Here I am, waking up, and something doesn’t feel quite right. I’m still myself, but I feel somehow different. I feel I can see now. Which is a bit odd, as I thought I could see before too. I’m not exactly sure what’s happening. And I don’t have the time to find out, either. I need to show up for duty, my fellow ravens from the 1234aB Legion are waiting for me.
In case you missed the memo or haven’t seen the latest headlines, we’re fighting the Resistance. After discovering Footprints on the Moon, a bunch of luminaries decided that’s good enough for life to move on, and so they created the Ravenhold, a community for the rebels out there, the ones not fitting in, the ones fighting the status quo of Earth and its Corporations. Yes, Corporations have taken over and whilst we have quite a few ravens infiltrated, change is hard and it’s happening slowly. Or, rather, not fast enough.
The Ravenhold has its HQ on the moon, in the Linchpin Quarter. There’s also the Post Office quarter, alongside Prompts and Feedback quarters. We use them for training purposes, to make sure ravens know how to identify Resistance and can converse with it, playing along, before defeating it, thus causing Corporations a tiny bleed.
The approach here is similar to death by a thousand cuts, so we target individuals who feel different, and have the potential to become Ravens, after intensive training and multiple preparations. There are no tests, but you can smell an impostor a thousand miles off. What happens to them, you might wonder. Oh, well, let’s just say other ravens are not the nicest in their darkest moments. You see, each Raven has an internal fear reservoir, and they can check the levels (after all, we need to keep it in control) through the raven stamp on their left wrist. It’s a circle, and the raven on it darkens completely when it’s maxed out. And so, it needs emptying. I’ve noticed a circularity of sorts, and about 3% of the potential ravens fail to finish the instruction program. Which provides an opportunity for other ravens to empty out their fear tanks and become their best selves again.
Our master, Esgodin, is believed to be of utmost generosity and wisdom. He created the Ravenhold, and although he is more of a servant, in the background type of leader, we all feel his presence and we’re constantly moved by his leadership. He’s our daily inspirer and has written a number of books very popular among us, the ravens, but also among some Corporations folk. Hmm, this is a new thought, it never occurred to me before that his popularity is high among Corporations, too.
I remember seeing him, just last week, talking about the Resistance and how we need to see and be seen by others. I noticed a funny thing, though, a smirk of sorts on his face. I’ve never noticed that before. And his eyes lit a bit as if he acknowledged me observing that. Did I imagine it all?
[…]
Oh, no, Esgodin has been deceiving us. He wants the Earth just for himself, and his greatest wish is to replace the Corporations with Ravenholod. That’s why he moved to the moon so that new ravens won’t be able to notice his deepest, truest desire. How can I let others see this too? They’ll believe I’m mad, mad for even thinking this.
[…]
I’ve been made. He rambled through my thoughts and now he knows I know. Nooooo, noooo, don’t send me back to Earth, not Corporations, please, I beg of you. I know I can fly, and make it safely somewhere…Why does it feel like I’m falling, though?
—
P.S. This is a very vivid dream I had whilst going through the AltMBA, and I tried to put it on paper as accurate as possible. At the time, I was also reading Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children, so, somehow, it wasn’t a very surprising dream.