Vivid Dreams

Dealing with the Dragon:

My family and I were running, fighting an enormous black dragon. We were all suited in armor and brandishing various weapons. Despite wearing different faces, races, and armor, we knew each other. They were avatars or characters like in Dungeons and Dragons or a video game.

I do not remember what all of us were other than my father, who was playing a half-orc with a battle ax. He attempted to take down the beast by jumping on its back. He must have been a barbarian because he proceeded to rage, his body wreathed in an intimidating glow.

My husband was playing an elf ranger, a familiar character with only one eye named Sneaker. He has played this character in Dungeons and Dragons before. He steadied his shots and loosed arrows upon the dragon, attempting to pierce its scales on its stomach.

I was a rogue, sneaking around the edge of the battlefield, looking for an opportunity to backstab the thing. (I know; it seems silly now. Also, I've never played a ranger before in a campaign.) But I received a notification in my headset. It dawned upon me that we were in VR.

My husband's grandparents had arrived, and there was only one way out of the game. I had to find the hidden exit; as the party's rogue, only I could do it. Cue me groping around the perimeter of the game until I found the door. Once inside the exit, I asked the home management device to stop the simulation.

My arm hurt as my family safely exited, and my dad explained that I had been gripping my weapon too hard. That I needed to ease up, and it would be better in a bit. Interestingly, I had that same pain in my arm when I woke up. I had probably slept on it wrong, and the pain bled into my dream.

In the non-existent Attic:

I was at my grandparent's single-level house, and this is not the first instance of my finding rooms within it, in dreams, that do not exist. I think this is because I was not allowed to go into many rooms or places growing up. But, this time, I was standing in front of a wall in the kitchen with a hammer in my hand.

I was demolishing the wall. In reality, this wall goes into the laundry room and is a thin wall. But, in the dream, the wall revealed a plain wooden door. Opening it, I find myself entering a sort of above-ground cellar. Inside are various items of little to no worth.

As I investigate, I find a staircase leading up to a second level. Approaching the stairs, I look up and hear a wizened feeble voice call, "Hello, is someone there?" Panicking, I attempt to run, but the being disappears and reappears in front of me. It is an old hag or crone.

I defend myself with the only thing I have on hand; I have somehow lost the hammer, an expired glass bottle of cola. I shake it up and open the cap, spraying it all over the hag. Escaping, I keep seeing her out of the corners of my eyes, singing in a breathy sing-song voice, "Thank you for freeing me from my silver-lined prison. Come and make a deal."

Black and White:

A group of us were going on a field trip to a national park/amusement park. It was a rite of passage. Upon arrival, we are sorted into groups by these nurse-looking women. They wear pristinely pressed woolen black dresses, and all look similar. Giving us white clothes, they send us to changing rooms. We get changed and are seated. The tables are round with crisp white cloths.

We are given mugs of tea and instructed to drink them before a tea leaf reading that will reveal our futures. We do so by draining our mugs, placing them upside down on saucers, and waiting for the woman in black to read them. As I watch, my friends and fellow students begin to get groggy and nod off.

As I do not fall asleep, one of the women in black regards me with a quirked dark brow. She takes me aside and brings me to a woman in gray. She looks me over before shaking her head. She tells me that I came to the wrong entrance for a meal, but I do not understand.

They pity me and take me to a side room; once done, they bring me something flowing and silver in another mug and tell me to drink it, that I will feel better. I refuse, but they do not stay to watch me drink it. I know I must keep a clear head. I need to run.

Slipping out the door and down the hall, I spot a boat outside, the same one we rode in on. If I can get on it, avoiding the woman in black and gray, I can get help. Then, diving from the balcony of the room I am in, I splash into the water below.

Fish-like things are swimming in the water, and it is too late for me to turn back. I swim as fast as I can for the boat, but the fish-like things attempt to stop me. But, one of them allies themself with me. We board the ship and sail it off back toward the mainland.

The ally explains that they are sirens and I am one too. I stumbled into a farm designed to syphen a few years of life from the humans. Then, they drink the silvery years to remain young and beautiful. I realize, to my horror, that I will have to drink this, too, to survive. My mother had been feeding me spoonfuls of this silvery stuff my entire life.

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