Other Worlds Than These- Stories of other levels of the Tower and how many others traversed the levels in an attempt to reach the tower at the end of the beams.

Authors Note- Standard disclaimer for both Kim Possible and Stephen Kings themes and possible future characters from The Dark Tower series. I have looked into the navel of Gan and must tell my story to its end, say thankya.

One-

Interpretation

At first the dreams were too abstract to bother over or even remember for very long, walking with a rose in one hand or the other beside a tiger through a town that resembled something out of an old western, weird but nothing to get worked up over. It was when the rose began to sing and the tiger to talk that things got clearer and at the same time made less sense as the two items changed nightly and then the appearance of a tower and cloaked figures looking for the items that he had. The one last night however was the worst or strangest, whichever you picked and right now Ron was leaning towards both. He had the rose(always the same crimson red) in a small pot and it seemed to be wilting though he had seen it go from this state to full bloom in previous dreams. He had just exited what looked to be a saloon and the street was deserted except for the dog. It talked like the tiger in the same gruff town of an old man who's smoked too much.

"Sai Ronald, know ye now the path of the beam. Look yonder to the way of the turtle. Find the tower at the end of the beam of Maturin. Stand and be true." With that it hobbled away one of its back legs seemed to be sprained.

Shaking his head Ron continued toward a dirt road and into a forest which seemed to appear out of nowhere as he continued deeper into the darkness along a narrowing dirt path. It wasn't long before the forest became too dark and the rose began to suddenly glow with a strange, other worldly light that filled Ron with a strange comfort. That didn't last long as figures in heavy coats and cloaks started to appear from the forest weapons in their hands, guns. Moving a foreign impulse Ron reached for a gun and pulled one from a low slung dockers clutch he was sure hadn't been there earlier. Time seemed to stop as he located each figure then fired at them unloading the six shots he had and reloading with another six pulled from a pocket in the button up shirt he seemed to be wearing.

In the process of the shot out however the rose fell from his other hand, the pot it was in smashing and the rose falling to the ground. Instead of wilting however as it had done in other versions of the dream it took root causing other roses to bloom the remaining attackers in their low coats retreating from light the collective roses made. It was here however that the strangest thing occurred, the roses continuing to sprout and bloom caused the forest to fade away staying to either side of the old path they turned the whole forest into a field of roses all blooming and glowing and now singing as the rose had on other rare occasions only they all sang and made a great chorus. There was a great cry from far off and looming in the distance of this new field of roses stood a dark cylindrical shape. High over the landscaped the tower climbed looming like a great dragon over its hoard casting a shadow along the path between the roses.

Well out of the daze of his fight Ron placed the gun, one of two he found in the left shoulder holster and again followed the singing of the roses towards the tower at the end of the path. The chorus of the roses came to a crescendo as suddenly the singing turned from a single hum to a single soft voice whispering to him. That was when he woke up, a light film of sweat on his brow and the faint scent of roses on a late summer afternoon filling his nostrils.

"Freaky dream." Ron muttered stumbling out of bed before glancing at his alarm clock which read 7:15

Doing a double take he swore under his breath before making a break for the bathroom, clothes flying as he flew down the hall, a short four minute shower later and Ron was dressed and ready to go with his good friend Rufus tucked into the front right pocket of his cargo pants.

"Morning Ronald". His father commented immersed in the Middleton Times.

"No time to talk pop." Ron shouted grabbing two pieces of toast meant for his father as he raced out the front door to backpack swinging on it single strap as he raced to catch up with his best friend Kim Possible who he was sure already on her way to school. He caught up to her about a block past her house panting as he slowed causing her to turn, a wry smile creeping across her previously worried face.

"Late again ron?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Sorry KP, I had this weird dream that just kept going on and on." He explained clutching at a stitch in his side.

"Tell me all about on the way to school." She replied turning again and walking, slower now towards school again.

After massaging the pain out of his side ron started in on describing the dream in all its details. This was nothing new for either of them since the strange and seemingly shared dream they had when visiting the Middleton history museum. She seemed interested in the rose and the song that it sang, but for the life of him ron couldn't describe the song save with a single phrase, pure beauty.

"Wait you said you shot some dark figures."

"Yeah, I want to call them low men, but I don't know why."

Kim was about to ask about the guns ron had used when she stopped short noticing that ron too had stopped in his tracks in front of an abandoned lot where a decaying house stood or rather leaned.

"This is the old Toren place." He muttered looking not at the house but at the yard or what was left of it in front.

"I remember when old Mr. Toren died, they said his final wish was to ensure that no one could buy his house or the property around it. Remember we snuck in there once.

"Yup." Ron said his jaw now slightly slack, hands gripping the chain link fence that seemed to have been erected recently.

Kim could tell something was wrong, the dream had disturbed ron and to an extent it had disturbed her but now something else had grabbed his attention inside of the abandoned lot. He seemed to be staring at the now dead garden that was sectioned off with various smoothed and stacked stones, there the remains of a rose bush crawled up the side of the faded house.

"The Rose." They both said at the same moment. Ron turned to Kim a look of awe on his face.

"Just a coincidence KP?" he asked hopefully. His hand was outstretched pointing to the rose bush and more specifically a single wilted rose on one of the lower stems.

"Come on Ron, it has to be coincidence. We have to get going; don't worry about that dead rose."

Kim tried to reassure him, but still he wore that worried face.

"I didn't tell you the words that the rose spoke." He whispered.

What do you mean?"

"When the field began to sing as one I could hear a single voice sweeter and purer than any I've heard before, it told me that I must protect the rose, find Toren and protect the rose or the tower would fall." He turned to her his eyes wide with a strange unnamed worry.

She shook her head having lost herself in Ron's eyes for a moment, in his perhaps not so unfounded fear. The Ron factor may have been total bunk but she still trusted his gut instincts and right now she couldn't help but think there might be a reason to worry about that sickly looking rose.

"Tell you what Ron, we'll check out the rose at lunch, okay? We should have enough time to sneak in there and get back." This seemed to bring Ron back if only slightly.

"Sure KP that sounds great." He replied continuing down the road to school.

Next- Wolf and Ape. Kim and Ron learn the truth of the beams and the rose.