[ WP ] A mythological tale rewritten as science fiction .

Unlike other stories, we are not searching for paradise. There will be no fields of green stretching to an endless blue sky, or waters so clear they illuminate the dark forests with moonlight. We are simply leaving a hopeless place. 
 
 Less than a hundred years ago, the first of the ranmis were born. Not born, created to be more precise. Up until then, humanity was plagued by many deadly diseases. Our world was vanishing and it seemed our kind would too go extinct. 
 
 The original six scientists of PURE tried and succeed in creating a being immune to every known virus and infectious bacteria. The first of the Ranmis; they named her Hope. With this breakthrough, they thought finding cures to all the different diseases we suffered from would be a matter of time. But Hope did not have the time they needed. And as she started dying, our salvation faded until it finally disappeared. 
 
 Like many stories, this one is about a girl. Tokomi, my girl. I am not sure when, but one day the little girl next door grew up, and I realized a day will come when I could no longer protect her, no longer hide her. Though I will try forever, and it is for this reason that our journey began. 
 
 I left the quarantined city and set out to find Tokomi. I was still unsure what happened, but I didn ’ t care. A few people fell sick and suddenly Tokomi was chased out. Still, I felt for those bastards. I remembered when my own city started getting sick. I remembered getting sick myself, and waking from my fevered dreams to find only Tokomi and I were left. We buried everyone. Never been sick since, but I understood the fear, and the loss. 
 
 Tokomi ’ s been infected once since. She was bitten by a bug. Though I had wanted to believe the puncture wounds were from normal bugs, I couldn ’ t. As we walked, her hands had swelled and oozed blood. At least her body rejected the poison, was all I remembered telling myself. 
 
 “ Hey Ken? ” she had called me as I cleaned her wounds. “ Have you ever heard of Pandora ’ s Box? ” 
 
 “ Have you ever told me? ” 
 
 “ No. ” 
 
 “ Then, I haven ’ t heard it. ” 
 
 “ She ’ s the first woman in Greek mythology. She was beautiful and talented, endowed by a gift from each of the Gods and Goddess. She would have been perfect, but she was too curious. ” 
 
 “ Kind of like you. ” 
 
 “ No, not like me, ” she had sighed without her usual playfulness. 
 
 “ Give me your hand. ” 
 
 She had and continued her story, “ Zeus gave her a sealed jar or box and sent her to Epimetheus, the creator of animals on Earth. Some people say that Epimetheus was the one with the box, but it doesn ’ t really matter. ” 
 
 “ Is it too tight? ” I had interrupted as I re-bandaged her right hand. 
 
 She shook her head and resumed, “ The important thing is that Zeus told them the box is to be kept safe, but never opened. But she was too curious and she opened it. As soon as it was opened, mankind ’ s misery begun. The Gods had sealed an evil for each gift they had given her. Greed, jealously, old age, diseases. She released suffering onto the world. ’ 
 
 ‘ She closed the box as fast as she could, but the only one she managed to keep in was Hope. And Hope cried out to be released, promising she could ease the pain. Pandora thinking, what ’ s one more evil after all that ’ s been freed, opened the box. Hope has comforted us since. ” 
 
 I secured the bandage on her right hand and reached for her left, but she moved it. 
 
 “ This, my mother told me, ” she had held up the little vial of blood around her neck, “ is Pandora ’ s Box, so don ’ t open it. ” She released it and it fell back to its spot above her heart. “ And I ’ ve never opened it. ” She gazed into her reflection in the distant waters and softly said, “ But I thought, I would like to right before I die. I want to see what ’ s inside, but I ’ m afraid. ” She touched it, wrapped her fingers firmly around it and pulled the chain off her neck. “ Take it, ” she had offered me the vial with its warning, “ Remember, it ’ s Pandora ’ s Box. Don ’ t open it. ” 
 
 For a moment my vision was fixated on the little vial, then on her, “ Tokomi, you ’ re not going to die. ” 
 
 “ Please keep it; it ’ s always tempting me, ” she said more to herself than me. 
 
 Like humouring a child, I had taken it and secured it around my neck. “ Okay? I ’ ll give it back when you feel better. ” 
 
 She had nodded. 
 
 I made my way to the city ’ s water reservoirs, since it was the last place Tokomi spoke of. There was a fully automated facility that once served as a lab. Vaccines were developed and spread through the drinking water to all the cities on its network. It was designed in an attempt to race against plagues. It was also a highly secured facility that could basically survive a nuclear strike, so I was surprised to find Tokomi inside. 
 
 She had left a door propped open for me. I followed unmarked hallways and found more propped opened doors until I found her in the lab/control room. 
 
 “ You came, ” she stated as I walked into the room, but she stopped me with a motion. 
 
 I could barely hear her over the rushing water from some unknown source. 
 
 She led me outside, where it was a little quieter. 
 
 “ Of course I did. Why did you leave without me? Didn ’ t you once promise you would never leave me? ” 
 
 “ No, I promised I would save you. Now I can. ” 
 
 Before I could register what she said, she ripped her vial from around my neck and backed into the lab, locking the door behind her. 
 
 I pounded on the door, suddenly feeling my chest tighten. 
 
 The facility speakers came on, “ All the records are here. My mother ’ s work is here. I read through it and finally understand how I can save you. ” 
 
 “ I ’ m not sick, ” I shouted through the door, catching her eyes from the door ’ s little window pane. 
 
 “ You are. All of you are and it ’ s because of me. I ’ m patient zero. I always am. ” 
 
 “ Open this door! ” 
 
 “ Haven ’ t you wonder why you lived? ” 
 
 I didn ’ t need to ask to know what she meant, and nodded. 
 
 “ I gave you my blood, ” she answered, “ I mixed it into your IV, but it only worked once. ” She broke the seal on her vial and filled a needle with its contents. “ Because I only had one strand. ” She found a vein and emptied the contents into her blood. 
 
 I continued banging on the door. I searched around for something, anything to ram the door with. Unable to find anything, I returned to pounding with my fists. 
 
 “ You need to get out. I ’ m flooding this whole building. Leave the way you came. ” 
 
 Water rushed through the hallway, immediately flooding up to my ankles. 
 
 “ Tokomi, I ’ m not leaving. ” 
 
 “ You will be washed out. I made sure the path was clear, ” she stated as she walked over to some sort of hatch and opened it. 
 
 “ Think about this, ” I tried. The water was now to my knees. “ Please! Tokomi! ” 
 
 “ It needs my blood. You know I ’ m not wrong. ” 
 
 I continued banging, becoming frantic in my desperation. And suddenly, there was a calm. She waited for me to look up, to see her. 
 
 “ It ’ s alright. You will heal. ” She slit her throat and bleed into the opened hatch, eventually falling in. 
 
 I was washed out as she promised. I ran blindly away, just away, until I couldn ’ t move and collapsed on the green grass. I pounded my fists on the ground. Something, anything to physically reflect the pain I felt, but the grass was simply too soft. It will never draw my blood, but it does my tears. And I cried until, as Tokomi promised, my grief lessens; I couldn ’ t stop myself from noticing how far the grass stretches until it meets the endless clear skies. 

