The Third 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 First 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 First Pillar, the reward would be Knowledge.
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 First Pillar was among four Pillars which Jesus gave to his brother James, and was later kept at a fortress in Van.
In the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan and his army invaded Van, and he took possession of the First and Third Pillars. Genghis would later give the Third Pillar to the Shogun of Japan, who after discovering the entrance to the Third Vertex in Hokkaido, had an elaborate trap built within the maze to contain the Pillar until someone worthy came to place it.
In December 2007, 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, and later affirmed to Jack that the Third Pillar was believed to be held by the Japanese Royal family.
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. After affirming that she still held the Fourth Pillar, Iolanthe confirmed the Americans' suspicions that the Third was held by the Japanese.
Meanwhile, heeding Diane Cassidy's suggestions that they look into the Five Greatest Warriors to determine where the remaining Pillars had ended up, Jack's team began a long period of research and uncovered much of the history of most of the Pillars and how most had ended up where they were. Crucially, Julius and Lachlan determined that the Third Pillar was hidden within its corresponding Vertex.
Wolf's lead researcher, Felix Bonaventura, evidently discovered the truth about the Third Pillar as well, as a couple of days before the third Pillar's due placement the CIEF prepared an invasion force to enter the Third Vertex, taking the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone with them. Agreeing to a temporary truce with Jack, Lily and Zoe, the group made their way through the Third Vertex and soon came across the trap guarding the Third Pillar. Despite interference from the Japanese forces inside the Vertex, the Pillar was obtained and cleansed.
Upon arriving at the inverted pyramid, Wolf and Jack used a pair of canoes to head out to the pyramid's peak, while their allies secured them with anchor lines. As they placed the Pillar and prepared to retrieve it, both Jack and his father had a vision of who they assumed to be the former falling to his death in another Vertex. After Wolf took the Pillar and departed, Jack confided to Lily, Zoe and Astro Wizard's suspicion that the third Pillar's reward, Sight, was to see the death of whomever had their blood upon the Pillar.
As they were leaving the Vertex, however, Wolf, Rapier and Yanis were captured by Carnivore's men, while the Third Pillar was claimed by the Russian Royal.
After Carnivore and his forces took the Sixth Pillar from Jack's team in the Dead Sea, the royal proceeded to take all six Pillars in his possession 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 Third 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 Third Vertex, a triangular section was excised from the end placed into the inverted pyramid.
Purpose[]
The Third Pillar is intended to be placed at the massive underground Temple-Shrine located beneath the Hokkaido coastline, the Third 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 Sight[]
The reward of the Third Pillar, 'Sight', was theorised by Wizard to be the ability to see one's own death, due to rumours of a holder's blood being on a pillar and seeing their demise. After being placed at the Third Vertex, Jack and Wolf were given a vision one of them falling into an abyss beneath another Vertex, and was believed to be Jack's death since it was apparently his blood on the Pillar. However, at the sixth Vertex it was revealed to actually be Wolf's death, and that it was his blood that had been on the Pillar.
Trivia[]
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