lucid

2017, 05-12

Return to Minas Tirith

I am in a place I don’t recognize, I look around and see a man, is demanding to know who I am and how I got up here. He says only his personal guards and those he has admitted are permitted here. I wonder who he is, then I see another man there is Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Gandalf says he knows me, I have traveled with their company at a couple different times. More important now is that Denethor get a rescue force together or Faramir and his men have no chance of reaching the city alive. I ask what has happened. Gandalf goes to the edge of the outcropping that overlooks Minas Tirith and the surrounding lands and he points out at a rock formation that is surrounded by many orcs. He says Faramir and his men have taken refuge there, but they can’t hold off the attacks forever, which is why Denethor needs to send out a rescue sortie. Denethor says there is no way a sortie would be successful, he would just be sending more men out to die. Gandalf is frustrated and says Denethor’s son is out there as if Denethor wasn’t already aware that Faramir was out there and cornered. Denethor says it is the hardest decisions that fall to him, but there is no hope for success. I tell him to just stay up here and watch if he thinks the situation is impossible.

Denethor is asking me what I think I can do about this but I ignore him and run right at the edge of the outcropping. I jump up and out into the open air much to both Denethor’s and Gandalf’s surprise. I fly out over the city and then out over the fields beyond. The enemies are filling the fields beyond, they are doing double takes at me flying but then they start firing arrows at me. I dodge them and dive down to a place among the enemies, about halfway between the rock formation and the gates of Minas Tirith. This is a good spot for Dark Power of Abyss by Rhapsody, it’s time to drop an Immortal Fire! “And suddenly the unreal silence is broken by a lament... a lament coming up from the deepest darkest abyss. And from the seven gates of the dark fortress, the dead come back to life to face them... this is hell!” As I do the next part a circle of light energy erupts around me. “Immortal fire, now rise, light my heart, light my way through the darkness, the guardian of space and time!” A circle of light energy explodes out from my position, blasting enemies out of the way all of the way from the rock formation where Faramir and his men are hiding to the gates of Minas Tirith.

In the aftermath of that massive blast the fields are left bare, enemies that were on the edge of the affected area are all fleeing in terror of a force they have never witnessed the like of. The way to the rock formation where Faramir and his men are is clear, I go over there to see if everyone is able to move towards Minas Tirith. I see Faramir come around the edge of the formation, with another familiar person right behind him. Altaïr is there with Faramir, his sword is drawn and covered in the blood of orcs. Altaïr says the enemies won’t stay afraid to approach for long, they’re too dumb to know their own peril. I ask if anyone needs healing before they can be moved to the city. There are a couple that are on the edge of death with serious wounds, so I quickly heal them and then we start heading for the gates of the city. Most of the enemies are keeping their distance, but not the Nazgul, five of them are swooping in towards us as we are making for the gates. From the gates of Minas Tirith now comes a man on a white horse, they are blazing with light energy. It’s Gandalf, the White Rider charging out to meet us, shining a bright ray of light energy at the approaching Nazgul. The wraiths veer aside and break off their attack, retreating into the night. We reach the gates and get inside, Gandalf following us in as the gates are swung closed with a heavy clang. The people in the city are all cheering us and the return of Faramir and his men, happy to see their safe return. I now have the time to heal the rest of the wounded, whether their wounds be small or great. Shortly after I finish healing the last wound everything around me fades to black and I wake.

2017, 05-12

The Battle at Osgiliath

I am in what appears to be a meeting hall, I am near the back of the room. I look around and see it is filled with warriors that appear to be of high rank. I hear someone talking at the front of the room, he is talking about not giving up the outer defenses. I hear mention of the outpost at Osgiliath, and that more soldiers need to go there to defend. A man says they will not be able to hold it long even with reinforcements. I get a bit closer and I recognize one of the men speaking as Faramir, captain of Gondor. I assume that the man he is talking with must be the steward of the lane, Denethor, Faramir’s father. Denethor says Boromir can’t do everything, he is away on an urgent errand, but if any captain remains who will do his lord’s bidding… Faramir says he will go to Osgiliath if Denethor orders it, and Denethor immediately says he does order it.

Faramir leaves the hall and I follow him out, I don’t think Denethor even noticed me. Gandalf is out with Faramir now telling him not to throw his life away needlessly, he says Denethor loves Faramir and will remember that before the end. I go over to Faramir and ask if he could use a little extra help, I will offer my skills as a healer and a warrior. He seems hesitant, probably because I am a woman, but finally says he will take any who are willing to come, for they will need all the help they can get at Osgiliath. I follow Faramir out where he gets on a horse, and some other soldiers are also on horses. A Rapidash I recognize as my own Rapidash named Stardust trots over to me. The people around are staring in amazement at Stardust’s flaming mane and tail. I climb up on Stardust and we are ready to go. I tell Faramir that if I go ahead and use a healing spell on the attackers I am sure at least some will break off the attack. He asks if that’s why the company moving through Ithilien was so small, I say yes, many of them turned back. He says to go ahead, then. An enemy who turns away from the fight is worth two who have to be defeated in battle.

I ride with Faramir and the others for the trip to Osgiliath because the enemy still hasn’t shown themselves. The waiting when we get to Osgiliath is the hardest, and I am afraid I will wake up before the action even starts. Soon there are armies approaching from the other side of the Anduin River. That’s my signal so I ride right towards the middle of the group while focusing on the song Full Moonlight from the Devil Hunter Yohko soundtrack. The song plays, I am surrounded by light energy that spreads out over the area as I am spinning around, forming into an orb in the sky that looks like a moon shining bright. Light energy is spreading out from that orb, bathing all of the attacking forces in its light. Indeed, some of the enemies start turning back the way they came, but they don’t get far. The Nazgul are following up the attack and immediately strike down anyone who is trying to retreat. This really pisses me off because they are killing all of the enemies I have managed to heal. I focus a blast of light energy from my moon orb right at the Nazgul who are attacking, and it creates an opening for at least some of those who have changed their minds to escape.

There are still plenty of enemies attacking, however. And the Nazgul are attacking rather than following after the enemies who have decided to retreat. I leave the moon orb to cast light energy over the battle areas in hope that it might counter the fear effect of the Nazgul. I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and start cutting up the enemies who I was not able to heal. The battle rages on for a while, I have killed many orcs and healed several injured soldiers of Gondor. But there are just so many enemies that before long they are slipping past and our group has to fall back towards Minas Tirith to keep from being surrounded. There are also more soldiers of Gondor injured than I can keep up with healing, so I break off and help escort some of the injured to a place sheltered by large rock formations where I can heal them without being attacked. I heal them but then I am feeling the dream slipping. Faramir has arrived with more injured men and I tell him I’m about to disappear, no time to explain, but I will come back as soon as I can. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 05-11

The White Rider

I am in a city that looks like it came straight out of a fantasy game. I look around and see a lot of people moving about, some of them stop to look at me as if they have never seen the like of me. I notice most of the people I am seeing are men that are decked out in armor as if ready for war. I’m not sure where I should be going, but I get the idea I should be going somewhere… I walk for a while and soon one of the men passing by asks what I am doing here. He says he doesn’t mean any offense, but he thought all of the women went to the shelter in the mountains. I’m not really sure what to tell him when I hear another voice call me by name, someone clearly recognizes me! I look and see Pippin from Lord of the Rings. Pippin says he was wondering when he would see me again. The man who questioned me says he thought all the women had left, Pippin says I’ve traveled with their company at times and I fight as well as a company of men. He says if I help protect Minas Tirith then the enemy will surely fail! I see Pippin is with another man, the first man continues on with his duties. Pippin introduces me to his friend who turns out to be Beregond, one of the soldiers of Minas Tirith. Pippin says they were just going up on the wall to see what they can see, maybe I should come. Beregond seems a little hesitant, but Pippin says he knows me well enough to vouch for me.

I follow Beregond and Pippin up some stairs and soon we are at the top of a wall overlooking the lands surrounding the city. I look out over the lands as Beregond and Pippin are talking about what is out there and what they know to be coming. I hear a faint noise out there that sounds demonic, and both Beregond and Pippin shiver as if a chill has run through them. Pippin looks over the wall and points to a place where three flying shapes can be seen swooping and turning in the sky. I look out and see it, too, and there are also shapes on the ground that appear to be people on horses. The flying shapes are firing blasts of dark energy at the people and horses, and I hear a horn blast from them. Beregond says that’s Faramir. Pippin is saying Faramir and his riders will never make it, won’t someone go help them? It looks like Beregond might be about to head out to help them but I have seen now why I am here. Much to Beregond’s amazement I jump right off of the wall to head out and help.

I see it is a lot farther than I had realized and I need a ride… I need a horse! As if called by my thoughts, I hear the sound of hooves behind me. I look back and I see a Rapidash quickly catching up with me. Rapidash slows down a bit beside me so I can jump onto her back and then she speeds towards the approaching riders as they are being bombed by the flying Nazgul yet again. Rapidash is fast, and in just an instant I am among them, using the song Battery by Metallica to call down bolts of white lightning on the attacking Nazgul. It doesn’t take much to make them back down, they immediately break off their attacks and soar back to the east, back to Mordor. I see flashes of white in the sky from off to the North, and two more Nazgul retreat from up there. Shortly after they retreat I see a white horse come into view with a white rider, Gandalf has come, but apparently the Nazgul had split up in order to keep him away from Faramir and the fleeing riders so they could not make it to Minas Tirith. Gandalf arrives and asks if everyone is ok, he says we need to get into Minas Tirith in case they return. All of the riders get their scared horses back under control and everyone rides for Minas Tirith. But I never get there because on the way I wake up.

2017, 05-10

Night Stalker

I am in a place I don’t recognize at all, it looks like a normal neighborhood street. It is night time out and all of the houses are dark, it looks like no one is home or everyone is in bed. I walk down the street in the dark because this neighborhood lacks streetlights of any kind. I can only see where I’m going by the light of the full moon in the sky. As I am walking down the street I see there is someone standing in the middle of the street. It looks like the silhouette of a man, I can’t see any details of his person. I approach the man and I sense a dark aura around him. He seems to be watching me in the dark. He says he can lay waste to everything I know. I say I have dealt with people like him before, his mysterious and dark façade are not impressive to me. I go over closer to him and I am thinking I’ll use a healing song on him in case that might be of help. I focus on the song Touch My Heart from the Devil Hunter Yohko soundtrack. A pillar of light energy erupts around the man and all falls back in on him, flowing through him. The song finishes and the man just stands there staring at me for a bit longer and then he disappears. I continue walking down the street to see if there is something else to be found here. A dog runs out from a yard and comes over to me barking, but then sits down and wags its tail. I pet the dog on the head just as I wake up.

2017, 05-08

Dark Mirror

I am in a place I don’t recognize. I look around to see if I can figure out where I am. After walking for a while I realize it looks somewhat familiar, but at the same time not familiar. It looks like a creepy dark version of a place I have been before. There are run down houses positioned around a cul-de-sac, and the people walking on the sidewalks look distinctly like orcs. I find that strange because the neighborhood looks completely normal for this world aside from the fact it looks like it has been abandoned and now is falling to ruin. I start walking along the road, not sure where to go or what to do in this strange place. The orcs wandering around don’t seem to be paying any attention to me so I pay no attention to them. Then I see a man approaching me, definitely not an orc. Maybe he knows what is going on here. I go over to him and ask him where we are. He says it’s supposed to be his inner world, but it looks like someone has made a mess here again. At first that statement makes no more sense than this place does, but finally I put it together and I realize I’m talking to MoSh, but this sure doesn’t look like his inner world…

MoSh says we have to find Asuka, so I agree to help him look for her. We go through a rundown looking house that I think is most likely haunted and we come to what looks like it used to be a beautiful garden, but now everything in it is dead. I look at the dead and brown plants and wonder what could have happened here to make them all die. I then realize there is a woman in the garden, but she is down on her knees next to something. I wonder what it is that she is looking at so I go over to see her. It is Asuka, and she is kneeling beside what appears to be the only plant in this whole garden that is still alive. There is a small and somewhat sickly looking plant growing there with a single beautiful flower blooming brightly. I ask what is going on here, and she says she has to save this flower. Everything else is dead, so she has to save this flower. MoSh comes over and seems glad to see Asuka appears to be ok, and he says it’s time to go home. I ask Asuka what has happened to MoSh’s inner world. She looks around and says this isn’t MoSh’s inner world, it’s a mere shadow of MoSh’s inner world. She also repeats that she has to save the flower. MoSh takes her by the hand and tries to lead her away. She keeps saying she has to save the flower and reaching back for it. I tell her I’ll get the flower. I form an energy sphere around the flower, the plant, and a chunk of soil it is growing in and bring that along as I follow MoSh and Asuka.

As we are making our way out of the strange garden I see someone who wasn’t there when we went in. There is a man standing on and blocking the path to leave the garden. He looks like a walking corpse, and I get a whiff of a foul odor coming from him. He is rotting and decaying. Asuka says he is the bringer of death, every plant he touches dies and decays. She seems worried that he will get too close to the flower and kill it somehow. The zombie approaches us and MoSh ask him who he is and what he wants. He laughs and says MoSh already knows, but he sees a new friend… he might just have to drop in and visit me sometime. I can’t help but laugh when I think of him trying to drop into my inner world and running into my shield like a solid titanium wall, or meeting Vegeta to blast him back where he came from, or the psycho twins Mary and Marty with more weapons aimed at him than he could register sight of before he got vaporized. I tell him if he wants to be erased from existence he is free to try. MoSh says this guy should be erased right now so he can’t bother Asuka or Björk any longer. That makes me think of the song by Björk that comes to mind first, so I add that if he tries to get in he might just end up meeting an army of me. As I say that I form my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered but laughs and disappears.

MoSh, Asuka, and I go into the house that appears to be a run-down version of MoSh’s house in his inner world. I wonder if I should do something to fix the place up since Asuka said it’s not really MoSh’s inner world. I am looking around the house when MoSh says the zombie man is out front now. I wonder what this guy wants and I head to the front of the house to find him. I look out front and I see the zombie man out there. I think I should go out there and teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget even if his brain is rotting. I go out the front door but now he is gone, as is the whole neighborhood. I look around and now I am in a green meadow with no sign of the rundown house and neighborhood, no sign of MoSh or Asuka, no sign of the zombie. I look and see I still have Asuka’s flower in an energy orb, so that’s good… I am thinking of trying to get back to Asuka and MoSh but I wake up.

2017, 05-03

Forbidden Pool

I wake up in a bed that is not my own. It doesn’t feel right at all, so I roll over and look around to see if I can figure out where I am and what I’m doing here. It is dark in the room, but my eyes are well adjusted to the dark and I can make out a bit of the area. There are two other beds and I see a man standing over one of the beds, and I hear him whispering to the person in the bed. The person gets up and I see he is small, about hobbit sized. I get the idea that must be Frodo, and I am also thinking I should follow him. I get up at about the same time as the other hobbit, Sam, gets up, and we both follow the man and Frodo. They disappear from the room and we follow them down a path, up some stairs, and out onto a ledge overlooking a waterfall. Sam seems to want to stay back from the edge, but I am not afraid so I go out with them. Sam says something about it being too cold to be out here just to look at the moon. The man, Faramir, says Sam can go back to bed if he desires, the only one he meant to bring was Frodo, although he has no problem with Sam and me coming along as well.

I go over beside Faramir and Frodo as Faramir is asking Frodo what exactly they are looking at. Could it be a black squirrel from Mirkwood? If it is, it is awfully large and it has no tail. Maybe it is a kingfisher? If it is, then it is a black one… A man that was already on the ledge says it is no bird, it dives and swims like a human and does quite well at it. Faramir asks Frodo if his archers should shoot it. I look down and I see Gollum climb out of the pool with a shiny fish in his hands. Even though he can’t see what we’re looking at, Sam must have figured it out, so he says, “Yes!” and I say, “No!” at the exact same time. Faramir looks at Sam, then at me, and says everyone who was not asked has answered, but he is still waiting for Frodo’s answer. Sam tells me if I knew more about Gollum then I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to shooting him. I tell Sam that I say ‘no’ BECAUSE I know a lot more about SMEAGOL than he does, but I am not angry at his saying ‘yes’ because I know he just wants to protect Frodo. Faramir asks Frodo again if his archers should shoot it. I tell Faramir that Smeagol really has no idea that this hidden place exists, he is only after fish, thus is not a threat because even if he took the information straight to the enemy, he could tell nothing more than, “There is a nice pool there with tasty fish,” which would not interest the enemy in the slightest. Faramir says that merely gazing upon the pool carries a penalty of death, then he turns back to Frodo, who has gotten a bit distracted. The idea of killing someone for just looking on a pool of water seems so absurd to me that it is making me angry, and I say, “You’ve got to be kidding…” a bit too loud.

Faramir either doesn’t hear my comment or chooses not to respond as Frodo finally answers the question originally meant only for him. He says no, he does not want Faramir’s archers to shoot Smeagol. Sam looks disappointed, but not surprised. Faramir says he can’t just let that creature go free, but how are they to capture the slippery thing with anything other than a well-aimed arrow? Frodo says he will go down and bring Smeagol back. Frodo quietly follows one of the archers down to the level of the pool, then he starts talking to Smeagol and saying he needs Smeagol to go with him. I am thinking if this goes on it will look like a betrayal and make healing Smeagol harder, so I will just have to keep the people here from being a bunch of assholes. I focus on creating a shield around Smeagol so they can escort him back to the hideout but can’t actually touch or harm him. The archer that led Frodo down there looms up over Smeagle as if to grab him, but finds he can get no closer. He instead looks rather goofy as if he was just trying to intimidate Smeagol with his larger size. The man looks perplexed, and two other men who try to grab Smeagol have the same results. So Frodo just leads Smeagol the rest of the way back up to the ledge. A couple other men try to approach Smeagol and also can’t get close. Since all the men keep their distance, Smeagol seems to be beginning to believe that they mean him no harm.

The man who led Frodo down to the pool goes over to Faramir and tells him of the strange thing that wouldn’t let him get close to the creature Frodo calls Smeagol. Faramir hesitates, then looks over at me. He says it would seem I am a sorceress after all then. He asks what I have done to his archers. I say I did nothing to them, just a shield of protection around Smeagol in case they were thinking to use excessive force on someone who is already coming along willingly. He gives me a dirty look but says no more, and we all go inside. Once inside, Faramir says that he has decided on his own doom, Frodo can go free along with whatever companions he chooses. He asks if Frodo takes Smeagol under his protection, and Frodo say he does. Faramir gives me a dirty look again and says they don’t think too highly of sorceresses around here. I blurt out that I don’t think too highly of people who would murder someone who is no threat to them simply for fishing in the wrong pool, so that makes us even there. I return his dirty look. Faramir looks at Sam, then at Smeagol. Smeagol has resumed eating his fish.

After Faramir talks to Frodo for a bit more, counsels Frodo not to take the path Smeagol has planned but can’t offer a better idea. Faramir says he has added food to Sam’s and Frodo’s packs to help them out in spite of the company they choose to keep. I am thinking I can use the Penticon computer chip to replicate more food for them if they are in need. Frodo says they were also companions with Gandalf, he’s a wizard, so how am I so different? I tell Frodo, it’s ok if Faramir doesn’t like me, there will always be plenty of people who don’t. As long as he isn’t holding it against Frodo, I’m ok with it. Faramir says he and his people will have to be moving out, so Frodo and the rest of us also have to move out. We walk out of the hidden cave, and I again give no objection to being blindfolded. Faramir mutters that I can probably see anyways… We get to a place a ways away from the hidden cave and they take the blindfolds off. Then our paths part. Frodo thanks Faramir for his assistance, and Sam does as well, then we part ways. We haven’t gone far down our separate path before everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 05-03

Faramir's Secret

I am walking in a forest, and it is really quite beautiful. It is also a perfect day for taking a walk in the forest, the sun is shining, there is a gentle breeze blowing, and I hear the sound of a flowing stream nearby. The only thing odd is that I don’t hear any birds. I wonder why there wouldn’t be birds singing in the trees. I keep going and soon I hear voices. I follow the sound of the voices and peek through some trees to see a man and two hobbits walking together through the trees. I hear the man talking about Boromir, saying Boromir was his brother but he fears that his brother is dead. When one of the hobbits, Frodo, asks why he thinks that, the man, Faramir, says Boromir’s horn was found in the river, cloven in two pieces. He says there is only one way that would have happened. I remember that Boromir is not dead, I remember healing him, and I think it would be cruel to let Faramir go on thinking his brother is dead. So I step out into the open.

When I step into the open, Faramir stops short and does a double take. He raises his bow with an arrow already fit to it and asks who I am and how I managed to appear out of nowhere like that. Frodo answers before I do, telling Faramir that he won’t need his bow, I am a friend who sometimes comes by to help on their quest. He says he doesn’t know how I manage to get around so. I tell Faramir my name is Raven Knight, and I give a bow of courtesy. I tell him I wasn’t meaning to spy, but I overheard that he believes his brother is dead. He asks what I know of Boromir. I tell him I hope to put his fears to rest, Boromir is alive and well, I know this because when Boromir was injured I was his healer. Boromir did indeed get injured when he was fighting valiantly against many orcs, and his horn was cloven, but Boromir was still alive when I reached him and he was not beyond saving. Frodo wants to know about the other people in their company. I tell him I don’t have details, but I can assure him that they were all alive when I last saw them. Faramir says he certainly hopes I speak true, but now I must accompany my companions and him back to their hidden place, he would decide what must be done then. I don’t bother mentioning that I could take out him and all of his people all by myself, instead I cooperate and say I will be glad to cooperate.

I follow Faramir along with Frodo and Sam for a while, just enjoying the walk in the forest. Faramir and Frodo chat a bit more, Faramir asks if I have any more details on what happened to Boromir. I skip over the part about Boromir trying to steal the ring from Frodo, and go to the part where Boromir was bravely defending the other two hobbits from many orcs, and indeed he slew many orcs before it became too much. But the orcs believed Boromir was dead and they moved on, they were wrong. I’d been responding to the sound of Boromir’s horn and when I got there he was gravely wounded, but not lost, so I was able to heal him with the light energy. He asks if I’m some kind of sorceress. I tell him not exactly, I just channeled the healing light to restore Boromir to health. He says that if I speak true then he is in my debt for saving his brother. I say no, I just did what was right. He stops and says he will have to do all three of us a discourtesy right now, it is their law that anyone visiting be blindfolded when approaching the secret place. Frodo says it's no problem, even the elves do so when strangers need to enter Lothlorien. I tell him to go ahead, I will offer no objection. A couple more men come from the trees and tie scarves around Frodo’s, Sam’s, and my eyes. I find it strange, but I can still see where we’re going, as if I am seeing right through the blindfold. I say nothing about that, however, and I let one of the men who came lead me carefully through the trees. After several twists and turns that are no doubt meant to disorient us, they take the blindfolds off and we are now looking at a beautiful waterfall.

We go inside some caves and Faramir says he will get us some food and drink and they decide what is to be done in the morning after we’re all rested. He gives us food and drink in the form of dried fruits and salted meats with some kind of wine. Soon the hobbits and Faramir are chatting away, and I’m not paying much attention. Frodo is telling about what has happened on their journey across Middle Earth, then they are talking about elves, then Sam is saying Boromir took his own peril into Lothlorien and it was then he knew Boromir wanted the enemy’s ring… Then there is a brief period of time where Sam and Frodo seem to think Faramir will try to take the ring by force, but I am sure he is not going to try anything, and he doesn’t. He says he wouldn’t take it if he found it by the side of the road. He then says we should all get some rest, then shows Frodo, Sam, and me to three beds. Frodo falls asleep almost instantly, Sam takes a bit longer. I sit down on the bed and everything fades to black as I wake up.

2017, 05-03

Minecraft Inner World

I am in a place I don’t recognize, but it looks like the aftermath of a disaster of some kind. I look around to see if I can figure out where I am. There is a man there looking at me, and he comes over. He says he’s glad I was finally able to make it here. A Japanese woman in a kimono comes over with a plate of cookies. She says she knows I love her cookies, so have one. I take a cookie, it is chocolate chip and it is delicious. Soon, names come to mind for the woman and the man. He is MoSh, and she is Asuka, and I had a goal! The goal was to fix stuff up here after MoSh’s inner world was invaded last night. I look around, and I start seeing things as if they were in the video game Minecraft. I tell the two of them that I will gladly help repair things.

I go to where it looks like there was once a house but now there is a large hole in the ground and the frame of a house. My mind has gotten stuck on Minecraft somehow (I haven’t played it for a long time) so I go with that and I start moving around blocks of dirt to fill in the hole so the house will be stable on top of it. I am doing that when I see another man, and this time I think of Data from Star Trek. He says he might have to rethink the catacombs to make sure they are also protected, he hadn’t figured the remote viewers would find them so easily. I keep moving blocks of dirt around, but I hang on to some blocks of various minerals and precious metals that I find. I have found copper, silver, gold, and a ton of coal. I come across some sand and I collect that, too, since I remember that is one of the few types of block in Minecraft that is affected by gravity. If I leave sand and MoSh wants to build down there later, it could all collapse. I run out of dirt blocks and I have to get out of the hole to collect more. I deposit my inventory of minerals and metals in a neat pile in an empty lot area. I call over to MoSh that I’m leaving the good stuff I found over here, so he can build or craft with it at his leisure. He looks surprised at that and comes over to look at what I have found. I go to a hill that doesn’t seem to serve much purpose and I collect some more dirt blocks to complete filling the hole.

After filling enough of the hole I start looking at the debris pieces and picking those up. All of the parts of the house should still be here as long as a Creeper hasn’t exploded any of it. I start rebuilding the house as I find the pieces, but I haven’t found all of the pieces yet. I have some pieces from the second level but no stairs so I put up a ladder to get there. Then I wonder if I’m doing it right, after all, this is MoSh’s house, not mine. I look around for MoSh, Asuka, or Data to tell me if I’m doing this the way they want it done. I don’t see any of them for a few minutes, then I spot MoSh moving some blocks around on the lower level of the house. I ask him how he wants things to be laid out, but he just shrugs at me so I decide to keep working. If he doesn’t like it, things in Minecraft are usually pretty easy to rearrange. So I keep building, and still I haven’t found any stairs. Maybe there was a Creeper? Maybe the Templars stole the stairs? But that doesn’t make any sense… why would Templars steal stairs?!

After a lot of working and moving stuff and finding some even more rare minerals and metals to add to the growing resource pile I finally step back and look at what we have built. The area has started to look surprisingly familiar, like a Minecraft version of a video game place I have seen many times before but I can’t think of what game it comes from because it is a game I don’t personally play. The only thing out of place is the large pile of rare minerals and ores that I have piled in an open area. I look around to see if I can find MoSh. I don’t see him now, but I see Asuka. I go over to her and ask where MoSh is. She says she thinks he woke up, but he will probably be back. She says to stick around for a bit, MoSh had mentioned trying to heal my sickness. I tell her that might have to wait, because I think I am about to wake up. Even as I say that, everything around me is fading to black and I wake.

2017, 04-28

Full Moonlight

I am in a place I don’t recognize. It’s a rather beautiful place, a forested area near a running stream. The sun is shining high in the sky and it is very pleasant now. I walk along the stream for a while, just enjoying the scenery. As I make my way up the river I see someone on the banks, it looks like he is washing something in the river. I get closer and he stands up, I see he is a hobbit. He looks over and sees me, and I clearly gave him a bit of a startle. He jumps back a bit and then stares at me for a bit longer before finally saying my name. “Raven? How did you get here?” He says he never thought anyone would find them way out here, have I been following them the whole time? I tell him no, I just show up when I’m needed. I look up from the stream and spot a stream of smoke rising. I remember from the book that the smoke was from Sam’s cooking fire, but I pretend I know nothing. I point at the smoke and tell Sam that some fool has started a fire out here, it’ll draw every orc in the vicinity if we don’t put it out. Sam looks at the smoke and drops an expletive before running up the hill towards the fire.

I follow Sam up the hill but I stop when I hear a whistle from a different direction. It sounds like a person imitating a bird, but I can’t tell for sure. I go farther up the hill but I stop when I hear voices up ahead. I peek past some concealing trees and see several men standing around Frodo and Sam. Apparently, they have met up with Faramir. I watch them from a hidden place, my Assassin’s robes lend themselves to keeping me concealed. I watch them for a bit and then Faramir is telling Frodo and Sam that they have to intercept an army of humans that have come to join the ranks of the Dark Lord. I wonder if those people are truly evil or if maybe Sauron has done something to corrupt them, maybe I should try to heal them before the battle between them and Faramir’s people starts and then a lot of people will get killed perhaps needlessly. I want to reach the enemy forces before they engage in battle with Faramir’s people, so I quietly move away from my current location, continuing up until I come to the road that Frodo and Sam have been following. Since the enemies were coming from the south, that is where I need to head in order to intercept them, so I head along the road to the south.

I haven’t gone far along the road before I see the enemy approaching me. They don’t seem to notice me until they are virtually on top of me. One of the men towards the front gives off a laugh and says I’m walking on the wrong road. He laughs more, but I ignore him completely and run directly into the middle of their ranks. Since that was the last thing they were expecting, no one stops me. I focus on the song Full Moonlight from the Devil Hunter Yohko anime soundtrack. (Link to YouTube song: ) The song plays through, an orb of light energy forms in the air over my head, it looks like a moon spinning around, throwing off waves of light energy. I am spinning and dancing underneath the orb, sending off more light energy, and all of the warriors around me are standing and staring in stunned silence, they don’t seem to know what to do. I see that some of the people in the enemy forces are on the backs of massive elephants. I continue the song, wanting to make sure and get some of the healing energy to the people on the elephants, and the elephants as well if they have also been corrupted. Soon the entire area is flowing with the golden energy coming out of the moon-like orb, and the people look rather disoriented. I am hearing people questioning what they’re doing here, and saying they don’t really want to go to war for someone who has never done anything for them or their families. One of them says they have to go on or there will be retribution. I tell one man who seems to be a leader that if they’re worried about Sauron attacking them to get revenge, there would be no need. Sauron will never get the chance to hurt anyone else. He seems to believe me, maybe the energy filling the area helped convince him.

I see there are some people seeking to continue, but most are turning back now. I figure Faramir’s people can handle the few that continue. Except… a few of the people on elephants are continuing, but I don’t want the elephants to get hurt, so I form an Alex Mercer blade of my right arm and cut their riding howdahs right off the backs of the elephants by cutting through the straps holding them in place. The huge structures fall from the elephants and crash to the ground. Now riderless, the elephants also turn around and head back towards the south, towards their homes. I disappear into the trees again, not sure if anyone saw me go or not. I slowly make my way back to where I saw Frodo and Sam with Faramir and some of his people only to find they are gone. I wonder where they have gone off to. I wonder if they saw any part of my little light show, maybe they took off. I try to think of what happens next in the book but right now my mind is getting a bit fuzzy, it is hard to focus on any one idea for long. As I am still trying to make my mind focus on one thing everything around me starts fading. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-25

The Wise and the Lost

I am on what looks like a road from a fantasy game. The road leads across green fields and rolling hills. Not too far off I can see what looks like a wall around a city. I have the idea that is where I am going so I head in that direction. The road leads past a pillar with a white hand statue on it, the hand is pointing farther along the road and the fingernails are painted a red that looks like blood. I continue past that and soon come to a place that used to be blocked off by a heavy gate, but the gates have been literally torn to pieces and cast aside. I am about to go through the destroyed gate when I hear a couple different people calling out to me. One of the voices calls me by name, “Raven!” while the other voice demands to know who I am and what my business here is. The person addressing me by name is Legolas from the Lord of the Rings books, and the person who wants to know my business is a tree… or rather an Ent. The Ent seems to consider it good enough that Legolas knows me and he returns to his guard post near the destroyed gate where he becomes virtually invisible, which is why I hadn’t seen him on approach.

Legolas comes over with Merry, Pippin, Gimli, and Aragorn. I do a double take and before I even realize I’m going to speak I ask where Boromir has gone. Aragorn says not to worry, my healing work did its job well, but Boromir went directly on to Minas Tirith, as was his original intent. He says I will never believe who came back to them when they needed him most… Gandalf! Well there he is right now, with Treebeard and King Theoden and the others. He heads off in their direction and everyone follows him. We meet up not far from the tower of Orthanc, Gandalf doesn’t look surprised to see me. He motions to the tower of Orthanc and says he was just about to go have a word with Saruman. I say I think I may yet be able to heal Saruman’s heart from the darkness that has taken up residence there. Gandalf says he would not tell me to not try, but he has a feeling Saruman won’t be likely to listen to reason. I say he merely has to listen to my song.

When we get to the tower, Gandalf calls Saruman out. After a brief pause I see Saruman standing on a small balcony up above us, about a third of the way up the tower. Saruman leans out and surveys the people here, I quickly duck out of the way closer to the tower so he doesn’t see me. Saruman is now saying how he has little hope that Gandalf is here for his council, but King Theoden has been his friend for so long… he then sets off on trying to win King Theoden over with his charismatic voice. I look back and see that Theoden seems hesitant to give any answer to Saruman’s request that he come up and they talk together and make peace between Saruman and the people of Rohan. Saruman is acting like he is the one who has been wronged rather than King Theoden and the people of Rohan, even though it was Saruman who started the attacks, not the people of Rohan. I ignore what Saruman is continuing to say and I go to the door into Orthanc. It is, of course, locked. I use the Harry Potter spell Alohamora to unlock the door and it swings open silently and I enter, taking care to be completely silent.

The interior of the tower of Orthanc is dark at first, but my eyes quickly adjust. I find stairs that head upward. I wonder how many levels up Saruman is, it only looked like a few, which is less than I’d pictured it when reading the books. I climb up a few levels, following the sound of Saruman’s voice. Suddenly he sounds angry for a bit before going back to his soft and soothing voice. Someone down there is getting him annoyed. I get to the level where he is and quietly open the door. I see across the room to where the balcony connects to the room, Saruman is outside and completely unaware of me. Now Saruman is telling Gandalf to come up, let the two of them take council together and speak reasonably as only the wise can. There is a pause, then Saruman gets pissed again. He spits out a few curses that weren’t mentioned in the Lord of the Rings books and then turns away from the balcony and comes inside. He stops short when he sees me and asks who I am to barge into his tower unannounced and uninvited. I tell him I have only done what he bid, for someone to come up and be reasonable and hear his council. I figure he might be more agreeable if he thinks I’m on his side. He says he doesn’t have any interest in taking council with the likes of me. I feign disappointment and say then I will have to settle for giving my help to him even if it is unasked for.

He starts to say there is nothing I could possibly have to say that would interest Saruman the Wise, but I ignore him and begin the song Liberate by Disturbed. Saruman needs to have his mind set free from Sauron the Dark Lord, who controls him through the Palantir. “Bold motherfucker won’t you liberate your mind?” Saruman does a double take at the music that starts playing, the sound of Disturbed… “Bold motherfucker, won’t you liberate your mind? Can't you see that the messages have fallen behind? All the hate in your heart will be leaving you blind, so bold motherfucker won’t you liberate your mind this time!” The room fills with a golden energy that flows around and through Saruman. When the song is done he looks disoriented, confused. He asks what has happened, what has he done? I say he has done only what his puppet master has commanded him to do, but now the strings have been broken and he is free to act on his own again. I look around the room and I see the source of his problems, there is the palantir sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. I go over to it and carefully pick it up without looking into it. I say to Saruman that the palantir is what the enemy has been using to control him, but no more will he be shown those twisted and backwards versions of what is happening in the world. Now he will make his own mind instead.

Saruman looks confused still as I walk from the room. I go down the stairs and past a confused looking Wormtongue, who does nothing to get in my way. I figure he can stay loyal to Saruman, because now that will not put him on the side of evil. I have a feeling Saruman is going to be very angry at the Dark Lord for being used as a pawn. I notice that he looks rather sickly, but I figure Saruman can help him if he is ill. I exit the tower of Orthanc and find Gandalf and the others still there. Gandalf asks what happened in there, he said he heard what sounded like music from another world (I get the idea he didn’t particularly like it) and then nothing. I carefully hand Gandalf the palantir and say the enemy has controlled Sauron using that, but now the strings are broken and Saruman is a puppet no more. Gandalf takes the palantir, also making sure not to look into it, and wraps it in a cloth he pulls from inside his robes. Aragorn asks what about Wormtongue. I say he’s been doing evil under Saruman’s orders, so now if he continues following Saruman, he won’t be doing evil. I say if Wormtongue needs more healing of heart, I will return, but now I can’t stay. Everything is fading even as I say that, and then I wake up.

2017, 04-24

Dragon Warriors

I am on top of what looks like a mountain, standing near the peak on a ledge that overlooks the valley below. It is dark out, but I can see the light of dawn beginning in the west. I look around, not sure where I am or why I might be here. Q from Star Trek is here, he says he will be right back. He disappears in a flash of light and then after only a short time he appears again with a man and two dragons! One of the dragons look like the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon from YuGiOh, and the other one looks the same but is a white dragon with blue markings. Q tells me not to worry, he won’t let me make Pikachu jealous. He sets a cute Pikachu on the ground near my feet. He says we’d better get going now before it’s too late. He says he can’t wait to see how those stupid orcs react when they see three dragons diving from the sky at them! Q laughs and then disappears in a flash of light.

The black dragon picks the man, MoSh, up and sets him on its back. The white dragon looks at me expectantly, but Pikachu gets directly between my legs and then transforms into the Blue Eyes White Dragon from YuGiOh. When he has finished transforming I am perched on Pikachu’s back and he is a dragon. MoSh takes flight on his dragon, then he calls to me and asks if I know where we’re going. I say I believe we’re heading for Helm’s Deep, they’re probably under attack right now. Pikachu takes flight and we lead the way down into the valley as the light in the west slowly brightens. The white form of the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon takes flight and follows as MoSh follows me down into the valley. We soar over the lands below, I never get tired of riding on the back of a dragon, it is so exhilarating that I have to be careful not to let it wake me up. We fly down lower to the ground and over Helm’s Deep to where the area beyond is packed with orcs and humans in the service of the enemy. The light in the west is growing, but that doesn’t seem to bother the orcs attacking, they’re the Uruk Hai, human-orc hybrid monsters created by Saruman. There is only one thing that will make them stop, and that is when they’re dead.

There are orcs gathering around outside the outer walls of Helm’s Deep, and everyone on both sides stops what they’re doing to stare in wonder and amazement at the three dragons diving down over them. The black dragon shoots a black fire at the orc hoards, the white dragon fires a white flame. When the two mix together it creates a massive wall of fire that incinerates all the orcs in its path. Pikachu adds his power in the form of a lightning storm crashing down all around the orc hoards, who are now in a panic and running blindly in the other direction. In the increasing light I can now see there is a forest in their path, and the orcs are rushing to take cover in the forest. They seem to think that will save them, but as I am remembering it, that is a forest of ents and they will never escape there. All three of us circle around for another pass, and now I can see Helm’s Deep clearly below with the defenders on the wall still watching us, seeming unsure of what to do about the arrival of three dragons. Another pass and another attack destroys another wave of orcs. Now they are all either dead or have disappeared into the forest of ents. I look back and I see the people on the wall of Helm’s Deep still watching us, some of them pointing, they’re probably waiting to determine if these dragons will attack them next. Since some of them know me, I fly down on Pikachu and get close enough that they can see me on his back. Legolas is the first one to realize who I am and he looks completely stunned. It takes a bit of time before Aragorn can get anything out of him. I wave to them and then head back into the sky. MoSh seems to be enjoying flying high over the ground on the black dragon. I start to follow him over the land, but it is too late for that. Everything around me fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 04-24

The Horn of Boromir

I am in a forest walking along a path. It’s a very nice day for being out on a walk, though I don’t know where I am and I can’t remember how I came to be here. I start to think that is strange and maybe I should do a reality check. I stop and I am about to do a reality check by pinching my nose, but I am distracted by voices calling out in the distance. I listen more closely to the voices and I can hear that they are calling out for Frodo over and over in voices loud enough to signal not only Frodo, but every enemy close enough to hear as well. I start following the sound of the calls, thinking I had better find out what is going on and what the problem is. I come through some trees and I see a man heading up a hill and a hobbit is falling behind, but trying to keep up. He finally stops and looks around, seeing me. He calls me by name and asks if I’ve seen Frodo anywhere. He says Frodo went off to think for a while, but that was far more than the hour he said he needed, and no one can find him. He says Aragorn went ahead to look but he couldn’t keep up…

I go to follow Aragorn up a hill as he is searching for Frodo. I have almost caught up with Aragorn when I hear the sound of a horn blowing from the other direction. I turn and look in that direction, it no doubt means someone is in trouble. I decide I’d better follow the sound of the horn, someone might need help now. I change direction and head in the direction of the horn. It seems to take me forever to get there, it must have been farther off than I realized. I enter into a small clearing just in time to see a man with several arrows protruding from his body fall to the ground. There is an orc standing over him about to finish him off with a sword. I call out to distract the orc from killing the man before I can act, “HEY, DOUBLE UGLY!” is all I can think of to say. The orc pauses and looks over at me, but this is enough of a delay for me to form my arm into an Alex Mercer blade and remove his head from his shoulders. The head of the orc rolls away and the body collapses.

I run over to the man, who I now remember is Boromir. He has been badly hurt, but he is still alive. I tell him to hang on, I can heal him. He says it’s too late for him, he’s too badly injured. He grabs my Assassin robes with surprising strength and pulls me close to him. He says he has to tell someone, he can’t take this secret to the grave. He says he tried to take the ring from Frodo, and that’s why he ran off, but he might be in danger. He says orcs took the other two hobbits, he tried to stop them… I tell him to stop trying to explain, he wasn’t himself when he tried to take the ring, and now he needs healing before we can go after the hobbits taken prisoner. Aragorn comes running into the clearing and looks alarmed at Boromir’s condition. He asks if Boromir is alive, and I say yes, I am going to heal him. Boromir goes limp, he passed out, which will make the next part much easier. I pull the arrows out, which would have hurt if he was conscious, and then I focus healing energy through him which seals up the wounds. Boromir’s breathing becomes more steady, no longer labored. I tell Aragorn that Boromir should be ok now. Aragorn says he’s never even seen Gandalf do healing like that… who am I? I have a feeling I am about to wake up, so I tell him that would be a rather long story to tell and I don’t think I have time. I say there are reasons beyond my control that sometimes limit how long I can stay around there. I pull a crystal necklace out and hand it to Aragorn. I tell him it contains light energy, and it should relieve any lingering effects that may be present. Boromir stirs like he is about to wake up. I tell Aragorn to give him the necklace and he will be fine. Aragorn is asking another question, but I don’t hear it before everything fades to black and I wake.

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.