Doomsday Pillars

January 1, 2020, was the start of the end of times for all people living on Earth. The global pandemic had killed 80% of all humanity in just one night and turned all who had died into an undead that brought terror and sadness to all who were still living. The once metropolises that were the pride of the world had been transformed into the cities of the dead.

France, the city of love, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, had collapsed in less than a week. The city of Tokyo in Japan and the city of Delhi in India had become the home for tens of millions of zombies. Many other big cities suffer the same fate.

As the days passed, the zombies kept on mutating and became tougher to eliminate. Most of those who had survived had been forced to leave their homes and gather together to find refuges near the big cities' suburbs, small villages, forests and even in the mountains. The ones who are more fortunate received protection from their country's government soldiers.

They had survived, but they looked at the future with bleak hope since things were just getting worse and worse. And on the 100th day, they looked to the heavens as 1,008 extraterrestrial pillars had descended on Earth and rooted themselves. These 1,008 pillars had garnered different reactions from the people of the Earth, whether those pillars were signs of hope or signs of despair, only they would know..

Dday 121 PyongYang

North Korea was actually one of the few countries that were successful in repelling the zombies and cleansing their cities. In the first month of Doomsday, North Korea had successfully managed their quarantine zones and in less than three months, completely eradicated their former citizens who had become zombies in their homeland.

When the Doomsday Pillar had descended 500 meters west of PyongYang City three weeks ago, the top officers of North Korea had become anxious once more as they had just finished eliminating the zombie threat. They looked up and entrusted their whole fate to their supreme leader Kim Song Il.

That morning, Kim Song Il had gathered his fleet of troops and encircled the foreign structure that had descended from the sky.

"Reporting to the highest minister, the cannon and tanks are ready to take orders," said a military general with a fist on his chest.

"Good, comrade. Prepare the men and attack according to plan," Kim Song Il said with his hands behind his back.

"Ready men! The Supreme Leader has issued the order! Prepare to immediately destroy this building!" the military said to the soldiers. He looked to the Supreme Leader once more and said, "We are ready to execute, Supreme Leader!"

An advisor standing next to Kim Song Il hesitantly opened his mouth but decided not to speak and instead wiped the cold sweat running on his head. 

Kim Song Il noticed this and asked, "Is there anything you want to say, comrade?"

"Supreme Leader, t-this structure from the sky, wouldn't it be better if w-we investigated this first?"

Kim Song Il still kept his hands behind his back without looking to the advisor and said, "For all we know, these buildings may have been most likely sent by our enemies. Just like the plague that exploded in the sky that killed our people three months ago, these buildings also came from the sky. That alone is enough evidence for us."

"I-I am sorry Supreme Leader but didn't D-Defense Minister Park Ji went to Singapore three months ago and reported that around this time, a building from the heavens would come and help us?"

Kim Song Il raised one eyebrow and said, "Huh! How dare you say the name of that defector! That was all part of western country propaganda."

"But—"

Kim Song Il glanced at the bodyguard beside him and the guard took out a gun and pointed at the advisor.

"AAaaa... I'm sorry, Supreme Leader, I'm sorry!" the advisor said as he kneeled.

BANG!

A bullet lodged into the advisor's forehead. He was dead.

"Hmpf, a person who hasn't learned a lesson!"

Kim Song Il glanced at the advisor's body before looking at the colossal structure in the distance. He spat on the ground and said, "How dare they send this right outside my capital city of Pyongyang! Execute the attack order, general!"

A few seconds later, hundreds of cannons, rockets, and tanks rained down explosive fire on the alien, skyscraper-like structure. But their efforts were in vain. When the dust settled, their weapons didn't make a single dent and only destroyed the ground beneath the structure. 

The problem with most people was that they couldn't believe something could happen until it did. This wasn't stupidity or weakness, however, it was just human nature.

Dday 125

City of Jerusalem, Israel

For the first time in Israel's 2,000 years of history, the Israelites finished building the wall that spanned 700 kilometers in total before the plague had struck. This wall was created with the purpose of defending against outside threats and terrorism but due to unforeseen circumstances, it was now being used as the main barrier against the end of time terror.

The nation of Israel had successfully prepared itself for the end times. From food supplies to defense all due to the hard struggle of a person named Jurgen, a high ranking Mossad officer.

Since he had returned from Alex's conference in Singapore, Jurgen had advocated and won the trust of the Israeli prime minister to prepare Israel for the end of time. When the plague came, however, the prime minister who was supporting Jurgen became one of the millions of victims. After that, the Israelites were governed by the 10 councils and Jurgen managed to get to become one of them.

For the Israelites, the plague that came and the pillars that came down were part of the fulfillment of their book regarding the end times. They welcome the Doomsday Pillar like the presence of god in this world.

However, during the last three weeks, Jurgen and the consulate leaders were facing a dilemma. They had received intel that apart from the Doomsday Pillar that fell on Israelite's soil, there were other Doomsday Pillars that had descended in their neighboring countries in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. In fact, some of these countries had more than 1 Doomsday Pillar in their borders.

Just like them, the neighboring countries had also attempted to enter the Doomsday Pillar and finish its challenges. Israel didn't have information yet whether their neighboring countries had succeeded but in Israel's case, they failed despite having prepared as best as they could to finish the challenge. In fact, they had attempted to finish it twice but both attempts were unsuccessful. 

In the middle of Jerusalem's government building, 10 consuls had gathered to discuss how to solve this problem.

"We've sent our fighters twice, but we're still unable to complete the challenge. 14 days have already been wasted as well as a lot of ammunition!"

"If 500 soldiers cannot complete it, should we send 1,000 soldiers?"

The Israelite Army General, who had become a member of the consulates, was embarrassed by his failure. He had been priding himself with his special forces of Sayeret Matkal but they had failed.

"That challenge is impossible to win!" exclaimed the general. "All of my 500 men had consumed spirit stones to the maximum and they were also fully armed. That monster's skin is tougher than a bear that even high caliber bullets cannot penetrate!"

The oldest consul among them looked at Jurgen and asked, "What do you think?"

Jurgen nodded thoughtfully and said, "I highly believe that we'll succeed this time, like the saying the third time's the charm"

Jurgen gave a signal and one of his officers opened the door. Several people entered carrying a number of boxes and placed them on a table. Afterward, a man dressed in black also entered the room.

The man, dressed all in black revealed his tattoo on his forehead and cheeks. He was a head taller than everyone in the room and was also the most buffed. It was clear that this man was a skilled fighter.

"Let me introduce this man, his name is Ardeth, the Chief of the Medjai fighter."

"Medjai warrior?"

The Medjai warriors hailed from Egypt and had a history of thousands of years as part of the patron army of the ancient kingdom of Egypt. They were strong and fierce warriors of the desert.

Jergen continued "Ardeth came with dozens of other Medjai fighters, they'll help us win the first challenge."

The Israelite Army General popped a vein and exclaimed, "Jurgen! Are you underestimating the Israeli army that you've brought a gentile to help us!"

"Calm down, General. I will be the first to admit that our army is one of the greatest troops. But what we need for this challenge are skilled at fighting with melee weapons." said Jurgen. He then continued by opening the box on the table. 

These past few weeks, Jurgen had been spending his time learning more about the secrets of the Pillar. Even though they hadn't been able to complete the original challenge, they were still allowed access to the main hall and he discovered the functions of the bracelet as well as the room that had the Earth's image with different lights. 

"Consuls, if you could all please look while I'm using this bracelet."

From out of the box, five artifacts were placed on the table. Three weapons and two body armor. Jurgen swiped the bracelet on his wrist and a display of the equipments' information were shown. 

"With these artifacts and the help of fighters like Ardeth and his warriors, I believe we can win the challenge this time."

The faces of the consuls brightened. They all nodded in approval to Jurgen's preparation.

"Jurgen, we're giving you control for this operation. I hope you can finish this as soon as you can. We have intel that our eastern neighbors are starting to gather under one banner. They seem to have appointed a new leader. This leader of theirs seemed to have arrived from Indonesia and it only took him a few weeks to unite the existing organizations of the warring factions in the middle east."

"We've heard that the leader's name is Hafiz, the head of Heavenly Gate."