New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

12/16/13

A Fool and His Grenade Launcher
It is dark outside. I am leaning up against an old broken down car. I realize I have fallen asleep. That's not good since I am supposed to be on watch. The city we're in is teaming with zombies and strange mutant creatures that would kill us without hesitation. My boyfriend Josh is lying in a sleeping bag right near me sleeping peacefully. I am completely non-lucid and unaware of my waking life. My name is Isabell. I watch Josh as he sleeps. I wonder if I should tell him the full truth about what I am, what is inside of me. No. I can't. He would leave me alone. Alone and cold, I can't face the idea of being left alone.

I hear a sound from the other side of the car. I peek out of our hiding place. The moonlight is enough to reveal there is a man standing in the street beyond our hiding place. I am even able to identify who it is. It's Alex Mercer. Josh and I have actually been making a point of staying in the relative vicinity of Alex Mercer. He tends to keep the number of zombies and mutants in the area to a minimum, and if he has noticed us staying near him, he has ignored us. I sit back down, I figure this doesn't require me to bother Josh. Alex will surely continue to not notice us or ignore us. But it seems my movements have awakened Josh anyhow. He sits up and looks at me he asks what is up. I tell him it's nothing. I just heard something and it is Alex Mercer. He still has two more hours before his turn. He lies back down and I lean back against the wrecked car, gazing at the stars. The sky is clear, the only sounds are the quiet movements of Alex out in the street.

I jump a little when Josh suddenly sits up. He says he has it! I ask what. I don't really want to hear his answer. Usually when he says that when he has a notably stupid idea. Of course I can't really complain since it was one of these stupid ideas for him to come with me when the Outsiders had started hunting me. I wish he was back home and safe, though that would mean I would be alone now and I desperately need Josh to keep my heart safe. Without Josh I would be nothing more than a... no... I'm not going to think about that. Josh says he has a great idea. I ask what. He says we'll get rich and then get some really secluded place to stay hidden, a safe and comfortable place. I tell him good luck with that. He looks through the window of the wrecked car towards where I saw Alex. He says Alex will make us rich. I tell him to go back to sleep... he's clearly not thinking straight. He says Blackwatch has offered a huge reward to whoever can kill Alex Mercer. I face palm. I tell him sure, just sit there and give Alex a dirty look for a while until Alex dies of boredom. Now go back to sleep.

I look back to the stars again, not paying attention to Josh rummaging in a pile of stuff we've collected. He pulls out a grenade launcher. He says he has this covered. Get the reward, set up a defendable hideaway with everything we could need. He says he will be able to provide a better life for me then, when we don't have to keep moving and running from the Outsiders. Now I'm a bit alarmed. I tell him to put that thing down, adding that he must be crazy. He says no, I saw what it did to that mutant... the grenade penetrated the mutant's armor and exploded on the inside, tearing the thing apart. I tell him to put that thing away now, I'll not have him running off on some suicide mission. Besides, it's safer with Alex around... as long as no one does something stupid and pisses him off. Something stupid like firing a grenade at him. Josh says it will work. He starts to go around the car and into the open. I grab him and pull him back. I tell him to not try it. Seriously. Don't do it. He looks into my eye for a bit and then goes back to his sleeping bag. He says if I feel that strongly, he'll think of something else. He sets the weapon on the pile of stuff and lies back down. I watch him for a bit longer. He shifts uneasily and then gets up again. He says he has to take a piss. He sounds annoyed at me. Oh, well. Better he be annoyed than have him run off and get killed by Alex Mercer. He disappears between two buildings to do his business behind a dumpster.

I look back to the sky. All is quiet. But Josh is taking too long... could something have happened? Zombies or mutants this close to Alex? It would be unexpected, but not impossible. I am about to follow him into the alley. I ready my energy. I am loathe to use it, dark energy. I hate the way it makes me feel, and it adversely affects the area. But if Josh needs me to use it to save him, I will. I start towards the alley when there is an explosion behind me, out in the street where I saw Alex. A Blackwatch attack? They're always trying to blow Alex up, always failing. I peek out into the street. Now it is silent. Blackwatch has never tried just one attack... Something inside of me feels cold, it's dread.

I look from my hiding place and see what I feared. Josh is out in the street waving at me. He yells at me that I should have believed in him. Alex Mercer is history. He comes towards me slowly. The moonlight reveals his I-told-you-so grin. There is movement behind him. I look beyond Josh and I see something surprising. Alex Mercer is in two pieces! His top half is about three feet from his bottom half. Then there's more movement. The two halves are moving, coming slowly together. I motion to Josh to hurry. He goes even slower, spreading his arms out like he's some kind of victorious hero. I point at Alex, who is now merging back into one piece. He looks and seems to freeze for a bit, unable to believe what he's seeing. I motion to him to hurry. He starts running towards me. He's too far away! He circled around a building to sneak past me and my objections. But he is almost here! He has almost reached our hiding place when a taloned tendril pierces his chest. I have a split second to see the stunned look on his face before he gets pulled back the other direction. Pulled back to a seriously pissed off Alex Mercer. I have no choice but to use the dark energy to get him back. I call on the energy, I feel it rising inside me. I stand up to get Josh back... but he's already gone. Alex has already consumed him. But so fast?

I drop back out of sight, collapsing to the ground beside the wrecked car. The dark energy subsides, replaced by an icy coldness. It's so cold. Josh is gone... why did he have to be such a fucking idiot?! Why couldn't he have just listened to me?! What the fuck was he thinking?! Blackwatch has hit Alex with volleys of missiles and grenades and rockets and it has done nothing! What is one stupid explosive going to do?! I'll tell you what it'll do! It'll PISS HIM OFF! It'll just piss him off... Damn it, Josh... you IDIOT! I'm not really angry at Alex... what else would be expected after Josh... that damn idiot... had literally blasted Alex into two pieces? Of course Alex is going to fight back. Nothing else would be logical. Why did Josh have to be so stupid? I am angry at Josh for leaving me to go on what he should've known was a suicide mission. He was really all I had. What would I do without him? My mind continues like that, I find I am crying. I am relieved that I still can cry. The darkness wouldn't take over immediately. Maybe it won't. Maybe I can resist it. Maybe I can...

I am distracted from my thoughts by movement right in front of me. I look up and see Alex is standing right in front of me, looking down at me. Shit... I curse at myself. I was so caught up with Josh being gone that I had forgotten something really important. When Alex consumes someone he gets the memories of the person he consumed. Josh knew where I was hiding... so of course Alex would know that now. I had needed to depart from the hiding place immediately and disappear into the night. Easily done in the night, but I hadn't moved an inch. And now it's too late. Well, at least I don't have to worry about the darkness consuming me, Alex will take care of that... I just lean back against the wrecked car, close my eyes, and wait. I don't really care what happens. Not a good sign. I find myself hoping Alex will hurry up and kill me before darkness fills my heart. Then I will never have to feel the cold. But nothing happens. I open my eyes and he is still there looking at me. Um... what happened? Is the darkness somehow visible and making me look like an oddity? Now I am just staring back at him. The moonlight is reflecting off of his eyes in a hypnotic way. Just look at those eyes... I shake my head quickly... what the fuck am I thinking?!

I am clearing my head when Alex finally does something. He puts his arms around me and lifts me up. I wonder what he is doing. I keep my eyes closed, but I feel us moving quickly, sometimes it feels like flying. This goes on for a short while and then it seems we are inside someplace. We go through a couple more doors and then Alex carefully lies me down on what feels like a bed. This is very confusing. He would know I was with Josh, so why am I still alive? I hear Alex speaking. He says since Josh isn't here to watch me he had brought me someplace that should be safe from the infected. Infected? Does he mean zombies and mutants? They had seemed like monsters. I'd never considered maybe they were sick or infected with something... Alex says he knows I tried to keep Josh from attacking, and he had assumed Josh was Blackwatch. Josh wasn't Blackwatch... though he had been dumb enough to think they would honor their reward even if he had succeeded. So Alex doesn't plan on killing me after all. It's cold, and I shiver. My sleeping bag is back at the hiding place. I feel Alex lie down beside me, close to me. Close enough that I feel his body heat. I feel him put his arms around me... all six of them?! No... four of those "arms" are tendrils, but those are warm, too. I am feeling warmer. I want to ask Alex why he seems to be helping me after what happened with Josh. But I am also very tired. Before I can manage to ask I fall asleep, a nice and peaceful sleep, and wake up in bed.

12/11/13

A Father's Death
I wake up lying in a comfortable bed that I know right away is not my own. I am Amelia. The first thought that returns to my mind is my father turning his back on me, not caring if I live or die. I bury my head in the pillow wishing I could just fall back asleep and maybe next time I wake up all of this will be just a bad dream. I am getting close to falling asleep when I hear someone enter the room with me. A man beside the bed whispers my name quietly. "Amelia? Amelia, wake up… we have to go." Go? Go where? And who was in my room? I open my eyes and look at the man beside my bed. It's Alex Mercer. Alex Mercer! For just an instant I am alarmed and I sit up quickly, wondering if there is any quick path to escape. But then the sleep clears out of my mind. I have nothing to fear from Alex. He has made it very clear he has no interest in hurting me. And he certainly wouldn't hurt me after I helped him get the formula for the serum he needed to cure his sister Dana. He steps back a bit and says he's sorry he startled me. He says Dana is awake, so he wants to go to the hospital and see her. He says it's not safe for me to stay here alone, there has been too much activity among the infected here recently. So he wants to take me with him. For some reason his show of concern for my safety makes me want to go give him a big hug. It's not really something I am accustomed to… my sorry excuse for a father sure hadn't showed any concern for my safety…

I get out of bed and follow Alex back into the room with the computers. I ask if the infected would really come into the apartment. He points at the hole and says that's where a supreme hunter grabbed Dana right out of her computer chair and took her to Elizabeth Greene for who-knows-what malevolent purpose. He'd gotten Dana back before Greene had finished what she was doing, but that was why Dana had needed the serum. He crouches down so I can get on his back and ride piggy-back again. This time I hold on as tight as I can without him saying anything. And then he is off like a flash, into the air, over buildings, up walls, then he glides in for a landing in an alley behind a hospital. He sets me down and motions for me to follow him inside. I look around. I don't see any sign of infected around there, but I follow Alex anyway. I follow him through several halls and we finally get to a room. The room looks disturbingly like a morgue… I see a sign on the door that says that's exactly what it is. For an instant I am afraid Dana died after all, but no… Alex had said she is awake. I follow Alex into the room and close the door behind me.

In the morgue I see there are a couple dead bodies on tables. I make a point of ignoring those. Alex is with two other people talking. One of the two people is a black man in doctor's garb, and the other is a red-haired woman dressed casually, though her clothes are a bit dirty and ripped. That must be Dana. Alex motions to me to come over where he introduces me to the other two. The doctor is Dr. Ragland, one of the few people Alex feels he can trust, and the woman is Dana Mercer, which I had already guessed. Alex introduces me to them as Amelia, and says I'm the one that managed to get the formula for the serum. Dr. Ragland tells me I did a great thing, that formula saved Dana's life. I force a smile at them, though I don't feel like smiling. I can still hear my father's voice in my mind saying I am of no use to him. Kill her, eat her, fuck her… I don't care… I try to push the voice from my mind before I start crying. Alex asks if I am ok. I lie to him and say I am fine. I'm sure he doesn't want to hear about my problems.

As Alex, Dana, and Dr. Ragland are talking I just kind of move away from them. I feel uncomfortable and out of place. I feel like I don't belong there. So since no one has noticed me move away from the group I continue and leave the morgue. I find my way to the front of the hospital and look outside. There are people out there, regular people, uninfected people. None of them seem alarmed about anything, so I reason it must be relatively safe here. I go outside into the sun. It feels nice. I look around at the people walking and talking and I realize I have never felt so alone. I just walk to the stairs that lead to the front door of the hospital where I sit down, not sure where to go, not sure what to do. I spend a short time crying silently, which no one seems to notice. Or maybe just no one cares. My tears finally dry up but I still don't know where to go so I stay there.

I am still sitting there when a uniformed soldier approaches me, looking at me like he is seeing a ghost. He asks if I am Amelia. I say yes. He is stunned beyond belief. He says everyone at the base is certain I must be dead. He helps me to my feet. He continues talking. He asks how I managed to get away from Mercer. He says that ever since Mercer broke his end of the deal by refusing to release me, everyone had assumed he had probably consumed me to see if I knew anything about… I interrupt him. I ask him exactly what he thinks happened that night. He says an arrangement was made to trade some serum to Mercer for my safe return. The serum had been delivered, but Mercer had refused to let me go, and had instead taken me with him when he left. He said people had searched… I interrupt him again. The serum was delivered? No way! That bastard that calls himself my father had flat out refused to hand over the serum, he'd flat out refused to even consider it! I am so upset that I am on the verge of tears again, but this time there is a fair amount of anger mixed with my grief. That bastard is making himself out to be a victim! I tell the soldier that Alex never did anything to hurt me, in fact he had let me go. My story is not quite true, rather I snuck away while Alex had been talking to Dana and Dr. Ragland, but I have no doubt in my mind he would have let me go even if he had seen me leaving. The soldier doesn't seem to know what to say. He asks if Mercer really let me go, but doesn't wait for an answer. He said we should get back to the base, then leads me to his vehicle and we leave.

I actually have thoughts that I don't want to go back to the base. There's nothing there for me. But I don't say anything, and we drive in through the heavy gates that protect the entrance. I get out of the vehicle and walk towards the residence section. And there he is. The bastard that claims to be my father. The bastard that refused to trade a failed experiment for my safe return. That bastard… He comes over to me with his arms spread wide, saying over and over how happy he is to see that I am ok. He says he's been afraid he would never see me again. He keeps talking and I walk right over to him. Without a moment's hesitation I pull my right fist back and punch him in the face as hard as I can. SMACK! I hurt my hand when I do that. I also feel my father's nose bend unnaturally to the side. Blood spurts from the nose and all over my hand. I start yelling at him, letting the anger out. "A failed experiment? You were willing to give me up for a FAILED EXPERIMENT?! YOU ASSHOLE! YOU ROTTEN PIECE OF SHIT!"

My father takes a towel from a man who hands it to him. He holds the towel to his nose to stem the bleeding. He has the nerve to be getting mad at me. He says I shouldn't talk about what I don't understand. He says he had everything under control until Mercer grabbed me and left. I ask what part of his plan involved riddling my body with bullets as his thugs tried to shoot Alex. He says they are good enough with their weapons, they weren't going to hit me. He hesitates, then asks me how I know what serum Mercer had been after. I tell him Alex pointed out which one he needed… when I hacked into his computer. I speak plenty loud enough so anyone in the area can hear that he has what is no doubt an unauthorized copy of classified information on his personal computer. He asks if I want to get him in trouble. I say the answer is the same as his answer to, "Do you want to watch your daughter die?" He repeats that he had everything under control. He asks how I could hand classified information over to Mercer. I ask him how he was so willing to turn ME over to Alex? He says I shouldn't talk to my father like that. I tell him I'm not. My father is dead. He hesitates, not seeming to know what to say. Neither does anyone else. The room is dead silent. I tell the man who once was my father that he is nothing to me now. He is shit.

I turn and walk away from the asshole. He grabs my arm. I feel like kicking him in the balls. He says I can't just walk away, I aided and abetted the enemy. He wants to know where Mercer is right now, what he is up to, where he took me, how I managed to escape. I tell him I have no idea where Alex is right now, I can't say where he took me because it was not through a route I am used to traveling, and I didn't escape… he let me go. He asks where I last saw Mercer. I tell him I wouldn't tell him where Alex was if Alex was sneaking up right behind him! He glares at me and then speaks to a man beside him. He says I was picked up by the hospital, and that is too far away for me to have gotten on foot. So Mercer must have taken me there. Go there and make sure Mercer doesn't leave there alive! Level the entire area if you have to, but don't let Mercer escape! Someone asks what about the civilians seeking medical help there. The asshole says they don't matter, all of them are infected and just haven't shown symptoms yet. They're already dead! I tell the thing that claims to be my father that he is the absolute lowest form of life I have ever seen. The reports are all right… there is a monster running around the city. But it's not Alex, it's him. He tells one of the soldiers to escort me to my quarters and make sure I stay there. In my current state of mind I might run off and warn Mercer.

One of the soldiers takes my arm gently and uncertainly. He is clearly not comfortable with the situation. He leads me from the room. He stops once we're out of sight. His name is Steve. He says I know my father better than he does… would he really kill everyone in that hospital just on the slim chance they might be able to take Mercer with it? I tell him I would have said 'no' just last week, but now I would have to say 'yes' definitely. He says someone has to warn the hospital so they can evacuate the patients. We go into a room with some computers. He tries to open communications to the hospital but all communications are shut down. He curses, then says all the computers are on lock down since a hacker was detected… He says he will have to go to the hospital. He says I should go to my quarters where it's safe. I tell him I don't think that's safe considering how crazy my father is acting and that he seems to think I have teamed up with Alex.

Steve hesitates, then says I can go with him. We hurry to the area where the vehicles are parked and get into a Jeep and take off out the door. Speeding down the empty streets makes the trip go pretty fast, but it still seems to take forever. Questions go through my mind. How long will it take to organize a massive attack on the hospital? Is Alex still there? How about Dana? Dr. Ragland is surely still there… We finally arrive at the hospital and Steve jumps right out and runs inside. I am right behind him. While he heads for security, however, I head for the morgue. I run all the way there and I am rather winded when I get there. I go inside and find it is empty. No one is there. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I go into the next room, which is a lab. Dana is in there sleeping on a couch. Dr. Ragland and Alex are facing the other way and talking. I am trying to catch my breath. Alex looks over and sees me there. He asks where I went off to. I tell him that's a long story, but Blackwatch is attacking the hospital any minute now, so he'll want to get Dana and Dr. Ragland out of there. Alex changes form into a soldier and leaves the room.

I follow Alex back to the front of the hospital. I can already hear helicopters in the distance approaching. And the engines of tanks. It's too late to evacuate… Alex asks Steve what is going on. Steve says the commander has gone mad… he's going to bomb the shit out of the hospital. He said we need to get as many people out as possible. Alex says there isn't time. He runs out towards the approaching enemies. I see several helicopters in the air, but I can't see the ground forces yet. Then I see Alex launch into the sky right in the middle of the group of helicopters. He explodes in a huge mass of what look like tendrils (tendril barrage devastator) that punch right through the choppers as if they are paper. The choppers explode and Alex drops back to the ground. Steve looks at me in shock… he says that other soldier was Alex Mercer! He looks around and exclaims that he was face-to-face with Alex Mercer and he's still alive! I am too far away to see any details, but I hear a lot of explosions and I can tell there is a big fight going on out there. That goes on for a while longer and then everything goes silent. Smoke is rising out there, everyone waits to see if anyone emerges.

A single soldier finally emerges from the smoke and destruction. A single soldier that does not even look injured. He gets a bit closer and looks around the area. Everyone has stopped whatever they were doing to watch what was happening. Some civilians are coming from the general direction of the smoke. They all have different descriptions of what they saw. There is only one thing that everyone agrees on. A huge Blackwatch attack force had been closing in on the hospital for unknown reasons when Alex Mercer had single handedly put a stop to the attack. The single soldier comes over near me. Steve backs away from the single soldier, who I have no doubt is Alex. The conversations around me are all about Blackwatch attacking a civilian hospital and Alex Mercer defending it, it seems a lot of people are expressing disbelief about that happening but none are really denying it. The conversation shifts to Blackwatch lying and Blackwatch cover-ups. Alex asks if I am ok. I say I am fine.

A jeep drives up to the front of the hospital. I see the asshole who was once my father in it. He gets out and glares right at me. He says he should have known. He looks at Steve and says he is in a lot of trouble. Because of him I got out and warned Mercer, and now Mercer has disappeared again. Steve glances over at Alex but says nothing. My former father turns to me and says even Steve isn't in as much trouble as I am. He says he has never been so ashamed of his own daughter. I remind him that my father is dead, I am no daughter of his. He says I am under arrest. Alex comes over beside me and tells my former father to leave me alone. My former father looks at Alex's name tag and refers to him as Brandon, telling him to mind his own business. Steve asks if my former father really ordered an attack on a civilian hospital. He says this was a rare chance to eliminate Alex Mercer, but thanks to me, the bastard got away. Steve glances at Alex again but still says nothing. Alex walks right up to my former father and says again to leave me alone. My former father says maybe he should take "Brandon" in with me, and Steve, too, if we all insist on siding with Mercer. Steve says he's not siding with anyone. Alex says my former father won't be ordering any more attacks on civilian targets. The asshole tells Alex he'll order whatever attacks he wants whenever he… Alex interrupts him by consuming him right on the spot.

Alex takes the form of my former father. Steve moves farther away, he pretends to have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. It seems no one else noticed at all, everyone is too occupied by talking amongst themselves. I am just staring. I was so very angry at that asshole who called himself my father… but I'm still not sure what to think of the fact Alex just killed him. In fact, I feel rather light headed. Maybe too much has happened just recently. Too much stress. The world is spinning. There are now three Steves and three Alexes looking at me. I feel like I am falling over. Alex gets closer and catches me before I can fall to the ground. Steve is just watching as Alex catches me before I can fall. He also seems unsure of what to say or do, and he ends up saying and doing nothing. Alex looks around, then back at me… all five of him. Alex says he will get me someplace safe. He says he won't let anything happen to me. He lies me on the back seat of the Jeep and drives away from the hospital, probably to avoid attracting any attention. We are driving along when everything fades to black and I wake up in my own bed.

01/03/12

Note: This is the 2nd day in a row for me posting dreams in the new year. Not much of a streak yet, but I'm working on it. Here is the dream from last night:

Agent 00-Raven
I am in a swampy type area, approaching the outside walls of a large military installation. I know my goals for this mission. I am to get inside the compound and open the outer gates so the forces controlled by my allies can enter and take over the installation. There are biological weapons being created in there, and this is what I am here to put a stop to. The outside of the compound is far too well defended, but if someone can get in and open the front gates…

So I am approaching the compound from the back side, through some thick swampy land. The swamplands provide a good cover for my approach as long as I am careful not to get stuck in quicksand or something like that. Even in the swamps there are lookout towers hidden in the trees. And even though it is night I am worried about being seen, so I stick in the areas with deeper water. When I get close to a lookout tower I duck under the murky water where I am sure no one can see me. Using this method I arrive at the outer wall of the compound.


I search around the walls for a bit until I find an opening where the water is allowed to flow through the outer wall… either that or the swampy water has eaten away at the wall... I slip through that opening and now I am inside the compound. Now I need to find the main controls for the front gate so I can let my allies in. Since I have no idea where to look, I start sneaking around trying to find any sign of where I need to be. I find the main lab first. They are working on a bio-toxin that causes some kind of plague that is known for bringing death within 24 hours. I remember I have the antidote in my pocket, one dose of it, in the form of a stick of gum. I also remember them telling me not to use it until I am sure there is no chance of further contact with the illness. While the cure rate for the first time is nearly 100%, the effectiveness of the antidote decreases with each subsequent exposure to the illness. I go into the room and destroy a couple of samples of the virus to make sure no one can grab a sample and split. Not only are the samples compromised, but anyone going after them would be infected. I am sure I have also been infected, but I have my antidote gum, so I am good.


I continue searching the compound and finally I find the place I was looking for. It is the front guard room where the main gate controls are. There are three men in there keeping an eye on things, but they don't seem to be doing that good a job of it. They seem pretty laid back and bored. Of course that changes when they see me there, and all three of them reach for their guns. I am faster than them, however, and I pull my gun and squeeze off three quick rounds, one shot to each of the guards. Bang, bang, bang. They all drop dead. I go over to the controls and activate the mechanism to open the gates. When the gates move that sets off an alarm and the guards in the compound rush out to see what is going on. It is too late, however, as my allies are now swarming into the compound and taking out enemies rapidly. I see them surround a final group of enemies, who surrender and are taken into custody.

I notice I have a bit of a sore throat right now, and I am even noticing the beginnings of a fever. That surprises me, I hadn't realized symptoms would begin so quickly. I pull out my stick of antidote gum and chew it. I sit there in the guard house and chew my gum while I wait for the symptoms to ease. While I am doing that I wake up. It turns out I have a sore throat in waking life, so that is probably what I was feeling in the dream.

08/11/11 Thursday

Harry Potter
I wake up in bed and realize it is time to go to school. I don't really want to get up… But I drag myself out of bed. This is the next day of final exams. I have an Algebra final and a History final. I am sure I'm going to flunk the History final, all those stupid dates I can never remember. Oh, well, better get to it and get it over with. I go out to breakfast, which is waffles! Yum! I eat waffles with my dad and a friend who has been visiting. My father is James Hetfield, my friend is Harry Potter. I finish getting ready to go to class and head out, walking to school with Harry. I have the feeling we are being followed, being watched. By something or someone unfriendly. I look around, but everything looks normal, it looks like a normal morning in a normal neighborhood. I still can't shake the feeling. Still, nothing happens, and we get to school ok. Dudley looks absolutely miserable, he isn't even paying much attention to Harry and me, he is harassing some geeky looking kid for test answers, I think he is afraid of flunking. The day passes slowly even though it is a shorter than normal day, final exams have a tendency to seem that way. But I finally find myself walking home with Harry Potter. I still have the feeling we are being watched… and this time I would have sworn I saw someone hiding in the shadows on the way home…

Visiting MoSh
I am in a house I recognize, though I know it is not my own. I do not live there, it is a house belonging to a friend of mine, who I have come to visit. My mind is a bit foggy… I came to visit MoSh! MoSh and Asuka! I am already in the house and I see Asuka in the other room, so I go in there and say hi. She says hi, then she says MoSh isn't here yet. She says MoSh doesn't really need to worry, she is doing fine, but that's ok to go ahead and have some healing. She says she thinks MoSh should be in on it, though, he's been stressed. I say ok, then we wait for a bit for MoSh to show up. MoSh finally shows up, at which point we go out into the garden area behind MoSh's house and have a mutual healing. Basara shows up just as we are about to begin and joins the group.

08/12/11 Friday

Final Final Exam
I am on my way to school on the last day of class, the last day of final exams, then no more… then we get a summer break! Yay! I am walking to school with Harry Potter. This time I am absolutely certain that we are being watched and followed, and I am getting sick of it. This has been happening all week, who the hell is out there? What do they want? I look around very closely, trying to see who might be there. Harry notices me acting strange, and he is watching me closely. He finally asks what I am doing. I tell him I saw someone back there, I want to know who it is. I see movement in the shadows, and I head over there to see if I can find out what is going on. There is a bit more movement, but when I get there I don't find anyone. Apparently they saw me coming and don't want to be seen, that just makes them even more suspicious. I am getting a bad feeling about the place, though, as if there is an aura of dark energy remaining. I start thinking I need to get back to Harry, he shouldn't be out there alone, what if they're after him? I go back out to Harry, he is waiting impatiently, he says we'll be late if we don't hurry. I continue to the school with Harry, and the feeling that we're being followed has passed. The dream continues, but the only thing that happens for the rest of it is I go to school and take a bunch of dumb tests before meeting Harry and going home. I am actually a bit surprised, but I don't notice the feeling of being followed on the way home. Maybe they decided to quit since they'd been spotted… well, if that's all it took to make them back off, maybe they weren't really any kind of a threat after all. Somehow I am not completely convinced.

Wet and Wild
I am with Alicia and we are at a water park of some kind, though it isn't one I have ever been to before. I look around at the array of slides everywhere, and lots of people having fun. We climb to the top of a tall tower that several of the slides come off of. I ride one first where it is a really steep drop, I ride it on a large inflatable tube. There is a period of near free-fall and then it feels like I am gliding over the surface of the water like a hovercraft. That's how fast I was going. I get off, then follow Alicia back up. We get on a narrow yellow slide. This one is unusual in that there are numerous points along the slide where it is possible to change slides, to hop from one to another, or veer off on a side slide. I jump off of one and end up on a platform with water falling all around it. The platform is rotating, and I wait for it to get to the right spot to get on the next slide. Alicia is waiting for me at the bottom, she is having so much fun. I am, too. She says she wants to try one of the other series of slides. There is the yellow one we went on, then a larger green one, and an even larger blue one, I want to go try the blue one next. But for some reason they are announcing on the loud speaker that we all have to go home…

08/13/11 Saturday

The Man In Black
I wake up in bed with a feeling of incredible freedom… I roll over and think I don't have to go anywhere or do anything today. If I really wanted to, I could stay in bed all day. Of course I don't want to spend the entire day in bed… this is the first day of summer vacation, there's no time to waste. I get out of bed and get dressed, I want to go outside and do some stuff out there before it becomes unbelievably hot. I find Harry Potter in the other room, though he doesn't look too happy. I ask him what is wrong, and he says he would prefer to spend the summer here but… I ask what the problem is, nothing here to stop him. I am wondering why he seems to be looking for problems with his staying with me instead of going back to the Dursleys. I say if he really wants to go back, I'm not going to stop him… The two of us go outside for a short walk, just enjoying the weather… which is very nice. We have walked a short way when someone steps out of the shadows… It is a man dressed in black, all black, black jeans, black shirt, black hoodie. His face is in shadows and hard to make out. He has a gun pointed at Harry and me. Harry asks what he wants, says we don't have much money. He says he had wanted to find Harry alone, but he doesn't really care, it's just one extra bullet. He fires his gun at Harry, I use telekinesis to stop the bullet in mid air. I do that without even thinking about it, after all there wasn't time to think. The bullet is now hovering about an inch in front of Harry's face. Harry is staring intently at the bullet, clearly unable to believe what just happened. The killer fires three more quick shots, all three bullets are hovering in front of Harry now. I fire the bullets back at him with telekinesis. One bullet hits him in the left shoulder, one in the right, and the others in the torso… he does not go down. I tell Harry we need to get out of there, we head back towards the house. I look back and see the cloaked figure finally fall to the ground. I wonder if he is dead. Well, there's nothing to tie Harry and me to him. We get back to the house, and I tell my father what happened. He says it looks like it is starting. I ask what is starting. He says the reason I am here, of course. Harry is wanting to know what is going on. Hetfield says he will tell us everything, just give him a bit of time to sort through things… we'll talk later.

Note: For the past several nights I haven't been able to remember a single dream, and until the last section of last night, I thought I was going to have yet another night where I couldn't remember anything. It was during the last hour or so of my sleep that I started having a dream, and my alarm woke me during the dream, so I was able to remember it. Then it got a bit strange, I will explain it as I post the dream here.

My mother and I are at a train station, looking around to see what is happening. I see one of the trains waiting at the station, though there aren't very many people around, so it is virtually empty. I think it would be fun to take a train ride, but I figure the trains probably cost too much to ride. But when I look, the trains are running for free, so there is no reason why we can't take one and see the sights for a bit. So my mom and I climb onto one of the trains and we wait there, it is a two level train, so we choose seats on the top. More people get on board, and finally it pulls out of the station. From Tucson, the train heads south. The desert looks greener than I have seen it for a long time since there has been a drought going on in the desert for a while. It is really pretty out there. So we just ride along and enjoy the ride until we reach another train station. My mother says it's time to head back to Tucson, so we get off of the train and board a train that is leaving in the opposite direction. Shortly after departure, however, this train turns off to the right, heading east. So we ride the train for a while longer, over a couple bridges, and finally to another station. So once again, we get off the train, but this time we check a couple of maps and find the train that is heading back to Tucson. To be honest, I'm getting a bit bored riding on trains, so I'm ready to head back.

This is also a double level train, but the lower level is actually enclosed. There is a celebration there, I look over and see it is a wedding… or it looks sort of like one. There is a woman in a wedding dress, and another woman in a skimpy bikini, but the two of them are standing in front of an official looking man, saying wedding vows to each other. I take a piece of the cake and eat it, it is delicious, though it isn't chocolate… I then go upstairs onto the open air deck to take a look around. I go to one end of the train where I can see the engineer down below me, or I can see where the engineer is supposed to be… there's no one there now. I look ahead and see smoke and fire, so much fire… and we're heading right for it! I go back downstairs and find the engineer is at the party, so I tell him what is going on, and he goes straight back to his place and sees what I saw. The fire is spreading towards us, so the engineer stops the train and starts backing up. We are backing up into water, which seems strange to me. Everyone goes to the top level of the train to keep from getting drowned inside, but we are still sinking. The engineer says the train will make it, but if not, jump in and swim for it. I am standing on one of the seats, my HP Palmtop computer is in one pocket, my cell phone in my other pocket… I know they would not be happy to get wet. The fact I haven't used my HP palmtop for several years since it became seriously outdated doesn't occur to me, that now I use an iPod Touch… but it does occur to me that the desert is so flooded, and it's not even the monsoon season. So I do a RC and find I'm dreaming.

Now that I'm lucid, I fly into the air to go check out the fire a bit closer. I am checking to see if there is any easy way to go around it so my mom and I can get home. It's not a brush fire like I'd first thought… well, actually much of it is a brush fire, but a large portion of the south side of Tucson is also on fire. There is a track that goes around Tucson to the east, it circumvents the burning areas. Then I ask myself why I need to get the train home, it is a dream, after all. But I decide to follow the story a bit farther, I have the feeling I don't have much longer left to sleep, so trying to complete one of my goals would be pointless. So I fly back to the train and tell the engineer what I saw, as well as telling the other people in the train. The engineer switches tracks at one of the track switches, and we get on a track heading east. I am looking at the fire off to my left when my alarm wakes me up.

So I wake up, and as is my habit, I reach up and hit the snooze button… then I drift off back into the dream again. I do this fast enough that I don't lose lucidity, I'm not sure if this counts as a DEILD, but it was definitely a continuation of the previous dream. The train is being attacked now, it is stopped. Some of the people are trying to escape, running away from the train even though the rest of them are telling those who are running to stay with the train. I see some other people out there waiting for the runners with guns, are they going to shoot them? The guns turn out to be hand held flame throwers, the people waiting for the runners set the first ones on fire. The burning ones run around in circles screaming, the others try to return to the train, but it is too late. The people with flamethrowers seem to find it very entertaining to watch their victims burn alive. They continue approaching the train, and I finally remind myself that I am dreaming and can stop them. They like fire so much, let's let them have some! I use Damage Inc. to send fireballs at them, the fireballs blast some of them and set others on fire, and the remaining ones retreat. I go into the train, and I see my mother staring at me, she asks where I learned to do that, I tell her I can always do that in a dream… and then my alarm goes off because the snooze period is done.

I hit the snooze button again, and slip right back into the dream. Everyone is saying that stopping those attackers now won't help as long as there are more of them out there, they will just try again, and this time with more of them… or they will try a sneakier approach. I tell them I'll just have to follow those who retreated back to their base of operations and take them out there. The people tell me not to leave, they will be defenseless in the train. I tell them I have to go stop the attackers, they're burning everything! So we compromise, we start working on the train, reinforcing the walls to keep attacks out, sealing parts of it off to keep fire out… and then someone got in contact with several large rock golems, these golems stand about twice the height of the train, and they are marching alongside it. Well they should be immune to burning… The work on the train is taking too long, I know my ten minutes might be almost up, and sure enough, my alarm goes off and wakes me.

Ok, so again with the snooze button… the dream was quite interesting, and I wanted to go back. I am back on the train, but I leave right away, heading in the directions the enemies had retreated. I haven't gone far when I see there is an island in the sky, and on that island is a city. I fly up to the island and I see more of the people who tried to set the train on fire, and they were surely the ones who set Tucson on fire. The island is flying low, and there are people with some kind of long range flamethrowers on the front of it… or maybe they're lasers that are starting fires. Looking down in front of the island I see everyone running… quite a few people, dogs, cats, deer, coyotes, rabbits, bobcats, and other assorted animals, all of them mixed together as if they weren't aware they were supposed to be afraid of each other. There are people there shooting the fire, they are setting the stragglers on fire and laughing as their targets burn to death. I go down and use a blast of icy air to extinguish their latest targets which included a woman, a kid looking to be about seven years old, a pair of javalinas, and a coyote. I heal them and then head back to the island, where the people there are staring at me. I am pissed off at their sadistic behavior, I tell them if they like burning so much, they would be the ones to burn. I use Damage, Inc. to start a fire that encircles the entire city, preventing escape. The fire spreads rapidly inwards, I get the feeling there are some in there that can be saved… so I fly into the city and use telekinesis to lift them out of the path of the fire. There aren't many of them… I check, but these people don't seem to believe in pets… so all that is left in the city are a bunch of assholes. I set the people I have pulled out onto the ground, using a healing spell on them just before I wake up again. This time I get up.

Note: MoSh says he thinks there might be something wrong with Asuka, so he wants to find her to make sure she is ok. He hasn't seen her for a few nights and thinks that might mean something is wrong with her. Going to check on her.

Another plan is to view the dream where Asuka killed Walms, he seems to think there was something going on other than just dark energy infection in Asuka. He would like to know who was responsible, and so would I. I'll do this if I get a chance.

I am in MoSh's inner world, in the usual place in front of his house. I remember my goal is to find Asuka and be sure she is ok, I wonder what might have happened to her this time since it seems someone is always attacking her for one reason or another. That isn't just starting to be annoying, it has become extremely annoying... why can't everyone just leave her alone?! MoSh comes out of the house soon, and he is worried about Asuka, he asks if I can find her, is she ok? I tell him I will track her and we'll see if she is ok, I am hoping it isn't anything serious. I focus on opening a portal to find her, a portal opens, and I go through it with MoSh right behind me.

On the other side of the portal I realize we haven't even left MoSh's inner world, we just went to a different part of it. So who would be after Asuka that was in here? Another intruder? Just have to check it out, so I followed my instinct on where to find Asuka, that lead me to a small glen cleared out in the trees. The glen was the opposite of what I expected, it wasn't dark and creepy like if there was some corrupting entity there, it is actually very beautiful. The trees and grass are greener than I would have though possible, so green that they seem to be glowing with their own inner light. There are flowers, too, and those are also amazingly bright and vibrant, contributing both their aroma and light to the place. The light in the glen makes the rest of MoSh's inner world seem gloomy by comparison even though there is nothing wrong with the rest of it. In the middle of the glen stands Asuka, who is glowing so brightly she appears to be on fire. She has her eyes closed, she seems to be in a trance of some kind, I wonder if she is ok. MoSh has also seen her and now he goes out I to the glen, calling her name and trying to wake her up. She doesn't respond to MoSh directly, but she does wake up, she is looking at me with glowing white eyes, it suddenly occurs to me that there is someone else in there, it's not just Asuka, someone or something else is merged with her. Well, whatever that person was after, it ends here. I use the song "Come Out and Play" by the Offspring to pull the merged entity out of Asuka. The entity let's go very easily as if it was afraid of harming Asuka, I find that to be quite surprising. The entity I pull out is a noncorporeal entity made of pure light, I can't even tell if it's male or female, but the voice sounds ethereal and female when it speaks. Asuka collapses after the entity is forced out, MoSh rushes to her side, leaving me to confront the entity.

The entity is speaking to me, it is actually scolding for forcing it out, saying that could've been very dangerous for Asuka. I ask what it wants with Asuka, why were they merged. It seems the entity is about to answer when a flux flows through its energy. It now announces, in a somewhat less ethereal voice, that I am another one of them, and my evil plans would come to naught. WTF? I ask it what it's talking about... the entity said it can see my true heart and would save me... uh... I don't need saving... I tell the entity that, but it clearly isn't listening to me, as now it releases massive wave of light energy that flows over me like a wave from the ocean. As the wave passes it takes all my
dark energy with it. After that I feel very disoriented like I might pass out or lose the dream or both... My Witchblade goes to work immediately to restore my dark emery with energy from its dark shard, I feel quickly better. I had been about to pass out, but I get up quickly to cover any weakness from this enemy. It speaks ethereally again, saying I took that much better than the other one... then it hesitates... then it says I am stronger than I look, but I will be free or I will perish... that led me to my next WTF... It attacked me again, I heard MoSh yelling at the thing that it would pay for using Asuka like that... I am ready for the attack. I use Whiplash and reflect the attack back at the entity, at the same time I convert the energy to dark energy. The entity is hit with a wave of darkness, it is knocked back a ways and now its energy is much dimmer. I ask it again what it wanted with Asuka, it responds with a hiss like a thousand angry cats and then is gone.

MoSh asks what the fuck that thing was... I tell him it seemed like an extremist healer or something... it had tried to purge out ally dark energy. Asuka was recovering, she said that was what the entity had wanted, it had been telling her that all dark energy must be eliminated, then it had seemed surprised when she had said there needs to be balance. She said she thought it had been trying to brainwash her into agreeing, repeating the same things over and over again, and a couple of times she had found herself inadvertently agreeing with it until she had consciously reminded herself that there must be balance in all things. She apologized for letting that happen, the entity had seemed so convincing as a healer, it had really seemed to have pure motives. I told her that the entity's idea of healing is to completely wipe out whatever doesn't agree with its idea of healing. MoSh was talking to Asuka as I woke.

Note: When I fell asleep tonight, I was feeling like shit… that tends to happen when I keep having it shoved into my face that people I thought were friends really place absolutely no value on me at all… so I was pissed off and depressed at the same time, which was making my dark energy go quite unstable, and I had to get rid of that issue… so my WILD was used on getting rid of that unstable dark energy on the most readily available target, the Templars.

I was in a long hallway, and I was lucid, and I also had a good idea of where I was. I was right where I had intended to be, which was in one of the many hidden templar bases on the astral and dream planes. I wasn't feeling any better now than I had been when I had fallen asleep, my energy was no more stable than then… and yet I didn't really feel like I was in danger of losing control. I knew where I was, I knew who I wanted to direct my unstable energy at, and I had no urge to direct it anywhere else or at anyone else. I wasn't even feeling like I would rather be directing it at the people who had caused me to go unstable in the first place. While it seemed to me that the instability of my dark energy was a bad sign, it also seemed to me that the fact I felt in control of how I released it was a good thing, a sign of progress…

So now I walked down the hallway, I was still feeling angry and unstable and a bunch of other things, but it wouldn't be long before I found a target… and there was a target on their way to meet me now! I saw a Templar walking down the hallway towards me, he didn't look like one of the soldiers, he was dressed in white clothing with the red Templar symbol on it. He looked up and saw me there in the hall, and he looked quite surprised to see me. He walked quickly up to me and asked me who I was, he demanded to know what I was doing there. I decided I would act even crazier than I felt, I thought his reaction might be amusing, so I grabbed the surprised Templar by the collar and demanded to know why he was wanting to write me off like some piece of shit… he looked at me with a very confused look, said he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, so I got mad at him for pretending he didn't even know who I was. I said he knew exactly who I am, and he had better show some respect, because I am worth over twenty of him, the worthless sack of pathetic shit that he is… He told me he didn't care who I was, and I had better get out of the restricted area before I found myself confined to a nightmare where a vulture was perpetually pecking… I said I didn't need a nightmare, looking at his face was a nightmare, of course that must make it a horrible nightmare to have to look at that face every time he passes a mirror. He was mad now, and upset, and a few other things that made him look very comical, he went to the wall and pulled a lever that activated an alarm. I had seen him going for it, and allowed it, because I wanted a bunch of Templars to kill.

I didn't have long to wait, I could hear the approaching Templars, I decided to go with my Alex Mercer archetype, sometimes that can be very amusing, so before they could arrive I grabbed the Templar who had pulled the alarm and consumed him, taking his energy and his form. Shortly after a group of Templars came from both directions, surrounding me in the hall, but of course they didn't recognize that I wasn't one of them. They all began looking around in a confused manner, asking me where the intruder had gone, what was with the alarm, and a bunch of other questions they weren't giving me a chance to answer. I decided to continue picking off Templars for as long as I could get away with it, by getting behind them and using the stealth consume that I have seen Alex Mercer doing on the game. I managed to consume five Templars before I got sloppy and let one of them see me. Oh, well, I was getting tired of the covert thing anyway, so now I formed my right arm into Alex Mercer's arm sword, and started cutting through Templars with it. My Witchblade armor blocked their attacks from getting through. Of course everything that was going on got the attention of still more Templars, who were coming and attacking from both directions in the hall.

As I was slicing through Templars, I was making my way slowly through the base until I found myself in a large intersection that looked like one of the central parts of the base, or at least that's how it felt. I thought this was a good place to make the final release of all the unstable energy I had left inside me. I decided to ditch the Alex Mercer archetype, so I focused every bit of unstable dark energy I had right now into one spell, and released an Immortal Fire of epic proportions, and there was a blast of dark flames extending outward from me in all directions, a huge explosion. After the blast was finally over, and the dust finally settled, there was no sign of the base any longer, in fact I was standing in a large crater where the Templar base had been just a short time ago… And I felt drained, like so much of my energy had just up and left me, but at the same time I felt a lot more stable. I did a scan on myself, examining the dark energy inside me to see what was there, it was all stable, and it was all of my own frequency… excellent… except for a tiny part… wtf? I examined the part that was not my own frequency… had someone infected me with something? Is that why I had gone unstable? I examined it closer, I was focused on that, and I finally recognized the frequency… it was Walms' What was that doing there?! Well, it didn't seem to be harming anything… I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, I looked over there to see who was watching, but in that instant whoever it was disappeared. I didn't get a chance to see. Who the fuck was that?! I was trying to figure that out when I woke…