Kaleidoscopic Voyages (a short story)

Mirror, mirror, on the wall.

She had to find the necklace before the portal would close.

Tired, hungry, and angry, she started to feel desperate.

Whichever she looks, mirrors appear.

They render her fears, multiplied, indefinitely.

A kaleidoscope of visions jumped on her last attachment to reality.

Then, a glint in the distance.

Like a quasar sending colored cards about its death, rapid sparkles of pearls and diamonds echo in the dark forest.

With the last strength, she runs towards hope.

A dream of escaping, of finding herself in the quiet and comforting silence of its orbiting home.

Irregular reflective crystals shatter as she passes by.

That strange force field around her continued to affect the natural artifacts of this mysterious planet.

The intermitting spark gets closer.

Yes, it’s the necklace.

As soon as she grabs it with one last leap, driven only by the exhaustion of her body, a blinding light swallows her.

Bright Light. White. Deafening Silence.

She made it. Finally, she can enjoy a view from above.

Far above that menacing gaseous planet.

An infinite stripe of rocks paves the way.

It’s only a part of the orbital rings.

Tired, hungry, and angry she gets her hard-earned particle shower.

She was a stranger in a strange land.

And now she will be, again, a stranger.

But in another land.

Stranger.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall.

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