The Nomad Chronicles

*this dream was when we went to help my friend with nightmares*

***
astral dream

Raven and I are on the Moon. She is meditating by the koi pond. I see dark and light energy spinning through her in circles. She is chanting something, no, singing. Her soul is singing something...

Peace in the darkness
Peace in the daylight
I am a piece of light
I am a piece of night
dark and light
flow... flow through me
flow like rain, like rivers,
like currents, like steam
flow like snow, like clouds,
like ice, like steam...

Raven?

Oh, hi, Nomad. I was just working on getting this dark energy under control. I am getting better. We are going to your friend to help her with nightmares, correct?

Yes.

Alright, then. You open the portal.

Ok.

I open a portal to Earth in the astral plane. We are in A's bedroom. She's asleep. There is a tormented look on her face. There is an astral demon crouched over her. It looks like a mixture of shadow and ice. It breathes icy blue breath over her face.

"Sleep, child, o, sleep and dream. Dream of me, dream of death and pain. Writhe like snakes burning in the sun, writhe like foolish maggots in the mouth of the sparrow."

Raven and I morph into our Shadow Beast Selves. We are huge dark jaguars, more like African lions, or Siberian tigers. I smack its head with my paw. I break its jaw. It turns its head to me, and its eyes glow red. It puts its jaw back in place, and begins to say something, but Raven is on its back, biting into its neck.

She is drawing the demon's dark energy into her. The demon starts to wither like a leaf drying in the sun.

"No, get this bitch..."

I laugh, and drive my fist into its face, then grab its head and twist until I feel its neck break. My hidden blade slices into its brain. Before it shrivels into a helpless state, it hits a button on some kind of bracelet. It seems strange, a demon with an electronic device.

Government Remote Viewers appear riding broomsticks out of many portals.

What the fuck?

"We are the Witch Corps, you fucking idiot. We have been recruited from many covens across the globe to work for The Masters."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because no one will believe you if you repeat this information, fool."

I motion to one of them to come close so I can whisper in his ear.

"FUCK YOU!" I scream in his ear, and his face melts. I roar at the spooks, and ripple the fabric of time and space.

Raven multiplies, and teleports all over the place, slitting their throats from behind, and tossing their heads into portals leading into randomness. The fight is over quickly.

A stirs. Raven is singing over her, caressing her head maternally. A sits up.

"What? Who are you? Get out of my room!"

"We are friends. I am your friend, Nate. You are dreaming."

I turn into my physical self.

"Nate? Nate?" she squints. I play my didjeridoo, and she calms down. Raven summons a golden orb which lights up the room.

"Ah, that's very pleasant. I feel peaceful. I thought you two were demons coming to haunt me again."

"No, we just kicked their ass, actually."

"Oh!'

"There were a lot. One demon, actually, the rest, humans."

"Really, and why were they here to attack lil' ol' me?"

"Because you are the Witch Queen, apparently. I have it all here, on this little memory card I stole from the demon's bracelet, before Raven turned him into a withered husk."

"I am the Witch Queen? What does that mean?"

"Well, you see, we all have different, uh... personas, selves, something like the god aspect of us... something like the buddha within us all, but the more specific god-aspect. See, Raven is the Queen of Night, Angel is the Queen of Twilight, I am the god of Nothing, and you're the Witch Queen. So, they want you for your power, A."

"My head's beginning to swim. I don't..."

"Nomad, leave the poor girl alone! You're overwhelming her!"

"I just want to sleep."

"Okay. Let your astral body rest. We'll protect you tonight, and as much as we can in the future."

"My astral body? What?"

"Sh."

"Can I have a glass of milk?"

"Sure." I summon a glass of milk, and give it to A. She drinks a little and goes back to sleep. I morph her bed into a cloud. She closes her eyes, and a little smile appears on her face. Raven makes golden energy come down like soft rain.

"Raven, I feel we are getting sucked into a dream!"

"I am not. You are. Stay here!"

"Ulp! What the hell is happening?"

"Nomad! Stabilize! Look at your hands! Count or something. Focus on my face!"

The dream smears...

I am in a Black Void.

I somehow feel as if I am on trial. I hear a voice.

You fool. You think you are some kind of hero? HA! Some kind of god? You puny mortal. I rule this world, this plane!

Then, I begin to see things as my eyes get adjusted to the light. I am being held by two strange monkey-demons. There is some kind of minotaur demon before me.

I feel like I have been drugged.

"What is this? Some kind of lame excuse for Hell?"

"Silence mortal!"

"Fuck you... this is my dream!"

"No, it's not. You have no powers here. You cannot even wake up. And yes, this is Hell. We are torturing you and the ones you love in many different dimensions, simultaneously. LOOK INTO THE WINDOWS!"

Devices are strapped to my eyeballs to force them open.

I see through windows of myself and my loved ones going through all manner of hideous torture. I scream, but no breath comes out.

"You can't breathe here, either. You can't do a reality check, now. This is not a dream. This is all real."

I hear Vegeta's voice in my brain. "Do not give in to the illusion! You can use illusory magic. Now recognize it!"

I feel a dark crimson rage burning from the center of my brain, and expanding outward. I am engulfed by red flame. I morph into Shadow Self, Beast Self, and Demon Self, all in one. I break free of the demons holding me. There is something on the back of my head. I rip it off, and slam it on the ground. A long tail comes out of my head. It looks like a small sting ray. I smash it.

"You see, it's an illusion inducing parasite." I hear Vegeta's voice again.

I am back in the Black Void.

"The Red Witch Queen has always been ours, is ours now, and will be ours forever. We will leach her power into our souls for all eternity." The same dark voice says.

Silvery astral tentacles snake through the void to me.

A portal opens, and an arm comes out. I recognize it as Raven's. I grab her hand, and she yanks me through. We ride through the wormhole on a Wormhole Wyrm. We battle strange parasites on our way back to the Moon.

We land.

"Alright," Raven says. "We need to heal and armor up, then go into her Inner World."

"Let's do it!" I say, cracking my knuckles.

We do mutual healing, then I open a portal to her Inner World. It looks like a pleasant Northern European countryside. There is a dense forest growing on the plain creeping up to a mountain. There! A castle in the distance. There is a dark aura around it.

***
missing time

We are in the castle.

I am the Witch Queen!

The Witch Queen is wearing a long red dress, sitting on a stone throne. She has long red antlers.

She will not tolerate misbehavior. She winks at me playfully.

A shadow creature comes out of a portal, and tackles her, taking her into another portal.

I follow the creature. Raven says, "No wait!"

We are on a bombed out landscape. The Witch Queen is on a cliff, with the shadow creature. He is telling her it's all her fault. She turns into a normal human, and weeps. Raven appears. She tosses an imp into a portal. Raven turns into a werebeast and tackles the shadow creature. They tumble to the plains below, battling in the air as they fall.

The creature shoots a black astral tentacle at the sky, opening a portal.

I create a sphere of protection around the Witch Queen as hordes of shadow creatures like bats and locusts come pouring out of the portal. "Get her out of here!" Raven yells.

I wrap my arms around her, and teleport her to the Biodome on the Moon. Tigress says, "What took you so long?"

I am confused.

"You were going to bring back samples of dark energy beings for us to analyze."

Tigress telekinetically removes dark bug things from The Witch Queen and I and puts them in glass jars. She hands them to Washu, who takes them away. Raven tumbles out of a portal. The creature pokes its head through, but Raven charges a fist with lightning, and punches it in the face, knocking it back.

Raven's eyes are crimson. She has dark energy. "Don't worry, Nomad, I have it under... CON-trol. I'm fine." She breathes. "Alright, let's heal your friend." She's already asleep in the grass in the Glen of Healing.

We use music magic to heal her. Others join us: MoSh, Basara, Michael.

"Well, it's going to take a long time for us to defeat all these nightmare bastards, but I think it's going to be a good quest," Raven says. "Do you think she's willing to learn to control her dreams?"

"I think so, I hope so."