New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

12/08/13

Night Hero
I am walking home late at night. I am again completely non-lucid. My name is Rebecca. I am walking home from my job at a local diner. I am a waitress there. I really hate my job but I won't be able to get anything better until I finish school. I am in college studying Computer Science. I will soon be a Network Administrator. That will be much better. Right now I am tired and anxious to get home to bed. I had to work late because Gracie, the girl who was supposed to take over after my shift at the 24 hour diner, had been late. An hour late. So I am tired, I am pissed. Some people have no consideration for others.

I am passing an alley that could easily serve as a shortcut to get home. It would cut a good 15 minutes off of my walk. But it is a dark and creepy alley... It looks like bad things could happen there. No... I'm just being paranoid. This is a nice neighborhood. Nothing happens here. I decide I'm sure I can take the shortcut just this once and be safe. I'm 27 years old... I can manage to get home on my own! After briefly considering, I go down the alley at a fast walk. If I hurry I can shave even more than 15 minutes off of my time.

I am about halfway through the alley when I get the feeling I am being watched. I try to brush it off, I'm just being paranoid again. Still, I walk a bit faster. I am just passing an alley that branches off to the left when a dark figure emerges. A rather large and dirty man. He smells bad. He speaks as if he is talking to himself, he says, "Look what we have here!" I go to continue on my way. The man cuts me off and asks where I'm going, the fun has just started. I tell him I'm not interested. He moves faster than I thought he could and grabs my arm roughly. He pulls out a large knife and holds it at my neck. He pushes me down beside a dumpster and then the next thing I know he is on top of me. He is laughing and he smells horrible. He holds the knife at my neck again and says if I resist he'll kill me. He is holding both my wrists in one of his huge hands as he undoes his belt and zipper with the other. I fight to get free but he's too strong and he just laughs. I call for help, but there is no one to hear... no one to help me. I feel cold inside, I am about to get raped and there's nothing I can do about it. I scream and he tells me to shut up or he'll see how loud I can scream with a slit throat. He is ripping my shirt open and my skirt off...

And then he is off me. Someone has grabbed him and pulled him right off me. He curses loudly and grabs his knife as he is grabbed. He turns around and stabs the person that grabbed him. NO! This is worse than getting raped! Someone came to help me and now he might get killed for it! I try to scramble to my feet to do anything I can to keep my rescuer from being killed but I slip and fall back on my butt. My attacker is stabbing my rescuer over and over and over again, cursing loudly. "What the FUCK?! Why aren't you DYING?!" Then I realize my attacker is actually being held almost a foot off of the ground by the man who came to help me. He is stabbing violently and desperately but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Then something skewers the man. Three razor sharp claws cut through my attacker like paper. The man's cursing changes to pained gurgles. The claws cut the man practically in two. Strange tendrils come from the other man and surround my attacker, ripping into him and literally EATING him until there's nothing left. The would-be rapist lets out some gargled screams as he is being eaten and then goes silent.

There is now just one figure standing over me. And he is not human. He is mostly human in appearance, but both of his hands are taloned claws that are still dripping with my attacker's blood. I realize who it is. I have seen news reports about this, warnings to stay away at all costs. The only sightings of this... man, if he can be called a man, was on the opposite side of New York, but here he is. I find I am looking at Alex Mercer himself, he just killed my would-be rapist, and I am next. I scramble backward, away from him, though I'm sure there is no way I can escape. His claws transform back into hands and he takes a step towards me. I am desperate to escape, I am wishing I could fit under the dumpster... but of course that's impossible. He stops and glares down at me. He looks pissed off. Great... I just met the infamous Alex Mercer and he's in a bad mood. He calls me pathetic and then turns and walks away down the alley my attacker had emerged from.

I stare after Alex, at first I am just shocked that he is leaving me alive. He didn't lay a hand... or claw... on me. That doesn't fit what I've heard at all. The news reports, the warnings, all of them describing Alex Mercer as a psychopathic madman who would happily rip apart and consume anyone he comes across... This doesn't fit at all. Then I start feeling bad. Maybe the news reports and warnings aren't true. And if they aren't, that means Alex just showed up in the nick of time and saved me from being raped and possibly murdered, and I respond like he's some kind of monster. No... I won't let that stand. It's just not right. I get up, pulling my skirt back up quickly. I call after Alex, calling his name. I see him in the alley, silhouetted against the distant street lights. He doesn't respond. I feel the need to not let this go that way. I chase after Alex. As I approach him from behind he suddenly turns, probably because he hears me approaching. As he turns he forms his claws again as if he is expecting an attack. I'm almost to him, and he has his claws spread wide away from his body, so I keep going and put my arms around him, hugging him, thanking him, trying to make up for my strange behavior earlier with a show of gratitude now.

At first it seems Alex doesn't know how to respond. Then finally I feel his arms close around me, and it is his hands rather than his claws that I feel on my back. He finally asks if I am ok, am I hurt? I tell him I'm fine, thanks to him. He lets go of me and pushes me away a couple feet. He asks what happened to me being scared of him? He adds sarcastically that I'd better run away quick before the monster kills me. He still looks annoyed. I put my arms around him again and say I'm not worried about any monster. "You killed the monster back there. He won't hurt anyone ever again." I look into Alex's blue eyes. I am overcome with the thought, "Wow... He's hot! None of those news reports said he kills rapists, saves foolish young women, and he is sooooo hot!" I tell him I want to thank him properly... then I kiss him. He doesn't really respond. Ok, now I just feel awkward.

I want to disappear into a wall or the ground again, but for a totally different reason now. Of course I would be rescued by a hot guy and then make a fool of myself in multiple ways. I take a couple steps away from Alex, calling myself stupid under my breath. I stammer that I'm sorry and turn to run back down the alley. This crazy night can't end soon enough for my liking. As I am running away a strange tendril wraps around me just under my arms like a harness. It lifts me off my feet and pulls me back to Alex. My first thought is, "Oh, shit... I pissed him off!" But I know immediately when I look at him that he is not angry. He is smiling pleasantly. Maybe even amused by my awkwardness.

Alex carefully sets me down in front of him. He says there's nothing I have to be sorry for. And then he kisses me. We kiss for a bit and then separate. After a brief silence Alex says he'll walk me home, make sure nothing else happens to me. I am perfectly happy to have Alex walk me the rest of the way home.

We talk on the way home. It turns out that since the viral outbreak was stopped Alex had been using his abilities to help those in danger. But it seemed whenever he helped someone they always acted like I had initially, like he was some kind of monster. I tell him that's because of the news reports, which I am now seeing are full of lies. He says they're no doubt sponsored by Blackwatch. They haven't given up their obsession to track him down and kill him. But without the virus spreading they have lost their excuse to maintain a military presence in the city. They must be using civilians to try to track him. Making sure they would report him and not even consider trying to talk to him and hear his side of what's happened and is still happening.

We reach my house. I am again embarrassed that am living at home with my mother at my age. But I have an agreement with my mother that I can stay there rent free as long as I am attending classes and keeping my grades up. My job at the diner is enough for other expenses. My mother meets me at the door and is shocked by my appearance. I realize I'd forgotten that my shirt was torn in the attack. She asks what happened to me. Am I ok? She looks suspiciously at Alex and asks who he is. I don't want to tell her I almost got raped, she worries enough about me walking home at night. I tell her I'm fine. I just had a little accident on the way home. Alex here stopped to see that I was ok and walked me home. My mother looks at Alex for a bit and I worry that she'll recognize him as Alex Mercer. I silently curse at myself for calling him Alex instead of making a name up. She just thanks him for seeing me safely home. Alex asks me if I work tomorrow. I say yes. He says if I don't mind, maybe he'll see me later. He smiles and walks away. My mother says he seems nice... I am tired, so I excuse myself to go to bed. I undress and lie down, surprisingly falling asleep almost right away. I wake in my own bed.

Note: A few more fragments of dreams from last night…

*Government Goons*
I was flying around, it seemed like I was continuing the previous dream. I still didn't realize it was a dream. I felt like I had spent quite some time using these powers I had discovered to help everyone. I had averted several disasters, stopped some assholes from releasing a bio-toxin that would have killed every living thing within a 100 mile radius of where it was released, cleaned up some pollution that was harming a group of whales and sunk a whaling boat… basically I had earned myself quite a name (even though they didn't even know my name) as a hero all around that planet. I received a call from help from a building, something about setting off a dirty bomb… so I went to check it out. When I got there, however, there was no bomb, no threat, just a bunch of idiots in suits. Government lackeys. One of them said he hadn't known how else to get me to come. I was annoyed at him for the false alarm. He said he had to talk to me, it was important. I figured I'd listen a bit… He continued talking and basically said he wanted me to work for the government. Um… no. I said I would like for him go over to the window I had broken to get in and jump out, but was that likely to happen? The office was on the 54th floor of a skyscraper… The man said for me to be reasonable, there was a lot of money in it for me. Money? He was pissing me off. I wasn't interested in money! What would I need money for? I told the jerk to go fuck himself. I headed for the broken window. The man was behind me, demanding that I stop. He grabbed my robes (I was dressed as an Assassin) as I was taking flight, lost his balance, and fell out of the window. I realized that when I heard him screaming on his way down. I looked just in time to see him hit the ground with a sickening THUD noise. He was, of course, dead. So he had walked to the broken window and jumped out after all…

*Eegee's Pub*
I was on the street in a downtown area. It was a normal looking city, could have easily been any city in the US or in multiple places around the world. I was feeling kind of hungry. I wanted something to eat. I went around a corner and I spotted an Eegee's sandwich shop there. A nice sub sandwich sounded good. I looked in my pocket and saw that I had some money in my pocket. I had a twenty dollar bill, so I went into the Eegee's to get some food. Inside the restaurant I looked around at the posted ads on the walls to see what kind of sandwich looked good. I was wondering what drink I wanted with it. I saw a poster for drinks. There were several kids holding various alcoholic drinks. I saw my mother was in the Eegees. I asked her if kids should be used to advertise alcohol? My mom said it was no big deal since the kids were drinking the virgin forms of the drinks.

*We All Scream for Ice Cream*
I was in a mansion. It was clearly obvious that the people living there had a lot of money. Everything was so fancy. I wondered why I was there. I wasn't lucid, and I was hoping I wouldn't get in trouble for trespassing. A man came downstairs. He looked right at me… then away. Either my presence there was completely acceptable or he didn't see me at all somehow. I followed him. He went into a dining room. He sat down at the end of a large dining table with two children. A boy and a girl. He rang a bell, and a maid brought them ice cream sundaes. Those looked delicious. The man passed one to each child, kept one, then asked the maid what she had brought for herself. She looked confused. The man said in this job, she would have to get used to things. When he asked for food to be prepared, she was automatically invited to join them in eating it. The hired help was always invited to take meals with the family. The more, the merrier, was what he always said. The maid looked a bit uneasy, but she went and brought back a sundae for herself. She sat down with the others to eat it. At first she looked really uneasy, but soon all four of them were talking like a happy family.

It was then that I noticed a little girl hiding behind the curtain at the far end of the room. I immediately knew she was an orphan. She was hiding in the walls and attic of the house for shelter, stealing food from the family to eat… but what she really wanted was a family. So she just stood there, looking longingly at the happy family eating ice cream, silently crying. I was also certain that if the man were to see her he would welcome her to the table to share ice cream with them. I found out no one could see me at all… but I could have some effect on things. Just enough to create a draft which blew the curtains away from the little girl, revealing her hiding place. The man spotted her, and she immediately looked terrified. The man took what was left of his sundae with him and slowly approached the girl. He was trying to coax her out. He finally set the dish of ice cream down and backed away, still encouraging the girl to come out.

Note: I have never actually been to Houston, but the pattern of my dream and what I saw fit pretty close to the paths I have marked on these Google Earth maps. It was a very vivid dream and I remembered it very clearly.

I was sitting on the couch watching some kind of documentary on television. I watched it for a few minutes and realized it was about pilots involved in stressful situations such as equipment failure, bad weather landings, etc. They showed an airliner flying toward Houston. The plane was flying over thick clouds. It was a very calm scene, nothing seemed to be wrong there. I got closer to the television and touched the screen. My hand moved through the screen and into the show… uh… well, this should have been good reason for a RC, but instead I thought this was just a new form of interactive television. I pushed my way into the television and the next thing I knew I was flying outside in the air, keeping up with the airliner with no difficulty, and approaching Houston.

The clouds below were what represented the dangerous situation for the pilot of the plane. The plane started to slowly descend through the clouds. I followed suit. I slowly descended into the clouds. This dream was so very vivid that I could feel the small beads of moisture that the cloud was made of. They were cool on my face and exposed arms. I was surrounded by fluffy whites and grays. I lost track of the plane in the clouds. As I descended down below the clouds I could feel larger drops of water. Now I was out of the clouds and into the rain. It was raining rather hard in Houston. The rain sprayed my face and arms, and it still felt good. I was thinking I had just come from a baking hot Arizona day into this pleasant rain storm, of course it felt good to me.

I was able to pick up following the plane again. It headed in towards the Houston International Airport… which I looked up and found it to be called the George Bush International Airport… The plane circled the airport a few times and then came in for a careful landing. I didn't see any sign of problems at all. I wondered why that should've been stressful… but then again, I hadn't been on the plane. They might have had equipment failure along with the storm. After the plane came to a complete stop at one of the gates, I got bored of watching the planes and flew off in what I felt was north or north west. I flew in and around some small buildings, not sure what they were. I was just flying in the rain and having fun. The rain was beginning to slow down a bit now. My flight path carried me over an intersection where there was a rail road crossing.

As I flew down over the intersection I saw a car in the middle of the tracks. Both of the gates were down, and the car wasn't moving. There was a train approaching in the distance. Now if that wasn't just a Murphey's Law moment… I landed near the car and looked over. There was a woman in the car trying in vain to start it. Ok… a cliché moment of a car getting stuck on railroad tracks with a train coming… and now the driver was really going to be too retarded to get out and just abandon the car to save her own life? She finally got out of the car as the train approached. I thought she had finally gotten a brain, but she instead went to the back seat and started struggling with something. What was going on? I went over to her and told her she had better get out of the way… a train was coming… She said she knew, but her baby was stuck in the car. Wtf? I looked in the car. There was a kid in a car seat. The kid was securely strapped into the car seat. The mother was struggling with the belts holding the car seat into the car and the belts holding the child in the seat. None of them wanted to come free. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my knife, popped it out, and cut several of the belts quickly… and then the mom took the child out. We both got out of the path of the train just before it plowed into the car with a loud CRASH! The car was dragged a short distance down the tracks and then tossed aside, a total wreck.

The woman didn't seem to be able to stop thanking me over and over again. She wanted to know who I was because she said everyone would know me as a hero… but I don't want to be known by anyone… so I took to flight and left her standing there in the rain with her kid. I flew north, following some kind of a highway, the rain slowed to a stop.

The air was still cool and crisp. I flew a good distance. I flew until I saw smoke that was not too far off. I headed in that direction, which involved turning to my left for a while. I flew over a lake, and then there was an area of forest. In the area of forest there was a fire raging. I wondered how the fire had gotten started. A bolt of lightning? I hadn't seen any lightning… a careless camp fire or a carelessly disposed of cigarette butt? Maybe, but with it being so wet I didn't see how the fire could have gotten started. Arson? Maybe, but why? I figured it didn't matter how the fire had gotten started… I was going to check it out and figure out how to help stop it.

I flew down to an area not far from the fire. There were animals fleeing the site of the fire. I was hovering over them as they headed away from the fire as quickly as they could go. I could also see the fire approaching. I saw some animals had gotten trapped by the fire… I didn't want them to get burned. I flew in and grabbed a few small animals and got them to safety… but there were animals too big for me to lift. Deer… there were several deer… I flew back and lifted a fawn. It was surprisingly easy to lift. I took the baby deer to safety. I lifted mom… also surprisingly easy… and dad… a sizable buck… also easy to carry… I moved some more animals out, snakes, squirrels, deer… some animals I don't remember what they were, a few of which were rather ugly… but this wasn't helpful… the fire would still catch up soon… getting rid of the fire was the main goal.

I wondered how that could be done. I landed near the lake. I could still see the fire from there. If only I could move water as easily as I moved the animals… I tried to lift up a section of water… and it worked. The water lifted in a small sphere. I did only a brief double take (and no RC) before gathering a much larger sphere of water and carrying it to the site of the fire. I dropped the huge sphere of water over the fire. The sphere immediately broke apart and doused the fire in a huge puff of steam. It never occurred to me that I was dreaming… I thought this was easily explained by the fact I had finally developed my telekinetic powers. That was enabling me to fly, enabled me to lift heavy animals, and transport water. I was flying away from the site of the fire when I woke.