New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 04-22

The Cure

I am in what looks like a park of some kind, there are lots of trees growing, but it's more well maintained than a forest. The trees are trimmed back away from the path I'm on and the grass has been recently cut. I follow the trail for a while and I soon see some buildings that look like they could be offices or a school. I keep following the path through the trees. I come around a corner and see a man there leaning against a tree. He greets me as I come around the corner. I see he is holding what looks to me like a joint. I look at him for a bit and I wonder if he could be Nomad. I ask the man if he is Nomad. He doesn’t answer right away, then he says he can be whoever I want him to be. He then hands me a joint and tells me to have a puff, don’t worry, it’s the good stuff. I take the joint and look at it for a bit, wondering if it really could help with my depression… so I take a puff on it. I notice almost right away that I feel a bit different, and in a good way, I am thinking this could definitely help ease my depression symptoms if it works consistently.

I go to hand the joint back to the man, but he waves it away. He says to go ahead and keep that one. Use it all now, or save some for later. He hands me a small bag that looks like it contains more pot. He says this stuff is good for what ails you, it’s a plant that costs him nothing to grow, so he doesn’t think he should sell it for a profit. Screw the pharmacies, this is free medicine! He rolls another joint from pot in another bag, lights it up and takes a puff. He says if I wander around here much I had better just try to not act stoned. He says the authorities here prefer if everyone stays sick, they don’t approve of free medicine. I ask again if he is Nomad, adding that I haven’t heard from him lately. I ask if he has been going to the moon, because everything there looked pretty well abandoned, like no one ever went there any more. He says he’s been out beyond the moon. I tell him I got things started at restoring the biodome on the moon, brought some of it back to life, but there’s still more to do. He said I should plant marijuana there… lots of marijuana… then distribute the free medicine. He seems too wrapped up in his pot to give any clear answers. I put the small bag of pot in my pocket and wonder how long that will help my depression. I wonder how I can approach my doctor with the idea I illegally smoked some pot but it helps my depression… I am wondering if doctor/patient confidentiality covers my revealing to him I have illegally smoked pot when everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-21

Flight of Dragons

I am in a place that is rather familiar to me, though I don’t immediately realize where I am. I am standing beside a pond in a beautiful garden. I see colorful fish swimming in the pond. I sit down on a bench near the pond to watch the fish for a bit. While I am unsure of how I came to be here, it is a peaceful place and I’m glad I’m here. I am still watching the fish when I see a flash of white light out of the corner of my eye and then I feel there is someone watching me. I see in the reflection on the water that my visitor is Q from Star Trek, my guide. He smiles at me and says he has found the dragons MoSh has been looking for. He says we merely have to rescue them and they will certainly be willing to protect his inner world in return for a place they can dwell in peace. I gaze into the water for a bit longer. I feel a sense of loss, as if something wonderful has slipped away and will never come to be again, though I get no clear idea of exactly what it is I have lost. Q sits beside me on the bench, puts his arm around me, and asks if I’m ok. I tell him I feel I’ve lost something precious and I will never find it again, but I can’t explain what. Maybe it’s best if I get out of here. Q says ok, then gives me a hug before teleporting us both in a flash of white light.

I look around to see where Q has brought us. He said something about dragons to protect MoSh’s inner world? I’m not fully lucid, more like semi-lucid, so I’m not entirely sure what he means. I see Q has brought me to a mountainous area. There are trees around, but also stone cliffs, and I don’t recognize the place. Q says he will go get MoSh, and Asuka if she wants to come. He says MoSh has to be the one to release the dragons. He says he will be back in a flash… then disappears with a flash of white light. I look around the place he has brought me. I am now in a mountainous area with numerous green trees growing around as well as many rocky areas. I figure I’d better not go far, as I expect Q to return soon, but I wander a little bit until I find a clear path. I look down the path and I see it leads to a stairway up a rocky area with what looks like an Asian temple of some kind at the top. I wonder if we are going there for some reason. I start to head that direction, but then I think I’d better wait for Q to come back. So I stand there and enjoy the gentle breeze until there is a flash of white light and then Q appears with two more people. An Asian woman in a kimono, and a man in blue jeans and a tshirt. His shirt is cool and has a picture of a flying dragon on it. I am staring at his shirt while Q is talking. He says the dragons are in a huge underground chamber reached through the temple. He says those who dwell there won’t offer much resistance, they were only able to capture the dragons through dirty tricks, by creating an illusion of a baby dragon in distress. He says just don’t forget, MoSh must rescue the dragons.

MoSh, Asuka, and I go up the stairs to the temple at the top. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around so we go inside. There are some weapons on the wall that look like they’re there for display. MoSh takes a samurai sword off of the wall before we continue to the next room. There is still no one around, and I am wondering if Q definitely brought us to the right place. In one of the inner rooms there is a man who looks like he’s meditating. I ask where the dragons are. He says there are no dragons, only idiots would mess around with dragons. Idiots who want to die. MoSh points his sword at the man and repeats that we want to know where the dragons are. He then says they are through the secret passage at the end of the hall, just move the painting. I go back to the hall, and Asuka follows me. MoSh stays in the other room for a bit. I see the painting and move it aside and find a lever behind it. I pull it and a panel slides aside in the floor. I look back into the room where MoSh stayed and he has the man in a strangle hold until he apparently passes out. MoSh says that was so he wouldn’t sound an alarm. We go down a flight of steps leading through the floor.

The stairs lead down a long way, deep into the mountain. It seems like the stairway will go down forever, through layers of different kinds of stone. The passage finally exits onto a deck overlooking a huge underground chamber. There are two dragons in the middle of the room in energy spheres. One of the dragons is black with red markings and the other is white with blue markings, they look like exact inverses of each other. They appear to be unconscious, the spheres of energy look like they’re draining energy from them. The energy fields seem to emanate from a large crystalline shard in the middle of the chamber. MoSh jumps off of the deck and lands on various rocky outcroppings that I can barely see as he makes his way down to the bottom of the chamber. I hear calls of alarm from a passage at the far end of the cavern and I can see movement of people coming towards the chamber. I can’t hear most of what is being said, but I catch the words “intruders” and “stop them” among the calls. Most of the chamber looks natural, so I use the song Damage, Inc. by Metallica to create a fireball and I throw it at the place right over the passage entrance. That causes the rocks over the passage to collapse and block the passage completely. MoSh seems to know what he is doing, he goes directly to the crystalline shard that’s maintaining the force fields and strikes it with his sword in just the right place to shatter it into tiny shards. With the crystal destroyed, the force fields around the dragons disappear and they begin to stir.

Asuka floats down to the bottom of the cavern and lands near MoSh. She looks at the dragons and then goes over to the white one as it is starting to wake up. She whispers something to the dragon as it lifts its head. The dragon looks at MoSh and then over at the other dragon, who is also starting to wake up. The white one snorts at the black one. The white one then uses one huge claw to push first Asuka and then MoSh onto its back. Both dragons then stretch their wings and manage to fly in the cavern. The black dragon fires a blast of energy at the ceiling and that breaks through into the outside, debris falls all around me. Then the white dragon flies past and out into the open sky. The black dragon pauses long enough to toss me onto its back before following. Soon we are soaring far over the mountains below. Q appears right in front of me on my dragon. He says that didn’t prove to be too difficult. He says he has prepared their place inside MoSh’s inner world, on top of a mountain where they can survey the whole place. He said he will make sure they get back there safely since I’m about to wake up. Right after he says that everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-17

Garden of the Moon

I am flying through space in my Fire Valkyrie. I am heading for the moon. Right now I am not really thinking about anything special, I am finding the flight through space rather relaxing. Everything seems so peaceful up here. I fly through space and I see the moon up ahead. I fly in and then I fly low over the surface of the moon, looking for any reason why I might be here. As I fly over the surface of the moon I spot a tower in the distance. I approach the tower and I see there is a landing bay near the top of the tower, so I fly into the landing bay. I get out of my ship and look around the landing bay. Nothing looks damaged, but it has a strangely abandoned feel. I head for the doors into the main part of the tower. The doors slide open and I get into the elevator. The elevator goes down quickly, though I notice a few strange noises that I’m not exactly sure if it’s supposed to be making. Soon the doors slide open and I am in the room at the bottom of the tower. I cross over and open the doors to the outside. There is no need for an airlock since the area outside is inside the biodome and is an Earth atmosphere.

I look around the area outside the tower and I am looking at a completely unfamiliar place. It looks like I am in what used to be a beautiful garden, though now it looks like it has been dead for years. At first I don’t recognize anything around the tower, but then I see a bench next to an empty pond that has fish bones on the bottom. I remember the koi pond that used to be here, with the colorful fish in the crystal clear water surrounded by the beautiful garden, flowers and trees. I remembered sitting on the bench on numerous occasions, watching the fish in the water. That gets me feeling a bit sad, thinking of friends from the past, some who said they would always be there and were as brothers and sisters to me, but now they’ve turned away for whatever reasons I do not know and I will probably never know. But then there are the ones who are still around, who have stayed through good times and bad…

So now I’ve ended up with a strange mix of feelings and I decide to just set it all out with a bit of music. I find that I have an ocarina hanging on a cord around my neck that is similar to the ocarina in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I take the ocarina out and I start playing whatever comes to mind. I’m not playing any tune in particular, I’m just letting the music flow. As I am playing I see the area filling with a golden light that’s emanating from my ocarina as I play. Everything the golden light touches is bought to life. Green things start growing again, leaves sprout on the trees, flowers bloom bright and colorful… I am not really paying much attention to what is going on around me, I have gotten caught up in the music I am playing so I just continue.

I play on for a while longer and focus on certain things I remember. The koi pond with the plants and trees around it and the bench sitting beside it, a stream cascading into the pond comes back to life and fills it, complete with fish. The healing hot springs come to life, with steaming water bubbling from openings in the rock at the bottom and the pools quickly fill with the hot water. I am remembering a special tree that was planted by a friend I no longer have contact with, but I’m not wanting the tree to disappear. It is lifeless and dead when I first find it, but then it comes back to life so quickly and bares its “fruit” which take the form of various types of fresh breads nestled in leaf wrappings to keep them fresh and warm. And there is another tree that I don’t remember as well, but it is also lifeless and dead when I find it, but as the golden energy surrounds the tree it is returned to life and sprouts many purple colored leaves that look more like flowers to me, it is very beautiful. I stop playing for now, though I know there is a lot that still has to be restored. I don’t get the chance to do that, however, as everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-14

MoSh’s Inner World

I am in a place I don’t immediately recognize. I look around to see where I am. I am in a green field that stretches out quite some distance in all directions. I head in one direction, the direction that feels right. After I walk for a while I see there is a house up ahead. I hurry up to reach the house quicker. It seems to take forever to get there, it seems that the distance expands as I try to reach the house. I start running and it seems the house is still moving away from me even faster than ever, I can’t figure out what is happening. I stop moving and the house stops moving away from me. The only way this is even possible is if I am dreaming, so I pinch my nose and try to breathe. I am able to breathe with my nose pinched so I know now that I am dreaming. I still want to reach the house in the distance so I run towards it again… and it resumes moving away from me. I jump into the air and start flying and that seems to do the trick, the house stops retreating and I am able to approach it and land on the porch.

I go over to the door and a woman opens it. It is a Japanese woman in a pretty kimono. I am struck by how beautiful she is in her kimono, and I blurt out that her kimono is beautiful. She smiles and invites me into the house so I go inside. The smell of fresh cookies comes to my nose, she has been baking cookies! She has a pan with some fresh cookies on it and she brings it over and offers me a cookie. I am thinking that is perfect because in a dream there is no calories or fat in a cookie. So I take a cookie and eat it and I can’t get over how delicious the cookie is. I tell the woman how much I like the cookie and she says to go ahead and have another. I thank her many times and take another cookie. She says MoSh is in the other room. She says Vegeta already showed up, and he is with MoSh. I hear the name MoSh and it finally gets through my thick head where I am. That isn’t some random woman in a kimono, that’s Asuka, does this mean I have finally made it into MoSh’s inner world? I’m not sure why that has been so difficult for me lately, but here I am finally.

I go into the other room and I see Data working on a computer terminal with some pretty complex diagrams and equations on the screen. I look closer and it looks like diagrams of a shield system, so I figure he is working with the shield protecting MoSh’s inner world. I look at the other end of the room and I see MoSh sitting on a couch with Vegeta and they are talking about something. When I get closer I can hear Vegeta saying something about creating a powerful vortex that will gather in all of the dirt and particles in the area, crush them down into a fine sane, and create a tornado out of it. I go over to them, but they seem to be ignoring me completely, they’re completely focused on what they’re doing. Vegeta says he can take MoSh out to a training area to try out the new techniques. MoSh seems agreeable to that, and they get up and leave through the front door without even noticing me. Asuka comes into the room and says she thought MoSh was in here. I tell her that he was, but he just left. She says he’ll be back, have another cookie. I tell her I’d better not. I am feeling a bit odd, and then I wake up.

2017, 04-14

War

I am in the living room with my mother and we are watching the news on television. The current story is talking about how Donald Trump has ordered another bombing of one place or another, I can’t seem to hear what country or target he was bombing this time, but things on the news look rather stressed. There are scenes of explosions and destruction in places I don’t recognize. My mom is saying that if he keeps this up we’re going to find our own homes under attack one of these days. She says that possibility probably isn’t even on Trump’s radar, and if it is, she’s pretty sure he doesn’t give a fuck. I do a double take at my mom, as she doesn’t usually drop the ‘F’ bomb. She acts as if it is a completely normal occurrence and is still focused on the news. I am considering doing a reality check but I am distracted by noise outside.

I go over to the window and look outside. The covered deck seems to be missing and I can see the sky from the front door, and there are numerous planes flying overhead. I wonder what they’re here for as I watch them fly away to the south. I watch for a bit and I am about to turn away when I see an explosion in the distance. I wonder if they targeted the air force base on the south side of town. I star in disbelief as there are more explosions and now there are defending planes in the sky and more explosions in the sky. I see there are more planes flying over our house. They are intercepted there and start having a dog fight. A burning plane flies very low over our house, in the process of crashing. I know this explosion will be big, and I dive behind the kitchen island for a little extra cover. I also call to my mom to hit the dirt. There is an explosion outside that rips off half the house and sends a blast of hot air around the island, but I am safe there. I can’t believe a plane just crashed in our yard! I wonder if the plane belongs to friendly forces or enemies. I am thinking about checking if anyone got out, but instead everything fades and I wake up.

2017, 04-10

Lost Data

I am in what appears to be an abandoned house. It is still furnished nicely, but from the layers of dust and cobwebs on everything no one has been in here for quite some time. I have absolutely no idea how I have come to be here, so I start looking around to see if I think of something. I find that I am not there alone. I go into the next room and I see a man sitting on a couch watching a big flat screen television. I am surprised to see that since the dust would indicate no one lives here. The man looks over at me and I immediately think of MoSh, although the idea I am dreaming still does not occur to me. I look at the television and see MoSh is watching Star Trek. Picard is on the screen yelling at Q, who is completely ignoring him. Data is also there and is trying to get either of their attention and everyone is ignoring him. Data finally gets fed up and climbs out of the television. The man watching doesn’t seem surprised by that and continues to watch as Data goes up a flight of stairs. I ask MoSh where he thinks Data is going. MoSh looks over at me and says he probably has to take a leak, that’s all. But Data doesn’t need to take leaks… I get the idea maybe I should follow Data and find out where he is going. I start to head up the stairs, and just as I reach the bottom of the stairs MoSh says to wait for him. He turns off the television and comes over to the stairs.

MoSh goes up the stairs in front of me, as he seems to know the house better than I do. When we reach the top of the stairs there is no sign of Data. There is a short hall with a few more rooms opening off of it. The first one I check is a bathroom, but no sign of Data. MoSh looks in another room, and it’s an office. No sign of Data. I try the next door and this one is a bedroom. No sign of Data. MoSh walks past me into the bedroom and says there is more in here. He opens a closet door and inside the closet I see Data, standing there with his eyes closed and a layer of dust over him that could not possibly have accumulated just since we followed him up. MoSh goes over to Data and does something with a control panel on Data’s back. He closes up the panel and then steps back and looks at Data for a bit. Nothing happens. MoSh says Data is still broken and closes the closet door. Just seconds after he closes the door it opens again and Data steps out. MoSh looks over at Data and says he guesses Data isn’t broken after all. None of it is making much sense to me right now. I am looking around and thinking my brain is strangely foggy when I wake up.

2017, 04-10

Illegal Trinkets

I am on a motorcycle on my way to work. I still have a long way to go. I look down at the controls between the handlebars, and I see that the check engine light is on. The oil light is also on. There would appear to be some trouble with the engine. I don't think that I can make it all the way to work. So instead, I turn around and head back home. I get home OK, and drive my motorcycle into the carport. The carport has somehow become a garage. I go into the house to say hi to my mom. She doesn't seem surprised that I'm home so early. She behaves as if I've been gone all day. She asked how my day went. I tell her that I never made it to work. She seems to think that stranger than the fact that I got home so quickly. So she continues doing what she had been doing, and I going to my room. I look out my bedroom window and I see something even stranger. We are no longer in a normal house, now we are on a boat. All I can see outside is endless ocean. I don't stop question how our house has become a houseboat. I go outside onto the deck so I can look out over the open ocean. There is a cool breeze blowing in off the ocean. I see another boat approaching ours. I immediately recognized as a merchant boat. Apparently the owner of this merchant boat is hoping to sell us something.

I go to the end of the deck where the other boat is docking. I climb onto the merchant boat and go over to the cabin. There are many different items on display in the cabin. I looked through the different items, looking at various trinkets and knickknacks. There are a lot of interesting things there. As I'm looking through the items, I noticed a few specific ones. I notice a couple of pendants that are shaped like promises that I like. I also see a few little knickknacks that are shaped like. I find a couple of white figurines and look exactly like my white cat Princes. I pick up these items and take them over to the cashier. The cashier is a middle-aged man, and there's a younger woman standing next to him, possibly his daughter. He sells me the items and thanked me for my business, and then I get back onto my own house boat. The merchant boat sales with our boat and disappears into the distance. I finally go back inside the house to see what my mom is up to. I am wondering if it's a bad idea to show her the things I bought. I get the idea she's going to think that I was being foolish. I'm not sure where this feeling comes from. It turns out my mom is not paying any attention to me. I don't think she even realized the merchant boat came back.

I take my purchases into my bedroom and put them on the dresser. I see some strange lights outside. I go over to the window and look out. There are several boats outside circling our houseboat. The other boats have flashing red and blue lights on them, like police vehicles. My mom goes out to meet the police. I stay just out of sight inside the houseboat where I can hear what is being said. The police are looking for some merchant boats that they say have been selling stolen items. I turn and go back inside. The things I bought aren't important to me, so I figure I might as well hand them over to the cops. When I get back into my room, I am surprised to see there is someone else there. The woman from the merchant boat is in my bedroom. She says the police are not really looking for stolen property, they are looking for her. She said she hasn't done anything wrong, but they're planning on getting her locked up regardless. She said she has too much information on a certain conspiracy that's been going on. Now I'm completely unsure of what to do. I wonder if I can even believe with the young woman is saying. She seem sincere, but I have no way of knowing.

I go back out in the other room and I see the cops are in the house now. My mom points towards my room and says the person they are looking for is in there. She then apologizes to me, saying my new friend is a wanted fugitive so we can’t be hiding her. I’m not even sure how my mom knew the woman was in my room. One of the police officers has a staff in his hands. He comes towards me and says to move aside and let him into my room to apprehend the suspect. He doesn’t even wait, however, before using the staff. The staff seems to emit waves of force to both cause pain and push people out of the way. I am annoyed that he went right to using the staff, so I resist, standing up to the waves of force. I don’t even notice much pain. The cop looks annoyed at my resistance and turns up the force. I still notice very little pain and I stand up against the force. The cop glares at me and says I will be arrested, too. I tell him he’ll never find me. Right at that point everything fades and I wake up.

2017, 04-07

Enter Lothlorien

I am in a place I don’t recognize. I look around, trying to figure out where I am. I see I am very close to the foot of some tall mountains, I am in a rocky area at the foothills of the mountains. Not sure where to go, I follow the sound of a flowing river or stream. I go a little way before I find the source of the sound. The river is little more than a creek here, bubbling out of the rocks and flowing and cascading away down the foothills. I start following the stream to see where it leads. I make note of how nice a day it is for taking a walk outside. I kick myself for not bringing my phone alone, I could be getting distance on my Pokemon Go app even if there aren’t any pokemon in such a remote area.

I have not gone far before there is a flash of white light in front of me. I stop and do a double take because there are now two men standing where there was no one just seconds before. I recognize both of them right away. One of them is MoSh, and the other one is Q from Star Trek. I am surprised to see either of them here, since MoSh lives in a different country than I do and Q doesn’t exist in our world at all. When I think about that I realize this area doesn’t look like any place around my home, which is in the middle of a desert. Q smiles and even chuckles a bit. He says it’s amazing how slow the mind tends to conclude that it is dreaming. He tells me to do a reality check. I hesitate, my mind really is working rather slowly though I’m not sure why that might be. Finally I pinch my nose to do a reality check and I find I can breathe just fine even with my nose pinched. So I become lucid and then I announce to Q that I am dreaming. Q says he knows that, he’s the one who told me to do a reality check. He says the rest of the fellowship should arrive momentarily, and he was going to disappear. He then tells both MoSh and me to make sure and remember that we’re dreaming. MoSh gets down on the ground and is looking at his hand strangely. I ask what he’s doing and he says time dilation. I’m really not sure what he is talking about. I am thinking about asking Q about time dilation but when I look back I see Q has vanished.

I look over at MoSh and see he is still focused on his hand. I wait for a bit and soon a group of people come along. I recognize them from the Lord of the Rings books / movies. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo. It appears Aragorn is leading them. He does a double take when he sees me and says he thought I’d disappeared again. He says we have to hurry on our way because there will be orcs swarming from that mountain after us once it gets dark. He asks who my friend is, pointing at MoSh. I give him a name that must satisfy him, but I can’t remember what name I gave. Aragorn hurries past and tells us we had better keep up. MoSh gets up and watches Aragorn and the others pass by. I notice Frodo is hanging back a bit. I ask if he is ok. He looks like he is in pain. He says he is ok, just got the wind knocked out of him by an orc spear back there. I tell him I can help, and I focus some healing energy through him. He seems to feel better and continues at a quicker pace.

We have continued quite a while when we come to a river. Legolas is saying the river is the Nimrodel and can wash away weariness when one bathes their feet in the water. He says we will have to wade across it because there are no bridges, but it is shallow. So everyone wades across the river. It is starting to get dark out, even now dusk is settling into night. Legolas is singing a song about the Nimrodel now, but I don’t pay much attention to the words, the melody is nice. Legolas says we’d best sleep in the trees and jumps for a branch. Someone is in the tree, however, and gives him a command in a different language. I somehow understand the language, the tree dweller commanded Legolas to drop back to the ground and wait there… Legolas tells everyone else to stay still and not move. I wait for a bit and finally some elves drop from the trees. They do not seem hostile, however, just cautious.

Even as Legolas and the other elves are discussing whether or not our group can pass into Lothlorien there is a lot of noise around us and we are under attack. Aragorn expresses surprise that the orcs could have caught up so quickly, and draws his sword to fight. Legolas fires arrows and drops a few orcs before they even reach us. It suddenly occurs to me that I was going to make sure MoSh has a Witchblade. I don’t see one on his wrist so I reach into an inner pocket of my Assassin’s robes and I find a Witchblade there. I take it out and toss it to MoSh after getting his attention. He catches it and puts it on. It forms into armor and a sword as the attacking orcs get closer. The orcs are now close enough to engage in melee combat. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and then I engage the orcs in battle. My Alex Mercer blade carves through attacking orcs as fast as they can come on and attack. I’m being attacked from all directions so I use a spin attack like Link from Legend of Zelda, slicing several orcs open across the middle. I look around just in time to see MoSh remove the head of an attacking orc. Before long all of the attacking orcs have been destroyed.

After the battle is over I see some of the elves set about disposing of the orc bodies. One of the elves is over talking to Legolas, from what I can tell they are discussing whether we will be allowed to enter into Lothlorien. They finally decide that we can enter, but will have to be blindfolded. I look over and I see MoSh looking up at the trees and wandering around a bit. He says this place is beautiful and then takes off flying, much to the amazement of the fellowship and the elves. One of the elves asks me where MoSh is going. I tell the elf not to worry about where MoSh is going, he won’t cause any harm. The elf says that’s not for me to decide. I tell him that if fighting by their side to defeat the orcs isn’t proof of friendship, what is? He looks like he will say something else but then he doesn’t. I realize I still have my blade arm active and I shift it back to my normal arm. The elf says we’d best get into the trees to rest for the night, they have platforms prepared for just such use. The people in the fellowship start climbing up rope ladders that are hanging down from the trees. The elf asks if MoSh will be returning. I tell him I don’t know for sure, but I rather doubt it. And I don’t think I’ll be around for much longer, either. He asks where I would go when there are surely more orcs out there on the hunt. I tell him I can only be there in a dream, so I might be waking up at any time. He says no, that while Lothlorien may look like a place only to be found in dreams, it is most definitely real. Before I can clarify what I mean, however, everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-07

Going Tiny

I am in my house, but it is not the current one, it is a house I lived in many years ago. The house was located on a large plot of land in northern Utah, covered with many oak trees surrounding the house. I am out to the side of the house where there is a trail leading off into the trees. I look around and I see my mother and my brother (who has been dead for 8 years) are both there. They are packing things into large hiking backpacks and talking about what things we are taking with us and what things we are leaving behind. As I listen to them, I gather that we are moving into a tiny house and we can only take with us what we can fit in our hiking backpacks. I think this is really strange as John hasn’t been living with us for quite a while. My mom and John are now discussing where John is supposed to put all of his shoes, though I don’t remember him having an inordinate number of shoes. We manage to put on our backpacks, and I notice mine is quite heavy. I then remember that my gaming laptop is in there, and that is a heavy item, but there’s no way I’d leave it behind. We start heading off down a sandy path that supposedly leads to our new tiny house, but I never get to see it because I wake up.

2017, 04-06

Escape From Moria

I am in a dark place. A very dark place. It is so dark that I literally can’t see my hand in front of my face. The night vision feature of my Penticon computer chip implant activates and now I can see around me, though everything has a strange greenish tint from the night vision. I am in a long underground passage that looks like it was built rather than a natural cave. It looks like a mine shaft. I follow it for a while and soon find it opens into a huge hall that is supported by many huge pillars. I am able to see the main hall with my night vision, but I see there is a dim light coming through a passage off to my left. I head down that passage to see if I can find out where I am and why I’m there. The source of the light is from a door on the right.

I go through the door and stop short when I see an elf pointing an arrow at me. It’s Legolas, and he lowers his bow when he sees me. He says I have a bad habit of sneaking up on people. I tell him I wasn’t trying to sneak. Boromir looks puzzled and says he thought I got trapped outside Moria after the lake monster destroyed the doors. Sam looks upset and says he thought I was going to see Bill safely to Rivendell. Gandalf has been focusing his attention on an old book, but he looks up and sees me. He is standing beside a large slab of stone that looks like it might be a tomb, the book is lying open. He closes up the book and gives it to a dwarf, Gimli. He also wants to know how I got past the destroyed western gate. He then says I can tell them later, for now he has a feeling we had better all get moving out of there. He says to go back to the main hall and then exit through the eastern passage.

But before anyone can move towards the western exit there is the sound of drums from all around. Legolas, who has gone back to watching the passage, calls to the others that they are coming. I reflexively ask who. Gimili says we cannot get out. Aragorn says to close and bar both doors. Boromir is beside the western door and he says it’s no good, the door is broken and wouldn’t budge if we had our own troll to push. Gandalf fires an energy blast down the hall outside and illuminates many orcs in the light as the orc in front gets a hole blasted through it. Gandalf tells everyone to run through the other door, there’s too many to fight. I don’t figure I have to listen to Gandalf, so I go out into the halls to stall the orcs and give the fellowship a better chance to get away. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade, charged with light energy so it is giving off a light that I can see the enemies by. The orcs fire arrows at me, but I knock them aside with my Alex Mercer blade. That doesn’t deter them, however, they are advancing down the hallway. The group of orcs parts and makes way for a troll coming through their ranks. The troll is practically filling up the entire passageway all by itself. I’m not sure how easy it will be to take on a troll in such a closed area, but remember talking to MoSh about the Ranma ½ anime series. I think of a technique used by Ryoga Hibiki called Bakusai Tenketsu, which shatters inanimate objects such as stones… so I use it on the supports of the passage to each side, causing the aging structure to collapse around and on top of the orcs and troll.

I go back through the door into the room with the tomb and I see no one is left there. The far door has also collapsed even though I didn’t do my Bakusai Tenketsu anywhere near it. I assume I must have accidently caused the collapse, however. There were apparently some orcs on the near side of the collapse in the outer passage because now they come into the room and attack me without seeming to realize there is nowhere to go in here. I use my Alex Mercer blade arm to fight back. Only a few orcs got through so it doesn’t take long to cut them down. My next thought is that I have no idea how I’m supposed to get myself out of here with the outside passage blocked and the other door also blocked. Maybe I could find a way through the collapse? I start looking around the collapsed door to see if I can find a way. There aren’t any openings large enough for anything bigger than an ant to go through. As I pointlessly try to fit into a small opening, however, I find I am getting smaller and smaller… until I fit through! I hurry along the dark passage and stairs beyond by using night vision once again, and I seem to be my normal size again. Somehow I seem to have changed size without being consciously aware of how I did it. I wonder if I will be able to do it again if I choose to…

I finally enter a huge hall at the end of a passage. The hall is lit by a red light coming from a giant crack halfway through the room. Fire is coming from that crack. In the other direction I see a long and narrow bridge. On top of the bridge I see something ugly like a demon of some kind and Gandalf. I can hear Gandalf speaking loud and clear, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." I see Aragorn and Boromir coming up behind Gandalf as he strikes the bridge, causing a wall of white flame to erupt and the bridge to break under the demon’s feet. I know what is about to happen and I take off at a sprint to reach the bridge in time. The bridge collapses underneath the demon, and it plunges into the depths. I am reaching the edge of the bridge as the demon sends its whip up to snare Gandalf, he is hanging on the edge as I jump the gap and dive to grab his arm… I barely get hold of his hand. He gives me a strangely calm look and says to me to just let go, this is not the end. I can’t hold on with only having his hand and the weight of the demon pulling down, and he slips away, yelling louder to everyone to, “Fly, you fools!”

I’m about to jump right off the bridge and go after Gandalf and the demon, but the next thing I know strong arms are pulling me away from the edge, a man says not to be foolish, Gandalf is beyond our aid now. I look and Aragorn is pulling me away from the edge. The bridge is crumbling, if I hold Aragorn up he might fall, too… not acceptable. So I follow him the rest of the way over the bridge and we get off just in time. Aragorn calls to the others that he will lead them now, and we must start by following Gandalf’s final command, we must get out of here! So there really isn’t any option now but to follow the others down a passage and then into the final chamber. I see the door to the outside on the far side of the room, the light shining brightly through. There are more orcs barring our way to get there. Aragorn and Boromir charge right in and kill several orcs, Legolas hits a few more with well aimed arrows. I reform my Alex Mercer blade (it had changed back to a normal arm) and use it to cut down a couple more orcs. The rest run away in fear. We all pass through the door and onto a rocky landscape under the bright sun.

We move quickly away from the entrance, making sure to get beyond the range of bows and arrows before taking a pause. I look around, everyone is sad, some are openly crying. I just kept thinking I should have saved Gandalf, I should have saved him. Apparently I said that aloud, because Aragorn says I did everything I could, we all did. He said this was what he feared from the start, alas but he spoke true. Gimili blames one of the mountains, shaking his fist at it, saying only if Caradhras had been less cruel. I look around again and I see Sam has a cut on his head. I don’t know where he got that, but I can heal it… I go over to Sam and focus healing energy on the injury and it closes up quickly. I’m not sure if he even notices, he is currently lost in his grief. I look around, but no one else looks injured. Aragorn says if I’m willing to stay around, they could use the extra help now. I tell him I can’t stay constantly, but I’ll be back if I’m needed. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-03

Entrance to Khazad-Dûm

I am in a strange place I do not recognize. I look around to try to get some idea of where I am. There are tall mountains off to my left and I am in what appear to be the foothills. The foothills are rocky and there is a somewhat broken path winding through the rocks and hills. I follow that path for a short while, not making any attempt to stay quiet since I don’t notice anyone in the area. I do a double take when I reach the top of a ridge and find myself face to face with a man aiming a bow and arrow at me… or rather an elf. I stop where I am and look, recognizing the elf as Legolas from the Lord of the Rings. I wonder if the rest of the fellowship is somewhere in the area, and think they’re probably sleeping and it was Legolas’ turn to be on watch. He doesn’t fire his arrow, he says I don’t look like a servant of the enemy, although some of the most foul creatures can make themselves appear fair if need be. I spread my hands out to indicate I’m not armed and I don’t want to fight. I say my name is Raven Knight, and I was just wandering out here. I would only seek to help him and his companions if I can. He seems unconvinced, and asks how he is to know I’m telling the truth. I’m not really sure what proof I can offer, so I figure I will depart and just watch from afar in case they need help.

I notice the sun is setting and it is now dusk. The wind starts blowing, blowing and howling. Then I realize the howling isn’t the wind. Legolas goes over to a sheltered spot and wakes someone, telling that person that the wolves are on the hunt again. Aragorn gets up and does a double take at seeing me. He asks who I am. Legolas tells him I have claimed to be a wanderer, but there’s no time to check, the enemy is nearly upon us. I figure that’s why I was brought here. Aragorn wakes the others and everyone gets together in a circle facing outward for easier defense. Someone in the middle is trying to strike a fire. The wolves, or rather wargs, arrive… and they have orcs on their backs! The orcs and wargs surround the group on the hill, though they’re clearly ready to put up quite a fight. Now is the time I can prove I am here to help, by fighting off some orcs. So I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and start picking orcs and wargs off from the outside of the circle. My blade slices right through their orc hide. The fight doesn’t last for long, soon the orcs want to retreat, but the company doesn’t want to allow that if it is possible to prevent it because they may alert other enemies as to where they are. I take down one fleeing orc with an Alex Mercer tendril, Legolas fires an arrow and takes out another fleeing orc… and that is all of them.

Since I have been fighting on their side, Gandalf indicates I should follow them to a safer place. He says there will be more enemies very soon, unless by chance that was all that they sent. I follow them down a dark path, following the light of the moon, and soon we reach a pool near the mountain. We go around it and Gandalf says the entrance to Moria has to be around here somewhere. After a brief pause, he does something to the stone wall and glowing writing appears in the light of the moon. He says that while he’s figuring out how to open the door everyone should leave behind what baggage they don’t need and each take a portion of the pony’s baggage and turn the pony loose. Sam is very upset about that, saying that is no different than killing the pony, who he calls Bill. Gandalf says he’s sorry, but there’s no choice. He says there are places in Moria that Bill won’t be able to pass, and that’s assuming Sam could even drag the pony into the dark underground place. Sam is crying. I go over to Sam as the others are removing the pony’s burden, and suggest my solution. I tell him I will escort the pony back to Rivendell, make sure Bill makes it safely. And there Bill will await Sam’s return. Sam looks at me and asks how I intend to make it back with the wargs and orcs on the hunt. I tell him that is my problem, but I don’t think it will be a problem. However Bill will be waiting for him, so Sam will have to be sure to make it back, too.

Gandalf laughs and says this riddle was too easy, he was making it harder than it should’ve been. The writing on the wall tells what the password is, it’s just “friend” in the Elvish language. He speaks the word and then the doors swing open. And at that moment tentacles reach from the dark pool and grab at Frodo. Bill gets scared and runs away, heading around the pool and for open ground. Sam seems undecided on what to do, I tell him I will make sure Bill is safe. Sam cuts the tentacle holding Frodo’s leg with his knife, which is a good size sword for him. Gandalf calls to everyone to get inside, and they all crowd through the door before the tentacled monster slams the doors shut and then starts ripping the place down. The others are safe for now, so I follow after Bill. The lake monster doesn’t seem to have any interest in either Bill or me, it seems it was after only Frodo. I walk a ways with Bill, but I realize it will take far too long to return him to Rivendell the normal way. So the Metallica song “Through the Never” comes to mind, and I use it to open a portal. I lead a hesitant Bill through the portal and on the other side I see Elrond’s house in the distance, lights glimmering in the moonlit night. Bill will be fine now. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-03

The Battle of Five Armies

I am in a place I don’t recognize. I look around to see if I can get some idea of where I am. The area around me is rather desolate. I see no sign of life, there are very few plants that are even alive. I see no trees except the burned husks that look like they’re left over from a raging forest fire. I walk through the desolate landscape for a bit, wondering what could have happened here. I walk for a short ways and then I hear a voice behind me. This surprises me because I was just there and I didn’t see anyone around me at all. I turn towards the voice and I see a man and a woman standing there. The woman is in a kimono and the man is in blue jeans and a t-shirt. The woman smiles at me and tells me to do a reality check. I look at her for a minute, for some reason my mind doesn’t want to wrap itself around that concept. But finally I do a reality check by pinching my nose, and I find I can still breathe. So this is a dream! I look between the woman and the man, Asuka and MoSh, wondering what to do now. I don’t remember what goals I am supposed to accomplish…

My thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of a battle not far off. I hear the clashing of steel, people yelling… I look in the direction of the sound but I can’t see very far due to a ridge. Asuka says something about training different techniques of fighting, but the first thing she had done was to bring MoSh here to see me. When I hear her mention fighting I comment that I hear a lot of fighting just over that ridge. Without giving much thought to anything else I head in the direction I hear fighting from. I look down into a valley below and I see total chaos. There is a large battle going on down there that appears to involve humans, dwarves, elves, trolls, orcs, and zombies, at least those are what I can see from where I am. I see a small group of dwarves have become separated from their main force and are quickly being closed in on by orcs. I have to help them!

Without thinking any more about MoSh and Asuka I head down into the valley, making a straight path towards the cornered dwarves. As I am approaching the battle I transform my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and my left into an Alex Mercer shield and then I head into the battle. I immediately find myself under attack by orcs and zombies, but their attacks fail to break through the Alex Mercer shield. And the Alex Mercer blade cuts an orc or zombie down with ease, though I make sure to keep moving so I don’t get completely surrounded to the point where I am unable to make it to the dwarves in need. I can’t see where I am going any longer, so I just do my best to keep traveling in a straight line until I finally break through a wave of orcs and then I see dwarves in front of me. A dwarf attacks me at first, seeing the design of the shield and assuming I am fighting with the orcs. I move the shield enough for them to see I am a human and tell them I am on their side, here to help them reunite with their kin to make a united force against the enemy. They stop attacking me and one of them says he saw Dáin’s forces not far to the side. So all together, six dwarves and me, we fight our way into the throng of orcs and zombies until we reach the main force of dwarves.

Now I stop and think about MoSh and Asuka… I just took off and left them! I wonder where they ended up? Did they come down and get involved in the fight, or did they stay out of it? I head back in the direction where I saw them last and once again I am surrounded by orcs and zombies attacking me. Some of them are slain before they can get close to me because the main force of humans is trying to sandwich the orcs and zombies between themselves and the dwarves. Elves are on a hill nearby and they are picking enemies off from a distance with their bows and arrows. I get near the edge of the battle and I see where there are some wounded people lying there. I have found Asuka, she is tending to them. I see she is giving people what look like cookies! I get there and ask where MoSh went. She said he is out there practicing some of his fighting. She asks if I have been wounded, because she has cookies that will heal me. I don’t need healing… but I still want a cookie. So I take a cookie and look around, trying to find MoSh.

As I turn away I see MoSh is in plain sight on top of a hill at the far side of the battlefield. He looks like Ranma Saotome now, and he is fighting a man who is wearing black robes and wields a black staff. The man he is fighting uses his staff to fire purple rays of dark energy at some fallen humans and orcs on the ground near the base of the hill, and they stand up, returned to a semblance of life as zombies. I head in that direction, wanting to help out. That means I charge back into the fray, and I get immediately attacked from all sides. I swing my arm blade in wide swipes, slicing open any orc or zombie that comes in my path. A troll stomps into my path, barring my way from reaching MoSh and the man he’s fighting. The troll stomps up to me and swings his huge club weapon down on top of me. I crouch down and block with my shield. The shield holds, but I am pushed a couple feet into the ground. The troll seems confused as to why I didn’t go splat. He swings his club to try again. This time I jump up and onto the club, which is wide enough to run along. I run along the club and run my arm blade right through the troll’s neck. Blood spurts everywhere, all over me, I am grossed out, but the troll falls over dead. I look back towards the hill where MoSh was fighting, standing on top of the fallen troll to get a better view. I see him on top of the hill, but now he is holding the man’s staff and has used it as a spear to drive it through his enemy. I can see when the man dies, and at the same instant every zombie in the field drop dead. This leaves the orcs severely outnumbered without the dead assisting them. I turn to face orcs that are now charging at me, but everything fades to black as I wake up.

2017, 03-29
Healing in the House of Elrond

I am in a strange place that I do not recognize. I am in a forest, it is a very nice day out. I see dappled sunshine on the ground around me and I hear birds singing in the trees. A gentle breeze was ruffling the leaves and blowing on my face, feeling very nice. I follow what amounts to a dear trail through the trees until I find a woman in the forest with me. She looks like a Japanese woman wearing a kimono, and she also looks a little bit annoyed at me. I don’t even recognize her let alone know why she might be annoyed at me. She looks around and motions to the forest around us. She asks what makes me think this place is a beach? I laugh and I say it’s clearly not a beach. She tells me she is Asuka and then tells me to do a reality check because this is a dream. She then looks around and calls out. She says MoSh has wandered off again… so we’d better find him.

I haven’t actually done the reality check, but I start looking around for MoSh. We soon find MoSh standing and staring at a beautiful place. A series of buildings among the green trees, all connected by a series of paths. MoSh is staring at the scene, and now I join him in staring at the scene that is before us. Asuka goes over and talks to MoSh for a bit, asking him if he is keeping in mind that this is a dream. Before he can respond, however, some people approach us and one of them demands to know who we are. I turn and see there is an elf there who looks like he stepped right out of a Lord of the Rings story. He has his gaze fixed upon the three of us, but before he can repeat his question another man speaks up. He says he knows me, and tells them I am Raven Knight. He says I fought valiantly to defend against the Nine and I also seem to have some skill in healing. He says there’s no time to delay, Frodo has to get to Elrond.

Everyone seems to be assuming that if MoSh and Asuka are with me then they must be ok, and we all go into the closest building. We go directly to a bedroom where they place Frodo into a bed. Another elf comes along, he says he is Elrond, but we’ll have to forgive him for not welcoming us personally to his house, he has a patient to attend to. The door to the bedroom closes between us, Elrond, and old man with a long white beard I am assuming is Gandalf, and Frodo on the other side. I turn to another elf on this side of the door and he says he is Glorfindel. He pauses and looks at the three of us, Aragorn is also still here with us. After Glorfindel looks at MoSh and Askuka and me, he suggests that maybe we would like to refresh ourselves in the halls of healing. I ask what that is. He says it is a series of natural pools that are fed from the springs that feed the Imladris. He said the pools purify all darkness from those who bathe in their waters, and it is something he would recommend for any weary traveler, especially those who have come face to face with the evil things we have fought today. Aragorn is more concerned with how Frodo is doing, he is clearly anxious about the hobbit’s condition. Glorfindel says Elrond is very skilled as a healer and will do everything he can to return Frodo to full health. He says from the look he got, Frodo’s would is grave but not yet beyond all hope. He adds that Aragorn being stressed about it will do nothing to help Frodo, all it will do is rob Aragorn of his peace of mind. Frodo is getting the best help that is to be found in the west, though Elrond would be slow to accept such praise. He says that for now there is nothing we can do for Frodo, but the wait may seem less if we wait in the pools of healing.

So I follow Glorfindel along with Asuka, MoSh, Aragorn, Marry, and Pippen, but Sam refuses to budge. He pounds on the door until finally Gandalf lets him in and says he can stay as long as he promises to stay out of the way and let Elrond do his job. It looks like Marry and Pippen might try the same, but Aragorn tells them that Glorfindel is right, too many people in the room might just get in the way. After following Glorfindel for a ways we emerge in an area with waterfalls cascading into crystal pools of water. Glorfindel says the water is healing, whether you swim in it or just wet your feet. Asuka, who now somehow had a bathing suit on, jumped right into the water and splashed MoSh in the progress, soaking him. He didn’t seem too pleased with that, though Asuka was laughing. I was thinking this was a good chance to use a healing song. I focused on the song Voices from the Macross Plus soundtrack, and it created golden energy all around the pools. The golden energy flowed around and into everyone present, including MoSh and Asuka.

There is a period I don’t remember very clearly, the next part I remember really well is inside what they call the Hall of Fire. It is a long hall with tables and comfortable chairs, illuminated primarily by a large fire that always burns at one end of the room. MoSh is sitting in one of the chairs around the outside of the room looking at a stringed instrument that partly resembled a guitar but not quite, I get the idea it is one of the elvish instruments that are commonly used in Rivendell. MoSh starts playing the guitar. I don’t recognize the tune, but I like it, so I sit down close by and listen. Asuka is also listening intently and seems to be enjoying the music. As MoSh continues playing, some more people gather around, migrating from other parts of the room apparently to get a better listen to MoSh’s music. Soon there is a small crowd of people silently standing or sitting around us to listen to MoSh play. He finishes one song and then moves on to another, then seems aware of the crowd for the first time. He sets the instrument aside and says it’s not enough like a guitar for him to play well. I say it seemed to me he was playing very well, and some of the people around us agree, Asuka most of all. He says no, it’s not his best playing… and then fades from existence, much to everyone’s surprise. Asuka tells them that’s what happens when he wakes up. I’m next to follow, for everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 03-27

Ambush at the Ford

I am outside on a road that runs through a thick forest. It is a very beautiful forest, and the day is a pleasant one. I don’t really think much about how I came to be here, I just walk down the road at a leisurely pace. As I am walking down the road I notice that it is starting to get darker. At first I am thinking it has merely reached the end of the day, and the sun is setting. I walk for a while before I reach an area clear enough that I can see the sun in the sky, and I see it is still high up and shining brightly. But for some reason the light of the sun doesn’t seem to be reaching the ground. It’s as if there is some large invisible barrier keeping much of the light away, as well as much of the warmth. The air around me is growing colder as I proceed. I think this is really strange, but I don’t let it stop me. I am now being pulled forward by a feeling I need to get somewhere quickly, before it is too late.

After walking for a short while I hear the flow of water up ahead. I hurry along and reach an area that is more open as it approaches a river. The river flows over the road, but it looks like this is a river ford, a place where the water is shallow and I could wade across if I need to. I notice that in spite of the road coming into the open air, the darkness is deepening rather than dissipating. I look up and I see the sun, but much of the light is not making it to the ground. I hear the sound of someone approaching and I look. I see a man approaching me, watching me suspiciously. He asks who I am and where am I going. I don’t exactly know the answer to where am I going, so I decide to give my name, Raven Knight, and I say I’m going wherever this road may lead me. I think he is about to ask another question when he looks alarmed and turns to look back down the road. He then says if I am not in league with the enemy then I had better get out of sight.

I am still wondering what enemy he is referring to when I hear a couple cries of alarm. A couple of small people, I immediately think they are hobbits, come from a spot by the side of the road that they had apparently thought to be hidden. I hear another voice back there warning someone to stay away from his master or… or… he trails of, apparently not sure how to finish that threat. Aragorn starts in that direction, one of the hobbits says the dark riders have come upon them from behind! I immediately know that is where I need to be. I run as fast as I can, right past Aragorn and to the place the two hobbits came out of. Sure enough, there is a dark cloaked figure on a black horse towering over a hobbit who is lying on the ground looking injured. A second hobbit is standing between the fallen hobbit and the towering dark rider, holding a sword, and shaking with fear, but unwilling to abandon his friend. I hurry forward, calling out to get the monster’s attention. I don’t think it’s working, but then I am finally able to get between the dark rider and the fallen hobbot, who I am now assuming is Frodo. The protective one muct be Sam. I tell Sam he had better get Frodo out of here, Aragorn is out on the road and will help. Sam looks like he wants to ask questions but instead he helps Frodo up and they make very slow progress out towards Aragorn. Aragorn is out there saying we have to get to the ford, the dark riders won’t cross. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade, and I charge it with light energy. When he sees this, the dark rider backs off a bit then turns and leaves. I have a feeling he is not retreating.

I head back out onto the road thinking I can help the hobbits and Aragorn. They are making their way towards the river ford, Aragorn is calling out, asking where the pony went off to… then says it’s no matter, the pony could never outrun the dark riders. The dark riders are approaching the ford, I see five of them coming from down the road. Aragorn says there is no choice, he will have to fight them to delay them while the hobbits escape. The hobbits clearly think this idea is insane, there’s no way Aragorn can face the riders alone. I come out and say he will not be facing them alone. In fact, he should help the hobbits get away, in case the rest of the riders ambush them as they try to escape. Aragorn says he doesn’t know who I am, but… he trails off as he sees my right arm transformed into a glowing white blade, then seems unsure of what to say except something about me being a witch. I tell him no, I’m no witch, but the dark riders cannot face this light energy.

But before anyone can consider escape it is too late, there are now five of the dark riders on one side of us and another four dark riders between us and the river ford. There is no choice but to fight. Aragorn pulls out a sword to fight, so I use Battery by Metallica to call a bolt of lightning and charge his sword with light energy. I still have my Alex Mercer blade arm charged with light energy. Now I focus on the song Old Friend by Disturbed as I attack the dark riders with my glowing blade. “Hear me now, feel my blade! There is no more time for apologies! Malevolent emotions take hold of me! Are you ready to begin your trip to the other side? Death is an old friend of mine! Aragorn and I attack the dark riders, and the fact we are attacking them with light energy has clearly taken them by surprise. Their demonic horses rear up in fear of the light. But I’m not interested in the horses, I’m after the wraith riding on the horse’s back! I jump up and swipe with my blade, splitting the black robes in half and eliciting a horrible shriek. I hear another shriek from the one Aragorn attacks. Then I hear one of them laughing.

I turn and Aragorn turns at the same time and one of the ring wraiths has snuck up from behind on foot and is holding Frodo by a foot. He is laughing manically, and says we have lost. I tell him not to count his rings before they’re won. He seems in a mood to gloat rather than take his prize and run, and he says if we even try to approach him we will get Frodo back piece by piece. I feign that I am striking the ground in frustration… and I unleash Alex Mercer tendrils into the ground. The tendrils, also charged with light energy like my blade, erupt right underneath the ring wraith holding Frodo. They blast right through the ring wraith, eliciting another horrible shriek. The ring wraith disappears into nothing more than a black robe, dropping Frodo. One of the tendrils gently wraps around Frodo and lowers him safely to the ground before I withdraw them. Upon seeing that, the other ring wraiths flee.

Aragorn looks at me strangely, but is more concerned about Frodo. We both go over to check on Frodo. He definitely is not looking well, it seems being in such close proximity to the ring wraith has only accelerated his sickness. He is phasing between solid and semi-transparant right now, and he looks to be in pain. I transform my blade back to normal and then focus on the song Voices from the Macross Plus soundtrack to use it as a healing song. Golden energy gathers around Frodo, and at the same time I notice that the sunshine is once again reaching the ground. The healing energy flows into Frodo, and he immediately looks better. He opens his eyes, and is no longer phasing in and out. He remains solid now. He is looking at me strangely as I finish the song. He says something about me being a fair elf maiden. I say no, I am no elf maiden, just a healer doing what I can to help. I tell Aragorn that I sense there is still a piece of the evil blade inside Frodo, but Elrond of Rivendell has the skill to heal that. I don’t try to remove it myself, because even now I feel I am about to wake up. Aragorn still wants to know who I am. I tell him if there is need, I will be back, and maybe we can talk more then. Everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 03/24

A Lesson in Dreaming

I am in what looked like a school. I wondered why I might be there. I look around to see if I can figure out where I am and why I might be here. I am sitting at the instructor’s desk of a classroom like I am there to teach the class rather than take a class. I look at the papers on my desk and see that they are all about dreaming, specifically about lucid dreaming. Apparently, I’m supposed to be teaching a class in lucid dreaming. Well that could be cool. I wait there for a few minutes and soon people start entering the room and sitting down at the desks. I look around to see if I recognize anyone, but no one is looking familiar. As the last people file into the room I pick up some papers on my desk and look at them. I find it is hard to focus on reading the papers, but I figure it is just nerves because I am not used to teaching a class. When everyone is seated and ready I figure there’s no better time than the present to get started.

I introduce myself as Raven Knight and tell everyone that this is a class on lucid dreaming. Someone in the back laughs and says I wouldn’t know a lucid dream if it fell out of the sky, landed on my face, and started to wiggle. I respond that if anything falls from the sky, lands on my face, and starts to wiggle, I’ll do a reality check. With that, I start to talk about different methods of checking reality to determine if you are awake or dreaming. After I go through several methods including pinching the nose and trying to breathe, electronics not functioning like they should, making print on a page change, and trying to float off the ground and fly, I ask if there are any questions.

A woman in the front row stands up. She is a Japanese woman wearing a very pretty kimono, I think it is probably too nice for this class. She asks what if this is a dream right now. I laugh a bit and tell her that dreams are what happens when we are asleep, unless she has been daydreaming that is. She looks a bit annoyed and then says maybe I should do a reality check. I tell her I already know I’m awake, so there’s no point in… but then I think better of it. I add that it actually is a good idea to do random reality checks even when you know you’re awake, because getting into the habit while awake can lead to getting into the habit when dreaming. So I go ahead and do a reality check by pinching my nose and trying to breathe. To my surprise I find I can breathe just fine with my nose pinched… so this is a dream!

The woman seems pleased that I have come to the conclusion that I’m dreaming. She says that just in case I haven’t remembered yet, she is Asuka. She points at a man sitting in the classroom at one of the desks. He is doodling and doesn’t seem to be paying much attention. Asuka walks over to his desk and I go with her. Asuka addresses the man by his name and I realize it is MoSh. Asuka tells him to do a reality check, this is a dream. He doesn’t seem to be listening to her. I tell him I just did a reality check, and this is definitely a dream. Asuka starts suggesting different methods of reality checks to MoSh, and he seems to be doing them but not coming to the conclusion that this is a dream. I wonder how that can be, are all of the reality checks failing to show this is a dream? I think I might be losing lucidity when Asuka takes an egg from somewhere and now seems to be set on showing MoSh the egg rather than on making him lucid. I wonder what an egg has to do with anything. I am telling MoSh he should just pinch his nose, and if he can still breathe through it, it must be a dream. He pinches his nose briefly and then shakes his head before going back to looking at Asuka’s egg. The egg has gotten me thinking of breakfast, and now I am thinking that I can eat all the bacon I could ever want and not gain a single ounce because dream food has no calories or fat! I am now wishing for a plate full of bacon. MoSh disappears into thin air. I wonder what happened to him. Asuka looks frustrated. She says he woke up. I then start thinking that means there will be more bacon for me. I comment that we need plenty of bacon for everyone left in the class. She gives me a strange look as if I have gone quite insane. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.