This is a story for Alastair’s Photo Fiction challenge. It takes place in a virtual reality world, similar to the one in my story, The Horse Bridge.
copyright Alastair Forbes
Phaeton Day
I woke up in my virtual world of Lex to find a .80 caliber Helios “Sunkiller” rifle propped next to my bed. That meant only one thing: Phaeton Day.
Outside, neighbors were clustered together, looking up at the sun, each holding their rifle. The sun was already quivering around, dancing to and fro. Suddenly, it streaked across the whole arc of the sky from east to west. Shadows skewed crazily.
A few people took shots at it, but most waited. The world moderators had outlawed flying for the day and everyone moved slowly, suddenly ungainly at having to stay on the ground.
The day wore on and as the sun sunk closer to the earth, it began to get hotter. More people were firing now, trying to puncture the sun and unlock their Sunkiller achievement.
By mid-afternoon, everything was broiling. The sun was on high difficulty: it kept dancing everywhere, impossible to hit.
I had one bullet left when the sun zoomed overhead. I felt the intense blast of heat and fired upwards. There was a splash of flames and the disk of the sun fell onto my house.
“Congratulations!” a voice said out of nowhere. “Umm, sorry.”
The Green-Walled Tower 
September 1st, 2013 at 8:45 pm
Imagine each person trying to shoot down the sun. very creative. a nice read:)
September 1st, 2013 at 8:55 pm
It would be a fun sport for the whole family 🙂
September 1st, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Love the creativity of this.
September 1st, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Thanks. 🙂 Great photo.
September 1st, 2013 at 8:58 pm
Thanks David
September 2nd, 2013 at 12:20 am
Love Greek myths, so this was fantastic! Makes me want to try my hand at incorporating some of the Greek myths into my own stuff… It’s always seemed so intimidating, but this helped me see the other side of the spectrum!
September 2nd, 2013 at 7:40 am
Thanks! Glad you liked it. I included the link for those who might not get the reference but I love to allude to myths and legends when I can.
September 2nd, 2013 at 2:03 am
Shooting down the sun – what a fantastic tale!
September 2nd, 2013 at 5:54 am
This is a brilliant story.
September 2nd, 2013 at 8:59 pm
🙂 Thanks.
September 3rd, 2013 at 11:08 pm
I suppose this is not a doomsday scenario, shooting the sun out of the sky?
September 4th, 2013 at 7:35 am
Well, not in a world where they can regenerate it at will. 🙂
September 19th, 2013 at 3:16 pm
just loved it! what a game to play!
September 21st, 2013 at 10:22 pm
That would be fun. I could see it in some future virtual reality world.