Page 21 of The Omega Archives: Part Three

It looks like not all my sheets were corrected since I told the Omega Services handler. “It’s Ella.”

“My mistake,” Professor Reinhart said. “I won’t keep you long. I wanted to check in with you as I know it’s your first day here at the academy, correct?”

I nodded.

“I imagine that you had an untraditional upbringing that made that possible. But, please know, that I am here if you have any questions at all about your designation, expectations, anything. It can be very overwhelming and I doubt you’ve had a warm welcome due to the differences in your time here already,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. I do hope you honestly take me up on it,” she said, earnestly. “You won’t want to be late for your other classes, so I hope you have a good day.”

With a nod, I turned back to walk out the door as planned, but I paused. “I did have a question.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Yes?”

“What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“When did the change occur in history? When did omegas stop having the power at the top and turn into… lower class.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Hm. That’s an interesting question. I could say that omegas never have dropped from being the top tier of designations as they are still highly sought after. That is, after all, why we have these schools and so many services devoted to them.”

Right.

“But I have a feeling you have seen the darker edges of society that, though maybe less known or less prevalent, have always been there throughout history. There have always been omegas being taken advantage of and used and having decisions making for them. There has always been knowledge that an omega's purpose is almost pre-destined. But in this day and age, I think we have forgotten anything other than the price of things and when an omega can sing and speak ten different languages and raise a family… a lot of people no longer see just how big of a value that is. Because it is, at least in my opinion, maybe still one of the largest things of value ever. But, the world doesn’t often agree with one person. Especially not when a voice is as meek as they tell us now that a “traditional” omega should be as they keep us away from society.”

“I don’t fully understand.”

“We are the final true treasure left that people hunt down in hopes of showing off,” she said. “For better or for worse. And humanity isn’t always pretty.”

I nodded. “But you…”

“I luckily have seen the brighter edges of what the world holds for an omega. I can only hope the same for all my students here at the academy no matter what they may have known for themselves prior,” she filled in.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. Have a good day, Omega Ella.”

“You too.”

“Where were you?” Lidya asked in a low whisper as I took the seat she was saving me in our next class together. “You wouldn’t believe the glares I was getting for trying to save this seat.

“It took me forever to find the room.” I took the seat gratefully, not having to notice anyone staring at me like in my other two classes today. After Omega Basics it had been downhill in a spree of more normal schooling which wouldn’t have been a problem had I not been to school since I ran away at sixteen. The only things I was good at were humanities at this point which had never been a problem until I was put in were accounting for the home and French. “What is this class about again?”

“Mostly an upgrade to omega basics.”

“Oh,” I said. Maybe that was a good thing.

“Every year we have to take a sort of upgrade to regulate us back into society as a proper omega,” explained Lidya. “As if we can forget what our purpose is to society.”

The classroom was stark and sterile, with desks neatly arranged in rows facing the front. The teacher, a stern-lookingBeta woman with sharp features, stood at the whiteboard, writing out the day's lesson.

"Hello everyone.”

Slowly the chattering quieted down. Next to me, Lidya opened up a new page of her notebook and started doodling in the margins. If you could say her tiny masterpieces were anything close to the average doodle.

The professor cleared her throat once more to gather the last few students’ attention. “Today, we will be doing something a bit special in our class. As we all know in the coming weeks, courting will begin.”

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