Noah.

In all honesty, Hazel didn't try to make a habit of entering people's minds, much less her friends.

But it seems like there was no other option. Here they stood, just outside of a nefarious dungeon, and Noah was out like a light. The boy, no older than seventeen, was passed out in a way Hazel had never seen him before. It would be humorous, if the situation wasn't so dire.

They had been going throughout the dungeon of a known necromancer, you know the drill, when their entire adventuring party had been subjected to nightmare to no end. Eventually, they all woke up, outside of Noah, who is still asleep.

Now, Hazel typically doesn't use magic on her friends. But this has to be an exception. What could be going on in her friend's mind? He tries to keep to himself and his books all the time. Perhaps that head is more of a maze than she initially thought.

So, knowing this may be a bad idea, Hazel makes a call. With a wave of the hand, she is staring into Noah's mind.

—-----------------------------------

As Hazel looks into Noah's mind, she's met with an empty void. No floor, no ceiling, nothing but black. It's as if the light had gone off and all that was left were stars.

In the distance she finds her friend, floating in this void. A young boy with messy black curls of hair, and a light spatter of freckles on his face. He's sleeping, but only for a moment. Before Hazel can contemplate the logistics of sleeping in a dream, his eyes flutter awake, and gazes around.

"Oh, I'm here again." Hazel finds that Noah looks past her. It seems in whatever is happening, he cannot see her.

He pulls out a pen, one with a golden tip.

"Alright, let's see where my muse ended up this time."

He touches his shoes with his pen and, appearing from nowhere, is a snowboard. Noah begins to fall from the floating void, and suddenly appears sliding down a mighty mountain. Cold wind blasts in Hazel's face as she follows him down this slope. It's a clear, crispy day out, and the rush of trees, rocks, and other pedestrians pass by light a flash. Hazel finds herself in a rush of speed, one that, if not previously acquainted with, could be disorienting. But she is an adventurer, like her friend, so she pays it no mind. She looks through the brush and the trees and spots her friend again, who doesn't seem to be having fun like she thought he would.

Instead, Noah seems to be searching. He looks at the snow below. He looks at the birds in the trees. He looks at pedestrians also riding down this hill.

Noah looks around decisively before coming to a conclusion: whatever he is looking for is not here. So, he looks to the nearest slope and jumps it. In the air, he squiggles some runes from nothing, and out appears a dragon, an adult blue dragon. He grabs the beast's neck, and everything changes.

Suddenly, Hazel finds herself flying among the clouds. Below is a grand ocean, a view only granted by the airship. As she looks up, she sees Noah, riding the dragon across the great sea, looking down at boats of different sizes. He scourers each and every boat, not taking notice of the captains of the vessels looking in absolute fear at the sight. Until, of course, he comes to a conclusion: whatever he is looking for is not here.

Hazel finds his frantic searching confusing. Her friend would not stop chatting about how his favorite part of his favorite book series had a pivotal pirate arc that elevated the writing from good to great. And here he is, with real(ish) pirates in a real(ish) sea, and he doesn't seem to care after all. If anything, he looks downright depressed at the thought, as if a feeling of dread is all consuming to him.

So, with a melancholic look, he jumps off the dragon, and begins to fall. As he is about to hit the water, he writes in the air, and a bed appears beneath him.

Suddenly, Hazel finds herself in a bedroom. It's a nice one, a large room with posters on the wall detailing different books Hazel knows Noah won't stop talking about when he's awake. A large bookshelf lined with books of all shapes and sizes, but despite many of them being of glitz and glamor, none look more worn out that one: an old book made of simple parchment titled "The Legend of Saxia." Outside the room is the sound of two adults, a male and female, screaming at each other. Noah is on the bed.

"Are you in here?"

Hazel freezes. Can he see her in his mind?

A soft whimper comes from a closet. Noah walks over and opens the door.

In the corner of the closet, beneath a pile of clothes, is a small ball of light. Noah gives a smile, but it's hollow. His voice is gentle, if not a little dry. It sounds like he has not spoken in a long time, and is learning how to work the vocal chords again.

"There you are."

The shouting match outside continues, but Noah pays it no mind. The look on his face seems like he's used to the noise around him. He sits by the ball of light, in the corner.

"I know it's hard, but we have to go now. People out there are gonna need us real soon."

He reaches a hand to the light and projects an image. Within this image is a picture perfect day. A picnic is lined up for a group of adventurers. Upon closer inspection, Hazel can make out the image of their friends, all lazing the day away. One has peanut butter stuck to their upper mouth, another is stealing the occasional grape from the plate of a third. They all seem to be happy and calm and fulfilled. It seems like the opposite of the blurry craze that's been pervasive in this mind already. Noah looks to the light, his muse, and finishes his thought.

"And it might just be me, but I think we got it right this time."

The light envelops Noah, and a cacophony of colors erupts from the closet. Beautiful blues, rustic reds, vibrant violets. Strands of different colored lights weave like a web around Hazel, all centered on Noah. The gold tip of his pen is a brilliant white.

"Awesome, let's have some fun."

And the dream fades to black.

----------------------------------

Author's Note:

Hey!

This is an expansion of a prompt that happened in a DND campaign I was a part of. Basically we had all gone to sleep in this dungeon, except for one person, who had the Detect Thoughts spell. She looked into each of our thoughts to see what we were dreaming about, and we all wrote what she saw. This was my entry to that. 

Hope you enjoyed!