Prologue

Mason Miller was coming home around 1 AM after a long night of college partying, and as he approached his house he noticed a strange green glow coming from the basement window. He walked through the front door, and made his way to the basement door. Although it was late, he knocked to see if anyone was down there. He put his hand on the doorknob, and was surprised to find the door unlocked.

“Dad?” Mason called down, hoping not to wake anyone upstairs.

No reply. The green glow was now coming up through the open door and illuminating the living room behind Mason. Curious to see its source, Mason began down the stairs and as he walked he became aware of a high pitched buzzing noise that he hadn’t noticed before. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he looked around the room. Hundreds of boxes containing uncatalogued scrolls, codices and relics from thousands of years ago were scattered all over the place. Mason’s father was a professor of Etruscan and Italic studies, and had a bad habit of taking his work home with him. After glancing around the room he saw the source of the glow and the buzzing.

Professor Miller was apparently sleeping at his desk, and in front of him was a strange stone item of some kind. As Mason got closer he could see that the glowing, buzzing object was actually shaped a bit like a brain, with bumps and ridges all over, and it seemed to be covered in symbols that Mason recognized as Etruscan writing. Without thinking, Mason picked up the stone brain and the world went dark around him.

* * *

Mason came to in a strange room. The first thing that struck him was there was no doors or windows. The second thing that struck him was that this place must be a private museum of some sort. There was a massive bookshelf on one wall, filled to the brim with books, and pedestals supporting ancient vases. On the wall he was surprised to see pictures of him and his family. His high school graduation, his sister’s first lost tooth—it was all there.

As he was taking in the room, one of the books on the bookshelf caught his attention. It’s title was “Mason.” He took the book off the shelf, and opened it. He could recognize his dad’s handwriting. As he read more and more, a feeling of unease began to creep over him. Here, written with exquisite detail was seemingly every moment that passed between Mason and his dad. His birth, his first words, his first time riding a bike it was all there. The events and emotions were described with such vivid imagery that it was as if he was there in those moments. He turned the pages fascinated that his dad would keep such a journal. Then he looked up at the other books on the shelf.

There were hundreds of books, and they all had titles like “Memories of 43rd Year of Life”, “Opinions on Politics”, or “Knowledge of Etruscan Art.” Mason put down the book he was holding and grabbed the “Knowledge of Etruscan Art” book. It was a much thicker volume than the “Mason” book (he didn’t know how to feel about that), and it also seemed to be written in his dad’s distinctive handwriting. He flipped through, and found what seemed to be a record of a lifetime of research and scholarship.

Mason had always found his father’s work a little boring, so it wasn’t long before he had put down this new book. He looked around the strange little museum, and again turned his attention to a question that had bothered him since he had arrived. Where was he, and how could he leave this room?

As this thought crossed his mind, he noticed a door that had completely escaped his notice on one of the walls. He was sure the wall was bare a second ago...

The door answered one question, but the first question still posed a bit of a problem. Why had his dad created this private museum, and when did he have to time to obsessively document every part of his life in bound book volumes?

Every question seemed to lead to more questions, and Mason wasn’t sure he would find more answers by staying in this room. He felt like an invader in this private space, and just wanted to get out of there. He began walking towards the door to leave, but he stopped after a few steps.

Mason was still curious about the book that bore his name. He didn’t have the time to read his entire life story right there, but he was interested to see what his dad said later on in the book. He turned back, grabbed the “Mason” book and walked out of the door.

Mason found himself in a room that looked a bit like a doctor’s office. There was an exam table and blood pressure monitor on one side of the room, and a medicine cabinet and desk on the other side of the room. On one wall was a filing cabinet, and like the other room there were some pictures of Mason’s family on the walls.

Mason wondered if he was dreaming. A doctor’s office connected to a museum didn’t usually make sense in the waking world. The fact that the two rooms’ only door in or out seemed to be the one connecting them also weighed in favor of the dream hypothesis. As he thought this another door appeared on the wall. Strike three.

Accepting that this was all a dream, Mason found himself drawn to the filing cabinets. He flipped through the files, and noted that they all seemed to have similar titles to the books in the museum room. Things like “Knowledge of Anatomy”, “Favorite Desserts”, and “Firsts.” Thousands of files, and all of them seemed to be in his mother’s handwriting.

While all this was interesting to Mason, he became curious as to whether there was one labeled “Mason” anywhere among the many files. Sure enough, after a few minutes he located one. He pulled it out, and only flipped through it enough to confirm that it seemed similar to the book from the museum, only from his mom’s perspective. He took it and left through the second door.

The third room he found himself in looked like a classroom. The classroom had a stereo in the corner blaring a recent pop song, and it was filled with mannequins wearing various stylish clothes.

Mason wasn’t that surprised at the room’s contents. This dream had an obvious structure and logic to it. The first room had been based on his dad. The second room had been based on his mom. This third room was obviously based on his sister.

He looked around, trying to find the equivalent of the books or files of the previous room.

He eventually found his answer when he started opening the desks. Every desk was filled with a seemingly impossible quantity of notebooks, each one labeled something different. He searched through several desks before he found his goal. A red notebook with the label “Mason.” He opened it, and confirmed that it was written in his sister’s somewhat messy handwriting.

He tucked it under his arm along with the file and the book and looked for a way out of this room. Sure enough, a door appeared on one of the walls. He took one last look around the room, and walked through the new door.

* * *

Mason was surprised to awaken in his sister’s room. He looked around the dark space, and could hear the even breathing of his still sleeping sister. Had he been sleep walking?

That theory was quickly dashed when he looked down and saw he was still holding the three items he had collected from his “dream.” He was also holding the strange relic he had found in his dad’s basement.

He looked at the glowing alarm clock on his sister’s bedside table and it read 2:30 AM. Mason was exhausted, and he decided the mystery of the relic and the strange rooms would have to wait until morning to be solved.

He crept quietly out of his sister’s room, and into his own. He collapsed into his bed and sleep quickly took him.

Chapter 1

Mason woke up, got finished with his morning routine, and went downstairs for breakfast. His mom had made pancakes, so he grabbed a plate from the cabinet and sat down at the table. His mom and sister gave him a strange look, as he began to pour syrup on his pancakes. His father came in through the front door holding the newspaper, and gave Mason the same strange look.

“Nobody told me we’d be having company,” Prof. Miller said. “Is this a friend of yours Jenny?”

“No, I’ve never seen him in my life,” Mason’s sister said.

“Is he a patient of yours Emily?” Prof. Miller asked.

“No, nothing like that. He just came from upstairs, helped himself to some pancakes and sat down.”

Mason was almost as confused as the three people staring at him. Could it be that...

Mason’s dad looked to be sizing him up. “Alright stranger, who are you, and why are you breaking into our house?”

Mason could see his mom reaching for a kitchen knife from the corner of his eyes, and could see his sister looking around trying to find the best escape route if necessary. He had a guess at what caused this mess, but it seemed almost too bizarre to believe. He needed to think fast to get himself out of this situation.

“I’m, uh, sorry. I’m from... from down the block. The door was unlocked, and I just wandered in. I-I’m really sorry for this. I’ll just get out of your hair.”

Mason got up and walked out the front door, and as he shut the door behind him he saw three bewildered faces staring back at him. After he left, he circled to the side of the house his room was on, and quickly climbed up the old tree there to get up to his window on the second floor (a task he hadn’t done since childhood), he had to get the relic and the “Mason” items so he could try to figure out how to restore his family’s memory of him. He grabbed his backpack and quickly stuffed the four items in it. He grabbed one change of clothes, and stuffed that in the backpack as well.

He exited through his window, and climbed down the tree. He wanted to take his car, but he didn’t know if that was a good idea given his family’s current state. Instead he decided to walk to the bus stop that was about a mile from his house, and took the bus to the college campus, trying to plan his next move.

* * *

When he arrived on campus he sent out a text to his friend Monica. He was freaking out a bit, and needed to talk to somebody about what happened. She had a few classes to get through, but around lunch time she met him in the campus courtyard. He tried to explain what happened.

“Woah, slow down! You’re saying you erased your family’s memory of you?”

“Yes, and I have proof. Look at these!” he said, producing the book, file and notebook from his backpack.

Monica took the book, and read some random pages. It seemed like a biography about Mason written by his dad.

“What does this prove? Your dad could have just written this,” Monica said skeptically.

“Look, please believe me. I need your help with this. I need to put these back where they came from, but I need to learn more about this brain thingy before I do it so I don’t mess things up more than I have already.”

“Wait, you’re not just going to sneak into your house and try to put these back where they came from?” Monica asked, surprised.

“No. First, I’m not even sure it would work, and second I want to learn more about this thing before doing anything else with it. I need to test it out.” Mason said.

“How are you planning to test the brain? Don’t you think it’s kind of dangerous?”

“I’m not going to be the one testing it. I’m going to trust you to test it on me. I wouldn’t feel right changing someone’s mind without their permission.”

It took a bit of convincing, but eventually Monica agreed to the proposal. She was a bit nervous about the whole thing. She still wasn’t quite sure she believed him, but what was the harm in humoring him and testing the brain out? She also felt something else. Maybe, it was excitement? It wasn’t every day that a possibly magical artifact entered one’s life.

* * *

That night, Mason stayed over in Monica’s dorm room. When he fell asleep, she took out the brain and found herself in a different place.

The room around her looked a lot like a biochem lab. There were shelves of chemicals, and lots of expensive looking machinery. On the desk there was a computer and a bunch of equipment out, as well as some family photos. The chair was a good two feet from the desk, and had a lab coat draped over it.

She started looking through the cabinets and shelves. Based on Mason’s description, there should be something holding his memories somewhere in the room. She looked for close to half an hour, and couldn’t find where his memories were held. He had said it would be easy.

It wasn’t until her fifth pass combing through the room that she noticed that the computer’s desktop icons had weird names. Bingo. She clicked through the files, and her suspicions were confirmed. Now she needed to think of an experiment to try out.

She realized that removing Mason’s memories wouldn’t be as easy as it had been with his parents—she would need a flash drive or something. As she thought this, her eyes fell upon a flash drive that she hadn’t noticed before on the desk next to the computer.

With that obstacle gone, she began searching through the computer folders. Mason had told her to experiment, so when she found a text file called “Knowledge of Dogs”, she cut and pasted it onto the flash drive. She did the same with a small file called “Knowledge of Frankenstein.”

Monica was very curious what the limits of what she could do with this thing were. She had always been interested in Mason, but he never seemed to feel the same way. She knew it was probably an invasion of his privacy, but she needed to know how he felt about her. She searched for “Monica” and quickly found the file.

She skimmed through the file and tried searching for a variety of keywords, but couldn’t seem to find anything like “love” or “crush.” Finally, she found a sentence that made her heart sink.

“Monica is a great friend, but I’d never consider dating her. I’ve seen the way she is with guys, and I have no desire to have someone as high maintenance as that in my life.”

Monica felt anger bubbling up in her chest. She knew Mason hadn’t literally written these words, but it still pained her to see his true thoughts there in black in white. As warm tears started to pour down her eyes, an idea formed in her head. Mason had told her to experiment...

* * *

The next morning, Mason and Monica both went to breakfast in one of the dining halls.

Mason decided to get in the pancake line, while Monica decided to go for the cereal line. Before she peeled off from Mason, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Meet you at our usual table.”

Monica smiled as she walked to the end of the line. It had worked.

When they both had gotten their food and drinks they sat down at a table in the corner of the dining hall. “Alright, baby, was your experiment last night successful?”

Monica thought to herself, ‘If only you knew’, but said aloud. “Why don’t we find out?” She pulled out her phone and found a picture of a yellow Labrador Retriever, which she showed to Mason.

“Why are you showing me this?” Mason asked, confused.

“What do you think this is?” Monica asked.

“It looks kind of like a wolf, or maybe a hyena.” Mason said.

Monica searched again on her phone, and found a picture of a poodle. “How about this?”

“Whatever that is, that is the fluffiest animal I’ve ever scene.”

Monica smiled. “Well, it looks like it worked.”

“What did you make me forget?” Mason said, taking a bite of his pancake.

“I made you forget about dogs.”

“Interesting. So you’re saying I knew about these animals before?”

“Yep.”

Mason took a sip of milk, and sat in thought for a few seconds. “Alright, is that all you changed?”

Monica felt a quick pang of guilt, but pushed it to the back of her mind. “No, that’s not all. What comes to mind if I say the word ‘Frankenstein?’”

“Nothing. Sounds like a German name. Is it related to Einstein?”

“Possibly,” Monica gave a coy smile. “Here, does this picture ring any bells?” she said handing him the phone with a black and white image of Frankenstein.

“Nope. That guy looks like he’s got bolts in his neck or something though.”

“Very astute,” she said.

“So you made me forget dogs and whatever Frankenstein is? Is that everything you tried out?”

Monica paused for a moment. “Yep.”

* * *

When lunch was done, they shared a kiss and went their separate ways for classes. They met up again in the afternoon Organic Chem class they shared.

“I saw some dogs today!” Mason said excitedly. “I didn’t even know there were so many kinds!”

“Oh?” Monica said, a bit amused.

“Yeah, I saw this girl walking a black and brown one, and she called it a ‘German Shepherd.’”

“I wish I could have seen it,” Monica said, trying not to laugh at the image she had of the encounter.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, dogs are pretty common pets, like cats. That thing is pretty amazing if it can make me forget something big like that!”

“It really is...” Monica said.

“I want to try watching that Frankenstein movie you told me about. It’ll be interesting experiencing something like that for the first time.”

Monica hadn’t even considered that. If you forgot something, you could experience it again for the first time. Interesting...

* * *

They watched the 1931 Frankenstein together in Monica’s dorm room. More accurately, they watched the first twenty minutes of Frankenstein, and made out for the remainder. Both of them were more interested in each other than the movie. Monica had already seen it a dozen times, while Mason felt like it was a little dated.

Mason pulled away for a few seconds to muse, “You know, it’s a cool concept, but I feel like it would work better as a book.”

Monica quickly pulled him back into her embrace. She was surprised to see that the credits were already rolling. Mason slipped his hand under her shirt, and started kneading her breasts. She moaned quietly, and began rubbing her hand gently up and down his thigh. She was keenly aware of the tent that had formed in his pants.

Mason continued to fondle her with one hand, but his other hand began unbuttoning Monica’s blouse. He slid the blouse off of her shoulders, and reached behind her, unhooking her bra in one quick, practiced motion. He looked at her perfect breasts, a primal hunger visible in his eyes.

Monica began to unbutton Mason’s pants, but paused. “Hey, Mason. Do you think that relic works on people while they’re awake?”

Mason looked nonplussed. “Is this really the time for that question?”

“It’s just,” Monica seemed to be thinking of the best words to express what she was thinking. “What was it like your first time?”

Mason sat up, “It was terrible. I was so nervous, it took me forever to get it up...”

“What if we could give you a better first time?”

Mason was intrigued. “You want to try the relic out right now?”

“Can we? I just, I think it’d be cool if our first time together could also be your ‘first time.’”

Mason kissed Monica firmly on the lips and said. “Alright, lets try it.”

Monica walked over to the desk and pulled out the brain. She could see that it wasn’t glowing. She hoped it could affect those who were awake. She walked over to Mason who was still visibly aroused, and she touched him with the relic. It glowed, and...

She was inside Mason’s mind. She moved “Memories of Sexual Encounters” onto a flash drive. She also moved “Memories of Naked Women” and removed his memory of the conversation they had just had for good measure. She put on her bra and buttoned up her blouse, and left through a door that she summoned.

Mason was sitting there, on the couch with a dazed look on his face.

“Where were we?” Monica asked seductively, sliding back to her position on the couch. She began to kiss him on the neck, and in his already half-aroused state it wasn’t long before he was hard again.

Mason seemed a lot more unsure of himself this go around. He began making out uncertainly, but he repositioned his hands several times, unsure of what to do with them.

“Mason, have you ever touched a boob before?” Monica asked.

“No,” Mason said quietly.

“Would you like to touch one?”

Mason nodded.

“Unbutton my blouse.”

Mason began to use both hands to slowly unbutton her blouse. He was slower this time. Monica was surprised that this turned her on more than the first time he had done it. Something about being more experienced than Mason, being the one with the power in the relationship really agreed with Monica.

Monica slid her blouse off. “Mason, unhook my bra.”

Mason began fumbling with her bra. The bra hooks were trickier than he had anticipated they would be. Finally, he figured it out, and freed Monica’s beautiful breasts. Mason gasped a little as the bra fell to the floor. He looked at her almost worshipfully. He had never seen anything like this in all his life. Monica saw Mason’s reaction, and she noticed that she was starting to get wet with arousal.

Mason just stared for a few seconds, and Monica decided to take matters into her own hands. She grabbed Mason’s hand and guided it to her breast. He grasped the flesh firmly, and her nipples began to harden.

“Try rubbing my nipples,” Monica said.

Mason began to play with her nipples. He wasn’t sure if he was doing it right, so he watched her face for how she reacted to different techniques he tried out. Eventually he found one that left an intense look of pleasure, and kept doing it.

Monica moaned, “Now try sucking my breast.”

Mason moved his head uncertainly up to her breast, and began sucking on the nipple. Monica let out a gasp, and guided his hand to her other breast. He got the message and began massaging that one while he continued sucking. Monica was so aroused, she almost forgot to guide Mason to the next step.

“M-Mason, take off your pants.”

Mason continued to suck her breast, but freed his hands and began awkwardly unbuttoning them and pulling them down.

“Do you want to feel how wet you’re making me?” Monica asked. She didn’t wait for a reply, she grabbed his hand and shoved it down her pants.

Mason was hard as a rock. He pulled his hand out of Monica’s pants. “Can I, uh...?”

Monica looked at him amused. “Can you what?”

He was a little embarrassed to say it, but Monica had an idea of what he was trying to ask. She unbuttoned her pants, and removed her pants and underwear. She wrapped her legs around Mason’s, and slid his cock into her pussy. Mason shivered with arousal as he entered her.

“Does this feel good?” Monica asked.

“Yeah,” Mason said breathily. “Shouldn’t we use a condom though?”

“Don’t worry, I’m on birth control. Plus, this is your first time. Don’t you want it to feel as good as possible?”

Monica began moving rhythmically up and down, and Mason felt a tingling pressure building at the base of his cock.

Monica said, “let me know when you’re getting close. I don’t want it to happen too soon.”

Her command turned out to be prescient, because Mason’s virgin mind was so wracked with arousal he was already about to burst. “I’m almost there,” he managed to get out.

Monica pulled herself off of Mason’s cock to let him cool down for a bit, and began kissing him on the neck. Mason was a bit annoyed that his payoff was being prolonged, but Monica’s electric touch quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. Mason’s hands moved to Monica’s breasts, and after a time Monica again let Mason get inside of her.

The second time, the pressure built more slowly for Mason, and it was several minutes before he again said, “I’m almost there.”

“Me too!” Monica uttered, and both of them could feel themselves getting closer and closer to the edge until...

“Oh my god!” Mason said, while Monica just cried out in pleasure. Orgasms rocked their bodies, and Mason could feel as white liquid shot into his lover’s quivering pussy. For a brief moment their minds were perfectly blank with bliss.

Mason was panting, “That. was. amazing. I never knew anything could feel that good.”

They both lay there in the afterglow, breathing heavily. Monica looked out at the clothes strewn across the floor, and saw the old relic. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she was going to keep it.