Faebyen Incorporated, a behemoth of a company known throughout the world for having its hands in dozens of profitable industries ranging from music and household appliances to oil and agriculture. The company even distinguished itself from other hegemons with its history of being entirely owned by merely a single family for the six hundred years it existed. Of course, being in charge of so much money for so long meant that each member of the Faebyen household had to fight for every second of privacy they could get. Yet, nothing they did could stop the world from learning of the necklace which became known as the Paragon of Misfortune.
The very Paragon of Misfortune that Josefur was entrusted with by his father at the age of six, who then shortly passed away.
“I DON’T WANT IT!” Josefur would often scream in his youth. “HELP ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”
Such a reaction was not the first of its kind amongst the successors of Faebyen Incorporated. Although Josefur’s father did not behave the same way when he was passed down the necklace, it was recorded in history for all to see that Josefur’s grandfather had. However, the world didn’t find it strange that Josefur wished to reject his family’s heirloom—every head of the family with it in their possession died before forty—it was that whenever Josefur was seen, the necklace could be found hanging around his neck. Very strange, everyone thought. Why would every leader of Faebyen Incorporated known to history wear the Paragon of Misfortune at all times if all their seniors died before forty years and most of them so blatantly wished to avoid the jewelry?
A curse, the world settled on.
A curse, and a blessing, Josefur discovered on his fifteenth birthday.
Fifteen years old was when the Paragon of Misfortune would reveal its object to the host it bonded to. It passed from generation to generation, only to one person related to the previous owner, absorbing life force to continue functioning. It would make its way around its owner’s neck if they discarded it, and wouldn’t break no matter what. It even led a few of its owners mad with its cursed antics.
Then, its purpose?
To find a suitable host.
Even the Paragon of Misfortune didn’t know where it originated from, but it knew that the secrets it kept inside would only be useful for one of compatible mind. If it detected the requirements fulfilled within the owner, its secrets would spill… Never did that occur.
“Until me…” Josefur whispered to himself on his fifteenth birthday. “A curse to those unworthy, but a blessing to their descendent if fate decided so, as is my case.”
Josefur stared at the necklace in his palm, which was previously just an uncut gem hanging from a silvery chain, now laid cracked open—something Josefur’s ancestors found impossible to accomplish.
“But of course it was not I who opened it, but the damned necklace itself that decided to unfurl.”
Josefur seemed to stare at the cracked gem in his hand, but reality proved differently. Josefur was instead peering within himself, now capable of inspecting his very soul.
“The Dao, this gem tells me. Claiming it can reveal to me the universe’s secrets…”
Blinking, Josefur left his soul realm, now armed with the knowledge that should have been on Earth so much earlier.
“To think that I became mankind’s frontier to the real world, a responsibility I’d rather wish upon another, but cannot cast away.”
Hanging the Paragon of Misfortune around his neck for the first time, Josefur took his first step as his species’ future leader.
