Dream's World - 1. Dream's World

He stood in the darkness and looked out across the ever changing landscape that was his domain. Office buildings sprung up in towering madness in ways that made no sense, but it didn’t bother him. A few feet from this sudden city of madness was a forest that was so lush and thick, one wouldn’t believe it existed. In this bountiful forest were creatures of wonder that people loved. It was alive with unicorns, flying fairies and nymphs strolling down flowered walkways. He passed this too with barely a glance till he came to a sea that was constantly changing color from the deepest blue, to indigo, to purple, green, and even a shocking yellow. Dolphins swam here, Atlantis rose and sank like cork on the water, mermaids and mermen splashed and played in the shallows, and beautiful creatures with no name floated all around in and out of the strange sea. These aer where pleasant dreams came from. It was where people thought of new ways to do things and carried the ideas back to their waking moments.

A small creature scuttled up to him and tugged on his pants

“Yes, what is it?”

“Dream, Sir, Master of all he surveys, what is that over there?”

Dream looked where the creature pointed into the darkness where cruelty lay.

“Nightmares,” said Dream sadly.

“Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why nightmares?” queried the creature.

Dream looked at the small being. It was some sort of crab but all purple and blue with a big smile and indigo claws. It must be from a child’s dream. I wonder if it is one of those from Disney again.

“Because man likes to scare himself. For as long as my realm has existed a part of this dreamscape has been that of nightmare. For every beauty that comes to life here, some beast claws its way into being in nightmare.”

Simply speaking of the dark part of his realm brought it in front of him. Here vampires flew at terrifying speed, werewolves stalked the night, monsters best left only to the imagination held sway, and demons from the darkest pits did horrible things to those not wary enough to enter this part of his realm. There in nightmare, creatures from space probed, pricked, and medically mutilated those they could catch. It was a part of his realm he very rarely visited for he preferred pleasure to pain but it still was part of his world. ‘There are parts of my world that are not pleasant but then I only watch over it and do not create or destroy it.’

“Dream?” The little creature asked again at his feet.

“Yes, is there something else I can help you with?” Dream was amused. It was rare for a creature of the dream to be able to move outside the world it was created in, never mind seek him out. Yet here was a tiny sort of crab asking all sorts of questions.’ I wonder if all is at it seems. Then again this is my world and little is as it actually appears.’

“What is that over there?” pointed the creature to a large space where white clouds floated through the air and nothing was apparently there.

“Oh that is the empty space.”

“The empty space?”

Dream smiled.

“Some call it the land for those that pissed me off.” Dream laughed. His deep laughter bubbled across the realm, making the happier dreams even more pleasant and the nightmares altered into something far less scary. In fact one vampire that was swooping down to bite a young child suddenly was dressed in a bunny suit, while his fangs became candy corn.

“It is the space where dreams should be created but aren’t. That is where people who have insomnia stomp through and yell at me. It isn’t that I don’t want them to sleep. Hell, I am Dream and when they sleep they are my subjects! However, some due to stress, some due to illness, and others displaying an overwhelming stubbornness just won’t sleep. If you look over toward the edges of empty space you will see what I consider one of the worst parts of my world. It is fairly new.”

The crab scuttled to the side and carefully looked at the narrow band between the empty space and the world of dreams. Here there existed some sort of an odd dreamscape. The colors were muted, the figures flat, and things moved at a quarter speed. They didn’t even make sense to watch, which was saying something to a creature of the realm of sleep.

“What … what is that?” asked the creature in a sort of horrified awe.

“That is a forced, drug-induced sleep. There I can neither help nor hurt them. Their dreams are muted and unable to be completed. They don’t truly rest or dream. It is a sort of limbo between worlds. The other side is the drugged nightmare. The difference here is that the nightmares are sharper and much more unpleasant,” Dream announced sadly.

“What if the dreamer is in a coma?”

Dream stopped and looked at the creature. A nagging feeling was tugging at him so he reached into his pocket and placed his hand in the bag he found there. Dream turned and began to walk toward the space between the dark beautiful forest and the dark nightmare world. The walk seemed to take forever and was over almost immediately. The crab creature felt off balance after such an experience.

Dream pointed to a small valley nearly at the center of his world. The creature stared down into it. Here children played tag, parents had time to do as they wished, and even the most scarred of people seemed to heal and mend. The creature looked on in awe. ‘I do believe I understand now.’ Dream smiled as he gazed down at the small crab.

“Here is where those people are protected. Their dreams are ones of hope and desires. They wish to go back to what they had. In many ways their dreams are the most pure and innocent for they only wish to live again. For some it is a time of healing here. They won’t remember, but their souls are relaxed and renewed. For others it is a time to rest before my twin, Death comes for them and they move on to the next part of their journey.”

Having said this Dream stretched out his hand and dust fell in a tiny amount to cover the crab. Where it touched the crab he sparkled and then began to change. Soon the little crab faded and a small beaten and bruised child stood looking hungrily at the playing children. Dream smiled.

“Go play with your friends Casey. The car accident is behind you. Go play now.”

The bruises faded; Casey smiled and ran into the valley.

“You always did have a soft spot for children, Dream.”

“Well what do you expect, Death. Their dreams are sweet and innocent. It never lasts as long as it should. Are you here for him already?”

“No, he simply has to mend. I just stopped by to visit.”

Dream looked at his twin. It was a joke of the universe really. His brother was just as tall and as thin, but that is where the similarity ended. Death had short ,shaggy blonde hair, solid muscle, and with the softest brown eyes you could ever hope to find. You just sort of melted into the warm chocolate of them and wanted to rest with him forever. Dream was his opposite. The jet black hair he had was long and in a pony tail. He was thin, but where Death seemed to be a weight lifter, what he had was more of a swimmers build. His eyes were the crystal blue of the darkest sea. They could be the comfort of the sky or the nightmare of a tempest.

Dream turned and smiled.

“Death you do many things but visit isn’t one of them.”

“Okay, okay. I need you to do me a favor.”

“That is more like you. Now what favor do you want?”

Dream looked at his brother. There were times he was asked to help assist his brother in the job of death. He wasn’t always happy about having to do it. The driver who falls asleep at the wheel was one of his least favorite jobs, but there were others he detested as well. The doctor who has been operating for hours and whose eyes drooped during a surgery at the vital moment, or even the man at the power grid who somehow fell asleep even though he has drank two cups of coffee and popped a no doze tablet. These were the things Dream hated, but had to do because the universe needed it done.

“What now?”

“I need you to put two lovers to sleep.”

“Do I want to know why?”

“Actually it is so they don’t see their families killed.”

“Excuse me?”

“One of the more cruel aspects of my job is having to collect the poor victims. These kids can either see it happen and be tortured for the rest of their lives or you can put them to sleep where they miss seeing it. I, for once, would prefer to see the innocent miss the ugly act.”

Dream sighed. He knew that his brother’s job wasn’t any easier than his own. Although his brother did have a sense of justice that many people didn’t know about. Dream could remember the child killer, who Death gleefully kept forcibly reliving the lives of the murdered children, making him relive each life up until the killer murdered himself. Dream thought that was an inspired piece of work. But time manipulation was a part of both their jobs; after all, they had to be with every soul from the moment of their birth till they left this existence.

“Gladly, Brother. Let’s go.” Dream said happily.

So Death and Dream walked off the dreamscape and into the world to do their jobs once again.