JonBingus

Last night, in my dream, I pursued the girl I loved and grew to become a man.

I found myself outside of a classic American diner, which was situated at the very edge of a tall cliff. It was in such a way that the windowed wall opposite the counter was flush with the cliffside, like an extension of the geography. Across from the cliff was an even higher one, which was covered completely in ivy, giving the view a beautiful green backdrop. I had vague memories of that fact that I had fought my way here, and was very ready to take a rest. The food here was not at all that of a classic American diner, but was actually sushi style haute cuisine. The chef was an accomplished monk, and he cooked alone. I ordered a meal, and it was surprisingly simple yet refined. First came a course of small tofu cubes, made of many layers of different coloured tofu which had been marinated and simmered in the essence of duck, raspberry, and brown sugar. They were extremely tasty. The next item was cubed chicken, also the same size of roughly a raspberry. The chicken was so delicious and tender, and there was a whole bowl of it instead of one piece which went against traditional high-end cooking. After eating these and a few more courses. I had arrived at the exact perfect amount of full.

While I was eating, a group of girls had shuffled in and taken a seat. I found one of them in particular to be very beautiful, and she had a certain spark in her eye that told me she was special. I finished my meal, thanked the chef, and with no reason to loiter, ordered another meal. The chef seemed uncomfortable, knowing I would end up too full and would not enjoy each bite now that I was not hungry. He also explained that there was no other food, just the one set of courses that he had perfected. I said perfect! He began to cook, and I ate the chicken while often looking over at her across the place. When I finished my second mean, I saw the girls were almost done, so I lazily floated out of the window and hovered above the deep canyon, legs crossed, meditating. I felt a complete satisfaction with the meal, and with my ability to float effortlessly, but a strong yearning to talk to this girl held me back from concentration. I floated once again into the restaurant and found the girls gone except for her. She was in the booth across from the stool I had been eating at and was with the chef, who I realised was her father. I knew if I was to win her over I must achieve monk status even beyond her father. I could already fly, but I knew that was nothing.

Soon, I began to talk to her. I sat lazily with my head resting on my arms and started asking her questions. She thought I was too old for her when of course I am actually much younger than everyone thinks I am. I could tell she had some measure of interest in me by the conversation, but she was still at unease as I was simply a stranger in her father's restaurant.

Then, the moment of reckoning came. The goons that I had fought to get here, a villainous bunch who wore spiked leather and rode motorcycles, came from far down the cliff's edge looking to cause trouble. They knew there would be lots of money here, in a place with such expensive and rare cuisine. They approached the restaurant and got to about 50 feet down the cliffside, just across a wooden bridge that gapped a large crack in the cliff wall. It allowed for a pointed defence, and so I swiftly headed to cut them off on the near side of the bridge. They laughed in my face, pulled their guns, and shot me in the chest. Before I went down I managed to strangle one of them to death through manipulation of the force. My body gave way, and I fell off the bridge and down down down into the abyss off the cliff's edge. I felt the crack of the impact and then opened my eyes, standing once again atop the bridge. The villains were stunned. How had I materialised? Immediately I knew the answer to that impossible question. In my fall down the cliffside, I had achieved a full-fledged monk mind through my understanding of death and my yearning to be with her. When I died, my spirit left my body and I guided it into the body of the man I had killed on the bridge. The moment I inhabited him, my energy rearranged every molecule in his body to fit the shell that I had grown so accustomed to, down to the white robes I had been wearing.

This was what true power felt like.

I removed the rest of the bikers from the situation and returned to the restaurant, but she was gone. The chef was there, but he eyed me with an uneasy gaze, thinking me to be a practitioner of the dark arts and not an enlightened one like himself. Surely he had sent her away for her own protection.
Soon enough, I discovered the truth of the situation. She and her friends had been trained as warrior priestesses by her father, and they had returned down the same path the bikers had just come down. I went to meet them, and see what their intention was. It was to kill. So I stood there, and I let them cast me from the cliff. The impact with the cavern floor was great, and then I was on top of the bridge again, unmoved and unchanged. I was smiling, right at her. This was just a joke to me, a light-hearted act all put together for her entertainment. I could see her start to understand. Her friend threw me again, and once more I returned. With each reincarnation, I became more lighthearted to the situation, while their concern and fear rose. But I showed them no aggression. I looked at her, deep into her, and hoped she understood I was not the enemy. Then I flew away.

My dream continued for several hours. I returned to where the bikers had come from and fought many people, training to be stronger and gaining new abilities. I took down a helicopter mid-flight and learned how to teleport. It was a fun dream but also a dangerous and stressful one at times, as I never reached lucidity.

After some time, out of the corner of my eye, I realised one of my battles had taken me back to the diner. I went to the same spot across the bridge, and lo and behold the girl and her friends were walking up the cliffside, come to eat. I stood there, hovering an inch off the ground, and waited for her to see me. When she did, I saw a recognition and understanding in her eyes. She had changed. She turned from her friends when they reached me, walked to the edge of the cliff side, and fell off. In an instant, she stood before me.

I floated up to her, both of us smiling and full of pride.

"I figured it out, dummy"

"I know"

We kissed.



I spent a long time with her for the remainder of the dream. We talked about our lives and our adventures, and at one lull in the conversation, I forgot about it all and my dream shifted back to the battles and leather men. Soon enough I woke up.

Good morning.