The Crystal Atlas

When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing alone in a valley surrounded by gently rolling hills and gorgeous mountains. All around me were beautiful flowers, babbling brooks of crystal-clear water, and ancient trees with canopies that provided a cool and gentle shade.

Curious to know how I had come to be here, I began walking down a cobblestone path leading to some sort of structure ahead, a circle of marble columns surrounding what appeared to be a fountain—seemingly the source of the water all around me. There was also a gentle and comforting iridescent light coming from behind one of the columns, and as I got closer, it seemed like it was coming from some sort of figure.

As the path drew me closer, the figure came into view. She was tall with long, flowing locks of auburn hair, and dressed in something approximating a Greek or Roman toga but much skimpier. The iridescent light seemed to be coming from just behind her, and she always seemed to be directly between me and it no matter what angle I viewed her from.

When she saw me, she smiled brightly with painted red lips, and gazed upon me with warmth in her sapphire blue eyes.

“Well met, mortal,” she said. Her voice was melodic and comforting.

“Who are you?” I asked. “And where am I?”

She nodded, and the briefest hint of melancholy crossed her face before she replied. “My name is Cerosia, and it brings me little joy to tell you that you have perished in your sleep.”

“I’m dead?” I asked in disbelief.

She nodded again.

I took a moment to let this sink in, and she waited patiently to work out my thoughts. “So, is this heaven, then? It sure looks like it.”

Cerosia smiled again, “I’m flattered, and you’re not altogether wrong. This is your personal garden of Eden, your corner of paradise. You’re welcome to explore it to your heart’s content, but I think you’ll be far more interested in this feature here.” She then gestured to the narrow fountain, specifically at something that hung in the air a few inches above the central spout.

It was a perfectly smooth glass sphere about the size of a baseball, and while it wasn’t all that interesting by itself, I could feel an aura of significance radiating from it.

“What is it?”

“I call it the Crystal Atlas, and it is a tool that will let you create your very own world.”

I glanced at her skeptically.

She shook her head but leveled a patient gaze upon me as she explained, “It always saddens me when I meet people from Earth. Your world has conditioned you to believe that wonder and magic are only things from fairytales, or worse, the work of demons and evil. I do not blame you for your skepticism, but you won’t know the truth until you give it a try.”

“Maybe if I knew more about what was going on here,” I offered.

She nodded, then sat down on a bench that I was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. “I am one of the many gods that oversee the multiverse. Specifically, I am the goddess of creation and imagination. This valley, which is now yours, is a small part of my domain in the afterlife. Only the brightest and most imaginative people are brought here, and I reward their creativity with the Crystal Atlas. It is a chance to create any reality they desire, to write any story—nay, to live any story they desire.”

“Why?”

“A reward,” she reminded, patiently. “But I will admit my motives aren’t entirely selfless. By allowing imaginative people access to the multiverse’s most elaborate canvas, I get the satisfaction of being able to view and peruse their creations for the rest of eternity. I’ll never be starved of unique and interesting stories for as long as time marches forward.”

Ah, so that’s it. It sounded pretty reasonable to me, and if I was going to be dead in the afterlife, I was glad it was going to be something like this. This was an opportunity I’d always dreamed of.

“Okay, so how does it work?” I asked, looking at the crystal ball.

“All you need to do is grasp it in your hand. When you do, it will create a world for you based on your innermost thoughts and desires. However, you’ll be able to alter or even get rid of it in favor of something new, should you please.”

“Why does it bother making anything at all, then? Why not just a blank… er… canvas?”

She shrugged, “Some people find it helpful to experience what the Atlas is truly capable of before they try to do anything with it. Others prefer to just have the opportunity to explore a world based on their interests and desires. The Atlas will utilize your imagination regardless of whether or not you actively choose to do anything with it, so I recommend just relaxing and taking it at your own pace. You have all the time in eternity to enjoy what it can do.”

I gazed into the sphere, contemplating the possibilities. “So, how do I actually use it?”

“You’ll learn to control it on an instinctual level eventually, but you won’t be totally alone. One of my children, an archangel, will be there to help you; they’ll know how to control the Atlas. They’ll be more than happy to help, so you can lean on them as much as you need to.”

Well, that was good; there was only one more glaring potential issue. “I don’t know how much about me you know but… um… if I have access to this kind of power, I’m probably gonna want to include some… um… choice elements and themes.”

Cerosia giggled, “It will be your creation, dearest mortal. I give this to you with the full expectation that you will create with it whatever you desire. You have not only my endorsement, but my encouragement. Even if there are elements in your world that I would normally find unappealing or distasteful, I will not prevent them. I probably won’t take a peek into your Atlas that often if you do, but that is my choice and has nothing to do with you.”

“And what about the archangel?”

“Your archangel has been chosen specifically because of their compatibility with you and your imagination. They are likely to have the same sorts of interests and desires as you or at worst be tolerant of them. And if by some strange set of circumstances this isn’t the case, I can always assign a new archangel to your Atlas who might be a better fit.”

I nodded, satisfied. It seemed all my ducks were in a row, then. There was nothing stopping me from taking the plunge and embarking upon a new story of my own creation.

I reached my hand toward the glass sphere, I could feel a strange magnetism around it, like static in the air as my digits inched ever closer to its flawless surface.

Just before my index finger touched it, I heard Cerosia behind me say, “Enjoy yourself, dearest mortal.”

((Writer’s guidelines: I have been purposefully vague about any features of the main character including age, gender, sexuality, and so on. These details can be whatever you want them to be in your thread. On that note, I have no rules about what you can include in your own worlds, just obey the site rules and we won’t have a problem. As always, I encourage other writers to contribute their own chapters and threads, I love to see what people can do with my ideas. Happy writing/reading!))

((P.S. The “Free Name” is just an extra customizable name in case a thread author wants to use it. Be sure to specify in your thread what you want the reader to set this to if you plan to use it.))