Aftermath
Time: May 1st 2003, shortly after Dawn
Place: The Dreaming
Status: Private - Closed
Summary: The dream lord fixes the dreaming, a Dreamer experiences the battle and gifts are bestowed.
As Daniel stepped into the dreaming now separate from the real world again, he could feel the damage and wrongness of what had happened here. There was nothing irreparable though. He could feel the dreams moving around, mopping up some of the stronger nightmares that had lasted longer. A few of his dream soldiers had been injured but the operation had gone smoothly. He noticed that there were even a few dreamers here who had come in with his forces. They shouldn’t have been here and he would have to find out who let them in.
* * * * *
Jacob looked around him. The fighting was over. His squad was victorious over the creatures they’d been fighting. As dreams went this was a great one. He hoped he’d remember it when he woke. It had started in the sandy desert where he was fighting. In the real world he was a soldier too, fighting to restore liberty to the gulf. He had dreamt of him until recently. Ever since he’d gone on a mission with an English squad with the pretty red headed officer he had dreamt of her and the war.
This dream had turned strange when a Pumpkin headed figure, looking like a Halloween figure had turned up and flourished papers requisitioning guns and other weapons from their armory. He’d also requisitioned the rest of his squad but for some reason not him. He’d followed them when they left and found a muster point. There was a siege and when they broke into the enemy bunker he’d followed in after them.
The fighting had been quick and bloody. Their commander had bought overwhelming force to the conflict and they had sped through the area killing all the things in their path. Normally he’d stop and try to take prisoners, resolve the situation without bloodshed if possible but it was clear that their opponents were not human and more likely to be demons. He was a religious man and did his part to kill the tentacle horrors that attacked people.
One area seemed to have a lot of people holed up with the creatures having trouble approaching. It looked to be a church hall, untouched in the middle of what seemed to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As his squad cut down the creatures with a hail of gunfire a man walked calmly out of the hall. He seemed unafraid of the creatures and it seemed that this was because they were unable to approach him. As they tried they seemed to weaken and stumble to the ground.
Jacob thought that the curly haired man had an almost angelic look to his face. He must have been about the same age as him, early twenties. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt but there was a sense of certainty and belief about him that was almost tangible. It was funny in dreams how things you couldn’t normally see became apparent and this man’s raw power was one of those things.
The man gave a wave as the last of the creatures disappeared into swirling mists and Jacob waved back, moving on with his soldiers. Through the opened doorway he saw at least a couple of hundred people in the hall, looking like they were having a good time, oblivious to the demonic creatures that had been trying to get to them.
His squad followed their patrol route, picking off stray creatures from time to time until they finally got to their destination. A large building stood at the end of a large driveway but before they could head further towards it the building seemed to fade away. Everywhere around him seemed to change in some way. He was surprised that the thought occurred to him that it was even more like a dream now than it had been before. The landscape was barren - it had been before as well but now it was more so with not even hills or burnt tree stumps to break up the featureless ground. And what’s more the sky seemed to be a cracked dome of purple, great black and white cracks running through it almost like marble, if marble ever gave a sense of malice.
As he was taking in these changes, a figure in white appeared out of nowhere. His squad leader moved forward to talk to the man and he saw around them many other soldiers moving in. He wondered if he should be surprised at some of the other squads. Some wore plate armour from the middle ages, others traditional Chinese armour, and others still looked like they were from the future. Some he thought didn’t even look human...
The figure in white looked over at him. Jacob knew that this was the general of the force and he snapped off a smart salute. The figure saluted back and then turned his attention away. Unsure what else to do he just sat and watched. The man in white seemed to be doing something though he wasn’t sure what. But the sky above seemed to dissolve slowly, becoming more translucent and then breaking off in chunks before the chunks faded away to nothing.
Obviously satisfied the figure looked around again and focussed his attention on Jacob again. He quickly jumped to his feet again and stood to attention. He realised that the white figure was in uniform as well, smart crisp lines of a white uniform over his pale skin topped by white hair. He stood and waited as the general spoke to him.
“You should not have been here, Sergeant Roberts. But you have fought well for me I am told and for that I owe you something. Your work here is done and I think you deserve to dream of something better than war.”
“Yes Sir.” was his automatic response. The general saluted him and he saluted back. And as he did so he realised it was no longer the same person he was saluting. He was at home saluting his wife who was telling him not to be silly and kissing him.
* * * * *
Daniel had broken down the boundaries and merged the two dreaming into one again. He had sent the last of the dreamers to better places and the dreams back to their normal duties. The only thing left was some compensation to the people currently living in lower tadfield for what they had been through.
Most of the people would just not remember much of their nightmares and nothing of the last few hours of dream. Anything they did remember of the ordeal would be just distant dreamlike memories.
There were a few people who had seemingly been targeted more specifically by Primoris in his attempts to gain in power. To these he ensured that their dreams would be good ones for some time to come. They had had enough of nightmares for some time.
And then there were those who had helped to defeat Primoris: Trilby, the demon Baraq and the angel Raphael who had banished him and Gabriel who had bought him the information he needed. He knew that Trilby had in some part precipitated the crisis in the first place. He could sense the effects of the spell on the wreckage of the barrier when he arrived and recognised it for what it was when he’d seen the banishment. However, without that push to the events things might never have been resolved.
He visited each of those four in their dreams the next time they slept with a simple formal message. In some cases he would have liked to talk further but in such situations as this it was not appropriate to stay for a chat.
“You have given a great service to Dream of the Endless. You may not understand fully what has happened but you may ask me for a boon at any time you wish. If it is within my power then I will do what I can to grant it.”
Place: The Dreaming
Status: Private - Closed
Summary: The dream lord fixes the dreaming, a Dreamer experiences the battle and gifts are bestowed.
As Daniel stepped into the dreaming now separate from the real world again, he could feel the damage and wrongness of what had happened here. There was nothing irreparable though. He could feel the dreams moving around, mopping up some of the stronger nightmares that had lasted longer. A few of his dream soldiers had been injured but the operation had gone smoothly. He noticed that there were even a few dreamers here who had come in with his forces. They shouldn’t have been here and he would have to find out who let them in.
* * * * *
Jacob looked around him. The fighting was over. His squad was victorious over the creatures they’d been fighting. As dreams went this was a great one. He hoped he’d remember it when he woke. It had started in the sandy desert where he was fighting. In the real world he was a soldier too, fighting to restore liberty to the gulf. He had dreamt of him until recently. Ever since he’d gone on a mission with an English squad with the pretty red headed officer he had dreamt of her and the war.
This dream had turned strange when a Pumpkin headed figure, looking like a Halloween figure had turned up and flourished papers requisitioning guns and other weapons from their armory. He’d also requisitioned the rest of his squad but for some reason not him. He’d followed them when they left and found a muster point. There was a siege and when they broke into the enemy bunker he’d followed in after them.
The fighting had been quick and bloody. Their commander had bought overwhelming force to the conflict and they had sped through the area killing all the things in their path. Normally he’d stop and try to take prisoners, resolve the situation without bloodshed if possible but it was clear that their opponents were not human and more likely to be demons. He was a religious man and did his part to kill the tentacle horrors that attacked people.
One area seemed to have a lot of people holed up with the creatures having trouble approaching. It looked to be a church hall, untouched in the middle of what seemed to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As his squad cut down the creatures with a hail of gunfire a man walked calmly out of the hall. He seemed unafraid of the creatures and it seemed that this was because they were unable to approach him. As they tried they seemed to weaken and stumble to the ground.
Jacob thought that the curly haired man had an almost angelic look to his face. He must have been about the same age as him, early twenties. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt but there was a sense of certainty and belief about him that was almost tangible. It was funny in dreams how things you couldn’t normally see became apparent and this man’s raw power was one of those things.
The man gave a wave as the last of the creatures disappeared into swirling mists and Jacob waved back, moving on with his soldiers. Through the opened doorway he saw at least a couple of hundred people in the hall, looking like they were having a good time, oblivious to the demonic creatures that had been trying to get to them.
His squad followed their patrol route, picking off stray creatures from time to time until they finally got to their destination. A large building stood at the end of a large driveway but before they could head further towards it the building seemed to fade away. Everywhere around him seemed to change in some way. He was surprised that the thought occurred to him that it was even more like a dream now than it had been before. The landscape was barren - it had been before as well but now it was more so with not even hills or burnt tree stumps to break up the featureless ground. And what’s more the sky seemed to be a cracked dome of purple, great black and white cracks running through it almost like marble, if marble ever gave a sense of malice.
As he was taking in these changes, a figure in white appeared out of nowhere. His squad leader moved forward to talk to the man and he saw around them many other soldiers moving in. He wondered if he should be surprised at some of the other squads. Some wore plate armour from the middle ages, others traditional Chinese armour, and others still looked like they were from the future. Some he thought didn’t even look human...
The figure in white looked over at him. Jacob knew that this was the general of the force and he snapped off a smart salute. The figure saluted back and then turned his attention away. Unsure what else to do he just sat and watched. The man in white seemed to be doing something though he wasn’t sure what. But the sky above seemed to dissolve slowly, becoming more translucent and then breaking off in chunks before the chunks faded away to nothing.
Obviously satisfied the figure looked around again and focussed his attention on Jacob again. He quickly jumped to his feet again and stood to attention. He realised that the white figure was in uniform as well, smart crisp lines of a white uniform over his pale skin topped by white hair. He stood and waited as the general spoke to him.
“You should not have been here, Sergeant Roberts. But you have fought well for me I am told and for that I owe you something. Your work here is done and I think you deserve to dream of something better than war.”
“Yes Sir.” was his automatic response. The general saluted him and he saluted back. And as he did so he realised it was no longer the same person he was saluting. He was at home saluting his wife who was telling him not to be silly and kissing him.
* * * * *
Daniel had broken down the boundaries and merged the two dreaming into one again. He had sent the last of the dreamers to better places and the dreams back to their normal duties. The only thing left was some compensation to the people currently living in lower tadfield for what they had been through.
Most of the people would just not remember much of their nightmares and nothing of the last few hours of dream. Anything they did remember of the ordeal would be just distant dreamlike memories.
There were a few people who had seemingly been targeted more specifically by Primoris in his attempts to gain in power. To these he ensured that their dreams would be good ones for some time to come. They had had enough of nightmares for some time.
And then there were those who had helped to defeat Primoris: Trilby, the demon Baraq and the angel Raphael who had banished him and Gabriel who had bought him the information he needed. He knew that Trilby had in some part precipitated the crisis in the first place. He could sense the effects of the spell on the wreckage of the barrier when he arrived and recognised it for what it was when he’d seen the banishment. However, without that push to the events things might never have been resolved.
He visited each of those four in their dreams the next time they slept with a simple formal message. In some cases he would have liked to talk further but in such situations as this it was not appropriate to stay for a chat.
“You have given a great service to Dream of the Endless. You may not understand fully what has happened but you may ask me for a boon at any time you wish. If it is within my power then I will do what I can to grant it.”