This is a dream that occurred to me two nights ago; no, I am not writing fiction nor am I mentally unbalanced, nor have I watched any Marvel movies. The following all happened in my head, with a little embellishment due to the gauze of memory and attempts at clarification the morning after.

In my dream, I was standing in a square in some large metropolitan city, in the throes of an apocalyptic madness. Flames danced everywhere, casting ghastly orange lights in which grotesque shadows frolicked. Everywhere there was the whooshing and sizzling of conflagration, the sounds of fighting and screaming, blows and gunfire. Explosions shuddered the air and ground (or was it the stomping of some monstrous thing?), providing a rhythm to this symphony of chaos, and a constant drone of planes and shrieking of tank treads provided discordant undertones.

While I was still trying to get my bearings, things began to emerge from the flickering shadows and acrid smoke, blood stained things that looked like people, moved like people, were garbed like people; so much so that I first thought they were wounded civilians, but I seemed to feel something wrong about them. As they drew closer, I observed that some kind of shadow hung about their bodies, wreathing them like an aura, and again that sense of unease pervaded me as I stared at their normal yet somehow deformed features. Eventually, one came so close I could smell the blood on it, and that was when it opened its mouth in a yawn. Only then did I feel terror, as the gaping maw of the thing was pitch black; nothing could be seen of the throat or tongue, only a darkness borne from some unhallowed cave or abyss. Driving home its true nature were its eyes, which faded to a lifeless white as it apparently readied itself to consume me.

Somehow, I was able to break into a run, fleeing from the abominations which followed me with a disturbingly unhurried stride. Bolting down roads and streets, passing scenes of awesome destruction but inexorably driven by abject fear and the desire to escape, I was eventually cornered in an alleyway, wretchedly gasping and screaming at the horrors that serenely strode forward. They seemed to be hungrier now, their dark mouths stretched impossibly wide. Perhaps they were mocking me too, telling me there was nothing I could do to stop them taking what I had, that they knew I knew, and should have understood from the beginning. I prepared for death... or the pain of something worse.

It was then that a bright light suddenly flashed out between the mass of buildings behind me, and something jetted upwards. Robbed of breath with surprise, my gaze followed it... and suddenly I was dragged upwards and towards the thing at an amazingly fast speed like a camera filming a rocket launch. I was drawn face to face with the thing as I ascended, and observed with wonder that what I was flying with was a dazzling white robot, short but bulkily built, arms stretched skyward in a classic superhero's pose. It had a pair of white metallic wings, fully spread in ascent, and its overall form resembled a squat, heavily armored man. Its wide blue eyes gazed into my own, and suddenly my ears were filled with the swelling chords of music. The square jaw of the robot also began to move; imagine my surprise when I realized it was singing, and imagine my utter amazement when I recognized the beautifully rich sounds as the first verse of 'Ode to Joy'!

'Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of Glory, Lord of Love...'

We soared continually onward, the fire and lights of burning buildings blurring into a smear and the wind wrenching my hair downward, the deep and slightly metallic voice of the robot quivering my ears yet soothing my heart...

'Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the Sun above...'

Now the peak of the tallest skyscraper was but a toothpick's point, as we continued hurtling onwards towards the immense glittering plain of the night sky, unobscured by smoke...

'Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away-'

It was here that the glorious music and our ascent stopped with a shocking abruptness; the robot sputtered, its neck sparking and eyes flickering, finally fading to black as its engines gave out and it fell back to earth like a shining stone. I curiously still remained in the air, watching my guardian fall with a queer bemusement.

As I hovered, a beam of light suddenly shone out from the top of a tower, bright enough for me to read the words boldly displayed emblazoned on it: STARK INDUSTRIES. I barely had time to read them when I heard an almighty boom, and a brilliantly glowing figure sped upward from the tower at an impossible speed, coming to rest at my level only a short distance away. Again, I heard the triumphant strains of the Ode start up again, and the voice resumed singing as though it had never been interrupted...

'Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light, OF DAY!'

And as soon as the last words of the hymn boomed out, the figure burned even brighter, forcing me to screw up my eyes, and I heard a surging noise, starting softly but swelling to a tremendous volume. Suddenly, a boom like an enormous thunderclap resounded around me, and a brief but amazing pulse of white light burst from the thing. Deafened and blinded, I averted my eyes, and looked back to see glowing green words (or symbols) flash for an instant above its head. Seemingly in response, the city below me rang with a roar of triumph, filling me with an ecstasy of joy.

I strained to examine the radiant figure, but could only distinguish a few features; that it was much taller and more manlike than my fallen guardian, had an enormous pair of outstretched wings, seemed to wear something resembling a pointed crown, and the main source of its light seemed to be the center of its chest. I gazed at it in fearful but also wondering awe... then, without warning, was suffused with the sensation that the thing had detected my presence and was now considering me with a penetrating and scouring intelligence. It was this feeling of searing examination, more than its dazzling aura, that finally caused me to look away from it and down towards the city, which bellowed with a din of combat and cheering. With a start, I seemed to comprehend just how high up I was, and almost as if on cue I began to feel an awful weightlessness crushing my chest; dimly, I understood this as the sensation of free falling, even though I have never sky dived in my life. My vision blurred with pain... and this final outrage on my senses woke me from my sleep to a cloudy morning.

This is the end of my wondrous fantasy, though the experience still haunts me even as I recount it to you. Indeed, the dream is still very much alive in my mind... and hopefully, if you have read to the very end, in yours too, no matter what you may think of it.