Pandora Shell

“It’s carrying a Pandora Shell!” He shouted, voice thunderous.

As one, every Hunter turned, eyes wide and terrified as they saw the Deathstalker and its bounty. I knew what they were all thinking; I was thinking it myself. Why? How? There shouldn’t be any point, they shouldn’t be able to break the shell—but what if they did?

We had to stop it. I don’t think any of us knew what we were doing and we certainly didn’t plan for it, but we ran for the monster. Carmine sheathed her sword instantly and my father pulled his bombs far away, both of them probably as afraid of the possibilities as I was, but we still attacked. A new flood of Grimm rose at the Deathstalker’s heels, rushing around and over its body—large forms with countless spike-like growths, the older Grimm. With our biggest guns put away in fear, it was enough to stall our advance for a moment, forcing us back with the sheer weight of bodies.

And then I saw light, as if the clouds had cleared away to show the sun but coming from the ground instead of the sky. I looked down, not wanting to believe it, but—

Crom Cruach, I thought. You motherfucker.


I moved to…to run? In that moment, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. Naraka, I thought. It was our only hope, but the mere thought that we had hope was enough to make my heart rise—and to crush it even more so when I realized I didn’t have the power left. I had to—

The Deathstalker clicked its pincers, rustling as if pleased as the light behind it began to grow. With desperate speed, I reached into my Inventory to draw out a crystal and held it tight, draining it for power. A saw a column of light tear through the earth, sheering through a mountainside in the distance—and I saw it fade away as my barrier rose.

...


The White Tiger of the West rose around me. I didn’t have a lot of choice and this wasn’t the time to worry about secrets regardless. If the Pandora Shell had been opened, if its contents had been unleashed…

I tried not to think about it. I knew what it meant and couldn’t delude myself to the contrary no matter how hard I tried, but that didn’t meant I wanted to accept it--and I had something more immediate to worry about, anyway. The physical manifestation of my soul rose around me, breaking through the layers of solidified air with careful motions and sloughing off the shattered pieces like it would have rain. Curling its arms around the frozen forms of my mother and I, it lifted us both and tried to find a safe place to set us down.

It was harder than it sounded. Through the eyes of my soul, I saw dark splotches on everything in sight, as if it had rained mud or oil—and I didn’t dare let any of it touch either of us. But in the end, there was no way to truly be sure anywhere was safe, regardless of what may have seemed obvious. Against this threat…

My mother had tried to bury me in lava and freeze me beneath layers of solid air to try and keep me safe from the Pandora Shell’s opening. It was a desperate thing, so much so that I could feel her dying in my arms. I felt the agonizing cold myself, but to someone without a body like mine, temperature extremes like this must have been…