The next morning, Miro and Flint arrived at the cult's underground city. On arrival, a dozen cult members met them. Without saying a word, they led Miro and Flint into the underground city. Miro instructed his guards to wait in the tunnel.
The underground city was poorly lit and appeared quite primitive compared to the other underground cities. The cult members led them down a long ladder that took them deeper into the ground. At the bottom of the ladder was a tunnel. This tunnel led to a large door. A cult member opened the door. He led them into a luxurious-looking home. Julio Turbo approached Miro and Flint.
‘Welcome to our high temple,’ said Julio.
‘The honour is all mine,’ said Miro warmly to Julio.
‘Of course, it is,’ said Julio. ‘You are the first outsiders to ever meet a High Philosopher.’
‘We are eager to forge a positive relationship with your tribe,’ said Miro as he continued to smile slightly.
‘Wait here!’ said Julio firmly. ‘I will return when the High Philosopher is ready to receive your homage.’
Julio exited the room through a large door.
‘We didn’t bring him any gifts,’ whispered Flint to Miro.
‘Of course, we did,’ said Miro as he smiled nervously. ‘We’re giving him a chance to engage with eleven other tribes.’
Two hours later, Julio returned.
‘The High Philosopher will see you now,’ said Julio curtly. ‘Follow me.’
Miro and Flint followed Julio into another room. A glass wall partitioned the room. On the other side of the glass wall was Angelo. It appeared he had just finished painting.
Angelo nodded to Julio, who then walked over to the corner of the room. Miro and Flint looked around for chairs, but there were not any.
‘Do you like art?’ asked Angelo as he held up his painting of two Sapes dressed in fine clothes dancing beneath a broad tree on top of a hill.
‘I’m a great admirer of art,’ replied Miro. ‘Your painting is exceptional.’
‘I dream, and then I paint,’ said Angelo. ‘This is the world above us.’
‘I have never seen that world,’ replied Miro. ‘I feel honoured you would show this to me.’
‘You’re full of flattery; what do you really want?’ asked Angelo as he placed the painting back down on the easel.
‘I want to open our world to you,’ said Miro as he opened his arms wide. ‘I want you and your wonderful followers to have nice things. Like comfortable and stylish clothes, gadgets to make life easier, and new sources of entertainment.’
‘The greatest commodity of all is knowledge,’ replied Angelo as he walked slowly towards the glass divide. ‘Knowledge of our history. Knowledge from the higher power.’
‘That sounds like the making of a deal,’ said Miro as he began to grin slightly. ‘We’ll exchange our commodities for your vast knowledge and great wisdom.’
‘You are the leader of many tribes, but you look just like everyone else,’ said Angelo as he started to pace. ‘Your head is bald, your face is so pale, and your eyes are a dull brown. I have blonde hair, greenish-brown skin, and brilliant blue eyes. There is no one down here like me. I stand out because I was sent from above. There is no question of that.’
‘Generations of living underground have drained us of our colouring,’ replied Miro. ‘We stand out by what we offer. Leadership, intelligence, innovation, and generosity.’
‘Yes, of course,’ said Angelo. ‘You need such virtues to be successful. However, many others may believe they also possess such virtues and maybe more. The true difference maker is your ability to persuade others that your way is the best way.’
‘Such wise words,’ replied Miro. ‘It is important to keep our residents informed of why supporting our leadership is in their best interest.’
‘You are the leader because your followers believe you to be,’ said Angelo. ‘We could say they have faith in you.’
‘Yes, we could say that,’ replied Miro enthusiastically. ‘Just like how your followers have faith in you. I think you have quite brilliantly established some great common ground between us.’
Angelo smiled broadly while gazing intently at Miro.
‘Shall we start negotiating?’ chuckled Miro a little nervously.
‘There is an important fundamental difference between us,’ said Angelo, who had now stopped smiling. ‘You are the source of their faith. It is based on what you tell them and what you offer them. It is frail because it is based on what they see and feel. What they see and feel can change for any number of reasons. On the other hand, I am not the source of my followers’ faith. It is based on the higher power. It is absolute and unquestioning. I am the messenger of the higher power, the humble servant.’
‘Your words indeed fill me with great inspiration,’ said Miro. ‘Our tribes would greatly benefit from hearing them.’
Angelo tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
Miro and Flint watched him in awkward silence.
A few minutes passed. Miro looked over to Julio.
‘He is consulting with the higher power,’ said Julio in a soft voice. ‘You are truly privileged to witness this miracle.’
Both Miro and Flint smiled and nodded.
Another few minutes passed. Suddenly, Angelo opened his eyes as he tilted his head down to face Miro.
‘Materialism, a contrasting form of faith,’ said Angelo abruptly. ‘A distraction from what’s truly valuable. You intend to corrupt my tribe.’
Miro felt a little ill and was not sure how to respond.
‘Yes, that was our intention,’ replied Flint. ‘We wanted your followers to desire our lifestyle rather than follow your cruel faith.’
‘Disciplines!’ shouted Julio.
Two followers entered the room. One shapeshifted into Miro and the other into Flint.
‘I’m sorry; this is a big misunderstanding,’ replied Miro in a nervous tone as the followers rapidly approached them.
‘Stop!’ shouted Angelo.
The two followers shapeshifted back into themselves and slowly walked backwards towards the door they had entered.
‘Indeed, it is a great misunderstanding on your part,’ continued Angelo. ‘My followers have no desire for material wealth.’
‘How about I put this to you?’ asked Miro. ‘In exchange for divine knowledge, we share with you a different type of knowledge: science and technology.’
‘Ah yes,’ said Angelo. ‘We have some interesting technology, but it’s nothing compared to what you have.’
‘We have our strengths,’ nodded Miro. ‘Any particular area of interest?’
‘Your guards have nice weapons,’ said Angelo. ‘I’d like to have some of those weapons.’
‘I see you have security concerns,’ said Miro. ‘We’d be happy to give you peace of mind.’
‘We have no security concerns,’ said Angelo, frowning. ‘The higher power gives us all the security we could ever need.’
‘No problem!’ replied Miro, shrugging his shoulders.
‘Then, as you would say,’ said Angelo as he raised his arms slightly with his palms facing up, ‘we have a deal.’
‘Nothing could make me happier,’ replied Miro as he put his arms around Flint.
‘I want you to have this painting,’ said Angelo as he held up the painting again. He carried the painting over to a table with a revolving top. The table turned so that the painting could enter the other half of the room. Julio picked up the painting and handed it to Flint.
‘Thank you very much for the kind gesture,’ said Miro as he bowed his head slightly.
‘It’ll speak to you in your dreams,’ said Angelo. ‘It’ll guide your path.’
‘I’ll place it prominently in my own home as a reminder of your kindness and goodwill,’ said Miro.
‘My followers will take you to the food hall,’ said Angelo as he began preparing to paint again. ‘After that, two of my followers will accompany you back to your tribes. I want them to begin spreading the word.’
‘Great idea,’ replied Miro. ‘It’ll get things moving much quicker.’
The two followers who had previously entered the room led Miro and Flint to the food hall, where they were both given a baked potato.
Once they had finished, they were escorted back outside the city.
Miro’s guards escorted the two followers, Gilbert and Eduardo, to the last vehicle in the convoy, and Miro and Flint climbed back into their own vehicle.
‘That was a close shave,’ chuckled Miro. ‘Despite the scare, things went very well.’
‘You’re giving them weapons for basically nothing,’ said Flint, sounding confused.
‘As you know, that wasn’t Plan A,’ said Miro. ‘Still, this works just as well. They clearly want the weapons to attack someone. They are most likely to attack their southern neighbours. Thus, confirming my warning to Dolce. The weapons we send them will be inferior to our best. We clearly outnumber them. When we defeat them, we will be hailed as heroes. The cult’s losses will weaken them sufficiently for us to mount an attack on their city. We will massacre the lot of them. Then we will have a new city to solve our overpopulation problem. At the same time, I will control the entire underground world.’
‘You could be wrong about his intentions,’ replied Flint as the convoy began to move. ‘If he attacks, he puts the lives of Gilbert and Eduardo at risk.’
‘The lives of two followers mean nothing to him,’ said Miro angrily. ‘He is a vile surface dweller that the cult is dumb enough to worship. Like all those above, he thinks we’re inferior. The day will come when we will reawaken our ancestors and return to the surface.’
‘If this occurs within our lifetime, we should seek peace with the surface dwellers,’ said Flint, sounding concerned.
‘Of course,’ said Miro, smiling. ‘Peace is always the preferred route. However, if they show aggression, we will reply with great force.’
Flint timidly nodded.
‘I’m proud of you, brother,’ said Miro. ‘You read the situation well. Disagreeing with him could have got us killed. Agreeing and admitting fault was the right move. It ultimately got us this new deal. You will soon be ready to take your place as Shamia’s number two in the west.’
‘Thank you, brother,’ replied Flint, smiling slightly.
Meanwhile, in the high temple. Julio approached the glass wall dividing the room. He knelt down and bowed his head.
‘The higher power tells me we will soon return to the surface,’ said Angelo as he began sketching on the paper. ‘The higher power will take full possession of my body. The final loop, the loop of judgement, is imminent.’
Miro transferred weapons to the cult, and they sent out more followers to the other tribes. Miro’s anticipation of an attack was incorrect. Instead, the cult stockpiled the weapons. The followers preached the word of the cult to the other tribes, but they were mostly ineffective. However, they made useful spies. Every few months they would report to Julio, who would inform Angelo of any useful developments.
The next decade was uneventful. Miro was able to maintain the idea that the cult was a threat. He used this to continue exploiting the southern tribes. He forced them to take in residents that the east tribes could no longer house. Flint moved to a west tribe where he became the deputy leader under Shamia.
Eight years after Flint had moved to a west tribe, everything changed. The first ancient ancestor was defrosted. This was not by anyone from the tribes.
Denise, a survivor of the Sentray attack and now a Downs Region resident, discovered the pods containing the frozen ancestors. She was instructed not to disturb them. Instead, she was given permission to explore the tunnels beneath the chambers. She and her team went to Location 6; this was where Tiberius had frozen himself. While they explored the tunnels, Tiberius was defrosted. He was taken by a cyborg named Polly to the ruins of the former Lake Region.
When Denise and her team discovered that the frozen ancestor had gone missing, she reported back to the Downs Region. The Downs leadership decided that they would travel to all the locations and defrost the remaining ten ancient ancestors.
Miro became aware that their ancestors were taken. He instructed Flint to investigate the locations in the west. When he arrived at Location 10, Denise and her team were defrosting an ancestor. Flint confronted them. When one of Denise’s team fled with an ancestor who was recovering in their flying vehicle, Flint detained Denise’s team.
Flint was able to track the flying vehicle using the Denise team’s other flying vehicle. The escaped team member flew back to the Downs Region. These enabled Flint to obtain the coordinates to the Downs Region. He passed them on to Miro. Miro had assembled a large force. They immediately headed to the Downs Region to confront the Downs Region leadership.
To Miro’s surprise and pleasure, the underground dweller’s ancestors were being treated well. Unfortunately, one of them was still missing. Miro believed this to be Hamish. He sent out several parties to find Hamish. Instead, they found Tiberius, who they believed was Hamish. Miro wanted Hamish to become their leader, as he was now the most senior of his family line.
The cult followers informed Angelo that Miro had gone up to the surface. Therefore, he consulted the higher power. This caused Angelo to have a dream, which he believed was a vision. He was in a train carriage with a governor. The governor touched his shoulder, and he grabbed the governor’s hand. The governor briefly shapeshifted into a strange-looking creature. The vision went backwards and forwards. Each time he could more clearly see the face of the creature. Then his vision paused. He could see that the governor was part Sentray.
His vision suddenly switched to a badly destroyed vehicle. Slowly climbing out of the vehicle were two surface dwellers. They were both badly injured, but they appeared to be self-healing as they walked further away from the vehicle.
Angelo abruptly woke up. He grabbed a microphone by his bed. ‘Julio, I need to speak with you,’ he said. ‘We have work to do.’
Images were created with the help of Bing Image Creator
Sapien Loop short stories explore the adventures of some of the characters from the Sapien Loop series. These stories are intended to reveal more about individual characters and the events that have helped shape them.
Currently, two books from the series have been published on Amazon; see links below:
All individual chapters can be found on my 
