| The Standstill |
|---|
| By: |
| Published on 01 May 2024 03:36 |
As the Impasse ravages the world, it starts to kill the thing keeping two universes alive.
Kong, Shing, Gong Hub » Take A Right To The Right Phase Hub / From 120's Archives Hub / No Return Hub » The Standstill
by MasterTman2
Item #: SCP-3650
Threat Level: Black ●
Item Classification: Worldwide phenomenon
Special Containment Procedures: At the recommendation of the Foundation,1 the following steps are necessary to slow the effects of SCP-3650.
- Each Scholarly Tower is to determine which, if any, anomalies under its purview would cause negligible damage to the world at large.
- Anomalous items belonging to other groups will be returned to the aforementioned groups.
- Anomalous literature will be given to the Wanderers' Library.2
- Anomalous animals will be given to Rebecca's Rescues Research Center.
Currently, it is impossible to stop SCP-3650, only to slow its effects.
Description: SCP-3650 is a process of entropy exclusively targeting the anomalous and magic as a whole. SCP-3650 is responsible for the neutralization of a large portion of the world's species and objects.
By virtue of the exact circumstances of the recreation of civilization following the end of the Era of the Gods, natives of baseline reality are considered "anomalous" to SCP-3650 as well as due to their ability to utilize divine energy to perform magic. This is because SCP-3650 is derived from a stronger variant of the anomaly from SCP-3997-1, and it is present in baseline reality because of the connection to SCP-3997-1 through Hong Shing. This causes SCP-3650 to target based on normalization rules enforced by organizations like the Foundation in SCP-3997-1.
At its current speed, nearly everything within baseline reality will be destroyed by 4260 AtG.
Esteemed Scholar Mea Scarlet stopped writing and buried his face in his hands.
SCP-3650, colloquially referred to as the Standstill by members of the Zhujihui and inhabitants of the Right Phase in general, was severely affecting him. He looked like a shell of his former self; his eyes had a perpetual look of exhaustion and his hair was beginning to fall out. It helped him to not think about it, but unfortunately, he didn't get that liberty. He was assigned to write the SCP-3650 file.
At this point, he only had part of the description done. The new standards set by the Left Phase's Foundation made it so he had a lot more work left to do. He had to include diagram after diagram, experiment after experiment, source after source, and he did not have the energy to do that right now. After keeping his face in his hands for about three more minutes, he sighed and stood up.
"sudo. 3650.scp, save. Done," Scarlet gave the command to his multitome and watched as the words on the page lit ablaze as he closed the book.
Moving slower than the average child mage, he conjured a healing spell to help with his headache. He felt a sense of relief wash over him for a brief moment before the familiar feeling seeped back in, albeit less intense this time around.
He looked around the room, hoping that someone had decided to visit. Seeing nobody, he sighed and said one sentence to nobody in particular. "This will certainly be a struggle," he muttered and closed his eyes.
A piercing DING sound forced him to open his eyes again, and he reluctantly did the same to his multitome.
He saw that his assistant was requesting to have a meeting and sighed.
Hong Shing was beginning to fall apart.
The city between the phases, once a major hub for paratechnology in the region, now looked desolate and nearly abandoned, except for some vital personnel. Originally founded in 1973 Anno Domini or 4210 After the Gods, depending on who you ask, Hong Shing was created by the Zhujihui in order to prevent their universe, the Right Phase, from colliding with another called the Left Phase. It was kept intact through a spatial boundary known as the Sky Wall that had to be regularly maintained.
The Sky Wall Maintenance Committee worked tirelessly — or, at least, the members that still had enough energy to work did. Many people on the Committee were present or had loved ones present the last time the Sky Wall broke, and they were determined to not let that destruction happen again. Despite this, most member organizations from the Right Phase were too preoccupied with maintaining their health during the Standstill to take the extra time and energy to maintain the Sky Wall, however essential it may be.
A large number of people from Left Phase organizations were also affected but enough of them were baseline humans from the Left Phase that they weren't affected by the Standstill as much and could continue their work.
The Foundation and the Zhujihui were working together to figure out how to stop the Standstill, or the Impasse, as the Foundation called it; still, to the Zhujihui, the Sky Wall took priority.
For if Hong Shing fell, there would be no Standstill to stop.
Or anything else, for that matter.
"Do you have any updates, Anticla?"
Scarlet sat at the end of a table. Three feet away from him, his assistant stood holding a multitome.
"X Chamber of Commerce has started to sell drugs to alleviate Standstill symptoms, from what I can gather they work rather well but are extremely addicting. Its Left Phase counterpart, Marshall, Carter, and Dark, is also selling its own version of the drugs. At the very least, the competition between the two should force them to make better versions of the drug," Anticla flips to another page. "The Copyright Abolishment Society has donated a significant amount of literature to us, as long as we promise to give it back to them plus some."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "What kind of literature?"
"A bunch of books about general subjects that might help us. There are multiple forms of magic that I've never even heard of before. They say that they might be able to help."
Scarlet nodded and just sat in silence for a few moments. He took another sip of his coffee and turned back to Anticla. "How many more anomalies have we released?" He absent-mindedly opened to a random page in another book before looking upward, eyes widened.
"Twelve, in the past few days. But we're running out of ones we can release. Has the Foundation given any more advice?"
"No, they haven't. But I think I might have an idea."
In another world, Leo Ferenz walked into the Alludrun exhibit in the Esterberg Zoo.
Holding some mundane cabbage, he scanned the area to see how many had noticed him.
The Alludrun haven't taken the Impasse well at all. About ten percent of them have died, and those who are still alive are close to death. Those clinging to life have either lost their terrakinesis or consciously choose not to use it.
The zoo staff tried to help them by feeding them some SCP-8280-1, but after a few harvests, the plants and all the seeds had crumbled into dust.
Leo waved his hand in front of one of the older instances in an attempt to get his attention. It worked and the instance slowly opened its mouth and chomped on the cabbage he was holding. Leo sighed, for he was starting to get tired of the same routine with animals that barely moved every single day.
But Leo had other concerns now, mainly the fact that the Alludrun spent most of their time staring in the same direction and whining.
Leo wasn't the greatest at geography, as he failed most geography tests in high school. Still, he was fairly certain that they were all facing Hong Shing.
"Are you sure about this? You are in no condition to go into the field."
Anticla scurried after Scarlet as he rapidly moved through the roads and alleyways of the town. She knew that the Standstill had been ravaging the world, but it somehow hadn't fully clicked in her head until now. As she looked around, she noticed that the streets were remarkably emptier than they usually were. The few people that she did see all either moved slowly or were slumped against a wall somewhere.
"Yes, I'm sure. I think this will help us with the Standstill," Scarlet replied, "There's an island nation out in the Sebonack. They have the world's largest Solar Furnace and the leading Magic Academy. Even if they don't know how to solve this, the extra divine energy should help us be able to think of a solution at the very least. Ah, there it is."
Divine energy, or as it's known in the Left Phase, ionizing radiation, is produced by Solar Furnaces, or nuclear reactors. Although the main reason that the Standstill was as devastating to the Right Phase as it is was because of its inhabitants' ability to use it to do magic, large enough exposure was able to make them feel healthier and clear their minds.
Scarlet looked at a large wooden boat docked in port and started toward it. On the deck, a man in a long coat and strange hat noticed them and began to wave. Anticlta noticed he had a sword around his waist.
"Sir," Anticla started, "are you sure this boat can make it?"
Scarlet walked onto the deck and slapped the railing.
"This boat has been around since the Era of the Gods. I'm sure it's capable of taking us to our destination. It's got the same symbol the divine ruins do, except instead of a number this one has a few words in the Language of the Gods. Something about someone named Polly wanting a "cracker", whatever that is."
Scarlet gestured for Anticla to join him. She sighed and followed.
"There's another crack over here!"
"We need one more person for this ritual!"
"Bring it right here! Just— where's that goddamn seal!?"
The Sky Wall Maintenance Committee spent every waking moment on maintaining the Sky Wall.
Unfortunately, they knew that it was deteriorating just slightly faster than they could repair it.
That didn't mean, however, that they wouldn't keep Hong Shing up for as long as they could. No matter what happened, they wanted to give people as much time as humanely possible to fix this.
Coupled with the effects of the Standstill, and the fact that most people who were good enough at thaumaturgy were too busy dying, maintaining the Sky Wall was tough work.
Despite the fact that it was not technically a part of the Committee, the Serpent's Hand was still present in Hong Shing. And one member, Ian Simons, had what he thought was a solution.
He had taken advantage of the overall chaos of the anomalous world's collapse to nab a book from a certain library, telling himself that he planned to return it after this was all over. Well, return it to a library, at the very least.
He raced through the alleyways, determination burning in his eyes, as he moved from crack to crack. He passed by a sandwich place, making a mental note to return if it was open again. Despite his hunger, he continued the routine he's had for weeks at this point, approaching another small crack in the Sky Wall.
Stopping, he flipped open the book to the right page and began to chant.
However, seconds after finishing the incantation, Simons was knocked off his feet by a shockwave followed by a deafening crack. With fear in his eyes, he watched as a part of the Sky Wall ripped open in the distance. He was there during the Sky Wall Crisis back in 2010 and he watched as the Changing Sun district, the district his family lived in, and everything around it for hundreds of meters was instantly razed to the ground.
But unlike in 2010, he wasn't convinced that they could fix the wall this time.
In another phase, a man looked out to the sea.
The water was calm, so calm that looking at it almost lulled him into a short slumber. With a jolt, he opened his eyes and glanced at his unmoving fishing rod.
"Point Nemo," he scoffed to his friend next to him, "Hell of a misnomer, if you ask me. Not a single clownfish."
His friend, sitting about three feet away in his own chair, smiled before looking back at him.
"I told you, Gerald, Point Nemo has nothing to do with the movie." Gerald's friend said, being interrupted by a loud cracking sound. Thinking nothing of it, he continued berating Gerald. "It's the farthest place on Earth from everything else."
Gerald puts his fishing rod down, the feeling of betrayal evident in his body language. "You mean you were serious? Why'd you come along then? Why'd you let me go? Help a brother out, Tim."
Tim shrugged. "Had nothing better to… do…"
The two friends stood up and walked over to the railing, watching in shock as a large whirlpool started to form, sucking up near endless amounts of water to god knows where.
About ten seconds later, they had a much more pressing concern as the whirlpool pulled in so much water that it started moving their boat too.
Screaming louder than they'd ever done before, the two friends immediately gripped each other's hands, wanting their last thoughts to be comfort and friendship.
Unfortunately for Gerald, Tim was thinking not of his friend, but of the fact that there was a landmass rising out of the middle of the whirlpool.
Elsewhere, one of Leo's problems was fixed, he was at least thankful for that.
Unfortunately, that directly caused another worse problem.
The Alludrun weren't just sitting around and staring at one spot, which was an improvement.
However, instead, they ran around their enclosure and into everything in their enclosure. Whenever they ran into something, they would back up a few feet and throw a bunch of earth into it, usually moving it.
When the Alludrun were moved from their containment chamber into the Esterberg Zoo, Leo had requested to be transferred with them. Luckily for him, that meant he still had connections in the Foundation.
Telling his manager he had a family emergency, he raced to the nearby Site-120, hoping someone there knew the answer to his questions.
To his credit, the Alludrun had been present in the Left Phase for a little over fifty years at this point, as a couple dozen of them had slipped through from the Right Phase and emerged there when the phases were about to collide. It was reasonable for him to assume that in at least one of the files or perhaps one of the books in the library there had been something like this documented.
Unfortunately for him, he discovered nobody knew what would be causing this change in behavior while talking to everyone he could. It had been eleven years since the Sky Hole crisis, and the Alludrun had behaved normally then. Besides, nobody there bothered to read up on the crisis.
After all, why would they when they were halfway across the world from the cause?
And why would they care, for in an ocean of chaos, even the incoming end of the world is but a mere drop?
The capital city of Kalimisa was truly a site to behold. It encompassed approximately eight percent of the ten thousand-kilometer island and had some of the tallest buildings in the world. Students from all over the world, but especially from those the United State of A Mary King, flocked to the city to study in its magical academies. They were staffed by the world's leading magicians and nearly every month either an alumni or student published a paper with a leading breakthrough.
It was also slowly sinking.
Scarlet and Anticla noticed this rather pressing fact when they were about ten minutes out. People on the island noticed it much sooner because their path to the island was blocked by a bunch of people desperately filing onto boats to leave. Everything from the smallest fishing boats to large whale-ships was filled to the brim. Even then, there were just as many people still walking around going about their day.
After waiting around twenty minutes, a big enough path had opened up that the boat could dock. The ground, Scarlet noted to himself, was about three inches lower than it was when they got there.
After departing from the boat, Scarlet and Anticla thanked the boat's crew. When Scarlet turned around to start walking away, however, he nearly jumped out of his skin as a woman was standing a foot away, staring directly at him with a blank expression on her face.
"Zhujihui?" the woman asked. Scarlet noticed that she looked noticeably more… important, he thought that was the most fitting word he could use, than everyone else nearby. While everyone wore clothes with simple patterns and very few accessories, she had an extravagant dress on with an accessory on every part of her body that could fit one, it seemed.
"Yes, we come on behalf of the Zhujihui to recruit your help in stopping the Standstill!" Scarlet replied with pride.
The woman looked unimpressed. "Come with me." She turned and started toward a rather fancy-looking building. Scarlet wasn't sure what the building exactly was, but he figured he would find out soon enough.
While Scarlet was busy studying the building they were going to, Anticla was looking at the buildings that they weren't going to. She noticed that they all looked significantly more intact than the buildings from the town they came from. In fact, everything and everyone here looked more healthy and whole than anywhere else she'd seen. It filled her with hope that Kalimisa had a solution. Still, the fact that there was a mass exodus from the city filled her with dread.
The three of them entered into a central plaza with a building in the middle. Like a clock, there were twelve towers surrounding the plaza. Each one had a person standing at the top holding a wooden staff. It reminded Anticla of a sundial. It reminded Scarlet of a much darker thought, however. He hoped that whatever Kalimisa was doing would not have the same outcome.
Ian Simons was scared.
No, not scared. He was terrified.
He wasn't sure exactly how, for they had been maintaining the Sky Wall vigorously, but the worst had come to pass and it now had a large hole in it.
He and hundreds of others raced to the scene to begin to patch the new hole. The smaller cracks could wait. They had to do this now, and they had to do it by themselves. They had no time to check, but if it was anything like the last time, most of the few Ways into Hong Shing were now permanently closed. They didn't have time to try to call for help and for them to try a dozen different Ways to see which ones still worked.
As Simons ran through the alleyways, he found one Way still open. One that could be a lifesaver if he can play his cards right. The Way into the Wanderers' Library from Hong Shing.
He stopped in his tracks and turned, ready to go through the Way to call for help. He thought he could convince a couple of Wanderers to help. At most he thought he would get ten people.
Fortunately for him, several dozen Serpent's Hand members ran through the Way and toward the Sky Wall hole.
Unfortunately for him, they trampled over him in the process.
The woman leading Scarlet and Anticla brought them into a room.
In the middle of the room stood a large table with several maps laid overtop. Standing around the table were several people in a heated discussion. Silently, a man stood at the end of the table, deep in thought.
"King Rottosher," the woman said to the man at the end of the table. "Members of the Zhujihui have arrived."
"Oh, good," he replied. "You may go, now."
The woman bowed and quickly left the room.
"Welcome. I am King Rottosher of Kalimisa. And you are?" he asked.
Scarlet was the first to reply. "My name is Mea Scarlet. I am an Esteemed Scholar of the Zhujihui."
Anticla spoke next. "My name is Anticla Broocal. I am his assistant."
King Rottosher smiled. "Pleased to meet the both of you. I gather you are here to discuss how to stop the ongoing cataclysm," He glanced at the other people around the table. "We have all reached a consensus."
"And what consensus have you reached?" Scarlet asked.
"We're going to let Kalimisa fall through the phases," the king answered.
The answer though, was nothing at all like anything Scarlet or Anticla expected. It left them with about fifteen times more questions than it answered.
King Rottosher noticed the confusion on their faces and chuckled. He sat down and raised his hands. "Allow me to explain. We've known for weeks now that Kalimisa is falling through the phases. We have mages slowing the descent but it's impossible to completely stop it. When the time is right, we're going to let our islands fall through into the area between the phase plane and we have a ritual ready to reinforce Hong Shing. Unfortunately, though, we will emerge in the Left Phase."
Scarlet put the pieces together in his head, but something didn't add up. "Wait, but that will not stop the Standstill? It will keep Hong Shing intact, yes, but everything will still decay."
The king nodded. "Yes, we are aware. But it doesn't really matter if we figure out how to stop the Standstill if the phases collide first."
This time, Anticla spoke up. "How do you know you're going to emerge in an empty part of the Left Phase? If the phases are parallel universes, surely there are islands there too?
King Rottosher reached behind himself and picked up a book, holding it out in front of Anticla. "The Kalimisa Islands were first formed with the death of a Titan around three thousand years ago. Over time, dirt and sand washed onto its corpse and formed some islands. It still emits large amounts of divine energy which we refine in our specialized Solar Furnace. Regardless, this island chain doesn't exist in the Left Phase as it was made after the Era of the Gods. At least according to my understanding. Scarlet?"
"Yes, I believe you may be right," Scarlet responded.
The king started walking out of the building and gestured for the two to follow him. When they were outside, he started pointing at the towers surrounding the plaza. "At the top of each tower, one of our strongest mages is ready to complete the ritual. It uses a similar method as the spell used in The Perishing of Machinery and Clockwork, just instead of destroying a city, it's reinforcing it." the king explained, "If you two would like to aid in the ritual, you're welcome to stay. Otherwise, you're also welcome to leave. Keep in mind if you do stay, you will be transported to the Left Phase."
At the mention of The Perishing of Machinery and Clockwork, Scarlet froze. It is true that he thought of it when he saw the towers, but he didn't think that the thought had any basis in reality. It was the darkest day in the history of the Zhujihui when its previous administration chose to completely destroy an entire city and all of its inhabitants just to retrieve a few anomalies. Still, he quickly regained his composure.
Scarlet thought for a moment about the Foundation's normalization policies. Kalimisa would most likely be hidden from public view and its inhabitants would not be allowed to leave. Still, he wanted to help make sure his universe survived.
"I want to stay."
Simons remembered how Hong Shing's streets were nearly empty and how its inhabitants just stayed holed up in their homes. He had gotten used to that.
Now, while he was grateful for the help, he wished he could go back to that quiet.
More and more Serpent's Hand members emerged from the Way and ran to the Sky Wall hole. Something inside the Library had notified them about the crisis, but Simons wasn't sure exactly what.
He joined the stampede and got into formation, helping out with whatever spells he could. While in formation, he saw that the local area was completely flattened. For a brief moment, he thought of the blocks full of people that vanished in an instant, but he didn't entertain the thought. He didn't have time for distractions right now.
The Sky Wall collapsing seemingly was not an uncommon occurrence across universes as they seemed to have a bunch of spells specialized for regenerating the wall. They worked tirelessly to fix the wall, but it seemed to tear faster than they could rebuild it. Through the hole, Simons thought he saw a series of islands floating in the phase plane, but he figured he was just seeing things.
He continued fixing the wall until he saw them again. The islands were much closer this time and were glowing a bright white color. Between spells, he noticed that the white light was growing brighter and eventually coalesced into one ball which then flew toward Hong Shing. White light encompassed the entire Sky Wall for nearly a minute before it dissipated.
Afterward, Simons noticed that there was no longer a hole in the Sky Wall. When he looked around he saw that the destroyed buildings were back too.
Despite the circumstances, he felt fine.
Just like before the Standstill.
"It's time."
The king grabbed a staff and climbed a ladder next to the plaza building. Once he was on the roof, he strapped himself into place.
Everyone who didn't want to have to move to the Left Phase had gotten off of the island, and everyone still on it was strapped into various chairs. Scarlet had told his ship to return to the mainland. He wasn't going to need it anyway.
Scarlet mentally prepared himself as King Rottosher counted down.
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Scarlet gritted his teeth as Kalimisa rapidly fell. The islands descended fast enough that there wasn't even time for water to fill up the streets.
The islands started falling faster.
and faster.
and faster.
and fast—
"NOW."
King Rottosher yelled the command at his mages, who proceeded to slap a book next to them as hard as they could. Within an instant, Kalimisa slowed to a crawl, causing Scarlet to almost lose his lunch. He undid his restraints and stood up, making the mistake of looking anywhere but the ground.
He immediately keeled over, being caught by Anticla. He knew that this would be difficult to handle, sure, but he didn't think it would be this bad. He considered asking Anticla to read him an "immunity from harmful vectors" spell just in case there were any hostile memes, but he needed his sight for whatever came next.
He looked around and saw that everyone had similar reactions to him. After about a minute, though, everyone recovered and got to work. While Scarlet and Anticla got into position, they looked around and marveled at the beauty of the space between the phases. It made them feel quite sick of course, as no human was meant to see something like this, but they still appreciated this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Well, Scarlet got into position. Anticla's position was sitting in a chair offering moral support. She didn't have the magical prowess to be of any help but she still wanted to see the Left Phase as well as support her boss and friend.
Scarlet hadn't had much time to memorize the spell, so he held his multitome in one hand with an ancient wooden staff in the other as he chanted an incantation in the Language of the Gods.
As the mages chanted, large amounts of light began connecting each mage, forming a circle around the plaza. After about four minutes, all the light began moving toward the center of the plaza, coalescing into a sphere. Anticla watched in awe at the sight.
Once the sphere of light looked about as large as the sun in the sky, King Rottosher waved his staff toward Hong Shing. As Scarlet followed the light through extradimensional space, he realized he hadn't looked at Hong Shing yet. From where he was standing, the Sky Wall looked like a large semi-circle. Well, a large semi-circle with a large tear in it.
Scarlet jumped as he heard the sound of someone clearing his throat, but not through his ears. It felt more like the sound was being broadcast directly into his head. He felt this sensation before but as the king was within his line of sight, he assumed he was just speaking extremely loudly.
"Everyone, go back and strap yourselves in. We are leaving."
Scarlet turned around and met back up with Anticla and they both went back to their restraints. They were disappointed that they couldn't see the result of the spell, but they had faith that it would work.
As King Rottosher counted down again, Scarlet tried to prepare himself for the jump into the Left Phase.
It did not work.
Upon entering the Left Phase, Scarlet turned to the side and threw up. He regretted eating a hearty breakfast that morning.
After taking a moment to prepare himself, he got up and looked out to the Pacific Ocean. He saw two men on a boat in the distance, holding on desperately to the boat's railing. They were staring at Kalimisa, mouths agape.
Scarlet was ecstatic that he was alive and that they made it to the Left Phase safely. After all, countless things could have gone catastrophically wrong. However, a moment later, the gravity of their situation dawned on him.
They were in the Left Phase, and an island chain appearing in the ocean would surely get the Foundation's attention and they would likely be contained. Well, Scarlet and Anticla would likely be allowed to return, but anyone who wanted who wasn't a member of the Zhujihui would likely be forced to stay on the islands.
But luckily for Kalimisa's inhabitants, the Foundation's O5 Council had just begun a vote on whether or not to dissolve the Veil. And fortunately, Scarlet found, the vote would go through, reforming the Foundation into Vanguard.
Unfortunately for Scarlet, this meant that he was now stuck in press conference after press conference explaining his home dimension and more importantly, how a new island chain just appeared in the Pacific.
Turns out, he found, that could be pretty difficult to explain.