The Golden Spheres are mysterious orbs of quartz that are crucial to the diverting of the Hydra galaxy.
History[]
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
The nine Golden Spheres was constructed by the super-ancient beings long ago, to be included in their third trial, the diverting of the Hydra galaxy.
The Spheres were made to activate a signal that would be sent out from the Summit Temple's obelisk atop a strange mountain-like antennae in the meteor crater later known as the Underworld. This signal would be generated from the mysterious energy within the Spheres, and upon being sent out it would somehow divert the Hydra galaxy from its Earth-bound course.
Before the Super-Ancients vanished from the Earth, they locked the Golden Spheres away inside a vault in the Star Chamber atop their signal antennae, which would only open at certain times in their celestial calendar. They also informed a small group of humans of the trials they had left them, including the importance of the Golden Spheres.
On three occasions in human history, the Golden Spheres would become accessible when the Star Chamber opened, so that the Four Legendary Kingdoms could use them in preliminary versions of the Great Games of the Hydra. Upon the completion of these three Great Games, the Spheres would be returned to the Star Chamber, would would soon afterwards lock the spheres away again until the next predetermined time of the Super-Ancient's celestial calendar.
When the Star Chamber opened in 2016, the current King of the Underworld, Anthony "Hades" DeSaxe, was able to have the nine Golden Spheres and their companion gemstones collected from the vault. Once he had informed his fellow members of the Four Legendary Kingdoms of the development (which heralded the imminent approach of the Hydra galaxy), Hades had the Spheres examined by scientists to see what they could determine about the sphere's make-up.
After the Spheres were examined, Anthony had his Great Games keeper, Vacheron, position them at the necessary points in each challenge's arena. Once the Champions for the Great Games arrived (willingly or not) they had the gemstones implanted in the back of their necks.
As the Great Games of the Hydra began, Hades announced to all of the Champions their goal of retrieving the Golden Spheres, just as the pit of the Second Challenge was being opened, revealing the presence of one of the Spheres at the top of the pyramid. After the Champions were thrust into the pit of rising water, Gregory Brigham managed to scale the pyramid first and retrieved the Sphere. Upon exiting the pit, he presented it to Hades.
For the Third Challenge, a Golden Sphere sat waiting atop the pinnacle of the arena. Once again, Brigham managed to reach the Sphere first and escaped the arena over the bridge before it receded, again presenting it to Hades.
During the banquet hosted by Hades for the Royals that night, he allowed the two Spheres that had been earned by the Champions thus far to be displayed for all to see. When Lily West took a closer look at them she saw the shape of the Earth etched onto them, and asked Iolanthe Compton-Jones about them. The Royal told her what Hades's scientists had discovered in their examination of the Spheres, and iterated their importance in diverting the Hydra galaxy.
When it came time for the Fourth Challenge, two of the Golden Spheres were hidden away in the wall maze, each one guarded by Fear and Chaos. The first Champion to try to claim Chaos's Sphere was Mauricio Corazon, only for the Brazilian to be easily dispatched by the guardian. Zaitan DeSaxe soon managed to obtain Fear's Sphere after a show of a fight and exited the maze with it. Next, Victor Vargas sacrificed his allies so that he could claim Chaos's Sphere and escape the maze with it.
In the Fifth Challenge, the Golden Sphere sat at the bottom of the structure on the far side of the Great Bend. DeShawn Monroe managed to reach the Sphere and carry it back to the roadway, only to be shot dead by Brigham, who quickly claimed the Sphere. As he continued racing towards the finish, the SAS trooper was hounded by the other Champions in their attempts to obtain the Sphere themselves. However, after Jack West Jr caused a pile up that allowed him to snatch the Sphere from Brigham, he passed the Sphere on to Shane Schofield, so that the Marine could win the Challenge while he freed their hostages. After Jack shepherded Schofield to the finish line, the Marine carried it up the staircase, and held on to the Sphere as the Royals were distracted by Jack's escape. When the Australian was brought back, Schofield gave the Sphere to Hades after using his reward for retrieving it to have Jack's life spared.
With the first phase of the Great Games completed, the Royals and Champions made their way up to the Summit Temple with the first five Golden Spheres, where the ceremony to place them in the lower temple's podiums took place. Once this was done, the five set Spheres unlocked and raised the obelisk that would send out the signal to the Hydra galaxy.
Three of the remaining four Golden Spheres were locked in a podium on each of the observatory's combat platforms, awaiting for each set of one-on-one fights between the Champions to be completed. When the final fight of the Sixth Challenge was won by Schofield, he brought the Sphere up to Hades. Similarly, when Zaitan was the last surviving fighter of the Seventh Challenge, he brought the unlocked Sphere to his father. When Jack won the Eighth Challenge, he gave the Sphere to Vacheron, who passed it on to Hades.
To Jack's dismay, the final Golden Sphere was set into the chest armour of Hades's final warrior for the Ninth Challenge, Cerberus. Knowing that he would barely be able to hold his own against Cerberus in his tired state, Jack recalled how Hercules had defeated Cerberus's namesake in the myths, and called to Hades for permission to bring Cerberus to him. With the show of humility Hades agreed that Jack was worthy of being the Champion and allowed Jack to lead Cerberus and the Sphere up to his throne, where the Champion of the Great Games removed the final Golden Sphere from Cerberus's chest-plate and presented it to Hades.
With the Great Games completed and all of the Golden Spheres earned in accordance to the ritual set by the Super-Ancients, the Four Kingdoms and Jack made their way to the upper temple of the Summit Temples for the final ceremony. The remaining four Spheres were set into position, initiating the mysterious antenna and sending out the signal that caused the Hydra galaxy to change its course away from the Earth.
After the minotaurs began their revolt against the Four Kingdoms and began assaulting the mountain, the Golden Spheres were apparently left in their positions within the Summit Temples.
Attributes[]
Golden Spheres[]
The Golden Spheres are comprised of a non-terrestrial form of quartz, giving them a crystalline appearance. Within each sphere is a strange form of energy that is gold in colour, thus giving them their name. All of the spheres were also shaped in the appearance of the Earth, albeit with the shape of the continents not quite matching their modern appearances.
The vibrational energy contained within each of the spheres does not exist in nature, nor has its wavelength been seen in electromagnetic science conducted by modern humans. In any case, the energy within the spheres is crucial to the signal that diverts the Hydra galaxy from its course. Though unconfirmed, the energy within the spheres could be related to the gravitational wave that the Hydra galaxy is riding the crest of from the center of the universe.
Through unknown means, the Super-Ancients made the spheres so that they will know if they have been properly earned through a series of ritualistic challenges. It is never mentioned if the spheres had assigned positions at the lower and upper temples of the spire's summit, or if the order of placement of the individual spheres was important.
Gemstones[]
When the Star Chamber opened, a number of gemstones comprised of the same material as the Golden Spheres became available. The gemstones share the same energy as the spheres, so that a person who has one of the gemstones embedded in their neck will be qualified to obtain the spheres in predetermined challenging rituals. It is unknown how the Super-Ancients achieved this.
It is never stated if the Champions of the previous Great Games also had gemstones embedded in their necks during previous Great Games.
Trivia[]
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