Anti-Mage

The Nine Pillars

We start with Soul

Spirit comes next

Mental acuity is required

To put the Elements to rest

The Celestial counters Infernal

While Gravity fights Space

Look how the Time has flown

Now the Soul returns to its place

“What are you looking at Anton?” Bethenny Speckler asked.

“I found some writing on the wall over here Beth,” Anthony Nicholas Thomson, Anton to his friends, said.

“Well stop wasting time, we need to make our way deeper into this structure and it isn’t getting any warmer.”

“But it might be important?” Anton said.

“Everything is important. We’re in Antarctica, a mile under the ice in a structure that isn’t supposed to exist. Take a picture and let's keep moving. Also, watch your oxygen indicator. The air down here could be stale.”

“You got it, Beth,” Anton said resignedly as he pulled out his digital camera and took a photo. Anton checked the photo and froze. The picture clearly showed characters he could not read yet when he looked at it, he could read it in English easily. He took another photo and checked it. Sure, enough he couldn’t read the writing in the photo but as soon as he looked back at the writing on the wall, he could read it easily. In fact, nine of the words seemed to be glowing slightly.

“Beth, you need to come back here and take a look at this,” Anton called out to the bobbing light that was Beth as she walked further into the tunnel system they’d entered. Anton reached out and touched the first glowing word, “Soul”. A moment later a slight humming filled the area and the ice on the ground started to glow from below. Anton looked down at his hand, he hadn’t willed his hand and arm to move, had he? As he thought about whether he willed his hand to move he noticed that the writing was embedded on a pillar that was at least 10 feet wide that disappeared into the icy ground he was standing on and up into the ceiling as far as he could see through the ice. Admittedly, that wasn’t too far, only about 10 or fifteen feet, but that simply meant the pillar was huge.

“Not realizing it until his finger touched the pillar again, Anton taped the word “Spirit”. The humming intensified and the glow changed color to a soft blue.

“Anton, what are you doing!” Beth called as she started rushing back toward him.

Anton no longer felt like he was in control of his hand as it reached down and touched the word “Mental” which also became highlighted, and the humming increased again. Anton looked over to the light that was bobbing up and down from the direction Beth was coming from when a sheet of blackness descended around him which cut off all light and sound further than ten feet out from the pillar. The floor still glowed blue so Anton was able to see just fine, though the weirdest thing was happening. The ice under his feet seemed to be melting away from him but he didn’t sink or move from his position. He seemed to be floating, or standing, on air.

Anton’s hand moved again and touched the word “Elements” which started rotating through various colors when it began to glow. Anton watched as the world glowed or went dark as it switched from Yellow to light blue to dark blue to black then brown and grey to orange and finally white before the pattern repeated. Eight different distinct colors.

Anton watched this cycle five times before his hand moved to the words “Celestial” and “Infernal” before it moved again and touched “Gravity” and “Space” His had paused for just a moment above the word “Time” before he reached out and tapped it. With each tap, the humming had increased until he touched time. At that moment he’d heard a “SHHHICK” sound behind him and the humming stopped. As Anton turned away from the pillar a circular portal that opened into deep space through which he could see a field of stars with a nebula in the distance became visible.

Anton reached out with his hand and felt his hand pass through a membrane of some sort and immediately pulled his hand back when he felt the coldness and lack of pressure from the other side. Somehow he was looking through a portal that opened into space which had a hard vacuum on the other side of the invisible barrier he was looking through.

Not Possible was the only thought that came to mind just before a pain unlike any he had experienced before entered his back, passed through him, and lanced into the void beyond the door toward the nebula. Anton, completely locked up from the pain, still had enough presence of mind to realize that his eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to adjust to the pain when a small red hexagon appeared in the bottom of his vision and unfolded like one of those origami paper animals when you took them apart. The energy continued to unfurl into what looked like a digitized monitor in his vision.

Just as suddenly as the pain had appeared it ended, though Anton could not open his eyes and was left staring at the monitor and the text that was scrolling from the bottom to the top.

Primary Pillar Activated.

Connection Conduit Activated.

WARNING biological contamination blocking Communication Link.

WARNING Communication Link is harmful to organic materials

WARNING Communication Link Establishing

Biological Contaminate Removed

WARNING, YOU HAVE DIED!

!!!ERROR!!! PRIMARY SYSTEM REBOOT COMMENCING

Sealed Abilities have been unsealed.

!!!ERROR!!! Legendary Ability Anti-Mage has been activated.

Ability Anti-Mage – You are the antithesis of all magical spheres, including natural expressions of those energies, such as lightning and fire for example. Additionally, this ability allows you to break down all physical matter given enough time and will. You may break down one pound of physical material per hour equal to your willpower attribute. Energy of any type automatically dissipates within willpower inches from your body. Note: Soul, Spirit, and Mental attacks are unaffected by this ability.

!!!ERROR!!! Legendary Ability Immortal has been activated.

Ability Immortal – You are immortal. If you are killed you will automatically heal at a rate of 1% cumulative per second until all damage is repaired and hit points restored. This ability is always active and does not require you to die to activate it. Immediately after being injured, your body will begin to repair itself by using mana…!!!ERROR!!!…You have no mana

!!!ERROR!!! Abilities Anti-Mage and Immortal are incompatible.

Rectifying !!!ERROR!!!

Immortal is now synergistic with Anti-Mage and returns a cumulative percentage of hit points and body immediately after Death or upon taking any damage which includes disintegration. Body and hit points are returned by 1% after 1 second. 55% after 10 seconds. 100% after 14 seconds. Energy of all forms except Soul, Spirit, mental, and that which is tied up in living or undead creatures can be broken down to fuel the ability Immortal.

Additionally, if completely disincorporated or disintegrated a new body will materialize near where your previous body was destroyed. You may alter your resurrection point by a number of feet equal to your Perception attribute by concentrating on where you would like to appear while waiting for your body to be created.

System-Wide Message The 10th Pillar has been activated.

System variations will be harmonized into a single cohesive System

System Synchronization Begins Now!

The messages stopped scrolling and Adam looked around. He immediately noticed that he was still in the room with the pillar that the beam of energy had leaped through him and the portal toward the Nebula. However, he couldn’t move his hands or even feel his body. It was incredibly weird. The beam of light was still traveling through his point of view, so he thought about moving a little to the left and his point of view shifted to the left. Once he was out of the light he was able to look around and saw that the pillar was glowing fiercely as the beam of light shot into the nebula on the other side of the portal.

Suddenly the most peculiar thing happened. His point of view shifted so that he once again had hands and feet. As he looked himself over he realized he was completely naked. He looked for his parka, pants, and even the backpack he’d been wearing but didn’t see them anywhere.

Suddenly the light disappeared, the portal closed and the runes on the pillar went dark, as did the glow from below the floor. He was still standing on something but he couldn’t see anything as the room dropped into darkness.

“Anton!” Beth called out as a piercing flashlight washed over him. “Anton, you’re naked! Wait, don’t move! What are you on,” Beth said as the flashlight tilted down and Anton could see that he was on a sheet of something that was clear that was sitting beside the pillar and seemed to go a long way down. A long way. The bottom was so far away the light from the flashlight couldn’t’ reach it.

Anton heard a tapping sound and looked over to see Beth tapping the floor with a depth stick as she stepped onto the clear surface and made her way slowly toward Anton.

“What did you touch?” Beth said with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

“Why do you assume I touched something?” Anton asked.

“You’re naked, the ice that was in this room that you are standing in is gone and oh yeah, we’re both standing on a clear surface over a hole that we can’t see the bottom of,” Beth said.

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can see your point,” Anton said.

As Beth stopped beside him, she pulled her backpack off, opened it, and pulled out a hoodie and some sweatpants, which she threw over to him, “Put those on, exploration is over, we need to make our way back to the entrance, get back to the submersible and head back to the surface so we can make our report. Aren’t you going to ask for shoes?” Beth asked.

“Nope, my feet feel fine. I have extra clothes back on the sub,” Anton said.

“If you want to keep your feet off the ice, I have some flip-flops,” Beth said.

“It’s only a hundred feet to the entrance and only another fifty feet in the cavern to where we parked the sub. Right now my feet feel fine. If we move fast, I should be fine,” Anton said.

“Okay, follow me,” Beth said as she continued across the transparent floor of the corridor they’d entered the chamber from where she waited for Anton while he dressed.

Anton, put the sweatpants on first and then the hoodie. Once he was done Beth waited for him at the corridor entrance and then they made their way back to the entrance and down the ramp to the outside. If the structure they were in was airtight it was a simple airlock method as the water would never get further than the ramp.

As they made they were way down the ramp they came to the artificial dock where a mini-submarine, “Mariner 1”, was docked with a walkway from the top of the sub to the docking bay. The pilot was on board keeping everything ready to go. They both knew he could see them through the external cameras and waved. Beth stepped onto a thin plate they were using as a walkway and stepped across. She held out her hand and Anton noticed that she checked his feet as she held out her hand to help him across.

Anton had followed her and been worried about his feet getting cold but as they’d made their way out of the structure and down the ramp and even onto the icy parts, he hadn’t felt uncomfortable at all. His feet felt fine. He’d looked down once in a while just to make sure he didn’t have frostbite. Both feet were nice and pink. Anton accepted Beth’s hand and helped her stow the walking board before they headed into the submarine. It wasn’t that big but it did have a place for four of them to sleep or sit and an actual bathroom. There wasn’t a shower but there was a small sink they could brush their teeth in front of. Adam went over to the fourth bunk, opened his backup pack, and pulled out a set of tennis shoes and socks. He didn’t have another set of boots so he wouldn’t be able to replace those until they made it back to the Odyssey, the research vessel they were assigned to.

As Anton was going through his bag and putting on his tennis shoes the pilot, a man named Boris Kavinsky, looked at Beth and asked, “What happened to Anton?”

“Don’t know, we need to get back to the Odyssey though, something weird happened while we were down there.”

“You can say that again. I got some weird text scrolling across my vision talking about System synchronization or some other such nonsense.” Boris said

“You had text appear in your vision and scroll up? You both did?” Anton asked.

“I did,” Boris said

“I did too,” Beth said

“Well shit, maybe I’m not going crazy,” Anton said.

“What do you mean?” Beth asked.

I received that message too, after the pillar activated and opened a portal into outer space.”

“Are you sure you’re not crazy? Were 1,000 feet below sea level in an underwater cave that we entered with a submarine?” Beth asked.

“The structure you just left is at least 10,000 years old and appears to be brand new. The architecture doesn’t match any known societies and now we have computer text being transmitted into our brains. I don’t know about you but everything about this is crazy,” Anton said.

“I think you’ve made your point. Maybe we should head back?” Beth asked.

“Already on it, just take a seat or get into a bunk and we’ll be on our way,” Boris said.

Beth and Anton took a seat. Beth sat in the Copilot seat and Anton manned the science station.

Boris activated the propellor and backed them out of the dock as he used the rear cameras to guide them as he lowered the sub below the surface and guided them down the mile-long tunnel they’d found in the side of the continent when the ice shelf had broken away last year.

Once they were out of the tunnel, Boris reversed the propellors, turned the rudder and they began making their way to the Odyssey. Unlike most science vessels the Odyssey had a docking bay in the hull of the ship which was below the waterline so the sub could dock if it needed to in rough seas. Today the seas were calm and Boris had no issues guiding the “Mariner 1” into the Odyssey.

Anton knew something was up when the radio chatter between Boris and the ship was completely professional. No extra chit-chat, No asking about what they found, just absolute professionalism.

“The dock has been pressurized and we’ll be moving into a pressure chamber as soon as we exit. You two ready,” Boris asked.

“Yep,” Anton said.

“Yeah,” Beth said.

“As they climbed out they could see the Captain, Lesira James looking through the observation room as they climbed out of the sub and stepped onto the deck. As they made their way around to the airlock into the pressure chamber the Captain's voice came over the intercom.

“Hold it for a moment, would any of you mind telling me what the hell happened down there? I can see Anton has had a change of clothes just by looking at you three,” Captain James said.

“Anton touched something,” Beth said.

“Did you now?” Captain James asked as she brought the focus of her gaze to Anton. “So, Anton, would you mind explaining to me why everyone on my ship is suddenly seeing text in their vision? If the news is to be believed, it's happening all over the damn world.”

Anton didn’t know what was going on, couldn’t explain what he’d seen…well, he could explain it, but no one would believe him. He thought about the different things he could say, how he could try to blame it on ignorance but the truth was he didn’t know why he’d touched the pillar. He hadn’t wanted to touch the pillar, his hand had just moved.

As the different excuses ran through Anton’s head while Captain James watched him like a hawk, he finally settled on the tried and true, “Well, Shit!”