Rei and Agon - Sketch

A sketch that I definitely plan on finishing.  Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Dreamcatcher

What could we take from here? As I wandered through the underwater room, I found it a bit unnerving to have shells floating above my head.  Schools of fish swam by the sun streaks, incandescent rays of light in tropical blue.   At least I didn't need a mask for this one.  Too bad breathing underwater without any equipment couldn't be useful, there would just be another several thousand people drowning tomorrow if we sent that out.  The glowing fish could possibly make good toys.  The shells were a definite no.

I called out ahead, "Are you having any luck Laine?"

His silver head ducked out from behind a giant squid, "Not really."

"Let's call it quits then!"

He came back to me, sighing.   "I was hoping this would be it."

I smiled as I reached for the dreamcatcher at my belt, "I guess not."

He rolled his eyes as he gripped the rim with me and closed his eyes.  Concentrating on the web, I brought us back to Central.  Laine blinked opened his purple eyes in the bright light.  A familiar voice sounded throughout the small room, "How did it go?"

I secured the dreamcatcher to the wall before I reported, "Nothing special.  It was just a class-one.  We could maybe use the glowing fish for toys or something."

"Alright honey, we've been having a shortage on toys anyways."

I sighed.  "Mom, I told you not to refer to me as honey while I'm on duty."

Mom's voice came back over the intercom, giggling, "I know honey, which is why I do it.  Tell Laine hi for me dear."

"He can hear you Mom."

Laine smirked at my expression.

"Oh, can he?  Come over for dinner later Laine.  I'm making your favorite."

Laine smiled.  "Sure thing Mrs. Dray."

"You can call me Mom dear, since you two are practically married."

I moaned.  "Mom, not now!"

"Oops, sorry dear."  Her voice cut off with an audible click.  Laine took one look at me before he started laughing.

"You should be expecting that by now Kana, it happens at least once a week."  He nudged me playfully as we walked into the break room.

"I know, but it's still hard for me to believe that she always is on duty during my hours," I complained as I saw that we were thankfully alone.

"She wants to work with you.  It's as simple as that, and well since we are such short-staffed nowadays we are limited in our options."

"True," I admitted as I turned to the assignment board.   "It looks like we are in room two next."

"North America, huh?  Do we know which sector?" he asked.

I brought up the detail sheet.  "Hmm, someone from California."

"Alright then, should be interesting.  Going to take the lead again?"

"Sure like always, Laine."

"Well you do know how I like a girl in charge."

"Shut it," I snapped as we entered the room.  I imprinted the dreamcatcher to my DNA and waited for Laine to finally grace the relic with his touch.  We warped into an overly brightly colored city.  Laine saw my look and shrugged.  "You never know which dream will hold the solution to our problems."

"But who dreams in such ghastly Technicolor?" I mumbled.

"The person with the solution of course," replied Laine brightly.

The corners of my lips twitched involuntarily before I gave into a laugh, "Fine!  Be so optimistic!  How is it that we are going to get married in two weeks when we are so different?"

"It's because of my irresistible charm and suave ways of course!"

I rolled my eyes for his benefit, before turning away to grin.  Laine was one of the few individuals that could truly make me laugh.  Ever since Laine befriended me back in training five years ago, we've been close and I think I was the only that was surprised when he proposed.   I shook my head, bringing my thoughts back to the present as I looked over the rainbow colored buildings.  What was the point to this dream?  As if in answer to my question a large hum started, causing the buildings to vibrate.

Turning our eyes upwards we saw that one of the glass walls was sliding down to reveal a pair of hover-car helicopters powering up.  Laine and I exchanged a glance, he whispered, "What do you think?"

I hesitated, "I don't think those would work in reality; they look too fragile."

Before he could respond, a small figure promptly ran into him.  The little boy looked frightened and confused when he registered us, he fearfully asked, "Are they after you too?"

Going with the dream-child, I nodded.  His eyes widened, "Adults have abilities too?"

I reassured him, "We sure do kid."

"We have to run then, before the hovercopters see you!" the kid yelled pulling on my arm.

The boy began to sprint at a pace that was impossibly fast; Laine and I struggled to keep up.  If kids had abilities, this boy's must have one of speed.  So this dream was about a government force hunting down kids with abilities?  Sounds like a decent book or movie idea.

Before long the boy led us into a hole in the side of one of the buildings, which dropped down into a chute.  We landed in a brightly lit area full of little kids.  I asked the boy, "Do you all have abilities?"

He nodded, "That's why we hide!  Don't you have to hide when you're adults?"

"It's a little different for us," answered Laine.

The little boy looked at us more closely.  "You're not like the rest of us, but I like you!"

He stepped away to join a group of children by a door.  I whispered to Laine, "Do you think we've seen enough?"

"I think so.  We don't need to stay while these children are hunted down."

My heart clinched at the thought of leaving these children here alone; I had to keep reminding myself that they weren't real, just the figment of some Californian's imagination.  This was the one aspect I disliked about being a Guardian, I got to attached to the dream people, and it was hard for me to leave them behind.  I reluctantly pulled out the Dreamcatcher and warped Laine and I back to Central.

I tried to push the kids out of my mind as Mom's voice came over the intercom, "Status Report?"

Seeing my face, Laine reported, "A class three, with a couple of hovercopters that can be used for an invention and a storyline about a world where only kids had special abilities that could be used for an entertainment idea."

"Thanks Laine dear, you two only have one more dream left before your shift is over."

I hooked the dreamcatcher to the wall, as Laine answered, "We'll get on it Mrs. Dray, and then we can have dinner at your place."

Mom giggled as Laine pulled me out of the room.  He sat me on the break room's couch, "You have to try to forget them Kana!  You can't do anything for them!"

I brushed tears angrily away from my eyes, "I know, but I can't help it!"

He sat next to me and lifted my chin I had to look into his eyes, "It's hard, but you have to remember that you can't help those dream children no matter what you do."

Taking in my silence, he sighed and dropped his hand.  He turned away, "I know you're stubborn Kana, but this is one thing you cannot change.  You just can't change the course of a dream; I've tried."

"You tried?  You actually tried to break the first rule?"

"I did, because of you.  You may not remember the dream, but it was about a kid getting run over about a car.  We knew it was going to happen and you turned away unable to watch.  I held the kid and he went through my hands.  It was like I wasn't even there, my hands actually passed through his skin.  It's not that you shouldn't change the course of the dream; it's impossible," his voice trailed off.

I quickly looked up to see that he had tears trickling down his face as well.  I reached up and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace.  We shared a kiss before holding each other for a few minutes.  Eventually I pulled away, "We have to finish one more dream."

Laine smiled, "That we do."

He looked up our assignment on the screen, "Alright we have another one from North America.  Ready to go?"

"Not yet, I have one more thing I need to do first," I said as I stepped towards him.  I gave him another kiss before announcing, "Now I'm ready."

"Can't say that I don't like that needed preparation," he replied as he shot me a grin.

He held the door open for me as we stepped inside.  I took the dreamcatcher down from the wall as the room prepared for us to enter the dream.  I just needed to make it through one more and then I'll be done with this long shift, only one more.  With a nod, Laine grabbed hold of the rim and I transported us into the dream.

Plunged into complete, utter darkness I was unable to discern anything from our surroundings.  The back of my neck prickled, this wasn't just a dream.  My voice cracked, "Laine I think—"

"We're in a nightmare."  He swallowed loudly.

I felt for the dreamcatcher at my belt, but as expected it wasn't there.  I tried to squelch my panic at the thought that we could be stranded here and instead groped blindly for Laine's hand.  I hope that this was just a class four and that it wouldn't take it too long to run its course.  After a few minutes Laine said, "I think there's a light up ahead if you want to follow it."

"It's better than waiting here for something to attack us."

Laine tugged my arm forward and I willingly followed him, trying to keep my hearing sharp.  It was a blessing and a curse to have elfish pointed ears, because you can hear things creeping up on you, but then sometimes ignorance is best.  It wasn't long before I could hear something slithering up behind us.  Laine tensed and simultaneously we began to run.  Our footsteps thundered in the hallway, but the tumult was unable to cover slithering which seemed to echo with an intensity matching our dread.  Finally we were able to reach the source of light: an open door.  We ran through it, slamming the door behind us.  Surveying the area quickly I saw that there was nothing we could use to block the door, just an empty field with the door leading into the black abyss.

Exchanging glances with Laine, we both surged forward looking for cover while keeping an eye on the opening.  It wasn't long before something ran into the door with a gigantic crash.  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the door was just barely hanging on its hinges but it did impede the monster.  As I watched a gigantic worm-like thing burst through.  The fiend opened a gaping mouth full of hundreds of razor sharp teeth releasing a cry that caused us to freeze in our tracts, unable to control our own bodies.  Something about that cry paralyzed our muscles into a painful stop.

The monster moved its head around in confusion until a breeze brushed past our paralyzed forms, cause the fiend to instantly lock unto our scent.  At that moment we regained control of our movements, allowing us to sprint away as the worm slinked after us.  The thing was over a hundred feet long and was incredibly fast.  Terrified I saw that we were now running on a neighborhood street.  Thinking of no better option I pulled Laine towards one of the houses, a brown suburban model.  As we neared it, someone yanked open the door and yelled for us to hurry.  Not needing the advice we sped up and barreled through the opening to be plunged into darkness once again.

Someone shouted in my ear, "Whatever you do, hold your breath!"

I instantly complied and found that this supposedly simple task was difficult to perform after a hard sprint, but somehow I was able to hold on as the monster flew past the house in search of its prey.  Eventually a light blared into being overhead as someone announced that it was safe.  The group let out a collective sigh of relief before they started murmering among themselves.

Laine's voice broke out over the din.  "Why did we need to hold our breath?"

Someone explained, "It can taste the fear on your breath, it's one of its best tracking methods."

I turned to the person who had spoken up: a teenaged girl with a long scar trailing down one cheek.

"They taste our fear?" I asked her.

She nodded.  "But we should be safe here now that they're gone."

I nodded somewhat distractedly as I looked over the room.  There was a single tunnel that led into an impenetrable darkness.  I pointed at it.  "Where does that lead?"

"We're not quite sure, but any person who dares go down that tunnel is never seen again."

I managed not to roll my eyes at the cliché.  Laine caught my eye and I knew he understood what we needed to do.  Without a word I grabbed his hand and headed down the tunnel.

"No don't go down there!"

I ignored the girl; the only way we could end this nightmare was to confront the heart of it directly, traveling where no one dared to go.  It was only there that we could end this nightmare and recover our dreamcatcher.   There was a chance that we wouldn't make it and be forever stranded here.  There was even the chance that we would die.  It wasn't an easy life, but it was certainly worth it.  It kept the world safe from its own dark imaginings.  It allowed humanity to dream.

My Comments

Ever wonder what happens to your dreams? Did they just disappear or are they out there somewhere lurking to reappear at a later time?

Remember dreamcatchers? I had one as a child, a gift from my grandfather. He told me that they would keep my nightmares at bay, by "catching" them.

What if all dreams end up in one catcher or another? What if it was someone responsibility to go through those dreams?

Consider this: dreams influence the past, present, and future. You’re probably thinking that of course they do, they impact those that actually had the dream that came from their subconscious. Maybe dreams are some subconscious telling, but that doesn’t have to be all. Once a dream is in a dreamcatcher, it sits in wait for someone to release it. Once released the dream goes back to the wakeful minds of the world in the form of inspiration; all ideas, all inventions, all forms of entertainment come from those dreams.

What about the nightmares? You don’t want just anything to influence the world’s creative minds.

That thought process inspired this piece.

I recently found this in my old files so I finished and polished it up a bit. The bulk of it was written in 2010.

Please tell me what you think! The Good, the bad, the ugly... and what are your thoughts on the importance of dreams?