The Third Iron Mountain is one of the temple shrines built by a race of Super-Ancient Beings for use in the Trial of the Mountains.
History[]
Early History[]
At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, a race of Super-Ancient Beings constructed the third of their iron mountains beneath a small hill in what would later become Lhasa, Tibet. Here, anyone who could complete the Fall as part of the Trial of the Mountains would receive a "burning key" that would qualify for entrance into the Supreme Labyrinth.
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, with the locations of all five iron mountains, and the three Secret Cities, kept on a bronze-like globe.
In 37 AD, the mad Roman emperor Caligula ordered that the "bronze" globe, along with the obelisk it was mounted on, 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, but were only able to file off the locations of two of the iron mountains before they were caught. While the third iron mountain's location on the globe was untarnished, its exact location beyond being in Asia was unclear.
For the next couple of millennia, missions to find the exact locations of the 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 a wooden fort that later became the foundation of the Potala Palace. 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 without ever being read, leaving the third's mountain's position still somewhat of a mystery.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
In the final days before the Omega Event was due to occur, High Brother Ezekiel of the Order of the Omega made his way to the third iron mountain beneath Potala Palace, so that he could perform the Fall there and earn passage into the Supreme Labyrinth. Upon arriving at the iron mountain, Ezekiel successfully undertook Fall and was branded with the burning key, and began heading to the Supreme Labyrinth.
At around the same time that Ezekiel performed his Fall, 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 Jack's team and her sub-team was tasked with going to the third mountain to undertake a Fall, Sphinx, who had also managed to identify the third mountain's location, sent a nuclear missile to strike Potala Palace, destroying it, the city of Lhasa and the third mountain, in an attempt to keep any rivals from being able to challenge him.
As Jack and Easton later overheard at the second mountain at Aiguille du Midi, General Garthon Rastor interrogated Brother Esrael about whether Ezekiel had successfully performed the Fall at the third mountain, which the Omega monk confirmed.
Attributes[]
Purpose[]
Like the other four mountains, the third iron mountain contains a massive underground Temple-Shrine that is a center-piece of the Trial of the Mountains, where claimants to the ultimate throne in the Supreme Labyrinth can prove their worth by performing a Fall during an alignment event with the moon.
Description[]
The Falling Temple of the third mountain is presumably 16 stories tall and eight wide, like its fellows, and 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. This Falling Temple is also likely positioned directly above a 3.8 kilometers-deep shaft.
Trivia[]
- This is the only Iron Mountain not visited directly during the story of The Two Lost Mountains, along with Ezekiel's performance of the Fall.