The Pearl and the Seashell

Moriah Chang, Staff Writer

Long before the world was created, there was a god called Clove. Clove was the most powerful of all gods, and was known to be strong and cruel. Because of this, he was physically and emotionally abusive to his wife Mary who was also a god. Eventually, Mary decided that she could no longer withstand Clove’s abuse, and decided to flee to a place where Clove would never be able to find her. At this point, Mary was bearing a pair of twins and was therefore even more desperate to escape Clove’s wrath. And so Mary used her powers to transform a strand of her own hair into an entire magical world that she named Earth.

The physical world had crystal clear oceans, sandy beaches, beautiful vegetation, blue skies, animals of every kind, lush forests, starry nights, bright sunlight, etc. Soon enough, Mary was able to give birth to her twin sons, whom she named Arceus and Percy. Arceus grew to be a tall, gentle, and caring person, whereas his brother was his polar opposite. His brother Percy was foolish, a troublemaker, and was often jealous of Arceus. Mary, Percy, and Arceus lived together on this safe universe that was created for them to peacefully dwell in.

One day, Arceus and Percy decided to hold a little competition to see who could produce the most beautiful object or creature in the world. Arceus and Percy agreed to give each other three days to perform this noteworthy task. The next day, Arceus immediately went to constructing his object, but Percy was thoughtless and continued to delay on his work.

As Arceus was thinking deeply by gazing into the vast ocean, he spotted something that was glistening on the golden shore of the beach. As he slowly approached the area, he found a glistening pearl that lay perfectly near the shores of the ocean. With the smooth sand on the beach, he carefully molded a sculpture and used his godly powers to transform the pearl into a head. With great craftsmanship, Arceus had created the first man, a perfectly sculpted and upright figure that could perform bodily functions. He also picked up a nearby purple seashell and formed it into the first woman. Arceus was now finally ready to show his marvelous discovery and creation to his brother. On the other hand, Percy remained inconsistent and wasted all of his time. By the end of the day, Percy reluctantly approached his brother empty-handed.

Arceus could only jeer at his brother who was deeply embarrassed, and this greatly infuriated Percy which caused him to declare a curse on his brother’s creation. In a fury, Percy solemnly swore that every descendant of the first man and women would be doomed with the nature of procrastination, a bitter lesson that he himself had to experience. And from that point forward, humans were born and cursed to be easily distracted and to have poor time management.