The Device for Seeing True Things

The chamber vaults upward, spiraled gold and crystal glass against the swirling light through water and occasional wail of clockwork. At the far end, opposite the door and dwarfed in front of the giant, circular, kaleidoscopic viewing pane, sits the Master’s desk, a low, dark and ominous smudge. Above, the unimaginable weight of the wine-dark sea is held at bay by columns that extend deep below the ocean, deep into the very heart of the rock foundation; as deep and as steady as the Master’s grip upon his lands.

Available in digital form for the first time, The Device for Seeing True Things was the first of Liam Aidan's speculative short stories ever published. Set in the Master's Commonwealth, a war ravaged land full of myths and legends as prevailing as the brutal dictator's rule, this enchanting short tells a story of revenge and retribution. Will you open your ears to the screech of the shadowed mechans, or will you heed instead the wisher-women's call?