As told by Hesiod, when the titan Prometheus (”foresight”) stole fire from the gods and gave to humanity, not only did the gods penalize Prometheus (by letting an eagle endlessly devour his liver) but they punished mankind as well. 

They forged a woman, Pandora, who married Prometheus brother, Epimetheus (”afterthought”), and told her not to open a certain ceramic jar that had been entrusted to her husband. Pandora, curious, opened the jar, and thus released a multitude of evils and afflictions into the world. She closed the lid as quickly as she could, but only air entity remained trapped inside the jar. That entity was hope. 

After Hesiod had written down this tale, millenia passed, and to make a long story short, human abuse of fire eventually brought the world to destruction. The debris of the world washed up in the Cosmic Scrapyard, along with time itself, which now, devoid of any direction or speed, dissolved into scattered pools of viscous shimmering substance. 

Without time, there was nothing to predict, anticipate, or expect. 

But life things happened. 

In the Scrapyard, Pandora’s jar cracked under the weight of rubbish, and hope slid out through the crack. Without time, hope could only sink into the ground, disperse, and merge with everything living and dying there. 

Meanwhile, a band of humans, and a group of gods, both lost in the void left behind by the world, separately strayed into the Cosmic Scrapyard. They met by the broken jar. Weary and silent, they lit a little fire together.

Underneath, a different and older Pan–Dora (”all-giving”) slowly began to awaken.

A conversation unfolded between humans and gods…

To be continued…