Mandala's Army Part 2

“Dear Journal,

It’s been 3 years 5 months and 7 days since the Great Reset. The day we abandoned the rest of the world and left them all to die.

I’ve been held prisoner in my room for 9 months and 11 days. I’ve been without food for 5 days; my water supply dwindles. I am afraid I do not have much time left. Most days I feel lost in a haze. Illusion consumes my mind. Haunted by the things I’ve done. The mistakes I’ve made. I see their shadows. I hear their cries, smell their fear. Blood is on my hands.

And yet, I see one face. Her face. The face of a girl I don’t know. A beautiful face. One like I have never seen before. Her eyes as bright as the sun, bursting with amber and gold. Her skin as dark as the Amavasya sky, a radiant midnight blue. Her hair a luminous blaze glowing around her, framing her soft round face. The light of it gently kissing her lips as she softly whispers…. “Follow me.”

I believe she is the angel of death. Here to set me free from my misery. Or to condemn me to an eternity in hell. The latter I deserve. Either way, I have clearly begun hallucinating. A strong sign my body is beginning to shut down. I have been abandoned and left to die. Just like I abandoned millions of others. Karma at play.

But before I go, there’s something the world must know…. The one in control, she isn’t what anyone thinks. She is a great deceiver. And she has worked her enchantment on everyone here. She controls the Underground. Not the government. They are just her puppets. They always have been.

America is no more. The Constitution no longer exists. This “utopia” she has created is nothing more than a veil. A veil that separates us not into rich or poor, black or white, young or old…. But into the Watched and the Watchers. And the Watchers make the rules. They determine the truth. And if you dare speak against them, you end up like me. A prisoner, slowly starving to death.

But here’s the thing no one seems to know about her…. “

BANG! The door to Isaias’ room flung open. Three heavily armed guards stood at the door.

“Hand over the journal” a stern but familiar voice said to him.

Isaias did as he was told, gently swaying in his white wooden rocking chair located in the corner of his small 12x12 square room.

“You have been declared guilty of treason. The punishment for which is death. How do you plead?”

Isaias chuckled. “GUILTY,” he shouted. The deranged look of a mad man on his face. “GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY” he bellowed over and over clapping and laughing hysterically. “Now, take me to your leader.” Isaias stretched his hands forward, connecting them at the wrist.

“He’s gone mad” said the guard with the familiar voice.

“Gag and bind him, we don’t have time for this.” The third guard commanded.

Isaias choked as the guard inserted a round silicone ball into his mouth and strapped it tight around his head. The other guard grabbing his wrists and yanking his arms behind his back, pinching his skin as he zip-tied them together. Too weak to walk, two of the guards grasped him by his arms, dragging him along between them. A sheet was slid over his head, and he was tossed into the back of an aeromobile.

Isaias could feel his heart pounding as adrenaline rushed through his veins. It was the most alive he had felt in months. Little did these goons know, they were doing exactly what he wanted. He knew they were watching him. He knew they would figure out a way to read what he was writing. And he knew they would come for him once they did. Out of everyone in the Underground, she was most afraid of him.

The aeromobile came to a quick stop and Isaias was pulled from the vehicle. Without support his legs buckled and he fell hard against the ground. Just as quickly as he hit the pavement, he was yanked back up and again dragged between two guards. He heard a heavy metal door open. He was yanked into the room and his zip-ties were cut. The sting of cold metal hit him as he was shoved down into a chair. He felt a tug on the sheet over his head as he heard a woman’s voice….

“Hello, Isaias.”

His heart stopped. It was her. He rapidly blinked his eyes as the sheet was finally lifted, struggling to adjust to the bright light overhead. As his vision started to focus, he desperately searched the room trying to find her. He attempted to speak, but still gagged only muffles came out.

“Remove his gag.” He heard the same sweet familiar voice say. He coughed as the guard removed the silicone ball from his mouth.

“Lill, is that you?” He asked.

As quickly as the words came out, he felt a sharp pain to his left side as one of the guards planted his fist hard against his ribs.

“You will address her as Your Eminence!” The guard shouted at him, spitting in his face.

“It’s ok 3B4, you may all leave the room.”

Isaias heard her voice again but still could not locate the source. The floor shook as the heavy metal door slammed shut. Was he really alone with her? Isaias wondered.

“Lill?” Isaias coughed. “I mean, Your Eminence?” He corrected himself with a slight roll of his eyes. “Is that really you?”

“It’s me” he heard her voice say as a light flickered in front of him. In the blink of an eye a woman with long dark black hair stood before him. She looked real, but Isaias could tell she was only a hologram by the way the light bounced and reflected off her shoulders.

“You forget I invented the tech. I know it’s not really you” Isaias said, disappointed.

“This is what you get.” She said as she moved closer to him. “We have made some updates to your tech.” She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him. To his surprise, Isaias could feel the wetness of her lips press against his, the smell of her perfume lingering in the air. As she pulled away his eyes locked with hers, and for a quick moment he could see the woman she used to be. The Lilly he fell in love with many years ago.

“I miss you, Lill” Isaias said, deep sorrow shadowing his words. He moved to kiss her again when her eyes went black.

“The girl you use to know, no longer exists.” She snapped in a voice no longer resembling her own.

“She still exists to me, in my heart.” Isaias replied. He could tell this angered her.

“What do you want, Isaias?” She asked him impatiently. “I know you didn’t go through all of this for nothing.”

“Was that Joseph back there? The guard? The tall one? I recognized his voice, Lill. He’s, our son. I’ll always recognize his voice. Does he even know who I am anymore? Or did you take that from me as well?”

She scowled at him. Her black empty eyes piercing deep into his soul. Isaias stared back at her. Even as a hologram she was stunning. The perfect model of the female figure. He found himself wondering if behind the hologram she had gotten overweight and unsightly. Lost in that thought, he chuckled slightly.

In an instant, his whole body went flying across the room. The force of her blow catapulting him out of his chair and sending him crashing into the wall before ricocheting hard to the ground. How is she doing that? He wondered, shaking his head trying to recoup from what just happened. He tried to crawl up on to all fours when another blow pierced his already bruised left rib. The sheer force of it sending him spinning up into the air, landing hard on his back.

“Lill, stop! What are you doing?” He begged as another blow hit him. This time straight to his face. As the room started to fade, he heard the large metal door open. Two guards walked in.

“Your Eminence, there is a disturbance outside the Southwest tunnel. It’s Ex-Humans. We are conducting drone surveillance as we speak. Live feed is on in the Operations Center.”

“This isn’t over, Isaias,” she said with fury. And in a flash, she was gone.

Believing him to be a cripple, the guards left Isaias lying on the cold cement floor. He waited a minute after they were gone before pushing himself up, easily jumping to his feet. His deception paying off. He surveilled the room, searching for a way out. If Ex-Humans were gathering outside of the Underground, he needed to escape. This might be the exact opportunity he had been waiting for.

As he was searching desperately for a way out, Isaias was caught off guard when someone opened the food hatch and slid a large package wrapped in brown paper under the door. Isaias eyed it suspiciously. He picked it up from the floor and slowly unwrapped it. Out of the box he pulled a heavy, body-length fur jacket. Underneath the jacket he read,

She’s still here. Locked somewhere, deep inside. NOW RUN!

Isaias looked up as he heard the metal door squeak open. He threw the jacket on and ran toward the Southwest tunnel. He was approaching the entrance when he saw two members of the Cloaked Assassins wrapping shrouds around their faces as they prepared to go to surface. Isaias followed them, wrapping himself in a shroud of his own.

As he reached surface, Isaias was shocked at what he saw. The ground was covered in heavy black mounds of snow. Smoke and flames danced together in the distance. The sky an eerie burnt orange. The air thick with ash. How could anyone survive like this? He wondered.

But sure enough, just below where he stood, Isaias could see rows and rows of people standing next to each other. Over a hundred thousand, he estimated. At closer look though, it was obvious they had changed. Their skin was rough, almost scale like. Their yellow tinted eyes a stark contrast to its greyish color. Most no longer had hair. But their leader, there was something different about her. “Mandala” he heard someone call her.

Isaias watched helplessly as the Cloaked Assassins used their SmartTech to run through the crowd. Their swords glowing as they separated hundreds of heads from their bodies at a time. Then he saw Mandala fall. Her life’s blood slowly spilling from her body. As the assassins walked back toward him, Isaias hid behind a mound of snow.

What the hell do I do now? He asked himself. He looked around surveying the area around him. Distraught at its utter destruction, his adrenaline rush from earlier slowed to a halt. Leaving him feeling tired and beaten. He fell back into the snow. His body exhausted. His stomach twisting from hunger. He went to close his eyes when a bright flash of light caught his attention. Despite his fatigue, he jumped up to investigate.

To his amazement, where the body of Mandala once lay a furious blaze now roared. Isaias could feel its heat from where he stood. His shock grew as he watched the shadow of a female emerge from the flames. As he moved closer, he felt his heart hit the floor. A shockwave of disbelief jolted through his body. It was her! The face from his hallucinations. He backed away in awe. Her beauty more radiant than he had imagined.

“Mandala?” He asked, falling to his knees.

She turned toward him. Extending her hand in his direction. The light gently kissing her lips as she softly whispered…. “Follow me.”