" hmmm... mmm...mnn! "
A soft melodious voice travelled along the worn path. Pandora hummed and skipped along cheerily. She whistled and hummed, making a peaceful tune, openly gawking at the bountiful nature.
As if she was deliberately distracting herself.
For cradled in her grasp, lay a majestic, obsidian box, decorated with glittering gold. It was something that her lord Zeus has entrusted to her, as a gift to humanity!
Indeed, this was a most joyous moment, something to be remembered for generations!
Just one problem.
As she skipped along, sometimes, her fingers would twitch, grasping the box ever tighter. Her gaze would stop wandering, and lock itself onto the object.
" RAGHH! Why is this so hard! " Pandora suddenly stopped and yelled.
The suspense was killing her! From the moment the box entered her possession, to the way down Mt. Olympus, to the paths leading to the human settlements. Her resolve whittled little by little, her attention gravitating towards the object more and more.
But she endured, and will continue to do so.
" It's a task from the Gods after all! A divine quest, if you will! " Pandora declared proudly to the trees determinedly.
And so she went on, passing lakes, rivers, forests, she travelled forth fearlessly. Luckily, it seemed the monsters knew that engaging against her would be for naught. Divine intervention? Or is it simply because she was made of divine clay? She didn't know, but she was quite curious.
And so, by diverting her attention to various miscellaneous things, she finally found signs of human life after days of travel. Luckily, it all went by without a hitch, unluckily, the sign of human "life" she found wasn't a very good sign.
It was blood. Sprayed mercilessly against the shrubs and trees, a bloodbath. It formed a trail, leading out of the expansive forest.
Taking off into a sprint, Pandora sped off, her heart thumping out of her chest.
This was bad! What happened? Were they all safe? Was she too late? She didn't hear anything about this!
She ran and ran,
Fire.
Smoke bellowed in the distance, as if mocking her efforts. Across the plains that Prometheus so loved to admire, fire was expelled from draconic mouths mercilessly, blazing everything to the ground.
A horde of Amphitheres were engaging a pack of Drakes! And unfortunately, the human settlement was the chosen battlefield. The humans were running away as fast as they could, but each were doing their best to save everyone they could. Some were flailing as their skin melted, and some were nothing more than ash and dust. They were the victims, nothing more and nothing less.
" R A A HHHH ! ! " The Drakes numbering six roared, shaking the very air and their claws dug into the earth.
" SKR E E E E H ! ! " Ear-piercing wailing rang and rang, sending gales of wind into a frenzy as eight Amphitheres circled the sky like draconic vultures.
And a frenzy it was, for the casualties collectively numbered in the hundreds, for all parties. flesh and scale littered the ground brutally, blood flowed in rivers and tears ran pooled into lakes.
" No... "
Pandora was in shock, for this was the first time she had even seen such gore, such brutality. She had not even seen blood yet, this was more than just a leap, no, her sheer terror and confusion bounded through the skyline.
" No...no, no no no, no.. "
Tears gathered in her eyes, her gifted mind failing her, her divine form failing her, her wisdom failing her.. she plunged into depths she had never even thought possible.
What is she supposed to do?! Is this a test? Did she cause this?! W-w-wh-
" WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?! " Pandora shrieked, at her absolute wit's end.
Unfortunately, her scream seemed to have attracted unwanted attention, as many pairs of slit eyes turned to her. At this, Pandora only stepped away slowly in nervousness, her instincts screaming at her.
Dangerous.
She could feel their gazes bore into her, or more specifically, onto the small box she was gripping onto.
This was not supposed to happen. Maybe in another reality, none of this would have happened.
But that is there, and this, this is here. For some unknown reason, the pseudo-dragons were extremely fixated on the box. or rather, what was inside of it.
A familiar presence, and a very pure one at that.
This was the worst possible situation. The box was not to be opened unless in the presence of Man. But now, the people were in no condition to receive the gift from the divine.
" SKR E e EE Ee!! " In the blink of an eye, Amphitheres had already started engaging her, making a natural trap formation in the sky. And with a sonic boom, they dove, biting at her as she hunched and covered the box.
She was absolutely terrified.
Pandora did not know what to do, blessed as she was. But she knew, she had to do something! Anything! The red drakes were approaching now, and they were no longer interested in the flying enemies.
She was in a burning field, with nowhere to hide. People were dying by the second. If she could just distract them... they could be saved.
And so she moved. She used her superior natural strength and dashed forward with unbridled speed that did not befit her slim physique. Pandora was heading towards the drakes head on!
" RA A A AHH !!! " One roared, opening it's maw, as if to welcome the approaching Pandora.
She did not waver. She clutched the box to her chest, and looked for a chance. She pushed her blessed mind to it's fullest, calculating and hypothesizing different outcomes and possible plans of action. As the beast was but meters away.. she stopped abruptly.. and then she leapt to the side!
" B O O M ! " A crash resounded as an ambushing Amphithere tried to strike from behind. Upon seeing that it's prey had dodged at the most opportune moment, it tried to steer and follow her, but it failed to notice the impending cave of teeth before it.
" SKre eE E--- "
" RA A AHH! " A roar of triumph rang.
Pandora caught her breath as both draconic groups looked towards one another, casting another atmosphere of tension once more.
--- To Be Continued ---
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