The dragon didn't know what to expect, but he was open for anything, mind bullshit always felt wrong for him … or as Always as he was aware, he was still Sus’ on the memories he was using.
The Dragon's mind felt freer, but not so different than normal, so he started ranting.
[Rei] “I know those memories are me, or some version of me … but not this one”
The dragon puffed his chest in bravado, the Anger close to home, right at the edge to smother the fear trying to creep in.
[Rei] “Say what you will, but i like a new start, let all that multiverse theory play out … or not even multiverse, or reincarnation, every memory is just a fucking hallucination that your brain has about the real world, it ain’t REALER than a fucking simulation, put you thinking jelly in a jar and feed it information in the same way your body does and Voila, you wouldnt be able to tell the fucking difference”
The dragon didn't know why he could pace, he was supposed to be very still with a cute Kobold hand on his nose, while waiting for some bullshit mind magic that was supposed to make him understand shit and figure out what the Three Cute Dummies wanted with him.
Figure out if he was actually close to making friends, his memories didn't remember having many of those, not that past him cared.
[Rei] “Fuck it, this is [new game +] with all that previous experience, thank you memories of maybe me, now fuck off, i dont wanna remember your awesome life while i’m stuck here, fuck you, i have Cute Kobolds now”
The Dragon was scared of what he would see, the faces he would remember, the feelings he would feel, the hopelessness of never going back there, afraid of seeing his own end, even if it was from old age, a deep Anger of being born in the wrong time, the resignation gained over old age that there's nothing he could do and the satisfaction of a life well lived, a solid 6,5 out of 10.
The Dragon was afraid of not existing, very afraid of it, and it HATED being afraid.
[Rei] “WHERE ARE YOU ?!”
The dragon opened his eyes, he was above a tiny little island of sand, the vastness around his still sea, no wind would blow, no sky up his head, only more sea somehow.
His mind was uncomfortable with the sight, a pressure behind his eyes where his brain tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
[Rei] “A Sea ? That’s stretched upwards and downwards … how the hell am I not drowning ? … or I'm standing UP in a plane, is everything pushing in the same direction ? This Sea looks like a plane … but it goes down and up ? … What’s with this thing, is like trying to fit a 3D environment in 2D space … why make it like a Sea ? it would make much more sense as just Outer Space …”
And as the dragon thought that, his perception of the world around him changed, islands floating in mid air became small asteroids, the environment transforming in what he remembered of space, of countless videos and even VR experiences, but gravity on his small island stayed the same, because he thought it should.
The pressure behind his eyes lessened and he nodded satisfied.
[Rei] “That’s better … floating around could be fun, but let’s not change that yet … alright, i think i got it, this is a Mind Scape bullshit what if i tried to …”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The dragon tried to change his Island, make something out of the sand around him, but got nothing, except for a deep sense of tiredness invading him and his mind, like he just tried to make thermodynamics calculations with no Simulator.
[Rei] “No … i didn't get it … note to self, don't get cocky just because you succeeded with ease before …”
The Dragon was still looking around for the Cute female kobold to appear, but saw no sight of her, so he decided to play in the sand.
[Rei] “Hey … this is nifty, now this feels like clay ? … wait, if I touch it, can I change it easier ? … Why ? … What else can I change this into ? …”
The dragon started playing with the ‘Not-Sand’, making a sand castle, a clay castle, changing the sand to Silicon, to another type of metal, tried molding said metal, tried making the sand salt, make it sugar, make it wood, make it a liquid, tried to taking the ‘Space Aether’ and mixture it with his sand to see what would happen, tried to make a gas, tried to burn the ‘sand-wood’, tried to boil the ‘Space Aether’ …
The Dragon was lost in a fervor of ideas and experimentation, running around like a ADHD kid high on sugar and adderall, he barely noticed the time passing, as if his mind just … stopped keeping track with all the fun.
*** *** ***
Las knew it would take some time, her hope was that her ‘Spell’ could help the Dragon follow her to the Sea of Dreams.
But her expectations were shattered once again when from the word GO, with absolutely no preparation what’s so ever, the dragon was already there.
He didn't build a ‘boat of self’, he didn't prepare for the absolute vastness and weirdness of the Dream Plane.
To be Aware on the Dream Plane was to be at mercy of its whims, you had to make sure of your core self, make sure to prepare for it’s Vast Sea of Nothingness, prepare for the winds and currents that could push you astray in directions that your mind could not comprehend, and make sense of those same directions so you could get where you wanted to go.
Make sure that your mind could comprehend the Aether that filled everything and not drown on it.
When you see the same currents you are riding passing right above your head, it takes a great amount of control to not think about why the sea is not drowning you, because you just made yourself aware that the sea is everywhere, not just below your boat, you are not riding the sea, you are inside it … and … better not to king about it too deeply.
The Dream Plane was a dangerous place to go alone, and unaware.
One could faw below its currents, and Drown, but that’s one of the better fates, you just wake up, feeling that deep fear and the burn of your lungs, there are worse fates than that, she was almost a victim of one.
Her first foray into this land, she was naive, she figured if the Tribes Shaman could do it so easily, so could she, and Kow said she would become a better shaman than he could ever hope to be, she got arrogant.
She learned that Kow didnt know everything, he was figuring things out just like her, he didn't know how to navigate on the Dream Plane propper, he just knew how to be there and use some of it, proper navigation was beyond him, so he stole the Shaman’s secrets for her.
He knew the risks, how many Shaman Hopefuls got to sleep and never wake up, and those that did, were completely on the Shamans Thumb.
But Las said she would be fine, and Kow listened to her, he always did.
The Shamans method was the same as a heartless parent teaching their children how to swing, just toss it into the river, and those that don't die, those deserve to be taught.
She inevitably fell into the Sea, she didn't even make a boat before going, she tried to swim on it, like the Shaman supposedly did, the freer experience, the ‘Master’ experience, the bastard made sure to teach it wrong for anyone trying to spy and take his secrets, and he almost succeeded, his method only worked because he was there to ‘save’ those that he choose to.
She fell into the Sea for the first time, and kept falling deeper and deeper. She didn't even think to drown, she didn't know death on the Dream Plane almost always made you wake up, and she didn't want to die, she didn't want to leave her friends, so she endured.
So she kept falling, and falling on that neverending Sea.
The panic gave way to a calm, and in that calm she started to feel something.
Her beloved trying to wake her up, trying to connect with her mind, giving him everything so she could come back and stop Kow from taking on the Chief and Shaman to try and save her, he would DIE.
So she grasped that sensation, that of an anchor to the Real World, and pulled.
She got out with an experience most never have.
And developed her spell, the tether connecting both, an anchor that could guide and pull someone back, to show her friends what she Saw, so they all could explore that vastness together.
And now she needed to do the same for the dragon, time passes differently there, it varies from person to person, and She needed some odd moments focusing on herself before getting into those dangerous waters.
So when he was ready, hoping that the dragon didn't spend long enough to drown or fall, because he was not supposed to get there First.
[Las] “Nothing ever goes as is supposed to with this Dragon …”
She Pulled the Anchor, and just as she thought, it did not go as is supposed to, she didn't pull the dragon, the dragon pulled her.
Just trying to put the dangers of the place there, the Dragon is ‘adjacent’ to most roadblocks that a place like that would offer, video games, VR simulators, and all manner of movies and shit dealing with Dreams, like that one Inception Movie.
The Dragon wont have the same pitfalls as everyone else, so this is where Las comes to the rescue.
I made those Kobolds on a whim, and now I write more about them than the Dragon … LOVE IT.
