CanisLucidus

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #222: The Australian Odyssey

I’m standing in line with my friends SC and MR along with some other people that I false remember as people from my past. I’m trying to introduce these “old friends” but it’s hopeless because I can’t even remember their names. Very embarrassing, and to my relief the line moves ahead and we walk into a large video arcade.

SC, MR, and I watch this one game for a while that’s a cross between a sandbox-style game, a racing game, and a platformer. I get confused after a while and wander to another part of the arcade, when some creep elbows me aside and then flicks me on the back. The creep stares at me as he walks by with a “what are you gonna do about it?” look. He’s a short little guy with a mustache. “You’re short,” I observe out loud.

This enrages him, and he charges at me, taking an unbelievably slow swing at my head. I push him gently aside and he falls to the floor. “Stop it,” I tell him. “I don’t want to get arrested.” I move away from him down a hallway but he chases me down and tries to hit me again. I scoop up his right ankle and he falls backward to the floor.

I say, “I’m not hurting you because I don’t think you can hurt me.” As I’m walking away I start doing some pondering out loud: “But… what if you try to hit me 5000 more times? Wouldn't all of that practice make you dangerous to me?” Convinced by the dream logic, I pick up a toddler-sized chair and say, “Next time, I’m going to hit you with this chair! In the face!” I shake the chair for emphasis. He ignores my warnings and again comes charging for me. I smash the chair into the center of his forehead and he crumples to the ground.

I walk off down the hall, hoping nobody saw me do that. Something about all this strikes me as completely crazy and I become lucid. I walk down a long hallway lined with school lockers, and at the end I find a dirt ramp leading downward. I follow the tunnel downward into a large temple built with big stone blocks. There are gaps in the stonework near the high ceiling and shafts of sunlight cut across the room from above.

It’s a beautiful place and I begin slowly flying around the room, overcome with joy to be lucid. “Fucking lucidity!” I say, feeling like I might cry with emotion. After flying around for a bit, I walk outside of the temple to find myself in a Venice-like city of canals. A few boats drift gently by.

I look back at the temple and see a large, golden statue of an angel sliding down a ramp from the ceiling to the door right in front of me. From somewhere a voice says, “Although we recognize Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we believe this church is powered by the Holy Spirit.” I get the sense that the voice is trying to explain what they use for electricity. After admiring the statue for a few moments, I step into one of the boats and set off.

It’s not long before I find myself at the edge of the city, heading out to sea. I get the feeling that I’m in Australia and the beauty of the story and the scenery eventually drain away my lucidity. Dreamer starts narrating: “Parts of Australia are dirty, polluted, and not as nice as you might think.” As she says this, I notice oily water lapping against the side of the boat.

I set sail away from the city, staying close to the shoreline, Dreamer narrating here and there. The water is clear and beautiful now. Dreamer says that I’m trying to find my way to the islands of the “Hawthorne Formation” but I don’t know my way there. The sea is calm and I feel peaceful and relaxed. Eventually my boat lands on a sandy beach where Noah Bennet from Heroes is working at a carpentry table. I think he’s my dad and that he’s counting on me making this journey to the Hawthorne Formation to get help for my mom and sister. (100% false memories and characters.)

“Son,” he says, “draw me a map of where you think you are.” I draw a globe on a piece of plywood and sketch out Australia. I think it looks pretty good until I see all of the lines of longitude converging in its center. I realize that I’ve put Australia where Antarctica is supposed to go and feel really embarrassed.

Noah Bennet sighs. “Here’s the Hawthorne Formation,” he says, drawing a series of 4 islands off the southwestern coast of Australia.” He draws an arrow pointing northeast into the middle of these islands.

I thank him and return to the boat. “Good luck, son,” he says, and the dream fades.

I'm glad to be in a patch of more peaceful, relaxed lucids that are geared toward exploration. These are usually among my favorites and tend to provide more opportunity for completing tasks. (Not that I was successful completing anything in this dream, of course, but theoretically...)

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #56: The Kangarant

I'm in a small prop plane flying over a high, snowy mountain range. There are two other guys in the plane with me, both in their 20s. There are no seats -- everyone is standing. Nobody appears to be piloting the aircraft.

The plane barrels toward a mountain peak, and I shout, "Agggh, watch out!!" But the plane clears the peak (though just barely) and the two guys high five. They look at me like they don't get why I'm being such a baby.

"Where are we?" I ask. One of the guys ponders this for a moment and says, "California." California? "No way," I think, and become lucid.

The plane goes into a hard, sickening turn to the right and starts losing altitude. My two companions think this is great, but I want off. I phase my left hand through one of the plane's windows. After a brief pause, the rest of my body follows and I'm flying outside in the clouds, the plane buzzing off into the distance.

I'm descending pretty rapidly but I feel like I'm in control. Unexpectedly, I pass by a gray-haired man who's dressed in an Army Service Uniform. He looks extremely high-ranking, almost certainly a general. He's staying still while I'm moving so I whoosh right by him. He's muttering something as I fly by, but I can't make it out.

My descent slows and I land in an airfield. Some planes are taxiing on runways while others are refueling. There's even a rocket set up nearby! It looks vaguely like a Saturn V but it's way too small.

Stranger still are the animals roaming everywhere across this airfield. Each has at least one human handler. I spot camels for sure, and several other types that I can't remember. But the animal that really grabs my attention is something that I can only describe as the cross between a kangaroo and an elephant. (Kangarant? Eleroo?)

This animal is about 30-feet tall, gray-skinned like an elephant, but with the powerful hind legs and dainty forelimbs of a kangaroo. It has a marsupial pouch but its head has tusks and a modest trunk. The head is elephant-like, but sleeker and longer than an elephant's. I watch this beast in fascination for a while. A handler on a raised platform is passing it some kind of hay to eat. The kangarant munches away, passive and content.

I start thinking about tasks and I fly past the airfield to see what's out there. I come to a beach where several vendors have stalls set up. I decide that this is Australia and that I should do the Australia Task of the Year. I remember something about Mel Gibson. Actual task: ("Hitch a ride on a sea turtle, dolphin, or humpback whale and explore the Great Barrier Reef. Bite a great white shark and don't die. ") I decide that since I don't know what I'm doing I had better try something else. I decide to figure out some kind of way to travel to the Colosseum and have my gladiator battle.

I convince myself that a time machine will appear behind me. I turn around, shouting, "Time machine!" This fails to do anything but make me feel stupid.

A girl who looks like she's about nine walks up to me. I think she's perhaps Philippina. I ask, "Can you show me the way to the time machine?"

She nods, looking a little cross with me. "But I'm not a girl! I'm a boy!" She glares at me, waiting for me to make this right. I don't really know how to respond, since she can apparently read my mind (and I still think she's a girl.)

"Sorry...?" I offer, and this seems to satisfy her. She starts running inland across a nearby road and I follow. We've only gone a short distance when I wake up.