Story Book #1

Under Pandora's Star-Chapter-2




The little girl was eleven now and went with her cousin to the house of a minor noble whose kindness was great enough to take in two orphans of noble blood. These nobles had two sons. The elder son was renowned as a great scholar, and the younger followed the teachings of a warrior. The little girl’s cousin was devastated by her loss and was convinced that the little girl was indeed an evil being, since rumors travel quickly and death follows in the little girl’s wake. For this reason she hated and feared the little girl and whispered to her before they arrived at their new home, “You are a cursed being, you would be better off dead.”

The little girl wondered if she really could improve the lives of all the others through her death, when the younger of the two brothers reached out his hand and heart to the little girl and rekindled the hope which has been resting dormant. It is no surprise therefore that the little girl who was on the verge of womanhood fell in love.

But things are never that easy for someone under such a strong curse. The young man, whose name was Kin, fell in love with the little girl’s cousin - seeing the little girl as nothing more than a beloved child. Kin’s older brother also fell in love with the young beauty. For the first time in her life the little girl wept and she begged her cousin to love Kin in return, she wished for his happiness and feared the effects of her curse. The cousin however favored the elder brother in favor of the younger, but refused to let either go free in her own glowing sense of power over the creatures known as men.

This continued until the elder brother in a fit of jealousy challenged the younger to settle the matter once and for all. Kin was not as learned as his older brother but felt confident in his skills with a sword. The brothers fought fiercely, but when it seemed Kin would be the victor his leg was captured by a tree root and he tripped, gravely injuring himself on his own sword. The man felt ashamed as he died, because he died without honor.

Now inside every person upon whom a strong curse resides there lies a great power waiting to be touched, to pervert good intentions with bad effects. The little girl held the corpse of her beloved Kin close and for the first time reached out to this great power of her own will. “Please, please,” she begged. “Give him back to me.”

The power was only too happy to oblige in giving the little girl skills which had long sense been forbidden- for interfering with those who have already died will never bring about anything good and often brings about many things bad.