Writers Challenge

Dreams are a source of inspiration, but they are often forgotten. Though, there are at times dreams so profound they stay with you forever. Keep a notebook near your bed and write down the dream before you forget. I’ll often wake and jot down a dream that in my sleepy slumber I’ll think is the next great novel, only to amuse myself by the ridiculousness of it in the light of day. However, sometimes ideas come during your nocturnal rest that are brilliant. I’ve used ideas from dreams many times.

This week’s challenge is to write down a dream in the form of a story. The story doesn’t need to be long; a paragraph is enough. But, you are welcome to write as much as you like.

I have had dreams that I remembered well enough to become stories and have attempted to write them. Here is the one that was clearer and the story more filled out.

_“Who are you? Why were you at that village? How did you get there?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“Tell me what you do remember.”

“I was in the caves. Vruhn were coming and so were villagers…”_

She was in a storage room in the caverns. She had no idea how she had gotten there. She knew she was near the fissure. She could smell the sulfur. There were three passages leading from the room. Vruhn were coming from one. She didn’t want to be seen by them. She started to leave by another passage but could hear the villagers coming from the third passage. A man and a woman entered the storage room before the Vruhn. They stopped when the saw her. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” they asked her.

The questions confused her. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“How did you get here? No one is supposed to be in here. It’s dangerous,” the man told her.

The reminder of the Vruhn brought her out of her confusion. “The Vruhn are coming. They’re in the corridor.” She pointed toward the passage they were coming from.

“What? How do you know?” the man asked. “You didn’t see them did you? Did you go out there?” He indicated the same passage she had. Villagers weren’t supposed to go beyond this room.

“No. I don’t know how I know. I just do.” She pushed them toward one of the large crates. “We need to hide.”

“How do you know they’re coming if you didn’t see them?” the woman looked apprehensive.

“I said I don’t know how.” She sighed, exasperated. “We have to hide. Back here.” She pushed them into a niche behind the crate and crowded in with them, putting herself between them and the opening as if she would protect them from the Vruhn. Somehow she knew she would.

“Be quiet.” She warned. “If they come close don’t even breathe.”

They were fortunate. The Vruhn didn’t come close. They left through the passage that lead off to another village, the one she almost went down.

When the Vruhn were far enough away she could barely sense them she slipped out from behind the crate. The couple followed, staring at her. “I think maybe we should take you to the council.” the man suggested.

She nodded, “But first, get what you came for.”

She sat before the council, listening to them discuss her, almost as if she wasn’t there. The man and woman had explained how they had found her and how she had protected them from the Vruhn. Then she had been questioned by the council but had been unable to answer most of their questions.

Finally, the junior most member of the council, a man named Ghiesf, returned. “None of the connecting villages are missing anyone, none even recognize her image.”

She sighed heavily. She wanted answers as much as any of them. She was lucky all Vruhn were male, otherwise, she would be suspected of that. All eyes turned to her. “I’m sorry. I was hoping someone would know who I am. It’s frustrating not knowing.”

“You really have no idea who you are?” their spokes person asked.

She shook her head.

“Nothing?”

She looked down at herself. “I’m female.”

One of the other council members turned to the group. “This girl didn’t appear out of nowhere. We should check with the non-connecting villages and the nearby settlements above.”

The other council members agreed.

“Do you think you could call me Mila instead of this girl?”

All the members looked at her. “Is that your name?” One asked.

“I don’t know. But I would like it to be.” She answered.

The council members nodded. “Until your true name is reveled you may be called Mila.”

“Dysur and Fuety have agreed to guest you with them until we hear back from the non-connecting villages.” This came from another member of the council. “Dysur and Fuety are the ones that found you in the supply room.”

Mila nodded. She knew who they were but she didn’t tell them that.

_“You weren’t sent to this village?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“What makes you think that?”_

Mila stood at the edge of the crowd not fully understanding what was going on. They were in the cavern the village had been built in but off to the side of the village in an empty part of the cavern gathered around a pedestal like table. They were awaiting the start of a Caedes Ceremony. They all wore a somber blue-grey and everyone seemed forlorn and some had protested it, though it had seemed a halfhearted attempt. It had not taken much to persuade them to allow the ceremony to happen.

Mila had not heard the conversation but had seen it from a distance. She had been with the council again. They had heard back from the last non-connecting village and she was not from any of them. No one was missing a girl of her description. They had been trying to decide what to do with her next.

She moved closer to the person next to her. “What exactly is happening?” He was one of those who had tried to stop the ceremony. She knew he would answer honestly.

He glanced at her and frowned. She wondered if she should not have spoken. “He’ll be left for the Vruhn. They are going to make sure he won’t become one of them.” Mila shuddered. She wasn’t sure what he meant but she had an idea and didn’t like the sound of it. To her surprise, he continued talking. “Surely you know the Vruhn demand a child each year. If the child is alive, he becomes a Vruhn, if not he is used for experiments. The lesser of two evils, I guess.”

He wasn’t quite right, but close enough for this purpose. Correcting him wouldn’t help. She didn’t even know how she knew. “Why this child?” She asked instead. Something wasn’t sitting right with her and it was more than just that they were about to kill a child.

“He has no family. His mother died during childbirth and the father is unknown. No one came forward even after the mother died. Hush now, we shouldn’t talk during the ceremony.”

The priests were coming out of the village carrying a small infant. He was less than a week old. The Vruhn would like receiving a dead child this small. The thought shocked her. Where did it come from and why was she thinking like a Vruhn? She listened to priest chant, asking for forgiveness, for care of the child’s soul. He continued chanting as he laid the child on a table.

Something was wrong. Mila could feel it to her bones. She had to stop it. She couldn’t let this child die. She raced forward and snatched the child off the table just as the priest brought down the knife, barley missing being cut herself.

Holding the child to herself, she backed away from the crowd. “You can’t kill him. Not this one.” She pleaded. She pulled a knife to ward off the approaching guards.

“Mila,” one of the priests said. “Give us back the baby.”

“You can’t kill him. Not this one” She insisted.

“Mila, I understand. I don’t want to kill him either. We don’t have a choice. We have to give them a child. He has no family. No one was allowed to get close to him.” the priest slowly moved towards her. So did the guard.

“No. You don’t understand. This child can’t die.” She was backed against a wall. She couldn’t stop them without hurting them. One guard was within a few feet. He had his sword drawn.

“What do you mean this child? Is there something special about that child?” He lowered the sword some and came closer still. She could still kill him if he threatened the baby. The other guards came closer but were still behind. She didn’t know if she could stop them all and protect the baby.

Suddenly water burst up between the first guard and the others. Hundreds of tiny streams shot up out from the floor to the ceiling of the cave before raining back down. It wasn’t enough to stop anyone but it did. Everyone just froze.

The scene in the beginning where Mila meet the couple and protected them and where she snatched the baby from being killed and was protected by water coming up from the ground were the 2 parts from my dream and like this entry, my dream ended with the water.

The formatting isn't working properly. There's supposed to me italics in the 2 portions where 2 unknown people are speaking. and there should be *s rather than lines to show scene breaks.

@RedPhantom That actually is very interesting story. I like the unusual feel of it. I'll post one of mine soon, I've just been so swamped, and this darn cold/flu just won't break.

I also find his to be a very interesting story and quite the dream. I have a dream from several years ago. I will find it and reprint it here.

@wolfenshire...That stuff is a real bear and hangs on, I have had it for 3 weeks and am finely feeling better.

A recurrent dream I've had since I was nine.

The wind rustled through the tall grass of the vast plain; a wave of golden chaff rippling as an ocean in the sun. My hands held slightly out to my sides to feel the stocks moving around me. Far in the distance were the mountains, but to me, only a lazy flight away. I flexed the muscles in my back and stretched my powerful wings out to their full span. Everything was one. The wind, the earth, the small rodents scurrying through the grass to get away from me. But I wasn’t interested in them today. I was only exploring. The wind rose, and I felt the warm current I wanted push under my wings. Three strong strides with my legs and I lifted into the air and soared just above the wheat. My eyes caught movement to the left, a pride of beastie-cats thinking to hunt me while I had been on the ground. I pumped my wings and thwarted their desires as I lifted far above their reach. In the sky I had no equal, the clouds were my domain. I banked to the right and let the thermals lift me higher. I could see the building, or hut, or house, I did not know, below me. I had wanted to explore that single strange structure that sat alone in the middle of this plain, but the beastie-cats were prowling today, and it would be unwise to linger too long on the ground. I reached the apex of the thermal currents and turned to home, allowing myself to drift on the wind back to the mountains. I would explore the structure another day.

Here is my contribution, hope it fits in. I wrote this 40+ years ago.

I looked in a mirror and beheld my reflection A little boy with freckles; I stared at me and he stared back. "You have changed." "You are still me but you will never be." I opened my mouth to ask a question But as I was, I was gone. Then I saw me as I am, I spoke to me. Thinking it was me."That was just an illusion." And I was answered, "It is not over yet." And again I faded out.

There I was from school, I could not look at me. For I was ashamed of the way I was. There were tears on his cheeks, I reached out to brush them away. Only to touch cold glass. And as I was, I wasn't any more. Then I saw me as I am and asked, "More??"

"No", I yelled with pain and tried to leave I could not move and I tried so hard

I saw three of me as I was and I remembered. One of me was foolish and he laughed. One of me loved and he had red eyes. One of me was proud and he looked disdainful. All three of me looked at the one of I With the one question, "Why??" "I was trying to..." was all I had a chance to say They merged into one, and as I was, I wasn't any more.

Then I saw a middle aged me, and he said, "Look within for confidence." "Look outside for strength." And as I am to be... Was replaced by and old me. Of which I could see thru. He had a twinkle in his eyes, but he had no smile He looked as if to say something, then he was gone. And I saw me again, my reflection, as I am. And all was as it was...Except for me.

@Idgilman That is a fascinating revelation, almost as if you could see the whole span of your life stretching out before you. It is truly amazing what we find in our dreams.

I agree, I wish I could have found the other dream I wrote all those years ago when I lived in Homestead, Florida. Near as I can remember it was about a witch, one of the canals and a girl friend.