Visions in the Dark

The setting of this dream is medieval Europe, but many of the characters look like they are from the japanese cartoons Naruto and Bleach. There is a forest that stretches across the land from east to west, with an ocean and port town to the south and mountains (and another town) to the north. The main protagonist of this dream is a young man of the peasant class who looks like Gaara from Naruto, but besides appaerence, has no other similarities with that character. The young man had a weird name, like Spicy or something, and he lived in a run down shack, with his grandfather, in the forest.

The dream starts off with the grandfather on his death bed, warning his grandson to stay away from the wealthy neighbours who lived not far away, because they were bad people and were rich and powerful only because they convened with demons. After the old man dies Spicy stays away for a while, but increasing poverty makes resisting breaking into the rich neighbour's storehouse too much of a temptation.

Spicy recruits two friends (who look similar to Ichigo and Uryū from Bleach) and they raid the storehouse and make off with many valuable items, including three longswords found locked in a chest. After divying up the spoils and each taking a sword for themselves, the three young peasant boys go their seperate ways to hide their stash and agree to not use or sell their stolen items until after the robbery has been discovered and they are assured that they will get away with it.

Spicy is able to hide all of his loot, except for the longsword, which he finds himself oddly attracted too. He had held a weapon before, but nothing as big or elaborate at the sword he stole. It felt warm to the touch and fit surprisingly well into his grip. That night as he try to sleep he had dreams about the sword and woke up several times believing he had heard someone with a deep, raspy voice calling his name.



The next day the break-in is discovered and the wealthy and powerful neighbours have all of the peasants in the area rounded up and arrested, regardles if they have proof of their innocence or not. Spicy is able to escape from the guards and returns to his home to retrieve the stolen longsword, still obsessed with it's image in his mind and wanting to free his poor neighbours.

Spicy feels strangly overconfident and combative, but lets the feelings flow through him and attacks the prisoner barracks where his friends are being held. In his mind he only wanted to disarm the guards but instead he ends up slaughtering them, to the shock of the prisioners. Logically Spicy is aware that he is now in deep shit, but emotionally he is thrilled at the bloodshed and desires more. A vague thought to be rid of the sword crosses his mind but the ever growing obsession with the blade and what it can do crushes any such thoughts quickly.

Moving on to the next prison, Spicy means to only disable the guards but again ends up slaughtering them. This time his two friends show up to stop him, each carrying the swords that they stole, but when they look upon the bloody aftermath of Spicy's prisonbreak, they too are filled with a mysterious urge to fight and kill.

The three truculent young men head to the last prison and kill the guards. This time though, Spicy is not satisfied and wants to fight some more, battle and bloodshed having completely taken over his mind. So strong is his desire to continue using the sword that he turns on his friends and picks a fight with them. They too are being overwhelmed with the desire to fight and soon the three peasant boys are in a forest glade having a Mexican standoff of sorts with their stolen longswords.

Before they can kill each other a small army of a hundred or so guards arrives and surrounds them completely, imploring the boys to give themselves up or be killed. Spicy jumps headlong into fighting but his companions are more reluctant to face so many opponents and run away. Spicy fends off most of the guards but is injured and forced to flee after his friends.

Near a lake in the mountains to the north, the three friends reunite. The obsessive need to fight has not left them and they start to fight each other again. For the first time Spicy becomes aware of a demonic presence living in his sword, urging him to slaughter his friends. Even though the awareness that he has been possessed dawns on him, Spicy continues to fight his friends, half enjoying it and half unable to stop.

The friend that looks like Ichigo kills the friend who looks like Uryū - and when that boy's body falls into the lake and floats away surrounded by blood - the image is enough to startle Spicy and his friend into awareness for a moment and pause their fighting. The overwheming urge to fight and shed blood returns quickly to Spicy and he is unable to stop it, but the Ichigo looking friend is able to put down his sword and be free of the demon possessing him. He urges Spicy to do the same but is cut down by his friend for his efforts.

Completely possessed and beyond all rationality, Spicy runs off into the mountains and I cannot remember any more of this dream.

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This is one of those long, detailed, epic-like dreams that my subconscious seems to produce every now and then.


The dream takes place in a post-apocalypic world where small populations of people often battle each other over limited resources. Technology has been reduced to horse-drawn carriages and flint-lock pistols. There is a man who lives away from the fighting and he works in a forge underneath a damaged bridge by a wide river. The Swordmaster, as he is called, made swords (duh!) and armour. He had a reputation of being a ruthless fighter and a loner, and had no known friends or relatives. He sold his creations to whomever could pay, choosing not to take sides in the frequent battles.

The dream starts with a young girl (about eight years old?), with black hair and green eyes, wandering into his forge (I think her name was Jeyna, or something like that). The Swordmaster tries to scare her away, but she seems unafraid of him and interested in the swords that are on display. I cannot recall the conversation they had, but the Swordmaster eventually bribes her into leaving by giving her a delicately crafted knife for free. The dream takes on a kind of montage effect and shows Jeyna returning in secret several times to watch the swordmaker at work with great fascination.

The dream skips a few years. Jeyna flees to the forge because her hometown has been destroyed and with nowhere else to go, she begs the Swordmaster to take her in and teach her how to make swords. He challenges her to a deal and though she is able to deflect a few blows, Jeyna is utterly outmatched by the Swordmaster. However, he is impressed with her skill and determination and agrees to take her on as an apprentice, but warns of his sudden moods and ill temper. Between teaching her how to use the forge, the Swordmaster also teaches Jeyna some swordfighting skills.

The dream skips a few more years to when Jeyna is a young woman. Despite his cold, emotionless demenor, the Swordmaster has grown quite attatched to Jeyna and become very protective of her, though he tries not to show it. While working in the forge one day, and while the Swordmaster is out, the forge is raided by bandits looking for supplies. Jeyna tries to defend the place but the bandits are armed with long-range weapons like bows and spears and she is captured. The bandits are about to kill Jeyna when a group of soldiers on horseback and wielding flintlock guns and rifles show up and chase the bandits away. The captain of the soldiers tries to recruit Jeyna, telling her of how much of the population has come together to live in peace, but says that she can only join if she can use a gun. The soldiers then ride off in pursuit of the bandits.

After the soldiers leave and the Swordmaster returns and Jeyna has filled him in on what happened, the Swordmaster gives his apprentice directions to a trustworthy and neutral gunsmith that lives a few kilometres south of the forge. Before she leaves, the Swordmaster gives to Jeyna his strongest and most cherished sword. It is a rapier with a white and gold handle and the Swordmaster says that the sword is the best made in the world. Though curious as to why he is passing on the sword to her, Jeyna takes it without question and sets out across no-man's land alone.

The Gunsmith's shop is unmarked and located right between two colonies of people that often fight each other and Jeyna has to find it without being seen or caught. When she does find the place, the Gunsmith, a fat, bald man with a thick curling mustach, scoffs at her request for a gun. He claims that she cannot afford his creations and that he only shares his weaponry with soldiers, not children. Jeyna tries everything from threatening him to begging and the Gunsmith just gruffly laughs at all of her attempts. Finally, Jeyna gives up and goes outside, loudly cursing the Swordmaster under her breath. As she starts to walk away, the Gunsmith runs (or waddles, being fat) outside and chides her for not mentioning the Swordmaster before, as they are old friends. The Gunsmith gives Jeyna his best weapon for free and tells her that she is welcome back anytime to learn how to use the weapon. He also says that she and the Swordmaster to come and visit some time.

When Jeyna returns to the forge, the hour is very late and the Swordmaster is no where to be found. It is only after a couple of days that Jeyna becomes worried, though she is afraid to leave to forge unguarded. Jeyna continues to work the forge until she runs out of resources, which the Swordmaster had always provided before. Only when all of the goods had been sold and there was nothing left of value in the forge or shop, did Jeyna contemplate leaving. She was torn between searching for the Swordmaster, or trying to find the group of soldiers who had tried to recruit her. The Gunsmith suddenly shows up for a visit and while he can provide her with the location of the soldiers, he has no idea where the Swordmaster would be.

The dream gets fuzzy here. There is something about Jeyna searching along the riverbank and running into some of the bandits who raided the forge before. They are unarmed and with their children, bathing and washing their clothes at the water's egde. There is a lengthy conversation about something before Jeyna leaves and returns to the forge. As she is going back she sees two people fighing in the wasteland in the distance and when she gets closer it turns out to be the Swordmaster and the Gunsmith. They are in hand to hand combat and both are battered and bruised. Jeyna runs between the two and tries to seperate them, but the Swordmaster pulls her sword from it's scabbard and violently cuts down the Gunsmith. Jeyna stands in shocked silence while the Swordmaster wipes the sword clean and walks away from the bloody scene. He does not return to the forge and disappears again.

Jeyna does not return to the forge and goes to join the soldiers instead. The dream becomes fuzzy and I cannot remember any more.