New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

12/02/13

In Another Life
I am back in high school. I have absolutely no awareness of my waking life or that there is anything out of place. My name is Marcy, and I am sitting near the back of the room in a math class. It's Algebra. I'm not having any problems with it, I am good at math. More importantly, this is my last class of the day. I am anxious to get out of class and get home. I hope I can get out of the school without meeting up with the jerks that I always have problems with. Sarah, Beth, Maria, and Gene. The bell rang and I shove my books and papers into my backpack and hurry out the door. I am almost to the front door of the school when I see the very people I had been hoping to avoid. Sarah is there talking to her friends. I think I can get out of sight without being seen but it is too late. Sarah speaks loudly, saying watch out, it just got fatter in here. I look down at my body. I am moderately overweight, but it really isn't that much. Gene adds that it got uglier in here. Maria adds that it got stupider in here. Beth tries to add something but I can't understand her because she is laughing too hard. I don't want to let them bother me, but they do. It hurts. I feel like crying.

I hurry past them and out the door, figuring if that is it then I should count myself lucky. But that's not it. Sarah comes out first and shoves me to the ground. The others laugh. Gene and Beth grab my backpack from me, it had only been over one shoulder, and they take off with it. I need that! I chase after them, but I am slower since I am a bit fat. Sarah and Maria follow after me laughing and making comments about my bouncing ass. We reach the far fence of the school yard. I am so out of breath. Gene opens the backpack and starts tossing stuff out over the fence saying that it was all garbage. Beth asks Gene how she can touch stuff I have contaminated. As if just realizing that, Gene tosses the backpack over the fence as if it would bite her. Sarah shoves me into the fence and tells me the world would be better off if I went home and killed myself. I clumsily climb the fence to get my things. I fall down the other side, much to the girls' delight. I scrape my knee up, but that's it. I start collecting my things as the girls walk off, still laughing. After I get my things together I sit by the fence, tired, depressed. Why me? Why did everyone hate me? I start crying.

Not much time had passed before I sense someone watching me. I look up and see a man standing over me. He is wearing a hoodie and has very striking blue eyes. Not sure what a grown man would want with a 14 year old girl I move away a bit. He speaks in a friendly tone. He says not to go, he won't hurt me, he just saw me crying and wondered if I was ok. The fact that a complete stranger has shown concern in how I feel sets me off crying all over again. He asks what is wrong. I find his name is Alex. I'm not sure why, but I feel the need to tell him everything. About the girls harassing me here at school, harassing me online when I'm away from school, one time they had gotten physically violent and broken my nose… maybe Sarah is right and I should just kill myself. He listens sympathetically while I talk. He then holds one hand out to me to help me up. My hesitation has gone now, and I accept his help. He pulls me to my feet… but then he won't let go! He smiles in a friendly way, but what he says is not friendly at all. He says he lied when he said he wouldn't hurt me, this is actually going to hurt quite a bit. But it won't last long. And when it is done, those girls will never push me around again. No one will ever push me around again. I kick at him and try to pull away, I scream, but there is no one way out by the fence to hear me and he is much stronger than I am. He is holding my arm with his right hand… and his left hand is gone? His left hand has transformed into the claws of a beast? My first thought is Wolverine from X-Men. I'm being attacked by Wolverine?! I fight harder. Is this guy going to cut me? Yes, he is. He drives his claws into my mid section. A burning pain erupts from the place he stabbed me. He is holding me close now, whispering in my ear. He says again that it won't last long, so just hang on… it will be much better later. No one would ever hurt me again. Of course no one would hurt me! I was dying! Everything started fading to black. I wonder if anyone will miss me. Will anyone care? My mom would… my brother would… but no one at school would. They'd be glad. I am angry that they will get what they want, then I am swallowed by darkness.

I wake up sitting by the fence that goes around my school. My backpack is beside me. The light is fading. Oh, no! I fell asleep! I look at my stomach, but there is no gaping wound. No blood. Wow… that attack must have been a dream. Just a bad dream. I have to get home! I grab my backpack and run for home. I run as far as I can and then I walk fast. I am exhausted when I reach the house. There are police there, and my mother is beside herself with worry. She sees me and runs over and greets me with the biggest hug. But then she is angry. Where have I been? Why didn't I at least call? What happened? She called the police, she thought I'd been kidnapped or worse! I tell her about being harassed by the girls. I leave out the part about crying, she would consider that a weakness. I tell her I had been waiting by the fence for the girls to leave and I must have fallen asleep. I apologize many times. After a while of apologizing and having people check me out everyone decides it was an honest accident. The police leave, telling me to be more careful about where I fall asleep. I was lucky, but things do happen to girls out alone. I eat dinner, which is macaroni and cheese, then the rest of the evening is spent trying to get my homework done. But it's hard… I don't have as much time as usual since I fell asleep and had to explain everything so many times. And I can't shake the memory of the dream. The weirdest thing is I remember climbing the fence and falling and skinning my knee. But my knee isn't marked. No scratch or scrape, not even any dirt. I am unable to get my homework done before bed time. I am tired, so I crawl into bed and fall asleep right away.

My alarm wakes me up what seems like five minutes later. My sleep had been dreamless this time. I drag myself out of bed, eat some honey nut cheerios for breakfast, then I walk to school as usual. All in a haze, also as usual. As I get to school Sarah starts in on me right away. She tells me I forgot to kill myself last night. I try to ignore her. She asks if there is too much fat in the way for me to cut my wrists. I try to ignore her. She follows me down the hall to my locker while throwing out all the insults she can think of. My birth certificate should've been an apology letter from the condom factory. I'm not sure what a condom is. I should do the world a favor and disappear into fat air. They'd launch me into space but no space ship could lift me… and I'd scare the aliens. This continues. I go to my first class. Sarah is in that class so this offers me no escape. History class. I already don't like history, and with Sarah in the class, it's a nightmare. English class is next, and that offers me some reprieve. But Spanish class is the worst. Both Sarah and Beth are in the class, and the teacher doesn't seem to care what they say to me as long as it's in Spanish. Then there's lunch. I always eat alone. I have no friends. But this time I can't manage to eat alone. Sarah and friends are all around me. Sarah takes my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She takes a bite, then spits it out in my direction before throwing the sandwich in the trash and saying she shouldn't have done that. Now she's infected. She needs an antidote, quick! I escape into my Biology class after being harassed through lunch. Thankfully, Beth and Maria ignore me in my Humanities class. Maybe they've had enough for now. Algebra is a safe class, then it's time to go home.

Again I hope to get out before being spotted by Sarah and her friends, again I fail. When I see them I duck into the girls' bathroom, hoping they didn't see me. I go into one of the stalls. The bathroom is empty and quiet. I hear the door open and someone comes in. My heart sinks when I hear Sarah's voice. She says she knows I'm in there, calling me Fatsy instead of Marcy. About five minutes pass with her standing out there throwing vulgar insults, more vulgar than I normally hear. I figure I should just go past her and leave. I can't stay here all day. So I come out and head for the door. Sarah blocks my way and says not so fast. She says she was being serious about me killing myself. I should do it. Cut the wrists. Warm water would help me bleed out faster. Hanging is an option if I have a rope. Or if my parents have a gun… no, they must not or they would've killed me a long time ago. After being hounded all day I am getting mad. I tell Sarah to get out of the way. She asks who's going to make her. She asks what I'm going to do about it. I think she wants to get into a fight but wants me to start it for some reason. She wants me to throw the first punch. She pushes at me and I briefly lose my balance. Fine… if she wants me to throw the first punch, I will! I punch her in the stomach, hoping to knock the wind out of her. To my stunned horror, my fist actually goes INTO her stomach, spraying blood everywhere. Sarah doubles over and vomits blood. I pull my fist back, I hadn't meant to do that! Really! As I pull my fist back it's like Sarah's insides are somehow caught on it, a stream of bloody tissue flows out of her wound and onto me. I think I might vomit now. The rest of Sarah's body dissolves into a bloody stream and flows onto me. The disgusting mess seems to soak into my body and then it's gone. No blood, no mess, no Sarah. I stand there in shock.

I walk out of the bathroom in a trance, leaving my backpack behind. I walk aimlessly, across the school yard. To the fence where I'd been harassed by Sarah and her friends just the previous day. I reach the fence and drop to my knees, still in shock, not knowing where to go. I try to clear my mind. I have to go home. My mom (and dad?) would be waiting for me… no… not my dad… he's dead… but he's not. My brother Josh would be there, no… it was my sisters Jenna and Sally. Sisters? I didn't have sisters! I try to think clearly, but it's as if I have two sets of conflicting memories in my mind at the same time. One of me, Marcy, and one of Sarah. Sarah, with her timid mother and overbearing father. Overbearing and ABUSIVE! Sarah's memories told me if I was late getting home that would justify a beating… and maybe a nighttime visit. Those horrible nighttime visits… But Sarah is dead now. I killed her. I become stuck on that thought. Sarah is dead and I killed her. But now I know everything about her. She wasn't mean, she was scared. Scared that there was nothing she could control, that everyone could see her weakness, everyone could see she was a victim waiting to be attacked. But if she could prove she was stronger than someone else… like that fat girl Marcy. Damn, she wished she was me. No sign of being beaten at home… Bringing a good lunch every day… Sarah is dead and I killed her.

Guilt overcomes me and I start to cry. Someone jumps the fence but I don't look. He comes over to me, pauses, then acts surprised it is me. He calls me Marcy, then says he has never seen someone figure out how to use that ability on their own before! I look up. It's the man from my dream… Alex… but his hand is normal, not claws. He doesn't look like Wolverine right now, though I am sure Wolverine doesn't have to have his claws out all the time… Anyhow, being attacked isn't really on my mind. I stand up and grab his jacket, saying over and over that Sarah is dead and I killed her. There. I told an adult. Now he would take me to the police. I had to confess, there was no choice. Sarah is dead and I killed her. But he doesn't lead me away. He shakes me until I stop repeating my confession. Tears are still streaming down my face. I look at my right hand that I had somehow used to punch right through Sarah… Alex holds me, trying to comfort me. He says he can explain what is happening. He says I "consumed" Sarah. He says I should now have Sarah's memories, too, and I do have her appearance. The extra set of memories… I say yes, I do… but how? He says that happens when we consume someone. He can do it, too. I start off on a new rant now, telling him Sarah wasn't really bad, it wasn't her fault, she's dead and I killed her… I consumed her… how can I fix it? How can I reverse it? There has to be a way! There just HAS to be a way! He looks like he's not sure what to say to help console me.

Before Alex says anything more, the other three pieces of bad news come over. More insults coming, and there was no way I could handle it right now… no way! But no one says anything mean. Beth asks who my friend is. Maria sees I've been crying and asks if I am ok, but she calls me Sarah. Gene is getting in Alex's face. She asks what he did to Sarah, why did he make her cry. I say Sarah is dead and I killed her. Maria looks genuinely concerned at that. She asks what I'm talking about. Gene goes back at Alex, calling him an asshole and asking again what he'd done to Sarah. Maria leads me away from Alex, saying I need to rest, I need to rest where my bastard father can't hurt me… I should stay over with her tonight. I know right away Sarah's father would say hell no to that and be furious if she did. And when Sarah wasn't there for his nighttime visit, he'd visit Jenna instead. Jenna… only 8 years old… she'd come to Sarah almost a year ago saying father was visiting her sometimes at night. Sarah had advised Jenna not to fight or father would hurt her more. But now I knew what I had to do. I would go home to Sarah's house and break Sarah's number one rule. I would fight back… and that bastard father of Sarah's wouldn't know what hit him.

I ask Maria for a minute of privacy during which I call my own mother and say I am going to a friend's house. She is thrilled that I have a friend. She says to keep my cell phone on. I say I will. Then I tell Maria I have to hurry home. I run most of the way. Sarah's body is that of a cheerleader, and very athletic. I go into the house and find father in a very bad mood. He's drinking again. Perfect. Maybe I can get him to take me to the basement to take my medicine. Then I'll give him his medicine. But he is more focused on mother right now. His dinner wasn't good enough. The house isn't clean enough. He pushes her against the counter while berating her loudly. I tell him to leave mother alone. Mother looks at me as if I've gone mad, so does father. He asks if I want a piece of what he's handing out. Mother tells me to go to my room right now. I say I'm not leaving until this piece of shit that calls himself my father says he's sorry for hurting mother. Mother is shocked to silence, father is now more pissed than shocked, thought the shock still shows in his face. Father asks if I really want to be talking to him like that. Because if I talk like an adult, then I get an adult's medicine. Mother breaks her silence and tells father to leave me alone, I don't know what I'm saying. I tell father I sure do know what I'm saying, and someone ought to kick him in his pathetically small balls so hard they get lodged in his fucking nostrils. Father is pissed. He grabs me roughly by the arm and says it's an adult's medicine for me, then I will never speak to him like that again. Mother pleads with father not to hurt me, but he ignores her and pulls me down into the basement. This is going perfectly.

Down in the dimly lit basement father asks what he should start with. I tell him he should start with begging me not to kill him. He says he doesn't know what has gotten into me, but I have sure gone off the deep end. I don't feel that way at all. I feel strong, like I can take on anyone. And he is weak. He has to pick on those smaller than himself. I spread my arms and tell him to come at me if he wants to die. He says he'll give me my medicine and he can't be sure I'll survive it. He grabs a board and swings it hard into my stomach. I barely feel it. He recoils as if he just smacked a concrete wall with the board. He looks at the board, then at me, then at the board again, clearly puzzled. He swings at me again. I grab the board and take it from him easily. I break it in half as if it was a twig. He steps back in shock, asking me what the fuck I am. I say it's his turn to take his medicine. I close the distance between us with two quick steps and then I repeat what happened with Sarah. I deliberately "consume" this asshole, or that's what Alex had called it. But this time I feel no guilt. Because now I know Jenna will never awaken to his nighttime visits again. Little Sally will never know a single visit. And mother will never have to take her medicine again. I punch my fist right into his gut, which brings about a shocked look of pain on his face. He screams out in pain and terror as I finish "consuming" him.

The sound has brought mother down from upstairs. I look at my hands. I am a man now, I have taken on the form of that asshole. But I don't want to look like him! I want to look like Sarah! I don't want mother to think father killed Sarah. I'm not sure what I do want mother to think… a wave of guilt hits me over Sarah, she shouldn't have died… it was never her fault. As I focus on wanting to look like Sarah I see my hands in front of me shift form. And my perspective drops a couple feet. I am Sarah again. Mother comes down the stairs and stares at me. She asks where father went, she asks if I am ok. I tell her I am ok, father took his medicine. She stops short and asks what I'm trying to say. I feel guilty about Sarah again. I go over to mother and hug her, telling her over and over that I'm sorry, I'm sooooo sorry… I know it will break her heart when Sarah disappears. And Sarah will have to disappear. I can't be both myself and Sarah at the same time. And if I disappear, then my mother will be the one crying. Mother wants to know what I've done. She says whatever it is, she's sure it can't be that bad. I tell her it is, and I can't say what it is… but she will find out soon, and I am sooooo sorry.

Mother wants to hold and comfort me, but I can't take it any longer. I pull away and run back upstairs and out the front door. I run down the street and out of sight even as I hear Sarah's mother behind me calling out. Not that much time has actually passed, and the sun is still shining. But I am in a dark place. I go down an alley to be out of sight and sit down beside a dumpster to cry. I feel some better knowing that Jenna, Sally, and Sarah's mother will no longer be hurt, but I still feel awful about what happened to Sarah. Someone comes up beside me as I am crying. I look up and it's Alex again. He asks if I can change back to Marcy. I think about my normal appearance for a bit and I feel the shift. Alex says I really am a natural. But a natural what? I ignore Alex now and go back to crying. Alex sits down beside me and puts an arm around me. He says to try not to be too hard on myself, what happened with Sarah was an accident. He asks if I really meant to hurt her. I remember wanting to knock the wind out of her, but that was it. Just a belly ache for her. I say no, I hadn't meant to hurt her. He says it was just a terrible accident, and now there was a lot I would have to learn about control so it would never happen again. Control of what? I don't know and I don't really care. I sit there, still crying, with Alex beside me trying to comfort me. I think I fall asleep like that, because then I wake up in bed as Raven again and a full understanding of what had happened in the dream.

Note: I am continuing to use the dream hypnosis programs, and from last night's dreams, it seems they are at least getting more interesting even if I haven't been lucid… One of the hypnosis programs I have is specifically for lucidity. I believe I will try that one next.

Orphan
I am on a street in a rather shabby looking neighborhood, it looks like the people there don't have a lot of money to keep the place looking nice. It does seem to me that there are things that could help it be nicer without spending money, though… I find a plastic bag and I start collecting recyclable trash that I find lying about. I can help clean the neighborhood and also help the environment by recycling… and if I find lots of aluminum, I might even be able to sell the cans and make a little money, too. With what feels like a win-win-win situation, I continue collecting trash. I am walking past a small house when the front door bursts open and a child comes running out, screaming.

It is a young girl, looks to me like she is somewhere around 10 years old. She is screaming, and run straight to me, screaming something about someone trying to kill her. A man and a woman are following the child, they look about middle age, and the man grabs the girl. The mother says something about the girl always exaggerating, she's going to be grounded, not killed. But there is a look in the woman's eyes… and in the man's, too. A crazy look… these people are stark raving mad. They drag the screaming child back into the house. I'm not going to let this go, there is something very wrong happening here… do I have enough to call the cops? Probably. I look in my pocket for my cell phone… it's not there. Damn! Where is it? I certainly don't have time to go for help… I sneak up to the house and peek in a window. An empty kitchen. The door is unlocked. I carefully open it, I hear screaming inside, from down below. A basement. I go inside and follow the sounds of the screaming. I find the basement, which turns out to be a quite cozy and comfortable room, complete with a fireplace.

There is a screen over the fireplace, and the girl is inside. The man and the woman are holding the screen in place, keeping the girl inside. The man cracks the screen just enough to throw in a match… the wood inside bursts into flames. Without even thinking about it, I telekinetically throw the man and the woman away from the screen, slamming them into the wall, hard. I spot a blanket on one of the chairs and use it to extinguish the fire on the girl. The woman is coming at me with a knife. I throw her back against the wall. When the girl came out of the fireplace, she had succeeded in spreading the fire to a couple other places including a rug and one of the chairs. The fire is quickly spreading. I take the girl and hurry upstairs and out of the house. I am on the lawn in front of the house looking at the girl, seeing that she has some serious burns, when the fire department arrives along with some paramedics. It seems someone called the fire department, what a quick response! A fireman asks me if anyone else is in the house. Just the crazy psychos who were trying to burn this girl alive… the fireman is shocked and sickened. The paramedics take the girl off to the hospital. In time the fire is put out. One of the fire fighters says they were unable to save the parents. I wonder if they really tried… I decide I don't really care. I wonder what hospital the girl was taken to. I want to see if she is ok.

Harry Potter
I am in school, it is a normal math class, and I am taking notes. This is math I have learned before, and I actually don't know why I am even in this class. It is a basic Algebra class.

Since it is easy for me, my mind wanders off and I find myself doodling on my paper instead of taking notes. I am sketching a picture of one of the space ships from EVE Online, and then I start making some modifications. I think I am coming up with a rather cool looking space ship when I get caught.

The teacher is walking up and down the aisles between the desks and sees me doodling instead of paying attention, and she gets mad. She says I should go to the principal's office. There is a boy sitting not far from me who apparently had the same ideas as I do, he was also doodling. The instructor tells him to go to the office with me… and is there anyone else who thinks they don't have to pay attention? Some students snicker, a couple hide what they have been doing. The boy and I leave the classroom and head for the principal's office. This all seems odd to me, I glance at my reflection and see it looks like I am about 10 or 11 years old… and that is the age the other students look to be. I look at the boy with me, he has thick dark hair, and when he brushes the hair from his eyes I see he has a strange scar on his forehead, like a lightning bolt. Harry Potter! He asks what I was drawing. I tell him, managing to not react to the fact I recognize him. He says he was drawing a castle. He says that class is so easy, and the instructor is so boring. I agree with him. The principal addresses him as Harry Potter, that's really his name? And she addresses me as Raven Knight… one afternoon of detention for both of us. Harry doesn't mind. He says maybe that means Dudley won't be waiting for him after school. Math was apparently the last class of the day, so we go to detention together, and spend the time doodling some more. Harry's drawing of a castle looks awesome. He also likes my space ship drawing. We leave detention and go to leave the school. There are four boys standing around the flagpole. Harry groans. I ask if he wants to come back to my place, I could show him some of my drawings, if he needs a good excuse, we can say we're studying. He seems unable to believe I invited him, he asks if I'm not worried Dudley will see me being nice to him. I say of course I'm not. We head in the opposite direction, taking a shortcut across the athletic field to get to my house. We go into an average looking house not far from the school. James Hetfield is waiting there to greet me.

He smiles and asks who my friend is. He says his name is Harry, I say we met at school today… I skip the detention part. I introduce Hetfield as my father. I ask Harry if his parents won't be worried. He says his parents are dead, and the Dursleys sure won't worry… they may be hopeful that he got kidnapped or killed. But we call them anyhow. I talk to Mr. Dursley. Harry doesn't want to. I tell him Harry will be spending the rest of the afternoon at my place. He grunts. I say Harry's staying for dinner. He grunts again, and says Harry can move in with me for all he cares, then hangs up. I tell Harry he has permission to spend the night. Hetfield looks over at me, but doesn't say anything.

I was walking down the sidewalk in a normal looking neighborhood, it looked to be a typical lower middle class neighborhood with homes that looked like they could be quite nice if they were kept up better. But whether due to lack of finances or to laziness, the necessary maintenance kept getting put off… I was somehow at least partially lucid, I realized I was dreaming, but that was about the extent of it. I wasn't thinking at all about my waking life any beyond that. I followed the sidewalk for a while, I figured I would soon find out why I had been brought to this particular place at this particular time. So far nothing looked out of place… a nice evening, the sun was setting, a gentle breeze was blowing, some dogs were barking, a cat darted across the road to the cover of some bushes on the far side. I just kept walking, listening and watching carefully for any sign of why I might be there.

It didn't take long for me to find that out… As I was walking past one of the houses, I heard screaming inside, someone was being attacked. It sounded like a child screaming, but those weren't the screams of an angry child throwing a tantrum because she hadn't gotten what she wanted… those were screams of terror. I ran up to the door of the house, which was locked. There was more screaming from inside the house, though the screams sounded muffled by something now, I couldn't tell what. Since the door was locked, I just blasted it down with a blast of energy and went into the house anyway. The muffled screams were coming from the basement, there was another locked door there which I also broke down. There were three people in the basement. There was a little girl, appeared to be about ten years old, tied up and lying in a shallow hole which looked like a grave, there was a man standing on the far side of the hole holding a gas can, the flammable liquid was still pouring out of the spout onto the little girl in the grave. I could smell the gas from the base of the basement stairs. There was a woman standing by the side of the grave, she was holding a box of matches… it didn't take a detective to figure out what they were doing.

I told them that the girl was coming with me, the woman seemed very upset by that, she told me to stay out of other people's business when I don't understand the situation. I said I understood the situation much better than they thought. Now step away from the pit, I was taking the girl with me. The woman said it was too late, quickly lit a match and tossed it into the pit at the girl. I telekinetically caught the match and knocked it away from the girl in the hole, making sure none of the gas fumes managed to ignite. I wondered if these people were really assholes or if they were only trying to kill the girl because they thought she was a demon… because they knew of the evil inside her… so I did a quick mental scan of the man, then I wished I hadn't. I got images of the couple's first child, a little boy, the father doing absolutely unspeakable things to the child and then the mother would tell the boy he was evil because of what the father had done to him… it was enough to make me sick. He had died when they had decided to punish him by burying him alive for a while to be alone with his claustrophobia and fear of the dark, but they had left him in there a bit too long and he had suffocated. If the girl was a demon, this couple definitely deserved her!

The mother lit another match and threw it into the hole with the girl, I knocked it aside like I had the first one. This one, however, landed next to an empty gas can at the father's feet, but it apparently wasn't quite empty after all. A flame sprung up suddenly, taking both of them by surprise, and igniting the man's pants instantly since he was surely covered with at least the fumes from the gasoline. He saw the fire and started flailing around, which of course just made things worse, the woman seemed at a loss as to what to do about it… while that was going on I jumped down into the hole and untied the girl, giving her a boost out of the hole and then climbing out after her. The father was now completely engulfed in flames, screaming loudly in terror and pain, the mother was trying to use a blanket to put the fire out. All she accomplished was catching the blanket on fire. She threw the blanket down on the ground, but part of it flew back in her face and set her on fire as well. She responded to the fire about as well as the father had, by flailing around a lot. She fell to the ground and started rolling, which is what is supposed to help, but then she rolled into the hole where the girl had been… and into the puddle of gas there… and burst into flames.

I picked the girl up and carried her out of the house, which was starting to burn quickly behind us. There was no way that house was up to fire safety codes… but that didn't really matter. I could hear sirens in the distance, apparently someone had called the fire department or the cops and emergency vehicles were coming. I quickly carried the girl away from the house and down into a dark alley where we wouldn't be found. The girl was acting like she was completely traumatized by the experience with her parents. I wasn't buying it, I could see from her energy signature that she wasn't in a truly traumatized state, I could also see that she had quite a bit of dark energy in her which was most likely the thing that was causing her to behave in an evil way… so basically she did have the energy of a demon. It seemed to me that if she could learn to control that energy, she would be able to focus it better and take care of people who deserve to be eliminated, like her parents had deserved to be eliminated. But that would take time, and I was about to wake up. This is where my recall of the dream ends, but as I woke up I heard Q saying he had brought the girl back to my inner world and set her up in a home in a separated part of my inner world, populated by DC's and anyone from my inner world that felt like visiting her. I remember hearing Q say that since I had wanted to bring her back, she was now my responsibility… congratulations, you adopted a ten year old demonic orphan!

I spent some time petting each dog, healing the ones who had injuries, but I was sure I would wake up soon. I wasn't ready, so I used Allura's time dilation method, there was still more to do here, but I will continue that in the next dream…

So there I was in an alley of an unknown city, surrounded by an 11 dog pack of pit bulls, each of whom had been traumatized by the world of dog fighting, each of whom I had used telepathy to soothe them and convince them to trust me, each of whom had pent up pain they were struggling to control within them. They were used to that pain and tension, and they had always been forced to release it on each other even if they didn't want to, but maybe this time they could release that pain and rage on an appropriate target, on those who had hurt them in the first place… or someone like the ones who had hurt them since their cruel masters were all dead. I accessed the memories of the people I had consumed to find out that there were two other rival gangs in the near area, both of which were into dog fighting. In the area there were the Devil Dogs (whom I had just consumed), the Hellhounds, and the Mad Dogs. I thought those were ridiculous names considering that they were into dog fighting…

So I headed out onto the streets, looking for one of the other two gangs, I was heading into Mad Dog territory, 11 dogs following after me… when I ran into Tigress. Tigress had her own pack of pit bulls following her. She said she had eliminated one of the gangs, calling themselves the Mad Dogs, and those were their dogs that were following her. I said that just left the Hellhounds, since I had taken care of the Devil Dogs and claimed their dogs. We both had the same idea. Set off a challenge to the Hellhounds to meet somewhere that they could be trapped inside and hunted at leisure. Since I already looked like one of the Devil Dogs, I figured I would drop off the challenge, that would make it look legitimate. So I took the biggest, meanest looking dog with me and went into Hellhound territory. I could sense the feelings in the dog by my side, he didn't want to fight, he would rather be curled up in a comfortable place getting a belly rub…

I didn't get very far into Hellhound territory before I was met by a couple of guys who were trying too hard to be tough, which made them look more retarded than cool. Still trying to look cool, they walked over to me and said I had a lot of balls coming into Hellhound territory… too bad for me that I wouldn't be leaving. I told them I wasn't there to fight, I was there with a challenge, from the Devil Dogs to the Hellhounds, unless they were too cowardly to accept the challenge… They said no way, the Hellhounds aren't afraid of anything. I said if they are as tough as they pretend they are, meet us at the old warehouse by the pier, I got the idea of the warehouse from the memories of one of the Devil Dog members, meet us there in half an hour… it also seemed like that should be enough time for them to gather there. The one guy said that was a challenge I was going to regret. We parted ways, with me heading back to Devil Dog territory. I met up with Tigress and told her what I had set up, the warehouse consisted of a maze of crates and stuff, perfect for hunting the assholes down in.

When Tigress and I got to the warehouse, the Hellhounds were already there. Tigress took all of the dogs around to the back entrance and let them inside, the place truly was a maze. One of the Hellhounds, who appeared to be the leader, asked me where the rest of us were, or if they had all chickened out. I said they were already inside the warehouse, of course. So unless they were all cowards, get inside and let the challenge begin. The leader wanted to know what was going on, I said the challenge was simple. If they aren't afraid, we were waiting for them somewhere in the maze, with only our dogs to fight with, so follow us in if they dared… I went into the warehouse, and after some discussion about being seen as cowards, the Hellhounds followed me in all except for a couple that stood guard at the door.

So now there were a total of 12 gang members with dogs in the maze, as well as the dogs Tigress and I had taken from the other gangs, wandering around in the warehouse. Tigress and I split up, and one by one, we teleported the dogs with the gang members to safety so they wouldn't be in danger of being forced to fight. That led to much confusion among the Hellhounds, wondering if the Devil Dogs might be cheating by taking out their dogs before facing the Hellhounds themselves, so they were getting angrier as time went by and more of them found themselves without dogs. Then came the violence. Tigress and I didn't really have to do much, as I said, the dogs had pent up aggression, rage, and pain that they would be best off releasing at the right targets. So we were on top of the huge crates, mostly keeping an eye on things to be sure the dogs didn't get in danger during the fights. Mostly the dogs were pretty smart, they would gang up on one of the Hellhounds and strike so quickly that the asshole didn't have a chance to draw a gun or other weapon. One case a woman got a gun out and aimed at a dog, so I used TK to take the gun from her before she could shoot the dog. The dog went for the jugular, tearing it open and spraying blood everywhere. The dog, a male, lifted his leg and peed on the corpse. I couldn't stifle a snicker.

I could hear all the screaming around me, screaming from the people, snarling and barking of dogs, but the sound was fading as time went on… there were fewer and fewer screams as there were fewer and fewer remaining Hellhounds. I wondered if Tigress was killing any of them or if she was letting the dogs do it all. The only ones I was thinking about were the ones at the entrance, so I went back to the entrance and pulled an Ezio… I formed a hidden blade on each arm and knifed them both at the same time before they even noticed I was there… a double assassination… sweet. They fell to the ground, and their dogs just sat there looking at me as if they didn't really give a shit, which considering how they'd been treated, they probably didn't. A short bit later Tigress came from the other side of the warehouse, already outside, with a large pack of dogs following her. She said there had been a couple of assholes guarding the back door, probably looking to catch any Devil Dogs trying to escape, but they were dead now. The pack of dogs around us had grown considerably, Tigress said maybe we should take these guys home, I agreed that Angelina could take care of them best. So I opened a portal to my inner world and we sent all of the dogs through to Angelina.

Tigress asked if I wanted to find some more, I said sure, and Nomad had said he was going to join us sometime… she said that was cool, but Nomad could find me when he was ready, she knew where there were more assholes. She teleported both of us to another place, though it didn't look much different than the last one. If you've seen one crappy area of town, you've seen them all… Tigress pointed in one direction and said they were over there, but then she vanished… I felt like I might wake up, so I focused, I used another time dilation… that time I felt really disoriented, I almost lost the dream, but finally it stabilized and I was able to continue…