“Name.” The Sergeant stood firmly before the group of trainees, her voice firm and commanding. The line of nearly twenty candidates quaked with each of her words, their boots shifting in the mud as she approached the first of the recruits.

“Angelina Ma’am!” The girl tried attempt to stand tall and proud, the Sergeant eyeing her few a moments, huffing lightly at her as she declared herself. The Sergeant moved on, walking forward onto the next of the recruits, Angelina easing up as she’s passed by.

“Name.” The Sergeant checked off the first womans name, the second inhaling and announcing herself with just as much pride. “Brianne Sir!” The Sergeant nodded at her, moving on to the third, repeating herself once more. In turn they each announced themselves, all with a modicum of pride, the Sergeant not batting an eye as she checked their names off.

After checking off the names of the previous nineteen women, the Sergeant approached the last. A lithe and slender girl, barely of the legal combatant age of three hundred years, her bright blonde hair tied in a braid behind her as she stood there. The Sergeant blinked at her for a moment, before asking “Name?” The woman stood there, lips sealed tightly shut staring up at the Sergeant calmly.

The Sergeant asked once more, the woman not saying anything as she stood there, body tensed. It took the Sergeant a moment to shake her head. “If you want to challenge my authority, child, I’ll have you know you’ll lose. Now tell me your name.” The woman beside her looked at her out of the corner of her eye, before looking forward once more. This, of course, didn’t pass by the Sergeants keen eyes.

“You. Kain you name was, yes?” The woman shook her head. “Karin ma’am.” The Sergeant inhaled at this, shaking her head slightly. “Alright then Kain. Explain why this child is in your platoon.” Karin opened her mouth for a moment, before answering. “I believe she is mute, Sir.” the Sergeant exhaled at this, looking to the recruit for a few moments, before shaking her head. “Fine then. We’ll call her Mud. Until she gives us a name. Given her disposition, I doubt she’ll make it past initial training. Recruits! Line up! Move out!” The Sergeant pointed forwards, the women marching forwards in a line, the blonde in the very rear as she adamantly marched forwards.

The first day at boot camp, the women spent socializing, learning each others names and getting to know each other, their accommodations less than hospitable for a boot camp, but still more comfortable once they got to know each other.

The first day of training was gruesome, three of the women getting injured as they ran the course, having to be carted off to medical. Of the group, the blonde remained, her determination showing as she attempted to keep up with the other girls. She struggled to maintain pace with the others during their evening run, her smaller frame and build causing her to lag behind on multiple occasions, the Sergeant shouting back to her to keep pace or leave.

“Keep up mud, keep up! You fall behind, you fall out! You want to be the reason your platoon breaks?!” The blonde kept at it, however, her smaller legs pumping twice as hard as her companies, her face red and her hair caked with mud from the occasional fall in the wet earth. During the chin-up exercises she barely managed to jump up and grab the bar at first, though she refused assistance from the girls nearby on multiple occasions.

For the next few months, this routine continued, the group thinning quite rapidly as girls were carted off from injury or shipped out in surrender of their inability to keep up with the rapidly challenging training. After nearly six months, all that remained were four girls. The blonde, Karin, a woman by the name of Lee, and an amazon of a woman who went by the name of Brill.

The Sergeant marched into their room in the mid-morning dark, awakening the group from their slumber. “Wakey wakey children! It’s time for your upgrades!” Brill leapt from her bed, feet slamming to the ground as she stretched, excited to finally receive her upgrade and the possibility of being a Saint. Karin woke next, rubbing her eyes as she awoke, stretching slightly as she questioned what the yelling was about and that she thought they had the day to themselves.

Lee awoke, routine as usual, dressing herself and going to stand in formation as usual beside the Sergeant. A woman of habit, routine, and rules, she was awake when commanded, and ready when expected. Of the four, the only one to still snooze despite the rude awakening was the Blonde. The Sergeant could only sigh as she approached the slumbering girl, scooping up a bucket of water from one of the skins, before splashing it onto her. “Wake up Mud! Upgrades today! Mandatory!” The blonde rubbed her eyes, giving a miserable look as she sat in her soaking wet bed, soaked through her blanket and night outfit.

“Get changed, and meet me outside the CP.” They all nodded, the Sergeant marching from the bunk with a bit of annoyance at the blonde. For the last two months, the two have clashed, the Sergeant giving her much more challenging trials than the others, intent to make her leave in the hopes she’d grasp that she’s too small to actually work with a proper unit.

First she tried making her do triple routines, though the blonde complied without complaint. After she attempted to work her to the bone, forcing her to do extra routines and chores around the base, such as cleaning the latrine, repairing the field dampening units, moving the rations supply to the kitchen, and even stacking the disarmed warheads. Time after time she completed them, without a single word or noise, though she did look miserable the entire time.

After the four had changed and headed outside to meet with the Sergeant, they found the base almost completely revamped. The buildings had been moved, their normal central camp expanded outwards for space, the CP shifted to near the middle of the camp. The Sergeant stood outside the door, pointing for them to come over. “Alright ladies. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go in one at a time and get your upgrades. Now if you’re lucky, you’ll come out fine. If you’re exceptionally lucky, you’ll get powers beyond your comprehension and be immediately promoted to Saint.” Lee raised a hand to ask a question, the Sergeant sighing at this. “Lee, I’ve told you that if you’ve a question, simply ask when I’m not talking. I told you that you’ve moved past the initial preening, so you’re all corporals now. No need to be so uptight.” Lee nods at this, breathing in and asking the Sergeant after she’s finished speaking. “Sir, what happens if we’re unlucky.”

The Sergeant pauses at this, before shaking her head. “Just hope you’re lucky. I don’t want to write anymore grievance letters home to expectant families.” Lee, Brill, and Karin all grow wide eyed at this, the Blonde still attempting to wake up. “Now then. Who wants to go first?”

Lee offers herself up, stepping forwards. The Sergeant nods to her, stepping aside to let her into the tent. For a few minutes there’s quite rustling inside, before a blood curdling scream resounds from the tent for several moments, until there’s complete silence. Everyone tenses up at the silence, the Sergeant expecting the worse, before Lee bursts from the tent, her toned body much more muscular, and her height nearly increased by a good foot. “This is...incredible…” She clenched her first, her body flexing as she tests her new strength, punching into the air and sending light ripples away from herself. “Amazing.” She smirks, stepping out into the central camp, sitting down and nodding to the others to go on inside.

Brill offers herself up next, marching inside, a greedy look to her at the prospect of such power. As like before, there is a blood curdling scream and then utter silence. The four outside pause for a few minutes, before the Sergeant looks inside, covering her mouth and shaking her head lightly. Lee scowls and looks away at the loss, Karin going wide eyed and taking a step back. The Blonde stares at the tent for a few minutes, before looking down, as if in prayer.

For a few minutes, the two women stand outside, before Karin offers to go next, the Sergeant wishing her good luck. “You’ll do just fine Karin.” This gets a surprised look from the woman, the Sergeant having taken to calling her Kain for the past six months. She swallows her nervousness and steps inside. The process repeats, this time the screaming continuing for a prolonged duration, before finally silencing.

A moment passes, before Karin emerges, her body similarly bulked up like Lee’s, her arms flexing as she adjusts to her new strength and urges on the blonde. The final girl steps forwards, the Sergeant watching her as she goes inside. “Maybe this’ll get her to talk. Or give her the ability to, if she can’t. Never did bother to find out which it was.”

Within the tent is a pair of men, clothed in white lab coats, with a rather ancient crystal floating at the head of the bed. On the bed is a sheet, the firmness barely cut by the soft cloth. The men offer the bed up to the blonde, adjusting so she may lay down. She hops up onto the bed, laying back and looking up at the crystal tentatively.

The men look to her, before nodding. “This will be quick. If all goes well, you should be gifted with great strength and many feats. If you’re lucky, you may receive an even greater gift. Just remain calm, and feel free to scream if you need to. I won’t lie to you, this is quite painful.” One of the men assures her, the other nodding lightly as she moves to behind the crystal.

The blonde lays back, relaxing as the man who spoke fastens restraints around her limbs to help keep her from hurting herself or them. A few seconds pass, before a low thrum fills the air, barely audible. A thin warm mist flows over the womans body, pervading the air for several seconds, before it soaks into her skin, her body tensing and quaking from the sudden onslaught of pain and agony.

She let out no sounds, her body thrashing as she’s invaded by the strange force. For a moment she quakes, before the sensation of floating fills her body. A cold sensation, as though she’s detached from her own mind and body. She hears the words ‘remission’ and ‘failed experiment’ a few times. She reaches out for the men, though her hands don’t move, her mind numb and aching.

Was this death? She didn’t wish to be dead, or even for this power that was thrust upon her. For a long time, what seemed like forever, she stared out at the men as they stared down at her in disappointment. She didn’t want to be dead. She didn’t want to be a failure, not when she’d worked so hard to prove herself worthy of her cause.

The chance at power was so close to her, and she could almost taste it. It tasted bitter on her tongue, and she didn’t understand why she would be denied even greater strength. She refused to accept this fate. For an eternity she struggled, her mind thrashing back against this sensation of detachment. For a long eon she struggled, trying to regain herself or to so much as move once more.

Suddenly there was darkness. She felt as though she’d succumbed to her death, and she felt despair. “Worry not child.” The words pervaded her mind, her soul shrinking at it’s sickening sweetness. “Do you wish for something greater? Something more than this measly shell of a body?” She couldn’t say no, her mind flaring to life in urge and begging. “Then perhaps you’d wish a second chance. If you accept your fate, you will be granted power beyond compare. But you will lose yourself entirely. Can you accept becoming a monster?”

The girl hesitated at this, before reaching out to the voice. She’d accepted her deal with the devil, her body, soul, and mind given in entirely. “Then we’ve an accord.” The last thing she saw was the flash of a grand and twisted face, smiling at her as her hand gripped his, her mind surging forwards.

A sudden rush of energy filled her, her body leaping from the table as the two men fall backwards. “She was dead! What is going on?!” The other shakes his head in confusion, the Sergeant rushing in. Lee and Brill followed closely behind, only to be greeted by what they would accept as a god.

Before them floated what seemed an ethereal being, the blonde woman floating an inch off the ground, her hair unbound and floating around her, her skin torn in places and letting a strange black essence flicker between it, droplets floating around her as she looked down to what were mere mortals to her.

“Rise.” The men, the Sergeant, and the two women stood all at once, as if in a trance, their bodies rigid and uniform as they stood before the woman. The woman paused at their reactions, moreso at her own voice. She touched a hand to her throat, feeling power resonate from herself, and power in her words.

She looked to the five before her, leaning in close to the Sergeant, tilting her head at her nametag. To her, this world felt strangely alien suddenly, the people she’d grown close to suddenly seeming alien to her, and her perception of them suddenly less than optimal. She mouthed the word on the nametag as she read it.

“Morde….cai?” The five suddenly knelt, as if bowing to the woman, all chanting. “Queen Mordecai, what is your wish?” This elicited a surprised look from the woman, who pointed to herself, as if in confirmation, before grinning with a malice she’d never known she had. “Conquer.”

The five stood, turning and marching from the tent. The newly dubbed Mordecai followed behind them, levitating off the ground as she followed behind her newly anointed servants. They slowly made their way from the measly base camp, the five all leading their commander to a more densely popular camp located several miles away, to expand upon her newfound army.

In the following weeks, the newly named Queen would begin her conquest of the wartorn world, conquering all whom she passed with a simple utterance, her army growing in size. Soon, within a few months, she’s gained a sizable army and has begun to look skywards for her goals. Something within her tells her that what she seeks is out there, waiting to be taken with force, if need be.

Her first fight with another world ended in the death of many of her army, but with her conquering the leader of the planet, her victory was assured, and the losses unimportant to her. Her conquest continued on, with victory after victory as she swept the leaders of her enemies out from under their worlds, conscripting entire solar systems to her armada. Soon, she found herself being challenged by an endless number of worlds, all out for the head of “Mordecai the Siren Queen’ for her transgressions against the galaxy.