Diabolic Fiction

DORNÓG: a dream

1. In the small county of Brimstone, Illinois there sat the only known, perfectly circular field in the world. Its diameter stretched 70 feet with a dense forest spreading out from its sharp edge. Its surface was smooth sand with not a blemish on it. No grass...no pinecones...no foreign matter whatsoever. Except... one small pebble directly in the center of the circle. Hardly noticeable, really. It never actually caught anyone's eye until the boy came along. He is known as "the boy" because no one thought to ask his name. But after everything was said and done, you can't really blame anyone for not asking. That was the last thing on their minds.

2. As boys go, this one hadn't seemed too special. His sandy blonde hair was cut around his head and a few thick pieces often fell in front of his eyes. He had pale blue eyes and a stare that could make the Devil nervous. He was thought to be around ten years old and stood almost 4 1/2 feet tall. His voice was soft yet growled with age and his intellect darted at you like a snake's tongue.
Everyone in Brimstone knew all of this, but that didn't get to the heart of what the boy was made of. Some said he was made of iron and some said he wasn't made of anything... that he was a ghost. But one thing they all agreed on was that he had saved Brimstone.

3. It was on a cloudy summer day that the boy happened upon the clearing. Dark, murderous clouds rushed overhead throwing shadows over the sand making it seem as if ripples were expanding across the flat surface. But not even the wind could stir the infinite grains. The boy took a tentative step onto the clearing and let his foot sink into the cool sand. He took another step, and another until he had crossed one radius and reached the pebble. When he looked back, he saw that his imprints had disappeared. There was no trace that he had walked across the clearing. The pebble was very smooth...very round...and looked very heavy. He tried to pick it up but it wouldn't move. It seemed rooted to the sand by an invisible force. The boy could dig his hand under and around, but not move it. The boy noticed that the pebble emitted a low hum that seemed to shake the earth. He put his ear to it and listened as it talked. The boy sat down Indian-style with the pebble between his crossed legs. He just stared at it... waiting for something.

4. Hours later, the boy stood up, his job done. The pebble no longer rumbled or talked or felt cold to the touch. It could now be picked up and was no longer heavy or round or very smooth. It was just an ordinary pebble as it once had been. The boy strode across the sand leaving his imprints in the frightened grains. Days later an electrified fence was erected around the clearing and an ultra-secret government agency set up an underground base directly beneath it. The clearing remained unblemished except for a trail of small footprints.