The Dragon King (and Other Dreams) Part Three

[Continuation of The Dragon King dreams.]

Dream #4: The Dragon King's Performance

We rose with the suns the next morning. Two beautiful suns, one orange and one red, both rising from the north. They almost seemed to overlap each other, and it made for such an amazing view. The Cuoca tree we were sleeping under was on the top of the tallest mountain in a long mountain range known as the Yethic Mountains. We were high enough up that I could stand far from the cliff's edge and see the entire valley laid out before me. There was a winding river, wide and strong, that burst forth out of the mountain from a sparkling waterfall to my right. The river seperated the valley into two parts, both of which were covered in a soft green grass that seemed to glow. Spotted through the valley, thickest near the edges, were tall smooth tree trunks, gleaming like polished silver, just wide enough for me to wrap my arms around if I wanted to, with wide, thin purple fronds sprouting out the tops. Unique creatures flew through the trees like winged cats with long ringed tails, chasing butterflies, dragonflies, and tiny winged serpents in jeweled colors. Large beasts roamed the valley floor, what I once would have considered dinosaurs but for their dog-like faces and thick coats of bristled fur.

They were all peaceful; every creature on this planet was fully sustained merely by drinking the water from the oceans. It wasn't salty like the oceans I grew up around. It was pure fresh water, a deep dark blue. It really was blue, too. The Dragon King had laughed when I said it reminded me of home, and had me put my hands in the water. The water itself truly was blue. He said it was all because of a tiny microscopic water-creature that composed nearly half the ocean's mass, living entirely on the energy given off by life. The creature had been a gift to this planet from the Great Water Serpent many aeons ago, for there was time once when the Great Water Serpent had fallen, injured. In his fever brought on from the pain, he had found himself wandering aimlessly through time and space--delirious. He collided with a reef in the oceans of this pristine world. A doe had found him washed ashore and cared for his wounds. As a symbol of gratitude to her unexpected love and nurturing, he gave to her a single drop of water, with a single water-creature residing in it. That deer was still alive, too; that single drop of water made her immortal. And that single water-creature had multiplied, as it needs no mate to do so, and soon the entire world was as it is now. As long as there was life on this planet, this water-creature would continue to thrive; and as long as this water-creature existed here, life merely had to drink the water, and the creature exerted an energy force into every living cell, even reanimating some of the dead cells, and revitalizing life. Some of the beasts in the valley were hundreds of years old because of the life-extending properties associated with that energy force. And even though the creatures may not have understood or had the capability of comprehending that this water-creature even existed, all life, on any planet, needed water. It was that simple truth that kept this planet in perfect symbiotic harmony, and it would stay that way for many ages to come, until travelers arrive in the future and begin decimating the wildlife.

That thought made me cry, knowing that something so peaceful and simple would be destroyed... but the Dragon King reminded me that it was all part of the endless Circle, and one day, peace would be returned. All things must come to an end. Knowing that your end is near, do you try to extend your own life, or prepare the way for another? That decision is what separated Kings and Emperors. Always consider the good of all before the good of yourself, and you would live a long and prosperous life. For example, he said, there was no use in trying to preserve this land when it's destiny was to be destroyed.
"You can not stop destiny," he told me, with a far-off look in his eye. "You can only delay it for a while." He had turned to face the valley below, waving his hand from one side across to the other. "Imagine, if something had not been destroyed, this new life would not be here. Life is like the Great Phoenix; born of the ashes from the fire before it. This may have destruction in it's path, but beyond that is new life. Yes, it is sad to lose something beautiful. But it is not the person, creature, era, or object that matters... it is how they live on in your memory. So do not think of it as an end. Instead, pray for what was lost, and rejoice in the new beginning it brings."

Right then and there, I made a decision. I walked to the edge of the cliff and got down on my knees, folding my hands in my lap, and sent out a silent prayer that this valley would enjoy many more years filled with harmony and prosperity of life. I prayed that when the time came, they would go quickly and painlessly, and that those amazing creatures would not have to fear or suffer during their end. I also made a promise to myself that I would never forget this place, so that it could always live on in my memory.



At this point, I'm afraid I have to stop. I have had... oh, at least six different people tell me that I need to write a book, and after reading the first part to this dream they think this would be fantastic to read. The way I saw this all play out in my head, I can't help but agree. So, what I'm going to do next is write a short summary, telling the basis of the rest of the dream. If you want to read indepth beyond this, you'll just have to wait and see if my book ever gets published. Though I'll keep you updated via my main blog, Mommy's Personal Space, as to how my book is coming along as I write it. =)

Summary of the rest of the Dream

I feel the need to point out first of all that there is a hierarchy of life, ruled and balanced by five creatures. Much like gods, these creatures take on natural forms, but in much more elaborate and eccentric ways. There is a godcreature for each of the four elements; fire, earth, air, and water; and there is a godcreature of life itself. The Dragon King rules over all of these godcreatures and is what keeps them in harmony and ensures they stay balanced.
From this point, the Dragon King took me back to his castle. I met his wife, the queen, and was very surprised to see that he was married (he had never mentioned it). He tells me that he had to marry her for the good of the kingdom, and even she knew that it was not for love, though they had come to care deeply about each other... just not the way you feel with true love. We then met up with his Windseer, who told us of a deeply disturbing vision she heard on the wind about a betrayal, pain, and ultimately, death. The Dragon King did not seem phased by this, and dismissed her with a smile, telling her to get some much needed rest.
Over the next few weeks, the townspeople began to hear hushed whispers regarding this secret meeting with the windseer, and many rumors spread like wildfire about what it had been about. No one liked me much, as they were all pretty sure that it had to do with me, the King was being "tricked" by this "foreign seductress" and that I was just plain bad news. The King decides to lighten the mood in the kingdom with a gigantic festival that will last an entire fortnight, conclusing with a grande finale performance.
This huge performance and festival are being planned, and the walls of the castle get lined with silk draperies from floor to ceiling. The windseer pulls me to the side one day warning me that I had to do something to save her King, because these draperies were wrapped around him in her vision. I was on my way to see the King and warn him myself when a messenger finds me and informs me that my presence has been requested by the queen.
I meet the queen and we go for a walk through the palace gardens. She tells me that she doesnt hate me nor does she believe any of the bad things the kingdom says about me. she says that she believes i am what a prophesy told would come one day, and i was what the king had been waiting for all these years. He married her out of necessity for the good of the kingdom, the same thing he told me, and although she had loved him from the start, she knew he had never loved her the same way. She talks a bit about the prophesy and what is foretold, and how she thinks I might be the one to save the kingdom. I tell her I think she's got the wrong girl, and she said "we'll see."
I finally meet up with my King, but it''s the morning of the final performance. I warn him and tell him he cant continue with this, and he tells me that we cant live in fear, and that sometimes, the show really must go on. he tells me to trust him, that he knows what he is doing and he knows exactly what will come of it, and that i just need to trust that in the long run, this performance is the best thing to do. I know this will all end badly, but I agree to trust him, and we share a few last loving hours together.
The performance begins, and its fantastic. Acrobats, dancers, firebreathers, illusionists, all sorts of amazing incredible things. An amazing show is taking place. meanwhile, I notice three men moving boxes and such off to the side... and it seems quite unusual given the state of things and the way everyone else has stopped what they are doing to concentrate on the show, and yet these three men are still moving things, as if they are completely oblivious to the festivities around them. I decide to keep my eye on them, but when i start to move towards them a crowd blocks my view and when I get to where they were, they are nowhere to be found. The queen then enters and sits at her royal place at the front of it all, yet on the ground floor instead of her balcony. she said she was tired that day and didnt want to make the trek up the stairs for what would last merely an hour at the most.
As she sits down, the King stands at the center balcony of the act, and prepares the way to his grande finale. he looks down at his queen, smiling, then looks at me, and i can see in his eyes that he loves me. I can see his lips forming the words silently; i felt like he was saying goodbye, and i knew something must have been wrong. This was happening. I had to try to do something... anything.
He turned himself into his dragon form in a very dramatic way, with the lights shining on him just right to accentuate colors and shine. I keep looking around for something out of place, for someone making a wrong move or doing something shady. The king twisted just right and my attention was drawn back towards him... and something then DID seem out of place. Suddenly it hit me-- his spurs! They were missing! His spurs, as he had told me once, were the source of his protection and his immortality. There were ways around it of course; every immortal had something that would kill him. Everyone has a weakness. But not even I knew what his was, but without those spurs anything that would kill a mortal could now kill him too. It was as if he was suddenly human, even in his magickal dragon aspect, and I feared for his life more than ever.
I tried calling to him, begging him to come down, to stop the performance... but he couldnt hear me over the music and the crowd. I tried waving my arms above my head, but I must have looked like 20 others doing the same thing. All I could think to do was something outrageous to attract his attention; so I ran over to the wall and tugged on the silk draperies. They were steady and secure, and although a bit loose and flowing, they would hold my weight if I was to climb them. I began trying to make my way up, climbing walls of silk, but it seemed that no matter how high I climbed, the crowd got louder still, and the dragon was always farther away from me. I was deathly afraid of heights, but i climbed higher still. the life of my king was worth more than my own.
 The King was up on a balcony in the center again, swirling and twirling in his serpentine form, dazzling the audience and just showing how beautiful and natural he truly was. He was getting to a point where he was staying in that one spot now, as if he was preparing to go back to his human form to say something maybe... i couldnt be sure. but i do know that from that height i was able to see across the entire great hall, and i saw something moving in the queen's balcony. i repositioned myself slightly so i could get a better view, and i saw those same three burly men who had been moving the boxes earlier! they each had something in their hands, and they kept their eyes on the king while putting their objects together. One of them was a golden bow with a soft white bowstring, one was an ivory arrow with a jade tip, and the last one was some sort of silk ribbon. The ribbon was tied to the shaft of the arrow, the arrow was nocked on the bow, and the man who had the bow was raising it to eye level, drawing the string...

I knew I had to act NOW. I had just reached the top of the walls, i began inching along the wall trying to get closer to the king, but i knew it was too late. I shouted to him as loud as i could, and at that moment he turned and looked at me. Our eyes met, and I could see a million emotions roiling at the surface of his eyes, though his face showed nothing. I could see an eternal sadness, a longing, pride, regret, acceptance, knowledge and wisdom, but above all else, love. I could see his love for me. That moment seemed to last an hour, with all the emotions I was recieving at once. It was almost like... he was giving me something. Some sort of transference through my mind. I could feel something... but i cant describe it much better than that. I just knew something was happening.
Suddenly he closed his eyes. It woke me up from the sort of trance i had been in, and I realized the arrow had flown. It's mark was true; right through his heart. There was a loud cry emitted from my king, a sort of animalistic expression of pain and sadness. It was like a flute, with a musical quality, that made everyone want to cry just to hear it. My heart broke in that moment. His body began to fall from the balcony, and without thinking I kicked away from the wall and leapt at him, colliding with his body in midair and wrapping my arms around him. We fell a short distance more, and I closed my eyes and braced for the impact of the ground. I just could not stand the idea of his body crashing to the ground and being disfigured and broken during his burial. Even if I died from the fall, my king would be honored in his death. After a moment I realized we were no longer falling. I opened my eyes to find us hovering just feet off the floor, and we were sort of... glowing.
I felt a sort of control though, as if i was swimming in the air, but without the pressure of water. I lowered my feet to the ground and gently came down, resting the king's head in my lap. He was barely breathing, i could hear him wheezing softly, his eyelids fluttering as if he was trying to open them, but he just couldnt. I realized that the entire room had grown silent; nearly the entire world. No one was moving; the exception to that was the fire-breathers and flamethrowers, who had to put their fires out as they were realizing that they were catching themselves on fire.
The world in silence, all eyes on me and my king, and I didn't care. All I cared about was my king. I stroked his mane, and he shifted slightly, and I heard him muttering, trying to talk. I tried to tell him not to speak, to save his energy, and he almost seemed to laugh at that. He muttered something about his energy being safe already, and then asked me in broken sentences to remove the arrow; to just pull it out as hard as I could. I looked over at the end of the arrow, looked back at him, and reached a hand out and wrapped my fingers around the shaft. I thought for a moment and put both hands on it, then squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and pulled. It came out slowly, but soon tore free and I fell back onto the ground, the bloody arrow in my hand. He didn't cry out at all during that, only winced.
I laid the arrow by my side and wrapped him up in my arms, knowing he didnt have much time left. We were still glowing for some reason. He turned his head towards mine, and was able to open his eyes just long enough to look deep into mine, then he smiled, and in an instant he was gone.
I clutched his lifeless body for what seemed like hours, though I know it was merely moments. The light glow surrounding us began pulsating, and getting brighter by the minute. I could feel a warmth, and I felt it all throughout my body. I looked down at my hands and inspected this glow, and realized it was no longer around both me and the king, but just myself. Suddenly a rush of emotion hit me all at once and I fainted.
When I came to, I was in a chair in the queen's chambers. I was no longer glowing.

(Getting through this summary a bit faster now, with less detail)
The queen told me she had the three men arrested and brought to the dungeons, the weapon and arrow laid on a table between us, and her eyes were on my face as she asked where i had hidden the king's spurs. She said the spurs were very important in the burial process and he could not be laid to rest without them. I didnt have the spurs but when i concentrated on them i was able to feel them, and i told her to check her purse. she did so, and dropped it in shock when she saw that she had the spurs the entire time. She broke down in tears, and had to leave the room. I reached for the spurs and a guard tried to tell me not to, that it would be the queen's duty to reattach them, and i told him that somehow i knew she would want me to do it.
I took the spurs, the ribbon-wrapped arrow, and the bow, and walked out and back to the king's chambers, where his body had been taken. A few of the palace servants had let me into the room, and they stood by watching in amazement as took one spur at a time and simply touched them to his sides, and they seemed to naturally fuse back to him. It's like the scales on his body parted and small tendrils of red reached out and grabbed the spur, pulling it back to his body as the tendrils ran throughout the carvings on the spur, until the spur was nestled back between his scales and the tendrils then glowed for a moment before fading altogether. I did this with each of the four spurs. I sat there beside him for hours, wondering what he wanted me to do now, and i never realized that the reason the servants were so quiet was because i had begun to glow again, and they rushed out of the room to start the wildfire of rumors that would take the kingdom overnight. Stories of the true queen of legend.
The burial was a few days later, and creatures and humanoids from all over time and space were gathered there for the funeral, to pay their last respects to the once great king. Some of which I had seen and met before on our travels, some of which were entirely new to me. There was a very touching service, lots of people came up to me personally and bowed, and i was very confused and every time i told someone to get up they looked at me with knowing adoration, nodded their heads, and left with a smile. The five great elementals were there, and they pulled me aside in a meeting. They were telling me how i was the true queen of legend, and how great things would come to me. I would have many trials ahead of me, but i would need to come to see each of them for training and i would be well and powerful. they were kind of secretive but told me that all would be revealed in time, and that i would learn a lot on my own in the upcoming weeks.
Back at the palace, the queen had recently committed suicide. She left a note saying she couldnt live with herself anymore. She had the three men released, admitting guilt to the murder of the king. She had a spell cast on the three, so they hadn't known what they were doing. She told of how she had killed him out of jealousy, knowing that she had given up her entire life for this man who didnt even love her, someone who had just casually brought home some other girl without even her knowledge, basically telling her right then and there that he really did go out into the universe and seduce women. What really got to her was knowing that I was THE woman he was searching for, though I didn't understand what she meant by that. I was just a girl... anyways, she couldnt bear to be left behind by the man she loved, and if she couldnt have him then no one could. It wasnt until she realized that he had given her his spurs that she decided she would kill herself. She realized that he must have actually cared a lot for her to have given her his spurs. He knew she wasnt in any immediate danger, but he also knew that she would attempt murder and so had given her the spurs as a way of letting her know that she was always under his protection, even if he was gone. It was a really sacrificial thing to do,  Knowing that she had killed her king, and that he had given his life to ensure her protection, basically putting his life in her hands, and yet still knowing she was having him killed... she couldn't stand the guilt and regret and poisoned herself in her bed.
Weeks later, I was walking out of the palace, about to head out into the universe again. I had spent too much time at the palace, and it wasn't my place right now. Maybe one day, when I was ready to take the throne, I would come back. But now was not the time, and I wasn't near ready. I had a talk with the three men after their release from the dungeons, feeding them well and apologizing for the queen's misdeeds. I gave them all rooms at the palace and had deep conversations with them, learning that they were all very smart and had political talents of their own, each of them complimenting the others, to the point where together they would hold the title of steward for the kingdom quite well, ensuring that all was taken care of until i returned. The entire kingdom agreed with this, as I had asked many people throughout the villages myself over a week of nothing but traveling from town to town and throughout the city asking people their opinions. I stayed back to monitor the men for a short time, but soon found that they had everything under control and I was free to leave as I wished. The men were still quite handy and were carrying a few boxes of food down to a local shelter. As I walked down an open hallway between two balconies, i went out onto the left balcony of the palace. I glanced down and saw them walking; they saw me watching them, and they all began to smile and one shifted the weight of his box to wave at me. I smiled down at them and waved back, then as they continued to walk down the path, I turned and walked across the open hallway and onto the balcony on the right, overlooking a sparkling lake with a forest on the other side.
The view was amazing. I stood there for a few moments, absentmindedly running my fingers up my arms, tracing the glowing golden patterns that had been starting to appear over the past few weeks, since my king passed. A cool breeze rolled in, and I stood there for a moment with my eyes closed, letting it wash over me, before stepping forward onto a chair, then onto the very railing of the balcony itself. I spread my arms out wide, and stretched open my wings.
You see, I've been changing. My king had apparently passed his energy and power onto me when he died; though the great five told me that he had begun the transfer long before that. Once he had died, the last of his energy had flowed into me; hence the "glowing" the fact that i had put his spurs back onto him sort of "consummated" the transfer, and i had begun changing that day. The lines across my body were part of it... as were my golden-lined wings, soft as clouds and just as pure white. I even had small ivory "horns" coming in, two on my upper arms and two on my hips. The great five told me again that those would never truly come in, and i would never truly become immortal, until i had completed all of my training. I would be the next incarnation of the Dragon King; it passes through true love, from man to woman to man again. Though the title itself changes as well. Obviously I would not be the "Dragon King", especially if I was a woman, and clearly not becoming a dragon. Whatever I became, it would be my own, and I would have the power to travel time and space, helping keep the great five in balance. In a way, I was like the "key"; time and space is the key to balance of everything in all worlds. It's what makes it all work, it was very scientific and yet magical at the same time. I leaned forward and let myself fall off the balcony, feeling the wind rush through my hair, fluttering my feathers. As I felt myself nearing the ground, I spread my wings full out to catch the wind, and soared over the top of the lake, running my fingers in the surface of the water as I went. I flew off, into the distance, and began my journey towards enlightenment and higher power.
At the end, there was a view of the sky, with the clouds rolling by, and as scenes of nature rolled through my mind, I could hear the Dragon King telling me some of the things he had told me once. Things about nature, about the great five, about himself and his love for me. About the way the worlds work, how all things were the same no matter how different they were; and it ends with him reminding me that he is a part of me, that every second that ticked by was a beat of his heart, and the last thing I heard him say was that no matter where we were, no matter how far apart, or no matter what happened in life, he would always love me.

~The End~

In a World Without Cooking Fails

This dream was fun, and yet weird, and reminded me of something I once did in real life... well, of two things I once did in in real life. -____-

I was playing a game in which you picked a world to enter (each one would be different, for example one had ninja kung fu cats) and there were themed quests and such in a little area. It seemed as if the worlds were open for creation; anyone could create a world, design it, create their own quests, and set the rewards for those who could beat them. Most of them weren't hard though.

I was in a Halloween/ghost world, with an old wooden abandoned ship or building (I know it seems hard to mix those up, but it was very run down and the brown of the wood had a gray tone, and it was very broken and unsafe). The second level was sloped down so you could walk up one end to get up on the deck, where there were some ghost/zombie things to kill for a quest.

There was also a floating ghost who wandered the area, and if you could get his attention and make him fight you--and you won--there was a great reward. He had a black flowing cloak, and a white face mask, though I think that mask WAS his face. It was stretched downwards and slightly out with long black facial features. He seemed to be smiling, but a very sad smile.

I knew I was going to find a way to challenge that ghost, but I also knew that first, I had to cook dinner. I left the ghost world for now, and began scrolling through the list of other worlds. I passed worlds with cats, worlds with kung fu cats, worlds with cats drawn with fierce hard lines, worlds with all sorts of things (apparently I can only remember the worlds with cats). I finally found the world that my kitchen was in, and entered.

I was then standing in my kitchen in front of my stove. I was frying something... it might have been eggs. I turned the burner on and went to the table to start chopping some food. After a few moments I turned to check on the pan and see if it was heated enough for the food, and I jumped in shock when I realized I had turned on the wrong burner! I had my kids' diaper bag on the opposite burner, and I had lit it on fire! Luckily the entire thing hadn't caught on fire, but the bottom half of it was smoking and melting to the burner.

I grabbed the bag and set it somewhere safe, then went back and double checked that the right burner was on this time. I turned back to my chopping, amazed at how oblivious I had been in my mistake, and when I turned back to the burner again, the diaper bag was back on the opposite burner again and it was on fire again! I rushed to remove it once again, turned off the burner altogether and decided to make something else. By this time however, no one was hungry.

I went back to my ghost world and attacked the floating ghost with the strange white face. I'm not sure what happened after that, I know I beat him but I don't remember what I got out of it...

Reconnecting with my Stepmom, and ...a Club?

I had two major dreams last night, though the first one was a combination of two separate dreams themselves. So I guess it was three dreams, but two melded together?

First, I was a video game character, but real life (not animated). It was much like my healing druid from World of Warcraft. I had a daughter, a teenager, just old enough to have fallen in love and have the power to fight for it. She was beautiful, with long green hair just like me...

Anyways, we were fighting for our lives on a giant horizontal wheel, her swinging around the edges and myself standing on the top on the center. I was firing blast after blast of nature attacks, and kicking myself for preferring to heal rather than fight, but slowly winning all the same. We won the battle, even though we were still in a war.

Then it was normal again, and I was back home where I grew up. I was sitting at my computer when my stepmom, Lisa, walked into the room. She didn't seem to want to actually speak to me, but apparently she had promised to give me her and my dad's new addresses. She handed me a small slip of paper with the addresses on it, then she turned to leave the room. I was disappointed that she didn't want to even speak to me or barely look at me. But as she reached the door she stopped, turned back around to face me, and walked back over, handing me two sets of papers. One was a letter she had written a long time ago, one I knew I wouldn't want to read because it would only be a recap of everything she had already said, but the other one was written on pink paper and I have a feeling it was either important or a letter of apology or acceptance. Something good.

She sat down and openned her arms, looking me directly in the eye, and I knew she was taking me back into her life. I stood up and tears just started flowing down my face, I could hear myself exclaiming in surprise and pure joy, and I jumped into her arms and hugged her SO tightly. Though I was still careful not to be too hard or too tight... I didn't want to hurt her in any way. When I let go, she said it was stupid for us to fall apart when there had never been any problems between us, and I agreed. I then said I needed a glass of water, and did she want anything? She said sure, so I bounded off down the hallway towards the kitchen, excited to get the water and get back in there to talk to her.

The kitchen was very large and very confusing; all new appliances and nothing I recognized in the slightest. The doorway to the next room was open and my Mom mom (my grandmother on my mom's side) and my Aunt Leah were sitting at a table playing cards. Aunt Leah asked what I was doing, and when I said I was getting some glasses of water, she asked for one too. I said sure, and wandered around the kitchen for a few minutes before I realized that I had no idea where glasses were. Aunt Leah saw me struggling and came in to help, she openned a cabinet and there was rows and rows of glasses. I grabbed three, and took them to the fridge to fill them at the ice and water dispenser. I began to fill them... but the water dispenser wouldn't turn off in between glasses! It just kept going and going; I put each glass under it to catch what I could, but soon all three glasses were full to the brim and the water was still spilling over. Mom mom was giving me this look that said "I just cleaned this kitchen and you're making a mess out of it..." but I reassured her that I would clean it up before I left the kitchen. The water finally stopped and I grabbed a towel and cleaned it all up. Aunt Leah took her water back to her seat and they took up their card game again; I went down the hall towards my room, exhausted after all that trouble, only to get there and realize I left our glasses in the kitchen. I ran back and grabbed them, then went back to my room once more and sat back down at my computer chair, to talk to Lisa.

She pulled out a few pieces of papers that had been folded up. Unfolding them, she turned the top two pages over and began to read to me a line from the third page. It was the last email I had sent her! I must have known in some way that I was dreaming, because I remember feeling this shock at just how accurate it was to what I had actually written. It's like I really could have been looking at my email and reading it back to myself right then. Funny though, because while I'm awake I honestly couldn't repeat back my exact words. I even just scanned over the sent copy of that email and I couldn't find what I think she read to me, but I know it was from that email.

I nodded while she read it, showing my recognition. When she was done with the sentence, she looked at me as if waiting for some sort of comment or reply, and all I could say is that I still believe now what I did when I wrote it. And that parents and children should never have a falling out, from either side. And the dream fades.

I know I've never had that dream before, but I FEEL like I have. Like the message it sent me is one that I've been told time and time again, and I just refuse to listen or refuse to believe that there's nothing more I can do. I have this very strong feeling, this voice inside my head, that I could literally HEAR clear as day, telling me that Lisa has to be the one to fight for me.

The next dream I had was incredibly weird. Me, Mike, and the kids were moving into a new neighborhood. We moved into an apartment building, three stories tall, with us on the second floor. There was a tall building across the street, and although it seemed like a normal suburban street, the building across the way was up on thick beams, with a sort of dining room / bar sitting area on ground level, and stairs leading upwards into the building itself.

While I was outside getting something from my truck, I noticed a man at the bar with two black lab dogs. He seemed to be struggling. I asked if he needed any help, and he said he was actually giving away one of the dogs, and did I want it? I knew we already had a black lab, our dog Katy, but I would love to have another, so I said yes. He said to just walk the dog through the building with him since it did need a walk first, then I could take the dog. He handed me the leash, and it disappeared. The dog followed me, and every time we came to a fork in the hallways, I would just call the dog and it would go the right way. It was such a smart, loving dog. We finally reached the end of the walk, and the man said he would be honored if I'd take the dog! He had other people walk with him, and they treated the dog so mean or spoke harshly. And seeing the way the dog listened to me, I was the right owner for him.

I took the dog back home, and let him meet Katy. It was puppy love from the start. ♥ I knew accepting the dog was the right thing to do.

I went back outside and started doing some work in my truck. I was planning on going somewhere, though I'm not sure where I would have gone since I was new to the area and didn't know anything. Just as I was finishing up, I noticed a man and a few kids were sitting on the tailgate of my truck! I walked to the back of the truck and politely asked them to move, since I was planning on driving now, and I don't really appreciate people on my vehicle... They said they understood and got up and began walking towards the bar, bringing the kites they were apparently flying with them. I allowed my gaze to follow them into the bar, wondering just what was over there, when a woman at a table called me over.

She was an older woman, maybe in her late forties to early fifties. She had dyed blonde hair with more of a yellow tint to it, and dark brown roots coming in. She had wrinkles on her face and hands, signs of hard times and long days of work. I sat down across the table from her, and she talked to me as life went on in the bar. There was a woman behind the counter who was married to the man with the children. There was a woman waitressing, married to the man with the dog. And this woman I was talking to, who didn't seem to fit in anywhere but everyone respected.

She asked where I was from, and I leaned back in my chair, suddenly realizing it was past dark. I glanced up towards the window to my apartment, and saw a light on. Mike was standing in the living room, both boys holding onto him, asking to be picked up. He leaned down and picked up both boys in both arms, and spun them around, all three of them laughing and smiling and just being the picture of a perfect loving family. I knew it was time for me to get home, so I told the woman I had to go. As I walked across the street I remembered that I had left the dog at home, and I wondered if Mike had seen it yet. Just as I was walking up the stairs to my apartment, I saw Mike talking to a police officer, reporting that the club across the street was being extremely loud.

The officer left and Mike and I walked inside, him asking where I had been. I told him I had been across the street and I told him about the people and the odd day I had. He was angry that people would just randomly sit on someone's tailgate, and I was a bit upset at that too. He had seen the dog, and although he wished I had asked, he saw that him and Katy got along perfectly and he was glad for the boys to have another companion. The dream ended there, Mike putting his arms around my shoulders and us watching the boys play with the dogs.

Ice Race for my Games

Last night's dream was exciting, yet scary. I felt true anger in this dream, and fear for not completing a task on time. It also involved a discovery of something lost, in great abundance! All new emotions introduced to my cards under my pillow.

It began with me being placed in some sort of tournament. There were a few others participating, men and women alike, and the overseer was a a tall man dressed in a dark suit, with a dark cape and tophat. I believe he was in either indigo or deep violet, but he kept himself wrapped in shadow. There was a sort of racecourse, with a thin layer of water on the ground, and the walls of the course seemed to be made of icebergs, though it may have been ice-coated glass. It was all deep green and cast in shadow, the walls going up nearly 50 feet in places, so the entire course was dark. We had these jet ski types of bikes that worked best on water, but that still ran on land, and we had to maneuver through the course, looking for a small area with our goal. I'm not sure what the goal looked like, but once we got to it there was some item we'd have to retrieve and bring back to the start.

We lined up at the entrance to the ice maze, and when the overseer waved a globe-tipped staff, we took off. We all began going around an uneven loop counterclockwise, when I happened to glance up and see the overseer laughing down at me. He waved his staff to the right, and as I glanced over, I saw a hidden entrance in the wall. It was created in such a way that if you were passing it counterclockwise, you'd never see it, but if you were coming up on it clockwise you would clearly see two paths to take. I looked around and saw I was alone, so I quickly did a 180 and slid down the pathway. Just as I slipped behind the wall of ice, I heard the other participants rush past. I glanced upwards again, looking for the overseer, but he was nowhere to be found. I saw a pedastal of ice in the center of the small area, with a beam of light shining down around it. Whatever was in the center, I grabbed it and took off back out of the area and onto the course. I was worried the entire time, afraid that I would be ambushed and robbed before I could make it back to the starting zone, and I knew I had to complete this task or I would lose everything.

I made it back to the start, and the overseer stepped out of the shadows to greet me and congratulate me on winning. Even though he stepped OUT of the shadows, the shadows themselves clung to him, and he still appeared dark and ominous, always with this evil grin on his face. The other racers were suddenly lined up behind me, and the overseer was announcing that I had won. My prize? I could open the ice lockbox in my name--there was a full shelf of lockboxes, one in each of our names--and I could retrieve my stolen belongings inside.

I opened my box, and found all of my video games for the Nintendo64. I was surprised to see them, but so glad to have them back. Everyone else was given one small token for their participation, though they clearly were upset to not have their belongings back. I was glancing through my games, when I noticed I was missing some of them... some of my favorites. I began asking people about them, where they were and why they were missing. I was asking for my Mario 64, my Donkey Kong 64, and a few others. No one could tell me where they were, though a few people wouldn't meet my eyes and were obviously trying to get away from me. They knew something, they just weren't telling. The overseer was gone completely.

I began searching for my games, and the search led me to my old bedroom that I had when I was in high school. Someone I knew was sitting in my swivel chair in my room, though I don't remember who it was. They tried to calm me down, telling me it would all be okay, and I should just rest for a bit... all the while trying to ease me onto my bed and get me to lay down, having me rest my head in their lap, telling me it's all okay... it would all be okay...

But it didn't FEEL okay. It felt wrong. Something was wrong, and this person I thought I knew had an ulterior motive that I didn't know and I didn't want to stick around long enough to find out. I pulled myself up to a sitting position, not looking at the person, searching for a way out, for a way to excuse myself from the conversation and the awkwardness of being alone with them, and try to find some reason to leave the room. I exclaimed that I had just dropped something between the bed and the wall, and I should probably grab it before I forget...

When I reached down behind the bed, I felt my fingers wrap around something small, and when I pulled it up to look at it, it was one of my son's missing pacifiers! My son has lost upwards of 20 pacifiers just in the last 6 months, so I was excited to find one. I pulled the bed a few inches away from the wall and laid down to get a better look down the side, and to my surprise there were another 5 or 6 pacifiers down there! I was ecstatic, reaching down and pulling up pacifier after pacifier. The dream ended there, I didn't even leave the room, but I think the look on the person's face said that they were giving up anyways. I was just happy to have found so many pacifiers... my son would be happy. <3

Underwater Farm and a Haircut

Last night's dream was a bit confusing, and I'm not entirely sure of the reasons for a lot of the actions in it... but I blame myself for not knowing, because I took too nearly three hours since waking to sit and type this out, and I didn't think about it much during that time, so a lot of details were lost to me. I think the ones I remember are important though.

I remember me, Mike, an older woman (like a mother figure) and a small group of guys, maybe 2-3 of them. We were on some type of farm, but with an ocean nearby and a water hole right on the property that you could dive down into and be in the ocean. The guys were talking about how they had discovered some sort of cure for something, and some sort of protection against the latest disease (much of this reminded me of zombies being what we were protected from, but I knew it wasn't actually zombies).

The guys went off down the road to show Mike something, and I know they showed him a dead snake (I knew it to be poisonous but nonagressive and nothing we'd ever seen before) and while they were gone I went to show the older woman how we had the largest pecans ever. In the backyard, we had a huge patch of vegetation that looked a lot like 300 lb pumpkins that were connected to each other. I began to pull the pumpkin-pecans apart, and the insides were a light pastel yellow, fading to "unripe" green centers. The older woman began exclaiming how they weren't ready yet, and I was smiling and telling her not to worry, that a little green was just fine, they all cooked up the same with or without green.

The guys came back, Mike excitedly telling me about the adventure they went on, and how there was something amazing under the ocean if we wanted to go see it. We didn't need any special gear on, we could apparently breathe underwater, and it wasn't far. We dove into the water hole and the bottom of the ocean was about 20 feet below us. The entire ocean was lit up, and although it had a watery blue haze, you could see just fine. There was a rope leading back up out of the hole so we didn't get lost. The bottom of the ocean under our farm looked exactly like an underwater farm, and there were even underwater farm animals! We went a little ways out and I'm confused at this point but I believe what he wanted to show me was that we could print out coloring pages with fun pictures on them for the kids to color in... while under water.

Next thing I knew, I was back up on dry land and in the bathroom. I think I was drying off after coming out of the ocean. I was standing in front of the mirror brushing my hair, and I kept shaking my head at how long my bangs were. (In real life, I don't have "bangs", all my hair is the same length.) I ended up getting frustrated, going into the kitchen, grabbing my scissors, and going back to the mirror. I brushed the front part of my hair forwards over my face, and began cutting my hair. I cut the hair in the front just above the tip of my nose, and made sure to consistently check the length with the hair by my ears to make sure I cut it evenly. By the time I was done, and I pulled back, parted my hair the way I wanted, and looked myself in the mirror, my hair was all shoulder length, and it was layered at the sides, leading up to fashionable "bangs" in the front that still brushed off to the sides.

The end! That's it, I cut my hair, admired it, and woke up!

Walmart on a Road Trip (Hopes and Wants)

Last night, I swear this dream was telling my all my hopes and wants in the world. Or at least, it symbolized that.

I was going for a very long trip, with Mike, Chris, and Megan. We were taking two vehicles; Mike and Chris in Mike's little red Tacoma, and me and Megan in my Tundra. My tundra was also pulling behind it a long flatbed trailer with a bunch of odds and ends all over it, though I couldn't make out what anything was.

We had been traveling for a while, but we were all happy. We had stopped at a few different gas stations along the way, picking up various foods and snacks and drinks. The weather was perfect, when it did decide to rain it was a light shower and the sun was still out. Beautiful scenery guided us all over the place, though I don't know if we had an end destination in mind or not.

Eventually we pulled up to a Walmart, Mike saying he had to grab a few things, and me saying there were a few things I'd like to pick up while we were there. We split up for a while, me and Megan going one way, Mike going his way, and Chris saying he'd meet us inside, he had to smoke first. Megan and I grabbed a shopping cart and began going down the aisles. I don't remember a single thing we picked up and put in our cart, and not remembering makes me sad because I have a feeling the items were very symbolic... perhaps the key to what I really want in life. Then again, they might have just been a representation of material things.

There were a few things we picked up that I slid into other items to hide them, and a few things I said we could get free because I'd tell management that they were broken or something. Some story I'd concoct to get free stuff, that was all I knew. I also knew the security system on the store wouldn't catch what I was doing, I could look on the wall and see a metal laptop sort of object mounted, with a bright green eye in the center. I knew they were watching, but I also knew that they would never notice if I looked directly into the eye and smiled and waved as I did whatever it was I was doing.

We ended up running into a manager at some point, and he walked with us for a while, just talking and being friendly. I had already convinced him that some of the stuff we had in our cart ought to be free, and he said it was perfectly fine; that I was right, after all, and there was no reason I should have to pay for those things. He was a very friendly man over all, and I started to feel bad about taking things from his store, even with his permission. Mike and Chris met back up with us after a while, and we went to check out. Mike and Chris had more items and had to go through a separate line. As we neared the checkout counter, my conscience weighed heavily on me, and when it came time to put items on the counter, I put everything up there, even pulled out the items I had hidden, and I didn't tell the cashier about the free things the manager was going to give us. I just put it all up there silently, smiled at the cashier, and paid full price for everything. Megan looked at me quizzically and all I could say was, "It just didn't feel right."

The four of us started walking out toward the trucks, and when we got there all we found was my truck. Mike looked around and asked in a cautious yet worried voice, "Uh... where's my truck? And the trailer?" Suddenly in my mind I got a thought and burst out with, "We should call my grandparents and ask them." So I pulled out my phone and called my grandma, and got good news. My grandparents were in the area, and they had decided they were going to get us McDonald's for lunch. They took Mike's truck and left mine because my truck was big enough to fit the four of us and anything we had bought, and they took the trailer with them so they could keep an eye on it and not have to worry about it being left out in the open in the Walmart parking lot. How sweet of them! We got in my truck and drove to McDonald's, and there they were, my grandparents sitting at a patio table outside just in front of Mike's truck and our trailer. We all sat down to eat, enjoying each other's company and the good food before us.

We said good bye to my grandparents and went back over to Walmart. Mike said he was in the mood for one more thing, and I said I was in the mood for some candy, too. We went inside and I went straight for the candy aisles. I remember going between two aisles, and at the end of the aisles there was another aisle with the endcap right between the two aisles I was walking down, like this:
  ═
╗ ╔
I walked up to the endcap and started picking out candies I wanted. I grabbed three bars each of all my favorites, and Mike walked up just as I was doing so. I playfully held the candy behind my back, saying "I dont know what you're talking about, I wasn't getting a lot..." He laughed and we went down the next aisle, which held even MORE candy! We all started taking what we wanted, and when I wanted a Nestle Crunch bar, I saw that they were out. They did, however, have a section of potted plants that hadn't come back after the winter yet, but that would do so soon, and the labels said "Nestle Crunch Tree". I picked one up, it was nearly $10, and I begged Mike to let me have it. I said it would grow us all the Crunch we could want, and look, the plant I picked out even had tiny green buds coming in! It was already bursting into life! He agreed without a second thought, taking the plant and starting to head to the checkout. I laughed happily and followed behind him, nearly skipping at the good luck and fortune we had.

The dream ended there, before we even checked out. But I have a feeling we did get those things. =)

Boss Fights, Soup, Visions, and Screaming

Last night's dream, although not nearly as vivid as the two before, still left me wondering just what I have locked away in my subconscious.

At first, I found myself in what seemed to be a video game. I was one of four players working as a team to take down a series of bosses. All three of the others were all girls as well, and we were using a lot of magic that was bright green and flowed in bands of air. Our hair twirled around us as we leapt and raced from corner to corner in a more than difficult boss fight. We never actually saw the boss himself in this battle, but the area was a floating platform with five points: four in the corners and one in the center. We had to be standing on the right ones at the right time, and preform some action, that was going to cause damage to the boss. We kept getting it wrong, over and over, and although we never died from it, it was getting frustrating. Blame was starting to be shifted between us as we attempted to discover what it was we were doing wrong so we could get this boss down.
I'm not sure if it was me or not that finally discovered what we were doing wrong, but I remember shouting about it. It was so simple! (Naturally the dream wouldn't allow me to know exactly what it was, but how often do our dreams give us the keys to the future without us having to search or ask for them?)

Once the boss was down, we went our separate ways. I found myself back in Texas, yet the state was... incredibly small. Small enough for me to walk from one corner of the state to the other in just a few minutes. I believe it was more of the idea of how far I was traveling, "statewide" rather than the actual size and distance of the land, because the dream would have been very boring indeed if I spent all night walking across Texas. Especially if that wasn't the point of the dream, too. Either way, there I was in Texas and I was getting a new hobby in life-- making goals and trying to reach them. My goal became the idea of making a new soup or pasta to go in a can for Campbell's Soups. Yet every single idea I had was either already in a can, or near impossible for me to make the recipe just right. I tried and tried and cooked for months on end, only to be met with disappointment at every turn.
This part of the dream ended with me going from one part of Texas to another, each part displaying a can of soup, and each can was an idea that I had thought of, that someone else had gotten famous for. Every single can should have been my idea. All the way down to the alfredo.

As that part ended in panic and frustration, a new chapter in my life seemed to blossom. I was with a friend, I think it was my friend Megan though I'm not sure, and I was cautioning her to be careful in her "sexual endeavors" because I had foreseen that she would get pregnant by someone she didn't necessarily want to have a child with. It wasn't someone she didn't care for, but in my vision I had seen that no matter how much she loved the child, she would regret who the father was. Even if she loved the man, the vision was clear that she should take caution; within a few years she would become pregnant by someone else, and if she didn't have a child now, she would have that exact same child later on. The features and everything would be identical, it would simply be the father that was different. She was laughing and telling me not to worry, that I had probably just had a bad dream, and that everything would be fine. She was telling me she wouldn't get pregnant, that she was being careful, and that she loved this man, so even on the offchance that she did get pregnant by him (though she wouldn't, she said) what bad could that be, to have a child with someone you loved? Either way, she said, she wasn't getting pregnant. Not anytime soon, anyways.
I was thinking of a way to show her my vision, to prove to her that it wasn't just some bad dream. I found a small drawing in my pocket, of a man and woman standing side by side, the woman's stomach large in her pregnancy. I knew she wouldn't be able to see the paper itself, somehow, so I took a blank sheet and a pen and managed to draw the picture almost identically, then showed it to her. She pointed out every possible meaning that picture could have, and all the ways it wasnt actually a woman and man at all, but some sort of animal or the way the woman held herself... I sighed and walked away, telling myself that I had offered my words of warning, and things would happen on their own whether or not I was heard.

I walked away and into my dad's old house, where someone (though not a family member; that's all I knew of this person) was yelling at a piece of paper. I looked at the paper to see what the big deal was, and apparently my stepmom was trying to sue my dad over something about my sisters or the house. All I could really understand was that she was suing, though I knew it was useless. The divorce judge would have to separate their things and there was no judge that would listen to her case until the divorce was final, but it was still going to cause a lot of trouble and heartache, especially to my sisters. I lost it; all sense of control I had was long gone, and I went through the house yelling and screaming, with no definition to my words, just being able to be loud and scream and get it all out. I was angry and annoyed and upset and disappointed and impatient and just every negative emotion triggered by anger that I could possibly have.

I know I got all my anger out and threw myself onto the couch, exhausted both physically and emotionally.

And that's where it ended.

The Dragon King (and Other Dreams) Part Two

[Part two of my dreams last night, the first two dreams being in part one.] This post will contain the first of two dreams relating to the Dragon King that I had last night. This post and the next will be quite long, as these dreams were incredibly vivid and realistic to me while dreaming them.

Dream #3: Courted by The Dragon King

The sun had just set. Despite the full moon, it seemed immensely dark. I was strolling through a public park, with no destination in mind. The stars were out by the billions, making the night sky sparkle like diamonds in a sea of sapphire. A gentle breeze brushed the treetops, casting playful shadows along the path I was walking. It was a dangerous thing to do, walking alone at night-- especially in this town. Thieves and murderers never cared just how beautiful or peaceful the night was; they wouldn't hesitate to kill you on the chance that you might have something valuable in your pocket or around your neck. I didn't care though. This park was the one place I could go to relax and clear my mind, and I had felt so alone lately...

As I neared the far end of the park, the trees spread farther apart here, I could see the moonlight reflecting off the black metal bars of the fence surrounding the park. The path soon came to a black metal archway with thick green ivy growing across it. I knew that in the daylight that ivy was a bright beautiful green, and small purple bell-shaped flowers bloomed all over it in the early morning hours, turning the entire archway into a soft lavender tunnel that smelled like the sweetest perfume. I slowed down as I walked under the ivy, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. As I released the air from my lungs, I took one last step, out of the park. It was like saying goodbye to a dear friend; I hated leaving, but I knew I had to go. I glanced over my shoulder, suddenly feeling very sad, while the trees drifting in the wind seemed to be waving farewell.

Lonely once more, I continued my journey down the empty dirt road towards the nearest streetlight, that cast it's dim glow over the patio tables at a local cafe that would be performing their nightly cleanup routine... though as always, I could swing in for my late night cup of tea. The owner never minded my business being so late each night, probably because I was a regular customer and my order was very simple; I just wanted a hot cup of tea with a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of cinnamon. As I walked up to the back door of the cafe, a waitress was already waiting with my cup. I thanked her and handed her my payment, then turned back to the patio tables and walked to my usual chair, facing away from the cafe at the farthest table in the center. I sat down slowly, staring at the sky with a sigh. I looked back down at my cup of tea, placing my finger in the center of the liquid and pulling it back out, watching the ripples break the surface. I couldn't help but wonder what ripples my own life had in this age old world, or if I was the one rock that hit the water and sunk beneath the surface without any sign of having been there at all.

Lost in thought, I was suddenly brought back to reality when a shadow crossed over my table. I looked up, expecting to see the waitress, or even the owl that hunted this area at night, but instead I saw only the shadow gliding across the ground. I looked farther and farther up, searching the night sky for... well, I wasn't sure what I was searching for. Whatever it was that created that shadow. Seeing nothing, I looked back down at my tea, putting the mysterious shadow out of my mind. Until I saw it again a few moments later. This time my eyes went straight to the sky, and I looked in every different direction. Just as I was about to look down again, I saw something dark move from out of the corner of my eye, yet as I turned that direction, whatever it was had already gone. I started to feel uneasy, and considered heading inside the cafe.

Just before I could stand up, the shadow not only crossed my table but hovered there for a moment. I knew that this time, when I glanced up, I would see this mysterious thing that kept casting me in darkness. I slowly raised my eyes to the sky, and that is when I saw him.

Gliding across the sky just in front of the moon, almost seeming to dance between the moonbeams, was a giant serpent. He looked like a long twisting shadow with the head of a lion, and he barked a cry that made the stars seem to weep. It was a loud cracking sound, what I considered to be a cross between a roar and a eagle's call, but short and crisp. It sounded intense yet sad, like a wild animal who just lost his young. I should have been afraid-- nothing like that existed in this world-- but I was drawn to him. I couldn't look away. I stood up from my chair and took a few steps away from my table, closer to the darkness beyond the streetlight's glow. The serpent twisted and turned in the sky, slowly moving towards me in a wide circle. As he got closer, I was able to see more detail to his body, and by the time his six legs were brushing the tops of the trees in front of me, I could call him nothing but a dragon.

He was nearly twenty feet long from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. His body was two feet thick, tapering down to just a few inches at the end. He was covered in bright red scales that caught the light, but didn't reflect a glare. He truly did resemble a lion; a long golden mane circled his head, and his entire body had golden lines glowing in strange twisted patterns. His legs were short, reminding me of an alligator, with long golden locks of hair just like his mane trailing behind each leg, and terrible ivory claws that could rival any fearful beast of legend. His teeth were long and sharp, but his deep black eyes portrayed a peaceful calm that eliminated any fear I might have had. He had four ivory spurs that jutted right out of his midsection; two just behind his front legs, and two just before his back legs. The were nearly a foot wide each, the front ones curving towards the back and the back ones curving towards the front. They looked a bit like the blades of a scythe, yet they had blunt tips on them. I looked closer and saw that they had the same strange twisting patterns carved into them as he had glowing across his body.

He landed just in front of me, maybe five feet away. I could feel a warmth emanating from his body that seemed to turn the cool spring air into mid summer. The ground beneath his feet suddenly sprang into life; the grass turned a bright green and grew a few inches taller, flowers of all types and colors began to grow and blossom right in front of my eyes-- some of which were so unique and beautiful that I don't think they had ever been seen by human eyes. I felt his gaze on me, and turned my attention back to him. I looked directly into his eyes and nearly fell right then and there into the deep pools of reflection that were staring back at me. My heart skipped a beat, and I had to take a step backwards to catch myself. He let out a soft growl, though I somehow knew it was meant for laughter. His lips seemed to curl upwards in a smile, and he began to draw himself upwards, standing on his back legs for a moment before twisting his front end around himself like a snake curling up. The tighter and tighter he curled, the darker he became, before I realized it wasn't him getting darker but a thick deep purple fog that was shrouding him in darkness. He began to fade from view, and I reached a hand out towards him in an effort to stop him from leaving.

I heard him growl again, although this time the growl actually faded into a man's deep laughter. I lowered my hand slowly, searching the darkness as the fog dissipated for any sign of this magickal creature. At first I couldn't make out anything, I could only hear that haunting laughter. I began to second guess myself, thinking that perhaps I was imagining things. It wouldn't be the first time a late-night waitress accidentally gave me her "special brew". The remaining fog seemed to coalesce into the shape of a tall light skinned man, who formed a more solid shape as he began to step towards me. He was wearing thick tan pants that tied at his waist with a sash. His dark brown leather boots were nearly knee high, yet the tops were folded down so they only came halfway up his calves. His white shirt was tucked into his pants, loose and flowing, the top half unbuttoned and showing off his strong chest. His sleeves were long and also loose, yet buttoned tightly at the wrists. By the time he stood directly in front of me, his face just inches from mine, there was no doubt he was real. I couldn't keep my eyes off him. He was gorgeous. He had thick black hair that curled down to his shoulders... broad lean shoulders at that..  Strong facial features that told of hard days at war, yet soft gentle black eyes that showed wisdom and a peaceful nature. His body was perfectly formed, with strong tone muscles that could perform any physical feat he could have need to do. This man could not possibly be just a man... I knew he was a King, a God, before he ever told me so.

He reached out and took my hand, and began walking backwards towards the park. Without hesitation I let him lead me. He turned to face forward and fell into step beside me. We walked side by side in silence, my eyes never leaving him and his hand never releasing mine. We walked under the black metal archway into the park, and the flowers burst into life, blossoming and instantly filling the air with the most wonderful scent. As he led me through the park I could see nature bending to his will. Plants coming to life, trees lifting their branches so we could walk beneath them, the water from a stream bubbling and splashing playfully at the bank. He looked up towards the stars and they seemed to grow brighter, the moonlight casting a single beam of light directly onto us. We stopped in the center of that light, he turned back to face me, and held both my hands in his. He closed his eyes and began to sing... and to this day it holds a place in my heart as the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. His song wasn't in any language I knew of, and he seemed to be singing the part of three separate people in perfect harmony. It was a slow song, and so sad that silent tears began to flow down my cheeks. I never noticed, but where each teardrop hit the ground, a Moonflower sprouted. It was a very rare breed of flower that has only ever been discovered growing in places deemed sacred by myth or legend. I felt as if he was singing about a lost land, a lost love, and a lost past. His song began to alter ever so slightly, and the tone of the song began to make me believe-- truly believe-- in Hope. In magickal powers that could heal all things. In Love. His song slowed to an end, and his voice faded into the night.

He smiled down at me then, and I knew at that moment I would do anything and everything he could ever ask. I didn't even know his name, and I loved him so.


Over the next few days, we traveled. In his Dragon form he carried me across the world. Both across vast distances and across the span of time, we saw the most amazing sights. He showed me time-lost lands with strange creatures that all sang their own mystical songs. He showed me new worlds that were yet untouched by the corruption of man. I tasted the sweetest fruits, that had healing powers, which also gave me physical endurance and made me feel younger somehow. I drank the clearest, purest water from a sacred fountain that gave me knowledge and the ability to speak any language I wished. I saw things the likes of which my most vivid imagination could never have dreamed.

One night while relaxing beneath a Cuoca tree in a distant land (that's what he called it, anyhow), I began to think back about how this all started. I was laying down, my head against his mane, his body curled up around me, with his spurs facing upwards to protect me. Watching the three moons and two ringed planets drift across the sky, I recalled our very first conversation.

"Who are you?" I had whispered.
"My name is spoken in song form, in my native language." He chuckled softly, and spoke with a confident pride, though without vain. "You can call me the Dragon King, as I am known throughout time and space."
I shook my head slightly, and giggled silently and breathily.
"Oh. Dragon King..." I said sarcastically, casually rolling my eyes. "Of course you are."
He knew I was playing, and that I couldn't believe this was happening. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. I could feel his heartbeat, strong and steady, and it nearly put me in a trance.
"Oh!" I gasped. In the split second that I had laid my head against his chest, I could see his name. It wasn't in words at all. It was an image of a white wolf running across a golden field, a strong red dragon (the same he had materialized from) hovering above it.
I smiled then, knowing that somehow my life had changed forever.
"Don't you want to know my name?" I asked him.
"I already know your name, Crystal. I know everything about you. Your eyes, your soul, and your heart have already told me everything."
I sighed and looked away.
"Then you already know..."
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes. You love me." He lifted my face gently and leaned down, his lips softly brushing mine.
"And I also love you."
"...Why? How can you love me? You are amazing, and I am just a girl... Just another girl who I'm sure is like hundreds who have fawned over you."
"No." He said. "I have seen your soul, and never have I met someone like you. I can never forget you now; you are part of my heart."
I didn't know it was possible to physically melt, but I swear I did just then.
"Come away with me," He asked. "Come see the worlds, see the stars... let me show you my world."

And I did. He wrapped me up in his arms even tighter, and I felt the world around me spin. I shut my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was in a white sparkling forest, surrounded by tall thick glass trees and bright red mushroom patches on the ground by my feet, that jingled like musical bells and flutes when a breeze washed over them. In the distance, through a clearing in the trees, I could see an enormous golden castle, it's spires stretching high into the sky. There was a village surrounding the castle walls, each building made entirely of sparkling white stone, almost seeming to be an extension of the forest. The Dragon King was back in his dragon form, and I felt him whispering in my mind to climb onto his back. Ever since then, we had explored countless worlds and hidden wonders, and I never again felt loneliness.

The Dragon King had told me earlier in the night that he had received an urgent message from his wind-seer to return to his castle. The next morning, we were to meet with her over breakfast in his dining hall. She was, as he explained to me, a fortune-teller of sorts. Though he had the ability to travel time and space, he could not see into his own future, nor could he travel to it. She had the gift of reading the wind and translating the visions it brought her. She had seen something-- though she refused to say in her message just what it was she had seen-- but whatever it was, it had severely frightened her. He tossed and turned as he slept that night, though I knew it was not for fear of the message, but out of worry for his wind-seer. I wasn't sure what the dawn would bring, but I trusted that with him by my side, everything would be alright. I closed my eyes, and slipped into a dreamless sleep.


[This was where the first dream of the Dragon King ended, and I felt myself wake up for a few minutes before falling back asleep and beginning the next one.]

The Dragon King (and Other Dreams) Part One

Last night I had what seemed like 4-5 different dreams, separated by brief moments of waking. Each time I felt consciousness slipping back, I did a quick recap of the dream I had, and prayed that I would remember it by the time I was truly awake. This morning, I feel that I do remember almost all of my dreams, and in a way that surprises me, since I've never been able to remember a dream just by asking myself to remember it. The dreams I record here are more than likely not in the actual order which I dreamed them, but I do know that it ended with the Dragon King, and so I will start with the mundane ones that took place in my home.

I'm going to split this post into two though, because the ones with the Dragon King were quite long and have a LOT of detail to them.

Dream #1: Cleaning the Back Bedroom

I do believe this was the first dream I had, though I can't be 100% sure. In this dream, I was with my husband and our friend Wayne, and we were cleaning and reorganizing the room on the back porch for my friend Megan. It seemed a lot cleaner already, and when I pointed that out, Wayne said that he had done some picking up the night before when he went back there to grab a blanket. We were shocked, and thanked him profusely, then turned our attention back to what was left of the room. There was a full size folding bed that we would have to take out, and I said that it should fit folded up under the pool table so long as I cleaned out from under the pool table itself.

I went into the living room and sat on the floor next to the pool table, and surprisingly it was already cleared out. I sat there for a few minutes, trying to wrack my mind to remember what items were supposed to be under there. Either way, suddenly there was space, and that was good enough for me.

I went back to the back room and the guys were picking up some random boxes of things. I know we didn't get the room cleaned all the way, but my view began to zoom out, as if I was watching the three of us cleaning from afar, then my vision faded and the dream ended.

Dream #2: Pizza

This dream was extremely short, but it stuck in my mind, and somehow I just know that this really was all there is to this dream. Mike and I were sitting in a bedroom, on a bed, leaning against a wall. We were watching TV or a movie; our attention was on the wall opposite us (though my vision never allowed me to see what it was we were watching). The pool table was just outside the bedroom door, and there were a few boxes of pizza stacked on the pool table, the top one left open. Someone else was in the room by the pool table, and I leaned forward and asked if they could bring me another piece. I watched them grab a slice of what looked like cheese though I do believe there was something else on it as well, and they brought it to me. I sat there, holding my slice of pizza, just enjoying life at that moment, before taking a huge bite off the end. I could feel every tastebud crying out in pure joy as the taste of the pizza exploded into my mouth. This part of the dream was slowed down infinitely, and I could FEEL the enjoyment I was having at the taste of that pizza. It was incredible.

I've never woken up to the need for pizza quite the way I did this morning.

Slenderman

 Recently I was introduced to a paranormal creature known as Slenderman. You can learn more about him here, as well as download a small and simple yet frightening game called SLENDER: The Eight Pages, in which you explore a forest at night, with only a flashlight, collecting eight pages of lore on Slenderman, while each page you collect brings him closer to getting you. The site has this to say about him:

The Slender Man was created at the Something Awful Forums in a thread entitled "Create Paranormal Images." He is described as wearing a black suit strikingly similar to the visage of the notorious Men In Black, and as the name suggests, appears very thin and able to stretch his limbs and torso to inhuman lengths in order to induce fear and ensnare his prey. Once his arms are outstretched, his victims are put into something of a hypnotized state, where they are utterly helpless to stop themselves from walking into them. 

 Slendy, as my friends fondly refer to him, is not as scary as he might seem at first. I myself would consider him "fear incarnate" in the sense that you are only afraid of things that you already fear, and the thought of Slendy chasing me through a forest at night, me with only a flashlight, doesn't actually make me fear him, so much as it brings to mind anything and everything else I might be afraid of. The other reason I consider him this way is because of the dream I had last night, of which I am about to tell you.

I had to give some background on the creature before getting into the details of the dream, so that I wouldn't have to explain it as I go (and also as a reference to myself later when I look back on this).

The dream itself wasn't very long, but it pulled a strong sense of emotion from me, one that stayed with me for hours after waking. I felt true fear... and in that fear rose true courage.

It began in a mansion. I was in a room with a few other people. Though it doesn't make much sense to me, the people in the room were the guys from "The Big Bang Theory" TV show. Perhaps I'm afraid of looking childish and ignorant in the eyes of more knowledgeable people? We were looking through a bookshelf, and somehow the topic came to video games that we had yet to beat. I was the one who brought up SLENDER, and brought them to a computer to show them. The game somehow altered such that the area we were trying to run through was the same mansion we were currently in!

I knew where quite a few pages would be, and led them to the ones I could locate. But then we heard something in the other room, and an eerie silence fell. We were all listening and waiting for what we knew was behind the door... Slenderman. We started rushing through the mansion, discussing our plan of action along the way. The only way to escape was in a sense to bring him closer to us... to locate all Eight Pages. We somehow knew those pages would be hidden around the mansion and the grounds surrounding it. Oddly enough, I even knew exactly where a few of those pages would be. We began splitting up into groups, aiming to retrieve certain pages each, and to search certain sections and rooms to cover more ground quickly.

I'm not sure how I knew, but shortly after separating, the other two groups had already fallen to Slendy. I was terrified, and wanted nothing more than to curl up in a chair in the corner and stay there until it was all over... but I knew I had to get those pages if I wanted to live, and if I wanted to save the others. While coming across the first page, Slendy surprised me and the guy I was looking with (Leonard) and nearly grabbed the guy as he reached for the page. With all the courage I could muster, I jumped on Slendy's back and wrapped my arms around his neck, wrestling with him so Leonard could grab the page and escape. The whole ordeal seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I was letting go of Slendy, dropping to the floor, and running after Leonard into an adjacent room, locking the door behind us. Leonard and I separated at that point, him going into an area that I didn't have clearance to enter, in which we knew a page would be located. He never returned.

The next few parts of the dream were me going across the grounds and throughout the mansion, collecting the pages I knew of and checking a few places I suspected. My intuition was almost always right, leading me almost directly from page to page. I was still dodging Slendy though, every few turns I would glimpse him behind me, or out a window, or coming around a corner. Sometimes he would appear just on the other side of a door I opened, and those close calls showed me that no matter how scared I was, I still had the potential to be even more afraid. I kept on though, until before I knew it I had collected six pages.

To find the seventh page, I had to use a special viewer that was on the very edge of the property, that zoomed in and showed me the page, up against the back wall of a standalone building. I climbed down and made my way to the building, Slendy not in sight. But once I reached the doorway, it seemed like a showdown. I approached the doorway from the left of the building, Slendy from the right. We came face to face at the door, the page in view through the open doorway. I knew this was the end of it; if I went into that room, I would never come out. But if I never went into the room, it would never end. I would live in fear my entire life.

I'll be honest; I have no idea how this dream ended. I think I went into the room... I hope I went into the room. There is no way to know if I would have ever found that eighth page anyways; if it really was under secret clearance, then I would have had a hard time getting to it. All I know is that this dream signified all the fear I have, of everything I have ever been afraid of. Knowing where some of the pages were makes me think of the fears that I have rationalized and come to understand, actually collecting the pages makes me think of fears I have overcome. My jumping right on the back of Slendy at one point I think signifies a HUGE breakthrough in which I stepped up and faced my fear, and won. The seventh page seems to have a lot of significance, perhaps hinting at taking a step back and needing a third party's point of view to really see this particular fear for what it is; getting so close and having that confrontation has a lot of symbolism to it, something I have a feeling I need to do some deep thinking about. That eighth page, being locked up out of my reach, tells me there is something else I am afraid of that either I am not allowing myself to consider, or that I don't know how to rationalize just yet. A lot of deep meaning in what would otherwise be considered a nightmare.

A Trip to the Dorm-- and Out Again

This dream, like few others I've had, felt as if I was actually there, as if I was actually living it and doing all these things. My emotions were all over the place in this dream, and even if it doesnt quite express it through the description, I was happy, sad, frustrated, calm, panicked, worried, laughing, just everything.

It all started at my dad's old house. There was a large family get together, and I was going through the house looking for something. I don't remember what I was looking for, I just knew that it was personal, and I had a few of them lying around I just couldnt find them. The family was outside enjoying a barbeque, and I was the only person in the house. It felt so empty and lonely, and as loud as everyone was just outside the door, it was very quiet. I couldnt find what I was looking for, and when I looked down I noticed I was bleeding. I'm not sure where the blood was coming from, but it made me panic.

I thought I might find what I was looking for at my aunt's house, right around the corner. I walked through a doorway and found myself in her living room. Once again, the house was empty... presumably because everyone was at my dad's family get together. I could hear muffled chatter from the people at the party, even as far away as they were. It was like a constant reminder that they were, in fact, still there. I searched her entire house, finally finding whatever it was, and I grabbed a bandage to stop the bleeding. I noticed my hair was very dirty, so I bent over her bathtub and washed my hair under the faucet. It wasn't as clean as I wanted it, but it was good enough to be presentable. I rushed to towel dry it when I heard someone else come in, and it was just my aunt telling me they were all looking for me and I was expected at the party.

I went outside and found myself at our family get together, but in what seemed like a park of some sort placed directly outside my dad's front yard. The sun was high in the sky, and I found a huge jungle gym hiding under a very tall and wide old oak tree. I used to love climbing jungle gyms, so I made my way to the top, latched my knees and legs around a bar, and hung upsidedown from the center. Just enjoying life, peacefully and playfully.

Next thing I know, I hear a car pull up. It was an older car, reddish orange I think, possibly blue, but in fine working condition. It came to a stop right in front of the jungle gym, and my friend Chris stepped out of it. He walked up and started to climb the bars, and we sat and talked for a few minutes. Well, he sat, I hung. Something we were talking about reminded him of something else, and he sat up straight and in an excited voice told me there was something he had back at his dorm room, he really wanted to show it to me, and that I wouldn't believe it till I saw it. He wouldn't tell me what it was, just that I had to see it. I looked at the sky and saw that the sun was beginning it's decent, though it was still hours from sunset. I said I'd go, but I had to take my sisters with me. The were in their stroller nearby, both of them still tiny babies. I started pushing the stroller over to his car, and I knew I had been seen walking them, though I also know that no one saw us get into his car. We folded the stroller and put it in the back seat, and I held both of my sisters in my arms, wrapped up in a blanket. They were suddenly both so small that I could hold them side by side and it barely took up the space of one normal-sized child. That didn't seem strange at all though. As we were driving away, I told him that I had to be back before the sun went down, or else I'd be in trouble and I didn't want my family to worry about my sisters.

We drive for a while, it's really not too far of a drive though. Maybe a 10 minute drive? That is still quite a long distance to walk, though. We leave my neighborhood and the town seems to have changed drastically. Every building is made entirely of metal, and rusted at that. Most buildings seem to be built up on stilts of angle iron, some buildings have metal rods shooting up from the tops, and some of them are just metal frames with metal signs on them. A heavy smog hung low around the rooftops, and the air itself gave everything a burnt orange glow. Not a tree was in sight, and the small bits of grass in the dirt were long dead. The buildings weren't all industrial though; a few of the signs I spotted were places like Winn-Dixie and Walmart, McDonald's and a Nail Salon.

We pull up to a tall building that looked a lot like a school; if a school was old, metal, and rusted. There was a rusting chain link fence around it, and a metal staircase that went up a few flights on the front. Chris gets out and grabs the stroller, folding it up so small it fit in his pocket. I got out and ensured my sisters were safely tucked in their blanket, and they were sleeping so peacefully. He told me we couldn't be seen entering the building, some sort of trouble or fee he'd have to worry about, so we slid in through a section of the fence that had been cut open and quietly rushed to the staircase. We climbed a few flights of stairs, though I'm not sure how many. We eventually get off the stairs onto a metal "deck" that wrapped around the building, and walked a few doors down, took a side pathway that went in between what seemed like two different buildings, and came to a door on the right, which Chris opened and we went inside.

It was a small dorm room, no more than 13 feet across from door to wall. To the left, about 10 feet out, was a small kitchen that stretched the span of the wall, with a tall thin fridge, a small stove, and cabinets, with just enough counter space to fit the tiny sink and the piles of dishes that reached halfway up the wall. Directly in front of me as I walked in was a small square wooden table, stacked with papers and folders, a few plates and soda cans, and some plastic food wrappers. To the right, the room went another 12 feet or so, and rather than a couch, had a full sized bed with a coffee table beside it. There was trash all over the floor, I believe there was carpet underneath but I couldn't tell for sure, and the bed was disheveled, a pillow even hanging off the side, about to fall to the floor.

Chris turned and told me to wait a moment, he thought he had left whatever-it-was in his bedroom. I then notice a small door opposite the bed, which Chris walked through. He left the door open but I didn't look inside. I could hear things being tossed aside and moved around, and I took this time to look a bit more indepth into the rest of the dorm. Before I could really see anything though, the comforter on the bed began... shifting. I took a step back, only to watch someone sit up, shake their head for a moment, then look up at me. Apparently Chris had a roommate; although I think I recalled him saying that, it never occurred to me that they would be here. I stepped forward to introduce myself, though it took me a moment to say anything. I thought at first that it was a girl-- they had shoulder length curly black hair, and their facial features just seemed sort of feminine. Once they opened their mouth to say hello however, I knew it was a guy.

He started talking about something, but I wasn't really listening. I was looking out the window, trying to determine how long I'd been there. It was hard to tell, since the air was the same color as sunset. I finally made out the hazy image of the sun against the horizon, so hard to see through the smog... When it finally hit me that the sun was already beginning to set, I panicked. I called to Chris and told him that I had to go, and he came out of his room slightly disappointed but agreeing that it was getting late. I told him it was okay, I thought I could get home on my own, so he could continue to look for whatever-it-was. He offered to show me how to get out of the building. (Which was apparently pretty hard to do, since I guess either guests weren't allowed, had to be checked in, or perhaps just females not allowed in male dorms? Honestly I had begun to think they were hiding something on campus that outsiders just weren't allowed to see.)

I don't remember exactly every move we had to make to get out, but a few things stuck in my memory. I remember him looking both ways before we even left the room, I remember walking down the pathway between the buildings and thinking to myself, "I feel like I'm in a Mission Impossible movie..." and I remember coming up to the actual entrance/exit of the school. It was almost like a military guardpost, with three small sections you had to get past. The first section was more for stopping people from getting in, so we were able to walk right past it. The second section had a small open rectangular area, with a guard in a small hut on a hill, surrounded by a fence. Down the hill just below the guard was a brick wall with a metal door and a little red light above it. The guard apparently had a switch on a control panel in his hut that locked and unlocked the door. Reminded me of a prison...

We were just above the area on the hill, and it was easy enough to slide down the hill silently and step onto the roof of the hut, then when the guard was looking the opposite direction, jump from the roof of the hut off to the side of the hut, to a section of the brick wall that was just barely out of sight of the guard, but the wall was low enough to hoist yourself up over it. Chris went first and as soon as the guard was looking away, leapt off the roof and landed by the wall. I could see a small dust cloud burst into the air as he landed, and my first thought was of my sisters. I couldn't make that jump with them, it would risk them getting hurt or sick. So instead I thought about it. The guard was a thin, red-haired boy, covered in freckles, with a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. He didn't look weak at all, but he certainly wasn't one of the "popular" kids, and I doubt he had many women willing to talk to him, let alone give him the time of day.

So rather than jumping the fence, I stepped down the hill as carefully as I could while maintaining my casual pace, kept my head up and looked the guard straight in the eyes as soon as he saw me. I held his gaze until I was at his level, then I smiled and looked away, blushing. I asked him if he could please open the door for me, I had to take my little sisters home and they were just so small... He gave me a crooked smile and told me he'd be glad to open the door, and he stumbled his way to his hut without looking away from me. I kept smiling and giggling until the door was finally open, then I waved good bye and told him I'd try to come back soon, because I'd love to get to know him better. He never thought twice about openning that door. I'm not sure how I know that, but I just do.

I met up with Chris on the other side of the wall, who although disappointed that I didn't hop the fence, was glad that I made it out safely without triggering an alarm or setting the campus on alert. I wasn't even aware that could happen... so from then on I told myself I'd pay a bit more attention to what Chris told me to do and try to follow his direction a bit more closely.

The last section was a small building, much like a waiting room for an office. There were three men inside; one was a Deputy of some sort, though I don't think he was with actual law enforcement, the second was just another kid that went to the school, and the third was an older man who didn't seem to fit in anywhere but just sat in a chair laughing at everything everyone said. This room seemed more psychologically challenging to get out of. We couldn't just walk right out the door or we'd seem too suspicious, yet standing around in the room too long and I'd be caught for sure. Chris went over and sat next to the older man, while I leaned against the wall near the other student. Chris got to talking to the older man and naturally the older man started making jokes that had the entire room laughing. After a few minutes, while everyone was still laughing from something he had said, the student turns towards me and leans over, and whispers, "I'd be heading out that door right about now if I were you... this is the perfect time to do so. Hope you come back around though. It's nice to see new people every once in a while. Good luck!"

I silently thanked him and announced that I had to get going. I walked over to the door, took a deep breathe, and shut my eyes tight, afraid of what would happen when I opened the door. Thankfully, nothing happened at all. I was able to walk right out into the open, and I was out of the school for good. Chris came out behind me, and told me that it was all good now, I was safely out. I turned towards the road, beginning to wonder just how it was I got here and how to get home, when I heard Chris curse behind me. I looked back at him and he told me that he left the stroller back up in his room. I knew it would hurt my arms trying to carry my sisters all the way back home, but Chris had a better solution. He said he'd drive me home and worry about finding his whatever-it-was later. It wasn't that big of a deal anyways. We walked down the fence surrounding the school till we got over to where he had parked, and we got in.

He drove us home, and we arrived on the street my house was on just before the last bit of sun sunk below the horizon. Just as I was about to start walking down the street (I didn't want my family to see me getting out of a car, I wanted them to think I had been on the walk the entire time) Chris reached into his pocket and realized he had the stroller the entire time! We laughed for a moment, then he unfolded it and set it on the sidewalk. I set my sisters in it, and suddenly they were normal sized babies now. Pretty close to the size they actually were supposed to be in the dream anyways.

I waved good bye to Chris and told him to let me know if he ever did find his whats-it, and he said he would. I watched him drive off, then pushed my sisters down the street at a nice easy pace. The stars were starting to come out, and a gentle breeze began to blow. My mind was clear, all sense of worry and panic long gone, and I felt at ease. My dad was just walking out the door to call me to come in for the night, and he took my sisters from their stroller and walked back inside. I stood in the front yard for a while still, just staring up into the sky, wondering what else was out there.