Dawn of the Phoenixes: A Golden Encounter

Prelude - Midnight

- Prelude -

The clear night sky was painted a shade of jet black. The enveloping black was so consuming that it swallowed all light—all but the stars that shone with all their might to guide the lifeless land below. The dark creature's eye glared at the world below which was sound asleep beneath the obscurity.

All was still but a little bird who walked the world alone, accompanied by only the antique compass fastened to her belt. Today at twelve, the daring traveller has decided to uncover the secrets of the Dark Realm.

The expeditioner was rumoured to be the exceptional sort. Daring, yet passionate. Extraordinary, even. And such is the story we are going to tell about her.

Pandora looked up and caught sight of something. Something other than the moon, the stars, or the desolated plains that stretched way beyond the horizon. Something... amazing.

The silhouette of a gigantic structure stood proudly in front of the traveller. The quick-witted Pandora knew in an instant that this was the legendary Castle of Shadows. The one that hundreds of others wanted to see, and never returned from.

They say that those who have not been selected by the realm itself will see terrible, absolutely horrendous things inside it. But Pandora never believed them.

"They're just rumours told by cowards," Pandora reassured herself with her head held high. "Unlike me, who is brave and persistent."

The castle was carved with intricate designs that told stories and brought the towering stone structure to life.

Pandora hesitated but reminded herself. Isn't what she has come out here for? To prove them wrong and earn her glory?

With the choice made, Pandora gave the heavy door a push and it opened with a loud creak.

It was very dark inside the ancient structure, and Pandora took out her flashlight, her only light source within this enveloping darkness. It flickered, but still worked regardless. 

"Good enough," Pandora murmured, turning the flashlight in her hands. 

The marble floors were covered with a ragged and torn red carpet embroidered with golden thread. The gold shimmered under the light and twisted itself to make such complex patterns. Pandora's footsteps echoed within the large stone walls. She followed her gaze to two flights of stairs that lead to a throne that glittered like gold.

But one thing struck Pandora as uneasy: the Dark Empress was not present.

Her flashlight flickered, and Pandora lost the light. All there was but everything. All so still, so wondrous, before Pandora's eyes.

And within all the silence, Pandora started coughing. She held her breath and covered her face, but the pain would not stop. It was less of a pain, but something none could describe. It felt like drowning. But it was not water. It was like... loneliness. Agony, and suffering. Those feelings were so great that it threatened to engulf her. No, not merely threatening, but they were determined to kill her.

All of the world was replaced by darkness. Was this the truth that the young traveller had sought for? No, it was wrong. Everything was wrong. There is no happiness, no enlightenment; nothing but darkness. Was this a mere taste of reality itself?

With the ruthless darkness surrounding Pandora, she reluctantly allowed herself to fall into a slumber.

The darkness creeped into Pandora's dreams. She dreamt of war, greed, suffering and death; ugly things that her mind could not endure. Her body twitched, the last thing she felt being a great fall into the abyss. And everything was gone.

Gone, like a breeze in the summertime, so fast that she almost could not perceive the change. But she felt herself adjusting to warmth. Pandora sat up, and found herself in a void of white. The pain was gone. 

She walked, not knowing her destination. In her travels, she would always have a destination, and a path to follow. But this time, she simply followed her heart.  Was it only direction she longed for all this time, and not a destination?

Far over the whiteness, Pandora heard soothing tunes. Music. 

There was an enormous castle that resembled the Castle of Shadows. Pandora studied it. The very structure she had been in felt so surreal all of a sudden.

"So this... is everlasting happiness?" Pandora whispered to herself.

There it was, right in front of her. The thing that thousands of travellers sought for. It was nothing to see, but a sweet thing to feel.

Knowing that she had found it, Pandora became weary and lay down. She fell asleep, free of the pain, and never woke up again. The world was at peace, so what was the meaning all long? Pain is meaningless. She was one to find it, at last.

Here, it was tranquil and serene. What else would one possibly want?

"I, Pandora, am brave and persistent, and I am the one that will live." One last promise she made to herself, and everything faded away. Pandora grasped onto the last of the drifting realities, but it slipped away. Her head was wrapped around this serenity, not realising that she had lost all that was precious.

But reality was never this forgiving.