Dreamscape

Apparently I'm Overpowered

2 | Apparently I'm Overpowered

What now? I asked myself as my inner guinea pig began going haywire inside of me, threatening to explode. I scanned my surroundings more clearly and finally noticed that I was on one of the five fairly sized islands around me.

Huh. I thought. That's not normal. It's not what usually happens anyways.

I decided to explore a bit more. All of the islands seemed to be similar to each other, more or less. Wait. Does that mean I can fly?! I willed myself to be lifted up in the air to view everything from a bird's eye view... and it worked!

Now that I could see my- er- dreamverse better, I examined the landscape around me. The five islands were all put together in a circular shape with many people in each of them. I figured there probably weren't any actual beings with their own consciousness so I was surprised to find a bit of movement on each of the other islands.

I had never previously seen anything even resembling other life in all my previous dreamverses, so this was news to me. Before I could even process what was happening before me and figure out what was going on, I heard a rumbling sound. I looked down. The island I was on before shifted into a forest-y looking area.

Wait... I hadn't done that. Was that my mind unconsciously willing the landscape to change, or were there... other lucid dreamers in this dreamverse?

I willed myself down slowly. I needed to see what was going on.

Hmmm... I decided to just choose the closest island to me and ask around. Perhaps one of lucid dreamers there could help me figure out what was happening. I went down hoping that the movement was actually a lucid dreamer and that- well, that they were human. I mean like, I've never heard anything about an animal lucid dreaming so all I could do was hope.

I studied the new environment I had just placed myself into and sure enough, there was motion. I moved towards it and at the same time, they seemed to be investigating the newcomer too.

As the sound of leaves rustling and footsteps guided me closer and closer to what I thought was another lucid dreamer, the wind started feeling off again. I was probably going insane, but I knew there was something different about it.

Before I could focus more on the wind, I bumped into something, or what I hoped would be someone. Of course it wasn't someone, though. It was a lion. Of course, it's literally a forest, why wouldn't there be animals?! I silently reprimanded myself for thinking that there could ever be other lucid dreamers in my dream.

Just then, the ground shook. Wait, it shook? There was no way an animal was doing that. Or maybe they were? I still don't know if they can lucid dream. Note to self: search it up when I get back.

Whatever, I just need to find a way out of here, wherever this was. "Hello?" I called out, hoping that if any other lucid dreamers were in here they would hear me. What am I even doing?! I thought to myself as I ventured on, If people could be in the same dream they would've figured it out a long time ago!

Or would they have? I mean, not a lot of people can lucid dream... No, Arian, don't get your hopes up. You're going insane.

"Ack! Who are you?!" A voice rang out in front of me. I lifted my head and blinked. It was... an actual human. Wait... this person wasn't part of the dream, right? I tried willing the person in front of me to move. They didn't even budge.

My eyes widened. "I'm... Arian," I stammered out, "you're... another lucid dreamer?" The person nodded.

"Seraphina. Nice to meet you too, fellow- wherever we are," she said with a sheepish grin.

I replied with something real intelligent like, "Um... okay."

"So, do you know what's going on?" I ask, desperately trying to get some answers. Seraphina looked uncertain.

"No," she admitted, "I already mentioned that I didn't know where we were."

I blinked. "Right... Sorry, this place is getting to me. It feels... off, from all my other lucid dreams."

"Well, actually," Seraphina admitted, "I have somewhat figured out one thing." I raised an eyebrow at her. "What is it?" I ask in a tone that sounded rushed.

"Okay so... you're probably not gonna believe this, but... I'm pretty sure every dream that we've ever had is an archverse."

"What?!"

"There's more," she continued, "the reason that lucid dreaming is so hard for people even though it might sound easy to realize you're dreaming is because of the fact that you're literally controlling parts of a universe as you do so."

I subtly nodded my head like I understood. Truth to be told - I didn't. What I did process was the fact that I was apparently overpowered.

"Question," I ask, "what's an archverse?"

Seraphina looked like she was mentally facepalming. "Do you seriously not research about your abilities?!"

I paused. "No, not really."

"An archverse is a branch of the main universe, or as some people call it, 'the parent universe'," Seraphina explained to me as if she were lecturing a toddler on basic mathematics.

"Got it," I say, "I can control part of the universe and I'm overpowered."

"No that's not what I was trying to- Okay, nevermind. Sure. Whatever floats your boat."

"So..." I trail off, "should we like- get out of here and get back to the real world now?"

"Oh." Seraphina says. "About that... I don't think we can."