When the creators announced their technology to record and playback dreams, it was called a hoax, but they proved it worked and went into business. The recording machine itself was simple, although franchises had a tendency to dress it up with LED lights. It scanned your brain activity and generated a recording in high-definition video. Hardly anyone noticed the clause at the end of the consent form granting the company commercial rights to all dreams. Most people assumed that it meant reusing the recordings for advertising. Until they hit their install base target, and the company turned on the paywall.
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She was a collector of retro tech, and her latest acquisition was too good a deal to pass up. The CRT monitor was dirt cheap, but that didn’t surprise her. Most folks wanted bulky items out of their storage spaces and never stopped to consider their value. She didn’t expect the face staring back at her when she plugged it in. The pale girl reached out from behind the screen. She put her own hand against the glass reflexively. The ghost could not remember how long she had been trapped in the dark. Perhaps this girl could break the spell.
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When the red rain fell out of a clear sky, accompanied by a foul, burning stench, the village considered it to be the worst kind of omen. The priest conducted an impromptu service in the church so that he might prepare our souls for what was coming next. He ranted before a packed house, speculating on the sins that had brought this punishment down upon us from Heaven. I was the only one brave enough to stick out my tongue and taste the falling drops. It was worse than they thought. The tomato juice factory two towns over had exploded.
Every year on his birthday, he would buy himself a mirror. He took each one home and spent an hour staring into his reflection. First, he’d memorize the person he was at that moment. Then he’d meditate on where he’d been and was going in life. Then he would carefully wrap the mirror, label it precisely, and store it in his attic. His friends believed it to be an affectation. But whenever he felt lost and directionless, he’d climb to the attic and unwrap a mirror. He would ask the ghost of his former self that lived inside for advice.
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The Earth was dying. His solution was to escape: Find a new world and colonize it. He found a parallel Earth and jumped sideways, like changing the dial on a radio. He found himself in a beautiful, lush forest. He smelled fresh, clean air for the first time in weeks. He heard birds singing for the first time in years. It felt like home, even if the leaves were pink instead of green. He’d planned to steal this planet, but as he walked through the forest, he knew he couldn’t do it. Instead, he went home and saved his world.
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She poured herself a cup of tea and listened to the rain pouring on the shelter roof. She’d heard that heavy drumming nowhere else in her travels. She sat by the window and watched the storm outside rage across the rocky landscape, reshaping it before her eyes. She rarely took a break. Her duties kept her too busy to bask in the wonder of it all. Later she would task a drone to collect samples. She would analyze them and send the data back to Earth. But for now, she just watched the rain: diamonds falling from an alien sky.
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“Are you sure you’re alright?” The sorceress asked from atop his back. The demon gritted his fangs. It was the fifth time that morning. “Yes, Mistress.” “Because we could take a break if you’re tired.” “Does my mistress require rest?” “No.” “Then we continue,” he declared. He beat his wings a little faster. “If you’re sure.” “You summoned me, Mistress.” He had been serving mortals for hundreds of years, corrupting their ambitions for his evil ends. His scheme was still millennia from completion. But summoners today were so irritatingly polite he was tempted to destroy this planet and start again.
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When it all became overwhelming, the young witch rode her broom out of the smog and landed on the breakers. From the barrier islands, she could see the whole waterfront and the towers rising behind them, glowing like some enormous pile of sparkling treasure. She could’ve had her pick of apprenticeships back in the villages, but she’d chosen to study in the city instead. City magic felt so different. It was all lightning and metal, bustling and unrelenting. The pace was overwhelming at times. But she came out here to regain perspective. Someday, she would make it to the top.
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The young hero knelt before the goddess and received a boon. “From this day forth, you may fashion any object you require from the living trees around you. Use this ability to build bridges, make tools, or construct defenses. Go and save the world from the Great Evil.” The goddess sent the hero on his way, and soon he defeated the rampaging army of monsters. But even as peace spread across the land, she began to hear desperate prayers from her worshipers again. The world had somehow become overrun with giant wooden phalluses. The goddess sighed and recalled her boon.
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As the ship descended, she looked down at the famous The Sky City of Venus. It sparkled in the Sun like the top of a wedding cake.It was a playground of the rich and powerful, and also housed life support for the millions who lived in the shelters beneath them and toiled endlessly for their amusement.The city was a crystal palace floating on a bank of clouds so hot and dense that they may as well have been lava. Without it, humanity couldn’t live here.As the ship began docking, she considered how she would destroy it.
The Mountain’s Shadow is now available from Amazon and Smashwords!
Hugh J. O'Donnell 