Demonworld Book 6: The Love of Tyrants

by Kyle B. Stiff

  One of the greatest weapons devised by the Ancients was the sun-bomb, a weapon so powerful that it went up like a star and then turned into a small sun. One of these bombs could decimate a battlefield and turn a city into a graveyard. The force of the bomb was like a thousand storms, the sight of it blinding, the sound alone enough to topple buildings. Worse still was the ghost of the bomb, which lingered long after the blast, poisoning the water and devouring flesh, as insatiable as death itself. But some reports acknowledge that this effect has been greatly exaggerated.

  However, it is known that the sun-bombs were so powerful that the Ancients gathered them and hid them in one place. Even kings who prayed for one another's death shook hands and agreed to hide the sun-bombs. They were buried in a concrete tomb. One of our branches knows this location, but they have sworn to keep it secret even from other sects of Smiths. It is generally regarded by our order that this is a wise practice, as the buried sun-bombs contain enough power to destroy the world many times over.

  But the Ancients buried other wonders. They created machines that could think on their own, and speak, and ask questions. The Ancients never gave them mobility, and a few sources say the thinking machines never asked for it, most likely because they had the ability to walk in imaginary places of their own devising. Just before the end of their days the Ancients buried a great many of these machines, perhaps hoping that someday others like them would find these machines and wonder at their creators. Anyone not wearing an apron or sash and who is not "on the grid" must be slain on sight after speaking with such a machine.

  Another unbelievable wonder crafted by the Ancients was a device that could open a space where before there was none, that is, it could open a door leading into a place beyond our physical realm. This is a very difficult concept to understand unless one has stepped onto the twenty-third degree, and even then our understanding is fragmentary. But the device which opened a doorway required a body and a mind to power it, thus it was crafted into a vest and belt. This device was called an Urim and a Thummin. Some records state that it was older than the Ancients.

  But most wondrous of all is the treasure of treasures, the Orb of Control. Many Ancients did not know of it, or did not believe in it, but a few did. Those that did said that a people who flew beyond the world grappled with God, and the fight was terrible, and God fled back into the face of the deep and left behind the Orb of Control. Placing a hand upon it gives one control of all living things. It is powerful beyond reckoning and any who touch it are filled with the knowledge of an ache that has always been with them.

  Any Smith finding such a device must give it to their immediate supervisor without delay.