I’ve only read a few stories that deal with alternate history and technology, steampunk and gearpunk and the like. The idea of a world where technology took a different path always intrigued me and was a part of the reasoning for this particular story.
The man smiled. “My name is Baird. This is the capital city of Revalan. Do… do you remember anything? Anything at all?”
“Reapers,” Blink whispered, struggling to piece together her past. “They attacked Mauradin. I tried to stop them but… but they captured me.”
“Mauradin?” asked Baird. “There’s no place called Mauradin here.”
“You dreamed of me,” Blink said, her head still swimming. She looked over at the wide window and up through the tattered clouds at the single moon. She pointed. “I… I don’t belong here. This… this is wrong.”
She stared at Baird as he sat down, forgetting for a moment that the mask was still hiding half of her face. “I’m not crazy.” She tried to sit up. “The Reapers, their magic did something to me.”
“You appeared out of thin air, right on my porch,” Baird said carefully. “It happened right in front of me. It was like magic.”
“It was magic,” Blink said sourly as she lifted the mask, fighting the headache as it threatened to return. “What else could it be.”
Baird moved his chair closer, folding his hands together. “Magic doesn’t exist here miss. It hasn’t for hundreds of years.”
“Well it exists where I came from,” Blink growled, squinting her eyes as the headache began to lessen. “Damn it, Damn it, Damn it! I need to get home.” She stood up too quickly and nearly fell. Baird caught her shoulders, helping her catch her balance. She glanced at him. “Were there ever two moons in your sky?”
“Once,” Baird answered. “I’ve read legends about a second moon in the sky. People used magic and traveled freely between the worlds.” He got up and looked up at the night sky. “The elves say they came from somewhere else. They still tell the stories if you ask them.” He turned on Blink with a strange expression on his face. “But I’ve never even heard stories of a kingdom named Mauradin. And that still doesn’t explain why I saw you in my dream.”
Blink, transfixed by the spectacle of the strange city, didn’t answer for a moment. “Seers say that dreams bridge the worlds,” she said softly. She looked at Baird. “But you don’t look like a seer.”
Baird blinked. “I’m not a seer, I’m a storyteller.”
“Maybe you are a seer after all,” Blink quipped. “All the seers I know love to tell wild stories.” She put her hand on the window, pushing out into the cool night air.
“Where are you going?” asked Baird, following her out onto the flat, rooftop patio.
The woman held up her hand as a chilly wind began to blow. “Hold still,” she commanded. “Reapers… they’re coming. Back, back inside!”
Within the Endless Skies 