Pandora's Box

Chapter 1 - Pandora and Yuden

Sunring City: The Capital of Gaia. People of all origins, races and ideals live here. houses are made of stone bricks and wood, with some being as tall as the tallest trees. The King of Gaia, Leader of the benevolent Sun Priests, Arthor, lives in the massive Golden Castle: As the name implies, it is a castle made of Solid Gold.
Various folk stand around the City's Gates: Not only the typical Humans, but also the noble Elves, who have pointy ears and a natural affinity with magic, or the diminutive goblins, with large eyes and droopy ears; They all seem to be waiting for something.
Eventually,comes a white horse, with shining armor made of a light blue alloy; Atop the Horse, comes a person, with a golden set of complete armor, a helmet that only shows their eyes, covering all of their face, and a silken red cape, with golden details and a brazier of the God of Light: He takes of his helmet, and reveals a man with long, smooth black hair, white skin, and a well-structured face: He has pointy ears with golden rings on them, clearly an Elf; He has a large smile on his face, and waves to the crowd.
Riding the Horse alongside him, a woman wearing a tight black suit, that covers all of her body. She has a slim body and silver, long hair. She has a stern expression on her face,and seems to not want to give attention to any of the Bystanders.
''Good Morning, Sunring Denizens!''- Shouts the Man in Armor, a heroic and confident expression on his face.
''Today, I, the Great Yuden, shall be doing what many would consider to be Impossible!'' 
The citizens watched, with curious expressions on their faces.
''30 Years Ago, a disaster struck what at the time was the Capital: A Massive, Vile Beast, Ragnar, the Arch-Dragon, swooped down from the skies and set it ablaze. It was a tragic event, with the loss of many Lives.''
''But Fret Not! Today is the day we take back the original Capital from the claws of the horrible beast! With my blade, the Sundowner, in hand, i shall slay it and give us all a new home!''
The crowd all cheered, some tossed gold coins and bouquets of flowers in the air. The Knight, who referred to himself as Yuden, had a large grin on his face, and was laughing cheerfully.
The Guards opened the Gate: Two massive, wooden doors, each with the height of nearly 5 meters. The Guards, pulling the chains that connected to the doors, slowly opened them, the doors making a deep,creaking sound.
The Horse then started Galloping Faster, trotting on the direction of the Sunset, and Yuden waved back to the Townsfolk.
After walking a few kilometers, the Girl with Silver Hair spoke:
''Yuden , may we stop by a local tavern to eat and re-''
Before she could even finish, Yuden turned the Horse to the left, heading to a nearby town. He didn't redirect his vision at her, and his expression was different: Instead of the massive, cheerful and confident grin he showed the Townsfolk of the Sunring City, he had a dull expression, as if he was a different person.
''Thank you.'' - Exclaimed the Girl.
Eventually, they reached the Town: The houses were fully wooden, some with varying levels of decay. There were large expanses of farmland, and the villagers were mostly Goblins and Humans, there were no Elves to be seen. Yuden and the Girl got off the horse, tying the horse to a fence to make sure it wouldn't go away.
Walking through the town, the Citizens saw in Amazement: An Elf Paladin, with a elegant cape and shining golden armor, and with a girl accompanying him!
 You could hear them whispering to each other:
''Is that a Paladin? Is the Capital finally caring for us?'' 
''He must be here to catch outlaws! Outlaws i say!'' 
''No, No, it must be bigger. A Dragon!'' 
''And who's the girl with him?''
''It must be his wife! He surely saved her from rotting in a dungeon, full of undead!''
As the last line was said, the Girl retracted her arms close to her chest, as if she didn't want to be seen.
Yuden looked back at her, with a mischievous smile in his face. 
''What? Wouldn't it be a honor to be the wife of the Great Yuden?''
She avoided his eyesight.
They then finally reached the Tavern: It was mostly empty, save for the Tavern keep: An old, frizzled Goblin with a large beard, around 1.4 meters tall, with a clear beer belly.
''Howsa going chaps? Me name's bo, what do yer want today? I see yer a Paladin, surely ya got some dabloons ye can offer good old Bo here! I'll tell ya, our wine is excellent!'' - Exclaimed the Tavern keep
''Hmm. Excellent Wine. Alright then, i'll have a glass of your Wine.'' - Said Yuden
''Danke ye! It'll be 5 Dabloons.''- Bo Replied.
''Pandora, you have 6 Gold Coins, don't you? Pay the wine.'' - Said Yuden.
''But, Master.... These Gold Coins are all you gave me, i was going to pay my meals with them. Surely, you must have Gold Coins from the King, right?'' - Pandora replied, afflicted.
''I do. But i don't want to use them. So you'll pay.'' - Yuden added, while he shaved his beard, or the little remains he had of one, with a Knife, sitting on a wooden chair with his legs up on the table.
Reluctantly, the Girl, who he called Pandora, paid for the Wine.
 Bo looked in shock, as if this was something he'd never expect: Paladins were Hero of Justice and Defenders of Peace: Why was he treating someone like this? He quickly thought: Perhaps she was an a Outlaw and was forced to do things like this for redemption. Yes, surely, that must be the answer. He mentally corrected himself and served the Wine,not saying anything.
After Drinking the Wine, he asked the Tavernkeep:
''Green thing, do you have Inn Housing here? She needs to rest, or else she'll not have any magic power by tomorrow. I don't want to deal with an extra weight in battle.''
''Yer we do, Yer Highness! It's Normally 8 Dabloons, but since you're such an Honorable Knight, it's free, yer?''
''As is expected. Pandora, come, go sleep.''
They both walked upstairs, towards the Inn.
Yuden woke up, and Pandora was nowhere to be seen. This was odd: She'd never went anywhere without him before.
Then, he reached out for his Sword, the Sundowner, blessed by the God of Light, that he left on the side of the bed: Nobody could hold it except himself.
It wasn't there.
He jumped out of the bed,and screamed:
''Bitch, what did you do now? Are you trying to be a stinky fucking rebel now?''
As he said this, he saw Pandora's hand, slowly emerging out from the Room's Door, which slowly opened. When she fully opened the Door, he noticed something: In her hand,she had a Knife, and in the place there would be her left eye, there was a shadowy, black void: It seemed like he was starting into something outside of Creation,where not even his God of Light could help him.
She slowly opened a smile; A smile that clearly showed murderous intention.
He was terrified, but, before she could do anything, he Woke up,Pandora still next to him on bed.
He pushed her aside of the bed, and shouted
''What was that, Bitch? Did you cast a curse on me?''
He said, as he started kicking her down, she still lying on the floor, gasping for air.
''GET RID OF IT, NOW! USE YOUR SHITTY MAGIC POWERS TO GET THAT SHIT OUT!''
He kept kicking.
Gasping for air, she responded:
''Please... I didn't do Anything... I would never...You saved me...''
''STOP LYING, YOU STINKING BITCH! I THOUGHT AT LEAST YOU WERE RELIABLE!'' - Responded Yuden.
''I'm... Saying... The...Truth...Master... Please..''
He then stopped.
''Fine. I need you to slay the Dragon anyways, the people will adore and I'll get good money for it. Come before i change my mind.''
And so, they rode back on their Horse, heading to the old Capital. They finally arrived there; Nobody in sight. Plants took over the buildings, wildlife was plentiful. The Nest of the Archdragon should've been on the center, and when they reached there, they found the Archdragon.
The massive beast, seemed like a mix of traits of various different animals: It had scales like a fish, a long, whip-like tail, resembling that of extinct Sauropods, large, leathery wings like that of a Bat, and a head with a brute and robust build, that clearly could deliver an horrible bite.
''Pandora, use your magic.'' - Said Yuden.
''Yes, Master.'' 
She whispered several incantations: ''Divini, ab igne me defende'', ''Scapulas, quaeferroinderciderunt'', ''Sana vulneramea''.
He then charged forward to the large reptilian beast, intending to cut down it's head in a single slice. But something was weird: As he advanced, the Dragon didn't move. At all. As he got closer, he realized: It's pupils didn't have any glow on it. It had flies swarming it. Some of it's skin was eaten off.
It was already dead.
What would've killed it? - Thought both of the people present there.
Then, suddenly, it came out of the Dragon's Mouth.
It was serpentine, thin, and covered in black feathers, like a Crow or Raven. On it's face, four eyes adorned it's face, one on top, two on each side, and one on the bottom: All of them facing towards the center of the face, where there was a long beak, like that of a Ibis.
It ignored Yuden, who was in shock, and couldn't move.
It approached Pandora.
It started speaking in some bizarre language, that neither of them had heard before.
Pandora used some of her leftover magic to cast a spell.
''Compeu...nde om..nes.. l..inguas...'' She chanted, barely holding her breath.
That was a spell that made it so the caster understood every language known: It was high level, and certainly would allow her to understand what the feathered serpent wanted.
But it didn't work. How? In every single situation that every mage has ever used it in, it worked.
However, the creature stopped talking shortly after, and it's eyes started glowing a bright purple.
Pandora was knocked out, and the Creature turned into a purple gas, and entered her by the nose.
As Pandora was sleeping, she was surrounded by shadows. She then heard a voice.
''Purify this world.''
The voice, she somehow recognized as the voice of the Serpentine Creature.
It then repeated it, ten times, a hundred times, a million times.
''Purify this world.''
''I gave you the power. Now you must follow your duty.''
And then she understood; She woke up.
When she woke up, she had an object in her hand: A massive Scythe, with the handle being made of bones of unidentified creatures, all of which had characteristics that didn't seem to belong to earth, and the blade being made of pure Shadow.
Yuden grabbed his Sword, and charged forward, shouting
''Okay, I've had enough, this is all a little game of yours, isn't it? Stupid bitch, i don't know why i saved you from that miserable town, i should've known you weren't worth the trouble!''
It was clear: He intended to kill her.
But then, suddenly, his sword became heavy. way heavier. heavier than the denser metal.
''WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?'' - Screamed Yuden
''Your sins are too much to bear. Allow me to relive you of them.'' - Responded Pandora, more calm and confident than ever.
In a blink, she disappeared, and appeared again right in front of him, and with a single tap of the Scythe to the Sundowner, destroyed it.
''This should be enough for now. Don't worry. I won't do anything else to you. You're free to do what you want. If you chose the right path, you shall meet us again, at Heaven.
 But if you stay how you are...
i hope god forgives you. because we won't.



END OF CHAPTER 1