[ WP ] You are handed a box and told that within is evil and it has been concealed since the beginning of time despite all that we perceive as evil in the world

[ < -- - ] ( http: //www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/21fign/wp_you_witness_a_satanic_ritual_involving/cgcp394 ) **-12-** [ -- - > ] ( http: //www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/239h7w/what_videogame_universe_would_you_choose_if_you/cguvtus? context=3 ) 
 ** { Pandora } ** 
 *Conceived Wednesday, April 9, 2014. * 
 *Dedicated to all the Voldemorts out there. You'll know it someday. * 
 
 /-/ 
 
 A box unlike a single thing, 
 Of studded jewels and light, 
 And stars of which the bards would sing— 
 And terror, fear, and fright. 
 
 A box that made the heavens shake, 
 A carrier for doom. 
 All things of beauty would it break, 
 All dreams would it entomb. 
 
 A box presented, with a sigh, 
 To me, the Guard of Life, 
 That I would hold it'til Life died, 
 Suppressing all its strife. 
 
 /-/ 
 
 But woe is I, to not have seen 
 The terror that it wrought, 
 And would that I myself had been 
 The only one it sought, 
 
 For in my curiosity— 
 And pride, it must be said— 
 I thought it would not hurt to see 
 The burden on my head. 
 
 *A simple glance, * ( a wish to know, ) 
 *But, surely, not too long. * 
 ( To look upon the ancient foe 
 They thought to be so strong. ) 
 
 And all it took were seconds, few, 
 And then—the box, ajar! 
 I rose and rushed and ran and flew— 
 Alas, it spread too far. 
 
 /-/ 
 
 And what remained for me to do 
 But gaze upon my curse? 
 Its tendrils grew, and soon, all knew— 
 And that was all the worse. 
 
 For all the humans, filled with glee, 
 Made use and then abuse, 
 For they knew not—but soon would see— 
 The horror it set loose. 
 
 And I, of Life, the Sentinel 
 Was surely all to blame. 
 A second's folly, years of Hell, 
 And more and more each day. 
 
 /-/ 
 
 And so it was that I, Life, called 
 My enemy, and said, 
 `` Of all the ones my curse has thralled, 
 I beg you: strike them dead.'' 
 
 And Death, a smiling, smugness on 
 His face, replied, `` What gall!'' 
 With laughs of joy, he rode upon 
 His steed, and cried, `` I shall!'' 
 
 But lo, for all his efforts, he 
 Could not my victims slay. 
 He came, enraged, accusing me: 
 `` You break the Law this day! 
 
 `` Have you, in your conceit and pride 
 Attempted to secede?'' 
 And then, I realized—and sighed, 
 `` The fault is mine, indeed.'' 
 
 /-/ 
 
 For when the world was all too new, 
 A Law was set in stone, 
 That all who lived and all who grew 
 Would one day die alone. 
 
 For what's the value in a soul 
 That never fears its end? 
 So purposeless, without a goal, 
 Or need for love and friends. 
 
 And so, they thought to give to me 
 The box of gilded fate, 
 And I, of Life, this `` victory'' 
 Upon my Death, do hate. 
 
 For all my love of drawing breath, 
 I know the truth to be: 
 My enemy is not my death, 
 But all Eternity. 
 
 /-/
