World Filter

The gleam of the white spire bounced the tepid sunlight off its surface. Stretching up into the sky, the structure stood perfectly straight. Requiring additional support, yet it was visible from almost every road and window in Lower New York. Unless one counted the enormous stretching trunk that wrapped around the spire itself. Tiny green root systems anchored it into the bleached limestone as it climbed the spire to reach the clouds beyond. Its branches and leaves still sent tiny waves of sliver light stretching through the sky. Such was the disturbance in space, that the ripples created a mirror of sorts, as it bounced the light back. Showing those directly below it a perfect reflection of the spire and the wrecked city below. If one had a powerful enough vision skill they might be able to see themselves looking back from an inverted world. It was the light from this mirror world that sent the Corrupted heading for the hills. At the same time, it gave the city a feel of majesty and distant observers would see a distant island. Home to a gargantuan tower reaching for the skies and shining down a harsh glow.

On the ground, Mark kept his eyes leveled on the spire’s approaching door. They were leading the charge as it were, to see if there was anything more they could learn on the ground. All they had done on the first day was assign a team of guards to make sure nothing crawled out from the tower. Lisa and Nathan walked beside them, while Colonel Brown and her men followed closely behind.

As they walked Nathan glanced at Mark and gave him an almost friendly nod. Ever since their last battle together Both he and Lisa seemed to have warmed to their Order. For a guy that hardly ever showed emotion, it was a little unnerving but Mark returned the silent greeting. Mark was certain at least these two knew it was the three of them who had gotten the ball rolling. So Mark found it strange that they didn’t press them for answers. When Ethel had suggested they partner with NAS to help act as a deterrent, Mark did not expect such a rapid response. They were still dealing with the aftermath of their expedition into the earth, and if the rumors were true they were already working to take control of the remaining dungeons beneath the city. Of which there were many. Mark held out hope that in their exploration they would find more of their Order’s people. There were still close to two hundred souls not accounted for from the collapse.

Getting closer to the gate, allowed Mark to put all these worries out of his mind and just take in the scene before him.

The gates were massive, if they were open, they’d easily be able to allow multiple Boeing 747s to enter side by side. Unlike the white limestone, the door to the structure was made from some kind of dark metal, upon closer inspection Mark was pretty sure it was a composite alloy. It resembled Damascus steel and he could feel maybe one percent of the door was made up of iron, the rest he wasn't sure on.

Now that they were closer to the archway, the spire's walls overhung the flat door of metal in front of them. Providing some protection from the snow that had just begun to fall.

Colonel Brown’s men wasted no time setting down their equipment, to begin with their battery of tests. Though what they though they'd find here that they didn't on the other door was a mystery to Mark.

While Sam led them forward her curiosity drew them to the center of the archway. When the barricade of metal was just a couple of meters from them, they stopped. Having found the vertical seam where the door would no doubt spilt open.

The biggest thing right now was the unknowns of this spire. Whatever secrets it held, it held fast, not yet opening for anything. It didn’t help that the system had offered no more information since the spire's arrival. And now, standing right in front of it seemed to offer no more of a hint.

Karter cocked his head at the door and rapped his knuckle against it. The colossal door was such that it was like he was knocking on a mountain of steel.

“Looking at the size of this thing, I’m hesitant to say our current arsenal would be able to put a dent in it. Maybe with enough time and explosive power, we might be able to bust our way through.”

Ethel scrunched her nose at Karter.

“Is that the only way you can see this going? Blow up any obstacle in your way?”

Karter and her becang to argue over the simple approach being the best, but Mark wasn’t listening. His eyes were on Sam as she stared mesmerized by the sight in front of them. Her palm hovering an inch away from the surface of the door. Mark assumed she was trying to communicate with the surrounding Mana and see if she could gather any information.

He was about to use a construct to see if he could push it beyond the door when she pressed her hand directly to the metal. Her body seized for just a moment but then relaxed as though whatever happened had passed. Jonathan was already there, also having noticed Sam’s behavior.

She blinked and looked back at the two of them, indicating for them to do the same. Trusting she wouldn’t do so without a reason, Mark and Jonathan stepped forward. Placing their hands one after the other to the door. Lisa saw this and was watching them like a hawk.

Mark’s hand touched down a second after Jonathan’s and as though a force expanded from the door and rushed through the point of contact. A current of will bounced through Mark, its coils of power far stronger than anything Mark could currently bring to bear.

As a knee-jerk reaction, Mark wanted to batter it away, but even though it could have overwhelmed him, it paused, requesting permission. It was the same feeling Mark got when he used [Nature control]. The person he used it on had to drop their will so he could work on them.

Of course, if he could overwhelm, he could turn [Nature control] into one of his most deadly weapons, but that was mostly impossible unless his power heavily outweighed his targets.

The fact that the spire could have forced the connection but didn’t, along with Sam’s encouragement had Mark relaxing.

Allowing the presence past his will.

Just like that it slipped past his defenses and began scrutinizing him.

When its ‘eyes’ passed over the crest it seemed to have found what it was looking for and a grey system prompt came up.

Concourse of Rites: Portal 2

Unbound: 3/30

After the First Rite, they thought the crests would disappear but in actuality, they remained in passive states. While the Rite had been going on, the crests had ‘upgraded’ for lack of a better term. Greatly increasing their ability to regenerate resources, once that was done they had gone back into their original states. Mark wasn’t going to complain through. They had risked their lives, the least the system could do was let them keep all the advantages they could get. However the same could not be said for the staff. Something Mark was still a little sour over. He had grown so used to having the conduit with him, that it felt like he lost an arm or leg.

The message was interesting but it just caused more questions than it solved. Something Mark was slowly getting used to. By the looks of things they needed more people, Mark was certain this was the case when Jonathan removed his hand and the number of 'unbound' dropped to two. Karter hadn't reacted like this when he’d touched the spire, so there had to be some other requirement they were missing.

It seemed Jonathan was thinking along the same line because he went over and whispered something in Ethel's ear. In the next moment, she went up and placed her hand on the gate as well.

Mark’s eyes shot back the prompt to see if it went up, but it remained at two.

Jonathan then moved over to Lisa and she walked over and did the same thing, but still, the number refused to climb.

Mark frowned and removed his hand to avoid drawing attention to themselves. It couldn’t only be their crests that played a role in this, or their numbers wouldn’t be so high. It looked like they needed to find twenty-seven other individuals, but as to what the other requirements were, Mark was at a loss.

Turning to look at the Loyalists Mark saw Dr. Johnson was attempting to scrape a sample off the door with several Aura users hacking away at it. Neither a nick or filing came off the door, so Mark turned back to look at Sam. Her eyes were still closed as if she were communicating with the structure. Mark didn’t want to interrupt so he turned to eye the metal, his first thought had been to shape his way through it but when he had felt the presence behind the spire he had put that plan to bed. It would be like a toddler wrestling control away from a trained martial artist.

So instead Mark began searching the bumpy surface. Now that he was closer his eye caught on the faintest lines embossed through the metal.

The design was so delicate that at first glance just looked like the grain of the metal. But the longer Mark stared the easier it became to make out, runes.

Countless shapes and symbols overlaid one another just in the one small area directly near him. Inscriptionists would have a field day if they saw this. Moving over to where stonework met the door, Mark searched for more runes, and found them. There were significantly fewer but they were still there.

Time passed and soon enough Sam woke up, staring up at the spire as though one would a lover. Seeing her excitement they gathered in to find out what she’d learned, Mark should have known when she happily answered.

“Absolutely nothing! The spire blocked me at every turn. But that in itself is a clue, there's something intelligent behind this. We’ll probably need to gain access to find out more though. My best guess is that there are certain keys we need to open this door. What those are we’ll need to work out with a whole battery of tests.”

She seemed even more excited by the end, but Lisa looked at them all.

“Well, we are willing to cooperate with you if you need help figuring out what those keys are. Anything you need just let Nathan know.”

Mark could see the woman was interested in breaking into the spire just as badly as they were, especially if there were rewards in there she could get her hand on. Mark was significantly less on guard against her because he knew her motivations lay in gain for her faction. They could trust her to do the work as long as she got something out of it.

By the time they were done, Nathan was escorting the Loyalists from the area. Lisa called to them once more.

“Mark, if you would, we need your help with something here. You might all want to see this”

Lisa led them toward one of many limousines parked off to the side of the formation.

When they got there Lisa looked around before opening the door of the tinted limousine.

“She said you were the only one who could help right now.”

When the dark cabin came into view, Mark spotted only one passenger. Patrica Williams, only something was horribly wrong with her body. Corruption had warped her flesh to resemble coral as ichor slowly dripped from the cracks in her shaking form. Painful tears streaked down her face as a small light stretched from her chest to prevent the Corruption from completely consuming her.

Mark froze when he saw her pleading eyes. All he could see was Daphne's form, and his failure to save her. Without thinking Mark reached for her hand.