Dreams were an incredible testament to the ingenuity of the human mind…or any mind for that matter. The mind had the capability, within a few hours of sleep, to create an entire universe, and quite frequently, a cast of characters. The only fault of the mind, in David's opinion, was the restriction on perception within dreams. True, the mind could create a universe as detailed and diverse as the one we live in, but it was completely subject to presence. It was basically the answer to the old philosophical "tree falling in the woods" question. In the dream world, the answer was quite firmly "no," because as soon as the dreamer failed to perceive it, it ceased to exist.

That made it a lot easier for David to find people in their dreams; simply go where perception existed. From his own perspective, anything outside the dreamer's immediate vicinity became a milky blur of incomprehensible void.

He was in Homer's dream world again. This dream of Homer's was one all too familiar to David: the need to run, to jump, to run, to climb, to run, to fly. It was like the mind was trying to expunge months of pent up energy. He wondered briefly if it was a dream like this that had given birth to the sport of parkour. When he finally caught up to Homer, running up a seemingly never-ending flight of stairs, he scooped him up. "Come on, you said you'd help me figure out what set Kurt off."

As the world around them dissolved into David's palace, exactly as it had been while Kurt had been there a few nights prior, Homer slowly calmed and stopped trying to scrabble out of David's palm. When the rat seemed in full possession of his faculties, David gestured to the dream world of his own creation around them. "Well?"

Homer studied the edifices, alcoves, and frescoes littered throughout the grand space. "Oh, my…I'm not sure I like this…not at all."

David collapsed into a cross-legged sitting position on the floor, his elbows on his knees, his chin balanced in his fists. "It's really that bad? I modeled it after the cathedral of Amiens. I thought it looked pretty nice."

Homer shook his head without looking at David, instead opting to explore a bit. "It has nothing to do with you…or your work for that matter. This is just…very strange."

"But why? What the hell is wrong with everything?"

Homer closed his eyes, took stock of his surroundings and tried to figure out exactly what was so unnervingly surreal that made him feel on edge. "I spoke with Agamemnon once about his experiences within the dream world. Well, actually we spoke many times, but only a few times about dreams. He told me that, to the casual observer, a dream is a constructed fantasy; but, to the dreamer, it was a separate, yet entirely real dimension…plane of existence if you will. A dream belongs to the dreamer, therefore, even a nightmare is exactly as it should be." Homer looked up and watched the ceiling play scenes out of what he surmised to be Yellowstone National Park: one of David's favorite retreats. "I do not belong to this dream, nor this dream to me. And my soul knows it does not belong. This is made all the more disconcerting by the fact that something in my gut tells me nothing exists in this world outside of what you have constructed here."

David let his arms fall limp so that they lay in his lap. "Well, yeah. Some day I'm going to build it for real and it will exist someplace in the mortal world, so there was no need to create anything outside it since I don't know where I'm putting it yet."

Homer rubbed his paw over his whiskers and twitched them back and forth. "That doesn't really matter, though. Not here, not right now. There are other things as well, things that should be forgiven in a dream, even expected. After all, dreams rarely make any sort of sense. But I feel more consciousness in this world, as though I were completely awake, so I can actually register the things that shouldn't belong."

"Like the giant cinema on the ceiling?"

"No, believe it or not that is the least of the unusualness. Imagine for a second you were to suddenly go blind. How would you feel?"

"I'd probably freak out."

Homer nodded. "Exactly. You probably assume you wouldn't notice if you suddenly couldn't smell, or had no taste in your mouth, or couldn't feel anything. But the fact of the matter is, it's like breathing. You barely notice it until it isn't there anymore. And I don't have any of those senses right now. You've created the sights and sounds of your palace, but there is no texture to anything, no smells, no tastes. It's like going blind."

David sniffed the air experimentally. He hadn't even noticed. "How is it you're picking all this up - and Kurt - but I didn't?"

Homer scurried across the floor and up into David's lap. The strangeness of this place was getting to him and he wanted the comfort of his friend and master. "Same reason I check your English homework, David. When you've created something, you only 'see' what your mind expects. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective: someone who enters into the affair with no prior expectations."

"So how do I stop scaring Kurt every time I try to visit him in his sleep?"

"The only thing I could suggest is that you stop trying to be the host, and instead be the guest. Kurt's dreams will always look exactly as his mind expects, so there shouldn't be anything to freak him out."

"But people are such…ditzes in their own dreams. You and Kurt more or less acted like Forrest Gump until I brought you into my dream."

"Maybe…" Homer paused to think for a moment. "Perhaps rather than forcing him out of his dream and into yours, you could maintain his dream for him so that his subconscious mind doesn't have to focus all its energy on it…maybe?"

David sighed; his dream of having Kurt live in his palace with him every night would have to be put on hold.

xoxoxo

Those we've met so far:

David – son of Hades and Persephone

Paul – Hades (Pluto in Latin), god of the underworld and wealth (the Greeks believed that since precious jewels and metals came from underground that the were part of Hades realm)

Sophie – Persephone/Kore (Proserpina in Latin), goddess of spring and queen of the underworld

Aaron – Eros (Cupid in Latin), god of love

Sarah – Psyche (Psyche in Latin), goddess of the soul

Homer – an old rat David befriended in the Underworld

Aphrodite – (Venus in Latin) Goddess of love and beauty

Hermes – (Mercury in Latin) Messenger of the gods and escort of souls to the Underworld

Apollo – (Apollo in Latin) God of the sun, medicine, knowledge, music, and poetry

Demetria – Demeter (Ceres in Latin) Goddess of the harvest and seasons

Zeus – (Jupiter in Latin) King of the gods and god of the sky

Hera – (Juno in Latin) Queen of the gods and goddess of Marriage, women and birth

Morpheus – (Morpheus in Latin) god of dreams

Icelus – (couldn't find an accurate Latin variation) – god of nightmares