The First Illusion

by Crown Me Tarzan, King of Mars

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“This place? It’s a zoo. You’re on display, just like all the other animals. And if you don’t leave, that’s all you’ll ever be: just another animal,” I pleaded urgently.

“Why would we want to leave?” the woman asked, incredulous. “We have everything we want. It’s beautiful and it’s perfect. It’s paradise.”

“It’s a prison,” I responded. “A black iron prison. It’s just so big that you can’t see the bars.” The woman stared at me, incomprehension in her dull, sheepish eyes.

“A…prison?” She said the word as if she had heard it long ago, but had since forgotten it’s meaning.

“You…are not free,” I spoke slowly, my patience wearing thin. “You are someone’s property. You were stolen; enslaved in shackles made of ignorance. Bound in a cage built of shapes and angles. Imprisoned by geometry.”

“This is not paradise,” I said. “This is an illusion. We’ve all been lied to. Do it. Then you’ll know.”

She hesitated; then she slowly raised the fruit to her lips, took a bite…

…and Eden, the First Illusion, faded away.

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. The First Illusion

    [pens&feathers]'s Buddy Icon [pens&feathers]

    Posted 4 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent!

  2. The First Illusion

    Stovohobo's Buddy Icon Stovohobo

    Posted 4 months ago

    Wow…this went many different ways after I read it – controversial, emotive, both, neither? Point of view can really change this around, depending on what you think. Is the narrator benevolent or malevolent? It stayed in question (at least for me) until I read the last few sentences over and over again. Very nice job, anyway, to provoke such thought.

  3. The First Illusion

    THX 0477's Buddy Icon THX 0477

    Posted 4 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Ooh, crafty retelling of the garden, with the serpent as liberating hero instead of conniving villain.
    LoA

  4. The First Illusion

    Stovohobo's Buddy Icon Stovohobo

    Posted 4 months ago

    Are the ratings not working again? I gave it a five, then.

  5. The First Illusion

    Capital "W" Writer (LoA's Geekus Awesomeus)'s Buddy Icon Capital "W" Writer (LoA's Geekus Awesomeus)

    Posted 4 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    That was cool beyond words! I love it. An interesting take on the story of Eden. Very well done.
    LoA

  6. The First Illusion

    BARomero's Buddy Icon BARomero

    Posted 3 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I really liked this! It was part Genesis, part The Matrix, part The Cage/The Menagerie. Blink once if you agree.

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