THE JOURNEYS OF ARK CHAPTER I: THE OUTSET PART ONE: THE PANDORA …It's a… yeah, what exactly is it?… By dr. Beruga     Chickens. Garden. Pumpkins. Crops. Weavers. Ark.     It was a hot, sunny day in Crysta. Crystal Blue, a rare phenomenon, was floating in the air. The garden was empty, the crops and the pumpkins were smashed out. The weaver's work was destroyed because the chickens were chased in. And the mischievous teenage boy Ark was standing in front of the Village Elder's door. He knew he was to be punished; he was the one that ripped out all the crops, chased the chickens into the weaver's cottage (although it wasn't on purpose) and some other things.     He knocked on the door.     "Come in," an old, grumpy voice said. Ark stepped in. "So. It's you."     "Yes."     "Still filled with mischief, are you?" he sniffed. "I heard what you did. Within twenty-four hours, you ruined the kitchen garden, destroyed the weavers work, you threw the fisherman into the water-"     "That was an accident. I said sorry to him," Ark defended himself.     "He nearly drowned!" the Elder yelled.     "Then he must learn how to swim." The Elder groaned.     "That is not an excuse."     "It's not. It's a fact."     "And you almost gave the domicile a heart-attack by your self-made bomb."     "It worked good, didn't it?"     "I'm not laughing!" the Elder yelled. "I suggest you learn how to behave, or you'll leave this house at once." Ark nodded. He understood he went a bit too far.     "I'll go apologize to the weavers at once." The Elder went calm.     "Please go do that." Ark walked out the Elder's room, walking outside.     The Elder was thinking. Maybe if his parents hadn't died on that tragically way, Ark might have be an easier child. But happened things don't turn back. Especially not in this case… With a mysterious grin the Elder went back to his meditations.     Ark was walking outside, going to the Weavers Cottage. Normally he would go by bike, since it was on the other side of the village, but he felt like walking. He walked down the road, behind the park was the cottage, and in front of the cottage the river streamed. It was the most north point of the village, far away from the Elders' Mansion, were he lived.     He enjoyed the stroll, looking at the floating Crystal Blue. The Elder once said that it were the tears of the Outside. He wondered what he meant by 'Outside'. But thinking about the Elder's words changed into thinking how to apologize to Elizabeth, the weavers' boss.     He was trying to put up a good excuse, and almost stumbled over a chicken. He came to the conclusion that there wasn't a proper excuse, he had to tell her the truth. But not the whole truth, of course...     Ark stepped into the Weavers' Cottage. Elizabeth looked up, staring at him, with a very taking-down look. Her eyes were furious towards him, but he also saw that she cried. Elle wasn't in the room. Normally about this time they held a break, but the damage caused by the chickens made it impossible to pause the work.     "I think you'd better leave this place, Ark. You have no business being around here."     "I came to apologize, actually," Ark said quietly.     "Do you know for what?" the woman asked, with a sharp tone in her voice.     "For letting the chickens into the cottage."     "No, not for that. For forgetting how we put our heart and soul into that what we're weaving. Don't you ever forget that, and don't you ever repeat that kind of foolishness again."     "I understand."     "Good. Then you can help us know. Bring those boxes to the garret. More will come, so work as hard as you can. You can leave when the last box is brought."     "Yes, ma'am." And he started working. Hours passed, and finally, after eight hours and twenty boxes, which seemed to have a growing weight, later, he finally could go home.     "But Mrs. Evermore, where's Elle? I haven't seen her all day."     "After she saw the damage, she fell down on the ground and was shocked after she heard you did it. She wasn't able to work so I told her to go home."     "O."     "I really don't understand how Elle can be friends with the likes of you." Ark, embarrassed, left the cottage. Now he was feeling sorry for the weavers. Maybe he should stop acting like a child. But then again, he always noticed that he did something that could hurt people after he did the prank. So it wasn't entirely aware of what he did.     It wasn't quite dark yet, so he spent his time on top of the hill, somewhere south of the pharmacist. He could look out over the entire village of Crysta. But the forest around it was so thick and the trees were so high, it looked like there wasn't an end to it. But Ark wanted to know what was behind the forest.     "When I run away, I'm going to live in the forest and then I'll probably find other places in the world," he said to himself. But he knew it wasn't going to happen. Then he noticed that he was tired. He dozed off.     He didn't know what happened, but he woke up because he felt a sudden cold around him. He ran down the hill, but he didn't have it warmer. At the contrary, he was feeling colder and colder. He saw no villagers outside -no wonder, it must be twelve o'clock, they're sleeping- and ran to the Elders', were he lived. But a bright light was coming out of the windows. The world seemed to be turning, turning, and turning...     He became dizzy, not knowing what the hell was going on.     The door smacked open. Elle was standing in the doorpost.     "Ark…" she said. She didn't look mad, but frightened. "They opened it…"     "What?" Ark asked, not knowing what.     "The forbidden door. I tried to stop them by saying that they'd better wait until you'd return, but they wouldn't listen. Ark, I thought you might stop them..." She was crying.     "Elle... what happened?"     "They just... disappeared... After the door cracked, they were sucked in and I walked down the stairs but I couldn't find them."     "But..." Not hesitating, Ark ran to the door and saw what happened. Elle walked to him. "But they knew... Now the Pandora is disturbed..." he whispered.     "What did you say?" Elle asked. Ark shivered.     "I didn't say anything," Ark answered     "But..."     "Really, Elle." But, like in a trance, he continued his sentence. "...and the Master shall defeat the Mistress... The Hero from the Underground can no longer save us..."     "Will you stop it, you're scaring me." Ark stopped.     "I didn't say anything, Elle. It must be your imagination, your shocked because..."     "I know perfectly well what I heard. Now, go on and find out what happened." Ark walked down the stairs.     It was dark and chilly in the basement, and Ark took out his bunch of keys, and used the mini-flashlight that was added to it. That helped.     The walls looked like they were excavated, like the marl caverns of Limburg. There were three stairs down, and they ended up in a big room, which was lighted by a strange ray of light. The ray didn't only light the room, maybe it wasn't even meant to light the room, but it also lighted a box, that was floating above a pillar. A small voice was begging for help. Ark walked to the box. It seemed to come out of the box...     What was with it anyway? How could something be floating? It was gold and had strange, silver signs on it. It was inserted with red jewels, rubies. But the voice was still begging, the sealed box must be holding a creature in it. He tried to open it, but an electric shock held him back.     "You can only break the seal and release me with a calm soul. Concentrate, and touch this box." Ark stepped forward, not knowing what was about to happen, and touched the box,     "Yes, that's it. Gently now, break the seal..." Ark went in a trance...     Next moment, a strange creature -it looked like a purple ball, and had large ears and small wings- was leaning above him.     "Are you alright?" it asked. Ark noticed he had fallen on the ground. He stood up, then saw the creature, and shrank back on the cold, hard ground. He screamed.     "What the hell are you?"     "You don't have to shout, you know. I'm a normal living being like you."     "Then how come I never saw you before?"     "I'm the only survivor of my kind. I'll explain..." But Ark interrupted him.     "Something weird came out of the box. Now I understand why the Elder put it away."     "I'm sorry, you're wrong. The reason why the fogy stored this box is because the people wouldn't be able to understand me nor it's existence. For the innocent people, the significance of the box wouldn't be understandable. This box is the Pandora Box."     "I read about that one... Pandora opened it and all the Monsters of Destruction escaped, except for the Hope... But if I opened it, then the world is to die..."     "No. I am the Hope and I understand the significance of human survival, although it seems a bit illogical to let the human species survive. But enough about that. I am the helper of the one that is holding the box, for over thousands of years. You've opened the box and now it's yours. People prefer to call it the Pandora. Shall I give you a tour?"     "Yeah... guess you should… but that box, were is..." Then he noticed he was holding it. "Ow. Never mind. The tour..."     "Yes. To enter the box, simply remove the seal. To get out, jump above. Don't forget to replace..."     "But how on earth am I going to fit in that?"     "You'll see. Follow me."     "But you really lived in there for over a thousand years?"      "Millennia ago I was captured by someone you would consider a 'god'. Now, let's go." It was clear that Yomi didn't want to talk about his past, so Ark removed the seal and was sucked into the Pandora. To be continued... Dr. Beruga, MAGIROCK PRODUCTIONS 2001, ©10 of August 2001. Everybody is allowed to place this text on his or her site, but only if the artists' name is also placed. This will be continued within a week.