[ WP ] The Little Black Box

A lifetime of detritus awaited me in the attic. My grandfather had left its entire contents to me in his will with a single reservation. `` There's a leaden box in the attic with a relief of Yggdrasil on the top. Take it and bury it in tundra. Its contents are not for you, not for any man in this world.'' 
 
 I had dug through the possessions of a lifetime spent busily. Passions and pains, curios and mementos, trinkets and trash. I'd sorted through all of these before finding it. The lead box with the World Tree on it. It was covered in a grime that suggested great age, though the box itself was in perfect condition save for a single flaw. The clasp holding it closed had been broken, and in its place was a single, thin piece of intricately tied braided rope. 
 
 I touched the rope and pulled on it so slightly that it could have been an accident. The rope snapped and the lead box sprung open eagerly, revealing a small, black box. The longer I stared at it, the more it enthralled me. Sweat began to bead on my forehead and my hands began to shake as the little black box seemed to grow bigger. Where it had once been no larger than a box one might bear a wedding ring in, it now threatened the edges of the World Tree's box. 
 
 I slammed the leaden box closed and tied it with the tape from a nearby cassette. I would bury it in the tundra if it meant I had to dig through the frozen ground with my bare hands. 
 
 I would succeed where my grandfather had clearly failed and be rid of the infernal thing... 
 Or so I had planned.
