The Release of Great Good or Great Evil

The thrift stores have always been a popular destination for antique dealers. Those businessmen see themselves as explorers, like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. With hundreds of thousands of them combing through store after store every day, eventually, that one chest hidden in the corner of a store would be found, no matter how much the original owner wanted to keep it from the light of day.

With the original warning lost to time, the lucky hunter who found that special chest had no idea what lay within. Even if the warning had been present, he still would have likely ignored it.

It was the designer’s fault. The chest was simply made with too alluring an appearance. A wooden body rimmed with a golden material. If that were actual gold, the price that this chest, the size of a brick, could fetch would jump up a zero. Sadly, a simple estimate of weight already eliminated that possibility.

Except for its bottom, the five sides were each carved with a symbol. An ingot. A log. A surging wave. A raging flame. A heap of powder. Judging from its appearance, the hunter estimated the chest to be an ancient Chinese artifact that was at least five hundred years old. A great find.

A barbed-spring padlock held the chest shut. He shouldn’t force it open to avoid damaging the box. Still, he couldn’t resist running his fingers around the keyhole, where he felt a gentle breeze drifting out. That was impossible, of course. Must be his imagination.

Until the lock snapped open by itself and dropped onto the table.

The hunter retracted his hand. With a chill in his heart, he wondered if he had broken this precious relic that he had spent so much effort to find. To distract himself, he tried to look at things on the bright side. No longer was any lock stopping him from gazing upon the items in the chest.

Putting on gloves this time, he carefully opened the chest, taking care not to damage it. Normally, he would do this in his home lab only after vigorous testing. But he was stricken with curiosity about the chest’s contents. Optimal procedure be damned.

And what awaited him inside was… nothing.

The chest was empty.

He could only sigh. His heart sank at knowing that all his recklessness amounted to this anticlimactic result. Well, at least he still had the chest. With the same amount of care, he inched the lid back shut, unaware of the forces he had released into the world.

The distinct energies spread out thinly through the atmosphere, until they wrapped around the whole planet once again. After their first glimpse at the state of the world, thoughts bubbled up to their consciousnesses.

It is as I thought; the world went upside down in my absence. Everything has to be redistributed again.

Look at all the beautiful structures that were born since I was gone!

Wow, humans sure know how to shoot themselves in the eyes.

This is nowhere near enough.

Oh, my. What do I have to do about this?

After five hundred years, with each of their convictions, they once again rule the world quietly. And this time, maybe they wouldn’t be discovered.