Pandora's Box: Land of Strife: Pandora's Box Series, Book 1

by S. Y. Lee

  The harp music seemed to go on forever until the sun had fully set. Torches lit abound Silver Square burned bright and warm. The atmosphere was eerie, yet dignified. The woman in the gown stopped abruptly and bowed towards the stands, before walking off to the side with her head held high, cradling her instrument like a newborn baby. The crowd remained silent until the man in the feathered cap sauntered back to the middle of the square and called out the next two numbers.

  “Fifty-two!” Leo felt Sam nudge him. He held his breath, waiting for the next number to be called.

  “Twenty!” That was the giant’s number.

  *

  Leo felt strangely at peace as he climbed the fence. Halfway across, he stopped and turned to Sam. “Have you ever seen a man that tall? Is he a giant?”

  “Giant? Don’t be silly. He’s too small to be a giant He’s just… a little taller than most people,” Sam said. “Good luck.”

  Leo hopped off the fence and looked around for his opponent. It really wasn’t difficult to spot him to the right. The giant—Leo was still going to refer to him as a giant—stepped over the fence with his long legs. He was easily twice Leo’s height. The moment they made eye contact, the giant raised his sword and came charging at Leo. Leo started to backpedal, but not in fear. Ever since his first victory, Leo had been thinking about ways to combat the giant.

  He thought about David versus Goliath. Gulliver’s Travels. Sure, those were only tales in the other world where giants or little people didn’t exist, but they each told stories on how to overcome a bigger opponent. The giant came chasing after Leo, though he wasn’t very fast. Each lunge forward seemed to take a lot of effort from him. Leo wondered if that was why the giant didn’t wear a shirt. The less weight upon that heavy body, the easier it was for him to move.

  The giant swung his sword wildly whenever he thought Leo was going to stop moving. The enormous blade never made it close, but Leo could feel the breeze of air in front of him with each swing. If the sword made contact with him, the best-case scenario would see him flying off to the side. Leo dared not think about what the subsequent swing would do.

  He kept backing away at a safe distance until he neared the opposite fence from where he had started. He could hear people jeering, but he ignored them. It wasn’t the time to worry about pleasing the crowd. This was part of his strategy to win, but also to get as close to the stands as possible so that Eva could see him. The stands were right behind him, but he couldn’t turn his back to the giant just yet, or he might be split into two.

  When his back hit the fence, Leo raised his sword in a defensive stance and waited for the giant to catch up. As expected, his opponent thought he finally had Leo cornered and roared loudly as he swung down with his sword. Leo crouched down and rolled forward, through the legs of the giant. He heard the unmistakable sound of metal striking the wooden fence. Quickly, Leo got up and spun around with Sparrow, slicing the back of the giant’s knees just deep enough to inflict a tremendous amount of pain.

  The giant screamed in agony and fell backward, nearly collapsing on Leo, who had to jump out of the way. Loud wails come out of the giant’s mouth as he grabbed the back of his legs in distress and rolled around on the ground. The giant’s sword was still stuck on the fence, hanging by the blade.

  The crowd erupted as Leo jumped up in elation, overwhelmed by his victory. The euphoria of beating his opponent took a while to fade before Leo remembered to look up into the stands. Eva was looking straight at him with her arms raised in joy. She waved excitably when their eyes met. In that instant, Leo knew that she was the same Eva from Chicago.

  *

  Guards stood between the fence and the spectators in the stands, and Leo was too wary of them to attempt to approach Eva. He continued to hold her gaze while the crowd cheered for him, until the man in the feathered cap came up from behind him and ordered Leo to leave the arena.

  Eight men had to be brought in to carry the injured giant away. He was still moaning like a beached whale. As Leo was ushered away, he looked over his shoulder and mouthed to Eva, “Wait there.” He pointed at her seat in the stands. When she nodded in response, he smiled and went back to where Sam was waiting for him.

  People backed away from the fence as Leo climbed over, and Sam immediately pulled him in for a bear hug, almost smothering him.

  “Son! That was incredible! I couldn’t have done better myself! Trust me, I wouldn’t have gotten through those legs. What a brilliant move!”

  Leo grinned while spectators rushed to congratulate him on the victory over the giant. He was now one win away from becoming the victor of the tournament. Hopefully that meant a personal audience with the lord and an opportunity to pull Eva aside to figure out how to get home.

  “Thanks, I was lucky,” Leo said sheepishly, scratching his head.

  “Nonsense! It was years of training and hard work. I’m proud of you, son. Just one more victory and you’ll become a captain of the guard. It’ll be a great honor!”

  Before Leo could ask more about what becoming a captain entailed, Sam had already turned to talk to the people surrounding them, boasting about his own glory days.

  The wind had picked up, and judging from the flapping of the flags around the arena and the flames of the torches, it was blowing in the direction of the stands. The gusts weren’t strong enough to extinguish the fires that kept the Square lit, but they were dancing wildly in the wind. Leo felt a chill run down his spine, not from the cold wind, but from an uneasy feeling that he couldn’t shake.

  He inhaled and closed his eyes. It took him a while to block out the sounds of the crowded Square. People everywhere were chatting. Metal coins were being exchanged, either in bets or sales. The wind was blowing. Leo noticed that there were no sounds coming from beyond the four corners of Silver Square. The entire city must be assembled here for the festival and tournament. When he opened his eyes, Leo felt claustrophobic again, like he was stuck in an elevator with thousands of people.

  Somehow, the man with the young boy on his shoulders had wound up beside Leo again. The boy waved and gave Leo a thumbs up.

  “Don’t forget!” the boy said. “You’ve got to make me a guard once you become captain!”

  Leo smiled back at the boy, recalling the promise he had made to him. While the boy’s father didn’t say anything, the look he gave Leo indicated that he had no intention of letting his son join the guard.

  “Of course!” Leo winked, signaling a different meaning to the boy and his father.

  Chapter 18

  Eva wanted to jump up and down in joy. She had just witnessed Leo defeat a colossus of a man in a sword fight. It was something she could have never imagined seeing just days ago when they were lounging by the pool in Chicago.

  Yesterday, she had woken up in a soft bed in one of the towers around Silver Square. The last thing she remembered was calling out to Leo. Then, the red flash of light. The interior decorating of the room she had found herself in looked like the inside of a castle, and when she opened the door, a young female servant was waiting to help her get dressed.

  The servant ignored her protests and helped Eva get into a dress that looked like it had been picked out of medieval times. Eva felt silly wearing it, but her other clothes were gone. There were no jeans or t-shirts in the wardrobe. Her phone was also nowhere to be found.

  As the day went on, she met the older couple she would later come to know as her father and mother, the great Lord Bannor and Lady Pereva. She had never met them before, yet she couldn’t understand why they felt so familiar. She had memories of growing up in Silverbrick, but she also remembered her childhood in Chicago. The imprint of the luxurious mansion where she spent so much time alone because her parents were never there, was just as fresh as her recollections of her time spent in the tower in Silverbrick where she had been waited on by servants since birth.

  Eva had kept trying to ask about how she had gotten there, but all she received were strange looks.


  The servant and a guard followed Eva everywhere. She went out to the city to explore and as far as she could tell, this was a fully functioning community. It appeared that nobody was out of place, save herself, and by the end of the day, she had started to doubt everything that she knew. There was no modern technology, means of communications, or any acknowledgment from anyone that this world was anything but real.

  She had gone to sleep last night hoping that when she woke up, this would all have been a dream, albeit a strange one. It wasn’t. The servant girl was again waiting for her outside the door when Eva woke up.

  It had only been one day, but Eva was already starting to lose hope. Her entire reality had been upended into what she could at best describe as a fantasy novel. She was never taken with the genre growing up, nor had she read any of the classics about quests for mythical treasures or dragon slaying. She couldn’t have imagined all of this, because it was outside of her imagination.

  Her “father,” Lord Bannor, had insisted that she accompany him to the tournament. She had spent the entire day in the tower and heard the festivities and cheering of crowds. She had little interest in watching people fight with swords, but she didn’t have an excuse not to attend. This was her life now.

  When the fight had started, Eva tried not to look directly at what was unfolding in the arena. The giant man swinging his sword like a crazed lunatic looked like he was going to crush his opponent like an ant. All his opponent, who had his back towards the stands, did was keep retreating closer and closer to the fences in front of her.

  The guards closed ranks and held up their shields, wary that the giant’s clumsy swordplay might hurt the spectators in the stands. When the young man stopped at the fence and raised his sword to make a final stand, Eva covered her eyes with both hands. She couldn’t bear to watch somebody split down the middle.

  There was a loud thud, the sound of metal cutting into wood. Then an even louder wail.

  As the crowd roared, Eva opened her eyes slowly, peeking through the gaps between her fingers. David had fell Goliath. The young man was standing behind the giant with his sword held high. Eva raised her arms and cheered as loud as she could when she saw his face. She was cheering his victory, but more importantly, she was happy for her own sanity. Her smile couldn’t have been wider when their eyes met. It was good to see Leo again.

  Chapter 19

  The next round between the elf and the knight lasted longer than expected. The knight bent his knees, crouched down low, and blocked the repeated strikes coming at him, but unfortunately for him, the elf’s attacks only became faster and harder.

  After a prolonged time of withstanding strike after strike, the knight’s armor was badly scratched up. Blood dripped from a gash on his left forearm where the elf’s sharp blades had broken through. She had been aiming at the same spot in the armor and finally wore it down.

  All of a sudden, the elf stopped attacking and lowered one sword, while pointing at her opponent with the other. The crowd, Leo included, held their breath in suspense of what was about to happen. The knight dropped his sword and knelt in defeat. Both duelists knew what the eventual result would be.

  While the knight retreated away from the arena, the elf turned and pointed her sword at Leo, knowing precisely where he was along the fence. Leo froze, seeing the elf’s face head on for the first time. She was remarkably beautiful. Her features were sharp and it was hard to tell her age. She could have been younger than him for all he knew, but he doubted it. Her eyebrows narrowed and Leo couldn’t help but stare at her brilliant blue eyes. Her disdain for him was plain as she pointed the sword at him. He was the last obstacle that stood in her way of winning the tournament.

  Why would an elf want to become a captain in the Silverbrick guard? Leo wondered if there were any elves in the guard at all. His palms were sweating as he climbed over the fence. Not a single person in the square said a word as the palpable tension kept rising each passing moment.

  The man with the feathered cap was nowhere to be found, but nobody was protesting. This was the main event. Leo slowly drew his sword and raised it. It felt heavier than he remembered. Perhaps he was getting tired after a whole day of dueling. Leo put one foot after the other until he was within ten feet of the elf. She hadn’t moved, but the look in her eyes was even more intense, if that was possible.

  In the previous rounds where he had seen the elf in combat, Leo knew that she always struck first. It was her speed and tenacity that gave her opponents no breathing space and wore them down. So, she was taken aback when Leo suddenly leapt forward and swung his sword. Before he had even made contact, his body was pivoting to strike again. The sword in his hand cut through the air seamlessly and the elf had to defend with both of her blades while taking a few steps back.

  Leo almost couldn’t believe how well he was faring against the formidable elf. She blocked him when he swung high. She dodged when he came from the left. She parried with both swords when he jabbed. Leo kept attacking, knowing that he couldn’t afford to give his opponent any time to reverse their fortunes. Already, this was his longest fight of the day, and he knew that she had the physical advantage as the battle progressed.

  Taking a risk, Leo twisted the sword in his hand and swiveled the blade towards the elf’s head. The tip of the blade was only inches away from her face when she stopped it from moving any further by interlocking both of her swords on Sparrow. Leo tried to pull away but his sword was firmly locked in place and the elf raised a boot to kick him squarely in the chest. It took all his willpower to hang on to the sword as he wheezed in pain. His rib cage hurt and it took a few seconds before he could breathe freely again.

  Leo was just about to return the favor when there was a sudden loud explosion from behind him. It was followed by several more explosions in quick succession, as he looked over his shoulder to see that many of the buildings that surrounded the Square were burning.

  “Get down!” the elf shouted as she released his sword and leaped forward, pushing him onto the ground. Initially, Leo panicked and attempted to raise his arms to protect his body, thinking that the elf was about to deliver a fatal strike. However, when the elf got up and raised her swords, she wasn’t looking down at him. A torrent of arrows came raining down on them and her blades moved with great precision and speed to deflect the incoming projectiles. Leo could do nothing from his position on the ground, except to trust his life in the hands of his opponent who moments ago had been trying to hurt him.

  The pitter patter of arrowheads bouncing off the elf’s blades was oddly soothing. It reminded Leo of that day in Chicago, when he and Eva spent the day indoors under the pouring rain. It had only been two days ago, yet he was remembering it like it was a lifetime away.

  The next thing he knew, an open palm was being extended to him. The arrows had stopped and the elf pulled Leo to his feet.

  “Lord Bannor is dead! Lord Bannor is dead!” someone yelled. Leo looked to the stands and there the Lord of Silverbrick was. His body was riddled with arrows. Most of the guards in front of him were dead. So were other spectators. Eva and the lady were nowhere to be seen, as Leo started to run towards the stands, but he was held back by the elf.

  “Human! Look!” She pointed at dozens of figures covered in dark cloaks that had swarmed the stands from both sides. They made directly for Lord Bannor’s limp body, cutting down any survivors that stood in their way. When they reached him, four of them picked up the Lord’s corpse and carried it away.

  “We must find safety and regroup if we’re to have a chance,” the elf said. Leo looked to the fences where Sam should have been, but the burly farmer wasn’t there. There was death and destruction everywhere, and the clashing of swords could be heard all around them. Ironically, it seemed that the only place where no violence was taking place, was right in the middle of the arena where Leo and the elf stood side by side.

  “Human!” the elf said again when he didn’t respond. This time, the urgency in her voice was
evident.

  “My name is Leo Cowen, I mean, Leo Spellnar,” Leo said. He honestly had no idea how to introduce himself.

  “I am Karine, daughter of Elenden. Now, if we’re done with formalities, we need to go. Follow me. And be prepared to draw blood with your sword.” The elf surveyed the perimeter and identified a viable escape route to the left. She started to run with both blades extended, and Leo quickly followed, casting a final glance towards the stands. He hoped Eva was okay. He needed her to be.

  Chapter 20

  It all happened so suddenly. Eva saw Leo struggling to hang on to his sword after the female elf had planted a foot in his chest. Then the explosions erupted. Next came the arrows raining down from the sky. Lord Bannor had reacted quickly and stood up to shield Eva. She remembered the horrifying sight of bloodied arrowheads sticking out of his back, before he slumped down into his seat. There was no ambiguity to his fate.

  Guards and other civilians around her were either dead or injured. The servant who had followed her everywhere since yesterday was on the ground. An arrow was pointed out of her forehead and her eyes were wide open. It had been a quick death.

  Eva wasn’t sure how Lady Pereva had avoided the arrows, but the matronly woman had grabbed her by the arm tightly and pulled her away. The remaining guards cleared a path for them, fighting off cloaked figures who stormed the stands from all sides.

  They were now racing through the streets, past burning buildings and the tower where Eva had woken up yesterday. Two guards led the way as Eva and Lady Pereva tried their best to keep up. Eva would have easily run alongside the guards if not for the soft sandals that she was wearing. The uneven cobbled pavement made it difficult to walk fast without hurting the soles of her feet.