The five Iron Mountains are the locations of several temple shrines built by a race of Super-Ancient Beings which are the centerpieces of the Trial of the Mountains.
History[]
Early History[]
At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, a race of Super-Ancient Beings realised that even after they were gone from the Earth (by extinction, or otherwise departing the planet), there may yet be intelligent life, and so devised a series of tasks and trials for such a race to undertake to confirm they were worthy enough to survive the Omega Event. The fifth of these tasks came to be known as the Trial of the Mountains.
For the Trial, the Ancients constructed five temple shrines beneath what would become known as the five Iron Mountains, designed so that they were suspended over a deep shaft and could be intentionally dropped. Whomever was on top of the Falling Temple would need to release it during a period when the mountain's moon shaft was in alignment with a pedestal on the moon. They would then need to touch their hand to an altar as the temple passed a ring of metal in the shaft, and then race to an altar at the bottom of the temple and touch their hand to it before the temple passed a second metal ring. Doing so successfully would arrest the temple's fall down the shaft, while failure would result in the temple crashing into the bottom of the shaft. For whoever touched their hand to the first altar would be branded with a W shape, and once they reached the bottom altar a V shape would be branded upon them.
To whomever undertook the Trial of the Mountains and received this "burning key", they would qualify for entrance into the Supreme Labyrinth; these claimants could open any of the five gates leading into the labyrinth, and would need to navigate the labyrinth to reach the throne at its center and trigger a quantum pulse to prevent the universe's end.
After the Super-Ancients were gone, the Four Legendary Kingdoms learned about the tasks left behind by the Super-Ancient Beings, among them the Trial of the Mountains.
After the third Great Games of the Hydra around 1,250 BC, Zeus was granted the Mysteries and soon undertook the Trial of the Cities and the Trial of the Mountains, though which Iron Mountain he used is unknown, and went on to navigate the Supreme Labyrinth and prevent the Omega Event of his time.
At a point after the 11th century BC, when the Old City of Jerusalem was founded, the fourth mountain was discovered at the top of the Temple Mount by the city's inhabitants. Worshipping the iron mountain as a holy place, they constructed a shrine around the Hall of the Falling Temple, the Dome of the Rock, which even as it was torn down and rebuilt over the millennia helped to keep the mountain hidden.
Before The Two Lost Mountains[]
In 37 AD, the "bronze" globe containing the locations of the five iron mountains and the three secret cities, along with the obelisk it was mounted on, was ordered by the Roman emperor Caligula to be relocated from the Siwa Oasis to Rome. The priests of the Cult of Amon-Ra were outraged and decided to deface the globe to keep its knowledge from the mad emperor. Because the metal the globe was made out of was strong, the priests were only able to file off the locations of two of the iron mountains before they were caught. As a result, only the first three of the mountains' locations were (relatively) known to only a few members of the Four Kingdoms and their closest advisors.
The first of the iron mountains became the most well-known to the Four Kingdoms, located beneath what would later become Mont Saint-Michel, and was since watched over by the Catholic Church.
For the next couple of millennia, missions to find the exact locations of the other iron mountains, particularly the two lost mountains, were undertaken by various parties. Among them was Francis Xavier, who was sent into Asia during the 16th century to confirm the location of the third mountain. Xavier did so, finding it was positioned beneath what later became the Potala Palace, and also discovered clues to the fourth mountain's position, which he suspected was in western Europe. Before he died, Xavier sent his journal containing his notes back to the Church in Rome. However, because his mission had been a secretive one and the Pope who had sent him on it had since died without telling anyone, the journal was locked away inside Vault IX of the Vatican Secret Archives, apparently never being read.
During the 19th century, Napoléon Bonaparte came close to finding the fifth iron mountain beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza, locating the entry shaft located in the statue's head, but found it clogged and did not attempt to venture further.
Prior to 2016, the exact location of the second iron mountain was confirmed to be beneath the Aiguille du Midi mountain in the French Alps, while Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster and the Order of the Omega each discovered the location of the third in Tibet. Sphinx, preparing to enact a coup d'état against the Four Kingdoms and intending to become the world's ruler himself, had a mock-up of the lower levels of the Falling Temples built beneath his mansion so that he could practise for the Fall.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
After Sphinx successfully completed the Trial of the Cities, Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza reported that Felix Rasmussen was working to ensure that the first mountain would be ready for the Trismagi's arrival when the alignment event with the moon's pedestal began a few weeks later.
After Sphinx and his forces obtained the Siren bells from Moscow, he sent Mendoza and Dion DeSaxe ahead to the first mountain to finish the preparations before his arrival. At the same time, Jack West Jr and his team began preparations to head to the first mountain in the hopes of stopping Sphinx and performing the Fall, and so Jack and Iolanthe Compton-Jones headed to Mont Saint-Michel to rendezvous with Brother Bertie de Montreuil.
Once the pair met with Bertie, the old Jesuit led them to a viewing balcony overlooking the Falling Temple while explaining the nature of the Fall to them and soon they were watching as Sphinx himself arrived. Declaring that he would undertake the Fall by himself, Sphinx took his place atop the Falling Temple, and once the lunar alignment began, the Trismagi initiated the drop into the shaft. Upon completing his race from the upper altar to the lowest level, Sphinx received the burning key to allow him entrance into the Supreme Labyrinth.
Once the Falling Temple was raised back to the surface, Mendoza suggested to Sphinx that they let Dion do a Fall as well in case any of their adversaries also managed to gain entry into the Labyrinth so that the young king could back him up. Agreeing, Sphinx prepared to head to the ancient maze, but first ordered that Rasmussen and his subordinates killed, had the intruding Hades killed by one of his Silver Guardians, and taunted Jack when he realised the Australian was present. As Sphinx departed and his forces began their assault, Jack recovered Bertie and then destroyed one of the winching chains holding the Falling Temple up. As the Temple fell and crashed into the shaft, Jack, Iolanthe and Bertie made their escape and fled the first mountain. With the first mountain disabled, Dion and Jaeger Eins headed to the second mountain so that they could have Dion perform the Fall there instead.
Meanwhile, High Brother Ezekiel of the Order of the Omega made his way to the third iron mountain and successfully undertook Fall. At around the same time, Lynda Fadel and Mae Merriweather found and read Xavier's journal, discovering the location of the third mountain. However, after Lynda reported their findings to the team and her sub-team was tasked with going to the third mountain, Sphinx sent a nuclear missile to strike Potala Palace, destroying it and the third mountain in an attempt to keep any rivals from being able to challenge him, unaware of Ezekiel's success.
Later, at the second iron mountain, while waiting for a clearing pod to drill through the blockages in the moon shaft, Dion and Eins's forces came under attack from a group of Omega monks and Romanian soldiers led by Brother Esrael. Having also learned of the second mountain's location, Jack, Easton and their "palemen" made their way into the second mountain's Hall of the Falling Temple in the hope of also undertaking a Fall. Though the Omega/Romanian group managed to shoot down one of Dion's Super Stallions, which got it caught in the winching chains, the clearing pod cleared the moon shaft in time for the mountain to come into alignment with the moon pedestal and Dion released the Temple into the shaft. Accompanied by Eins, Dion raced down to the lower altar, where the young royal successfully completed the trial and received the burning key.
Not wanting one of their enemies to do a Fall after him, Dion and Eins had their remaining Super Stallion pick them up from the shaft and then fired a missile at the Temple. As they prepared to leave, General Garthon Rastor, having also come to perform a Fall, arrived, blocking Dion and Eins's primary exit and forcing them to leave via a priest's entrance. Rastor then proceeded to execute the Omega monks and Romanian soldier before calling out Jack, who along with Easton managed to get onto the crashed Super Stallion and ascended the moon shaft using the abandoned clearing pod to escape the second mountain.
With the first three iron mountains and their Falling Temples were destroyed, both Rastor and Jack's team determined that their only chance to earn a burning key lay in finding one of the two lost mountains.
Having somehow learned where the fourth mountain was, Rastor and his troops headed to Jerusalem, taking advantage of the sleep-struck city caused by Sphinx's use of a Siren bell, in order to reach the Temple Mount and begin tearing open the Dome of the Rock to expose the iron mountain within. At the same time, having read Xavier's journal in the Vatican Secret Archives, Lynda informed the team what she had learned about the clues to the fourth mountain's locations, but as Jack figured out where the mountain was, Rufus pointed out news coverage showed Rastor's forces already in the Israeli city.
Once the time for the mountain's alignment with the moon arrived, Rastor successfully performed the Fall himself, and then had Falling Temple raised back up and secured in place with heavy steel beams while the winching chains were destroyed, and then had Mae Merriweather crucified to the bottom of the Falling Temple. Though Jack arrived at the Temple Mount with only a few minutes left before the alignment with Jerusalem ended, he was suspicious of the absence of Rastor and his men and noted the state of the Falling Temple's suspension, Jack was soon informed of his mother's predicament by Rastor via a radio. Knowing that Jack couldn't save her in time, Mae implored her son leave her, and Rastor remotely set off explosives to destroy the beams holding up the Falling Temple, sending it plummeting into the shaft. After it crashed into the stone base at the bottom, killing Mae instantly, the distraught Jack left the fourth mountain in a daze to rendezvous with his allies.
Meanwhile, Alby Calvin was able to discover the location of the fifth mountain and reported his find to Jack, who along with Zoe and Lily began heading to Cairo with the intention of undertaking the Fall at the fifth mountain together. However, members of the Order of the Omega led by Brother Eli also discovered the location of the fifth mountain and arrived first, clearing the entrance shaft and began waiting for their comrades to take control of the Lucifer telescope so that they could control a lunar rover to remove the thermal foil covering the pedestal on the moon to let them undertake the Fall once the it came into alignment with the mountain.
As Jack's group approached the fifth mountain, a nuclear missile fired by Sphinx's people destroyed the observatory and killed the monks inside, though Alby and Rufus managed to get an uplink working from the Zapadny Cosmodrome to expose the pedestal. As the alignment began, Eli hurried to take advantage and begin the Fall, but as he headed down the shaft in the Sphinx's head, his men were taken down by Jack, Zoe and Lily, who followed the Omega monk into the Hall of the Falling Temple. Eli tried to initiate the Fall before they could land on the Falling Temple, but was too late and they began the Fall together, and started racing to the altar on the Temple's lowest level. As they reached the bottom level, Zoe and Lily got their hands on the pedestal while Jack knocked the Omega monk into the shaft before joining his wife and daughter at the lower altar. Once the Temple had passed the second annulus and the Wests each received the burning key for successfully performing the Fall, Jack, Lily and Zoe made their way out of the fifth mountain and began heading to the Supreme Labyrinth, the Trial of the Mountains now over.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
Later, after the Omega Event was successfully averted, Jack and his family determined that they needed to ensure that the tools and shrines for the trials, including the four remaining iron mountains, were not lost again since they would be needed for when the trials and Omega Event next occurred in the future.
Attributes[]
Purpose[]
The five Iron Mountain are massive underground Temple-Shrines that are the center-piece of the Trial of the Mountains, in which claimants to the ultimate throne in the Supreme Labyrinth prove their worth.
There seems to be no set order to the Iron Mountains that needs to be followed, as the Order of the Omega undertook the Fall at the Third Iron Mountain before Dion's attempt at the Second, suggesting that the moon only need be in alignment with the Iron Mountain at any given time for anyone to be able to undertake the Fall.
The Fall[]
The Falls must be undertaken during an alignment event with the moon, in which the Hall's moon shaft in is direct alignment with the pedestal on the moon. These lunar alignments take place in the week preceding the Omega Event.
As the claimant releases the Falling Temple into the shaft below, their hand is given the first part of a branded key to grant them entrance into the Labyrinth, and the claimant must then race to the bottom of the Temple to receive the second part of the burning key, before the temple falls past the second annulus. Once they have reached the lower pedestal, they must keep their hand on the altar to receive the burning key as the Temple passes through the second annulus, causing a circular 'braking' section to extend out and arresting the Temple's fall.
Once the Fall has been successfully completed, it can be raised back to the Hall above via a winching system so that others can perform the Fall at the same Mountain.
Failing to reach the lower altar of the Falling Temple before it passes through the second annulus of the shaft makes it too late for the claimant to receive the burning key, as the Temple reaches terminal velocity soon after. As such, the circular 'brake' section of the Temple will not extend out, leaving the Temple and the claimant to crash into the solid-stone base at the bottom of the shaft, destroying the Temple and killing any still on it.
Falling Temples and Shafts[]
Each of the Falling Temples are 16 stories tall and eight wide, and were constructed in a top-like diamond shape, built perfectly balanced so as to not tip during the Fall and cause damage to itself against the shaft. The upper-half of the Falling Temples are very solidly built, and feature five obelisks at its top surface; the central one features four trapezoidal diamond-like pedestals at its base where the claimants stand to initiate the Fall. The lower-half of the Temples are more exposed with visible criss-crossing levels. The claimants must navigate these levels and pass down the ladders to reach the altar on the lowest level to successfully complete the Fall.
The shafts located in the Halls of the Falling Temples are positioned directly beneath the Temples, and are scarcely wider than the Temples themselves. The shafts stretch down from the bottom of the Halls for 3.8 kilometers, and end in a base made of solid stone. At the top of the shaft is a metal ring referred to as an annulus, which as the Temple begins its Fall marks the point where the first part of the burning key is branded onto the claimant's hand. Further down the shaft, at a point which takes 52 seconds after the Fall has begun, is the second annulus, and the claimant must have their hand on the second altar by the time the Temple passes it to get the second part of the burning key and initiate the Temple's braking mechanism.
Iron Mountains[]
First Iron Mountain - Mont Saint-Michel[]
The First Iron Mountain is located beneath Mont Saint-Michel, a tidal island in Normandy, France. This was the only one of the Iron Mountains whose identity and exact location was explicitly confirmed and known to those in the Four Legendary Kingdoms and their closest advisors.
The Fall at the First Iron Mountain was undertaken by Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster on December 23rd 2016, and the Falling Temple was destroyed before Dion DeSaxe could do a follow-up Fall.
Second Iron Mountain - Aiguille du Midi[]
The Second Iron Mountain lies beneath the Aiguille du Midi mountain in the Mont Blanc Massif of the French Alps. Though the location was left undamaged on the Vatican Globe, its location beyond being in the French Alps was difficult to pin down for some time, but seemed to have been uncovered before Sphinx began his coup d'état against the Four Kingdoms.
The Fall at the Second Iron Mountain was undertaken by Dion DeSaxe on December 24th 2016, and the Falling Temple was destroyed before the Order of the Omega, General Rastor or Jack West Jr could perform Falls of their own.
Third Iron Mountain - Potala Palace[]
The Third Iron Mountain is located beneath Potala Palace in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It's location was partly known to the Four Kingdoms thanks to the Vatican Globe, and while the exact location was discovered by Francis Xavier in the 16th century, the findings in his journal were apparently not even read by the Church when it was returned to Rome.
The Fall at the Third Iron Mountain was undertaken by Brother Ezekiel of the Order of the Omega on December 24th 2016, some time before Sphinx had it destroyed by a nuclear missile to prevent other parties from performing a Fall there.
Fourth Iron Mountain - Temple Mount[]
The Fourth Iron Mountain is located beneath the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The location of the Mountain was lost for millennia thanks to the defacing of the Vatican Globe by the Cult of Amun Ra at Siwa.
However, while the Catholic Church believed it to be somewhere in Italy, clues to its location were found in Roman legends by Francis Xavier and Ignatius, which claimed that whoever wielded the sword of the archangel Michael, a metaphor for a ancient leyline, would find the Fourth Mountain. However, they were under the impression that this 'sword' pointed downward, resulting in a location around Ireland, when this metaphorical sword should have been pointed upward, placing the Mountain in Israel.
The Fall at the Fourth Iron Mountain was performed by General Garthon Rastor on the 25th of December 2016, and the Falling Temple was soon destroyed by Rastor so that Jack West Jr couldn't do a follow-up Fall.
Fifth Iron Mountain - Great Sphinx of Giza[]
The Fifth Iron Mountain is located at the tip of a conical mountain of granite hidden beneath tons of sand swept up around the Great Sphinx of Giza in Cairo. The second of the two lost mountains, caused by Siwa priests defacing the Vatican Globe, the final Iron Mountain eluded attempts to be found for millennia, though Napoleon almost uncovered it during his examinations of the Great Sphinx.
Fortunately, Alby Calvin was able to find the Fifth Mountain thanks to an Egyptian Engineering GPR report on the granite mass beneath the Giza Plateau, a clue regarding how to locate the Supreme Labyrinth, and said clue's mentioning of the Sphinx's true name, Aker.
The Fall at the final Iron Mountain was undertaken by the West family on December 25th 2016, and also attempted by Brother Eli of the Order of the Omega, whom was knocked into the shaft mid-Fall by Jack.
Trivia[]
- Despite their name of "Iron Mountains", there appears to be no discernable reason for the term iron.
- In the epilogue of The One Impossible Labyrinth, it is said that the four remaining iron mountains were needed to be kept secured for use in future runs of the trials; this is an error, as there is only one iron mountain (the Fifth) that remains intact, the other four having all been destroyed during the course of The Two Lost Mountains.