P R O L O G U E

The night was quiet. The Hall of Olympus was covered in darkness. Neither torches nor fireflies, the only thing that lit are the small glimpse from the moonlight, a gift from a Goddess, Selene.

A loud creak was heard from the inside, the giant door in the main entrance slowly opened. One by one, there are twelve people wearing cloaks had entered the hall, bearing lamps along them that brought light. They seemed to follow only one person leading them—

"Zeus."

Nevertheless, their lamps cannot lit the entire darkness in this giant hall, the goddess Artemis voluntarily raised her hands and snapped a finger, making the moonlight shines even brighter, enough for them to see.

The whole team walked to their meeting place as the moonlight paved their way, to the very end of the Olympus' hall. A place where only the twelve Olympians are allowed to enter, no other being shall be allowed, not in any circumstances, nor other gods, except for them.

Upon reaching the place, they left down their lamp unto the floor near the entrance. There's no door, only an arch marked with such tiny and fine details would welcome them outside.

The place is large and quite lucid, yet a strange atmosphere made it felt like a hallowed place. At the middle, there's a lustrous large throne seemingly mold from a colorless unknown gemstone, encircled by eleven silver thrones. The deities walked their way to their perspective places. Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalwork was beside Hermes, the messenger. Following Dionysus, the god of wine; Aphrodite, the daring Venus; Demeter, mother of agriculture; Artemis, the virgin huntress; Ares, the god war; Poseidon, renowned god of the sea; Apollo, the prophecy; Athena, the leader of war; Hera, the heavenly queen and consort of the infamous king of gods, Zeus.

The center throne belongs to Zeus, as he possessed the quality of an omnipotent deity. All of them sat together in their perspective thrones, except Zeus who only stood beside his.

"Well then."

Zeus busted the silence. All ears were on him.

"As you know, the mortals seemed to abuse what they received. Parts of this world were destroyed— and to be destroy."

"I'm not even surprised." Athena lips slyly curved then throws a guileful gazed to Demeter's, "Is it dreadful?"

Demeter raised her eyebrow, "Which one?"

"Nurturing for Mother Gaia."

She throws her view away to the floor to kept herself away from annoyance and heaved a sigh, "It will come to an end."

"That is!" Zeus acclaimed. They nailed their attention to him. "An end. We all expect an end to it. At what cost they shall learn when the end of life is not even feared!"

Zeus eyes turned into yellow and unwrapped his right palm, revealing a small thunderous flash, and a swirl of cyclone began to produced and it's getting massive. The deities remained calm despite that the room is filled with Zeus' rage. An abrupt storm was created above them, showering thunders to the ground. Ordinarily, the deities didn't even bother to react, as it was only natural seeing him in such a wrathful state.

"There's always a right time for an absolute punishment. If this would not terror them, I don't know what death would bring."

Suddenly, a vivid image was projected inside the cyclone. It was an image of a girl, closing her eyes and seemed like she's sleeping, with a hair as radiant as the sun, and the trace of her youth is evident in her flawless skin.

Aphrodite mouth gaped. "Pandora."

From a single look, she could easily recognize the girl who was created by her likeness. The other deities were still mesmerized as they remembered what they bestowed to Pandora, long time ago.

An idea came threaten Hephaestus as he gets what Zeus would do for a punishment.

"A beauty, an art, is this what you meant for a punishment?"

Zeus fuming eyes gazed upon his. The thunders slowly vanished, yet the cyclone sustained its rumbling whirl. "Can you define punishment?"

Then, the girl  opened her eyes, bit by bit. All of their minds blew away. Her eyes were not what they expected to be bright and daring. It was dull. Once the color of honey was no longer clear, it was replaced with dead black. Her radiant hair color was replaced with drab brown as her emotion changed into something wicked.

They couldn't stand how Pandora managed to open the forbidden box years ago. A feeling that even Zeus couldn't explain it, surely, it was way more a disappointment. All he could do was to clench his fist to let it out. He took a deep breath and finally closed his palms. The wild cyclone suddenly stopped whirling and turned into dust; seconds later, it collapsed, so was the image of Pandora.

Not long enough after all of that happened, Zeus opened his palms once again and tiny sparks of thunder began to form and compressed into a small sphere of golden light. The deities stood up from their thrones.

"From here and now, this!" He uplift his hands, "will be their last lesson and our last wrath."

Everyone falls under Zeus' commands, the deities began to create their own sphere containing blessings that they will bestow for the next Pandora. However, their blessings are different from what they had given to the previous one.

Instead of giving cunning and deceitful mind, the athletic god, Hermes granted a gift of charisma.

Dionysus bestowed an ability to obtain great connection to the people who'll be around her.

Aphrodite didn't grant her an unparalleled beauty and appeal. Instead, she bestowed a talent of making a person fall for her easily.

Artemis bestowed her bravery and confidence to do things at will.

Ares bestowed a gift of strength and leadership.

Apollo gave his best to grant her a gifted voice.

Poseidon's gift was quite a contrast to himself, he bestowed tranquility, yet he added it in a means of being cold-hearted.

Athena bestowed a gift of wisdom, being able to distinguish the truth from the lies.

All of their gifts had turned into a small sphere of light. Each of them flew into Zeus' sphere and gleamed, making it even bigger than before. However, their blessings coalesced into a mess, making the sphere to looking like a raging storm. 

While, Hera noticed that Demeter was still in doubt and debating with herself, resulting her to done nothing yet.

Worried about her sister, Hera asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Demeter just turned her face into her, then she immediately made a sphere containing her gift. This time, it was something that they didn't expect that was coming from a peace-loving deity. Her sphere lit different from the others, it was dark, and she then finally flew and joined into Zeus'.

Demeter's blessing dumbfounded Aphrodite. "Oh wow!" She smirked and gazed at Demeter, " A curse?"

Demeter responded, "Oh it will be a surprise when the chosen one grow up."

"Hera," Zeus called his wife.

Hera came towards him and held the back of his right palm containing the large bright sphere.

"Here." She poked her index finger inside it and brought serenity to the sphere from being a mess. It was replaced with a pleasing color of the sky.

Zeus was suspicious of what Hera would brought this time, owing to the fact that the last time she gave to Pandora was her greatest downfall, curiosity, that made her open the forbidden box and disobeyed Zeus warning. Consequently, he hoped this wouldn't be a reason to make all of their efforts gone into nowhere.

Finally, Zeus gave the sphere and flew it into Hephaestus, which he was seen creating a magnificent figure of a woman. But, Zeus already lost his patience a while ago. Hephaestus caught the sphere with both of his hands, leaving the figure high and dry.

"No need for a vessel," Zeus responds.

"Why?"

That night was a significant night. Molding a newborn history which would be humanity's hope or their end. All of the deities gathered outside the hall and stood at the peak of Mount Olympus. It was dark and windy. They are facing below where the beauty of the mortal realm was evident.

Hephaestus held the great sphere containing all of the Olympian Deities' blessings. He transformed the sphere into a Laurel leaf and let the evening breeze carried the leaf. They let it flew away from them until it landed to a newborn baby that would be chosen as the next Pandora. Since then, the deities left the top of the Mount Olympus and returned to their territories.

Nature has its own mind. It knew it's way to a soul.

Meanwhile, a mysterious prophecy have been channeled to the Oracle of Delphi, Pythia, it was a high priestess that delivered Apollo's messages.

When the bird fly, a storm hinders its way, though find its purpose.

Apollo was sitting alone beneath a Laurel tree in Olympus. The moonlight reflects upon his soft-white face and silvery-blond hair. He was referring to the fate of the next Pandora. Even the God of truth, himself, doesn't know what to feel due to a presence that would interpose the fate between Pandora and the box. There's a chance that she won't ever find the box on her own. But Apollo considered that it is a common thing to happen when Zeus throws the box down to earth, besides, he cannot simply deliver the box since humans are simply ignorant.

Though, unbeknownst to Zeus who doesn't know any of this, Apollo closed his mind and obligates to remain silent.