Dragon System

Pandora's Box

Adrenaline kicked in with euphoria. Ace had no other choice but to satisfy his drive for answers, hands positioned themselves. He was ready to open the two door cabinet above the counter top. 

Quick phasing heartbeats accompanied the tension, it was nothing more but a peculiar phenomenon he wanted to escape from. To quit the excitement, Ace pulled the cabinet open. 

It revealed something far from consumable or edible. Things went even more odd when Ace finally realized of what was it. 

He concluded, "This came from the ancient Hemians," the story Ashmeir told him was still fresh from his memory.

The box looked like a cube carved in intricate designs of ferns and curves. It was nothing more but ancient, Ace reached out to grab it. He had too many revelations for one day, but seems like the sun wasn't yet ready to set. 

Silence was still the most dominant sound, Pier and Warren remained asleep and resting. Ace continued to stare deeper to what he has at hand. 

"You were lost centuries ago," Ace said. "What are you doing here?" 

He continued to ponder with his questions. For sure, Ace wasn't Socrates, the young man never loved questioning. Held in two palms, the Pandora box was small and petite, but its effect on Ace was far from its size. 

As minutes more pass, Ace's urge grew stronger, asking him to open the unknown mystery in front of him. But before Ace was to follow his intuition, he closed his eyes.

Inhaling deeply, he proceeded. Eyes remained shut but his hands went through with the course. Ace's fingers crept slowly until it reached the release button. His heart rate increased more vigorously.

"Something bad is about to happen." He concluded. 

Finally, de javu has gotten its grip out of Ace. The box clicked open, but the content was more shocking than usual. The music coming from the old music box pushed Ace to open his eyes. 

"An old relic of the past," Ace spoke.

The tune continued to play, carved wooden miniature children were running inside in circles, it was a replacement for the Hemians balerina. The old land was not elegant. 

Ace continued to stare deeper unto it. A small smile flashed from his lips. It was Lydia's memory who dashed through him, his mother valued even the old traditions of the Hemians. 

Slowly, the music started to sound louder and more tensioned. Something was off, Ace began to feel uneasy. The children inside the Pandora Box screamed and fell down, ink pooled from the edges of the box. The wet substance leaked through Ace's hands, making him drop the Pandora box. 

The music's volume dropped a few decibels more, but before the song could end, a child whimpered for help. 

"Ace help us," in a weak voice it pleaded. "Help us please..." 

There, the box lost its voice but it remained echoing inside Ace's ear. How it called his name was more than intriguing. His body hair rose up and even his spine went shivering. 

Ace went pale and cold. It was nothing scary like a ghost, but it was worse than one. The vision haunted Ace spontaneously. Ink splattered across the clean white floor, highlighting the blemishes. 

Things worked like an allegory for him, "I'm sorry," he weakly uttered.

It wasn't only his voice and spirit which went frail, Ace's knees drifted down, making him kneel and cry in somber ambience. The young man was confused, unsettled and unfamiliar with his surroundings. 

The old city perished, the new government was nothing but a remnant of the past corruption, Ace was a prisoner in Plato's allegory of the cave. 

"I was blind," he began to lament. "And my eyes focused on the shadows." 

Tears flowed generously, Ace wept silently, doing his best not to bother the sleeping voyagers. Every word that Ashmeir said reverberated through his heart. 

The AI led the massive step, "The Prime wasn't irresponsible." 

Ace looked up to the monitoring camera, absorbing what the AI kept on telling him for several times. He was still unconvinced about the Prime's governance, but the love for his brothers and sister scorched to burn. 

'What can I do to help?' He asked himself.

The built in system couldn't read his mind, technical teams still valued the term 'privacy'. Now, everything was all on Ace, he was the only one who can afflict his thoughts. 

Everything fell silent, and Ace's sobs were the only thing which could be heard. Crickets crept through the halls of his hearing, nearly making him go mad. 

He loved the silence, but not this way. Pier can't be disturbed and even if the doctor looked like a prodigy, Ace can't demand for his own causes. It was the same step over and over again, the Vice was unfamiliar of who he really was, Ashmeir kept things veiled for his son. 

It was a moment of solitude, until suddenly a loud bang opened up Ace's numb senses, nearly startling him to deafness. Intuition made him look left and right, the sound came from the living room. Ace was about to take a peek of what was the commotion about but the next puzzling event answered the cause. 

A familiar face rushed in towards the kitchen, a toddler between the ages of 2 or three screamed. 

"Dada!" Neo shouted.

Ace's jaw dropped in amazement, 'How come? Maybe this is not Neo.' He stood up and wiped his tears dry. 

Slowly, he advanced to the boy wearing diapers. Neo was smiling widely despite the uncertainty flashing infront of Ace's face. Things were more than the word peculiar. 

The boy remained unmoved, it just stared at Ace as he moved in circular sequence. Neo looked up to stare, his eyes glistened in joy. The infant's memory recalled the loving arms which caressed him before. 

"Dada..." he called out again. 

Ace stopped walking, something caught his attention. It was the same tag that the infant Neo was wearing. The facts dragged Ace to think that he was delusional. 

"This can't be possible..."