Death's Other Kingdom

One of the most amazing lucids I've had in ages!

11.28.2012

The Battle for Your Heart (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Arcadia, a beautiful woman with long white hair (who seems to be some sort of deity) whom I falsely remember dreaming about before, announces to me and the team of people I am with that we must travel to a different part of the dream to eliminate a certain threat. She says it's nothing major, just something that needs to be done. I also falsely remember having this particular dream before, and I want a different ending than the supposed "other" time.

We arrive at the house of a rather crazy but seemingly benign family who is supposed to transport us to where we need to go. Their refrigerator is actually something similar to a Tardis in disguise, so they immediately go about cramming me and my team into the small shelf spaces. I am instinctively aware that the family is evil and is going to turn on us soon, but we are too vulnerable to cause a conflict at the moment. I don't want to be attacked while trapped in the tight confines of this refrigerator.

Soon, it doesn't matter what I want. The family (who is apparently some type of gang) attacks, but I manage to quickly get myself out and under cover before they can shoot me. A long battle ensues. Much of it involves a deadly back and forth shooting between my team and the crazy gang-family. It isn't long before I run out of ammo. I act as though my gun is still loaded in order to keep the enemy at bay as I search for a new weapon, hoping to do so before they realize that I'm basically unarmed. I'm somewhat surprised that the guns are working in the first place, as they usually malfunction in my dreams. I'm also worried about forgetting parts of what is happening when I wake up, because the battle has been going on for a long time and I know I'm bound to lose parts of it. (Sadly true.)

In my search for a new weapon, I happen upon a high tech grenade that, in addition to a fiery explosion, shoots out spinning projectiles that will slice anything nearby to bits. I activate the grenade, shout a warning to my team, then throw it and run out of the house as fast as my legs will carry me. We barely make it out the door before the whole house goes up in flames.

The battle against the remaining enemies takes me into the trees, where I am sniping down gang members who get too close. Out of nowhere, mutant zombies similar to lickers from Resident Evil begin scaling the trees toward me. One of the mutations splits it's head open, revealing rows of disgusting teeth along each side of its interior. Adrenaline kicks in and I manage to shoot them all in the head and kill them before they can get to me.

With the enemies pretty much gone or sent running, Arcadia appears. "This problem runs much deeper than I originally thought," she tells me anxiously.

"You mean because of the zombies?" I ask.

"No, even deeper than that."

As we walk back to Arcadia's control room, I slip my arm around her waist. She stops and removes it promptly. "Keep your hands to yourself," she reprimands me.

"Well excuse me," I scoff with a little laugh, both surprised and somewhat amused at being rejected by a dream character. Grinning mischievously, I walk unnecessarily close to her so that our arms are pressed together. I expect her to tell me to back off again, but she doesn't.

Back in the control room, we are suddenly ambushed by members affiliated with the gang. We take cover behind a pillar, taking turns stepping out to shoot. Arcadia is now Alice from Resident Evil. When she steps out to shoot, the enemy shoots first and manages to land a hit right in her chest. She kills most of them from the floor, then I step out and take care of the rest before kneeling down beside her. I see that the wound is very bad. She is moaning in pain.

"No, shh, it'll be okay, I'll get you help," I tell her. (I'm pretty much only semi-lucid at this point and don't realize I could just heal her myself.) She tells me that the people in the building next door know her and will know what to do. Leaning down, I kiss her gently: a promise that I won't let her die. She looks surprised.

I pick her up as carefully as I can manage, but she still cries out in pain from being moved. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I keep saying as I carry her to the aforementioned building. The man and woman who live there are deeply concerned, but before they can do anything, Alice dies. At her death, her shape disentigrates to a tiny stone figure with a bullet hole in the center.

I am shocked. How could she be dead in a dream when I've been willing for her to live? NO, I refuse to let her stay dead! In a weird stroke of dream intuition, I literally breathe life into her through the wound until she is finally herself again, alive and well.

Triumphant, I kiss her again. This time, to my surprise, she kisses me back. When I look at her inquisitively, she says I deserve it after saving her life. I smile happily, relieved that she is okay. The dream ends shortly afterwards.

Night of 10/16/12

The choice to skip my classes today has ultimately sealed my fate. Had I not been feeling so ill this morning, I'd have never run into Alice as she fearlessly chased after her vile and mysterious enemy right by my dorm. Somehow I end up vowing to assist her. Now here I am, scaling buildings along side her in dead pursuit of the masked man and his henchmen.

We leap from rooftop to rooftop, killing henchmen as we go. She uses her unparalleled martial arts skills while I use a more mysterious power, the Branch of Sin, meaning that my blood itself is a weapon. ((Deadman Wonderland reference.))

My blood swirls like a whip from the palms of my hands, slicing enemies into bits. I remind myself not to overuse this power, or else the loss of blood will weaken me.

After losing track of the masked man, Alice and I meet up with Carlos, along with a young kid who is also helping us, to discuss strategy. However, we realize as soon as we reach our headquarters that something is wrong. The masked man is there, waiting for us. It is an ambush! His powers are unlike anything we've imagined, and though we make a break for it, it is not long before he and his henchmen have us tied up and helpless.

It is immediately clear that he plans to torture us.

I try to use my powers to take them by surprise, but one of the henchmen notices what I'm doing. Grinning wickedly, he grabs my foot and twists it roughly to the side. There is a loud, sickening CRACK. I know that there should be pain, but it doesn't hurt. Now, however, I'm too freaked out to concentrate on using my powers.

The masked man is debating on who to torture first. While he is distracted, Alice and Carlos manage to cut me free. I immediately run out the door to find help. It isn't long before I come upon the police station. I do not believe the police are equiped to deal with the Masked Man; however, they might provide enough resistance for Alice and the others to escape. As soon as the police move out to help, I begin to notice the throbbing pain in my foot. I take a moment to examine it; the top of my foot is darkly bruised, which I find odd since it should be my ankle that is broken.

Shaking away the pain, I run back to where my friends were held captive. As I expected, they all managed to escape. Weary and in pain, we slowly walk away from the horror we just faced, toward a beautiful ocean.

"Did I manage to get the police there before anything too bad happened?" I ask after a moment of silence.

"Yes. Are you quite pleased with yourself?" Alice remarks sarcastically. I am not sure why she is irritated with me; maybe because I am actually somewhat enjoying myself, now that we are out of harms way.

When I ignore her caustic remark, she continues, "Anyway, it's too dangerous for this to continue. I'm officially revoking your vow. You shouldn't be involved in this anymore."

I glare at her. "Vow or not, I'm still helping you. Besides, the enemy already knows what I look like. It's too late to quit now." Before she can protest, I look down at my broken foot, which is now becoming too painful to walk on. It appears as though my toe is broken as well, judging from the grotesque angle at which it is bent. I shudder, more in disgust than pain. "Now, I need one of you to carry me to a doctor." ((I wake up shortly afterward.))