[IC] Dreamweavers

[IVIasterJay]

Dreamweavers OOC

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Arc One: Sleeping Gods
Interest Check

A white hawk with a black hooked beak and silver eyes and talons ripped apart a squirrel in a tree just outside the wall of the Unnamed City. Beneath its gaze a merchant’s caravan pulled up to the guard station and stopped to be checked by the silver-armored knights. As the hawk took off into the air its gaze expanded to cover the city beyond the wall. Miles and miles of rooftops filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of citizens, each one meticulously born of the godking’s flesh and soul. But nothing inside the wall held a candle to the godking’s palace.

In the center of the Unnamed City stood an immense pillar of white marble that rose a thousand feet into the air, far above the rooftops of the highest buildings of the city. There was a castle atop the pillar, but compared to the pillar itself the castle appeared mundane by comparison. The only opening or remarkable feature visible from below was the single balcony jutting out from the castle’s topmost floor. That would be the throne room of this world’s ruling god.

The white hawk flapped once and flew into the city, circling lazily over the heads of the active citizens at the market before shooting down a side street towards the city’s center. The bird fell through the air like a peregrine falcon parallel to the ground. Only one person below looked up to take notice of the animal: a young girl in a black and violet ceremonial dress.

The hawk shot towards the pillar and then straight up its side with impossible speed. As it shot past the balcony railing its feathers shifted into cloth and its shape into that of a human boy. Aaron stood in the air above his palace for a moment before allowing himself to fall onto the balcony floor. His long, thin wings of black flames extinguished as they faded from his back. His long, white robes dragged on the marble floor as he walked across the throne room towards his seat.

No sooner had the godking sat down than did a girl enter the room. It was the same girl that had seen him pass over the market. The girl showed no sign of fear or reverence towards the god as she looked into his black eyes that appeared impossibly dark surrounded by ivory white skin. Everything about the god was either pitch black or pure white, perfectly monochrome. Most would have been strangled by the very air pressure that surrounded him, but she was not. Even if he sometimes hated her in the waking world, Aaron would never bring himself to harm his twin sister, whose image and voice this girl in his dream wore. He’d even given her the same name.

“Emily.” The godking’s voice was an overlay of many different voices all speaking the same thing at once, but one was always slightly clearer than the others. That voice would be Aaron’s.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Stop talking like that,” she demanded.

“Is this better?” Aaron asked in his normal voice, that of a single young boy. Very few citizens of his world dared speak to him, let alone make demands of him. But he hadn’t been able to make someone who looked like his sister conform to his rules. Of all his world’s citizens, she was most like her real world basis.

“Yes, it is. So how was your day?”

There it was, the question he both looked forward to and dreaded. But he was safe inside his head, which meant he could say anything he wanted without ridicule. Aaron sighed before saying, “It was terrible. The teacher always asks me the hardest questions. She knows I won’t know the answer, she just wants to make the others laugh at me. I hate her.”

Emily was silent as her god complained about his waking day. When he was finally done ranting about every possible thing wrong with school and peers and life in general, she started to laugh. After a moment, he was laughing as well. Here he was complaining about teachers when he was the god of an entire universe. Though she annoyed him to no end in the waking world, for some reason it was always her who made him feel better in his dream world.

The transition away from them talking about various things was sudden, Aaron feeling no reason to experience the rest of the day as time passing. In the blink of an eye the day was over, the sun set behind distant mountains, Emily gone to do whatever she did when he had no need of her. She may have simply disappeared, something Aaron speculated his citizens sometimes did when he wasn’t there to see them.

Aaron recreated his wings and flew out over his darkened city, many windows dark for the night, just as many still lit up for those who may or may not even exist inside. He left his city behind to fly to a barren wasteland on the other side of the world. It was time for some fun.

The godking’s wings faded as he created a black sword to use. Opposite him a massive beast was taking shape. It looked like a wolf, but it was made of what looked like inky smoke, and its eyes shone out blood red in the night’s darkness. When it was fully made, the beast let out a wolf-like howl. Aaron smiled and charged at the creature.

The beast somehow dodged away from Aaron’s sword, and a shadowy protrusion from the creature’s side shaped into a snake that struck out at him. Falling beneath the serpent’s deadly fangs, Aaron used the gun that hadn’t been in his hand a second ago to shoot up through the snake’s head. It faded to nothing, but the beast was still there. It used the momentary distraction to close its teeth around the godking’s leg. Emptying the gun into the beast’s face did nothing, so Aaron switched back to the sword and cut his own leg off to free himself. The leg rebuilt itself as soon as he was free.

Aaron wasted the rest of the night fighting the black beast, the beast wounding him fatally many times while he avoided dealing any finishing blows. After what felt like hours of back and forth, Ian felt a slight pressure on his body. He was slipping out of the deep sleep where he got to play god. The black beast was frozen as Aaron held it still, and then it simply exploded, their fight over for tonight.

The godking zoomed out until he could see his entire world, and then he closed his fingers around it and it vanished. The dark backdrop of endless space lightened until Aaron opened his eyes to the far-too-bright morning sunlight. Aaron rolled over and covered his face with his pillow. Why did he have to wake up? He hated the waking world. His sister barging into his room to force him awake didn’t put Aaron into any better a mood.

“Get off of me, Emily!” Aaron shoved his twin sister off of his bed.

“Mom, Aaron is yelling at me again!”

“Shut up!” He made to throw his pillow at her head, but she sidestepped it and ducked out the door in a flash. Why did she annoy him so much? Couldn’t she be more like how she was in his dream? The real world was so much worse than the one he’d made.

[10/4/14 7:35AM]

[Cryptiic]

:: Dream world - Frozen Plains ::
:: Time unknown ::


(Click on the image for sound.)

The arctic winds were howling silently across the vast expanses of frozen landscape. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, everything was covered with a thick coating of vivid blue ice. Not the sickly transparent white of the real world, but rather a rich, opaque cyan perfection. There were no trees in sight within this barren environment, no animals or signs of life to be found. Only an endless horizon of rugged blue hills, icy azure valleys and towering frozen crags. Carried delicately within the frigid breeze were tiny gusts of snowy particles, wandering lazily over the massive expanse. None of them ever seemed to stay on the ground for too long, however. Somehow, as if carried by some invisible force, they would always rise up again, caressing the terrain in eerie, almost hypnotic dance. Scattered throughout the wasteland, in sharp contrast to the otherwise cold blue environment around them, were vibrant orange rivers of flowing lava. Like otherworldly snakes of living fire, they wound and twisted between the battered canyons and jagged cliffs in bewildering patterns, giving the scene an unearthly, deeply mystical allure.

Up above, flowing across the clear veil of nocturnal arctic sky, a breathtaking spectacle was unfolding. Tracing puzzling shapes across the midnight stars, a massive aurora stretched as far as the eye could see, like multi-coloured ribbons of transparent silk. Dazzling palettes of purple, green, aquamarine and blue, weaving and unweaving soothingly throughout the sky, several hues of which they probably hadn't even invented a name for yet. Spectral creatures seemed to swim across the aether, weaving their paths between thunderous clouds of striking purple and august lapis. Some seemed shaped like humans, others did not. Ghostly birds, skeletal dragons and winged sea serpents were intertwined in the sparkling azure sky, swirling in a wonderfully chaotic cacophony of lights and beauty.

Alone within this overwhelming ocean of frozen tranquility, a lone but tenacious figure slowly made its way across the arid landscape. It was a man, in his early forties by the looks of him, with a luxurious, icicle covered beard and a pair of small circular glass frames perched on his nose. A warm outfit of thick, heavily insulated animal hide was draped over his weary body, leaving only his head exposed to the harsh winter winds. His fur-lined hood had long since fallen back, exposing his head of short, wind-blown greying black hair. Despite his age, his features were sharp and attractive, with an undeniable scholarly charm to them. A pair of sturdy black walking sticks were clasped in his mittened hands, and a set of sharp iron ice clamps were secured to his leather boots.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The ice cracked crisply beneath him as he walked, the metal hooks sinking deeply into the slippery material as he inexorably made his way forward, one laborious step at a time. His walking stick would stab repeatedly up and down into the ground, anchoring him firmly as he went. He couldn't afford to make a mistake now, any misstep might be fatal. Clearly visible through the opaque fabric of his left glove, a ring of pure shimmering light could be seen around where his ring finger would probably be, seemingly unimpeded by the material around it.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

It was impossible to tell how many days had passed since the start of his long, gruelling journey. In this realm, time often seemed to flow... differently, for lack of a better term. Days and nights would last entire seasons, shortening only briefly during the span of a few short weeks before inverting themselves yet again. Here, everything seemed intertwined between radical extremes. Light and dark, hot and cold, day and night... Life and death... It was a place of breathtaking beauty, but also one of danger and loneliness. Not many mortals dared to tread into this strange and surreal landscape, and those that did were far and few in between. It was harsh and inhospitable wilderness, untouched by the hands of man and nature alike. Here was a place where the primordial forces of creation still held sway, where the raw elemental energies of the universe coiled and uncoiled together with chaotic harmony.

Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...

The man breathed heavily as he reached the top of a short, jagged hill. Allowing himself a few moments to take in the sight before him as he struggled to regain his breath, he let his eyes wander across the phantasmal landscape below him. Rising heated air from one of the lava streams below gently caressed his face as it reached him, provided a much welcome relief from the constant burning cold. Far ahead, he could see a circular clearing in the terrain, a wide sunken plain devoid of cliffs or fiery rivers. His destination at last. The auroras overhead seemed to coalesce slowly, spinning in a wide, lazy circle above it.

It had started.

Immediately, the man began moving again. Every second counted. There was still a lot of distance to cover, and he would have to hurry if he wanted make it there in time. With renewed vigor, he pressed on forward. He soon reached the bottom of the hill, and began walking alongside the narrow river of lava which flowed underneath it. Dense clouds of translucent fog would slowly rise from where it met with the frozen terrain, only to be rapidly transformed into tiny clouds of wandering snowflakes which would quickly disperse in the wind. Everything around seemed to be in a perpetual state of flux, yet at the same time, nothing really ever changed. There was a certain sense of stagnation to be found in this strange land, a sense that everything seemed to come in circles, like a perpetual loop, always in movement, yet still stationary. It was a closed system, an isolated structure, eternal and peaceful for always, forever shielded from the worries of the outside world.

Eventually, the river diverted, and he had to continue through the cold without it, with only the light of the moon and stars to guide him on his path. As he ventured forward, ever closer to his destination, the very air itself began to feel strangely energised, the harsh winds growing more restless, howling and whistling in anticipation. It wasn't long before his hood was yet again blown back by the gale, but he ignored it, as always. He didn't have time to stop for it, every second counted. His weary features opened up with happiness and relief when he reached the clearing. At last...

By now, the aurora above had already begun its slow yet inexorable descent. By the time he finally reached the center, it was almost touching the ground below it, filling the valley with a nimbus of multi-coloured light. It was beautiful. A kaleidoscopic array of spirits floated through the air around the perimeter, swimming through the aether like a massive swarm of polychromatic fish. The wind was blowing stronger than ever, entwining hypnotically with the melodic whispers of the creatures above. A single figure separated from the group, floating down until it was standing face to face with him. It was the phantom of a beautiful woman, who's features were obscured by an ethereal veil of incandescent light, the same colours as the very aurora itself. A ring of pure shimmering light could be seen brightly glowing on her left ring finger, a perfect mirror of the one found on the traveller's own. The two figures stared at one another, mesmerised by emotion, and finally embraced. Together at last.

The ethereal specters around them began to spin wildly in a circle around them, as the wind raged on as never before. Like a dizzying whirlwind of light and colour, it spun faster and faster, before dispersing in a peaceful sigh of aether, the valley tranquil yet again. At the center of the clearing, only two walking sticks and a pair of ice clamps remained...

Immaterial and unseen, a boundless presence watched on with a smile. Tonight had been a good night.

---

:: Waking World - Everine's room. ::
:: October 4th, 2014 - 7:01AM ::

Everine awoke with a smile on her face. She'd been afraid that she wouldn't be able to finish that dream in time... After reaching down to pre-emptively disable the alarm next to her bed, she immediately took hold of the small black notebook on her nightstand and began to write. A contended tear rolled down on her cheek as she did so. This had been such a wonderful dream... Why couldn't the real world be more like that?

She was distracted from her reverie by the sound of her mother calling for breakfast. Putting the notebook aside with a sigh, she quickly put some clothes on and began brushing her hair absent-mindedly. If only she could stay asleep forever, she pondered. She could spent her entire time just imagining stories and wandering across the world. She would still wake up every now and then to go to the library or fill in her notebook, of course, but otherwise she could be free of duties and obligations. No more homework, no more ballet classes, or piano lessons, or ice skating, not unless she wanted to. No, just endless flying forever and ever...

"Everine! Are you up yet?! We're leaving in twenty minutes!" the voice intervened again.

"I'm coming!"

She set the hairbrush down and hastily grabbed her notebook and backpack, before leaving the room and heading downstairs. Mom and Dad were already at the table, putting down breakfast. She settled into her usual spot and began writing again, barely paying attention to the food in front of her. Dad did the little fake cough thing he did when he wanted you to pay attention to something, and she looked up. Hm... Pancakes! She liked pancakes... But then again, she wasn't quite done writing down the dream she had last night. What a dilemma... She quickly filled her plate with some of the delicious syrupy goodness, then went back to writing, absent-mindedly biting into an enormous mouthful of pancakes in the process. Was syrupy a word? She'd have to ask Mrs. Ryan in English class later today. Dad did the little fake cough again and she looked up, meeting his amused gaze.

"Busy night?" he asked jokingly. For some reason, adults never really seemed to take her dreams very seriously.

"Mmrrff-mm!" Oops. Too many pancakes in her mouth.

"Can I see?"

"Irsh mot firishd."

"Evee, dear, please don't talk with your mouth full, it's rude."

"Sorry mommy. I said it's not finished. I have to write everything now while it's fresh!"

"I'm sure it can wait until after breakfast. How about you just tell us about it instead?"

"But moooom..." she gave her the face with the big eyes that always made her laugh and say yes to everything.

"Oh, alright..." she laughed, giving Dad a funny look. "Just make sure you eat everything. And that means your fruits too."

She quickly resumed writing, barely giving them another glance for the remainder of the meal. She ended up leaving a little food behind at the end, but Mom didn't really say anything, because they were getting late and she didn't know where her keys were, and she couldn't find them next to the mirror, even though Dad kept saying they were next to the mirror. Eventually, they found them on the table by the big couch that always made funny noise when you sat on it wrong, and they hopped on into the car. Dad gave Mom one of those funny kisses he gave her where his lips did weird things with her lips, and gave her a big hug, the one that lifted her up and made her legs swing from side to side. He got into his own car, the blue one with the pink dices on the mirror, and they drove off, saying goodbye through the window. She had mostly finished writing by now, so she began a quick sketch of the landscape in her dream, using coloured pencils to make it lava-y and icy all over the way she imagined.

They got to school, and Mom got annoyed at her because she wouldn't leave faster and had her pencils everywhere, but she gave her the look, and Mom made the face she always got when she tried to keep looking angry but looked like she really wanted to start laughing. They got everything back in its proper place, even the purple pencil that fell between the seats, and Mom did the embarrassing thing where she licked her hand and started fussing with her hair. Fortunately, there weren't too many kids around to see that. She went to the playground, hoping her usual corner wasn't used, while Mom went to the big building where she always met with the other teachers.

[Dragonydas]

Another night, the same dream. The same landscape of golden grass extended to the horizon and the same hundreds of thousands of balls of light hovered above the grass. It was always the same place. What changed was always what Risa did with those balls of light. Today, she was feeling playful, and she wanted again to play baseball with her parents. She began by creating her parents out of the balls of light, by fusing them and deforming them. When the figures were done, she added her parents face to them and then began by creating other figures that would serve as the other players. Only two others had faces, and they were of her mother's parents, the ones that always took care of her. It was with her grandfather that she learned about baseball, and it was actually a sport that she loved. There was no need to talk or hear. Only focus on the ball and hit it with a bat.

All the figures were in place and the stadium was created. It was time for the game and the first ball was thrown. Risa quickly struck it with her bat made of light but no sound occurred from the action. It was a home-run, and the crowd cheered on, but again, no sound could be heard. This was a silent world. Since Risa had never heard any kind of sound in her life, her brain could no understand how to use sound, even in a dream where she had complete control. The silent game continued for about 2 hours before Risa decided it was time for a change of scenery.

This time, she was with her parents on a fair. She had never been to one but her imagination created it from what she saw on commercials, posters or cartoons. It had a Ferris wheel, a roller-coaster and many other rides that Risa and the two figures with her rode on. They also tried various kinds of food. Cotton candy, Candy apple and many others. All of them, surprisingly, tasted like chocolate, her favorite type of candy. She spent the rest of the night in this fair. It was only when a small ball of light gently touched her arm that she knew it was time to wake up.

---

Back in the real world, her grandmother was sitting on her bed, gently touching her arm to wake her up. When Risa was awake, she noticed that her grandmother had once again brought her breakfast to bed. Cereals. It was always the same, but Risa didn't mind. She was used to it. She ate her breakfast and then proceeded to go brush her teeth. Her grandmother had taught her how to do it just by showing how to, and Risa quickly picked it up. It was this way that Risa had learned everything she did. Just by watching her grandparents, she had learned how to do very basic sign language and how to write all the letters, but she was still far from learning how to read or write.

Her schedule was always the same. After waking up at nine in the morning and getting ready, she would sit on a desk on the library with her grandmother and learn how to write and use sign language. She always had a small break in the middle to drink juice and even have a cookie if her grandmother thought she was making progress. After the break, it was time to go back to studying. The morning period of studying ended at eleven because it was time for her grandmother to prepare lunch. Her grandfather was always out though, taking care of the bakery that they owned, right beneath their apartment. Her grandmother would usually eat in an hurry to go replace her husband on the bakery, but after he ate, her grandmother would come back for the rest of the lessons. Today was no different, so she quickly dressed and went to the library to begin a new day of learning.

[Prints Avoid]

There was a commotion in the village as the crowd gathered in the square. Their eyes were fixed on the villa at the top of the hill overlooking the village. Though the harsh sounds coming down from the villa had been raging since just after midnight, it was only until well after the sun rose that their fear finally lessened enough to be overpowered by curiosity. They stared at the villa, the light reflecting off its walls of glass. There were shrieks and roars, and many noises that were impossible to identify. The one sound that was clear was the occasional sound of shattering glass. What could possibly be going on in the home of that demon, the master of the town.

Deep within the hill a warrior was racing down a long corridor made of glass. He roared beneath the dark blue hood as he chased the yellow mist only a few feet ahead of him. It cackled and shrieked, projecting fireballs and raising walls of glass as it tried to get out of his reach. It was quickly approaching a mirror at the end of the corridor. The warrior braced himself as he knocked another fireball out of his way with his staff. The fireball was deflected and dissipated as it hit the glass. He could already see himself in the mirror through the haze and its reflection. As the mist reached the mirror, it quickly solidified into the shape of a large yellow bird that flew through the mirror. The warrior grunted and ran faster, diving through the mirror right after the demon. He felt his stomach lurch as he came out of a mirror in an entirely separate part of the glass villa's multiple basements.

He skidded to a halt and immediately turned to face the mirror he had just existed. A hint of a smirk crept across his face as he swung his staff. The sound of a tiny giggle rang out from the mirror followed by a loud shattering as the fell. That was the last one... or at least he thought it was the last one, which was good enough. Turning swiftly he continued the chase, running at yellow haze. It approached another mirror, changing into a bird once more. Only when it entered the mirror this time, it stayed. The creature flapped around within the frame of the mirror, continuously shifting between mist and bird from but it could not escape. The warrior walked up with a smirk on his face. He removed his wolf's head hood which he had definitely been wearing throughout the battle and following chase. His hair and bare chest were drenched in sweat. The battle hadn't been that strenuous, but it made for a cooler image. He raised his right hand to the mirror,the glove dematerializing as he did so. "Now I can destroy the evil that has plagued this land for too long." He plunged his hand into the surface of the mirror and grabbed the yellow bird by the crest. The rapidly shrinking yellow bird had a single blood red feather at the back of its crest, he plucked it off and the bird unravelled like a sweater. The warrior removed his hand from the mirror and tucked the feather into his satchel. There was the same giggling sound he'd heard after breaking each mirror, and then a deafening cacophony as the entire villa shattered.

A few moments later, the warrior stepped out of the wreckage, miraculously unharmed by and of the billions of glass shards around him. The only sign that he had even been involved in any of the previous night's events was a single cut across his left cheek put there by the bird's talons. As he stood there, he caught sight of a few of the men from the village walking up the hill.

"You did it!" they cheered. "You killed the demon!" He gave a grim smile as they ran up and knelt before him. "How can we ever repay you for freeing us from the evil?"

"Free you?" he asked. "I've done no such thing. The evil that terrorizes our land was not that demon. In fact, its presence here has been the only thing keeping your village safe. No, so far I have only succeeded in luring out the evil. In fact, here it comes." He pointed out to the horizon where what seemed like a second sun was rising. It was a large ball of white fire speeding towards them. Everything before the fire melted away into a black liquid which fell behind ball of fire. The liquid itself was forming an enormous inky black wave darker than night itself. The men of the village turned white with fear at the sight of the approaching doom.

Of course that wave wasn't the evil, Lucas decided. No, that was just him waking up. That must be it. Yes that seemed appropriate. The light of waking up, the world melting away. It only made sense. Ah, there it was the light.

Lucas sat up in bed, stretching his arms. He got out of bed, knocking the book he had fallen asleep reading to the floor. He stepped over the books and toys and clothes strewn about the floor making his way to the door to his bathroom. That had been quite an adventure last night, but now it was time to prepare for his real life adventures. This world had plenty of mountains to climb and demons to face.

10/4/14 6:55 AM