A Long Strange Trip... into Ashraen's Twisted Psyche

non-lucid
lucid
notes

This dream constitutes my first in the quest for the Dream World Academy. The end of this dream tied directly into a continuing dream experience, but here I have logged only the portion pertinent to the quest.

I was in a bar, drinking with some old friends, when I had a realization. The forums on this website had me thinking about dream signs, and I remembered that MANY of the posts on the Dream Signs thread mentioned old friends that the dreamer hadn't been around in a long time. As I scanned the group assembled at the bar in my dream, I decided that this must be one of my dream signs too. I did my old trusty 'make someone levitate' Reality Check, and it worked. Bingo- time for fun.

I started telling all my friends how this was a dream- levitating them, making things change shape with my mind, and generally just sinking into the lucidity, allowing myself to delight in the sheer fun of it all. After a few dream minutes of this, I remembered the quest I had been assigned- to find and explore the Dream World Academy. I knew the scrubs I was drinking with didn't know anything about this , so I headed out the door and into the fresh country air.

I figured the best way to start was to take an aerial approach. I decided to fly high over the countryside, searching for anything out-of-the-ordinary, or just anything of interest at all. I read one of the logs of another Dream Views Academy member in his search where he used a television to take him to the Dream World Academy Portal. For some reason, however, that method just didn't seem right for me. As an avid fantasy reader, my subconscious is well-versed in the type of questing one finds in those books, so it just felt right to approach it the fantasy way. As I began to lift into the air, my friends came pouring out of the tavern we had been carousing in. They called to me and told me they wanted to help me on my quest- my very own posse!

My good friend Andy remarked 'Well how nice for you that you can fly, I guess we'll just follow along on foot!' He said this with no small measure of sarcasm, so I got the hint and put them all into the air with me. We rose high into the air, and like a flock of birds, we began to move as a group, scouring the world below with eagle eyes.

We headed north, and the country was beautiful. Streams, meadows, forests, all these things passed beneath us as we lazily made our way to wherever fate was leading us. Soon, we came upon a massive canyon, rimmed with giant white rock, and criss-crossed with rivers and streams. It was hard to really get a sense of the scale of the canyon from the great height at which we flew, but it seemed a continent of its own! Sensing that this was worth exploring, we glided over to a rocky outcropping on the canyon rim where a sprawling oak tree had somehow sprung out of the stony ground. My posse and I took shelter in its shade, and surveyed the canyon floor with wonder.

I noticed a large sturdy limb, low to the ground, that reached out over the rim, and I decided to climb out onto it and settle in for some reconnaissance. As I lay flat on my stomach, I noticed that the limb split into two small branches out over the canyon - making a perfect crosshairs. This intrigued me, so I focused my vision through the crosshairs and found that I was looking at a particularly green section of the canyon floor, noticeably more lush and wooded than the surrounding area. Many of the streams (or rivers, hard to tell from this distance) seemed to converge in this area as well.

As I studied the wooded area more intently, I detected movement- a great sweeping motion, agile, smooth, and certain. After some time, I could tell that the movement was getting closer. In fact, something was flying directly at my crosshairs! I began to feel a little anxious. I knew I was in a dream, but I was very much into the quest, so it didn't seem to calm my nervousness that this large flying object was headed straight for me. In a gigantic canyon with myriad formations, something was headed directly my way.

As it came closer, I saw that it was a gryphon- a rather large one it seemed- and it was still coming right at me. I can't say exactly why, but I got the sense that it was a sentry that was coming to check on us intruders. I could see that it was mostly black, with deep purple wing feathers, a dark grey chest, a dark silver beak and talons (almost like gleaming iron). As it continued to approach, I decided that I was not quite ready to meet this flying creature. I can't say why, exactly, as I was still quite lucid and aware that it was only a dream, but I made the decision to shroud my posse and I in a bubble that would prevent the gryphon from seeing us. It's an old trick that I use mainly in non-lucid or partially lucid dreams when I am being chased and cannot outrun my attackers.

I created the shroud around the oak tree and closed my eyes to concentrate as the gryphon neared. I felt it pass overhead- it must have been truly massive- bank to my left, and move off in the direction from which it had come. When I opened my eyes, I could see the creature flying back down into the canyon, but I could also feel the world becoming hazy and my lucidity fading. I quickly hopped to the ground (the limb was rather low-lying) and did the 'spin' technique I read about on this site. It helped, and I was able to watch the gryphon as it disappeared back into the wooded area on the canyon floor.

Suddenly, though, my posse was gone and I felt an uncomfortable tingling in my left arm. I awoke to find my left arm above me with my head pressing into my biceps. As anyone knows who ever sleeps in this position occasionally, the blood drains after awhile and the arm begins to throb. This turned out to be a false awakening- something I would discover later- but that is for another dream journal entry.

This marks the end of the beginning of my quest. I didn't see the Academy. I didn't speak to anyone about the Academy. But I know- somehow I am 100% certain- that the way to the Academy lies in the wooded area on that canyon floor. Maybe the Academy itself is there, or maybe the journey to it only begins there, but I have no doubt that that it is The Way. Next time, I will know to head north to the canyon. I will find the stony outcropping with the sprawling oak tree. From there I need only follow the crosshairs made by the low-lying limb. Next time, I will be prepared to face the gryphon- should it come- be it friend, foe, or otherwise.