New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 05-19

Search for Asuka

I am in an amusement park with my mom and my brother John. We are waiting in line for a ride, it seems we have been waiting forever. We finally get up to be next and one of the cars pulls up to the platform. There are three seats there, perfect for the three of us. John gets on, then my mom, but when I was going to get on a bear comes from behind me, walking upright like a human, and takes my seat on the ride. My mom says I’ll just have to catch the next one. I’m annoyed that there is a bear taking my seat. The ride leaves and I walk away from it, passing two more bears who are next in line. I wander through the amusement park for a bit to find a ride I will go on by myself. I find a hall of mirrors and I decide to go in there.

As I am walking into the hall of mirrors I see a man waiting at the entrance for me. I immediately recognize the man as MoSh. He asks if I think she is somewhere inside this maze. I ask who. He says Asuka, of course. Isn’t that why we’re here? So we go into the hall of mirrors and start looking around. The first thing I notice is the mirrors don’t reflect either MoSh or me. But they reflect each other in an infinity of mirrors which is quite disoriented. It’s hard to see where the paths are, so we make our way through it like blind people, groping our way with our hands. After making our way through the hall of mirrors for a while we find an exit. The exit leads to a large garden, a beautiful garden. There are many colorful flowers and green bushes and I hear water flowing somewhere nearby. I look around and MoSh wanders off a bit, then he says he sees her. I look in the direction MoSh is looking and I see a Japanese woman in a kimono. It’s Asuka.

MoSh and I head over to see Asuka, there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with her. But as we are passing a hedge the thing attacks us! I see MoSh has a sword and he cuts the vines reaching for us. I use an Alex Mercer blade arm to cut more vines reaching for me. After a bit of pruning we get to where Asuka is. MoSh asks her where she’s been, she says she’s been here in the garden. MoSh says this isn’t her garden, though. Asuka seems disoriented as if she was on drugs or something. I look at some flowers that Asuka had been tending and getting too close to them makes me feel a bit light headed. Those must be there to keep Asuka drugged so she doesn’t try to leave. I tell Asuka she’ll feel better once she’s back in her own garden. She looks puzzled, but says ok. I focus on Through the Never and on getting to MoSh’s inner world. The portal opens and all three of us go through. Asuka says she feels sleepy and would like to rest. I figure the drug needs to wear off. MoSh takes her to a bedroom to rest, everything around me fades and I wake up.