New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

07/19/13

A New Fusion
I wake up in bed. I roll over and open my eyes to see I am not in my normal bedroom. I find I am in the bedroom of my dreamscape. I get out of bed and I almost trip over a Buddha statue on the floor. I see it at the last minute and I avoid stepping on it. There is a black cat sitting on a chair in the room. I go over to the cat and start petting it. The kitty begins to purr. While I'm petting the cat I look around the room and I see I'm not alone there. There are two men there with me. I recognize Q and Alex Mercer in the room watching me. Q takes out a pair of pendants and holds them up. He says they are the fusion amulets. He says those strange people who seem to want to take Alex with them are being very insistent, and their stories are looking very suspicious. He says the simple solution is for them to take the fusion of Alex and me so we can find out what they're up to. Q hands Alex and me a fusion amulet. Q says to put the amulets on, so I put mine on. Alex looks at his and then puts it on. The amulets activate and trigger a fusion as was done between Vegeta and Goku when they used the magic earrings to become Vegeto.

Since the result has to look like Alex, I find myself looking out of Alex's eyes. Q takes out an electronic collar of some kind. He says it creates a stasis field, but he is sure my power level can toast it at any time I choose. He puts it on Alex/me, though I can tell Alex doesn't like it one bit. Q snaps his fingers and the next instant Alex/I are in a room I don't recognize. There are a couple people waiting there, one man and one woman. Alex tries to transform in some manner but the stasis field blocks it, so instead he just glares at the two of them. The woman looks at Alex/me for a bit. She pushes a button on a device and an invisible barrier closes between Alex/me and the two people. The woman asks what we are trying to pull. They're taking Alex only, not this fusion. What? How could they know about the fusion? I pull off the amulet in frustration, causing the fusion to break apart. I am now standing next to Alex, the stasis collar falls to the ground. Alex forms both arms into blades and attacks the barrier between us and the people. The barrier displays some scratches on it but the damage isn't nearly enough to break through it. He finally stops that and goes to the back of the room. I go over to the barrier and ask who the fuck they are that could see through the fusion. The woman laughs but neither of them answers. So use some other form of fusion? The man says it's not that easy to fool them. Some other form of fusion... well when Alex consumes someone they become one... but that seems like a bad idea... but why? This is a dream, this isn't my real body. It has been blown apart, burned, cut apart, near ground zero of a nuclear detonation, and fucked up any number of ways, worst case scenario is I just wake up. No risk in a dream except for energy contamination. So I telepathically tell Alex to try to consume me. He responds aloud, says no, and asks if I'm crazy. I respond telepathically, telling him to just think his responses, and no, I'm serious. Go ahead and do it, I won't prevent it. This is just a dream for me. Just my dream body, my real body is safe in bed sleeping. He telepathically responds this time, asking if I'm sure doing that even to a dream body won't hurt me. I tell him my dream body has been stabbed, crushed, blown up, cut, at near ground zero of a nuclear blast… Nomad got turned inside out with no negative effects… so yeah, I'm sure. So just come up behind me and do it. I ask the people on the other side of the barrier what they want with Alex anyway. The man says they already told us he has to pay for his crimes. I say I want the truth this time. He says he told the truth. The woman says I shouldn't turn my back on Alex. I ignore her and tell the man I have a sensitive bullshit detector and it is going off full blast. The woman says that thing is right behind me. I ask her what thing. She says Mercer is right behind me; don't let it get a hold on me. I dismiss her concern and turn to the man. I tell him to stop feeding me bullshit and telling me it's chocolate. The woman says look out right as Alex puts his arms around me. The woman tells me to get away before it's too late; I just look at her like she's nuts. I can tell Alex is still hesitating. I telepathically tell him to get on with it already. The woman is pounding on the barrier, yelling at Alex to leave me alone. Something is surrounding me from behind; it's like being pulled into a cocoon of some kind. I don't find that alarming at all, it's actually rather warm and comfortable, until it closes over my face. Then I get a sense of claustrophobia and I have to resist an urge to power up and blast my way out. I feel weird. I wonder if getting consumed would normally hurt; I don't usually feel much pain in dreams, though the Templars have made me feel pain before. I can distantly hear the woman yelling at Alex to let me go, and then everything fades to black…
 
Realms of Darkness
I'm not sure if I woke up here or not, but I find myself floating in darkness. I go to open my eyes but I have no eyes to open. It seems I am a consciousness floating with no body, or a non-corporeal entity maybe. But I can hear. I can hear someone yelling a lot, someone is yelling that some bastard piece of shit consumed Raven and if someone else had cooperated from the start this wouldn't have happened! I am feeling somewhat pissed off, too. I finally manage to open my eyes; or rather I just start seeing. I am looking at an invisible barrier beyond which are two people whom I hate. I am pissed off at them. I want to cut them in two and consume them. What? That's not normal… I look around the side of the room I'm on. Q appears near me and looks at me strangely. He is speaking to me as if he can't see me. He asks if I am in there. My first reaction is to make some sarcastic remark. Nope. Raven has stepped out of her mind for a few moments. If she should return before her mind comes back, please tell her to wait here. I go to say that but I don't have a mouth to speak with. So I send it to Q telepathically. Q replies telepathically that a simple 'yes' would have sufficed. Q then speaks to me aloud. He says I have made a big mistake, and then adds that Raven was really the only one who wanted to protect me. He puts the stasis collar back on me. I want to ask Q what he is talking about, I am Raven, you idiota. No mouth to speak with… but then I find I do have a mouth I'm not controlling. It speaks in a man's voice and says he didn't want to do it at all, it was Raven's idea. Q says that sounds like bullshit, Raven would never have allowed that. I sense that I am not alone. There is another mind here with me, and I reach out to see who it is. Images flash through my head, memories that aren't my own. The other mind present here with me is Alex Mercer off of Prototype.

I try to communicate with him telepathically. He responds, seeming surprised to hear from me. The invisible barrier disappears. My first thought is to transform and cut both of them in half. But I counter that thought, remembering that the goal was to find out what these people are up to since it was clear they are not telling the entire truth. The man says he hadn't realized how stupid I (Alex) was to consume the one person who was trying to help me (him). I am thinking the sucker is really him and the bitch with him. She uses a device she has to open a portal and the man pushes me through it. I resist an urge to turn around and kick him in the balls so hard they get lodged in his fucking nostrils. The portal closes behind us and now we are on an open field. A man is waiting there. He says he had almost given up waiting. He looks like Leland Gaunt as seen on the Needful Things movie by Stephen King.

Somehow both harmless and malevolent at the same time. I can tell Alex doesn't recognize him which leaves me wondering why he wanted these people to bring Alex to him. He tosses a bag to the two people who brought Alex (me) here. They both look intently in the bag. Leland tells Alex (me) that he (I) fucked with the wrong people this time. He laughs in a rather friendly manner, but there is no laughter in his eyes… they look like bottomless abysses. I look into the abyss and it seems the abyss is staring back. He looks briefly puzzled so I stop looking and he finally looks away. I wonder if he could possibly see me inside of Alex. No… surely not this way… not when I was really just a part of Alex… He opens a portal and pulls Alex (me) through it… into a nightmare. Both Alex and I recognize the place instantly even though I am sure he has never seen it, it is the Dark Realm. Alex lets out a, "What the fuck?!" Leland seems pleased with Alex's surprised response. A demon appears, big and ugly. It glares down at Alex (me). It laughs and says that since Alex (I) interfered with his zombie hoards opening the portal now he (I) would pay the price by… what the fuck? The demon looks over at Leland and asks what the fuck this is? The demon says there are two consciousnesses in there, not just one! I telepathically ask Alex how he managed to piss someone off in the Dark fucking Realm. But I already know the answer. In the infected New York there were some infected that were being controlled by an external force and they had been trying to open some kind of gateway. Only certain infected enemies had that power, and Alex had consumed or killed all of them thus preventing the gateway. This must be the demon who had been planning on using the gateway. Ok… that's enough of the Dark Realm… time to go. I tell Alex he'll have to work with me on song spells, but it seems he already knows that… as well as what song spell I'm about to use… Megadeth's Crush 'Em. As the song starts, the energy from it not only breaks the stasis collar, but makes it explode and fall to the ground in pieces. The song creates gravity bombs that come down hard on the demon, pounding him into the ground in a large crater. By the time the song is over the demon has been knocked down, but he is pissed. The demon's minions start coming and attacking Alex (me). He starts dealing with them in a way he is a bit more used to by forming blades and cutting through a lot of them, I focus on the song spell Battery by Metallica and hit more of them with bolts of lightning. We get a ways away from the main demon before finding we are completely surrounded by demon minions.

So now Alex holds them back while I prepare a kick-ass Immortal Fire spell. "And suddenly, the unreal silence is broken by a lament. A lament coming up from the deepest, darkest abyss. And from the seven gates of the dark fortress the dead come back to life to face them. This is hell. Immortal fire, now rise, light my heart, light my way through the darkness, the guardian of space and time!" A massive blast of white flames extends outwards from Alex (me) and incinerates all demons in its path, rising up into the air to catch the flying ones, as well. Now to get out of there. The spell song Through the Never opens a portal out of the Dark Realm. Alex (I) jump through it and it closes behind him (me) before any demons can follow. On the other side Alex (I) is in the same field he (I) was in before our little trip to the Dark Realm. In fact, the man and the woman who had wanted Alex are still there looking at some glowing round gems that they apparently took out of the bag Leland had given them. They are so absorbed in what they are doing that they don't even notice when Alex (I) appear from the portal in the field. I am immediately pissed off at them, though I think it is really more Alex who is pissed off at them than me. He (I) goes right over and picks the man up by the back of his shirt. The woman is just staring with huge eyes, looks like she might shit her pants. The man, on the other hand, drops a stream of expletives and insults that would make a drunken sailor blush. The woman indicates for him to shut up and says he didn't really mean any of that, to which he responds that he sure as fuck did mean every word of it. Not that Alex needed him to get any more pissed off… The man doesn't even realize what is happening when Alex (I) consumes him. I now know what those orbs are… they're real materia, the magic gems from Final Fantasy 7.

And some particularly powerful ones, too. These ones use dark magic. The man at least knew exactly who he had made a deal with, a demon in the Dark Realm. He also knew exactly what he was doing when they handed Alex over to an agent of the Dark Realm. The woman pushes the bag towards Alex (me) and says to take them all as she gets up and runs away. Alex isn't at all interested in the materia, however. He (I) teleports to a point directly in front of the fleeing woman, who skids to a stop and falls on her ass. She scrambles away a few feet but doesn't make much effort to escape, perhaps deciding any attempt is futile. Instead she just holds her hands up in a fending off gesture and says she will do whatever Alex (I) wants if he (I) will just let her go. When Alex (I) grabs her she tries to say the man forced her into helping him, which Alex (I) already knows is a lie. Apparently Alex is in no mood to listen to any more of her bullshit as he (I) consumes her right there. More memories. Apparently the two people wanted to make a deal with the demon to gain more power, to use that power to invade a neighboring country (kingdom?) and obliterate all who got in their way. Not friendly people at all. And neither of them knew of or cared about any crimes Alex may have committed. I feel like I should be waking up. But not here. Alex knows what I am thinking and cooperates with opening a portal back to my inner world. On the other side there are people waiting that don't look too friendly. I telepathically tell them I am here, don't go nuts now. Q asks if I know how to separate. I tell him it should happen automatically when I wake up. If not, I'll figure it out later. And it is here that I wake up.

06/01/13

Templars in the Shadows
I am in a strange place. I look around to see where I am. I don't recognize the place. I leave the small room I find myself in to find I am in a large gathering hall. There are quite a few people there. All of them are Assassins. I see a reflection and I realize I am also dressed as an Assassin, so I fit right in. I wonder why I might be there. I start to wander among the Assassins to see if I can find out. I finally spot a familiar face. Ezio is off to my right talking to an Assassin I don't recognize.

I keep looking around and I spot an Assassin that looks off somehow. I get closer to him and I see he seems to be surrounded by an aura of dark energy. That's not normal for an Assassin. I get closer to the strange Assassin. I catch a glimpse of his eyes. They are solid black. That is definitely wrong. He pays no attention to me. He seems to be focused on Ezio. He moves silently up behind Ezio. No one seems to be taking notice of him. Apparently no one else can see the dark energy. He is standing right behind Ezio now. He is about to stab Ezio with his hidden blade but I get him first. The dark energy Assassin collapses, dead. Someone calls to Ezio to look out and someone grabs me from behind. Apparently they think I'm the attacker here... Ezio turns around and looks at me. The other Assassins are telling Ezio I was trying to kill him. Ezio just looks puzzled. He says no, that's Raven, there must be some other explanation. One of the other Assassins points at the dead Assassin and says I just killed him. As if on cue, the dead Assassin changes into smoke and disappears. Assassins are all staring. I hear people muttering, asking what that was. Ezio wants to know what that was. I tell him it was a shadow Templar in disguise. He had been about to stab Ezio in the back. Ezio says that doesn't make sense, either. Ezio says he just recruited that guy, and when he checked him out he was definitely not a Templar. I wonder if maybe the dark energy can somehow fool Ezio's eagle vision. Since he's not used to seeing it. I wonder how to test that theory. I would have to find another disguised shadow Templar. But where would I find one? I look around the room. There are quite a few Assassins, but none of them look out of place. No sign of dark... wait... I spot someone in the corner with a dark energy aura. A female Assassin who is trying to blend with the rest of the group.

I get closer to Ezio. A couple other Assassins don't seem to want me too close to Ezio, they block my way. Ezio comes over closer to me. I point over to where the shadow Templar is and ask Ezio if he sees anything out of place over there. The shadow Templar is with a group of four Assassins. Ezio looks over there and says he only sees a group of five Assassins. Another Assassin tells Ezio not to trust me, what happened to the dead Assassin is just proof of my evil tricks. Ezio doesn't pay any attention to him. He asks me what he should be looking for. I tell him dark energy, one of them is a shadow Templar in disguise. And it's a good disguise. Ezio looks over there for a bit longer. An Assassin pulls me away from Ezio and tells him that the traitor is right here, I am clearly the Templar here. Ezio says no, he is sure I'm no Templar. The other Assassin starts to object again but it is clear Ezio isn't paying any attention to him. Ezio just looks at him until he lets go of my arm and backs off looking frustrated. Ezio turns his attention back to the group of Assassins I pointed out. The question is how to get Ezio to see dark energy. I am focused on that goal when I think of the song Unforgiven II by Metallica. I take this key and I bury it in you... the key to seeing dark energy. Ezio finally says he does see something. The woman, second from the right, has a dark aura... but why didn't he see that sooner? I tell him it can take time to see dark energy when you're not used to it. He starts to go over to the shadow Templar. I tell him to wait, now that he sees them he needs the energy that can destroy them. In a pocket of my robes I find a Witchblade with a light energy crystal which I give to Ezio. He puts it on and then goes over to the small group of five Assassins and I follow him. He directly addresses the shadow Templar. The shadow Templar tries to act casually but looks a bit worried. She points at me and says she can't believe someone she thought was an Assassin had turned traitor like that. Ezio says I am no traitor... and he can see what she is. She backs away a step but then laughs. She gives up all pretense of being an Assassin. She says there is no way the Assassins can win with the power she and the Templars have now. She tries to attack Ezio but he is too fast and stabs her with his hidden blade. She laughs and says she can't be killed. Then the gem in the Witchblade activates and charges the blade with light energy. The shadow Templar stops laughing and says that is impossible just before she collapses and disappears in a puff of smoke. Ezio looks over at me and asks if I see any more. I look around and I don't. I tell Ezio that, and add that now that he has seen one he should be able to see them a lot more easily. He asks where these Templars are coming from. I tell him I can answer his questions but not now, I am about to wake up. He looks at me strangely then I wake.

03/27/13

Pools of Healing
I am in my room, in bed. Someone is yelling at me. That is all I am aware of at first. Who is it? I open my eyes and see there is a single Templar beside my bed and he seems to be in a bad mood. But I notice he doesn't seem to be sending off the attacks I have come to expect. He is asking questions. He wants to know something. I assume I know what he is talking about, but I assume wrong. I expect he will be wanting to know where I have hidden the thing I stole from them, instead he is asking what I did to someone. The three Templars that went through that portal aren't acting normal at all, what is wrong with them? I am a bit annoyed at this Templar being here yelling at me, my first reaction is to tell him I'll show him what I did to those other three… he falls silent and takes a step back, clearly not liking that idea. My mind clears and I remember that there were three Templars I got pissed at and sent to the Dark Realm. I'm not about to send another one there, but I am glad the idea of it has made him shut up. In fact I remember I had plans to get those three out of the Dark Realm, no one deserves to be left there. But first to the moon. I focus on opening a portal, and it opens right away. The Templar moves away from the portal. I tell him it leads to the balancing pools on the moon, not the Dark Realm… and then I go through the portal. I get to the other side and it is right next to the balancing pools.

Nomad is already in one of the pools and appears to be relaxing. I get into the pool and focus healing energy on his foot where he still has some sores, though the injuries look like they're improving. After doing that I let myself sink through the warm relaxing waters to the bottom of the pool where I am having no difficulty breathing the water. It smells fresh and clean. I am relaxing there as I fall asleep.

Out of the Darkness
I am with Nomad, Link, Altaïr, and Spike. I immediately don't like the place. We are in what looks like an underground hallway, part of a labyrinth perhaps, a long stone corridor that is illuminated only by torches set in the walls. The passage is stiflingly hot, the stone walls are practically too hot to touch. The look of the place isn't what I find worst about it, however. It's the sounds. From seemingly all around come the echoing sounds of people screaming in pain, like someone is being tortured. I wait for a moment for my mind to clear and then I remember I am actually there to get three people out, because this is probably the area of the Dark Realm they have been brought to. I sent them here, I need to get them out. I notice everyone else is wearing black, black versions of the usual Assassin robes, and I realize that is much harder to see against the dark stone than the white ones I have. So I change my white ones to black.

Someone I don't recognize comes down the hall, my first impression is that she is a Templar. But she seems to be helping us… well maybe she would be since the goal is to retrieve three Templars from the Dark Realm. She says she found the way through the labyrinth. There is a torture chamber, she shudders but offers no further description. Another scream of pain echoes through the halls making further description unnecessary. She says there are more than three of them there, she wasn't aware of which ones were the Templars I had sent here and who the others were. I figure it doesn't matter… if they're prisoners here they need to get out. We all follow the woman down some halls to a room of nightmares. I see a sight I am sure I have seen before. A man is naked in a metal cage over a fire, his skin is blistering and cracking as it burns, his face is a mask of pain but he is silent. Nomad says they will see about getting more free before we're discovered, though that probably won't take long. I go over to the man in the cage, he is not even aware of my presence. There is a demon of some kind watching him, completely absorbed by the sight. The demon is not paying any attention to me. The demon looks almost like a human, in fact if I hadn't already known it was a demon I might have thought it was a Templar… but a Templar wouldn't be torturing another Templar, would he? I charge my hidden blade with light energy and sneak up behind the demon, pumping him full of the stuff before he can sound an alarm. I open the cage with the half-dead Templar in it. There were three I sent here… where are the other two? I find the other two near where the first one was. The second one is another man, he is impaled on a pike that is set in fire… burning and impaled… and a demon is watching that. There is a woman in a small pit hogtied and there are bugs all over her, nasty demonic looking things, eating her alive… another demon is observing.

Somewhere around here someone must have gotten some attention, however, as the demons depart their posts and began gathering somewhere. I take that opportunity to get the other two free. I focus healing energy on them, healing up burns, bites, and other injuries, and blocking any pain. I see the others are there, and they have more prisoners with them. They are in an alcove, and I see there are demons searching the place. They seem a bit confused, and not sure where to find the intruders. The rescued prisoners all look like they're still in shock from their experience, they aren't very responsive. Nomad says they need more healing, and opens a portal to the Healing Glen where the crystal golem takes care of those who have been seriously hurt more than just physically. I'm not sure how many prisoners we rescued, though I am sure the three Templars I sent to the Dark Realm are the three I got out. I am thinking there are still more of them back in the prison, more of them that shouldn't be left there… but I'll not be getting them out now, I wake up.

03/26/13

Dark Deeds
I am in my room, I am in bed. I wake up in bed, hoping it is not time to get up yet. I look around and see there are Templars all around me, there is a strange energy pulsing off of them. It makes it hard to see them even when I am looking directly at them. The waves of energy coming off of them is holding me down, I have the idea it is holding me back in more ways than one. I am feeling quite pissed off at them for their constant attacks. I use the song Whiplash by Metallica to send their attack energy back at them. For a brief time I can see them clearly, a pulse of energy from me actually knocks them against the walls of my room. The attacks immediately resume. One of them says it's not going to stop until I return what I stole, return the artifact and they will leave me alone. I don't believe them. Instead I am getting pissed off. I use another Whiplash spell and send the energy back at them again, this time getting out of my bed and phasing through the wall. I remembered chatting with Nomad on Facebook, he had said there were Templars attacking him… so I decide to go help him with his Templar problems. The Templars attacks are making it hard to focus on opening a portal. They are really pissing me off. I use Whiplash again and open a vortex portal, I want to send them away to somewhere they won't like. Maybe then they'll learn to leave me alone. A vortex portal opens and pulls three of the Templars through it right away. Something comes back out of the portal… a wave of dark energy, it seems I have opened a portal somewhere I might have been better off not… The portal then closes, but before it does I see demons on the other side, the portal led to the Dark Realm, I'm not sure I like the idea of sending even Templars to the Dark Realm.

The wave of dark energy slams into me, knocking me back against the bed. My mind is filled with images of the three Templars I sent through the portal getting tortured, demons are laughing, people are screaming. I see images of one of them inside a metal box that is being heated, his skin is cracked and blistered… a second one, a woman, is tied to a bench and is being eaten alive by strange bugs… the third one is actually impaled on a spit and is being roasted alive over a fire… no, I didn't want that, not even for Templars… my anger is gone now, my next thought is I have to get them out of there, but I can't even move enough to get off my bed. Something is draining my energy, that attack that hit me from the Dark Realm? Everything fades to black. I can still hear the Templars crying out in pain and the demons laughing…

Queen of Night
I am on fire. But the fire is not burning me; it isn't that kind of fire. It is a purifying fire, and it is not burning me, rather it seems to be burning something off of me. As the strange substance is burned off of me it feels like I can breathe again, as if it had been suffocating me. I see I am not alone there. Spike and Altaïr are both right there with me, I see Nomad and MoSh not too far away. And I also see enemies. So many enemies. I realize my hands were tied behind me, not sure how that happened, I don't realize it until Altaïr is cutting the bonds with his blade. Spike starts to ask if I am ok, but then he is distracted by enemies. There is a big fight going on around us. The enemies… orcs? Templars? Templar orcs?

They are orcs, but they are dressed in Templar armor, clearly marked as Templars. I think they must be pissed off about me sending three of them to the Dark Realm. I'm not even particularly pleased about that incident. There is a huge fight going on all around me. Is this all about the fact it seems I had been captured? The Templar orcs are attacking my friends, and I start to feel a bit of the anger that led me to send some Templars to the Dark Realm to begin with. I don't want to let that feeling go too far this time, I still want to go get them out of there. No one should be left in the Dark Realm for the demons to be playing their sick games with. I still feel a dark energy inside, but I can keep it stable, so I focus on using it instead of getting rid of it. I transform into the form of a dark sorceress, still on fire… with the black wings of giant raven, somehow seems appropriate.

I use spell songs on the Templar Orcs, Damage Inc. by Metallica to throw balls of fire, Battery by Metallica to call lightning from the sky. The entire place sounds like a Metallica concert with an awesome light show to accompany it. Lyrics from a completely different song are going through my mind, "When the shadows remain in the light of day, on the wings of darkness we retaliate…" I can't think what song these lyrics are from… The entire fight is rather unfocused in my memory, it doesn't really seem to take very long before it is over. Then I am on the ground, I see I am in my white Assassin robes again… the dream is over. But it can't be, I still have to go to the Dark Realm and get those Templars out… I sent them there, it is my responsibility to set it right by getting them out. Nomad is right beside me, I look around and see the other people around are also friends. I tell Nomad I have to go to the Dark Realm and get someone out, he seems to think I need to rest. I try to get up, not having much progress. I tell him I have to go now, they're being tortured, I was wrong to send them there… but something has drained all my energy, things around me are fading to black.