The Dreamers Exchange

Chapter 9: Curiosity Brought it Back

Jake had slowly begun to harness his skills on the astral. He had learnt to channel the dead and even embrace his own worship influencing events and pushing influence towards prayers when devotes were given. He had become what the gods referred to as a "living temple" a vessel for the dead via possession. His favorite spirit was an incarnation of a superhero he grew up reading about known only by the name "Marcaba" a faceless detective who was enumerated and enamored with conspiracies. Everything had truth to it Jake had come to know. It was a concept Osirus showed him known as "Bleeding Dice" the myth went as follows.

One day Osirus was bored playing with Jacks or the egyption equivalent. And Anbuis came to bother him. This was actually back before Anbuis was a god so it was someone else but I your wonderful muse storyteller Raven Regler don't have all the details. So Anubis pestered Osirus saying "Brother this game your playing it is so silly why must you bother with it!?" Osirus snapped at his son.

"These jacks help me to tell stories. Via their placements and their falling. What sorts of stories do you have!?" Anubis was angered by his brothers disobedience. Their relationship keeps changing throughout the course of the myth. So he cursed the Jack's and all games like them to bee seen as a falsehood thus splitting up fiction and reality.

Osirus taught Jake that fiction and reality were once the same thing, but that this scared the people. They were afraid to tell lies, play games, embrace chaos and Egypt hated this. The Natives hated this. The ocean hated this. Africa hated this. So all gods of all pantheons stepped in and split the two in their own way. Osirus also clarified to Jake that even fictional stories of the gods thus become "their canon" by nature of the storytelling and comuned that

"Anansi could tell ya alot about that one since you seem to favor her so much".

all this aligned so that Jake met his favorite comic book hero Markab as a spirit. Theirs more off that happened off the page because of this. But your not gona hear that from me.

Markaba guided Jake from this point on in his journey in his olive greens suit and trenchchoat sometimes operating under the alias "Dream". Dream and Jake grew very close. He did confine something in Jake one day while Jake was in the car.

"I have this theory though Jake but here's the thing your not gona like it" Jake had the headcanon that even though Marcarbas conspiracy theories were sometimes ruthlessly other reasons and and he could be gut reaching with villains he was always right in his theories. Even when sometimes misguided. He was never wrong.

"Lay it on me"

"Well for starters you know how my theory is that your every Greek God incarnated which is why nobody can truly place your identity?"

"Yes? I mean it's out there but your never wrong so"

"This has to do with that." Marcarba said.

"My theory is that you are actually meant to end the world. Not save it. But last minute you'll flip the switch or something and save it as planned. Am I getting warmer?"

"As always you're right on the money Markarba" Jake confessed.

"I've always feared that. Once I met my "mother" Iana in the mirror and she told me it was job to end the world or have a kid to end the world and I said yes taking the burden then I pulled a total 180 and here we are."

"Just keep doing what you're doing. And watch out for those girl scouts. They're benevolent here unlike in our world. But they still hold too much power" Marcarba said referencing a conspiracy he conjured.

"What was the rank you got up to in your own scouts by the way it matters?"

"Oh uh I got up to the brown uniform?"