OBE / A Guardian? Another Dreamer?
This night I had an OBE using WILD. The physical exit sensations were relatively mild and after the exit I found myself in the loft I slept in. It is one big room with a very high ceiling and my bed rests on top of the walkable garderobe. Unlike in many other OBEs, my body was solid and I had to make several RCs to be sure about it being an OBE/LD. When I was, I simply jumped down the two meters to the lower room floor and landed softly on my feet. The room looked exactly as I could recall it from consensus reality (CR), the blinds of the balcony doors were down and it was dark outside. I turned on the light, which worked perfectly with the usual short delay and increasing brightness of power saving gas lamps. First I checked my limitations, trying to evoke something I imagined. No matter how, it didn't work. It seems the "closer" I am to CR, the less extraordinary powers I possess.
In most OBEs, I am invisible to beings I encounter, but I wasn't sure about it this time. I took a look at the mirror and it displayed my body, dressed in the cloth trousers I went to bed with. I opened the door leading to the corridor and found two neighbours talking to each other about something concerning the building. They looked at me and I greeted them to which they briefly responded before getting back to the discussion they had. Knowing I was visible, I went back in and put on a top, then went out again. The two were still discussing and another neighbour joined in. The corridor is very long in CR, but it was separated by a wall with a door in it now and stairs led upwards where in CR there are none. Probably I was getting further away from CR.
I wanted to try something with the neighbours, so I asked them: "Don't you notice something special about this situation?" They looked at me but did not understand what I meant. One said: "What do you mean 'special'?" I held my nose and breathed through it. "Try that.", I said, "Isn't it strange you can breathe through your shut nose?" They did try it and became confused, unable to grasp what it means. I noticed the surface of the "extra" wall had changed and pointed at it. "Did you see that?", I asked them, "It was completely different just a moment ago." The door opened and I saw a slim old man with grayish hair and a gray-black full beard signaling me to come over. "They don't know about such things.", he told me and I left them behind in confusion to follow the old man. He emanated an aura of calmness, wisdom and authority and somehow it made me feel special to be at his side.
We strolled through a nightly city that was strangely familiar yet completely unknown to me. The buildings looked old but clean and the narrow alleys between them were unregular, like the place was built on hills without leveling the ground first. There were no signs of roads or cars. From the many glass windows, warm orange-yellow light shone into the streets dipping the whole city in radiant gold. The place was busy, numerous shops and street merchants offered their wares, most of it luxury goods and like us, many other persons were strolling along. It was a pleasant and homey atmosphere. While we walked, the old man told me a few things I can not recall, no matter how hard I try, but I do recall a codeword he gave me that sounds like an user account - I'm not giving it to you though.
My companion seemed to know his way around and I kept to his right side thinking about something to say. I told him that I never had such a vivid and extensive experience before.* He just nodded. Then I asked the one question that was at the top of my agenda for weeks: "How can I become lucid more easily?"** At that moment we were walking down a stairway that led through a roofed passage which accommodated several sales booths. He was gone. As I turned around left to look for him I catched a glimpse of some trinkets presented in a glass display case at the exit of the passage and one price tag read "0". I wondered about it and took a closer view. It was a strange little pendant, probably made out of silver that has been strongly tarnished, looking almost black. Below it, there was a little handwritten sign reading: "secret key". It reminded me of a snake on a pyramid, but I couldn't make out what exactly it resembled. I turned right to the merchant to ask him what it is and why it is offered without price. At that moment everything turned grey and hazy and no matter how hard I clawed at my vision, it slipped away and I woke up.
A RC confirmed I was back in CR. I guess I was given an answer to my question in a way I hadn't expected.
I think I remember that old man from another OBE when he told me: "To help people, one has to care for the wanderers." The city reminded me of one that I went to in another LD after witnessing the sun implode next to a red moon, an event that repeated many months later in a different situation.
* Actually I did several RCs during the course of the experience just to confirm the situation and spent at least five minutes alone to orient myself in the loft. All the time I wondered if I could wake up because nothing I did - not even doing nothing - affected the quality of the world I was in.
** I guess I already have a good frequency of OBEs/LDs, yet it is tedious to induce them and takes a lot of discipline, which makes failure the more frustrating. I want to be lucid anytime I sleep, that's my declared objective.
