"Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy"
-Sigmund Freud
A warm breeze blew across Max's face carrying the scent of wild flowers and loamy soil, the air was clear and fresh, like a forgotten green prairie.
Max was confused. He looked around and saw knee high grass as far as his eyes could perceive. The yellow tipped blades swayed in the wind with a distinct shushing sound. It reminded Max of a gently rolling, green ocean extending to the horizon. He noticed a lone tree off to the east, since there was a distinct lack of other land marks, he decided to walk that way.
Suddenly the memory of what had just occurred came crashing back to him. He no longer had his precious gem or the silver armor. As he looked down at his body however, he noticed his arms were covered in tattoos. Tattoos that definitely had not ever been there before. They seemed to be of the same runes or symbols that were on his swords and of the same iridescent ink. He wore a brown, leather jerkin with buckles down the front, brown cloth pants and shin high, black leather boots.
He began to walk once again, noticing the grass seemed to part for him as he walked. He thought to himself how beautiful the scenery was and cheerfully sang " Riders on the Storm" by the Doors as he continued to trek on.
Suddenly he felt a tingle in his head, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention, a static energy all around him. Some extra sensory phenomenon or something. Whatever it was it told him to turn to the west and there he saw a large, blue ball of snapping and sizzling energy flying across the field, straight at him. Max saw it a little too late and it collided with him, it threw him ten feet back, causing him to slide through the grass a few feet. He was stunned for a second or two and when he stood he saw his jerkin had been blown open. To his amazement the words, " YOU'RE IT ! ", had been scorched into his chest. Even more surprising was the fact that he was now floating several feet above the grass.
He slowly rotated around to the direction from which the energy ball had originated and saw a cute, little girl, who looked to be around the age of seven years. She was wearing a little blue, knee length dress and shiny black penny loafers. She had shoulder length black hair and bangs cut straight across her forehead, just above eye level. She floated there, just above the grass, head tilted forward so he could barely see her eyes, which were staring straight at Max. Her hands were pointed downwards, palms forward and toes pointed at the ground. She looked, for all the world, like an evil horror movie villain.
The girl whispered something in a surely ancient language and with a sweep of her right arm launched another energy ball at Max. Remarkably as Max floated there he felt an itching in his arms and the tattoos began to glow bright and green. Incredibly, he was just thinking how it would be nice to have a force field or a shield, when he blurted out, "standolisi, shelkoris mottilitox !" and just as the ball was about to hit, a green globe surrounded him and the blue projectile exploded harmlessly in a shower of green and blue sparks.
Max spun around and with a flourish of his right hand shot what can only be described as a green lightning bolt at the girl. She raised her left hand, wrist bent and palm forward and as the bolt neared her, it split in a million different directions, leaving the girl unharmed.
What happened next surprised Max the most, althought, he thought, nothing should surprise him anymore. This innocent looking little girl took off, shot straight up into the air and that wasn't even the most surprising part. The surprise part was that Max followed. They flew around shooting different magical projections at one and other, banking, looping, flipping and spinning, like a dog fight from Top Gun, green smoke streaming from Max's feet and blue from the girls.
After a while of this unbelievable, magical aerial dogfighting, each taking their share of hits, they landed back in the field and started to fight again, each throwing fireballs at the other, in a battle that would be a sight to behold. Finally Max caught the girl off guard and she took a direct hit from one of his hissing, green lightning bolts. It knocked her over and when she stood there were tears streaking down her face, making light patches through the dirt and grim.. "You win Maxi, this time." She said it in a small, pouty voice, almost a whisper. Then she vanished and all went black.
YOU ARE READING
Dream Therapy
General Fiction"Dreams have always expanded our understanding of reality by challenging our boundaries of the real, of the possible." -Henry Reed Ex-army Ranger Max was angry and depressed. Mental illness plagued him. Now he's stuck inside his own dreams with only...
