The Second Pillar is one of the six bizarre uncut diamonds the size of a brick intended to be used in the Machine.
History[]
Early History[]
Though unconfirmed, the six Pillars were most likely constructed by the super-ancient beings, since they included them in their second trial.
At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, the Super-Ancient Beings discovered the Dark Sun and set about constructing a machine that would repel it before it came too close to the planet. During their endeavors, they managed to reshape six diamonds into the Pillars, doing so in a technological process that would appear to modern humans that they had been shaped this way naturally. The Second Pillar was also made to be cleansed by the tool known as the Philosopher's Stone, which would work in unison with the Firestone of the Golden Capstone to prepare the Pillar to be set into its corresponding Vertex of the Machine during a Titanic Rising event.
Though they were able to prevent the Dark Star from approaching in their time, the Super-Ancient Beings knew that even after they were gone from the Earth, there may yet be intelligent life, and so left the Pillars and Sacred Stones so that human kind could use them to aid their attempts to rebuild the Machine. They were also able to manipulate the Pillars' molecular structure so that when they were placed into their Vertex, give whoever possessed it would gain a reward; for the Second Pillar, the reward would be Heat.
Eventually, all of the Pillars came to be kept in Egypt under the Pharaoh Khufu's keep, however, the priest Thuthmosis later stole the Pillars and the Sacred Stones and took them with him as he fled Egypt. Taking one the name Moses, he would keep the Pillars within his familial line until they ended up with Jesus Christ. Apparently unaware of their importance, Jesus would end up scattering the Pillars, and putting the Earth's future in greater jeopardy. The Second Pillar was among four Pillars Jesus gave to his brother James, who would later hide the Second Pillar in the Temple of Solomon
Around the thirteenth century, Templars stole the Second Pillar from the Temple of Solomon, and under unknown circumstances it soon ended up with the Neetha tribe.
Prior to the end of 2007, Wolf and the CIEF entered into an alliance with China and Vulture in order to restore the Machine, and came to the agreement that both the CIEF and China would get to keep the Second Pillar and share its reward once it had been laid in its Vertex.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
While Jack West Jr's team was en-route to lay the First Pillar at the First Vertex, Iolanthe Compton-Jones suggested she knew the locations of some of the other Pillars. Being that the second Pillar needed to be set a week after the first, Jack asked the Royal if she knew of its location, and Iolanthe informed him that she believed the Neetha tribe had it.
Following the placement of the First Pillar, some of Jack's team managed to get away from Egyptian forces hired by Wolf on the Halicarnassus, intending to next find the Neetha tribe and the Second Pillar.
When Wizard's team were captured by the Neetha, Yanis the warlock discovered they possessed the First Pillar and the cleansing stones, he took the artefacts and secured them away, and then proceeded to cleanse the tribe's Second Pillar with the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone. When Wolf, the CIEF and their hired Congolese soldiers invaded the village, Zoe Kissane and Alby Calvin attempted to flee with the First and Second Pillars and the Sacred Stones, however Alby was forced to choose to save Zoe over securing the Pillars, and ended up captured. In the aftermath, Wolf was pleased to have recovered the Pillars and cleansing stones.
After making their way to the Second Vertex beneath Table Mountain, Wolf and the CIEF took the second Pillar with them in preparation of laying it. After sending Switchblade and Broadsword to the pyramid's peak, Wolf was shocked as Switchblade killed his partner and prepared to drop the Second Pillar into the abyss to keep the Machine from being restored. Fortunately, at the moment he let go of the Pillar, Jack swung in on a Maghook and grabbed it, placing it on the pyramid. After Switchblade and Jack fell into the abyss, Wolf sent Rapier to retrieve the Pillar, and soon the CIEF departed with it.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
After departing the Table Mountain Vertex, Wolf and Rapier met with their allies in Cape Town with the Second Pillar in hand, and discussed the next stage of their mission to find the remaining Pillars and Vertices.
A few months later, when Wolf, Rapier and Paul Robertson were kidnapped by Carnivore's men following the placement of the Third Pillar, the Russian royal demanded that they turn over the Second Pillar. When Robertson refused, Carnivore executed him on the spot, and when pressed again, Wolf agreed to hand the Pillar over.
By the time Carnivore and his forces took the Sixth Pillar from Jack's team in the Dead Sea, the royal had the Second Pillar in his possession, and proceeded to take all six Pillars to the final Vertex on Easter Island. Once within the Vertex, Carnivore laid out the first five Pillars with the Sacred Stones on an altar while awaiting the moment to place the sixth.
After Jack took down Carnivore and his men and placed the final Pillar with Lily, he secured the remaining five Pillars and left the Vertex. Hiding them away, Jack informed his superiors within the Coalition of Minnows of the outcome, but when he was asked about the Pillars, Jack lied and claimed that they had all fallen into the abyss. After he was gifted with a farm in the Simpson Desert, Jack hid the five Pillars in an old salt mine on the property and sealed them away, knowing that despite the potential their rewards held, it was far better that no one used the Pillars at all.
Properties[]
Appearance[]
Like all of its sibling Pillars, the Second Pillar initially appeared as a diamond with a cloudy appearance, with an anomalous void in the center containing a liquid form of Helium, H-3. Upon being cleansed with the Philosopher's Stone, the Pillar became more like translucent like glass, with the Helium void becoming silver in appearance.
After being placed in the Second Vertex, a triangular section was excised from the end placed into the inverted pyramid, and 'glowing' white writing in the Word of Thoth appeared in order to provide its reward.
Purpose[]
The Second Pillar is intended to be placed at the massive underground Temple-Shrine located beneath Table Mountain, the Second Vertex of the Machine, during a Titanic Rising. When the Pillar is set, a triangular shape is removed from the bottom end of the Pillar, creating the tip of the inverted pyramid and thus readying the Machine.
Reward of Heat[]
The reward of the Second Pillar, 'Heat', appears as formula and text on the sides of the Pillar, in the Word of Thoth, upon the Pillar's successful placement into its corresponding Vertex. While the exact nature of reward is simply described as 'Heat', Wolf's chief researcher, Felix Bonaventura, believed that "Heat' was the secret to perpetual motion, or limitless energy.
Trivia[]
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