Scouts were rushing to climb up to the lookout towers to see what one of them had spotted. Bells rang to wake up the village and everyone capable of fighting grabbed a weapon. Jessica and I were among the first to reach the top and focus our gaze out onto the sea. What I saw scares me even in the waking world.
An Armada of Shadows stretched accross every inch of our vision. Someone ran over to tell me that shadow like creatures were advancing on land as well. I was the chief now. I couldn't remember what led to me replacing my father but that didn't matter now. The archers assembled on the cliff's edge in preparation to pick off the hell spawn. It was all or nothing because there was no way of evacuating the other villagers. Instead, we hid them underground below their houses.
Jessica and I had to split up to command each side. She was in charge of the archers fighting the darkness on land while I collected my thoughts to summon magic that could vanquish the armada. I heard war cries from Jessica's side as the archers opened fire and others ran down the mountain with axes forged by our best blacksmiths.
Finally, I scraped the rest of my willpower from my consciousness to command this world. For it to work, I had to believe it would. A fireball above the mountainside over looking the ocean so collosal that the closest archers shielded their eyes. I swung both arms down and lunged forward to send the coiling mass into the closest ship.
For the longest seconds of my dream life, I waited for it to collide. In a towering explosion, the ship was blown to bits. Wood flew out in frags of debris damaging nearby ships as well as sinking a second. It had worked!
Letting the victory fill my ego unchecked, my willpower only increased. The black shadows were consumed instantly in the fiery dimension.
I decided to rest for now. Every win for me increased my willpower but using willpower mentally exhausted me.
Phase two of our defence began. Vikings lit the tips of their arrows on fire. The tips had been dipped in a mixture of plant oils and animal fats to make them flammable. Another reason I had to rest was that being too overpowered had caused dreams to collapse before. The Vikings fighting on the sea and land sides of the wall raised their bows. Melee fighters on Jess' side fell back. On both of our orders, the sky was filled with the whistling sound of tiny missiles. The demon armada suddenly represented a mass viking burial and a forest fire consumed many hell spawn on land.
It was then that the Armada then switched tactics. The boats tacked to let the wind carry them further up the coast to land and regroup.
Eventually, the forest fire had burnt out and I gathered my forces over to Jessica's side. Only a small group watched the sea just in case. They were led by who I thought was meant to be my viking uncle?
As soon as the fire had dissipated, the army of darkness charged up the mountain side. In response we hurtled barrels full of gunpowder down the cliff. We didn't have time to make fuses so I chased the barrels down with fireballs to cause explosions.
It was almost fun to be winning with minimal casualties. All too soon though, the time came for archers to throw down their bows (also being used to light the explosive barrels) and for everyone to arm themselves with spears, swords and axes.
As we flew down from our safe valley, shadows approached with speed to match ours even though they were facing an uphill battle. The first viking to reach them roared with equal might to his swing that lopped off his first encounter's head. Swiftly leaping down to his side, I just managed to save him from a second shadow of darkness.
However, my save had been celebrated for only a brief second as I could not protect every warrior spread out along the slope. They helped each other out but it was clear that we were outmatched. Jessica was right. This battle was not going to be easy.
Forgetting about the risks of exhausting my mind or collapsing the dream, I unsheathed my dual blades of light. I infused both swords with blue fire and began my slaughter. Left, right, everywhere I leapt and span to slice through every demon in my path. Seeing my rampage, our forces formed an arrow formation to assist me in picking off the ones that slipped past. In no time, we were drilling through their ranks. Until we entered the forest...
Suddenly, we were assaulted with surprise attacks from every angle. In two occasions, I almost lost my self. The first time a friend stepped in front of me to save my life and the second event I only just brought up my left sword to parry an attack before vanquishing the shadow that had extinguished my comrade.
Jessica reached my side and together we organised protective circles to hunt the remainders of darkness left. I lunged at every bush and purged every hiding place of enemies. When a viking died, my anger rose further and I let loose even more. I didn't realise the dream was tearing at the seams.
Jessica tried to focus me but I was too blind and furious. I had to protect her no matter what. I should have just let her protect me from myself. We had found the last group of darkness at the end of the woods. Even after all the fighting, the dark would not retreat. At the time, I had not noticed how exhausted my mind was or how close I was to waking up.
Ignoring the warning signs and Jessica's concerned look, I ran forwards to destroy the last of them with a fire ball bigger than a small viking hut. It was only a few meters away that I sunk into the ground and let the fire ball dissipated into the air. Dropping it like I'd picked up something too heavy.
The last thing I saw was Jessica calling my name and what was left of our warriors dispatching the last demons.
'They're going to be okay...' I thought just as I slipped away and awoke to the sight of sun streaming through my curtains and to hear my radio alarm had been playing for ten minutes already.