Duty, destiny, and my friends
Before I get into the dream, here's a little bit about me. I'm a Marine in my mid-twenties. I finished college before joinging the military. I'm a Shinto Buddhist, rasied Catholic in an predominately Irish family. We're blue-collar, Chicago folk. I hope this is enough background. Here's the dream. It's a long one.
I dreamt that I was riding in the bed of truck that stopped at a farm house in what looked like rural Illinois. I jumped out of the bed, and a guy I don't know in real life got out of the driver side. He had a handle bar moustache and messy hat coming out from under a trucker hat. An Asian woman gets out with him. I notice that her hands are tied and he's holding an end of the rope like a leash. I ask him what's the deal with the rope. He tells me to mind my own business. I feel suspicious but I keep going along. We get inside the farm house, and takes the Asian woman to another room. I don't see her again in the dream.
I wander around the upstairs of the house. It's old, and run-down. One room has a sliding Japanese style door. I open it, and on the other side is a Japanese style room with a balcony and a garden. In this room are three women from my unit. They're all close friends of mine in real life. I tell them that they need to get out of here. The don't believe me that they're in danger. I get a feeling like I should leave right away, but my friends won't come with. I give up on them, and sneak out of the house. As I go, I see the man with the trucker hat with more rope. I get to the street and run away.
On the country road I see a guy from my unit. I tell him I need to run away from here fast. He says he shouldn't get involved. If I run and he helps, bad things will happen. I beg him to help, and he agrees to get my back to town. In town, I end up in a shop where a psychic woman agree to hide me, but she insists on giving me a tarot reading. She lays down one card with a picture of a lamb and a sword on it. She says I'm very special to get that card, and asks if I remember the lamb from church. I say what I remember, "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the earth. Have mercy on us."
When I say that, she smiles and says, "I knew it was you."
Suddenly I see clouds behind her rolling in fast. I think of Tir, Norse god of the air. He's the spiritual warrior god. I say that I'm not ready for this. She insists that I am. Then an old man with a white beard comes up to me. He says there are things I have to do, and I should be afraid of what other people think because what I must do is right. I refuse.
Then the guy that helped me escape comes in, but he looks like he had the hell beat out of him. I ask him what happened. He says he was punished for helping me run, and that the women are in trouble. I feel like a coward, and like I should have stayed and fought. I turn back to the old man, and tell him I'm ready. He hands me a 1911 .45 pistol (my favorite pistol in real life), and tells me that he's going to make me a warrior. When I take the pistol from him, I know that it's my duty to go protect those women even if it means killing someone. I feel ready.
And that's where I woke up.
