The world was a happy place.
Every few centuries, there comes an opportunity. An opportunity to escape, to wreak havoc. The last time they were released, He convinced a great sorcerer that the power of the Evils could be harnessed by mankind. The collapse of civilizations followed. You see, nobody quite knows where they came from, and how they continue to control our society, using propaganda to manipulate us. They have been said to thrive on negative energy, on fud, but in reality, they create it. They lurk in the shadows of every corrupt politician, every greedy corporation, and behind every misguided belief.
When the Evils were released thousands of years ago they brought destruction to our ancestors. They tore down advanced civilizations, they halted innovation, and they were on track to finish us. But, they were stopped. A small group of rebels broke out, and began to fight beside the people. After a long war, they were able to banish the Evils to the mirror realm.
That destructive war has been written out of history to protect the future - except in one place. The Taserak, an ancient book filled with the mysteries of the past. In this book were detailed descriptions of how powerful the Evils were. Unfortunately, the leader of the Evils, Grul, was able to alter the Taserak. He added an extra chapter that explained how a human could harness their power. A lie.
Just as the last Evil was being banished to the mirror realm, Grul escaped. He continued to live in the shadows, waiting for someone to release his army. He dedicated his time to whispering into the ears of weak leaders, creating conflict. Until now.
Grul noticed that among the most intelligent, there was a growing lust for hunger. Web 2 CEOs were mining data for profits and exploiting people for their own good, and this made Grul happy. He decided to change his focus from trying to convince the morally weak villains and criminals into releasing the Evils, and began to try to convince the all powerful Silicon Valley that the Evils were an energy source that had never been matched. A lie so enticing that it would capture the interest of those powerful enough to release them.
And so he took a risk. He removed the Taserak from its hiding place, knowing it contained information about demons that he himself feared, and sent it to one, Gary Bezochuk. Gary was the CEO of Vanazon, the most powerful man, and company, in the world.
The book found its way to Gary's desk. Accustomed to assorted deliveries and fan mail, he opened the box. “No return address, weird”. As he read through the Taserak, he scoffed that people believed in such ridiculous fantasies. A 100 foot land squid? Shadow lurkers? Beanie? Science and history had no trace of these. He was about to toss the book aside but happened to flipped the page to the Evils, and something stuck out to him. Grul had come with the Taserak, and as Grul whispered into the ears of this collectible loving visionary, trying to solve new problems everyday, Gary thought to himself “you know, I could take a quick trip to check this out… it would be good content.”
The book, in addition to talking about the power of the Evils, also talked about how they were brought down, although not in the same order.
The Battle of Aquiminous
“…And so it ended, led by Artellar, the Blues were able to banish the Evils and their leaders to the mirror world. The damage from the infernos required to burn them destroyed much of Atlantis, and surrounding civilizations. Who knew that one single mirror held the power to create and destroy worlds. “
The chapter finished with this message; “A land is lost, but just in time. The sands are tossed, all three in line. If one could see, this creature now, It stares at me, and always bows. “
Gary sat back and pondered, was this a hint to the location of the Evils? He had a gut instinct, but he needed to be certain. He called his best data scientists and asked them to simulate every possible answer, and most of the models came to the same conclusion. This bowing creature was likely the Sphinx. And from what he could tell, it pointed towards the location of the mirror. It was vague though, was it a temple? A house? Looking at a map, something stood out. An island, in the Nile - could that be where the sand is tossed? It was worth the risk. Gary hopped on his private jet and shot off towards Egypt. When he arrived, he went immediately to the island.
In the center of the island, in line with the direction the Sphinx was facing, was a courtyard with a fountain and broken sun dial. The fountain was off. There was nothing else - no pyramids, no tombs, nothing. Gary was about to call a search for the whole island, but it was getting late. As Gary checked the time, he paused. The sundial.
“A land is lost, but just in time.”
Is this the lost land? Gary pulled out the Taserak and flipped through it looking for something about a sundial. Not much was available, but he had a feeling. “Nothing to lose, I guess”, he thought.
Gary grabbed a shovel, walked to the center of the fountain and struck the ground. A plume of smoke followed and Gary was gone. As his crew walked towards the fountain, and as the dust settled, they saw that the floor had collapsed - “Guys, you need to see this” yelled Gary.
The evening light barely lit the chamber, but Gary could still make out the contents of the eerie room. There were a number of sculptures depicting some of the terrifying monsters that Gary had read about in the Taserak. Standing tall between the sculptures, guarded by two multi headed apes, was a shining mirror.
It looked like the mirror had been placed there just yesterday, still polished to a sheen. The elaborate carvings were only shadowed by the hundreds of pipes woven into the frame. “Could this be how the power source works?” Gary wondered as he inspected the mirror. As he touched the surface of the mirror it reacted to his touch like a reverse ripple, as if all the energy was coming to his hand. He knew that this was going to change his life, the world. Probably in that order.
Gary also knew that there was no way to get this stuff out of Egypt quietly, historians would want first access. He needed to move quickly. It was dark now, so he ordered his team to quickly and with utmost safety to lift the mirror out of the tomb and send it to a private airport a few miles out of Cairo, immediately. “We need that thing back at the lab today. Tell no one.” he asked his team.
As Gary received confirmation that his newly acquired mirror was airborne, he sent an email to a local archaeologist, affiliated with the country’s artifact preservation team. He told them he had accidentally fallen into an old chamber filled with statues from antiquity. He didn’t recognize any of them, nor did he recognize the hieroglyphs. They should send a team.
The next day, the Egyptian news hailed Gary as a hero for discovering what seemed like an entirely new civilization, as he flew home to get to work. ”A land lost.” was on his mind. What did he actually uncover? The Taserak claimed that the entire existence of the Evils has been written out of history, this could change the course of that history.
Gary landed and went straight to his company’s offsite R&D lab where the mirror had been stored and testing had begun. He had been stuck on another riddle the entire flight home. It looked like the mirror had been placed there just yesterday, still polished to a sheen. The elaborate carvings were only shadowed by the hundreds of pipes woven into the frame. “Could this be how the power source works?” Gary wondered as he inspected the mirror. As he touched the surface of the mirror it reacted to his touch like a reverse ripple, as if all the energy was coming to his hand. He knew that this was going to change his life, the world. Probably in that order.
“Precious and liquid. It moves with day. What do you forfeit? A safe place to stay. “ What was precious and liquid? What is a safe place to stay?
As Gary entered the lab his team gave him a report of what they had uncovered. The mirror was made of unknown materials, not surprising. There was nowhere to plug in or extract its power. It didn’t really do much. The director of research pulled Gary aside and asked to see the Taserak, as he had seen Gary reading it. “I think we need a bit more information”. He hoped that the book might hold the key.
As he began flipping through the pages, he casually asked Gary for the translation, or cypher. None of this was written in any common language. Gary just looked at him. “Dude it’s in English, I don’t have a translation.” The lead looked confused, and brought in others. Indeed, Gary was the only one that could read it. Everyone was confused. Everyone except for Grul. He had not left Gary’s side for weeks, manipulating the world around him to aid him in his conquest for world destruction.
Just as Gary began to worry that something was wrong, the temperature of the room raised quickly. Someone spoke up, can we turn the heat down? What is this like 200 degrees?
That is when it occurred to him.
“Mercury.
It was mercury. “
Previously known as quick silver, mercury rises and falls all day long. Gary ran to the whiteboard and started manically drawing possible solutions. One of which was a mercury bath for the mirror.
4 of the 9 scientists walked out after that meeting. Something wasn’t right, this wasn’t science, this was sorcery. Gary doubled the pay of the remaining 5 and gave them more equity in his newly created energy company.
The process of acquiring that much mercury without raising eyebrows was slow, and building a mechanism that could safely store that much of the liquid without killing anyone nearby didn’t help. Months passed.
Historians worldwide were excited because they were finally able to locate potential proof of the existence of monsters that spanned numerous cultures. Did that mean that these monsters, some of which were recorded as destroying entire civilizations, had actually existed? How else could there be so much evidence, in a language recognized by no one? Why had no one heard of the culture that was writing about them? We’re they about to welcome a new era of history?
Gary had taken the spotlight world wide - he had found the biggest discovery since King Tut. In the interviews asking how he did it, he said he was about to pose for a photo in the fountain - advertising for his new energy company, Heavy Meta. People bought it. “It’s all about the social.” As Gary famously said.
The tub was finally complete. Millions of dollars had been spent - to fund a guess. The mirror and mercury bath had been moved to an abandoned nuclear facility, were plugged into the pre-built generators and storage units so they could utilize the cooling systems if needed. The hypothesis was that the mirror would superheat the mercury, create steam, which should spin generators. The concept was not new, but the scientists believed that the material was the key.
On April 20, 2022, a countdown started. It counted down until the beginning of the live stream. “It’s all about social.” Hundreds of millions of people planned on tuning in. The price of oil dropped 10 points on the announcement.
“A land is lost, but just in time.”
D day. July 24, 2022.
The night before, Gary had completed an interview with Time magazine on what it’s like to build a billion dollar business, discover a new civilization and develop a new energy source. Every media outlet on earth was ready for this. Fjorn Brusk hadn’t tweeted since Gary eclipsed his net worth.
The live feed was actually a misdirection. There were two identical baths. One, which was just a decoy, and the other, where the mirror would be lowered. Gary didn’t want anyone to know he stole an artifact from Egypt, especially not now.
The clock struck 4:19 - one minute out from the official drop. 500 million people tuned into the livestream from all over the world. This was the next stage in humanity, a new technology. As they slowly began to lower the fake artifact into the pool, and the real mirror into the pool of mercury, silence fell across the world.
A giant flash blanked out every screen in the world as the real mirror hit the mercury. The power meters all went to full immediately, the cooling towers got to work - and celebration filled the room. Gary had done it.
As he turned the live feed to face him so he could talk about how to handle haters, he was interrupted by a loud *C-C-C-CRACK*!!!. He looked around, nothing seemed wrong, but then he heard laughter. It seemed that no one else could hear it. He tried to shake it off to stress, but then he heard more. It sounded like a crowd. The mercury started to boil. The power meters went off the chart, the cooling systems failed, alarms sounded. Live streams were cut immediately. “Pull it out! Pull it out!” screamed Gary.
That was his mistake. The mercury was the only thing standing between him and the Evils. As they pulled the mirror up, it looked different - it was black. And liquid. Just a simple square mirror with all the decorations removed.
A hand reached out of the mirror, and then almost immediately, thousands of … something… rushed out of the mirror and into the room. What had Gary done? What was this?
Gary thought back to a riddle that he read once in the Taserak.
“One knows not about power, it rules you. “
As he hid under his desk, and prayed, a dark shadow loomed over him. “Gary. Today, you will be spared, the greed of humanity has been its downfall for centuries.”
It was Grul. Pure darkness.
When the screaming had stopped, Gary stepped out from his desk to find that everyone was gone. The mirror just dangled there, still dripping with mercury. Gary checked his phone to check the news, the live stream being cut off was all over the news - the failure of this project. Every media channel was talking about it, except one. The local station, the closest by proximity, seemed to be talking about war, fear mongering. No demons on any network, where had they gone?
The world changed that day. The media moved on from Gary’s failure surprisingly quickly, and began to divide the people. Villainizing heroes, creating conflict, and spreading misinformation. The general tone became destructive instead of informative. “Canada plans on invading the USA”. “The economy is crashing”. World hunger is here”. “Obey. Obey. Obey. Obey.” Countries began to control their people. Curfews, dystopian laws. Division.
It was then that Gary realised what the Evils were. They were not physically violent. They didn't need to be. They just needed to exist. They just needed to be there whenever a politician spoke, when a corporation enslaved its consumers. They were the evil that perpetuated the world. They didn't destroy the world. They convinced us to destroy it for them.
For a year, the world burned as the climate was destroyed by greed, wars erupted and terrorism came from every country. Gary took his team to a private laboratory with the mirror. They needed to fix this, they were running out of time. Vanazon stock crashed, Gary was a joke. He was memed out of existence. It didn't matter anymore. The world teetered on the edge of destruction. Gary had now admitted publicly to what he had taken out of the tombs - but no one believed him. He was a pariah. A joker. He had translated the Taserak to the best of his abilities, and made it publicly available for everyone to decipher. He invited the top scientists in the world to his private lab, which wasn’t hard. Many people were losing their jobs, and he promised them food and shelter.