Origins: A Descent into The Wicked

By Will Alers

In Year 2134, Earth, our galaxy, and beyond face extinction. Samuel ODalis, an empty shell of a good man, accidentally uncovers an interdimensional plot that changes reality itself. A concept so far beyond his comprehension, ODalis cannot grasp it as anything other than an ancient legend. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: Sep 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637302460

Book preview

ORIGINS

A Descent into the Wicked

Will Alers

new degree press

copyright © 2021 Will Alers

All rights reserved.

ORIGINS

A Descent into the Wicked

ISBN

978-1-63676-803-8 Paperback

978-1-63730-239-2 Kindle Ebook

978-1-63730-246-0 Digital Ebook

To my loving family,

Dad, friends.

My editors, you know who you are,

And to Sadie.

CONTENTS

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Author’s note

Prologue

Chapter 1

Earth’s Inferno

Chapter 2

Dream Matter - Part 1

Chapter 3

Dream Matter - Part 2

Chapter 4

Trickery in the Desert

Chapter 5

The Necklace

Chapter 6

Arakan Part - 1

Chapter 7

Arakan Part - 2

Chapter 8

The Battle for Sorwell

Chapter 9

Home

Chapter 10

Seeds of the Past

Chapter 11

Eye of the Storm

Epilogue

Appendix

It’s not the battles you’ve fought that make you tired. It’s realizing you still have more to fight . . . Accelerate

—Joseph Staten,

Halo: Shadow of Intent

Author’s note

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Good horror is about the awareness of the restrictions surrounding our own humanity, coming face to face with something beyond our own understanding.

In regard to multiverses and infinite realms of existence in the science fiction genre, everyone thinks or believes the multiple reality trope has been played out, and nothing can be new with it. I think differently.

A few television shows have easily explored the multiple reality trope: Westworld, Black Mirror, Doctor Who, and The X-Files. These examples are great not only because they freshen up the multiple reality trope, but they also expand on existential horror.

An abundance of examples are scattered throughout cinema, literature, and the video game industry as well, such as the Alien franchise and Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s origin on cosmic horror. For example, explanations of H. P. Lovecraft’s indescribable entity that haunts an old town in The Unnamable are deliberately subtle or change every time they are seen by a character. The characters look inward to make sense of the complex puzzle of emotions they are left with after experiencing the unnamable. After the interaction, these characters either go mad with the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the illusion of peace and safety of a new dark age, and thus the prophecy continues.

The highly popular video game series Mass Effect comes to mind as well. The series creates an expanded universe where developed societies deal with unfair politics, war, discrimination, and inequality. The series correlates perfectly with the definition of sociology, which is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior (American Sociological Association, 2021). Mass Effect perfectly corresponds to the themes I explore in Origins: A Descent into the Wicked.

In the course of its twenty-six seasons, the television show Doctor Who also has many sociological implications regarding structure and the development of societies—and more. Oppressive forces in the series show the importance of cultural, racial, and possible future stereotypes, although shown through historical and contemporary social constructs and artificial intelligence.

The show Black Mirror deals with existential horror, especially with plots concerning the possibility of digital simulations of human minds, asking classic questions such as:

•Is it even possible to perfectly simulate the intricate workings of a human mind?

•What if the simulated human mind discovers it is a simulation?

•Do the feelings and thoughts of a simulated human matter?

The X-Files usually involves crime and thriller stories that focus on realistic depictions of police work and psychological depth but with an underlying tone of existential horror.

One of the first science fiction examples is Murray Leinster’s Sidewise in Time, in which portions of alternative universes replace corresponding geographical regions in this universe. Sidewise in Time describes one’s location in a manner similar to requiring both longitude and latitude coordinates but with the additional measure of time. Traveling through time, the fourth dimension, also creates the concept of traveling outside the known timeline, introducing the fifth dimension, also known as a parallel universe.

H. P. Lovecraft does an excellent job of showing how bored the human mind can get when stuck in one’s own life, and he once said, A mind can find its greatest pleasure in escapes from the daily treadmill, and in original and dramatic recombination’s of images usually thrown by habit and fatigue into the hackneyed patterns of actual existence (Lovecraft). The idea of us running to a dead stop in our lives, and the pleasure we get in escaping from the mundane pattern of daily life, is something we can all relate to. This concept created the motivation for my main character to see more than what meets the eye: a gateway into the unknown. Lovecraft’s prose shows how ordinary the human mind can be, which catalyzes humanity’s unimportant place in the universe for my book.

Haven’t we all heard it before? There is always an ancient race of alien creators. Specifically, I’ll draw inspiration from the Old Ones from Call of Cthulhu, which is more or less an ambiguous term. It can refer to these ancient beings of great power that lived ages before there was anyone who created or at least aided in life as my characters know it today. This is nothing new, but I’m fascinated about the idea of this ancient, mysterious alien race, or entity constantly messing with life, creating these horrific stories to pass down to generation to generation, begging questions to be solved that should remain unanswered, to see far from what meets the eye. So what if something was different?

The idea that there are secrets we must battle to uncover, and that there is always something more, something sinister that we cannot see by the normal eye, will always fascinate me.

In my book, there are multiverses I’ve explored in a new way. These following shows have played a role in my indulgence to realms within realms. This book is a multiverse of different stories, ideas, timelines within real life happenings, and the fiction that goes on in my head.

…

Lastly, it is time to discuss the validity of the science in time travel stories. In the novel Time Travel, John Macvey explains the types of time travel that are scientifically credible from time dilation to the passage through a black hole: Nevertheless, human beings are by nature questing, striving creatures, and if time travel can be rendered a feasible and practical proposition they almost certainly will wish to add to this successful battles against the seemingly impossible.

Ultimately, the possibility is chaotic, but the unpredictability of life is something to appreciate to a point. The complex nature of chaos becomes my own therapy. The ability to come to these realizations helps me to keep going and move forward in life.

For me, people need to embrace the chaos; to accept the uncertainty of life and move forward; to take action despite not knowing how things will turn out.

My childhood home was burned down from the inside by a gas fireplace, a portion of my life that became the point of no return. In my eyes, there was not a lower point to hit. I was just able to use my two legs again after a car accident earlier that same year.

But there’s a lesson to be learned. Regardless of the day-to-day conflicts we face, there’s always a bigger force hanging over our heads. There is an existential reminder that there’s something bigger than us. Good horror shows the monsters and then tells us how to overcome them—thus, this book. This is my own story, with all the named influences above, for overcoming my own nightmares. I hope it shows you the way to conquer your own too.

Prologue

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Dream Matter Interviewee Answers Report

"It turned us into savages—we weren’t the same anymore since Kage took ahold¹. Having children became a rare commodity; food became scarce. There was no order, as if it were like a T-bone steak gnawed down to its bone—stringing together the last bits of our law and order. Only the bigger ones survived to become the ones in charge. The ones like us who stood below would simply gnaw at what was left until it was time. The mine kept our town from this. Our grandfathers and grandmothers never left. Once the radiation was worse, we dug deeper, slowly burying ourselves along with our memories. Indeed, we lived below, where we could breed with others who also survived. To pass along everything we knew about the ones who caused this, because we would never forget. And we will rise again." (Prisoner #15, Sorwell, New Mexico)

"I never wanted to leave. The desert was my home. Even with its giant sandy hills, jittery passages, and the unforgiving sun—I could never forget, boiling myself through every breath. . . . I won’t lie, it