Gary surveyed the massive destruction wrought by the three Inquisitors.
Above him was a massive orb that had been made by the middle Inquisitor, whom he now knew was Salem.
All around him were impaled corpses, rubble and the destroyed remains of the armour of the knights.
'I'm glad I didn't directly mess with them.' He sighed in relief. 'That would have left me among these bodies.'
Facing upwards, he began pondering how he should reach the orb above him.
'It has to be something good, right?' He wondered. 'Salem left it behind, so it should be a gift, right?'
He was unsure.
Shrugging, he climbed a wall that was relatively tall and jumped as hard as he could in an attempt to reach the orb.
He didn't think it was dangerous. If it was dangerous, he figured it would have shown that by now.
He was able to get a grip on the grate outside of the orb, but as he crawled around the orb he was unable to find an entrance.
He started knocking on parts of it to see if there were hollow bits.
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
*Dong!*
A sound like a gong rang out.
"Maybe I should break through this." Gary thought aloud.
He gathered his psyche into his arm to strengthen it and hit the hollow-sounding area with all of his might.
*TING*
With a loud ringing noise, the metal vibrated. Gary had only managed to make a small dent which quickly repaired itself.
"Damn it!" Gary exclaimed. "What cool s**t could be in this for it to require such good defense?"
As he spoke, the panel he had struck shifted and a small item came out.
"Ooh." Gary said, reaching for it. "I wonder what this is?"
Gary held the item curiously. After a second, his instincts flared up and he moved his arm to toss it away.
He was too late, however. The grenade in his hand exploded and reduced him to dust.
....
Later, the prince's men went and started investigating his father's death and the orb.
Anyone who attacked the orb died, but there didn't seem to be any other way in.
A man knelt in front of the nine-year-old prince. "The only clue we have for entering it seems to be a puzzle." He said. "It reads: 'What is massive, yet small?'"
The Prince thought for a bit. "That doesn't make any sense!" He exclaimed. "Even if we go on a technicality and say power or a planet or something, it doesn't fit!"
"Perhaps we can merely study it to advance our own technology." The man suggested.
"And how do you propose we access it?" The young prince asked.
"Have someone attack the panel and then another person try and rip out the thing that dispenses it." He responded after giving it a little thought.
On the orb, they tried this and found it was merely a tunnel and the thing that dispensed it was far further than anyone could reach in.
There would be no advancements for the next thousand years.