memorable

Originally Posted by Hazel

4/3/09

1- Laberynth of Lies
I am sent on a quest to collect these special eggs from a laberynth. The maze is huge; there are several cities within it. The whole point is to eventually find a one-of-a-kind egg called the Embryo. ((Shugo Chara reference.)) Helping me on the quest is a biped werewolf who does not seem to have a human form.

As we are collecting the eggs, we realize that they each have a fortune inside of them. These are more important than the eggs themselves, so we just crack the eggs and take the fortunes along with us. One of them says that I will eventually lead the Vampires to victory against the Werewolves. Enraged, my werewolf friend begins to attack me, but I manage to explain that I would never do something like that, because I hate the Vampires as much as he does. I figure that the fortune must be referring to something a bit more cryptic, because I would never betray the 'wolves. He calms down and we continue on our way.

After a while, we pass by some werewolf slayers, and I hide my friend from them and force him to stay in the woods so he will not get killed. I go back and collect some more of the fortunes, and read one that says the werewolf will save me from danger on the road. As I am heading back to find him, I am assaulted by two passersby. At first I think the werewolf will rescue me, but then I become lucid and decide I'd rather take matters into my own hands. I fight with them for a while, and although no damage is dealt I manage to chase them off.

I then lose lucidity and begin to howl. The werewolf howls back and I manage to find him somewhere within the forest. We eventually come upon an old abandoned church and hide out there for a while to read the fortunes we have collected.

Originally Posted by Hazel

8/29/09

1- A Visit to the Farm
I am walking down the road when a loud warning alarm goes off. I think it means that there's going to be a bomb or some type of explosion, so I start to run for shelter. It then occurs to me that something evil must be chasing me. I keep running, and nothing comes. I realize that this is simply because I don't know what's after me, and that I must be dreaming.

I keep running anyway, trying to decide what's chasing me so it will actually appear. I briefly consider wolves, and I see large wolves quickly gaining on me. I then change my mind and they disappear.

I am no longer on the main road, but on a dirt road that has been cleared through a forest. There are a lot of even smaller paths coming off of it, but I decide to keep going straight. I eventually come upon two construction workers who are talking to each other rather than working. "Get outta the way!" I yell, and jump over their heads onto one of the side paths.

The path eventually takes me to a farm, where two men are having a brutal fistfight. I break them up, and as a reward I am shown around the farm. The farmer shows me that he keeps goats and miniature unicorns. He informs me that some of them can talk. One of the unicorns approaches me and I start petting her. Then I suddenly think better of it. "It's okay if I pet you, right?" I ask.

"Of course," she replies.

I start petting her again. "Wow, your fur is so soft!"

"That's because I take such good care of my mane."

((At this point I somehow poke myself in the eye IRL and wake up.))

2- I'm Not a Guy
I am a guy rayher than myself, and I need to write down the dream I just had. I locate a talking pencil on my floor which is trying to hide from me. I then write my dream down.

The unicorn come into my room, but she turns into a human girl of about 16. She lays down on my bed beside me and we start to talk, and she precedes to fall in love with me. At first I think I return the feelings, but then I snap out of it and realize that I'm not a guy. It is extremely difficult to convince her of this fact, however.

3- Meeting with Madame Trelawny
I start the dream as myself, in a huge library. As I start to look around, I suddenly take on the role of Harry Potter. Madame Trelawny finds me and says she needs to see me in her office about something. I am a bit uncomfortable about this, because apparently she is sexually attracted to me even though I keep trying to allude to her that I'm not interested. ((What the heck!?))

I go into her office, and she points to a door and tells me to go in. "I'll be with you in a minute," she says sweetly, giving me the creeps, when I pass her to go into the room, she smacks me on the butt and runs off. Deeply irritated and EXTREMELY creeped out, I go into the room and plan to tell her to stay the heck away from me as soon as she comes back.

But instead, she gives me some really good information about Voldemort which makes me forget about telling her off.

((The weirdness factor of my dreams has definitely skyrocketed over the past few nights.))

Originally Posted by Hazel

Haha, awesome dreams last night. As a result of my life being in constant danger (in my dreams, of course), I am now feeling really giddy.

1- Let Your Light Shine
I am standing on the side of the highway talking to my parents during a storm, when I notice a gargantuan black tornado on the horizon, growing closer with each heartbeat. My parents continue to talk as I try to get their attention. Finally my dad cuts himself off and says, "What is that noise? It sounds like a freight train!"

"Hm," I say, pondering sarcastically, "Maybe it's that GIANT TORNADO HEADED RIGHT TOWARDS US!!!" It is now only about half a mile away, and growing closer still. I am about to run when I do a nose-pinch RC just for the heck of it, not really thinking that it's a dream. But I can breathe... What the heck? I do it several more times and conclude I'm dreaming. I take flight, but my parents warn me against it and I instantly see why. The wind from the tornado throws me around, making a controlled flight impossible. I make it back to the ground and decide to walk until the storm ends.

As I am headed down the road, it gets darker. Whenever a car goes by I can see because of its headlights, but then it gets dark again. Finally I think, "I really need some light or I'm going to lose lucidity." I instantly hve a brilliant idea. I hold out one finger and say, "Lumos," (which is the light spell from Harry Potter) and a bright blue light appears on my fingertip. I laugh in triumph. "Well, that's convienient!"

I continue down the road, using my finger to light the way. Eventually my vision gets weird and the dream fades.

2- Humans, the Energy Source of the Future
I have just come home from somewhere important, and I go off into the woods behind my house. Suddenly I feel a vile prescence and a dementor appears. ((I've been reading too much Harry Potter lately. I want to read the whole series before I see the rest of the movies.)) I instantly hold out my hand and shout, "Expecto Patronum!" It works, but just barely. I only seem to stun the dementor enough to be able to run away.

I go back to my house and my mom tells me to drive to the store to get something. This makes me nervous, because I am a horrible driver, but I comply and go to the car. Somehow, the gas and the brakes are in the margin between the drivers seat and the passenger's seat, so I have to twist my leg at an odd angle to reach them. I make it to the store and back without much of a problem, but I did have several close calls. Especially due to the fact that something evis is after me.

When I get back, I learn that the dementors have eaten the souls of my parents, leaving them as lifeless shells. I am trapped in my room with a dementor, a half-crazed werewolf, and someone who is actually somewhat sane (compared to the others, at least). I am armed with a pencil which I use as a makeshift wand. Whenever the dementor comes near me, I use the Expecto Patronum spell to keep it away. I use this on the werewolf as well, though it is not nearly as effective.

The lady is getting angry that I am puttin up such a resistance. She slowly and maliciously pulls out a sharp knife, coming towards me. I rack my brain for a good spell, then shout out, "Expelliarmus!" The knife goes flying out of her hand across the room. She angrily comes at me again, now with the intent of strangling me. I say the first thing that comes to my mind. "Riddikulus!"

She stops and gives me a sarcastic smile. "What good will that do? Laugh me to death?" I am then taken to a large machine, where they show me what is going on. Apparently, the human souls and all their experiences/memories are inserted into the machine, which will run the world for the alien robots which have apparently invaded. The memories, etc. are divided up into different parts of the machine. For instance, memories of driving a car would be used to transport the aliens from place to place.

They take me back to my house and continue to try to take my soul, but I put up a good fight. They never manage to get my soul, but I never manage to escape, either.

Here's another "short" part of the long LD. I might do another one later too. Try to guess which one of the ones I posted happened first. XD

14.01.2010

A Dark Reality (DILD)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

The following excerpt comes from an hour+ long LD.

Is that. . ? A Mew?

"Mew!" the pink Pokemon coos as it floats about in the air before me. It's stylized, exactly as it would be in the anime or a drawing. It seems like it wants me to follow it. Sure enough, it starts zipping away through the brightly, and naturally, lit building motioning for me with its tail.

I take off at a run, but it just isn't fast enough. Fly gets toggled on, but I'm still only barely able to keep up as it darts over and around various beams and corners. Before long, I lose track of it. Not giving up, I go the direction I think it went, which leads me outside to. . . my court?

There's the Mew, hovering high above my driveway. Dropping to the ground, I follow it to the street in the middle of the culdesac. The cloudless blue sky shone brightly and clearly, and to my surprise many more small airborne Pokemon scattered the sky around my neighborhood. I felt oddly at peace.

The Mew, still in the air, motions to the street below. Particularly, it motions to a strange portal. The portal looks almost like an old oil spill: A shiny, dark, blue, film-like, center with moving wavy gold loops along the outside. The whole thing is sparking visible bolts of electricity all around the inside. I couldn't make out what was on the other side. I didn't know what the Mew wanted me to do. I figure jumping through it wouldn't hurt. Maybe someone I know will be on the other side? I take the plunge.

The oddest feeling rushes over me as I quickly slide into the opening. I don't have time to savor it as I'm spat out into a brand new world that is. . . also my court? Weird. Weirder still is the blood red, black streaked, sky above me. It is unsettling. I don't have time to take that in either, because before I know it some humanoid creatures start to approach me. They look mostly human, but their features are augmented by spiky jaws, white bony skin, and claw like fingers. At least they're wearing clothes.

"Git 'im." One of them says to the other. It try to pull out my Katana, but they're on me too fast. One gets my arms into a lock behind my head, while the other subdues my feet. Things are looking really bad. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

Fire! Instinct takes over and large jets of molten hot fire shoot out of the ground around me in an large Area of Effect. This feat startles the creatures into loosening their grip on me. Instead of simply breaking free, however, I take control of the very earth itself, forcing huge jagged spikes to jut out of the ground. The creatures are killed instantaneously. Their bodies and clothes are rent to shreds, freeing me from their grasps.

I think I'm free and clear, but almost right away I see there are more of them coming for me. One of them has a really long Katana. I reach down to my side and quickly pull out my sword. It's not nearly long enough. Before I can use a finger trick to extend it the guy with the Katana attacks me. It's all I can do to block it in time.

The others start to surround me. There's around five or six of them, all with similar features to the last two guys. They're grinning widely, some of them let out a sinister chuckle. I'm freaking out. I keep my stance, but back up as to not let any of them behind me. An almost paralyzing fear and worry gripped me. What had I gotten myself into? Everything was so nice and peaceful before. . .

Regardless, I had a battle to fight. I strike out at the guy with the Katana. My cut only goes skin deep. He looks down at it and laughs maniacally, mockingly, violently swatting my blade out of his skin with his own. He swings at me again. I block, backing up even further, now entering my garage. I perform a quick volley of assaults, faster than the average eye could follow. All of them hit their mark, but again, all of them only pierce the topmost layer of skin.

I was getting nervous. It had to be my blade. I needed a new one. How about his? Instinctively, I pull on all my archetypes that involve severing limbs. I ended up focusing on the Monty Python and The Holy Grail scene in which King Arthur fights the Black Knight. I swat down at his arm sloppily, I don't need to actually cut it. Sure enough, his arm plops off nice and cleanly.

Their smiles turn to displeased grimaces as I grab the long blade from the air before gravity could take hold of it, throwing my old one to the side. "What the hell?" the now armless creature bellows. I proceed to quickly sever the right arms of all the creatures in the same manner, lightly and sloppily 'pushing' on their shoulder socket with the tip of my new sword. "Aww, that's just fucking idiotic," says the guy who had previously owned the Katana.

Suddenly, they all look out to the distance. What's going on? Is something happening out there? The same one speaks again: "You all go and take care of it. This kid ain't got nothin'. I'll deal with him myself." He regenerates his arm and sword as the others take off into the darkness outside. I'm still slowly backing up, on my garage stairs now.

My opponent gives me a smirk. Sensing my continued fear. We're at the top of the stairs. He rushes at me, I quickly open the door and step to the left, parrying as I did so. Before he could recover, I whipped myself and my Katana around severing his blade arm in a downward thrust. I follow that up with a swift kick to his side, knocking him clumsily into the house. Before he can come back out, I sever his other arm and close the door on him. I focus on the lock and do something to it so it can't be opened from the inside.

After a moment of waiting, I realize I'm home free. I discard my blade and head out to the street. What was this place? Could Raven be here by chance. . ?

Originally Posted by Hazel

Since I am planning to be a lot more active here on DV from now on, I decided it's high time I kept a journal here again. It'll have exactly the same content as my one from the Mist, but I thought it would be nice to start up again.

Key:

Green - Normal Dream
Blue - Lucid Dream
Brown - Dream Sign
((Black)) - Notes

6/9/09

1- Blown Away
I am walking through a city with several people, when tornadoes begin spawning everywhere. I watch in amusement as they come closer, wondering what it would feel like if I actually let them hit me this time. They sweep over me, blowing me around a bit. It is actually a very pleasant feeling.

We keep walking (I'm no longer lucid) and come across the hotel of someone we apparently know. We think he may be dead, but suddenly a man in his late 40's with crazy brown hair steps out of the hotel and sees us. He clearly wishes we weren't there , but we need him to give us a ride.

"Hey, we though you'd been swept away by the tornadoes!" one of my companions says happily.

((I wake up a while later, successfully FILDing.))

2- Face-off with Count Dooku
I feel myself enter the dream and manage to get my eyes open. It's still really dark, so I turn on a light and look at my hands to stabilize the dream. The first thing that comes to my mind is the advanced challenge on DV, which is to fight one of the sith. First, I need a light saber. It is really cold inside my house, so I consider putting on a jacket. I decide that probably won't help, so I go outside to find something that can be turned into a light saber. Outside, it is really warm.

I find a stick near the edge of my yard while my brother tags along. I think about our dreamshare project, but decide that I'd rather do the task. I get the stick and, after a bit of concentration, manage to turn it into a red light saber. Now for the fun part. "Count Dooku! I summon you!" ((Not sure why I said "I summon you," it just seemed appropriate at the time.)) I see a flash of robes behind me, but when I whirl around, nothing is there. After sesveral moments of looking around, he suddenly appears beside me, laughing evilly. We start fighting, and I barely dodge as he lunges and almost impales me through my stomach.

After a bit of fighting, both of our light sabers suddenly flicker out. "Hey what happened!?" I exclaim.

He looks annoyed. "The batteries died."

"What!? But these things don't run on batteries!"

Apparently they do. We go in and change the batteries, but he grows bored of fighting me and quits.

08.01.2010

Europium (DILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Trying to meet up with some family, I see the person I'm looking for. She looks. . . tense. I head through the crowded plaza, bumping into other nervous looking people. I notice exchanges of money as people passed each other. It was happening all around me.

One person that bumped into me freaked out a bit and followed me, apologizing profusely. I kinda just ignored him. I made my way all the way to the other side only to lose her again. A tall man in a hoodie comes up to me and tries to push some kind of plastic baggy into my hands saying, "Hey, man, here you go."

"What is this?" I asked, refusing to take the bag.

"Europium, dude, now go sell it." He looked to his side, showing signs of paranoia.

"Naw, it's cool, I don't do that kinda thing." I state bluntly walking away as he shook his head at me. I made my way into an open building without doors showcasing a light orange interior. Three men approached me.

"Not, gonna follow the rules, eh?" The one in the tan sweat shirt says in a deep voice. "Then you're gonna have to face the consequences!" He whipped out what looked like a quarter and put it between his digits, making a fist and smiling broadly. "This here's a coin blade. It'll slice you up real nice." He swings at my head, but I put up my right arm to block. The coin cuts through my green trench coat and does, indeed, 'slice me up real good.'

Fuck fuck fuck. This hurts way too much.

Calm down. It's just a dream. I regain my composure. I stand, relaxed, with my hands at my side. I know this is my world. I have all the power here. "I'm impressed that you managed to cut me. I commend you for that. However, it won't happen again." He simply smiles that big toothy smile and comes at me like a maniac, swinging wildly. His mouth practically foaming.

I block and deflect at his forearm, avoiding contact with his small blade. One of his friends tries to come at me from the side. I dodge his punch, grab his wrist, and hurl him into the man with the grey sweatshirt who is also in the middle of a punch. They end up exchanging blows with each other. Before they can recover, I proceed to properly disable them, practically turning them into joined pretzels.

The other guy looks terrified. He takes a hesitant step back before deciding to come at me anyways. I just throw him hard into the other two. He gets back up, and I give him a strong glare. He takes a look at the two men lying crippled on the floor, gets the message, and scampers off the way I had came in.

I walk out the back door. There's a large twisted walkway with large natural barriers on either side. I turn a corner only to come face to face with what I can only assume are more of these drug dealing nazis. I go to the big one that looks like the leader of the group. He's wearing a red sports sweater with some words on it. I treat him like an ordinary DC. "Tell me how to get out of here."

"Why would I do that?" He asks, slightly perturbed by my presence for some reason.

"Look, I just kicked the asses of the three guys you sent at me. And I'll do the same to all of you if you don't tell me."

"Did you kill them?" he inquires in a somewhat expecting way.

"No, I try not to kill if I don't have to. Now, are you going to tell me or not."

Subdued laughter ripples through the group. One of them steps forward, wielding a Katana. He reminds me of Sasuke for some reason ((so that's what I'll call him)). Two others, one male, one female, join behind him, also wielding Katanas. I reach down to my side to pull out my blade. Unfortunately, I have trouble forming the handle and all I manage to pull out is the blade with a thin metal extension where the hilt is supposed to be. I know I can work with this, though, taking my stance.

All three come at me. Sasuke starts his volley. I deflect every cut easily. The girl attacks from my left. I parry her blow, and flick my blade around her sword, pushing it out of the way. The edge of my Katana's blade now rests against her neck. She looks terrified. "You're done, step out." I say to her.

"But--"

"Don't argue with me. Step. Out." I apply a bit of pressure to her neck. She quickly drops her sword, backs off, and joins the others. I throw down my blade. I need a decent sword if I'm going to do this. I reach back down to pull out another blade. I feel the hilt form properly and begin to pull it out. I look down to help solidify it.

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye I see Sasuke dart at me. I don't manage to draw my blade in time and am rewarded with a Katana piercing through my body. Sasuke removes his blade from my right lung, making sure to rip it out at an angle to cause even more damage. My eyes go wide. The hell? This is the most intense pain I have ever felt, dream or no. My body feels like it wants to shut down. . .

. . .

No. I can't give in. I stand upright, ignoring the searing pain in my chest. I rush at him. He parries almost all of my attacks, but even the ones I land don't do much damage at all. Screw this. I stop. I grab my right arm and hold out my Katana.

"Ban--kai!"

Invisible energy explodes from my body, creating a huge gust of sustained wind that throws about the dust from the ground around me. I move at incredible speeds, closing the distance between us in less than a second. He is unable to match my speed, and the torrent of cuts I rain down upon him go un-deflected.

Still no damage?! I swing harder, losing myself in attack as I push him back farther and farther. Out of nowhere, his blade comes in from the right. I jump to the side, but my reaction is too late. More blinding pain wracks my body. I push it out of my mind as Sasuke barrels at me once more. I dodge, throw my blade to my left hand, grab his wrist with my right hand, and attempt to sever his arm.

Oddly, though, my Katana has transformed itself into a razor sharp metallic whip. I strike his arm several times in succession, each time tearing a large portion of skin and muscle from his right arm. Everything starts to fade. The fighting isn't helping matters. I start to run in the opposite direction. Sasuke isn't able to keep up with me. Once he's out of sight I sit and cross my legs. Everything is fading fast. I figure I'll just go peacefully. Sasuke's male henchman has other ideas, though.

He's running towards me carrying what appears to be a large plaster board. I don't bother getting up when he reaches me. For some reason he starts lightly hitting me on the top of the head with it. "Look, dude, all you're doing is stabilizing the dream for me." Sasuke appears behind him and throws him off to the side. Gorrammit. . .

Looks like it's not quite over, yet. I start to attack him, yet again, but he starts doing backflips away from me. This is just getting annoying now. "Getsuga Tenshou!" A streak of blue energy erupts from my sword, which was a Katana again. Every swing of the blade shot out another cyclical blast. I keep up the pressure as he flips over and dodges each one. Finally, one of them clips his side, tearing his baggy white clothes and knocking him to the side. I quickly close the distance between us.

I point the tip of my blade at him. He tries to scamper away as he gets up. In a raspy determined voice I whisper, "Getsuga Tensou." Sure enough a brownish orange tornado forms from the tip of my blade and traps the bastard in its vortex. "Not so tough, now, are ya?" I bang his spinning, trapped, helpless body on the ground a few times. For some reason, my blade is now an ornate spear-like halberd.

I start to walk back toward the others while Sasuke is still stuck in the violently swirling wind protruding from my newly morphed blade. Everything is starting to fade again. I doubt he's still conscious, but the tornado is sustaining itself just fine without any help from me, so I allow myself to wake with Sasuke still ensnared by my sword's power.

29.12.2009

The Atrium (DILD)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Around me was a gathering of students of all trades and disciplines. Okay, most of them were Comp Sci, students, but that's not the point. The point is, the group seemed diverse. All of us were inside of this huge atrium. The Balcony above us surrounding the area, the tunnels that branched off, and the general architecture had the look and feel of Hogwarts.

However, there was no magic going on in these walls. Instead we had all been assigned a winter break project that was due tonight at midnight. It was already 10:54 PM and all of us had to write a two page paper on the functionality of the memory allocator we wrote before break. I questioned a STB about it, wondering if we had already done something similar. He rebuked me, and stated he had already finished his paper and had given it some fancy name. A guy who was supposed to be our professor laughed from across the room and commended STB.

After that we started to toss a Frisbee around. One side of the atrium, vs. the other. I kept missing my opportunity to get the Frisbee, and everyone on my team was sucking something awful, so I started to cheat. I used TK to do some fancy throws that weren't even possible. I also used my powers to direct the Frisbee into my hands whenever someone threw it. However, after a long time, it seemed as if my TK was waning.

Wait, this is a dream, how can I be getting tired from overuse of my TK? I can't even properly lift that balloon over there. This is pathetic. I lift off into the sky and float over to the second floor balcony that wrapped around the middle of the atrium. I decide to test how much energy I really have left.

"Chidori!"

Blue sparks fly from my right arm, a massive charge builds up in my palm, and all the while an all encompassing screeching fills the room. I slash my arm into a nearby stone wall to test it out, and sure enough, it cuts into it with ease, but not as deep as I would have liked.

I decide to have a bit of fun, completely forgetting any and all goals. I jump down into the middle of the crowd, and shout, "Alright! This is how it's gonna go down! All of you, against me!" Everyone looked at me funny, a few people to my left start to come at me. I whip out a bo-staff and begin to twirl it around, charging at them. I knock a few to the side, before drawing them into a small foyer that leads to another hallway into the the atrium. Several of the people from the room attack me, grinning wildly, but a few good knocks to the head and chest take them out quite handily.

Suddenly, a girl walks through the archway. She is dressed much more ornately than these previous louts, and carries a huge staff-like sword. Several sweeping halberd-esque blades protruded from the long, thin staff at the blade's core. They shone brightly and were framed from behind with beautiful red and gold waves. Well, that's cool.

She swings it at me, but I parry it to the side, stepping in and hitting her shoulder with my simple black staff. She tries for another swipe, but I block, and return a strike of my own, this time across her head. We go back and forth like this for awhile, before her frustration builds to a peak. A downward strike from her blade is met with a swift kick from my boot.

Hilariously enough, her blade gets lodged in the thick leather bottoms of my boot. She tries to pull out her blade, but can't, a look of surprise on her face. I twist my foot and disarm her, taking her blade for myself. I ditch my staff, and test out my new bounty. A quick slash cuts away at her poofy clothes, but does not draw blood. I thrust the blade into her. "Oh, fuck." She says, looking down at the gaping wound in her chest. I can see the life drain out of her as she goes limp. I pull out my blade and head back into the atrium.

Everyone inside is playing some silly game in groups around the room. "What the hell is this?! I thought I told you all to fight me." I take a large arcing slash at the people in the group before me, cutting into the necks of everyone there, spilling their blood onto the floor. They just turned in shock and stared at me, in a semi-circle. I took to the air as people started screaming around me and running for the doors. Soon enough, the room was completely empty except for a few people scattered around the room who just stood there calmly.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked them.

"All the stupid ones left." One of the remaining people said.

I wanted to investigate further, but the dream started to slip and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Well, I guess I could have tried to stay in a little bit longer. >.>

Alrighty. I remember a ton of fragments from last night, but no full dreams, and nothing very interesting. Loaf was in a couple. Also, all of them involved LDing in some way. No idea why I didn't get lucid.

BONUS ENTRY OF DOOM!

??.??.????

Crash Course in Control (WILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID







I felt the transition.

I'm dreaming. I get out of bed and climb over my couch, toward my window. The sun pelted through my blinds as the green leaves of the trees outside swayed gently back and forth. I pressed myself against the window, ignoring the blinds, they mean nothing. As expected, the glass starts to give way to my pressure, conforming to the shape of my skin, like a cool sleek putty.

In a mere moment I'm outside, hovering above my backyard. I glide over the trees, simply enjoying my surroundings. There's a large clearing below me. Just like before they put all those town-houses in. In it, are people having a Nerf War. I drop down to join them, but I don't have a blaster. I inquire to a nearby DC, "Where's my Recon?"

he looks at me like I'm an idiot as he replies, "What are you talking about? It's right there." Sure, enough, on the grassy hill lay my Recon. I grab it from its resting place and join in the fray. A time lapse finishes things up rather quickly, but I'm content with the amount of action I got.

Heading toward a nearby house now, I decide to track down my DG. It's been awhile since we've met. I walk in the back and am greeted by a few random DCs and a good friend I know IRL. I approach him, and ask, "Hey, M, where's my Dream Guide?"

"She's downstairs with your parents."

"Thanks dude."

"No problem, man."

Trusting my friend, I locate the stairs. The house I'm in is more of a building than anything else. I make my way to where I believe she should be, but a guy with a nice shirt and slacks is blocking my way. I tell him, "Bring out my Dream Guide for me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Bull shit. Bring her out, now." He leaves for a second, a look of worry on his face. When he returns he has a random female DC in tow who is obviously not my DG. I'm getting pissed now. "I'm gonna say it one more time before I bring this entire building crashing down on your head. Bring. Me. My. Dream. Guide."

He scampers off, sensing my intent to follow through with the threat. Sure enough, he comes back with none other than my DG right behind him. She looks annoyed for some reason. She steps up to me and looks me in the eyes with her penetrating gaze. She demands of me only one thing: "What do you want?"

What happened next I simply cannot accurately explain. I began to speak: "I want to be strong. I want power. Unlimited power. I want the ability ro destroy universes upon a whim. The power of a god. . ." I couldn't stop myself from talking. Worse, I couldn't even control what I was saying. I poured all of my willpower into stopping my mouth from spurting out these words, but, again, I had no control. This went on for a good minute, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was, in a word, powerless.

I eventually finished talking. The gravity of what had just happened hadn't quite hit me yet, and it wouldn't for a long time afterwards. My DG had just taught me a lesson about how little power I actually had in the grand scheme of things, and had shown me how meaningless my previous quest for power and glory had been. At the time, though, I was still in shock. My DG, noticing I still didn't get it, gave me a look, shook her head,

And the dream ended.

06.11.2009

The Search For Ice: Consultation (DILD)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

*non lucid about a perverted yeti and shooting it with a Barret .50 Cal. goes here*

*realization that I'm dreaming after worrying about opening and closing a door and having the yeti reappear goes here*

How vivid! Thus the apple juice has proven its worth, three nights in a row. Now, to the air! As I fly off my front porch and skim the grass, the girl from before rushes out, still angry at me for not trying to take out the yeti any sooner, keeping up with my speed. "Wonderful dream we're having." I comment, smiling widely. She smiles back, anger disappearing, and rushes ahead. Goodbye, character of my mind, I will never see you again.

Oh, what to do? I think to myself, rising slowly into the air. Oh, yes, I need to speak with my Dream Guide. This won't be too hard, I think. "When I turn around, my Dream Guide will be in the court below me." The sun shines off the sleek black roof before me. I can see the reflection of everything behind me, but I ignore it verily. TURN! Aha, what is that figure dressed in green lying on the asphalt so far below? Surely, it is my Dream Guide!

I fly toward the female, dropping to the ground as I get closer. I reach out my hand and pull her up. Oh, I'd recognize that face and this strange feeling of, what, connection(?), anywhere. But, alas, something is amiss. She is so young and petite. It is her face, her hair, her presence, but much younger than I've ever seen. We greet each other with a smile. And I go right into why I've called for her. "I have some questions for you, about Ice."

"I know, but first you have to do something for me."

"What is it?"

"Take me to Narnia Castle."

"Okay, let's go."

*change in tense and style because I'm getting lazy*

We head off. She runs ahead of me, taking my hand and pulling me along. My hands are dry, so I wet them and rub them together. She tries to take my hand again, but I don't want her to have to grab my wet hand, so I let the sleeves of my green Trench Coat fall past my hands.

I have no idea where we're going, or why she'd want to go to a place like that, whatever it may be. "Narnia Castle will be right up there when we pass those houses." I see buildings past the houses on the left street from my court. And straight ahead a strange could formation is being created at building level. "Or, if not, it'll form from those weird clouds right there."

We make it all the way to the end, but there's no obvious castle or building which we should enter. Suddenly a person calls out to us, pointing out the building behind them as the entrance to where we wanted to go. We head inside. She lets go of my hand and I start to feel myself slipping away. I can't hold onto the dream, and sure enough, I wake up.

Well, looks like I have some time to write this all down. De derp. All done, now to publish it. De derp. Great. I guess I'll check some email before the test. Oh, look my Dream Guide has replied to my journal. I am currently not noticing that I am in some kind of metro eatery style place or something and my DG is right outside the window. Instead I am having this conversation as I'm reading it. Hearing our voices as I go through. "What did that Castle thing have to do with Ice? Oh, you were trying to give me a clue? Is that where I should go to find him?" She gave me a look that, in retrospect, could be taken as either she didn't want to reveal something, but I was on the right track, or that what I was saying was just plain idiotic. I took it for the former. "So, he does hang out there a lot! Okay, so then he's just a DC!"

"No," she says. "he's a person, like me." I go silent. My Dream Guide has always been nothing more to me than an extension of myself, a way to reach and interact with my subconscious thoughts. I had never payed the connection I felt around her any mind. And at this time, I still wasn't. I felt awkward. Does she not know she's a DC?

"Well, look, some people are posting comments on my journal. I should attend to that."

And then I woke up for real.

15.10.2009

Enter Ice (DEILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Falling back asleep. Rawr. . .

I'm in my darkened living room. Family is in the kitchen. Suddenly, I hear rustling under the dining room table. Crap what is that. A dark wispy doglike figure shoots from under the table at ludicrous speed darting back and forth towards me.

Shit, I need to wake up, now! It's right in front of me now, my eyes are closed and I hear the most sinister growl I've heard in my life. Screw waking up. Let's face this head on.

I woke up. . .

Time to DEILD. I want to see what this thing is.

I'm back in my living room. It's much brighter this time around. Still dark, though. I see my dog coming from the kitchen. I go to grab him and pet him. Keeping him in a friendly state, just in case. I try to think of what that thing could be. Could it have been the ghost of my old dog? Back for revenge. No that's silly. Sure enough my old dog comes up to me as well. I wrap an arm around each and embrace them. Still a bit wary. I hover over to the kitchen and they follow.

I get the idea of turning into a dog and running around with them. So, I take on the appearance of a dog, run to the garage door, and open it. The garage is open! Let's make a break for it! I dash on all fours out into the court. Fellow dogs nowhere to be found.

My vision is obscured by my hair and I can't seem to push it away. In the center of my vision a white creature of some kind starts dashing towards me. It doesn't look like it's actually moving anywhere, though. And it's rather transparent. Regardless, I use my TK to throw it to the side. No effect. As I turn away, to ignore it to death, the creature, what I can only now describe as some kind of yeti, jumps into the center of my vision again. I try to turn away once more, but the same thing happens.

It starts to take a different form, becoming solid this time. It's a man. An incredibly well built and muscular man with spiked silver hair. I hear a loud crackling sound behind me. I know I shouldn't look, but my curiosity gets the better of me. As I turn, I see a grin upon his face. Behind me are many discs and chunks of ice being readied to be hurled at me. He makes a throwing motion with both arms and they start to fly toward me. A dream reflex kicks in and I start to eject myself from the dream. Wait dammit! I want to fight! Everything starts to fade, faster and faster. I have no time to stabilize. This looks like the end of the dream for me. Suddenly, though, everything snaps back into focus.

While surprising, I didn't give it too much thought. I'm just glad I get a chance to fight this guy. I try to throw him around with TK, but it doesn't do anything at all. Fine, let's try a new trick. I point my finger at him, hand outstretched. A charge builds upon the tip of my finger and fires out in a bolt the width of a pin. He tries to dodge it at first, but when I direct it onto this body, like a laser pointer, he just starts calmly walking towards me. I smirk as I make the yellow light burst forth from his body and rend him to pieces. Crap. That didn't work either. No longer smirking, it seems like I was going to have to play this one a bit differently.

I rush around him and try to build a charge in my hands. I stare at my hands and watch the blue electricity start to form and jump between my palm. I lift my hands up and face them toward him. I attempt to shoot some bolts, but nothing comes out. This is just not my day. I figure I'll just taze him, so I grab onto his shoulder, expecting the charge in my right hand to do all the work. No luck. He just looks down at my hand and shakes his head.

Fine back to basics. I think as I whip out a knife. I come at him, slashing away at his shirtless body and arms. We end up in a grapple. A girl appears out of nowhere and hands him an ornate blade. She tells me that I wouldn't be able to cut his right arm, but I could cut his left hand off if I wanted to. "Well, thanks for that." He said sarcastically as I pushed my blade through his left wrist, severing it. I jumped back. He didn't seem too concerned about his lack of hand.

He readied his blade. I threw aside my plain ol' knife and tried to whip out my katana. Nothin' but air. Oh well, let's just pretend I've got one. I grip the air like I would a katana, feeling the hilt in my hands. I rush at him. He starts to back up as I swing and parry his swipes. Each time our blades would have crossed I shouted "Cling!" or "Ching!" He looked really confused. I didn't let up. My form was terribly sloppy, though and I didn't manage to land a single hit. I figured I'd turn it up a notch.

"Bankai!" I shouted and the air around me started to fly apart violently as my energy exploded forth. My blade was visible now. The same blade from that one night. He had a sword now too, and his left hand was back. I swing my blade shouting "Getsuga Tenshou!" The environment turns white as a streak of black energy tears toward him. I keep swinging. More black streaks fly at him and explode on his chest. Slowly at first, but then an incredulous volley of crisscrossing energy pours itself from my blade. As they hit him, they all explode in a puff of grey smoke on his right shoulder. He just stands there and takes the hits.

Frustrated, I dash teleport into position. My blade was now ornate and golden. It shone brightly in the sunlight. Crossing blades with his I whisper, "Getsuga Tensou." Slowly but surely a small tornado extruded from the tip of my blade. It tears at the cord at the end of his hilt. All of this is happening right in front of his face. There's no way he can't pay attention. My tornado tears the blade from his hands. I grab it and drop down. I now have two blades to his none.

He walks over to me. "That was fun, I say. How about we just call it a tie, though." He looks at me funny.

"You've still got a lot to learn." He shoves his left hand into my stomach. I grab at his arm. Trying to keep it from going in further. He looks like he's about to do something, but changes his mind.

He pulls out his hand. "I'm here to teach you. It'll take another year to set all this up, to pull you in again." He pauses for a moment. His brow furrows, "There are words that only have meaning in dreams. I'm going to be talking to you, but I'm not going to explain everything. It'll b--"

"It'll be up to me to figure out their meanings for myself, right?" He nodded. "So, what now?"

"You need to wake up and write all of this down."

"Yes, sir." He looked at me with distaste.

"No. Don't call me that. There are too many out there like that already. . ."

"How about sensei?"

"I have bad associations with that word as well."

"Figured as much. Okay, off to record all of this."

I've decided to call him Ice for the time being.

09.10.2009

Yellow (Non-lucid)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

What a great night for dreaming. No lucids, but almost every non-lucid was quite a lot of fun.

I was taking the role of Static Shock, and had just finished a rather interesting fight with two DCs. While they had the ability to use the others' powers, the most interesting part was how they fought: using fancy moves, bright colors, and lots of light effects. I don't remember who won the battle; regardless, I was now inside a store. In this store were several "Hoodies" signified by their wool caps. Turns out Hoodies and un-capped mutants like myself had been in a constant war with each other that was taking its toll on the community.

I was making progress to ease tensions between the groups, befriending many of the Hoodies after bouts. I found this out while explaining it to some random person who asked, flying on my collapsible manhole cover, citing the lack of merchandise in the store. It was at about the time I finished talking that the girl from my fight earlier came into the store and approached me. She wanted me to accompany her to train, so she could learn to use my power. I said sure, and she jumped on my cover and off we went, in search of a training ground.

This part was incredibly vivid.

As we flew over rooftops, I felt a strange connection to this character. Similar to the one I felt when I first spent time with my first DG. People were outside on top of their houses, taking pictures of each other in the starry night sky. We passed over a miniature golf course where I spotted a friend who didn't notice me. Soon, the urban town was growing more old timely. I mentioned that I had always liked this part of town. She questioned me, asking why I would like such a creepy place. I had no answer.

As the environment did indeed get much creepier, we came across a large caged dome, which apparently housed political prisoners. There was a large forest inside. Perfect for training. The Warden was nearby, luckily, so I asked him if we could use the area to train in order to help fight crime better or some such nonsense. He warily agreed and showed us inside. We found a nice clearing and that's when the fun started. She explained that you could use any ability if you had had it used upon you at all. Thrilled at the prospect we began to spar.

She was using some kind of yellow light that could explode, lash out, and do a multitude of other things. I was using standard purple electricity. After a short while we overheard the Warden saying that now that I was trapped here it was just enough time for them to destroy the town. At this point a large being emerged inside of town, and my perspective cut away to it. It grew until it was fully formed. It was a Hollow, but not a real Hollow. Sure enough, a copy of the monster, with glowing red eyes and bone white mask came out of the ground before it. The first beast questioned it, wondering who it was. The second one responded, calling it an idiot and promptly absorbing the first.

As it stood up, a large indent in the street was created, freaking out all the nearby DCs. Then, as it reached out it's hands, large bolts of blue electricity shot down from its fingers onto the streets and buildings. I had to stop it. Unfortunately, the Warden's henchmen, large, fat, round, fleshy, golem like creatures started to attack us. We went to work. I discovered that if I charge a blast with one finger, and direct the needle thin line of electricity at them, then I could use the yellow light to make them explode from the inside out. I did this to several of them, to spectacular results. It looked like we were thinning their number, but suddenly Menos started to materialize all around us. My new friend set up some kind of barrier of yellow light that slowly dissolved them as they appeared, but they were too resilient for it. For some reason, it made sense to draw my sword. I put my back against hers and released my Bankai. As energy swirled around us, and Menos made their way through the barrier of yellow light, I shouted: "Getsuga Tenshou!" a yellow stream of tornadoes shot out of my blade and started cutting through the Menos. As I sustained my ability, the girl beside me used her yellow light to slice through the Menos. We turned in one wide arc, together, cutting down our enemies in a wondrous fashion. When it was over, I took a look at my blade. A short silver blade with a large, black, blocky hilt that came around the front of the blade into a swept point. I wondered why it wasn't black.

This led into a weird tangent that involved my WoW playing suitemate explaining that I needed to play WoW and collect "evil orbs" to change the stylizing of my character. Yeah. . .

I don't think I did that dream justice.

Doesn't look like I'm sleeping tonight, again. . .

I'll post another bonus entry in a bit. I've got a lot of decent lucids I still remember.

BONUS ENTRY OF DOOM!

??.??.????

Seizures (DILD)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID







I'm playing an odd video game with my Ex-Girlfriend (By playing, I mean we are actually in the game). It's a Halo type game taking place of a Sandtrap-esque map. She's in a Wraith, and I'm in a turret up on the dunes. She's trying to take me out, and I'm trying to do the same with the rockets my turret shoot out. Noticing that I have to consciously control the speed and direction of the rockets, I realize that this is just a dream.

Getting off the turret, I head down, towards the main map. She's still firing at me. The Wraith's signature blue explosions erupt all around me. I tell her to stop, explaining that this is just a dream. She doesn't believe me and ends up hitting me directly with the blast. I stand firm, my invulnerability doing its job.

"What can I do to prove it to you?" I ask. She gets out of the Wraith, coming closer now.

"Give me a seizure," she states.

"Okaay?" For a moment, I wonder how I'm going to do this. The solution I come to involves flooding her brain with ridiculous amounts of flashes and colorful pictures. So, I go over to her and place my hand on the back of her head. I start flooding her mind with random images.

My DG, whom I did not recognize at the time, came out of nowhere as the setting changed around us, into a gymnasium of sorts. "Whatcha doin'?" my DG asked me. She took a look at my Ex's white rolled back eyes, convulsions, and nearly foaming mouth, and said "Ah, the proverbial Mind Fuck." I nod in confirmation.

By now, a crowd has gathered. I figure she's had enough seizing, so I take my hand off the back of her head. "See, told ya it was a dream."

She looks around before saying, "But, you didn't do anything."

"I gave you a seizure."

"No, you didn't." The crowd laughed, confirming my story.

And that's all I can accurately remember.

BONUS ENTRY OF DOOM!

??.??.????

Take from the Air (WILD)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID







I looked out my fourth floor window, putting both hands against the cool sleek glass. It’s time to fly, I thought to myself, anticipation rising from the pit of my stomach. I put my face against the hard glass. Concentrating, I began to move through the pane of glass. The glass stretched as I pressed against it, smoothly conforming to my hands, face, and body like a sheet of slick putty. Having no time to waste, I savored the sensation for only a moment before propelling myself forward and up; the seemingly opaque sky rushed to greet me. The experience of flight and the overwhelming feeling of happiness that accompanies it overtook me. This never gets old, I thought, as the warm air flowed across my smile.

As I flew over Erickson Field, I could distinctly make out each perfectly shaded blade of green grass on the hilled valley beneath me. Likewise, from my lofty viewpoint, I could make out the rough sandy textures of the many red bricks that lined the Hall. The detail of the world was super-realistic. Everything, from the pleasant smell of the field to the whooshing wind that played gently across my ears, appeared just as real as, if not more real than, waking life. I was dreaming. I had known I was dreaming from the start. In fact, that was the whole point.

05.08.2009

Boom! (DILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I didn't sleep at all two nights ago, which explains my lack of any entry for that day.

I was running for my life. A friend had just overheated the new temporal computer we had built, out of spite. We were using it to store the consciousnesses of a large group of people in order to make an animated film using real actors. However, people weren't following the carefully laid schedule and plan I had set out and were freaking out over the logistics. Hence the reason my colleague decided to overheat the system, which would cause it to explode. . .

Anyways, there I am, running through the halls of this school, and a little voice pops in my head. It tells me not to worry, since this is just a dream.

Nice. I thought as I burst through the front doors. I rubbed my hands to stabilize. I figured I'd try the finger through the hand RC since I've never done one of those before. I was pretty weird, not something I think I'm going to make a habit of doing though. Anywho, I took to the air, trying out various flight positions in order to find out what worked the best for me.

Soon, I thought, Oh, right. That building is going to explode. Better get to a safe distance. I flew off and up, and then down again, getting caught in some telephone wires, but pushing through them as if they were rubber bands. At that point, I heard a loud booming and I looked behind me in time to see licks of flame and debris shooting around the large building I had gotten behind for safety.

I went to investigate to find the building had indeed blown up. Most of the outside walls were intact, albeit on fire, but everything inside the school, and the roof, were totally destroyed. Hey, that reminds me. Wasn't one of my old goals to set off a suitcase nuke? So, I got right on it, dropping down to the fountain in front of the school. I reached down in the crevasse where the fountain met the ground, and sure enough, out came a suitcase nuke. I opened it up, people around me going about their usual business. And I hit a few random buttons up in the corner, since I had no idea how to work this thing.

Sure enough, the console on the thing booted up and I was presented with a nice graphic of a missile station receiving my coordinates and orders. A pretty accurate 3D model showed me the nuke taking off. I knew it was only a short matter of time before it hit. So, I sat down, in meditative pose, and waited.

In moments, the missile hit, and the nuke went off. It enveloped me, burning my skin through my invulnerability. I could smell and feel the radiation around me. I could hear the sonic boom. The resonating frequencies of every possible wavelength ripped at my ears. And I saw nothing but an orange glow, rushing over me, trying to uproot and destroy me. It was marvelous, yet terrifying.

When it was done, however, nothing around me except the fountain was really gone. I didn't pay it much mind at the time, but it would have been cool if there was nothing left behind, except a wasteland. Regardless, I went about the lucid, flying about in the air. I noticed some people from TO, my old SG. I went over to say hello to everyone, but no one knew who I was anymore. All the old members had moved on.

I did a bit more airborne exploration before the dream finally started to fade. I let myself wake up so I could hurry up and write all of this down.

22.07.2009

Hamburger in Paradise (DILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

'Twas an Epic LD, lots of fighting, but I can't remember too many of the details; it was a long one.

It started out partway into things. I was staying in this odd hotel. It was very large and sprawled out instead of up. The room I was staying in was like any old guest room you'd fine in someone's house, except it was about twice as large. and could fit at least 5 people comfortably. However I was the only one staying there.

Some things happen that I have difficulty recalling in detail, but it involves further developing the area we are in. It turns out the hotel is part of this crappy public school and gang violence is on the rise. I decide I need to leave since this isn't even my school, and half the people here don't even know the school's alma mater. I leave with the counselor, but we are followed by this kid in a red jacket. As we enter the car he pulls out a switchblade and tries to mug us and take the car.

All the while he had been following us I had been fingering the butterfly knife in my pocket and watching his shadow follow ours. I whipped it out and flipped it open, lunging at him. He's much more experience than I am and gets a solid cut across my arm, while I just nick his shoulder. I manage a few wrist cuts, but his form is much better than mine and he tears up my arm and neck, spilling blood everywhere. Not one to give up so easily, I manage to subdue him, and, with several stabs to the head later, he dies.

He turns into a ghost and wonders why I can see him. I explain to him my role in helping people cross over, and give him a stereotypical speel on how he has to scare people in order to gain more energy. It's really dumb, but I don't think so at the time.

I'm back in the hotel room, trying to lie down to sleep. Stuff happens that eventually has me with an old teacher and my brother at the arcade/casino of the hotel. There are some odd games there, one particular game they were playing was like a crane game, but with false gold and odd shaped things inside. They were playing that one for awhile. I told them how dumb it was and how worthless the prizes were, but my old teacher told me to stop spoiling the fun.

At this point, my Chick-Fil-A and Burger King meals were ready, so I took them and started walking away. I wonder how I'm going to eat all this food, but a voice in my head blurts in, saying relax it's a dream, eat away.

Yeah, you're right, it is a dream, I think strolling on as if nothing drastic had really changed. I make my way back to the front doors where this guy shouts, pulls out an uzi, and shouts something along the lines of "Everyone down, unless you want to volunteer to let us have some fun with you." I'm getting a kick out of all the people screaming and dropping to the ground. I just walk up to the guy, bags of food still in my right hand. I say to him, "Yeah, sure I'll volunteer," raising my other hand like you would to volunteer for something in a classroom. He looks at me weird, tells me to stay right there, and then runs back outside where he starts assembling his cohorts. There's a lot of them.

Well, crap, now how am I gonna enjoy my meal. There's no way I can fight that many with only one hand. So I run away. At first they're hot on my tail, but a few short range TPs put enough distance between us for a little more comfort, not that I was worried. The TPs destabilized things a bit, due to the sudden and forcible change in scenery. I stabilized by rubbing my hands together and focusing on the room I was now in. White walls, and lots of people on little white cots. I go into the corner, behind a white shelf that blocks most of the room from view, and pull out the Whopper. I take a bite. I normally don't eat in lucids, but maybe I should, because god this was delicious. The evil dudes were still looking for me and even came into the room and kidnapped a few kids and threw them onto crosses and into cramped coffin like boxes. But, I was chill, knowing it was just a dream, so I just kept eating my burger. It was moist and hot and meaty, with crunchy toppings like cold lettuce and sweet onions and pickles, can't forget those pickles.

At the time I didn't even know I was completing the basic task. *facepalm*

When I was satisfied, I got up and decided to go help those kids from earlier. I needed some more practice, so I did a few more short range TPs until I reached this large archway, with a few henchmen a little further in. I looked at my hand and decided to try out some close range energy blasts, since I suck at them. I start to build up a charge in my right hand and rushed at the closest guard. When they see me, a few random DCs think I'm one of their favorite super heroes and call out what they think is my name. Dumb DCs distract me and all I end up doing is forcibly grabbing the dude's face. To follow up, I punch him in the kidney, bringing my leg behind his, and twist my body, pummeling his head down into the cement ground, creating a big indent in it. With him down, I move onto his friends.

I figure I wouldn't do anything fancy here. Just brute strength and martial arts. A spinning jump hook kick to the head takes out one guy, and the other dude backs off, so I ignore him. Another group of henchmen go scrambling as I approach them. Before they can all get away I grab one by the collar and fling him violently downward, making my way to the carriages that housed the kids, on their crosses, in their coffin-like boxes.

I find myself back in bed.