Kara's Vale. A growing valley town nearby the Canton Falls after which the town is named. Founded by the current mayor's great-grandfather over a hundred years ago, what started as a simple trading post has grown into a respectable town, due in no small part to the precious gems that have been found deep in the caves surrounding the town. Word of the riches to be mined eventually reached the ears of the mafia, who have slowly infected Kara's Vale.
"Nice place they got here." Thomas Martin, werewolf survivor and ace reporter, gives his assessment of the silent Kara's Vale. There were few people on the street, and those that were stared at the two outsiders with disdain. "Kinda dead if you ask me -- ow! What the hell, Max?"
His assailant, fellow werewolf survivor and traveling medium Maxine Owens, slapped the young man's shoulder again. "Do not speak ill of the dead! There are evil spirits at work here. I can feel their presence."
"Riiight. We're supposed to meet with Mayor Kara. See what's been going on. Maybe she can fill in some blanks... like why everyone is staring at us."
The two headed to the mayor's office, where they were immediately stopped by the guard. "Hold it right there. We'll need to see some identification, both of you." As the two did so, they were scanned with a metal detector and, after they were cleared, were returned their IDs and allowed entry into Town Hall. "Straight ahead, up the stairs, first door on your left. Mayor Kara's in her office."
"Thanks, buddy," Thomas said, entering the large building. Following the guard's instructions, he knocked on the door and waited. A tall brunette opened it and smiled, extending her hand to Thomas, then Maxine. "Hi. Antonia Kara, we spoke on the phone. If you'll come inside, I can explain everything that's been going on."
"You can start why everyone in your town is looking at us like we're devil spawn," Thomas said, a little put off by Mayor Kara's friendliness. "Or why you seem to be the only one in this town who isn't."
"They're all on edge because of the Wise case," she began, sitting in her desk chair. "Please, sit, both of you." She reached into her desk and pulled out a newspaper clipping with a headline that read MAFIA BOSS ARRESTED in large letters. Beneath it, an article titled 'Tristan Wise Vows Revenge'. Mayor Kara kept speaking while Thomas read the clipping. "Tristan Wise has been a thorn in my family's side for over a decade. According to our intelligence, he's been running the mafia for longer than that, and we finally got him. Of course, someone saw us bring him in, and there was a crowd waiting for us when we got to the police station." She gave a small, mirthless laugh. "We actually had to protect him, walking him inside. He shouted that even though he was captured, he had successfully integrated the mafia into Kara's Vale and someone would take his place soon."
Thomas handed the clipping to Maxine. "So what, they think I'm that someone or something?"
"Put simply, yes," Mayor Kara continued. "Wise claimed that there were people in the mafia that we didn't even know about. We'd had a mole working for us, but when Wise revealed him as a double agent, we had him arrested as well. Wise said that there were people in Kara's Vale whose place in the mafia was so secret that only they were aware of their membership. An insurance policy, he called it. So of course, when people found out about what he'd said, commerce basically came to a halt. People stopped going out unless they had to. No one trusts anyone anymore, and that goes double for outsiders like you. Violence has gone up since his arrest. It seems like getting Tristan Wise off the street has brought the crazies out."
"Crazies?" Maxine perked up. This was more her area of expertise. "What do you mean by that?"
Mayor Kara sighed. "There's a group that calls them the Cult of Pandora. They-"
Maxine shot out of her chair. "The Cult of Pandora is here?!" She grabbed Thomas's arm, tried yanking him out of his chiar. "We must leave immediately!"
Thomas broke free of her grip, sat back down. "Whoa, hold on, what? The cult of who?" He pulled out his pen and notepad, started taking notes.
"The Cult of Pandora is a doomsday cult. They seek to open Pandora's Box, an item filled with unspeakable evil. If they have found it, they will stop at nothing to see it opened. We must leave at once!"
"Doomsday... evil... open the box." Thomas turned to Mayor Kara again. "So these Pandora loonies have been causing trouble, too?"
"Not exactly. Normally they just shout their beliefs on street corners and stuff. People counter-protest, but it rarely gets violent. Nowadays, it rarely doesn't get violent. They've been meeting more and more often and in more public places, and someone claiming to be their leader has claimed to have found Pandora's Box." She interrupted Maxine before she could resume her freak out. "We've done our homework, Miss Owens. We've heard the legends about Pandora's Box, so we had a team investigate. It turned out to be a hoax. Just them spouting nonsense, as usual."
"I sincerely doubt it, Mayor," Maxine said. "Can you take us there? I have to see this place for myself. I can, with some effort, see spirits. If this is truly Pandora's Box, I can tell you with certainty."
"Well, you won't have to go far," Mayor Kara said, pointing out her window at a large statue off in the distance. "See that statue? It's a statue of my great-grandfather, Wylie Kara. He founded this town. The Cult said that the statue was actually Pandora's Box. But I don't understand why they would say that. I know it's not some mythological artifact, it's a statue made of stone. I oversaw the building of it myself. You are welcome to investigate it, but you won't find anything useful."
Maxine left without saying another word, leaving Thomas to excuse them and scramble after her. The outsiders made their way back to the town's entrance, where they found the statue of Wylie Kara. Maxine closed her eyes and focused, trying to sense any spiritual activity. Almost immediately she shuddered, falling to her knees in shock. "It's here. I have never felt such evil. It's not..." she closed her eyes again and focused, this time looking for a source. "No, it's not the statue. It's coming from underground."
"Underground?" Thomas looked at her skeptically. "That explains why the Cult thinks the statue is Pandora's Box. It's actually underneath the statue. So why don't we just move the statue, dig up the box, and destroy it?"
"You mustn't!" Maxine screamed. "You must not disturb the statue. The evil that is inside Pandora's Box has begun to seep its way into the statue. The statue has become an extension of Pandora's Box. If it breaks or is disturbed, you will release everything inside! I will try to put a sealing spell on the statue to prevent any more evil from entering it."
She held her hands in front of her, mumbling something that Thomas didn't understand. She kept at this for a few minutes before Thomas interrupted her. "Almost done there?"
"This will take all of my strength," she said, not opening her eyes. "Be patient." After a few minutes more, she finally placed her hands on the statue - and screamed.
The evil spirits housed in the statue flooded into Maxine's body, causing her immeasurable pain. She fell to the ground, clutching herself tightly. "Max! Jesus, Max, what happened?!" Thomas kneeled down and turned Maxine over as she cried, the pain slowly dissipating.
"I am cursed," she choked out. "There is no stopping this, Thomas. It is too much for me or anyone else to stop. Get out while you can and leave this cursed town."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'cursed'? Cursed how?"
A man, cloaked in black, approached them. "The evil inside Pandora's Box has tainted her soul. She will die soon."
Thomas looked up at the strange man. "Are you one of those Pandora nuts? What happened to her?"
"Excuse my terrible manners. My name is Dapp Che. I'm the leader of the Cult of Pandora." He extended his hand in a greeting and was not at all offended when Thomas did not take it. "I'm a visitor, like you, and I can see spirits, like her. I was not born with those abilities, but after extensive studying, I have learned how it's done. She is right in that there is no stopping Pandora's Box from opening. I saw what she was doing. I would have stopped her from trying, but to be honest I was more interested in the results of her experiment. Even I'm not foolish enough to try and stop Pandora's Box, but it was nice to have my hypotheses confirmed."
"What the hell, man?" Thomas said, rising to his feet. "You're fine with letting an innocent person die?"
"For science? Absolutely," he replied, pointing a finger at Thomas. "Science is cold, calculating, methodical. There is no guilt or innocence in science. If one person needs to die in order to further mankind's knowledge of science, I will gladly pay that price. It does not matter if it's one person, a hundred people, a thousand people, or a hundred thousand people. I will do all in the name of science."
"You are a huge weirdo," Thomas said, helping Maxine to her feet. "Why haven't the people of Kara's Vale locked you up?"
"They don't care!" Dapp said, smiling. "They just don't care. They have more important things to worry about than some nerd in a robe preaching about how the world's gonna end. Plus, I've committed no crime. What are they going to arrest me for?"
"Bad fashion sense for one, and being a complete looney tune for another. Plus opening this box."
Dapp simply continued to smile. "Ask your friend if I'm crazy. Pandora's Box is opening, Mr. Martin, make no mistake, but it wasn't because of me. It is a culmination of all evils in the world, and the box can no longer hold it all. This statue, as your friend said, has become an extension of Pandora's Box. But stone won't hold the spirits in for long. I'm just here to speed things along however I can, which, again, is not a crime. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to return home and update my journals with this latest development."
As Dapp left, Thomas wrapped Maxine's arm around his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you to the inn or hotel or whatever it is they got here. You can tell me more in the morning."
