The Crystal Curse
Towards the beginning of time, when humanity was still shiny and new, a fairy lived among the fields of flowers and in her home in the woods. Her people lived on their own watching the humans develop and helping when they could, but being careful to not mingle with them too much. This particular fairy was especially curious, and liked to hide and watch the people, and interact with them on special occasions. They were trying to figure things out and develop the systems of their communities. They would make mistakes and stumble, and sometimes, she would help them get back up.
One day she noticed that something was different about the humans. They weren’t as cheerful and happy as they normally were, and some of them started not feeling well. It wasn’t long after that they started fighting with one another. The fairy was shocked at this development, and couldn't believe this was happening. It was such a quick change. The people that were making so much progress now seemed to be completely miserable.
She started to hear stories of a woman who was to blame. People were saying that she was responsible for this havoc and had released a great curse on mankind. The fairy couldn’t imagine what type of person would want to do this, especially when things were so happy and prosperous. This must surely be one evil woman, thought the fairy. She ventured out into the village to find this person, and see why she would do something like this.
The fairy eventually found her way to an elegant villa estate, which wasn’t hard to find because of the dark reputation the people had now given it. The fairy had an eerie feeling as she approached the home in the early afternoon. This lovely property seemed to be completely disheveled, as if there was a big party taking place here, during which everyone decided to make a rushed and sudden exit. The fairy made herself invisible and saw her way inside. The inside of the house was even more wrecked than the outside. Furniture was tipped over and vases were broken. She didn’t see anyone inside and the house seemed empty, until she heard a slight weeping noise coming from one of the rooms. The fairy quietly made her way towards it.
As she strode through the house, around the disarray of furniture, and down the hall, the noise got louder. It was squeaky, sad. and alone. As she approached the open frame of one doorway, she could tell that was the room where the single isolated sound was coming from. As she peeked around to glimpse in, she saw a beautiful woman with golden hoop earrings, alone and crying to herself in a bathtub. This certainly wasn’t the image of an evil woman that she expected. Something else must have happened here. The fairy let off a slight hum. She knew that it was best to ease your way into making your presence known when invisible, to not startle anyone. The woman in the bath took notice. Her weeping ceased momentarily, replaced by the curiosity of the new noise. It was beautiful and seemed to be coming from an unknown source. She looked around to no avail.
Still humming, the fairy worked in a soft “hello.” The woman looked around even more curious, momentarily forgetting about her apparent distraught. “Is someone there?”, the lonely woman asked. “Yes”, replied the fairy, softly. The young woman looked defeated saying, “I figured this was inevitable. If you’ve come to kill me, please just make it quick. I know that I deserve it.” This piqued the fairy’s curiosity even more. The lady was obviously no evil spinster, so why would she unleash such a terrible plague on her fellow humans? The fairy slowly made herself visible.The woman didn’t seem shocked, as if she had seen enough things to where nothing would surprise her right now. The fairy spared introducing herself, as it was obvious as to who she was, but she immediately inquired about who the young lady was and what had happened here.
The sad young woman said, “My name is Pandora. I’m responsible for all...this. On my wedding night, I was given a gift. A box.” She pointed across the room to where a beautiful white marble box with gold incrustations was laying on the floor. The seam where the two halves closed shut appeared to be glowing slightly. Pandora continued her explanation, “Despite the box being beautiful and decorative, I was told never to open it, and that if I did, there would be dire consequences.” Who would give such a gift?, thought the fairy. “I’m naturally curious. I love to go exploring and see how the world works. Discovering new hidden spots, flowers, and animals is one of my favorite things. I initially had every intention of never opening the box, wanting to follow the instructions, but I couldn’t imagine why it shouldn’t be opened. Surely it was some sort of elaborate joke, wherein an immaculate gift was really inside. Otherwise, what was the point of even giving it to me? I snuck the box into my bedroom during the wedding party, deciding to crack the lid just the slightest to take a peek. I had no clue what would come flying out of it. The instant I lifted the lid the slightest bit, all these horrible elements came flying out, unleashing a plague on mankind. I’m responsible for all of this. Famine, war, disease, all of it!”
This seemed like a horrible secret plot to the fairy. The young woman was hardly to blame. She herself couldn’t imagine never opening the box. She looked over at it, with the clowning line of the lid. It appeared that something was still inside. Pandora confirmed that she thought something had been caught, trapped there when she closed the lid. The fairy immediately knew that whatever was in there could never be allowed to escape. This box couldn’t be hidden or destroyed, as both of those options would only allow whatever was in there to escape. She thought of an idea.
She immediately grabbed one of Pandora’s gold hooped earrings and dipped it into the water of her bubble bath, so that a colorful clear film covered the entire inside of the immaculate circle. She took it up to the box, hoping that her crazy plan might work. She couldn’t let this one element get out, whatever it was. She approached the box, earring in hand. Nervously, she slowly reached for the box’s lid, unsure of what could possibly be inside. Her other hand moved the earring with the soap film just in front of the crack. She slowly applied a slight upward pressure, and the moment the lid lifted the tiniest bit, a bright cloud attempted to escape and flew out through the earring, creating a bubble as it passed through. With this unknown evil inside of the bubble, the fairy immediately froze and crystalised it, trapping this last evil plague inside. The clear solid glass orb fell from midair after it had taken a perfect round shape and solidified. The fairy caught it just before it hit the ground. She brought it over to Pandora, and inside, they saw glimpses of the future. What hadn’t escaped when Pandora first opened the box might have potentially been the most dangerous of all the elements: Hope.
If this had gotten out, people would have been able to see exactly how their futures would play out, with nothing they could do or change about it. This would have been the most terrible curse that could befall mankind. Now, trapped in this glass orb, the view of the future was trapped, but could still be peered at inside this glass ball. Mankind had avoided the culmination of all these horrible elements escaping, but still had to live with and manage the aspects that were already on the loose, separating them from a utopia. Before the fairy left, she dipped the orb into the soapy water and took some of it with her. Infused with it’s magical essence, she thought that she might be able to put it to good use on rare occasions, with bubbles for wishes and insights about the future. She left the house with this dangerous item entrapped in its solid bubble cage, but this was far from the last time that mankind would come into contact with the crystal ball.
