At Veridian Academy, excellence isn’t just expected — it’s engineered.

Scholarship student Sage Morrow arrives at the elite boarding school hoping for a fresh start, but quickly senses something beneath the marble halls and polished smiles: a silent hierarchy, invisible rules, and students who vanish without explanation. When she stumbles upon a classified file labeled Alpha Index, she uncovers the truth — Veridian doesn’t nurture leaders. It manufactures them.

Every student is ranked in real time — not by grades, but by charisma, emotional control, social dominance, and psychological resilience. The top-ranked becomes the Alpha: granted wealth, power, and entry into the Apex Circle — a shadow network shaping the world’s future. The rest become data points, pawns, or casualties.

Refusing to play the game, Sage becomes an anomaly — and a threat. As she digs deeper, she discovers the Index is powered by biometric surveillance, tracking heart rate, voice stress, and even pupil dilation through school-issued devices. A recent student’s suicide wasn’t a breakdown — it was a purge.

Teaming up with Nia Chen, the ruthless #2, and haunted Alpha Kieran Vale, Sage launches a silent war against the system. But the architect, Dr. Elira Moss, sees her not as a rebel — but as the ultimate test subject: the first unrankable mind in the experiment.

When the Ascension Gala looms — the ritual where a new Alpha is crowned — Sage must decide: escape, destroy, or become the leader they never predicted.

Alpha Protocol is a chilling, razor-sharp thriller about power, performance, and the cost of being "the best." In a world obsessed with ranking, one girl’s greatest act of rebellion is to refuse to be measured at all.

I told the system I was sick — sent a message through the student portal, knowing it would be logged, knowing they'd check. Then I stayed in my room, door locked, earpiece on the desk, dead.


Because if I failed, I wouldn't just be silenced.


I'd be erased — recalibrated, medicated, made into another ghost in the archive.


So I did what Veridian taught me, without knowing it:


For three hours, I scrolled through the files I'd copied — not just Luka's video, but logs, access records, internal memos.


Project Alpha Protocol: Objective – Develop a self-correcting leadership model through behavioral shaping and social reinforcement.


Funded by The Apex Circle — a private consortium of alumni, investors, and policy architects.


One name appeared again and again in the approvals:


Dr. Elira Moss — listed not as a psychologist, but as Lead Architect.


And beneath her: a list of test subjects.


Every six weeks, Veridian hosted the Ascension Gala — a private event streamed to Apex members worldwide. A showcase of excellence. A celebration of the new Alpha.


I needed the truth to land where it couldn't be ignored.


The Chronicle, a national education outlet.


One reporter assigned:Mira Tan – Investigative, Youth Systems & Ethics.


Recent post: Why do so many "perfect" schools have perfect silences?


They said he jumped. He was pushed. If you want to know how, meet at the Holloway Diner. 7 p.m. Friday. Come alone.


Then I printed three copies of Luka's final message.


One in the hollow of an old oak behind the east wing — a spot students used to pass notes.


One in the pocket of a donated coat I left on a bench in the city bus terminal.


That night, I reactivated the earpiece.


Chapter 10 - CHAPTER NINE