the compromise was more significant. A sign of poor health was the appearance of a blue pigment in the eyes.
‘Wait!’ interrupted Yassmay. ‘We have blue eyes and have always been in the peak of health.’
‘Well, this condition only applied to the Linap,’ chuckled Angelo. ‘Both of you have always had a little something else in you.’
Both Orcilla and Yassmay started to look a little concerned.
‘Don’t worry; I’ve known this the whole time,’ chuckled Angelo. ‘May I continue?’
Both Orcilla and Yassmay nodded.
The majority of the Linap were not aware that the elite had distinguished themselves from them. The Linap used their genetic advantage to solidify their positions of power. The families of the tribe leaders that were no longer part of the elite, i.e., enhanced through breeding, were demoted into the regular population.
The Linap continued to thrive. New tribes were formed, and their area of control expanded both above and below ground. This time they did not wage war with each other. Instead, they cooperated to maintain control over their populations. However, their expansion brought them closer to the Sentray again.
The elites decided to employ the same strategy of targeting the Sentray’s eggs. The eggs and the embryos inside had become notably stronger, but most were still vulnerable to the Linap’s upgraded weapons. The Sentray’s inability to protect their young from an enemy that was almost impossible to detect forced them to abandon land living altogether. Therefore, they returned to the vast ocean where the majority of the Sentray were thriving. This was a victory for the Linap. Before long, they returned to surface living. Within a century, their settlements expanded across the entire continent, and their overall population had increased by more than tenfold in that time.
The success of the Linap was becoming a problem for the elite. Prosperity was raising the expectations of the majority. They wanted more than the basics. They wanted more freedom and a greater say on how their tribes were run. On top of that, the number of the genetically ‘elite’ had also vastly increased. The ruling elite felt threatened by those who could match their intellect and cunning.
The ruling elite met in secret to decide what to do. After several weeks of talks, they decided war was necessary. Unlike the previous wars for domination, this war would serve the purpose of controlling and reducing their populations.
War could not start for no reason. The elite of each tribe would start provoking each other’s tribes. This caused tension between the Linap of these tribes to rise gradually. The ruling elite also wanted to reduce the threat from the non-ruling genetically elite, who were wealthier and more successful than the majority of the Linap. The elite made it a point to highlight their greed and the harm they were causing to the broader society. They would promote a few Linap from the majority to attack the non-ruling elite. This was done primarily in just one tribe. This tribe would eventually be labelled the bad tribe. Tension with that tribe, as well as tension with other tribes that had a large number of non-ruling elites, began to rise.
The next step was to trigger the war. The elite decided they would orchestrate attacks on each other and blame it on the non-ruling genetically elite. These attacks were the final straw for the majority populations; they now called for war with the opposing tribe and its elite. The elite were happy to oblige to their calls.
War broke out. The elites could easily pursue greater powers over their populations. They convinced the majority that these powers were needed so that they could fight the war and keep them secure. The elites made sure their sides were of similar strength so that the war could be prolonged as long as possible. Prolonged war ensured they could normalise their control over the majority. The non-ruling elites also benefitted as they became richer from the production of weapons and control over the now scarce resources.
Non-ruling elites’ fortunes soon changed. Their increased accumulation of wealth had made them a greater threat, but they were also despised by the majority of the Linap on both sides of the war. The ruling elite decided it was time to massacre the non-ruling elite as well as a few of the ruling elite who had become less cooperative. This massacre was to be orchestrated by mostly the bad tribe. This started the first great massacres of the second loop. Executions were being conducted everywhere, and the killers were greatly rewarded.
These massacres continued for almost a year. It did not stop until another tribe, which had previously agreed to remain neutral, decided to attack the bad tribe. Tribes that were supportive of the bad tribe also switched sides. The strength of the multiple tribes against just one eventually became too strong, and the war ended.
The loss of life was immense. A tenth of the Linap population had been eliminated, and almost half of the non-ruling elites had been slaughtered. The non-elite leaders were captured and executed. The threat to the ruling elite had been close to eliminated. The majority of the population accepted the continued loss of freedom if it guaranteed peace. The elite also started to rebuild their societies from the damage that had been done by the war. This further increased their wealth and power.
This was not the last war. The elite decided every few decades a new war was needed to trim the population and eliminate at least half the elites, whom they considered the greatest threat. The elite believed that keeping their elite group small was the easiest way to maintain power.
As technology improved, these wars became more destructive. Eventually a war became so destructive that the Linap almost wiped themselves out. However, the elites were confident they could rebuild once again as they had done many times before.
This incredibly violent war caught the attention of the Sentray. They believed the recent destruction would enable them to retake the continent. The Linap had forgotten about the Sentray, and because of the damage and loss of life caused by the war, they were not prepared to fight the Sentray. The Sentray attacked with force and defeated the remaining Linap. The surviving Linap were once again forced underground. This ended the second loop.
‘Geez!’ exclaimed Yassmay. ‘The Linap are truly the orchestrators of their own demise.’
‘They are so obsessed with power they would slaughter their own,’ said Orcilla in disgust.
‘I’m afraid it is a common theme throughout many of the loops,’ replied Angelo. ‘There was less necessity for such massacres in your loop, as disease kept the Linap population small.’
‘Maybe that was by design,’ said Orcilla.
‘That would be consistent with the actions of the Linap in the previous loops,’ replied Angelo.
‘The Sentray might have failed if the Capital Region had been properly defended,’ said Orcilla as she sat up straight with an enlightened look on her face. ‘Someone else wanted the Capital Region destroyed. The riots were an excuse to leave it undefended. Pardi had a cure for the Linap that they wanted stopped.’
‘Who are “they”?’ asked Yassmay, sounding confused.
‘“They” are whoever are behind what’s happening now in Downs,’ said Orcilla as she turned to Yassmay. ‘I think Lily might know who “they” might be.’
‘The true lesson of the loops,’ said Angelo. ‘Whatever has happened before will happen again in some form or other. That is why understanding our history, our true history, is so important.’
‘The higher power, what about the higher power?’ asked Yassmay. ‘You haven’t explained it yet.’
‘You are experiencing the higher power right now,’ replied Angelo as he grinned. ‘All that has been and is are expressions of the higher power.’
‘I don’t understand,’ replied Yassmay.
‘The higher power does not create the tangible,’ said Angelo as he raised his hands. ‘Does not create the rivers, the mountains, the ocean, the sky, or even any of the creatures that inhabit them. The higher power is the collective of everyone. It speaks to us through the words of others, our dreams, our thoughts, and our visions.’
Yassmay pulled a perplexed face.
‘Orcilla listened to my teachings, but she also drew on something else that stimulated her thoughts to help her understand her present,’ said Angelo as he leaned forward a little. ‘That was the higher power communicating to her, and she responded by drawing in the knowledge that it was imparting.’
‘Well, that’s fascinating,’ replied Yassmay, who looked at Orcilla, who was gently nodding.
‘Let us break for lunch,’ said Angelo. ‘There are a few more loops that I think you will find enlightening.’
A fruit platter lunch was brought in. Orcilla, Yassmay, and Angelo chatted for around half an hour. Then Angelo opened another book and began explaining loop three.
Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide is the final book in the Sapien Loop trilogy. It continues directly after the events of the second book. The world above and the world below merge into one world. The conflicts in the underground world are brought to the surface. The new ruling elite attempt to crush any resistance from above and below in an attempt to create a new global empire.
Currently, three books from the series have been published on Amazon; see the links below:
All individual chapters can be found on my 
