Black Staff

The **Black Staff** (**Infinity Staff** as it was known in Miles Alternate's Timeline) was a state-of-the-art weapon of mass destruction developed and forged by the elves during the dark days of the Basun-Elven War in the Seventh Era, which eventually proved crucial in winning the war. It was the most powerful dark magic artifact in the history of Letina and one of the most powerful artifacts overall, only behind the Balance Jewels and some of the uothian creations.

### Characteristics and history

It was a huge cane of just over 8 meters in length made from quartz and black diamonds, into which the elves inserted their magic mixed with powerful negative emotions such as the hatred and disgust they had for the basuns. Several powerful spells were added and the Staff became capable of draining the lifeforce and magic from entire cities by just one contact (tip-first) with the ground in the concerned area. The basuns had no response for its destructive capabilities and eventually surrendered when their species was reduced to just a few dozen individuals. Elves had also been reduced to merely just under 1000 by that time and could no longer control the world, so they withdrew to Landio Venera. To prevent any of the lower races or themselves from committing such atrocities again, they discarded the weapon in some way. It is not clear whether this was achieved by outright destroying it, ejecting it to another dimension, plunging it into the ocean or burying it in the ground somewhere on their continent.

### Alternate-timeline Infinity Staff and its role in the Endgame Conflict

In an alternate timeline, where the artifact was actually known as the **Infinity Staff** due to the control the hypothetical individual wielding it could achieve over others via terror, it was found in the modern times by the Supreme Leader of the Wheel Lands Cornelius Jadden at an undisclosed location and was since displayed in his palace as a show of power. It was eventually stolen by Miles and Mancy Alternate in 22 020 PCE, installed by them inside the command center of their massive air ship *Stamina* and arrived onboard it to the main timeline, where the two instigated a massive takeover attempt in the Developed East together with several other villains. The Staff was contained in a forcefield casing as to avoid it working when not desired to. Even with all their evil intentions, Miles and Mancy were not truky genocidal psychopaths, and wanted the artifact as more of a device of terror than to be forced to actually use it.

However, they did devise a way to periodically move a fraction of the Staff's power to each of their bodies, which gave them abilities not achievable by conventional magic. They encased groups of individuals in stone on two occasions (including the very powerful members of the High Council) and also managed to destroy the recovered Balance Jewels. While Miles Alternate was enacting his personal vendetta in the conflict and was on the verge of murdering his prime counterpart, the latter was defended by fellow residents of Straytown. This enraged Alternate, who was forced to escape back to *Stamina*. There, he started connecting the Staff's casing directly to his own body with the purpose of using it to its full potential for the first time and purging all inhabitants of Straytown. Mancy, however, was still against a genocidal solution. She called in their allies Zolgus The Cold-Blooded (with an elite legion of his guard) and Caesar Chrumb to the town below to make Miles change his mind. This gave the prime Miles enough time to come up with a plan to get onboard *Stamina*.

Once in the command center, he killed Mancy by kicking her off the ship straight through the hull, and then wrestled his evil twin for control of the Staff. He was getting outmatched, but help came from Yeager Lantan. He attacked Alternate and was mortally wounded in the process, but gave Prime a spare few seconds to prepare a lethal strike of his own. Caesar Chrumb, who had gone into a hunger rage after consuming lifeforce and magic of Straytown's inhabitants, reached for the Staff and ripped it straight out of *Stamina*, causing the ship to fall apart. Chrumb then tore through the casing and slowly moved the naked Staff towards the ground in order to combine its power with his very similar natural ability. Had he touched the ground, the Staff's power combined with his own could have wiped out the whole population of Whelandia. This did not happen, as the Tree of Magic conjured a rainbow blast which reached its target with several seconds to spare, disintegrating Chrumb and the Staff once and for all.