Kn'na''nan leaned back, his crest raised in satisfaction. His three companions stirred and sat up. Hn'narnatnss flexed his coils in a reflexive shiver. "
"[Yes, it's quite the tale,]" added Gngnra. The Dorarizin almost looked like a male, what with her fur fluffing out around her neck like a mane. She met Hn'narnatnss's eyes and he saw that she felt just as uneasy as he did.
The warmcuddle by his side, however, clapped his small hands together in applause. [Jason's] small teeth bared in a delighted smile. "[Oh, yeah! That's the good stuff, [Kn'na''nan]. You're a natural at this]!"
The Karnakian's crest rose in delight at the praise. "[Thank you! That is a common story among...]" He trailed off as his crest deflated a bit. [Er, promise you won't be angry if I tell you where it comes from?]"
"[Of course I promise! Go ahead.]"
"[We tell that story to our hatchlings. It's a cautionary tale that's based on some old stories about a real three-eyed pirate. I apologize, I know you didn't want a children's story.]"
Jason's grin didn't falter. "[Are you kidding? That's the whole point of telling it at night! Like I said, in the daylight it would sound pretty silly. But now...]" The warmcuddle trailed off and waved at the dark forest around them. "[Now it seems just a little more likely, am I right?]"
Hn'narnatnss twitched his hood around in a quick movement that would have snapped the neck of any other species. There was nothing visible out there save for a few far-off heat blooms of some hunting avians.
The Jornissian told himself to stop being ridiculous. This was no frontier planet, it had been thoroughly mapped and surveyed. The local ecology's apex predator was only half the size of a warmcuddle, not to mention it hunted strictly via ambush. There was nothing out there that could harm them. By Sotek's nethers, that was the reason they'd chosen this planet for what his warmcuddle friend termed 'R and R'.
His musing was cut short as the aforementioned friend patted one of his coils with a small but very warm hand. "[Okay, [Hn'narnatnss], you're next.]"
The Jornissian's unease turned into mild panic. "
[Jason] laughed. "[Don't think of it as a competition. Think of it more like...giving us an insight into your species. [Kn'na''nan] told us about something that makes [Karnakians] uneasy, namely how losing one's [soulsight] could turn them cruel.]"
Kn'na''nan cleared his throat. "[To be fair, in the story [N'knn'il] chose to be cruel before blinding his own [soulsight].]"
"[And that's why it's a good cautionary tale,]" replied [Jason]. "[You're teaching your kids to be nice to others, because even if they could get away with being cruel in the short term then in the long term universe will smack them down. The weird stuff in the story is just to get the lesson to stick, to make it memorable.]"
Hn'narnatnss could almost hear the 'click' in his brain as he suddenly remembered a tale from his own childhood. "
"
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HENRY'S TALE: THE JEWELED BOX
Snnn'nratnah was a very successful Jornissian by any external measurement. In his youth he'd invented a handy mining drone program for sorting large amounts of raw materials with maximum efficiency. Through the years he parlayed that initial success into a wide-ranging commercial empire that spanned a large number of industries. Snnn'nratnah was rich, but more importantly he never fell into the trap of treating his subordiantes like lesser beings. His name was synonymous with being kind and well-respected.
Over the years, however, he'd come to...not exactly hate his elevated position, but to be annoyed by it, especially when it came to decision-making. Snnn'nratnah had a talent for choosing good and responsible people to help delegate a lot of his workload, but the sheer size of his holdings meant that his days were still filled with lots of urgent, 'must-decide-now!' choices.
Snnn'nratnah would never admit it out loud, but deep down he was tired of being in charge. He pondered the pros and cons of simply retiring...but in the end he chose to stay in charge. By now his company felt almost like a child of his and he couldn't imagine finding someone capable of keeping it running the same way that he could.
It is unknown how Snnn'nrathnah came into possession of the jeweled box. Some stories say that he inherited it from some distant family member, other versions claim that he found it in some out-of-the-way store which was never rediscovered. However it came into his hands, Snnn'nrathnah at first merely counted it as part of his overall wealth.
The box was indeed pleasant to look at. Made of a deep green wood of unknown origin, its hinged lid fit snugly in a casual display of expert craftsmanship. Three large gems adorned the lid, each a different color. There was a deep blue sapphire, a light green emerald, and a pale red ruby. Each gem was cut into a hexagonal shape and cunningly faceted to sparkle brightly in even the dimmest of light.
Because it was so eye-catching, Snnn'nratnah kept the box in his personal quarters. It became part of his nightly routine to give the box a final glance before bedding down. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he always fancied he saw one final glint from the box just after he turned off the lights.
One night Snnn'nratnah returned to his quarters more tired than usual. It had been an exhausting day of decision-making and he was almost ready to just call it a day and curl up in his nest. But then a grumble from his stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten in a few days. He knew the importance of keeping up his strength, but what to do for dinner?
Thanks to his wealth he had a very fine cook in-house to provide for him and his staff. It would be simplicity itself to just ring for her and ask her to surprise him with something delicious. He'd never had a bad meal from her and trusted her judgement. But he also felt like he'd been indoors too much recently. There was a nice [cafe] not too distant from his manor with lots of outdoor seating; it would give him a bit of good exercise to slither there. He'd been there frequently, and enjoyed people-watching the passers-by as he ate his dinner at his usual table.
Snnn'nratnah grumbled as he realized he had yet another choice to make. His eyes lit on the jeweled box and his irritation faded a bit as he marveled once more at how its gems sparkled. Seized by some sudden humorous impulse, he spoke to the object.
"
His mild laughter died as he saw the sapphire's sparkle pulse just a little more brightly than the others. "
The sapphire dutifully pulsed again. Snnn'nratnah rubbed his eyes and wondered if he was getting enough sleep. He snorted and turned away. "
The box did not reply.
As expected, his chef prepared an excellent meal for him. He made sure to compliment her on it as he finished the last of it, and now feeling quite content he headed to his quarters to sleep. The tycoon gave the jeweled box a suspicious glance as he passed by, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. That night he slept very well and rose the next morning feeling refreshed and happy.
His good mood evaporated when he exited his manor. A thoroughfare ran perpendicular away from his property, and at the far end he could see a profusion of people darting back and forth and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
Snnn'nratnah almost ignored it. If it was something important it would show up on the news feeds. But his innate curiosity got the better of him and he slithered up the street to see what the hubbub was about. His curiosity started to turn to dread as he realized that the activity centered around the [cafe] which he'd almost visited last night.
He couldn't get too close; the emergency vehicles had cordoned off the outdoor seating. With mounting horror he saw that area was now filled with twisted metal shards. In one corner sat the crumpled lozenge-shape of a crashed aircar...right in the spot where his usual table had once been.
Snnn'nratnah managed to grab the shoulder of a passing Jornissian journalist, who was clad in the standard yellow vest of his profession.
"
The journalist shrugged her hood. "
In a daze Snnn'nratnah made his way to his office. He liked to go by tail rather than by vehicle; most days the stroll would invigorate him. Today, however, he entered his office tower with a sense that somehow he was still asleep, that this was not his reality.
He went through the morning's duties and meetings in an automatic stupor. During a mid-day lull he called up a local news feed and read intently about the crash and its aftermath. Somehow the three Jornissians on board the aircar had survived, albeit with serious injuries. The crash had occurred while only a few diners were present; those on the ground had received some minor wounds but nothing critical.
His secretary came in while he was scanning through the article. The assistant looked at the holograph of the wreckage and shook his hood.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"
Snnn'nratnah didn't respond at first, just stared with flinty-eyed intent at the image. "<...must have been a trick of the light,>" he murmured.
"
The tycoon shook himself and focused his eyes on his secretary. "
His secretary smiled at hearing further proof of his boss's generosity. "
"
----------------------------------------
Snnn'nratnah was no fool. Even back then it was an age of technologies which would have seemed like magic to our primitive ancestors. Thus the first thing he did was have the box thoroughly scanned by every instrument available to him...which was all of them. To the team doing the analysis he claimed that he was just interested in getting a thorough breakdown of what it was made of, to get a better idea of its origin.
Privately, though, he wondered if he'd somehow been the victim of a technological hoax. With nanotech it would be child's play to create a box which seemed to be solid wood but which hid a network of microphones, logic circuits, and micro-LEDs. Even though he'd had it for years, it was barely possible that some old rival of his had cooked up a crazy scheme to make him doubt his sanity.
Because if that was the case, then that aircar crash was not an accident and someone out there was guilty of attempted murder.
But in spite of his suspicions, the jeweled box stubbornly refused to be anything other than wood and gems. His team did manage to trace the origin of the wood itself and found it came from a deciduous flowering tree native to a life-bearing world some few light-years distant. But they discovered nothing else out of the ordinary; if the box was a hoax it was not due to any technology housed within.
The crash itself was also explained a few weeks later. A billion-to-one chain of events led to a massive short in the aircar's power supply; in another unlikely chain of events that short caused a total erasure of all guidance and emergency power. The faults thus exposed by the accident were fixed and all went back to normal.
Except, of course, for Snnn'nratnah. He took the jeweled box back from his team and put it right back in its normal place in his bedchamber. He spoke of its precognition to no one due to a superstitious instinct he refused to admit to himself. The tycoon kept telling himself that the flash he'd seen was nothing more than a trick of the light or of his tired eyes. He knew that the only reason he remembered it was thanks to the horrible coincidence of the aircar crash happening at the same time.
And yet...he also knew he'd been on the verge of going out to eat. He would have been sitting at that [cafe], he would have died but for the box's intervention. No, not intervention, that word implied some sort of consciousness in the thing. Now more than ever he knew it was just a box. He knew he should just let the matter drop as a billions-to-one happenstance.
But he didn't let it drop. After another few weeks of mental anguish he decided to proceed in a rational manner and see if the box really was some kind of...decider? Fortune teller? Either way he'd see if he could replicate the phenomenon...hopefully with fewer injuries to innocent people.
First he made sure that the blue flash wasn't a hallucination caused by a deeper medical issue. He had himself put through a complete physical and made sure to include detailed brain scans in the mix. The resulting diagnosis was that he was almost disgustingly healthy and could expect to live a good long while.
Thus reassured as to his mental health, Snnn'nratnah started with one minor business decision. After multiple discussions the matter he told his underlings that he'd get back to them the next day. His trip home that night was filled with a mixture of dread and anticipation. Would he see any flash from the box? If not, it would confirm his self-diagnosis of tired eyes.
He'd eaten yesterday, so there was no need for dinner this particular evening. After bidding good night to his staff he shut himself away in his quarters and stared for a long while at the jeweled box. Finally he gathered enough courage to speak.
"
The tycoon's breath caught as he saw the emerald pulse with a definite internal light. "
The next morning Snnn'nratnah told his puzzled staff that the acquisition was off for the foreseeable future. Within the next few weeks, however, that puzzlement turned to awe when routine audit uncovered a major bookkeeping scandal within V'aaannth Motor Company. The supposed 'sure thing' would have cost Snnn'natrah's company many millions, and those closest to the tycoon remarked among themselves about how the boss's intuition had saved them from a lot of headaches.
That intuition became even more remarkable over the next few months; it seemed that Snnn'nratnah simply couldn't [put a foot wrong] when it came to business. His already-remarkable business acumen now seemed almost supernatural as his extensive business empire became even stronger.
That newfound 'supernatural' intuition was, of course, thanks to the jeweled box. Every night the tycoon shut himself away and quizzed the box about what he should do next. At first he threw in a few 'tests' where he'd do the opposite of the box's recommendation; those tests invariably ended badly. He kept meticulous track of what the box recommended versus the outcome, but after a while it seemed unnecessary. Without fail the box steered him right, every time.
He also found that the box didn't need verbal cues; he could simply 'think' of the problem and the box would dutifully flash its decision. Every time the tycoon saw those twinkling flashes he felt a little surge of happiness at the box's beauty.
Six months after the accident Snnn'nratnah had his office redecorated. He took advantage of that change of scenery to bring the box to his office, installing it in an out-of-the-way spot on his desk as if it was simply a bit of [bling]. At the end of the day he'd close his office door and spend a pleasant hour or so staring into the box as it flashed and pulsed its colored instructions for the next day.
Snnn'nratnah's wealth grew more prodigious still, but he made sure that his charitable donations and overall generosity grew in even greater proportion. After all, he told himself, he couldn't take all the credit. For the first time in a long while, he felt nothing but happy with his place in the world. He was wealthy, he was loved, and he was now free of the obnoxious burden of decision-making. Now the tycoon could coast a bit and truly enjoy the fruits of his labors.
In the next few months he came to treasure that time at the end of the business day, when he'd lock his office door and spend a happy hour or two staring into the pulsing flashes of the jeweled box. After a while this communion became so ingrained that he didn't really have to even 'think' his questions; it was as if the box itself reached into his head and 'told' him what to do. Sometimes, the next day he felt as if he wasn't in full control of his body, as if he was nothing but a [marionette] whose strings were pulled by...something else.
That strange feeling always passed after an [hour] or so.
Over the next year Snnn'nratnah's initial elation faded. He acquired even more wealth and accolades due to his charity, to the point where one would be hard-pressed to find a single Jornissian on the planet who'd say so much as a mean word about him. But the praise and goodwill tasted like so much ash in his mouth. He knew it wasn't him that was responsible, it was that...thing. He grew to resent it, but still every night he'd spend an hour staring into the box as it issued its instructions for the next day.
More ominously that feeling of being [puppeted] kept returning, and for longer each time.
After another few weeks his resentment boiled over into hatred. His subordinates noted his short temper that particular day, followed by an unexpected turn when Snnn'nratnah decided to leave work early for the day. The others glanced at each other as the tycoon slithered out the door without his usual cheery goodbyes.
Snnn'nratnah calmed down as he made his way home, and made a mental note to apologize to everyone the next day for his rudeness. But it would do him good to get away from the habit of using the box, to get a good night's sleep and make his own decisions tomorrow. He was still the person who'd built an empire, after all. He didn't need some bit of supernatural claptrap to succeed.
His sleep that night was troubled, filled with dreams of flashing lights and unspoken summons. At last Snnn'nratnah woke, and as he blinked the sleep from his eyes he realized to his horror that he was back in his office. It was the dead of night judging by the blackness outside, and positioned in the center of his desk sat that accursed jeweled box. As his eyes lit on it the thing began pulsing its instructions.
RedGreenGreenBlueRedBlueGreenRedRedGreenBlueBlueGreen…
Snnn'nratnah shut his eyes as he screamed. "
RedGreenGreenBlueRedBlueGreenRedRedGreenBlueBlueGreen...
----------------------------------------
The next morning his employees were startled to find Snnn'nratnah already at work. He greeted them warmly and apologized profusely for his shortness the previous day, claiming that a bout of indigestion had caused his lack of tact. The workers accepted his apology readily, and the day seemed to pass in a whirl. Their boss seemed like a young man again as he gleefully tackled the myriad decisions needed for the day.
Inside, however, the tycoon was screaming. He felt with sickening helplessness that sensation of watching helplessly as something else spoke for him, moved his arms and body, smiled at the world using his face. Instead of passing within a few hours, this time he remained 'locked' within himself until the end of the day. He watched as 'he' bid a good night to his employees and retired to his office, watched his own hands lock the door and place the jeweled box in the center of the desk.
As he seated himself, Snnn'nratnah felt control return to his body. Once again he was 'himself', but for how long he couldn't say. He waited for the box to begin flashing, but this time it seemed to be waiting for something.
"
There was no reply.
"
As if tiring of his speaking, the box flashed blue. Before it could complete its next instruction, Snnn'nratnah acted.
In the midst of a sudden rage, he whipped his tail around towards the horror on the desk. Faster than an eyeblink he coiled that tail around the box and squeezed with a madman's strength. In his desperation he expected the act to achieve nothing, that the accursed object would prove invulnerable to mere physical attack.
But he was wrong. Snnn'nratnah felt a momentary elation as he heard wood splintering and felt the box collapse within his constricting coils; there was a brief pain in his tail as a few sharp-ended shards cut his scales. That minor pain was suddenly swamped by a titanic pulse of agony in his brain, and the tycoon screamed as he clutched at his head. He slumped to the floor as the room went dark...
There were a few employees still in the building, and when they heard their employer's scream they sped to the office. Finding the door locked, they dithered in indecision for a bit before breaking it down.
They found Snnn'nratnah sprawled behind his desk, staring at the ceiling with a bit of drool running from one corner of his mouth. Around him lay scattered pieces of dark green wood; for a moment they looked to the rescuers like bloodstains, but they quickly realized he didn't have a mark on him.
Within minutes an ambulance arrived to transport the unconscious tycoon to a hospital. He never regained consciousness, not really. Scans showed a massive cerebral hemorrhage in his brain; it was a medical mystery to the doctors, given that Snnn'nratnah was in the peak of health and had even had a full brain-scan not two years ago which showed no underlying issues. They checked thoroughly for any hint of foul play, but in the end had to just write it off as an unsolved medical mystery. His smashing of the box was put down to an accident during the tycoon's initial convulsions.
For the next few years Snnn'nratnah managed to cling to life, staring out at the world with dulled eyes and a vacant expression. He was taken good care of, and there was no shortage of volunteers to help the poor man who had once given so much to his community.
Eventually Snnn'nratnah died, and a great monument was erected in his honor. His remains were entombed within its base. As for the remains of the jeweled box...it was well known how much Snnn'nratnah liked the object, so in a final gesture of respect they placed the remaining splinters alongside his body.
Snnn'nratnah's tomb stands still. It is said that if one goes there on a night without even the slightest breath of wind to make a sound, one just might hear a faint cracking noise.
A noise like that of someone trying desperately to smash a wooden box.