Chapter 17

The Dreamscape

- Men speak of a world beyond our own – a place of dreamlike wonder -

The boy blinked.

Once.

Twice.

His vision flickered, blurred and then came into sharp focus.

He looked around and observed his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he stood in the middle of a clearly demarcated circle. From the circle in which he stood, small trails ran in every direction, stretching out into the distance, cutting into dirty streets, crumbling blocks of buildings, grassy fields and dark forests.

He looked at himself and saw that he wore a clean and simple black tunic that clung tightly to his body. It was made from some flexible material and bonded together with his body. He liked the feel of it on his skin.

Looking up overhead, a bright sunny sky greeted the boy, with the profile of two giant moons hanging bizarrely close to where he stood surveying his surroundings. Of the moon closest to him, the boy could just make out its surrounding outer ring of floating rock and hovering clouds of dust. The boy cocked his head, as if trying to recall a distant memory. But he could not remember anything. Each time he attempted to summon an image to his mind, that image disappeared. It was as if his own mind were chasing the images away. He shook his head. Something was missing. There was a nagging feeling of having forgotten something. There was something he was supposed to remember. There was something he was supposed to do. But he could not place his finger on it. What am I doing here?

He looked at his hands. He flexed and reflexed his fingers and opened and closed his palms. They were bright as though there was a light shining upon them. He looked closer. He could see every pore and every hair. The surface of his skin divided into pigments. He blinked again. Now his hand was simply a hand.

Something was bothering him and he could not place it. A barrage of questions attacked his mind. But he ignored them. He had to focus on what was happening now. All was quiet and there was not a single person in sight. Absolutely nothing moved before him. Only the outer rings of the moon above appeared to be moving, albeit painstakingly slowly. Everything else on earth was frozen in time, as if he was the only one capable of motion.

What am I here for?

The boy wracked his brains and thought hard, but whatever he was searching for, eluded him.

A pounding was growing in his head as he struggled to remember, but he could not. Slowly, his mind assured him that he had been here all along, and that he had not come from anywhere. The boy believed it, believing only what he wanted to believe. For as soon as he believed, the pounding stopped. He looked around. Everything was normal. After all, he had a feeling that he had been here since the beginning of his existence.

The boy decided to step out of the circle. Picking a trail that seemed to lead toward a block of run-down buildings, he walked on, unsure of where he was heading, but confident that whichever direction he was going, it would be the right way. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the sunlight disappeared and nighttime fell. The two moons hanging in the sky seemed even larger than ever and glowed with a luminescent soft light that seemed to pulse every two to three seconds. The rings of dust and rock surrounding the two moons, seemed to turn a fiery orange. A splash of bright orange in the black deep of space.

The trail led the boy through a few dozen abandoned vehicles of some kind. As he passed them, he saw that they had tinted windows of blackened glass and wheels made of a certain kind of black rubber. Creepers and foliage had eaten into these vehicles and there was the smell of rust and decomposition. Leaving them behind, the boy arrived to stand in the middle of a four-way road junction. However, the trail before him suddenly disappeared. That is most strange, thought the boy. It was there a moment ago. His eyes narrowed.

Suddenly, a voice called out.

"Harken to me boy!"

The voice seemed to come from behind him and the boy spun on his heel, turning around quickly.

A bright orange ring of pure energy materalised in the air above, thrumming softly, sending showers of sparks to the earth below, and a man appeared within its center, slowly descending to the ground to stand before the boy.

The man stared at the boy with a baleful gaze before taking several steps toward him. As the man walked toward him, the boy could not help but observe the man’s strange features. The man’s appearance was most striking for his face was painted white and his hair flowed down in long curls of bright red. His facial features were sharp and looking closer, the boy saw that both the man’s eyes gleamed with a subtle reddish glow. The man wore purple trousers and a dark red top which hung over his trousers untucked. His dark red shirt was fastened with purple buttons and had sleeves that were too long for the man’s arms. His hands were gloved in white and in his right hand, the strange man held a long black shiny scepter with a large red ruby encrusted at the top, which he twirled expertly from time to time. Decked with four identical curved cone-like structures which twisted in different directions, the man’s hat was also a curious one. The cone-like structures, of which two were completely white, and two completely black, seemed to sprout from the center of the hat, drooping down in different directions. Each curved cone-like structure had a bell at the tip that jingled in time to each step the man took.

"Welcome to the dreamscape!" said the man, spreading his arms out wide as if to embrace the boy. He spoke with a slightly whimsical tone and there was a strange musicality to his voice. His eyes were large and gleamed red with an unearthly, almost maniacal quality. The strange-looking man stared at the boy, a smile breaking out on his face suddenly, revealing ivory tusks of pearly white. It was a chilling smile and the boy found himself taking a step back uneasily.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said the man with another gesture, a flourish and then a dramatic bow. "I am McMillian, the man himself! I am your guide in this twisting nether and you are my muse. Pray, what is your name?"

"My… name?" said the boy to himself, struggling to remember. A faint image floated to the surface of his memory but slipped away before he could capture it. "My name…," repeated the boy, but try as he might, he did not know how to answer McMillian. What is my name?

"Tut… tut…," clicked McMillian, with a shake of his head in mock disapproval. Then he laughed out loud. "It appears you cannot remember your name. But fear not! That is not uncommon in these lands." Putting a finger to his chin in mock deliberation, the man stared at the boy, his red eyes gleaming softly. "Ha! I know! I shall give you a name", said McMillian in mock solemnity. "From this day forth and forevermore, you shall be called…Thon."

"Thon," repeated the boy to himself.

"Yes," said McMillian. "A good name, is it not?"

Something rose again in Thon’s mind but again it was quickly snuffed out. Thon grimaced.

"Eh? Why the long face? Are you faring well, young Thon?" asked McMillian, his red eyes gleaming. He twirled his ruby-encrusted scepter creating a blurry arc of red and black. The bells on the tip of his four-pronged hat jingled softly.

"I am…faring…well," said Thon, "but, there is a feeling that I am unable to shake off…".

"Ha!" said McMillian, interrupting Thon mid-speech. "Yes, that is…most usual in a place like this. There are skull-faced demons abroad you know," said McMillian, still twirling his ruby-encrusted scepter. "This place reeks foul of their stench. But fear not, you have McMillian, the man himself, to lead you to your destination!"

"What is the dreamscape?" asked Thon. "You mentioned this moments ago."

"What!" exclaimed McMillian, throwing his arms wide and gesturing all around him wildly. His red hair swung from side to side as he leapt into the air and the bells on his strange hat jingled. "Well, this is! Look around. It is all around you. This is…the dreamscape. And is it not beautiful?"

Looking around, Thon saw the twin moons in the sky and through a gap in the surrounding buildings, plains and mountains in the distance overcast with fiery orange skies. A large streak of purple lightning flashed in the distance. Dark clouds overhead morphed and re-morphed into different shapes at will. As he watched, time seemed to quicken from his perspective, and as he stood there, Thon saw the surrounding buildings crumble and disintegrate into dust. Plants grew slowly from tiny shoots and then upon reaching their full height, withered and died, returning to the ground. Time seemed to move quickly here but Thon seemed to be unaffected. As he watched, the surrounding buildings already seemed to be slowly crumbling and disintegrating into dust. His eyes wandered once more to the skies and as he looked closer, past the luminescent splendor of the giant moons, his eyes saw the universe beyond. He saw the stars and the planets in their magnificence and each time his eyes found and rested upon a new galaxy, the universe would expand rapidly into the beyond, unfolding, twisting and unravelling, in a never-ending and maddening cycle of sheer mesmerising delight.

With a strain of effort, he tore his eyes away and saw McMillian staring at him, the unnatural gleam in his eyes ever more apparent. For a moment, Thon thought he saw the light of the stars reflected in the man’s eyes.

"What is my purpose here? What am I to do?" asked Thon firmly.

"Your purpose is to survive Thon", exclaimed McMillian excitedly. "That is simply it, I must say. Simply it. But this will be difficult. You will face a series of challenges. Challenges I have prepared specially for you. Now, I do not intend, of course, for you to survive long enough, and should you die in any of these challenges, you will fail. And should you fail well, that will be the end of you Thon. You follow?"

"The end?"

"Yes. The end. Snuffed out of existence. Poof! Just like that. Gone."

"I see. Your plan is to trick me. But I will not fail. Go on then. Take me to the first challenge."

"As you wish. Careful not to die now!"

With another leap into the air, the man himself took several steps back and broke into a run. Turning back, he shouted to Thon: "Quickly, now, follow me!"

McMillian turned into an alley between two run-down building structures. As he approached what looked like a dead end, a dark and winding path suddenly appeared before McMillian who ran straight on, following the path. Thon stared down the path and saw deep within, curious shapes moving, obscured by swirling mists that curled maliciously. Looking straight down the road, Thon was certain he could hear the murmur of voices and a low chanting of some ancient language alien and unknown to him echoing amidst the darkness. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Come on, Thon," called out the voice of McMillian from the darkness. "Or you will be left behind. And that will not end well for you I expect. Hurry now!"

Thon ran into the dark mists of the winding pathway following after the faint shadows of McMillian. A cold wind had begun to blow. And the twin moons in the sky above now seemed so huge and overbearing, that it seemed that they were going to fall upon Thon anytime soon. The night sky offered no answers and was like a yawning black hole that stretched for miles above, empty and desolate. Turning back behind, he saw, in the moonlight, the center of the junction, the place where he had previously stood, fade, replaced by an imposing high wall. The way in was shut.

The only way out was onward, he thought, and ran on.

A worm of fear began to gnaw at him.

"Come on, Thon, " called out the voice of McMillian from the darkness. "Or you will be left behind. And that will not end well for you I expect. Hurry now!"

The mists cleared temporarily and he saw to his left and right, dwellings, each with black and blank windows staring out, as if challenging Thon to come inside. There was an eerie air in the place and Thon felt his hair standing slightly. He had a strange feeling that the dwellings were neither vacant nor as empty as they appeared to be. But he did not care to find out. Follow the path closely. Do not be distracted, he cautioned himself. Even as he thought to himself, Thon saw the bright red hair of McMillian disappear into the mists and for a moment, he lost sight of the strange man.

"Wait!" shouted Thon desperately, sprinting forward, determined not to lose sight of McMillian. But the man himself was gone. Enveloped by the swirling mists. "Over here!" called out McMillian, appearing suddenly beside Thon. "Follow me!"

And Thon sprinted after him.

Suddenly, without warning, the dwellings to his left and right disappeared to be replaced by…nothing.

A yawning chasm opened up before Thon and the winding mist-filled path ended at what seemed to be a single bridge that stretched narrowly across the chasm. It was a sheer drop to either the left or right as the path became narrower. Thon turned back to see a similar wall block his way back.

Thon tested the floor of the bridge which was only a little wider than both his feet placed together. Made from loose-fitting planks of wood fastened together with coils of rope, it was not the most stable bridge for crossing the chasm. Moreover, there were no railings of any kind for support.

Taking a deep breath, Thon took a few steps forward. He had to tread carefully for the walkway was slippery with loose rocks and dust and as he stepped cautiously forwards, now and then, tiny pieces of rock dislodged themselves, falling below. Risking a glance below, Thon saw far below a churning sea of pulsating green and blue energy occasionally erupting in pink and purple bursts of light. Looking back up and onwards, Thon saw McMillian waiting at the end of the walkway on the opposite side of the chasm, twirling his rub-encrusted scepter, a large smile plastered on his face. His red hair swirled in the wind behind him.

"Come now, Thon. We must cross this bridge," said McMillian, conversationally. He stood far away across the chasm but his voice was as clear as day, as though he were speaking directly into Thon’s ears. "Crossing this bridge is key. Unless you wish to fail of course."

"I do not wish to fail. What lies across this bridge?"

"The next challenge."

"I see."

"But do not fall, mind you. You will be incinerated even before you come into contact with all that green and blue stuff down there."

Proceeding to cross, Thon focused on finding his footing and maintaining good balance. As he concentrated on the path before him, Thon stepped forward a little too quickly and a section of wood gave way. Thon tripped and almost fell, but steadied himself in time. As he watched, the broken pieces of wood that fell into the chasm caught fire and were burned up in purple and pink flames almost immediately. McMillian was right. Thon felt his heart pounding against his ribcage and already his palms were moist. The experience of having avoided certain death moments ago was unnerving. Beads of perspiration gathered upon his brow. One slip and he would fall. He walked step by step, slowly but surely, edging across the yawning chasm.

Then he saw her.

A woman stood in the middle of the narrow pathway. Pale and gaunt, she stared mournfully at Thon. Her white robes fluttering behind gave her an unearthly quality, like a ghost.