I tentatively dipped my toes into a shimmering pond. Behind me, a slope curved upwards to offer a tree up to the heavens. It's roots and body curved into a perfect extrapolation of the hill and willow branches covered in leaves were like curtains that glowed as the sun charged them with unwavering, warm light.
Footsteps approached me from behind. Small, shuffling footsteps that posed no obvious threat. The danger was hidden deep down. Their footwear appeared to be light sandals with the straps pulled loose. They wore shorts too. A soft on the eyes, magnolian sort of coloured shorts.
The owner of the footsteps came and sat down next to me. A white vest hung comfortably on his shoulders and his skin was somewhat tanned with tiny, brown, freckled blemishes that come with age. His grey whiskers and snowy hair were the more obvious factors.
"So," he began whilst lighting a pipe I never saw him take out. "Do you remember?" I nodded cautiously, assuming he meant the events that occurred in the tower. "Wonderful. After watching you run around that mansion, I questioned whether you had a brain or not. Most people would have just erased it or blown it all up to make things easier. Same goes for the tower. How long ago was that?"
The old man sucked in through the long pipe once more before breathing it out as one giant cloud. I responded with a slightly frustrated tone saying, "that would kill everyone else in the dream."
"Ah, yes, the people. How could I forget? You see, I'm getting old these days. I used to think being an entity not tied to a physical form would make me immortal but after a few centuries, I couldn't form sentences very well. I've had to erase my memories countless times just to stay sharp and it's taking a toll on my existence." He paused to also dip his toes in the water. "But why do you care about whether the 'people' live or perish?"
"Because I've still made memories with them! Regardless of whether they're my subconscious or not, they help me solve problems, sift through my thoughts, actually FEEL things. That makes them worth protecting." I sighed and splashed my feet in the water to create ripples and watch the pond skaters float off in all different directions.
"And did you deal with... your issues? Have you learnt to not become dependent on this world?" Asked the old man.
"No. I still spend time living out what you see as pointless fantasies."
"Ah, I thought so. I haven't been watching you that often. Still, you haven't changed a lot- "
"But," I interrupted. "I saw your point so I've taken breaks. My dreams come at a more stable level these days. I've taken time to face the realities of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. My dreams aren't just an escape anymore, they help me with both worlds." The old man nodded in approval at that.
I didn't ask for him to be my mentor but he showed me tricks, ideas, methods, all sorts of ways to expand my consciousness and to master deadly thoughts that could quite literally pull the rug from under me if I didn't keep them in check.
I knew I was dreaming at the time but was this really a dream? I wasn't supposed to meet people I'd never seen before. How could I learn things I didn't know before too? The man was like he said. A visitor, an observer but now he was actually getting involved. Nothing made sense.
"So whose side are you on?" I asked after no one had said anything for some time.
"Side? I don't have a side. I would gladly show all your greatest fears to the mainframe if it would grant me an audience."
I frowned at that. It did make some sense though I wished it wasn't true. I decided to focus on the second thing he mentioned instead. "What's the mainframe?"
"Oh, that? It's the main consciousness of the darkness. If you destroy the root it planted in your mind then no more invasion. The mainframe is spread across multiple dreamers. It lives in everyone and is the source of their contempt so to destroy that you'd have to leave your mind and enter its domain. No human has got that far before."
I was beginning to see just how overwhelming the darkness could be at times. "Why doesn't it just... end me?"
"I definitely wouldn't if I was the darkness," was the old man's response.
"Why?"
"Because... it slowly feeds off of your hatred, sadness, bad emotions. Your toxicity is a simplified way to put it. If it just plunged you into utter despair like what can occur with some individuals, you'd lose the will to live and then it would have nothing to feed on." We'd been walking amongst the moss and the trees while he talked but now we came to sit by the pond again. "The darkness needs you for it to live on."
This was a lot to process. Every answer just brought more things I didn't know to my attention. "Well, I've got to go now. It was fun to catch up. Who knows, maybe you'll surprise me. There are a lot of people like you who have similar dreams but very few people have a recurring side character like you do."
And with that he blended in with the sky. A complete vaporisation. I turned around to see he'd been referring to Jess as more than just an example. "Hey!" She called cheerfully before splashing through the water to join me where I now stood not knowing how to feel.
She grabbed my hand and suddenly, it was easy to forget about the darkness for a moment. We climbed the bow shaped tree. Climbing higher, Jess stuck her head through the hanging leaves to make goofy faces at me.
I raced her up the tree faster and faster until I was soaring through the air. She might have called, "No fair!" She might have just laughed with joy. I couldn't quite hear her as I broke through the top. The tree was so much taller now. It reached the clouds.
Jess grabbed me from behind and pulled me back under the leaf curtains. "Haha! Got ya!"
"Ah! Oh no!" we chuckled and swung from the branches in some sought of wild chase. "No wonder your name's Chase but not catch," she giggled. In response, I zapped forward in pursuit and she just managed to evade me. Once I began teleporting though, it was all over.
We went tumbling down and burst out from the side of the tree. For a moment we fell... and then we flew. Clutching her close, we safely reached the ground. Neither one of us seemed inclined to break away so we stayed like that.
It was only after Jess surprised me with a kiss that I took a second to really look at her before embracing her once more, my lips closing over hers this time. Our fingers naturally interlaced.
For a while we just talked. I told her about what I'd learned from the old man but we also got the chance to chat about happier times. Apparently, the child (a baby girl) we'd had in the viking world had stayed behind to be raised with the vikings.
I claimed that after I defeated the darkness, I'd learn to control the dream world and my powers better so I could go see her. Jess agreed that that should be number one on our list.