Dream Merchant Amelie [A Magical Realism Short Story] [Complete]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

There isn’t a dream Amelie can’t conjure.

Those wishing to forget come to Amelie for the gift of oblivion; those wanting to remember come to remember, even entire lives that they haven’t lived; those wishing for love come to love, romancing an imagined partner within dreams that Amelie creates for them.

And they sell really,reallywell. Because she’s crafted and sold so many dreams, she finds no request too great nor daunting to undertake. The harder the challenge, the better it is – after all, it pays the most, and gives her the psychological stimulus she sorely wants.

That is until one day, a mysterious client approaches her with a request for a dream that Amelie had never heard:

A dream ofimmortalityfor her ailing son.

Undertaking this extraordinary request will change everything that Amelie knows about herself, her client, and the truth behind her wish – and why people choose to dream of dreaming.

[Submitted as part of the 2024 January Royalroad Community Magazine contest, based on the writing prompt "Immortality is a myth."]

Update:Dream Merchant Ameliehas made the Royalroad Community Magazine'sTop 10 placementout of 171 story entries! The response has been phenomenal and I would like to thank the readers and community judges for their support!

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: Toshinori Heiichi

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 19
Views: 4,705

Chapters(11 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(2)

KyonoHanaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story gave me deep Ghibli vibes, and I’m not only talking about Ghibli stories with its bright and happy elements, but also of its heavy and shadowy stories that haunt you. Bear in mind this is NOT a story that’s 100% happy. But it will 100% make you cry (unless you have a heart of ice). It did for me, and I’ve not felt this much from a story in years.
I am not finding any other analogy coming to me that neatly sums up everything I’m feeling (definitely not because my eyes are blurry as heck from crying!...), so I’ll just tell instead of show. Hope you don’t mind. I’m keeping everything spoiler-free.
Whew. Here goes.
Story: The author takes an interesting premise that could easily devolve into clichés but transcends that worry. The explorations of the premise really flesh out the potential with what a dream could be and how it can affect a person psychologically. Every dream merchanting process intertwines with the plot (and drives it), and there were so many instances of the plot escaping my expectations that just saying ‘creativity’ doesn’t really do justice to the meticulous craft and care that oozes from the presentation of the protagonist’s journey as a dream merchant. Not mentioning any spoilers, chapter 4 is where it really started to pick up for me. Above all, the story brims with such heart and humanity that it’s cathartic to read. One would probably have to be a robot to read the story and come out on the other end not feeling some way like I do. 5/5.
Style: The author presents the story from a first-person perspective with present tense. This narrative style can be a hit-or-miss, but thankfully the author delivers each line so it feels like the protagonist is inviting the reader into the story to examine and explore with her. Because of that, there is an unspoken intimacy that pulls the reader into her mind without them noticing. Since readers are limited to the information that the protagonist has, there is surprise and bittersweetness around each co
Aaron NelRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I have been reading a lot of the neverending litrpg stories on royal road.
It's nice to read a story where the end is not some distant end I will be waiting for many years.
I like the setting and characters. The way the story flows from one interaction to the next. I like how the author foreshadows what will happen as the mystery unfolds.
Some of the interactions seams a bit forced but in this shorter format there needs to more subtle interactions. A bit more interactions and invitations between some of the more minor characters. Like the rich young merchant and the doctor.
I really enjoy your descriptions of the dream scapes and how our MC moves through them. How she is valnerable she is in the limitless space of dreams.