Mandala's Army Part 3

“Good morning RockHaven! Today is Monday, March 2nd, 2037.

I am Rita Stephanou, and this is your morning announcements.

In just 21 days we will be celebrating 3 and a half years since the Great Reset. The day we were chosen by Her Eminence to be part of the Great Lilian Empire. All Silver, Crimson, and Navy level residents are invited to attend. Event details are available at the bottom of your telescreen.

This past week we have seen an uptick in the number of Ex-Human sightings. The diseased and mutating creatures seemingly continuing their Reign of Terror upon the surface. Her Eminence assures your safety and is working diligently to exterminate the threat.

As a friendly reminder, today is your last day to contest your new Social Score. Residents with a Social Score below 300 will be relocated to Yellow level. Also, don’t forget to complete your quarterly medical exam by Friday. Those who fail to comply will be subject to penalty.

As always, your compliance is appreciated. By the grace of Her Eminence, we have grown stronger together. We have survived all odds. And we thrive like never before!

Give tribute to Her. O’ Dark One. Our Savior. Our Master. The One Above ALL. Praise Her. May she bless us with her wisdom, her strength, and her fury. Under her guidance we begin this new day.

So, it be.”

“So, it be” Lilith repeated as the announcements ended. She stood on her balcony overlooking the large underground city. Her city. The city she built. NewHaven, she named it.

NewHaven had everything you could imagine. Schools, hospitals, fire stations, restaurants, apartment complexes, even parks and recreation centers. It was built so brilliantly; it was easy to forget you were underground. Using holographic technology, Lilith created her utopia. During the day the firmament lit up with rays of sunshine. At night, a blanket of stars. The sounds and images of nature, the smell of swaying wildflowers, the heat of the rising sun, it was all created by a combination of ultrasonic waves and holograms. It was a masterpiece. And Lilith was its master.

All together the Lilian Empire included 9 underground megalopolises and 11 underground military bases. All spread around the world and accommodating roughly 240 million people. A small percentage of the 7.9 billion that once roamed the Earth. “The Chosen Ones,” she called them. And in return, they called her many things - Your Eminence, Our Savior, The Dark One, The One Above ALL. They worshipped her. And Lilith loved it.

Still standing on her balcony, she sipped her morning coffee as her mind drifted back to life before The Great Reset. A time when she was just Lilly Ackermann. Wife to Isaias Ackermann. Both world renowned scientists. “Pioneers of the Future,” they called themselves. Together they had one son, Joseph.

In their hunt to discover supersymmetry particles, her and Isaias worked tirelessly to build the world’s largest hadron collider. Until the day everything changed. While running some tests a safety mechanism failed, sending a beam of protons traveling at nearly the speed of light right through Lilith’s body.

The energy electrified her, its jolt rippling through her body. A bright light flashed before her and instantaneously she ascended into an alternate reality. There she witnessed the complete destruction of Earth. Destruction triggered by her hadron collider. But under the destruction she saw order and stability. A harmonious world without the worry of war, poverty, or sickness. And on top of that world, she saw herself. Glorious with power.

She woke in a hospital bed 3 weeks later. Isaias by her side. Sadness and worry heavy on his face. Bandages covered most of her body, hiding the damage from the proton radiation. To Isaias’s surprise, right after opening her eyes Lilith sat up and began removing the bandages. The once damaged and decaying skin now perfectly smooth. Alarms went off and doctors ran into the room as Lilith ripped the IV out of her arm. At first glance, they were all frozen in disbelief. Lilith stood before them stronger and more radiant than ever before.

The next month was spent testing the limits of her new abilities. Her body now possessing the power to heal itself. Her mind able to move and control matter. Her hands able to pull electric energy from the Earth. The possibilities of what she could achieve seemed endless. Sharing her new gifts and vision of the upcoming apocalypse, slowly she started asserting her authority. First it was the U.S. government, easily wrapping its sell-out politicians around her finger with promises of enrichment and everlasting power. From there she easily secured the whole North American Continent.

Hidden in the shadows, she eventually consumed power over the entire United Nations. After that, world leaders began contacting her. Pleading for a chance to be a part of her Lillian Empire. They all wanted salvation, and only she could save them.

But the Lilian Empire did not come without sacrifice. Her marriage to Isaias its first cost. Lilith loved him, but her love for him changed after her awakening. To his credit, Isaias played along with her vision of the Great Reset for a while. And when the time came to set off the hadron collider – opening a massive black hole and beginning the process of a pole shift that would destroy the world – he was there to push the start button. But soon after she could see the guilt begin to destroy him. His weakness enraged her. Sadly, she realized he was no longer her equal. She would never stop caring for him, but he became a reminder of her past. A heavy weight that held her back from achieving her true destiny.

Because of this, she kept Isaias far away. Sending him to RockHaven. One of her military bases located under what used to be Colorado Springs. There, his defiance to her reeducation landed him in a 12x12 secure and padded room. She smiled slightly as she thought about him. She checked on him often. Watching him wither away was oddly pleasing to her. Even though she knew she would never let him die, she did enjoy watching him suffer.

She closed the balcony door behind her as she walked back into her luxurious penthouse suite. On her bed still lay a man, unclothed and bleeding from the marks on his body. “Black Widow,” they also called her.

She ordered her servant to clean up the mess as a guard walked in.

“Your Eminence, prisoner 923 has begun writing about you in his journal. Guards are on their way to his room now.”

She rolled her eyes. No wonder he was on her mind.

“Bring him to the control room and notify me when he is there.” She said, zipping up the sides of her black high-heeled boots.

She was in the middle of meeting with her Nine Commanders, when she was informed Isaias was in the control room. Using a hologram device, she split her attention between the two rooms. The ultrasonic waves allowing her to transport herself between the two holographic images instantaneously. Deciding on a whim which parts of herself were in attendance organically and which parts holographically.

Her encounter with Isaias went just about as expected. He stared at her with sad, guilt filled eyes, attempting to soften her heart with his ridiculous declarations of love. A part of her wanted to believe him. Wanted to run into his arms and never let go. But that part of her was small, and the part that loathed him quickly took back over.

“What do you want, Isaias?” She asked him impatiently.

To her surprise he asked about Joseph. Believing him to be one of the guards who aided in his detainment. Truthfully, Lilith wasn’t sure. All her guards wore a standardized uniform. Complete with a closed helmet.

She scowled at him. No one in the Underground knew Joseph was her son. Isaias knew this. They agreed it was for his protection. She had sent him to Reinstruction Camp just like all the other boys his age. Placed him in a foster home with new parents to love and take care of him. Joseph was safe, and Isaias put him in danger. Just as she was getting started on his punishment, she was interrupted by a disturbance outside the underground base.

She left Isaias laying weak and broken on the cold cement floor, promising him she would return. When she reached the Operations Room, she was surprised to see what appeared to be over a hundred thousand Ex-Humans gathered outside one of the entrances.

She called in her top warriors, the Cloaked Assassins. One of the few militia groups she had with experience in going to surface. After giving the order, she watched from the live stream as the gathered crowd was easily dismembered. Astonished that none of them even seemed to fight back. Lilith took this as confirmation they were largely braindead walking corpses.

“Tell me more about the leader?” she asked.

“Her name was Mandala. We are backtracking her movements through satellite imagery.” Mari, her First in Command responded. “Here is feed from earlier today…”

On to the screen projected a dark-skinned woman with matted hair. Lilith watched in awe as she stood before the crowd and delivered a powerful and coherent speech.

“They are mutating,” she whispered. The same proton radiation responsible for her transformation now seemingly having a similar effect to those on the surface.

At the same moment, the door behind her opened. She heard a voice shake in a low tone.

“Your Eminence...?”

“WHAT!” she snapped in annoyance.

“Prisoner 923 has escaped.”

Lilith’s eyes went black. She clenched her fists together and turned toward the door.

“What did you just say!?”

“Prisoner 92…”

BOOM! Before the messenger could finish, Lilith’s hands exploded with light as she sent a jolt of electric energy in his direction, killing him instantly. The room went silent. Lilith looked around the room furiously as an alarm sounded.

“Your Eminence, a heat signature is being detected outside the Southwest tunnel. Switching to live feed now.” Mari said, cautiously.

Everyone in the room watched the screen in utter disbelief as a woman emerged from the flames. Her body rapidly repairing itself as it burned. From the right they could see a man approach her and fall to his knees.

“Isaias!” Lilith scowled. She felt her fury rise inside her like never before. She screamed as electric shockwaves radiated from her body. Killing anyone within striking distance and overloading the computer systems.

When she finished, Lilith looked down at the dead bodies scattered on the floor. Frustrated and short on time, she grabbed a pack of shrouds and headed to surface. By the time she got there, Isaias was standing with Mandala. The flames of her resurrection still blazing in the background.

“Lilith! I hear you’re the one I’ve been searching for!” Mandala shouted.

“Oh, yeah?” Lilith replied, her eyes a black opal. Stepping toward them her fists lit up as she sent a bolt of electric energy firing at them. Isaias watched in wonderment as Mandala waved her hand, sending the bolt flying in the opposite direction. Lilith threw another. Mandala laughed as she tossed it aside.

Her fury growing, Lilith gathered her full strength. Her whole body lighting up as she sent a massive wave of electric energy at them. This time, directed at Isaias. Mandala pushed him out of the way, the bolt striking her shoulder and sending her flying backwards. Mandala spun, gracefully finding her feet.

She looked up at Lilith, her eyes a fire red. Standing tall, Mandala called up the flames from the ground. Her arms covered in their fiery blaze. Just as she was about to release them in Lilith’s direction, a bright green light shined down on them from above. In an instant, Mandala and Isaias were pulled up into it. The light flashed and then disappeared.