"ScarletVision" - 05/19/2022 (w/ Lucid False Awakening)

"ScarletVision"

05/19/2022

(w/ Lucid False Awakening)

In this dream, I was a disembodied observer (like watching a movie), following a street-level detective, as he went around investigating the murders of innocent people by Wanda Maximoff aka "The Scarlet Witch." I don't remember a whole lot of the detail from this early, but I recall him going from location to location, analyzing crime scenes and gathering clues like in a noir crime drama. There were multiple victims, killed for unknown reasons, but any pattern telling why remained unclear. Over time, the detective was starting to get the feeling that something wasn't right about his situation. Things weren't adding up, and there were a lot of unrealistic scenarios that were playing out. He began to deduce that he couldn't, in fact, be experiencing the real world. The entire scene, then, transitioned. 

Instantly, my point of view focused in on a rounded object, lying on a table. I immediately recognized the object to the decapitated head of her android husband, The Vision. My perspective panned out to reveal that the head was sitting on an operating table, in a lab. The lab was dimly lit with a soft, green light, and looked as it would, if someone had simply left for the night. Strewn around the lab, I could see that there was not only the other dismembered pieces of the Vision's body, but that there were also multiple versions of his body - in the same, decimated conditions - lying all over the place.

As my perspective settled on the lab interior, as a whole, I began to see movement in some of the reflective surfaces around the room. I could see brief glimpses of the Scarlet Witch's form - from an arm, in one corner of the lab; to her flowing hair, in another; and a flash of her eyes, in some of the shiny metal equipment, all around. Then, a pair of symbols appeared in a shadowy walkway, which twisted and contorted themselves into a humanoid form, and transformed into Wanda, in full costume. She stared, rather sternly, at the head of Vision that I had first seen, walking over to it. 

She began talking to the head, saying something about how she knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep him in there, forever, explaining (in detail that I can't quite remember) how she had pulled in variants of him from other universes, searching for a "particular" version, which she had - since - been holding in an "illusion," in the conscious mind of his severed head, to keep him busy while she did....something. (I don't remember her purpose.) However, she admitted finding that he was figuring it all out, and she knew that she was going to have to release him. With a wave of her hand, the scattered pieces of The Vision, that belonged to that, particular head, swirled themselves together and stood upright, making him whole. Immediately, now in control of himself, he switched from his robotic form to his human-looking form and gazed back at her, in terror.

The two had a back and forth conversation (though I can't remember much of the actual dialogue), that had something to do with Wanda trying to justify her imprisonment of him as a means to them finding a way back to their relationship, someday. Vision, naturally, did not follow her logic, and he knew that she had broken bad. The next thing I remember, he was doing everything he could to escape her, while she gave chase after him.

Vision scurried out of the lab and into a barren, nighttime landscape that was bathed in red light, as if the moon shone almost as intensely as the sun, but gave off the deep, crimson color of an eclipse. There was a large, dark body of water, nearby - like a lake or river - which looked much like blood under the light of the moon (though I could not see the moon, itself. Incidentally, had this dream on the night of a blood red moon, while at sea, on a cruise). Vision scrambled to get away, and kept looking behind him, to see if she was still chasing him. Suddenly, the entire landscape went black, like someone had flipped off the red moonlight with a switch. Seconds later, two glowing red orbs blazed in the blacked-out environment. The redness of the moon then came back into view, illuminating the landscape and revealing the two orbs to be Wanda's eyes as she'd manifested herself right next to Vision, when the world went dark.

She stood just between him and the lake or river, with her back to the water. Vision faced her, defiantly, and she gave him a sort of pitiful look, implying that she knew he would not be able to simply escape her. Vision basically called her out as "evil," and he said something about her being "only one" witch - possibly implying that he (like Ultron) had the ability to split his consciousness into other systems (a point that wasn't specifically made in the dream, I don't think, but it certainly would have fit the character). The Scarlet Witch scoffed and said something like "oh? Only one?" She, then, raised her hands, gesturing as if performing a silent spell.

There was movement in the dark red water, behind her. A figure slowly emerged, walking upright, out of the lake/river, and stepping fully into view. It was another Wanda. Then, on her opposite side, the same disturbance in the water appeared, and yet another Wanda walked onto the shore. Then, another. And another. More and more copies of the Scarlet Witch came creeping, eerily, out of the dark water, some of them crawling onto the rocky shore, on all fours, like zombies rising from the dead. As if that weren't enough, a larger figure stood straight up, in the shallow water - a giant-sized Wanda - lumbering forward, standing at about 15 feet high. Yet another giant doppelganger came forward, shortly afterward.

Vision found himself staring at an entire army of various versions of Wanda, as they lined up in formation, around the original. Noticeably taken aback by this, Vision tried to steel himself and pushed back, saying that these were just illusions, and even though she could make it look like they were all tangible, he knew that there was only one of her. Hardly fazed by this, Wanda's face twisted in a gesture of pure concentration, and suddenly one of the copies began speaking for her, stating that she was able to share her consciousness, as well. Another Wanda, on her other side, began talking also, finishing the comment, but the voice's inflection seeming as if it was coming from a completely different entity - almost like Ultron speaking through his many, individual, drones. Many of the other Wandas began chiming in, with comments of their own, making it horrifyingly clear that - though they were extensions of her original mind - they were all individual and autonomous versions of her. (It was creepy as hell.)

I believe that Vision gave up the bravado and continued trying to escape, but I woke up shortly after this moment....(or...rather...I thought I did).

***

Pt.2

(Lucid)

(False Awakening)

I "woke up," in the cruise ship cabin's bed. My fiance was sitting up, beside me, awake, and there was a dark-haired woman sitting on the small couch, next to us. At first, I didn't even notice anything strange about the woman being there, as I just began to tell them both about the Scarlet Witch dream I'd been having, and about how crazy and detailed the narrative was. Annoyingly, as I was recalling the experience, the unfamiliar woman kept interrupting me, telling me that nothing I was saying was somehow "shocking" or "unique," and that it was all just rehashing things that were covered in the new "Doctor Strange" movie, of which Wanda was a central character (even though nothing that happened in the dream was actually in that movie). 

Frustrated, I started talking down to her about how rude she was being. Then, almost spontaneously, I realized that this was a dream. I caught myself, practically mid-sentence, and scoffed at how I was even wasting my time by trying to argue with her. I blurted out: "you're not even real," dismissing her, as matter-of-factly as I could. She just smirked and stared back at me, challengingly, as if I was talking nonsense. Attempting to prove the point, I held out a hand and focused my mind on her - like I was Darth Vader, trying to lift her from the couch in a Force Choke, with telekinesis. The dream was still very vivid, and nothing seemed to be working, at first. Then, I tried again, concentrating a little less and just trying to "will" it to happened. Instead of lifting her whole body from the couch, though, I saw that her head actually started to come off at the neck!

Having confirmed my suspicion enough, I released my control over the character, and her head lowered back onto its base, the skin of her neck stringing itself back together, seamlessly. Just picking at her, at this point, I began imagining myself pinching at little spots on her face, from afar. I could see the skin being prodded by the fingertips of my mind, until pieces of it started tearing away. It seemed like she was resisting, though, because her skin kept snapping back into place. Eventually, I gave one, solid, telekinetic yank on her face, and her entire face ripped itself free of her skull. However, instead of seeing the gory presence of an exposed skull, beneath, she had another, perfectly intact, face just beneath the original one.

 The woman gave a scowl and I saw the pupils of her eyes transform into reptilian slits. She, then, gave an evil smile, trying to intimidate me. Completely confident, by now, that I was in a lucid dream, I just shrugged at her and snickered at her attempt to continue trying to scare me, when the jig was already up. This obviously embarrassed her, because she simply grunted with disgust, stood up from the couch, and walked out of the room.

Finally, not wanting to lose my recollection of all that had happened, I woke myself up, intentionally.

(It was one hell of a ride. I absolutely loved the horror vibe that they gave Wanda in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and I can see that it left an impression. Haha.)

"They All Fall Down" - 08/16/2021 (Lucid)

"They All Fall Down"

08/16/2021

(Lucid)

(I have been taking in a little mugwort, melatonin and valerian root, before bed, lately, and I've been having far more vivid and lucid dreams. This was one in a trend of clear and stable lucids I've had, recently, and seemed to stretch on for a noticeable while.)

The earliest thing I remember, in this dream, is that I was watching the movie "Little Monsters," in someone's crowded home, and that people kept trying to sit down in the same chair I was in - a chair that was obviously not meant for more than one person. Random people would constantly sit themselves down on one side of me, and then keep scooting over, more and more, until I was practically falling off of the chair. After a while, I just got irritated with it and got up from where I was sitting.

I walked outside, to the patio, where there were more people scattered about. This was obviously a party or cookout, or something, and folks were just hanging around in the yard and on the patio furniture. The dream was very realistic, and I spent quite a while just talking to some of the others - whom seemed familiar, but I could not tell if they were friends or family. Eventually, though, during the idle chit-chat, I started to realize that this was all a dream. Testing the suspicion, I brought a hand up over the wooden picnic table and focused on a mug, levitating it with telekinesis. A young girl, nearby, marveled at the trick, so I kept doing more, flourishing with my lucid powers as if I was a stage magician. A few of the others stopped to watch, before I eventually went back inside the house, to find something else to do.

Finding my way to the kitchen, I noticed something on the floor, practically wedged behind the door. It was about the size of a basketball, and it took me a moment to figure out that it was a human head. It belonged to a blonde woman who seemed to be, maybe, in her 50's, and the weirdest thing was that it didn't seem like it was a decapitated head. It was still attached to the body which, apparently, continued down through the floor, as if she was stuck in the ground, up to her neck, like a "clipping" issue, in a video game. What's more, is that she didn't really seemed to be bothered by this. Though she just kind of stared, idly, at the back side of the kitchen door, I could tell that she was very much alive, and she looked  more bored with her situation than distressed. Using my telekinetic control, I "pulled" her upward and out of the ground, revealing the rest of her body.

Her body, though, didn't seem to be in the same condition. When I phased her up and out of the floor, it was as if I had pulled a rotting corpse from a vertical grave. I could see that, when I looked back at her face, it had began to bruise and wither, as if it, too, was starting to rot. Just slightly disturbed by this, I gave another wave of my hand and "willed" her to return to a more normal appearance, which worked, almost effortlessly. With an arguably-flirtatious smile, she said "oh, you're good," and I just smiled in return and opened the fridge, beside her, to see what was inside. I pulled out a translucent bin that was filled with the rotting remains of half-eaten fruits and vegetables. Feeling a little "Dr. Strange" inspired, I waved my hand again, and willed the fruits and veggies to refresh themselves, and the bin began to replenish itself as the food items started regenerating as if they were being 3D printed.

Leaving the kitchen, I remember spending some time walking around the house, doing more idle tricks, here and there. I began to remark at how vivid the dream was, and how grounded I felt to it, even without having to do any stabilization gestures. Out of curiosity, though, I decided to look at my hands, just to see how they would appear, in a dream that was already this detailed. As expected, they looked just like they would in waking life - all fingers were present, and in perfect shape. The only difference, though, is that I had single strands of bright green light strung between each of my fingers. I also recall picking up an ink pen from an end table, and flicking it through a nearby window pane, as if it were a bullet from a gun. At one point, I told some of the house occupants about this being a dream and about them being characters within it, but I don't remember their reactions. 

I made my way out of the front side of the house and started walking down the sidewalk, meandering about and interacting with the neighbors, still feeling rather explorative and allowing the dreamscape to take me wherever it might. The longer I walked through the neighborhood, the more I could see that the neighbors were kind of "gathering." There was a palpable tension in the air, and all of the neighbors seemed to be streaming in one direction, as if the entire crowd was being led to some sort of event. I could hear a few of them talking, and there was, apparently, about to be some sort of clash with either another neighborhood, or some other kind of faction that these people were all united against. Curious, still, I decided to follow along with the crowd, to see what was going on.

The group began to file into a narrow, slum-esque alleyway, and I could see that there was another large group of people that was approach the front of our crowd. The tension was steadily rising, and I could tell that - for whatever reasons - these people were about to absolutely lay into each other. Close to the front of my group, I could see the two sides beginning to aggressively converge, and the moment the two crowds collided, all hell broke loose. Fists began flying, and gunfire filled the air. Military vehicles could be seen, speeding toward my group, from the other side. This was quickly turning into a major battle, and the vehicles coming in did not seem like they were going to stop, and they were set on mowing down our group, which was already firing back with everything they had. 

Feeling like I was now at the epicenter of this intensifying collision, I suddenly threw both arms out - one in the direction of either crowd - and sent out a forceful, telekinetic "push" - a wave of force that threw the people of each faction back, away from each other, and crushed the oncoming vehicles to a stop, as if they'd hit a concrete wall.

Quite satisfied with this move, I smiled as the bewildered dream characters, from both sides, gathered around in wonder, at what I'd just done. They were absolutely astonished at this "power," that I had, and I started to show off a bit, picking a few random people up with telekinesis and setting them back down gently. I talked to them about how this was all a dream, in order to gauge their reactions, which was pretty much the standard level of disbelief that I normally get when having this conversation with dream characters.

It was then, though, that I began to notice people falling down.

I would glance from one person to another, confused to see their eyes roll back in their heads, and they would simply drop to the ground, as if all of the life had been instantly ripped from them. Each direction I turned, another person would "go white" and then drop. The dream was still so vivid, that I could even see the redness in the bloodshot corners of their eyes, even after all of the color had rolled back into their skulls. I started to walk forward, wondering what was going on, and the bodies continue dropping, in a wave formation, as if being within a certain range of me simply flipped a switch and turned them into lifeless husks. It got to the point where, seemingly, with every step I took, another dozen people in front of me would, instantly, go white in the eyes and then drop to the ground.

Before long, I was the only one still standing in the alley.

(There was little else that I could remember, after that point. I vaguely recall their being mention, somewhere, of some entity being behind this phenomenon, but I don't remember whether I was still lucid, when I heard that, or from where I heard it, exactly. It was just a hazy fragment that stuck with me, after I woke.)

"Queen of Heartless" - 10/20/2010 (Lucid)

"Queen of Heartless" 

10/20/2010

Dream #1

(Lucid)

The first thing I remember was that I was flying to Paris. There was an older man with me, and I believe that he was a scientist, but I'm not exactly sure of his role in the earlier parts of the dream. We'd gotten off of whatever flying vehicle we were in (I don't believe it was a plane.) and had begun sight-seeing; making our way up to the top of a tall building and looking out over the Parisian streets. It was at this time, that I spontaneously became lucid. Instinctively, I looked at my hands, in order to ground myself into the dream, but the dream immediately unraveled, and everything went black. I kept trying to keep myself in the dream, but it would only flicker into sight, a few times, and then disappear again.

(I don't know if I woke up, briefly, or just finally slipped back into same narrative. It seemed like such a continuation of the dream, though, that I will count the following as the same one.)

I was back in Paris, no longer lucid. My friend Tony was with me, this time, in place of the old man, and we were just wandering around the city, exploring different locations. We'd found ourselves inside a house and trying to get up the stairway, to the second floor. Unexpectedly, the staircase began crumbling under our feet. Tony had made it up, first, and the stairway completely gave way, while I was making my way up. I ended up having to hang from the damaged banister and use my arms to pull myself up higher and higher - gaining a bit of assistance from Tony, upon the last couple of feet - until I was able to pull myself fully onto the second floor.

Searching these upper hallways, we came across a person lying on the ground, as if she'd simply fallen asleep there. It was a little girl, probably no more than about 12 years old. Upon getting closer to the girl, and having a few, inquisitive words with her, we realized that she had been seriously abused and was left out in the hallway, after having been beaten. Apparently, her mother was the (actual) Queen of Hearts, and her father was just some insanely powerful creature (whom I never actually got to see, in the dream, but could feel his presence as this sort of looming sense of dread over the situation). The girl looked like she had just been beaten within a few inches of her life, and we told her we were going to get her out of there. We were barely able to get a few feet down the hallway, when we were confronted by her mother, who chastised us for having the gall to try to take her daughter away from her. She began to exert her true power, and the whole building began shaking. We high-tailed it out of there, and she chased us into the streets, people everywhere, screaming and running away from the continuous and intensifying tremors she was causing.

It was about here that I regained my lucidity, and I remember stopping to confront the queen. We were standing on an elevated stone walkway, or something, spotted with high bushes on either side. During our altercation, she said something about my not knowing who I was messing with, and she waved her hand, causing some white roses to bloom upon the bushes beside us - apparently not above showing off. I told her that I wasn't the least bit impressed, because this was my dream, and I flicked my fingers at her white roses, making them turn red, as if I was finishing her work for her. This understandably pissed her off, to no end, and she attacked me with the biggest 'force' blast that she could muster. Quite confident in my control, at this point, I fired back, and we got into a sort of 'telekinetic pushing match,' until she just couldn't withstand anymore. She completely submitted, and Tony and I continued to usher the kid further away from her mother, who ended up catching up to us, one last time, just as we'd entered a tunnel-like hallway. There, she made her final stand, warning us not to take the kid anywhere. When she reared back to throw another spell our way, I used more telekinesis, mentally grabbing her by the head and slamming her into one of the nearby walls, knocking her out cold.

I decided to stay with the kid, leading her to some random room, which looked like a kid's play room, and it was around here, when I lost lucidity again. We'd found a portal, inside the room, which was known to transport the kid to some far away place, where she wouldn't be abused by her parents anymore. The last thing I remember was a great feeling of accomplishment, knowing the kid was going to get away.

------

Cross over to my main site!!

https://rapideyemedium.com/

"Epic Lucid Dream" - 10/19/2005 (Lucid)

(This was one of the most substantial lucid dreams that I have ever had. It came at the time when I had recently joined the DreamViews forums, and was getting serious about - and quite good at - developing my dream control. My recall, around this time, was about at its highest, and the sense of wonder and adventure that I got from this dream is something that has always stayed with me, over all these years. It was also around the time that I first started using photomanipulations to illustrate my dreams. Over what has been more than 15 years of epic dream journal entries, this was practically the "one that started it all.")

"Epic Lucid Dream"

10/19/2005

(Lucid)

Ok, this started off, innocently enough, involving 3 of my waking life friends - J; T; and BM - and myself. We were up in this random apartment, one morning. If I'm not mistaken, someone had brought me a small telescope as a gift. It was a pretty slick contraption, actually - all gold, ornate, and small, like some antique from the captain's quarters of a great, old ship. With it, I stepped over to the window of the apartment and threw open the blinds, having a look around, outside.

Scanning across the street, I saw that I was in a sort of run-down town, which reminded me somewhat of coverage I've seen from New Orleans, lately, after Katrina. (The only comparison I could really make, at the time of writing this entry.) Peering through the window and refocusing the telescope, I looked upward, parallel to our approximate 6th story window, at the building across the street. Bringing the scope into a little more focus, I saw someone with a pair of binoculars which seemed to be pointed back at me.



"What the...?" I thought, turning to grab the attention of my friends, and they all joined me at the window. Looking back through the scope, I found that this person was actually looking down toward the street, and no longer back at me. So, I panned back down with the telescope and set my eyes on a surprisingly chaotic scene, below. Moving from person to person with the scope, I saw what seemed to be the final moments of a store looting, with the store itself just out of my field of view, blocked by another building. People were walking around the streets, carrying whatever it is they could hold. Apparently, there were a few police units around, but ultimately not enough to stop what was going on. My friends turned on news coverage of the incident, I continued to watch it unfold from the balcony.

Without any visible warning, there was a loud crash from within the crowd. One might have thought that a car had veered and plowed through a bunch of people, throwing them violently to one side, and out of my field of view...except that there was no car - only a strange black blur that came and went like a gust of pitch-dark wind.

“…..Did anyone just see that?” I asked. By this time, BM had opened a second balcony door, beside me, and was stepping out to the deck to get a better view. “Those people,” I continued, talking mainly to myself, at that point. “Something just…Crashed into 'em….and knocked them off the street!” Dumbfounded, I wasn’t looking through the scope any more.

“Yeah,” said BM. “And it flew right up into the leaning tower of Pisa over there.” Even before his words registered, I could hear that there was a shock in his voice when he said it, and when I craned my neck to look at him, he was gazing, awestruck, around the side of our building's balcony. I got up from where I was, walked out onto the deck, where he was standing, and turned to the right to look around the side of our apartmet building. There, in the distance, behind the backdrop of an entire city that seemed to be in shambles, with highways that stretched on for miles (some of which were collapsed if I remember correctly), was a MASSIVE tower structure that stretched crookedly up into the distant skies. (It looked like something straight out of "Digital Blasphemy," the 3D art site I was browsing shortly before bed.)

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!” I asked, damn near falling off of the balcony to get a better view.

We were all standing on the balcony now, and I think it was the shock of seeing such a surreal, monolithic structure that brought me into a very very low level of lucidity. I didn’t say anything at first about this being a dream (and, actually, I don’t think I was REALLY sure that it was a dream, but I had my hunch, and that was all I needed).

“….I’m Going!” I said. Everyone snapped their eyes toward me.

“What are you talking about??” One of them asked, and I repeated: “I’m Going!” 

My sense of curiosity had gotten the better of me. “There is some strange shit going on here, and I’m going to find out what.” I'm not sure whether I tossed the telescope away, but I didn’t have it any more. “If you’re coming, follow me, and do what I do!” I didn’t feel that I had much time to explain the whole lucidity thing, but I was definitely feeling it. I took a few steps forward and dove over the balcony railing. Free-falling - almost sickeningly - toward the ground below, which had began to clear of crowds after the recent occurrence.

Diving straight down, I tucked my chin and rolled forward, front flipping one half time and landing on both feet with a small crouch, sort of like Kadaj’s building dive in the FF7 Advent Children movie. Shortly afterward, I was hearing the feet of my friends landing behind me. No one asked any questions as to how it was we just jumped from about 6 stories up, but that would seem almost normal, compared to the things that were about to transpire.



“Ok, so how do you suggest we get over there?” T asked. Exhaling once, I tried to give the easiest directions I could. “Just tell yourself that you’re dreaming, and follow me.” Of course this got the deer-in-headlights reaction from all three of them. With no further words, I took my own advice, knowing that it would be a far distance to the tower (and flying, sometimes, was not my strong point unless I was in the right frame of mind). I closed my eyes. “I’m dreaming I’m dreaming I’m dreaming!!” I demanded to myself, reassuringly. And *Boom*. It was as if I was opening my eyes for the very first time. A sense of confidence washed over me as the dream world around me became all that much more vivid.

“So…you’re dreaming?” BM asked, a bit confused. I didn’t even answer. I just ran forward and lept into the air, the wind screaming in my ears as I shot toward the horizon like a missile, arcing straight at the huge architectural marvel in the distance.

I thought nothing of flying, which is the way I have the best luck with it. My mind was simply on getting from point A to point B. It was only a matter of seconds before my feet touched down upon the high, circular platform of the tower's main balcony. This thing had to be a few miles high; a twisted wonder of stone that seemed it was erected back in some mythical past. I gazed inside, through one of the numerous, open, balcony doors, and I began to walk forward. Turning my attention behind me, I’d noticed that BM and T were already walking on the stone surface, right on my heels, J was just landing as well. With no words about why we were able to do the things we were doing, we entered the tower like some small, unlikely task force.

Surprisingly enough, the inside of this tower looked more like a run-down urban apartment than some regal imperial landmark. There were worn couches, and a tiny kitchen area that would have barely fit the four of us. Food had been left out on the counters, and a large steak, which still looked fresh, sat in a pan on the stove. (From here, on, my recollection of things gets a little more hazy.)

It seems there is this old man that lives in this tower. (And let me just say, I’ve faced some pretty rough characters, in my dreams, but this guy was Bad.) After what was most likely a long utterance of “I’m taking this world over” clichés, the fight broke out.

This guy’s magic was crazy, and he was an expert at hand to hand combat. While the others were a little reluctant - not quite sure of the powers my lucidity had afforded them, I suppose - I went all out on this guy with improvised Kung Fu-like flavor that would have made Jet Li cower.

But GodDAMN was this guy good.

*Punch kick block kick block punch block dodge kick feign punch wall-smash punch floor-break dodge punch.*

Fists and feet were flying everywhere, but I was just not making any progress with this guy. And on top of that, just as it seemed the others were ready to throw down…this old bastard just up and disappeared; so quick that we were left standing in what seemed to be a bedroom (or study. It wasn’t furnished, and there were paint cans and newspapers all over the place), all alone and wondering just wtf happened. We knew that the only way out of this dead end bedroom was back through the hallway we’d just passed, because the spacious living area nearest the balcony was the one that connected all the rooms on the top floor.

Slowly, we began to file out of the room, and as we went through the hallway, I made my way to the front of the group. One hand held low, I concentrated my mind on the pyrokinesis I knew was possible, because I still knew I was dreaming. (just not enough to KNOW that I could defeat this guy) My hand flickered once, and then it ignited into a bright orange flame. I held the flame around my hand while searching with my eyes for any signs of the old man.

There was another small room (small is a relative term), which was parallel to the tiny kitchen in the center of the hallway. Slowly, I made my way toward it. Behind me, I heard a familiar *Fwooosh* and saw a flash of light. When I turned around, I’d seen that BM had followed my lead and found his own ability to produce a flame like mine. He smiled enthusiastically, holding up his flaming hand, and I couldn’t help but do the same. However, unfortunately, I hadn’t stopped walking toward the room when I looked back at him, and when I turned to look inside of the small room as I crossed the doorframe, I was blindsided.

A vicious punch crashed into the side of my face and sent me to the side, I countered with multiple fire blasts from both hands, swinging my arms like an ambidextrous pitcher and assaulting this guy with pyrotechnics. His own magic countered horrifically well, though, small explosions of blues and greens emanating from his person to show that my fire blasts were simply having no effect. Finally, before I could get another shot off, or think of another tactic, the old man fired some green energy blast that blew me off of my feet and sent me crashing into the wall behind me, now on the left side of the room from the doorway. Shaking off the cobwebs, I glanced up to see the others streaming into the room, battle cries filling the air as they all went 3 on 1 with this f*cker. It was all out war with this guy…and we were losing.

I stood up and tried to clear my mind. I wanted a charge of energy, and if that meant destroying this room to do it, so be it. I doubted the small explosion I was about to cause would have effected either of us too much, the way we were fighting, but the energy I might get from it could be invaluable. Clenching my fists, I began to well up my energy like a Saiyan from DBZ, a low “rrrrrrrrrrrraaahhhhh….” building up in my throat. I could feel the coming energy start to push outward from my center, beginning to crack the floor under me, bending the wall behind me out into the hall, and pushing the ceiling over my head up into itself.

However, I was not truly focused. I think it was the sounds of our side losing that broke my concentration and kept me from getting that explosive, battle-ending power that I was going for. No matter how much I tried, I just didn't feel like my show of force was getting me anywhere. Not sure whether to keep charging or not, I suddenly noticed that everything had fallen silent. I stopped focusing my energy all together and opened my eyes. The old man had disappeared again, leaving the four of us alone in the room.

The fight was definitely taking its toll. We were all suffering from various levels of kicked-asses. We were much more reluctant to search for him this time, but we were definitely feeling a sense of responsibility. My lucidity was beginning to fade right about this time, so I was getting more attached to the narrative but I was still very much in non-lucid control of my actions.

We filed, slowly, out of the second bedroom, passing the kitchen that was almost straight across from it. J leaned into the kitchen and stepped inside. Obviously exhausted, he uttered something like “God, I Have to Eat Something,” as tiredly as if he was in a trance, and the only thing that could save him was food, even at a time like this. (Lol..that J…always eating.) So he went straight for the huge steak on the stove and began to cut it. A bit disgusted - not to mention thinking that this was Not the time for food - I blurted out “Man, what are you doing?! Don’t eat That!”

The moment I said this, the pantry door beside us slid open, and inside, the old man stood, covered from head to toe in a pantry full of…insect larvae. (Yeah..I know: "….wtf?!") The only thing we could see, within the writhing mountain of bugs around him, was his face, and the stone dead gaze of his whitish blue eyes that implied he might have been fighting us all while blind.

He yelled, in a thunderous voice: “You have all fought well, but you will never escape my locusts!” And an endless flood of flying locusts streamed out of the pantry, covering the entire top floor of the tower in seconds, before we even had a chance to respond. I was able to bust off a few more pyro blasts from my hands - even though I wasn’t lucid any more - while I staggered through the hallway away from the kitchen, but the blasts seemed to just dissolve in the thickening cloud of locusts with no effect.

“Your powers are useless!” I could hear the old man’s voice through the swirling buzz around me. “My locusts feed off your energies! Your powers will drain, and soon you will feel your life force slipping from you!”

He was right. Being no longer lucid, I could feel myself being suffocated by millions of locusts swarming around me, masses of them coating my body like mud. I could hear nothing from my friends and was finding it harder and harder to stand. One of my very few tastes of dream defeat, I finally collapsed to my knees amongst the relentless swarm, prolonging the inevitable by trying to stand again, but to no avail.

I was so tired.

So tired that I knew I couldn’t go on.

So, there on the floor, still in a knelt position, refusing to go down any further, I closed my eyes, and welcomed the darkness. …..and then I woke up.

(Damnit……….this isn’t over…his ass is MINE.)

(*Recent Sketch of the Old Man*)

"The Lucidity Effect" - 06/15/2006 (Lucid)

"The Lucidity Effect"

6/15/2006

Dream #3

(Lucid)

(I fell back asleep, after dream #2, and I remember much less of the next one, but it was still really vivid.)

I was telling someone about the dragon dream I’d had “the night before,” and I was going into detail about how the dragon first appeared. (Now, after this part, I’d noticed a bit of a scenery change, but I think it was a part of the same dream, so I’ll write it that way.) There was some commotion behind us, and someone had just gotten shot. It was then, that I noticed that the scenery was set in the old west.

We were outside of some really lavish building - like a mansion or theater, or something like that - and there was a crowd of people swarming around the incident. I think either some little girls, or some young women, were shot, though I don’t know why. (I do remember something about how they were standing close enough so that more than one of them were hit with the same shot.) There was something about this whole thing that didn’t seem right, though. I just couldn’t quite tell what it was, at first.

(It may have had something to do with not being able to remember what I was doing before all this happen that prompted this next part, but if you’ve ever seen the movie The Butterfly Effect you’ll get the concept.)

I figured out that by collecting some of the blood from the victim and doing something with it that - I think - involved gun powder (Don’t ask me what the hell I did, because I don’t know), I could send myself, and the three guys I’d been telling my dragon dream to, back in time to before the shooting, in order to try and stop it.

I think I mixed the gunpowder with the blood (or something like that). Then, there was a bright flash, and we were suddenly back to right before the shooting. We ran up to the crowded doorway of the building and jumped the guy that we knew had the gun, stripping him of it. However, history seemed destined to repeat itself, as someone else ended up shooting the girls. (It was the old west, and Everybody had a gun, of course.)

(The transition into this next part is pretty hazy, in my memory, but...) Sooner or later, I was inside the building, and there were four witches/sorceresses/whatever, inside. They were all black women, and wearing beautiful gowns. It felt like I was in old New Orleans or something. Anyway, even though it was a bit disjointed, I don't believe this was a separate dream because I think they were talking about the futility of my trying to change time - something about how I was meddling with powers I couldn’t comprehend, or something like that, and basically threatening me with their own powers.

Everyone else had disappeared, and I was alone, in what I believe was an elegant dining room, surrounded on three sides by these women - who I could tell were really powerful - and a solid wall, I think, on the fourth side.

I was definitely feeling like I was in deep shit, because they had me cornered, and I was obviously not going anywhere. But then, thanks to the perception of impending danger, lucidity kicked in once again (as it had done, in the dream prior to this one). Knowing that I was still dreaming I got a slight grin, for a moment, but then put my game face back on.

I started talking a little trash to these witches, which they didn’t take very lightly. I can’t remember what I said, but before I knew it, they were all trying to kill me. They had absolutely 0 effect, though. Haha. Oh man, it was great! I started walking toward them, one by one, simply waving off their attack spells with a dismissive hand. The first one, standing in the doorway to my right, shot what I think was electricity at me. I slapped it away and it shattered a wall-length mirror beside me. She backed up, just a little, through a door and into the hallway behind her, when she saw me still coming in her direction. Drawing her hands back, she then lurched forward and unleashed a steady stream of fire toward me. Without breaking stride, I put up one hand and blocked the fire with my mind. Then, I pushed the flying blaze back out into the hallway and shut the door mentally, filling the hallway with her own fire and burning the witch alive.

Continuing on my counter-clockwise advance, I came to the next witch, who was halfway between me and the last. She was near the wall between two doors, which were on the same side of the room, and had nowhere to go. When she threw her lightning at me, I didn’t even put up my hand. I just decided that it wasn’t going to touch me, and it never did. The last thing I remember of her was her surprised look, right before I stepped up to her, grabbed her face in both hands and spun it to one side, breaking her neck. She dropped to the floor and I continued on walking toward the last witch.

This one, obviously the oldest, wasn’t as ignorant. She began walking backward, struck with fear, as I stalked her way. She was practically tripping over herself, as she shied away from me, retreating out of the room and into another hallway, which led to the main lobby. There was a high, twisted staircase in the middle of the room - quite beautiful, actually - and it was surrounded by all of these chandeliers. Anyway, she began crawling backward up these stairs, trying to get away from me, pleading for me to spare her and whatnot. I didn’t say a word, but just kept closing in on her, menacingly, as she wound her way backwards, up the stairs, to about the 6th flight or so. She ended up with her back against the railing which overlooked the large room below us. I leaned in so close to her that our faces were practically touching, staring maliciously into her panicked eyes. I can’t remember what she said - or what I said, afterward - or even whether or not I pushed her away with my mind (which I think I did), but before I knew it, she was plummeting down, through one of the chandeliers and to the ground, below.

(If there was anything after this, I don’t remember it, but Damn, what a night. Haha.)

"Portal-Painting Power Struggle" - 03/05/2018

“Portal-Painting Power Struggle”

03/05/2018
Dream #2

(Pic Source) 

This was a false awakening, in which I “awoke” in my bed, to find out that were other people there. Apparently, they had stayed the night and were also waking up, on a mattress in the middle of the room. I recognized my daughter as one of them, and the others seemed like little cousins or friends of the family, or something of the sort. The smallest one was little more than an infant and, once he had finished playing with the others, he crawled over toward me. When I picked him up, I noticed that the child was disabled and disfigured; missing one eye - and, I think, an arm - and generally looking to be in pretty-horrific shape. Despite my reflexive, momentary revulsion at the unexpected sight, I continued to hold the boy and to play with him while we sat on the bed, trying not to pass any judgement or make any assumptions about why he looked this way. 

There was a large painting, hanging on one of the walls of the bedroom, and I eventually walked over to it. Two cats were perched upon the top of the frame, one of them a kitten that was little more than the size of a mouse. At one point, I think the kitten fell off and I could feel its tiny claws as it scurried up my leg and back on top of the frame, where it had been. Somehow, I came to find out that I could put my hand through the painting (though I wasn’t lucid) and, soon afterward, my head. It was, apparently, some kind of portal, and on the other side, it was some dark, derelict hallway, with seemingly ancient tools and artifacts hanging around. I could barely see them in the dim light that only seemed to come from the side of the portal with my bedroom. With a strange sense of “this is all normal,” but too timid to walk fully through the portal, I grabbed one of the nearest artifacts – a spearhead-looking object with thick, round, decorated bulb between the two ends - and pulled my upper-body back through the portal and into my bedroom.

Either the people in the room had aged, or they were a completely different group, but I began telling them about the portal and what I found. (I don’t really think my daughter was still on scene, at the time.) They were all really interested and one of the girls said she wanted to try it. I told her that it was "just like lucid dreaming; you just imagine the painting isn't there." (Way to miss that dream sign!) She gave it a shot, stuck her head in and then back out, excited about what she'd seen. They followed me, while I walked to the living room (which was unfamiliar to me), and set the relic on a fireplace mantle. Surprisingly (now that I'm awake), I started telling them about the history of the relics, and how some people in history - like my ancestors or something - traveled to that other world and came back with similar items. After a little more discussion about what else might be on the other side of the portal, my “guests” suddenly changed their demeanor and became frantic and aggressive, sounding off, with alarm, about how they’d “found the portal" and the item(s) they apparently needed, in order to resurrect some evil witch from whatever realm existed beyond the portal.

They attempted to grab the relic, just as I pulled it back down, off the mantle, and we began started struggling over possession of it. During the scuffle, the group began chanting some kind of incantation, trying to rush along the resurrection of this entity, before I could pry the relic from them. While they chanted, a glowing, red hole opened up in the floor of the living room, and a wailing, ghostly woman shot up out of the ground and started flying around the space over our heads. I think the group of subordinates figured they had done their part, because they either let go of the object or I was able to pull it from them. The witch swooped around over me and tried to grab at the object. I did whatever I could to keep it from her, but I wasn’t able to get away from her, because she was just flying too fast for me to move very far, in any direction. Finally, she made what appeared to be one final dive toward me, shrieking and stretching her hands out, to either grab for the relic or attack me, head-on. With no other option, I did the first thing that came to me, instinctively; I lunged forward, to intercept her, slipping the sharpened point of the object passed her hands and stabbing her directly through the face with it.

Instantly, she crashed down to the floor, in her own blood, dead.

Everything fell silent, and I looked back over to the group that had summoned her. They wasted no time in turning around and bolting for the front door. Even though they got away, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that they would be back, again, at some point.

"To Catch a Griffin" - 07/29/2017 (Lucid)

“To Catch a Griffin”

07/29/2017 

Dream #3

(Lucid)

 

*Original artwork, based on dream*

(This was dream #3, during a night of slipping in and out of lucid dreams.)

I had already become lucid, in a previous dream, and the first thing I remember about this one is already having known I was dreaming, while exploring an old, medieval-looking village. For some time, I had been just roaming around, talking to people and taking in the environment. At some point, I came upon a chamber, which supposedly held some mystical and magical relics from the town. In it, I found a book, and I began flipping through it and experimenting with some of the spells inside. I eventually – and mistakenly - wound up releasing an enormous, reckless and destructive griffin upon the town. Having not really thought much of this new development, I just continued to roam about the town, while the griffin flew around, overhead, periodically diving down and smashing into some of the surrounding building, destroying village around me at its whim. 

Later, I had come upon a tavern or inn. It was in this location, that I was approached by some shady characters whom, then, took turns trying to attack me. I don’t remember much of my encounters with them, but I remember that they weren’t able to do very much to me, in my lucid state. Before long, they conceded in trying and told me that they were trying to assassinate me for having brought destruction upon their town, in the form of the griffin. Despite knowing that this was a dream, I felt slightly bad at having caused this chain of narrative events, so I decided to try to reconcile by taking down the griffin for them.

A few of the would-be assassins and I walked outside and looked across a stretch of land where large portions of stone and wooden buildings lay in ruins; the griffin circled about, over the destruction. I suppose I could have simply tried to “erase” the griffin but, instead, I decided to conjure up something to taken down with a little more…spectacle.

I held my hand up and focused on manifesting something that would be able to take the griffin down… A dragon came to mind. Seconds later, a dragon – just as big, if not bigger than the griffin – streaked into view, and the two of them began dog-fighting over the village. Aside from a few subtle gestures of control from me, the dragon acted pretty much on its own, and the people and I simply watched from the ground while the two fought. 

(I don’t remember the outcome of the battle, though.)

"The Loneliest Ghost You Know" - 11/19/2013

"The Loneliest Ghost You Know"
11/19/2013

I had befriended a young boy, in this dream, who was probably around 10 or 11 years old. He told me that he was constantly bullied, and just didn't seem like he had any friends, so I was as nice as possible to him and found out that he actually had a lot of character. After hanging around for a while, I agreed to help the boy find friends, in order to show him that bullies didn't dictate whether or not he was worthy of friendship.

The dream skipped ahead, and I had arranged something of a party at the boy's house. There were a bunch of my friends hanging out, playing video games with him. Apparently, the kid was loaded, because the house looked like a mansion, and he had pretty much every video game system known to man. The TVs were so large that they took up almost entire walls. Gaming went on for a while before we actually realized that the boy's parents were nowhere to be found. When I asked about them, the kid let us in on the fact that he was an orphan and there was no one to watch over him (which, I guess, just kinda 'made sense', in the dream).

C (someone I know in waking life) was there, and we got into a conversation about the future of gaming, virtual reality, and the Oculus Rift. We then began to play a Nightmare on Elm Street game (which was a game that I loved, back on the original Nintendo. This one, though, was 3D, completely immersive and had incredible graphics). I commented on how I wondered what that game would be like, in VR and, before I knew it, I was inside the game. It was a survival horror game, and Freddy was constantly popping up around corners and disappearing into the darkness and whatnot. I had quite a few encounters with him, and it was getting so intense that I was beginning to feel myself being cut by his fingernails when he attacked...and he was relentless. As much as I tried, I was just never able to escape him. He just kept finding me and slashing/stabbing me. It was becoming more than I could bear.

Before long, I was back outside the game and everyone else had gone home. The boy was really appreciative that I had not alienated him and actually made him feel like he had friends. He told me that he wanted to show me something and began heading through the house. I followed him, curious as to what it would be, and it was then that I noticed exactly how enormous this house was. To say it was a mansion would not have done it justice. The further into the house we went, the more I realized that, without the boy, I could have been lost in this place forever. Soon, we were travelling through the dark recesses of the house; climbing over stones and wooden beams, and through crawl-spaces that were getting increasingly too small for me. I almost got stuck a few times. I don't remember if we were heading up toward and attic, or down into the earth beneath the home. All I know was that this place was seeming less like a swanky, multi-million dollar mansion, and more like the dank dungeons of an ancient, deserted castle.

We arrived at an old room, which, at first glance, looked as if it could have once been a large living room. It was still rather dark, but I could tell that the room had aged in ways the rest of the house hadn't. Obviously, no one had set foot in this room in a very, very long time. Upon one wall, I could make out a fireplace, and the closer I got to it, the more I could see large clumps of material laying about the floor. After a few moments, I was able to make out what they were. They were bodies. Human bodies. At least a dozen of them. They had long since rotted away and were little more than clothed skeletons by now. The clothing they wore suggested that they had been royalty - jewels; crowns; the whole works. This room was one big, royal tomb.

The boy began to tell me about the family - his family - and about his past. I don't remember a lot of the story, but only the main element, which had to do with him, specifically. He told me about how he'd once had a very close friend; a little girl. They were inseparable, he said, and her friendship was apparently the dearest thing to him. As he told me about her, my point-of-view changed, and I was actually witnessing the story as if I had been there. I saw the outside of his house, and realized that it actually was a castle. One day, long ago, the little girl had fallen into the moat, which ran around the perimeter of the building (which I don't recall seeing, earlier in the dream). Unfortunately, the little girl could not swim. Her friend - the boy telling the story - saw it happen, and immediately jumped in to save her, knowing that he, himself, also didn't know how to swim. (Apparently, this kid's parents were just never around!)

I watched, disembodied, as the two kids struggled to get back to the surface, but it was no use. The little girl was the first to drown. When she stopped fighting, the boy looked over to her and I could see the pain on his face. He no longer seemed to care about even saving his own life, refusing to abandon her. He only floated there, staring into her eyes and cupping her face in his hands. The boy then leaned in, placed a kiss on the little girl's lips and submitted himself to drowning with her, without even so much as gasping for air. He simply gave up.

After the story, I was back in my body. The boy brought me to a corner of the room, where he showed me one of the bodies. It was his own, and it was no bigger than he was now. My new friend, I finally realized, was a ghost. He had been haunting this place ever since then, but sometimes wandered out into the rest world. It seemed that he was flesh and blood, since everyone could see him, but he was definitely dead, and he proved it by showing off a number of 'powers' he had as a ghost. (I don't remember much of that part, but I know he had the ability to move stuff with his mind and turn himself invisible, for starters.) I asked him about the bullying he mentioned, and he explained that he was constantly being picked on by others, and it made him more and more withdrawn from the world. He felt that he was better off alone. I told him that, with the powers he had, he had no reason to allow others to bully him. The things he could do commanded respect from even the toughest of bullies. He was to be feared, if he only had the confidence to apply himself. He liked the idea, and by the time we were done with our conversation, I could tell that he had a new sense of pride to him.

We walked back out of the castle (which I believe was now an actual castle, with a drawbridge at the entrance), and there were two teenage boys walking up toward us. They were apparently no strangers to the young boy, because they began hurling all kinds of insults and curses at him. I simply laughed and tried to tell the kids to get lost, because they were asking for trouble that they didn't want any part of. They, however, kept on pushing and pushing, trying to egg the younger boy into a fight. Finally, the little ghost had had enough. He threw up his hands and hundreds of bright strands, of some sort, flew out toward the larger one of the bullies. The strands snaked around the bully's body, wrapping him from head to toe before solidifying into what looked like white bandages. The ghost had just mummified the bully in front of my eyes. There was an astonished silence, as neither I nor the other bully could believe what we just saw. Suddenly, there was a violent burst of energy from the 'mummy', and a steam-like mist sprang out from between the bandages and landed in front of us. The mist gained shape and mass, and we were soon looking, again, at the larger bully, who had escaped the bandages through some sort of magic of his own.

Grinning, the bully revealed to us that he was also a ghost, and that the younger boy had no power over him.

I woke up immediately after this.