Jessica Vale „ Preview "
Jessica Vale was travelling in the car across the remote areas of New Mexico's deserts. There was a moonless night, a gloomy darkness lightened up only by the glitter of the stars on the sky as dark as ink and floodlights of the girl's vehicle ruled around. Air was cool and the wind was raging above stones was creating a single sound in the stillness flooding everything around. Jessica in order to fight with that silence and feeling of loneliness turned the radio on and was listening to night-time broadcasts. Mutant girl was coming back to the Xavier's Institute after the visit in her mother's house. Events of recent weeks, the problems with her concealed abilities and apparitions from her past which she created, caused that she had to rest from peculiarities offered her by the school. She had the willingness to come back to her normal life and most importantly to talk about the future with Hope Abbot, her room-mate. Various scenarios, mixed with lyrics of listened songs were jumbling in her thoughts as her eyelids became more and more heavy and the tiredness embraced her body.
"Now especially for young miss Evans from the New York state - She's like the wind." The radio broadcast was stopped by interferences. Jessie turned the knob of the radio around in order to tune the frequency.
„…She leads me through moonlight only to burn me with the sun. She's taken my heart…" Noise spoilt the radio broadcast again. Jessica turned the potentiometer around.
„...her body close me, Can't look in her eyes…" After a few seconds the voice of the radio was entirely replaced by the white noise.
"Damn it!" The girl became nervous. She turned the radio off simultaneously looking ahead of herself. She noticed a small gas station with the bar lighted up by the fancifully bent neon light. The place seemed to her to be taken out from the quite different part of the world, put in the middle of the desert by accident. Jessica thought that somebody in this building could have some type of the radio antenna which disrupted her broadcasts. She decided to seize an opportunity and rest before the further journey. She looked around while going to the building. The air seemed more pleasant to her and the spooky voice of the wind died away. The girl knocked at the door. The short elderly man in glasses opened her.
"Welcome you, what can I do for you?" He asked.
"I just want to rest. If it is possible..."
"But of course, after all, it's the purpose of our inn. Passengers from different worlds can safely rest before their more further journey." Jessica came inside. Everything was made in a wood, a smell of old, wet timber was hanging everywhere.
"Do we have guests? " Someone's shrill voice sounded. Big-assed old woman went down a stairway. "Welcome! I'll prepare something to eat for you right away! I didn't know that you would appear so early! If I knew..." She started walking around the black-haired girl. Jessie was a bit confused.
"Leave the girl alone, can't see you that she is worn out?" The grandfather interrupted her, and then he turned to young mutant.
"Excuse me, but my wife – here bow in the direction of my wife - likes guests very much. She is delighted with every visit. We not often have guests in these sides. Right?"
"Yes, yes... When it was recently... it was a few..." The woman replied. Jessica walked away from the talking couple.
"Where is the toilet? I'd like..." She asked.
"Of course. I'll show you!" The stranger announced and pointed at the direction of one of corridors. After a moment he came back to the wife.
"Quickly. Look for the key! We must open the door for her!"
"But I was hoping that she would stay with us a bit longer. After all we haven't had guests for a few thousand years..."
"Unfortunately... Lord of the Sleeping Marches is waiting for her. Time is running out". Both old people started searching something inside the wardrobe standing in the corner of the room. The woman found the golden key and gave it to her husband.
"Here it is!" The grandfather opened the door. After a moment Jessica came back to the main chamber of the house. Elders looked to her and then at each other.
"Please enter there. There, you'll be able to rest before the journey".
The girl did as she was asked to do. Having crossed the door, she found herself in a dark room. At first she could see nothing and could hear only creaking of wood under her own feet. After a moment other sounds started reaching her mind. At first single and quiet, then they became louder and more numerous and quickly turned into the hubbub of the tavern. Jessica was inside some inn. Her eyes opened wide from amazement, she thought that she was dreaming or had some visual hallucinations. Many bizarre beings were partying around her. She touched the dwarf drinking a beer who only looked at her with disgust and swore something in his language. The man with a horse head passed by her and neighed looking at her face. Jessica was walking slowly, like in the trance not paying heed to individuals surrounding her. She reached the table close to the burning fireplace. The tall man in black dress was standing nearby it. He had pale face, thick, black hair and dark eyes. He moved his arm in the direction of the girl.
"Welcome Jessica Vale. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Alan Scott „ Green Lantern "
There was a late night and Alan Scott was lying in the bed not being able to fall asleep. He was watching the ceiling of his flat plunged in a complete darkness and in his bedroom an old, antique clock's ticking was heard. The man raised his hand above the head, he looked at the ring phosphorescing in the darkness with a weak green light. He knew that he wouldn't be asleep that night, therefore he decided to clear his mind from different, chaotic thoughts teeming inside it. He got up and moved toward the second room. He came up to the wooden table on which the old, manual green lamp was lying. He put the ring to the object smiling. He started to recite words of the oath taken a long time ago with a quiet voice:
„In brightest day, in darkest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light"
The body of the man was surrounded by the bright, green flame which lightened darkness prevailing in the room up. Alan's clothes were replaced by the uniform of the first Earth's Green Lantern – red shirt with the symbol of the lamp, green trousers and dark blue cape with the turned up collar. The man extended a hand with the ring in the direction of the window, which was opened immediately. Green Lantern left the room through it and he glided toward the sky surrounded by celadon glow of his flame. He was hovering above the city trying to remind himself what drove him to go on the night flight trip. He passed above the city centre and entered the suburbs. He was gazing at things during his way: night club in front of which many people gathered, because some concert was supposed to take place there, the train travelling through outskirts of the city, the small asleep town. In the end he reached the farm which was surrounded by kilometers of fields flooded in a darkness. He touched down in a front of the big barn. The flame stopped emanating from his body and the wind could freely shake his cape and hair. Creaking of the door stopped the silence of the night. Alan moved in its direction himself. He opened it gently, preparing the ring in a case of an attack. When he entered the room, his eyes opened widely from astonishment. He saw his friend who was already dead. Wesley Doods, the original Sandman was standing in the middle of the room dressed in his suit, the cape, the hat and the gas mask. He moved a hand towards Scott.
"Welcome Alan. Don't you recognize your friend?" GL hesitated. He wanted to use the ring on his old acquaintance in order to become convinced whom or what he really was.
"Wesley is dead... it'd better be only a stupid joke because if you used his image to attack me, you'll not get away with it." The man replied angrily.
"I'm dead. But perhaps today is a special night, during which everything can happen. Perhaps for this one night, I returned?" The apparition replied calmly.
"Even if what you're saying is a truth, I'll have to gather the entire JSA so that they can state..." Sandman cut him off in a mid-sentence.
"No. This matter concerns only you. It is your dream, nobody else's". Alan dropped his hands.
"Dream, it makes sense." He thought. The strange need of going to the remote place in the middle of the night, fact that everything what happened so far was a dream would be a reasonable, logical explanation.
"Now you are convinced that you are in your home and you are dreaming. Perhaps it will be easier for you to fulfill what I'm going to ask you to do". The man in the mask continued.
"Ask me to do something? What exactly?"
"Come with me". He pointed at the old door which immediately opened by strong blast of the wind. Both men left the house. It was silent everywhere around, the sky devoid of stars had the dark-purple color. Doods moved through the meadow toward the forest barely seen in the darkness. GL followed him. They went across the grass in a silence listening to sounds of their own steps. Alan Scott broke the silence.
"I know that perhaps what I'm asking about is stupid... But is this all a dream?" Sandman looked at him through his gas mask.
"Am I a dream? Yes, I am a dream. Are you dreaming? You can say yes, since I am your dream. Is this all a dream? No – what now is happening as well as what will happen to you is real".
He came up to the next wooden house and opened its door slightly.
"Here, Alan Scott. I cannot go with you farther. You must set off on the travel alone, unaided."
"But I have so many questions." Green Lantern protested.
"You will find answers for them behind this door". After these last words the man in the gas mask dissolved into thin air leaving only a sand after himself. Alan entered the darkness inviting him into the interior of the cottage. He found a way into very crowded place, probably some inn. A loud music was playing there and extraordinary hubbub prevailed. Lantern looked around. The fat woman served the beer to dwarfs, the characters dressed in black were playing the poker with people looking deceased in the angle of the room and the monkey was smoking a cigar sitting on the barrel of beer. Scott raised his hand with the ring and surrounded his body with protective, green flame. He didn't know what this company was capable of.
"Drop your weapon Alan Scott." He heard someone's voice. The tall man in black dress was standing nearby the fireplace. He had pale face, thick, black hair and dark eyes. He moved his arm in the direction of the man.
"Welcome Green Lantern, carrying Heart of the Star, Master of Green Flame. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Sakiko Hayasu „ Hunter in the Night "
Sakiko Hayasu was walking along dirty, municipal avenue plunged in the darkness. Her footsteps were uneven, the girl was holding her arm. After a moment she stopped and leaned against the wall. She moved her hand over its uneven surface, then pressed her head against it clenching her teeth. Sounds of the city were coming into her ears: music playing somewhere in the distance, signal of an ambulance on some far away street. Some tramp, sleeping in the cardboard box a few meters farther, spat looking straight at Sakiko with his drunken eyes. The girl didn't think about anything what was happening around her. She strongly touched her arm and a few drops of blood fell on the pavement. She was injured and although her wound wasn't too big, it caused her a great pain.
"He gave me a slip again. When I was so close. At least I rescued those poor men. If they murdered them, he would become even more powerful. And what was the meaning of it all ? If he escaped, he will return, then he'll find followers and new victims again. You screwed this task up, Sakiko you must admit it. And this damn wound. He had to cast some spell which is destroying me from inside." She looked at blood on her hand and it turned out that it was becoming blacker and blacker. She fell on the pavement and closed her eyes.
"And now I have to die. On the streets, by some drunk tramps, killed by weak necromancer." She felt that she was losing consciousness. The drunk in the carton lay down to sleep and howling of a stray dog was heard from a distance.
...
The girl opened her eyes with an effort. At first everything around her was blurred and sounds reaching her had no meaning for her. Sakiko turned to the other side. She felt that she was lying on something soft.
"Bed, someone's bed" She thought. The wound on her shoulder really hurt her.
"I live. But where am I?" Her senses started getting back to normal. She looked around herself seeing a little room with walls covered with wooden boards, the small window by which the sun's rays were flowing inside, a few wooden chairs and the wardrobe standing in the corner. Everything seemed strangely familiar to her. She tried to get up. She felt dizzy, therefore she sat down on the bed very quickly. She clutched her arm noticing that somebody had carefully dressed her wound.
"Don't get up. You must rest". She heard a squawking voice. The old, short and big-arsed woman dressed in old clothing went into the room. Sakiko opened her eyes wide with an amazement. She recognized the witch who she had met during the adventure with Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. "Hello... thanks for the help..." She said.
"I did what was necessary. I got a message for you. I had to get you here".
"What message?"
"Not so quickly. You must build up your strength first". The witch handed the mug with green liquid to the girl. Sakiko tasted it. It was incredibly tasteless.
"What's this? It can't be drunk..."
"It can be. Drink it, because otherwise the curse of that necromancer can return". The girl was surprised again. However before asking the old how she could know about her opponent, she forced herself to drink the entire mug of liquid. Wonders never cease!, she started feeling better.
"I know about your necromancer, I also know where you can find him. Come with me. I will show you something". Sakiko got up. She was very weakened. The older woman entered the main room of the cottage with her. Many bookshelves with various strange and bizarre specimen were standing inside it. The girl quickly gazed at them all seeing human skulls, hundreds of different herbs and old books, crystal ball in which the miniature galaxy shimmered, stuffed bird taking the beak out from the cage, skeleton of Siamese twins conjoined at the thorax and a lot of other bizarre objects. The witch went to the window. A fishing rod was attached to its casing. The old woman pulled it, taking the bottle with the letter hanged on it.
"It is a message for you, my dear". She squawked.
"To me, where do you have it from?"
"From the dream, my dear. I'll read you what it says". The witch took a yellowed sheet of paper out of the bottle. There were no letters on it.
"You must go on a journey girl! You must move before it is too late!" She shouted. Sakiko walked away from her.
"Where do you know it from? After all there is nothing written on this sheet of paper!"
"I have no time for discussions with you now. You must go! The entire Creation needs you!" Fat woman opened one of the doors behind which only darkness was hidden. She patted the girl on the back telling her to go.
"I'm supposed to trust you and enter there? I don't know what I'm facing! I cannot". The old woman spat on the floor with an anger. She stood on her toes looking straight in the eyes of Sakiko.
"Do you want to catch this necromancer?"
Children who the man sacrificed for his masters appeared in front of black-haired girl's eyes. She heard their crying. She knew that she would have to risk and listen to the woman.
"Well. I'll go there... "The witch smiled. Sakiko went through the door and was consumed by the darkness prevailing around. Soon the dimness disappeared and she found herself inside some crowded inn. Various characters were walking in front of her eyes and the majority of them didn't resemble anything that girl had seen in her life. The man dressed in black with a goatee beard was sitting nearby two men without faces and the woman with wings of the butterfly. Sakiko very quickly recognized her old adversary in him. She rushed in his direction pushing everyone who was on her way. She catch the magus' shirt and raised the second hand up. Her eyes glowed and vampire fangs appeared in her mouth.
"Now you will pay for your crimes, you monster!" When her hand was going to deal a final blow to the man it was stopped by a large shining green hand. She looked behind herself.
"Who!" She shouted out. Three people were standing opposite to her. Middle-aged man in the cape whose ring created shining hand, girl in Sakiko's age and the tall man in the black dress with a pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes. The one last spoke to the female vampire.
"Welcome Sakiko Hayasu, walking in the dark. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Meanwhile the old witch prepared for her own travel. She left her house on the chicken leg carrying with herself the bundle with the most needed things. She spat on the leg of the cottage.
"Go into the world. Protect my secrets from others". The house disappeared in forest thickets. The woman plunged into the fog enveloping everything.
Raan Shaner
Rann Shaner was standing on a huge terrace made from the white stone. Above him a reddish sky was stretching, on which a gas giant was visible from behind clouds. The man was looking at his surroundings, vast areas of deserts amongst which Hive Towers, containing cities inhabited by millions were growing. He moved a hand above himself touching something invisible, hard - the force field, because of which the sky was red and which reminded him that in spite of luxury he had in the building in which he lived, he actually had been a prisoner waiting for judgment of the nation. He turned to the wall and touched the panel on the door. When the door opened, he entered inside. Rann was the man with black hair and a pale complexion. He was wearing black suit and on his hands remains of implants which once enabled him the control over the technology were visible. He sat down on the sofa and looking at the hologram of mountains appearing on the wall he started musing. He had been imprisoned already for three months and the day in which he was supposed to be delivered to the League and judged was approaching rapidly. Were they going to come for him in a week, tomorrow or even today? He didn't know when exactly they would come. He was being called the savior of thousands and the murderer of millions. He led his people oppressed by the authority of his world to the fight for freedom and his victories took many lives, both on his side and on the side of his opponents. In order to win, he destroyed a few Hive Towers and it was his biggest crime. He was called a hero in one day and betrayed by the new government which he helped to form, in the other, destroyed by values forbidden in times of the tyranny, trodden down by old allies now being fanatics of the new order. He got up. He took a walk around the room. He heard the familiar motor noise of a cargo ship landing on the roof of his prison. He smiled to himself. He will finally be free, he thought. Two soldiers dressed in green uniforms and agents keeping them company went into a room. "It's time". One of them announced. Rann didn't answer him. He went voluntarily in the direction which they showed him. When he came inside the big and ugly antigravity transport ship with the shape of the container for rubbish, one of soldiers put cuffs on his hands. After the embarkation he was put behind the force field in the cell for transporting worst, genetically changed criminals. After an hour of travel, when the ship was floating above the uninhabited desert, pitch-black, slender air vehicles rushing with a huge speed toward the transport appeared on the horizon. A panic started aboard the airship, soldiers were shouting something to each other, sound of the alarm sounded, warning lamps flashed in red. Raan smiled to himself.
"Don't you want me to reveal the truth about who you really are? Even for the price of the life of your own people. You couldn't fall lower." He thought. Every of battle fliers fired two rockets at the transport airship. All of them hit the target. The intense explosion shook surroundings and the ship tumbled down into the surface leaving the black track of the smoke behind itself. Flying machines made two circles around the smoking wreck and then they turned back and very quickly flew away from the place of disaster. Raan opened his eyes. Everything was burning around him, a lot of smoke was hovering in the air. The man was hurt, but living. The cell served its purpose, it protected him from the worst. Unfortunately there was already nobody who could achieve any benefit from it. Cuffs and force field damaged during the outburst didn't fulfill their role, Raan emerged from the cell shielding the face from the smoke. Inside the wreck a remarkable heat emanated from flames and dead bodies were lying around.
"Nobody survived apart from me." The man thought and very quickly left remains of the ship. Having been on a desert he walked a few meters not thinking about anything. Instinctively he wanted to walk away from the wreck as far as possible. He looked at the smoking wreck. He was satisfied, although he knew well that he wouldn't survive a few days on the wilderness. He saw some building in the distance.
"This time you won't manage to get rid of me." He said satisfied with himself. After a few minutes of walk he reached to the old, rusting building half buried in the sand. In the vicinity the wind was moving some door which made unpleasant creaking sound. Rann moved in its direction as hypnotized. For the last time, he looked back at the wreck of the transport ship as if he wanted to say goodbye to his old life. He entered the interior of the building. It was dark, hot and really dusty. He covered a few meters examining metal walls praising the former empire and he came across the door which didn't fit to the rest of the chamber. He entered inside and found himself worlds apart. He was standing in the middle of the inn and beings from other worlds were walking around him. At first he thought that it was a holographic projection inside some local of body delights in one of Hive Towers. It crossed his mind that perhaps he still had been on the cargo ship and everything which he could see was a result of chemical and electric impulses which his guards had stuffed into him. He noticed the tall man with pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes in the black dress standing in the corner. When he looked at his eyes he already knew that everything what he could see around himself, was really happening, it wasn't an illusion, a hologram or a hallucination.
"Welcome Rann Shaner. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Mint
Mint was sitting on the branch of the old tree growing on the edge of the forest clearing. She had green skirt and shirt on herself. She was young elf girl with long brown hair, she had been living in the forest since birth and never left its borders. Only a few people from her tribe traveled beyond the area of vast Forest and the ones who had done it, never talked about what they had met in the World after their return. Mint was unusually curious about what was happening far from her house, she loved to listen to legends of incredible beings living in faraway lands. Every night she mused about adventures she would experience if she managed to leave the Forest. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible for her, because of old customs amongst her people. Nobody could leave the home and come off into the World of the man or other beings without the permission of the Guardian of Forest. Mint didn't know what he looked like. He lived in the deepest part of the forests and only the oldest of priests could confer with him. The Guardian found the race of Forest Elves centuries ago and he appointed his priests for obeying his principles. Nobody could oppose him and nobody wanted, because the Forest provided elves with everything what was needed for a life. However the life of one young girl was going to change entirely that night.
"Mint! Are you there?" She heard the voice of her father. She jumped down of tree and came up to him quickly.
"Where were you again?" The tall man with long, white hair asked her.
"I was only dreaming.." The girl answered.
"About the World again? You don't even know how close your desire is to the fulfillment." Her father replied clearly demonstrating the worry.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Elven girl asked.
"Come with me. You should hear it on your own. Our leader, Alar wants to see you today in the night". The elf replied. His eyes expressed sadness again. Mint had varied emotions. She was curious about the meeting with the leader and at the same time something told her that she should not meet with him. In spite of everything she listened to the father and she walked with him from the forest thicket to his house. Alar was waiting for her with two other older elves. He had long grey hair and robes which he wore only during the most important celebrations. He was standing in the clearing and torches were burning around him. One of his people signaled with hand Mint and her father to stop. Alar opened the hand to the girl.
"Come here my child". Elven girl took a few steps unsteadily, and then she stood up right by her leader. She looked at him with a big eyes.
"The Guardian started to speak to me yesterday's night. He expects your participation today". Alar smiled to Mint. His two companions were surprised. The father of the girl was frightened.
"How it is possible? From the time immemorial the Guardian is talking only to priests, and I am too young to become chosen..."
"I don't understand it either. And no law exists which would say how to behave in such a situation. Therefore we must believe in what the Guardian is saying us. And to trust him..." The old elf put his hands on the shoulders of the girl. She closed her eyes. Alar called two women which took her behind the cottage. He looked at her father which all the time was observing the whole incident being silent. It was known that he had sensed that he would never see his daughter again. Mint bathed in the lake in which the silver moon was mirrored and two women helped her to dry off and to dress up. She was ready to go to the meeting with the Guardian. She had to do it entirely alone, nobody could accompany her. For the last time she looked behind herself walking away.
"I must go. I can't help it." She thought, begrudging all desires for leaving the Forest which she had. She entered the dark thicket. As she moved deeper and deeper, it was getting blacker until at last no light could reach her. She was irritated, she was afraid that she would turn aside from the path and she would get lost. She knew that she could not retreat, because then she didn't have the right to return home. Forest wouldn't let her do it. She was walking two hours. In the end, she reached the large forest clearing on which the solitary huge tree was growing. She was tired out and achy. Stars visible again granted the place beautiful, silvery color. Mint decided to rest under the tree for a moment, she leaned against the fat trunk and closed her eyes.
"I thank you that you arrived at my call." She heard the voice reaching from everywhere.
"Who are you... Are you the Guardian of the Forest? I can't see you..." She looked around.
"I am here.
"Ah..." The girl understood that the tree was the Guardian and quickly walked away from it.
"I apologize. I didn't want to lean against you, Guardian..."
"No harm done". You are at the moment more important than I... I called you here because the World is standing on the edge of destruction. Power which can destroy entire reality turned up in it. I saw you in a dream, as one of the people who will oppose that power."
"Me? But I'm not able to cast spells well. How could I..."
"My dreams spoke the truth. You must set off to the World. You will come across things you didn't dream of, but you must survive everything. Set off on a journey".
After these words the Tree went quiet. The girl noticed that wooden stairs leading into the earth had turned up at his roots. She knew that the Guardian was inviting her, showing her the way. she went down cautiously. She thought that she was going hours, days, entire years. In the end she reached the place of her purpose. She was in an inn in which hundreds of beings gathered in order to wait for the end of the storm raging behind windows.
"This is the World". She thought looking with a fear at shapes which she didn't see even in the strangest dreams. She avoided all guests of the tavern looking at her. A few persons were standing by the fireplace, the tall man in the black dress with a pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes talked to her.
"Welcome Mint of the Forest people. As one of few you heard my message sent into the World. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Mats Sunder
Mats Sunder was lying on the bed not being able to fall asleep. He was a young man of average height with brown hair and green eyes. He was looking at the ceiling thinking that as soon as he close his eyes, nightmares will appear, dreams about damage, the future full of a violence, dreams which could not leave him. The last night, he was dreaming that he together with his acquaintances hid out in the wooden house from the raging gale. He remembered the fear which appeared in his sleep, when a whirlwind rushing to his hiding place turned out to be a artificial creature, the intelligent being, burning with hatred to everything living, tornado composed, instead of the wind, from the light penetrating everything. That dream was one of the less strange he had recently. The boy struggled against the tiredness, but in the end he lost the fight and fell asleep lighted by the moonlight flowing from the opened window. After a dozen minutes he woke up and looked around. The room seemed unnatural to him, phosphorescing with silver illumination. He got up and went a few strides. A window with the wing creaking in the wind was spotted by him,. He came up to it and stuck his neck out of it. The ugly garden and the road across which the forest was emerging from the darkness were situated in a front of his house. The boy didn't believe his eyes. He noticed people running all over the garden. There was a lot of them, they all were dressed in dark clothes. Their height was small, they resembled children or hobbits. In their seemingly chaotic running one could notice certain regularities. It seemed that they were playing some game, or participating in some competition. A few of them were running there and back, as if they were trying to hide from the others in thickets. Another few were running around the house, every couple of minutes disappearing behind it and appearing on its other side. The others left the garden and it was possible to notice their figures flashing in the darkness on the nearby embankment. Mats was certain that his next strange dream was going to start. It seemed to him that when was dreaming consciously he would be able to influence the course of the dream. He decided to stay in the window. A morning was approaching and the night slowly gave in to the grayness before the daybreak. The party of short men was near the end, only some latecomers were running in front of boy's window in order to disappear somewhere between trees a few minutes later. Mats was looking as hypnotized at lamps shining above the street. He thought that spheres of light had separated from the lamp posts and they placed themselves in equal distances over the road. At some moment, he noticed that the man was going along the middle of the road. He was tall, he carried the stuffed bundle on the stick. The boy knew that he had to meet him, to talk with him. He felt that this person had some connection with his dreams. He ran from the house in shorts and shirt. He followed the mysterious stranger barefooted.
"Wait. We must talk." he screamed, but the wanderer didn't hear him. He disappeared around the bend of the road by the forest. Mats ran after him. It turned out that the stranger had vanished into the blue, as if he dissolved into thin air. The boy turned to the forest path with hope of meeting that man on it. He covered a dozen meters when he noticed the inn, wooden, old house from which sounds of some feast were coming. The boy had been living in these surroundings since childhood and he knew it like the back of his hand, but he didn't remember the inn. Full of the curiosity and fear, he crossed thresholds of the tavern. The view behind the door astonished him - hundreds of diverse beings were outshouting one another, drinking honey, wine and beer. Mats noticed a few short men from the front of his house in the crowd. He tried to spy the strange wanderer, but in a vain. Even in this unusual and bizarre place he didn't have a chance to track him down. Convinced that he was dreaming his next weird dream, he moved in the direction of the fireplace. A tall man with a pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes in the black dress riveted his eyesight.
"Welcome Mats Sunder. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Narea
Narea was walking in the large temple's chamber in which pleasant coolness and semi-darkness lightened up only by the blue crystal put in the wall prevailed. The girl was dressed in dark habit, she had black hair and a pale complexion. The temple was her house and at the same time her place of employment, because Narea was the Priestess, the Guardian of the Sacred Crystal. The girl had been preparing for this role since her childhood, but a madness of her brother Narael was the real reason for which she devoted her life to look after the internal fire of crystal. He was also a priest, guardian of the crystal garden, but he let the dark side of the magic corrupt him. He betrayed the teachings which he had promised to obey and set off into the world to cause the chaos, to destroy the harmony of gardens. Narea knew that the darkness was flowing in her veins also, but she decided to never permit it to capture her heart. She decided to settle in the monastery, to meditate over herself and contemplate the irreproachable symmetry of sacred crystal. The girl stopped by the biggest stone, phosphorescing with light blue color. She touched it by the hand, she opened her mind in order to fall into the resonance with the healing vibrations of the outer space. At the moment the older woman in a habit entered the meditative room.
"Narea..." The girl reacted quickly coming up to her.
"Yes, Mother?"
" I experienced the vision during morning meditations. It concerned you. You must go on a journey as soon as possible". Narea was surprised by the words of the old priestess.
"I passed all journeys successfully. I came back as a winner from every of them. What more can I do?" "I don't know... This journey is special. You must start it even for the price of giving up the role of the minder of the crystal garden". Black-haired fell into a pensive mood. It crossed her mind that perhaps the Mother sensed the approaching darkness in her and she wanted to destroy it before it could caue damage to the church, even for the price of her live. She clenched fists. The old woman could see her anger and anxiety.
"I will go on the journey. Immediately". Narea decided. She wanted to show that this time she would control her dark nature. The woman smiled and took the girl to the room with the large mirror. She came up to it, moved her arm. The surface of the looking glass waved.
"Go. It's time." The Mother replied. Narea crossed the barrier of the mirror and she found herself in a completely different place. Forests, meadows and valleys surrounded her. From a distance a whirr of a waterfall and squawking of predatory birds were heard. The view of the beautiful nature calmed the young priestess very much. She noticed the path and she decided to check where it would lead her. She went half a day until dusk. In the end she was tired out and sat on a rock lying by the road. She heard the music coming from a distance. She turned away her head and she noticed lights of the tavern on the nearby hill. She knew that a clue concerning her further travel had to lie there. When she crossed the door of the inn, she noticed in astonishment that it had been full of guests. It was strange because during her walk the girl didn't meet a single one traveler. She was hanging around the room until at last she reached the table by the burning fireplace. There were a few people there, three men and three girls. She noticed the tall man in the black dress with a pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes.
"Welcome Narea, the Guardian of the Crystal Garden. As one of few you heard my message sent into worlds. Great changes are coming, the entire reality is in a danger. You have a choice: to stay passive to events or to help repair what was already destroyed."
Dream of the Endless
Lord Morpheus, member of the Endless family, tall man with a pale face, thick black hair and dark eyes dressed in the black clothes, was standing on the terrace of his palace. Suddenly his contemplations were stopped by a pain: both physical and psychological one, feeling like somebody tore the piece from his soul. Morpheus was the creator of the Dreaming, and at the same time its absolute master. He was the part of his world and the world was a part of him. When something happened to him, it had a huge impact on the entire dreaming, for example when he was sad, the entire land cried with heavy rain. On the other hand every change in his world affected his feelings. It was true during that time also, the pain which Morpheus felt was pain somebody or something inflicted on the Dreaming. The master summoned Matthew, the raven - one of his servants to himself,.
"What do you need, boss?" The bird which at one time was a man asked.
"Somebody attacked my world. You must travel to the place which I show you. It is essential to learn what we are dealing with".
The raven listened to his master and he rose high above the palace. He was flowing above forests, fields and hills full of sleeping souls and beings from their dreams. He noticed black clouds on the horizon, expanding with every passing second. He flew up closer and the view which he found chilled the blood in his veins. Huge, white worms with black heads were swarming from one of dreams, devouring and destroying everything on their road.
"I can see what is happening through your eyes." Matthew heard the voice of Morpheus in his head.
"I will soon encounter with you". After a moment the master of dreams attired in the night appeared by the bird.
"What are these things?" Matthew asked him.
"These are devourers of dreams. Devious beings which destroy the order and restore the primeval chaos where it should not be present. They are a threat to everyone of us, their one touch is fatal for both all inhabitants and guests of this world and also for myself".
"In that case what will we do?"
"One thing which is necessary in such a dramatic moment". After these words the Dream Lord closed his eyes and spread his hands. He started reciting some spell in a language know only to himself. The dream in which devourers of dreams bred started to glittering with a dazzle and after a moment it fade out into the nothingness. The worms devoid of their sustenance died . The raven looked to the Endless with a fear in his eyes.
"Lord Morpheus... Was it necessary... that dream..."
"It was lost irretrievably with all beings inhabiting it, with all dreams for the ones who needed it. I know it very well, Mateusz, but there was no other way. In order to rescue the rest of the Dreaming, such a sacrifice was necessary". Morpheus was sad very much. He killed a part of himself.
"But we defeated them, right? The threat has been overcome, ultimate victory?"
"Unfortunately not, my messenger. I am afraid that what we could see a moment ago was only a preview of all that is supposed to take place. Really black days are coming to our realm..."
"Do you know who could attack us?"
"Yes. But I will reveal it later... we will meet all at Lucien's library". Morpheus disappeared in the black fog. Raven was gliding above the emptiness in the place of the dead dream and then he moved toward the palace. The Dream lord called Lucien the librarian, raven Matthew, Mervyn with the head of the pumpkin and Nuala, the fearie being a gift for the King of Dreams from her masters. He was very calm, but his face expressed great sadness. All messages were spreading very quickly all over the world of dreams, therefore everyone assembled already knew what had happened earlier and why they were called. Their master geared up for the travel which he had to undergo and which somebody from his family already underwent ages ago, when the oldest races of the universe were still young.
"You all know what happened today. We were attacked and irretrievable destruction of the part of our land and tiny shards of dreams of all minds of the entire outer space was a price for the victory over the assailant. I guess that none of you know what kind of great danger is awaiting everyone of us. Let me tell you the story about the Awakening. The Awakening is a large power which was born in the Universe before any of the inhabited world came into the existence. Her only desire is to bring back the primeval chaos which ruled before the creation, so that the world could revive anew, wake up from a dream. It was born from nowhere, but when Endless learnt about its existence, they invented the rules. If this entity turned up in the land of one of them, the one was obliged to set off on the travel in order to stop it and to lead it into the everlasting sleep again. The Awakening turned up in Destruction's world eons ago. My brother set off on the journey, he gathered allies and with them he was able to stop it. Now it appeared in my realm and I must to set off on my own journey. My call for the help left the castle walls and it traveled to search the ones, who can answer it. Now it's time for me to start the journey. Matthew, you will be keeping me company in my trek.
"Of course, boss." The raven replied and sat down on the shoulder of the master of dreams.
"And for you, my faithful subjects I have the farewell present. I'll give you the part of the power, my power of creating and destroying dreams. If devourers of dreams turn up in our land again don't hesitate to use it. After these words Morpheus turned around and disappeared in the door leading outside his palace. Inhabitants of the Dreaming were looking at the entrance not talking to each other. Lord Morpheus finished his story. Everyone gathered by the table standing near the fireplace listened to it with a great attention. For the majority from them, events of the last night were completely absurd. The Master of Dreams caused that their minds had been interfaced with each other for a moment. Each of them got to know the name of everyone and saw the situation which took them to the place in which they were together. Dream got up from the chair and looked at the assembled group with the eyes as black as the moonless night.
"I am asking you for the last time what your choice is: to stay passive to events or to help to repair what was already destroyed?"
Alan Scott spoke first.
"I don't understand what is happening here, but I experienced strangest things. If the universe is in danger maybe I should convene the entire JSA?"
"No... this case exceeds everything what your squad was created for. Only you are chosen to set off on the journey with me because only you heard the call". Morpheus answered.
"In that case I am ready to take this challenge". GL decided.
"I never wanted to save the world. But if I'm here I'll go with you. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the desert in the old house inhabited by ghosts." Jessica announced.
"If the Guardian wants me to get to know the World, I must obey him." Mint added.
"All of it is just a one long dream. I doesn't matter what I decide, when I wake up everything will return to normal. I'm coming with you." Mats replied.
"I cannot oppose the journey given to me. I must set off with you Morpheus". Narea added. Rann and Sakiko didn't say a word. They looked at all assembled and at each other. In the end the girl broke the silence.
"Do I have a chance to meet the monster who destroyed my live?" She asked.
"I don't know, Sakiko Hayasu, only you can find the answer to that question. Irrespective of what you will choose, your life will be an everlasting search." Dream announced.
"In that case, I'm going with you." Sakiko said. Everyone looked at Rann.
"I'm going..." The man answered.
"I know that all around me is a hallucination which somebody is giving me, but I must learn why they are doing it instead of killing me on the desert". He added in his thoughts.
"You will also find the answer to this question, Rann Shaner." Morpheus replied sensing thoughts of the man.
"Before we set off, I must do the last thing preparing us for this expedition". The Master of Dreams opened his hand. From the second end of the tavern a black raven flew in and sat down on his shoulder.
"Are we going? Did they agree so quickly? Who are they?" The bird watched the assembled group with his black eyes.
"They understand that it isn't possible to escape from their destiny. Deep inside their soul they understand, that their fate would unite them sooner or later, despite they come from completely different worlds and times. And now I will come back to what I was going to make. I will create one more travel companion. Dream from my land..." Morpheus took the miniature figurine of the human skull out of his coat. He recited the ancient invocation and after a moment the man with white hair, pale complexion and in the sunglasses appeared by him.
"Was it sensible?" The raven asked.
"It was necessary. Don't be afraid. This Corinthian isn't the same spoiled nightmare which caused so much damage in the world of awakened. This time he is obeying us entirely". The Dream and his new creature moved in the direction of the door to the tavern's back. Members of his team, still not trusting the Endless, each other, everything what surrounded them and what their senses delivered to their minds, followed them obediently. Very mysterious and disreputable couple was sitting by the table standing in the part of the inn plunged into darkness, the man with blonde, long hair and beard and young girl with black hair and purple eyes. Both of them had hoods put on their heads. They were watching Morpheus and his companions all the time.
"It's time for us..." The bearded man said.
"Are you sure?..."
"Yes, we must move before their track fades". They peeled off from the table leaving not entirely emptied tankards of ale behind themselves. They headed towards the exit of the inn not looking back.
In completely different world and time, bare stone circles, being remains after the temple destroyed a long time ago, were standing motionless amongst hills covered with meadows. Thousands of years before a beautiful, huge city was built in the place of these meadows in which a large temple raised in honor of Gods and the magic ruling the land was the central point. After those times nothing remained apart from large rocks wiped off by winds and rains, but in spite of it deep inside one of rocks a soul of the dead god of this land was sleeping. It was dreaming its eternal dream about the lost power: rain falling from the sky and lightings striking every couple of minutes... Armies of monks reciting invocations from books older than the world... priest clad in gold raising hands up... shouts of faithful and crying of a few persons... of young girls assigned as the sacrifice for their god... Emotions of all people filled Fallax with the power, prayers and human victims filled him with the eternal life and supernatural abilities thanks to which he could rule over priests and the entire land with an iron fist. It was like this, when his last believers still lived. Thousands of years after he had been forgotten entirely, he was only a weak being waiting for the death. The dream about the former power was the only thing that remained him after the times of his magnificence. Fallax, took the form of the man and he relished victims meant for him. Suddenly a woman with a pale complexion and wings as black as the night appeared in his sleep. Attired in the fog she was floating above the surprised god.
"Fallax... you fell down so low, that you are able to live only in dreams?"
"Who are you and why are you bothering me during the rest?"
"I am the only person who can restore your former magnificence and cause that you will be inflicting terror and respect again!"
"Don't make fun of me woman, whoever you are. You know well that without believers I am helpless. My worship died a long time ago, the same as the soul of the world in which I was born".
"What died can be woken up. Your world can live anew again!"
"Do you have power great enough to make it?"
"No, but with your help I can find it". The woman stood up in front of Fallax spreading her black wings.
"What do you want in exchange, woman?"
"Your dream... its clean psycho energy". She extended a hand toward the man.
"I agree." Fallax said and closed his eyes. Everything around him started to fade out into nothingness: Priest, monk's, faithful and young girls. The city surrounding the temple also disappeared leaving only stone circles and meadows touched by the wind plunged in the darkness of night,. The woman consumed the dream which assumed the form of the sphere of white light. She gave her hand to Fallax and they both disappeared in a blue flash.
"And don't call me woman. I am the Awakening".
The group assembled by Morpheus was in the basement stinking of the mustiness full of barrels with various beers. The Master of Dreams was standing by the big wooden door and he tried to open it with the help of the key.
"What is behind this door?" Jessica asked.
"The Dreaming. Only staying in the world created by myself, I will be able to give you the power big enough to confront with the Awakening".
"Now we cannot even move from this place." Sakiko added.
"The patience is a virtue. Remember about this Sakiko Hayasu. Crossing the gate between worlds is difficult, even in the place in which all realities are crossed".
"If we are going to sit here for a while, perhaps we should open some barrel?" Matts offered.
"It's ready. I invite you to my kingdom." Dream announced opening the door.
The team entered the gate and they disappeared on its other side. The mysterious couple from the tavern emerged from the darkness. They opened other door which appeared nearby Morpheus' one. They went through it into the unknown.
The group of people chosen by the King of Dreams was on an underground station. They weren't talking with each other because they were too excited with everything what was happening around them. After a few minutes the train arrived - it was black steam engine. It stopped precisely in the place in which the Master of Sleeping Legions was standing. Matts looked at Jessica.
"Steam engine below the ground?"
"Don't ask me..." The girl replied.
"Don't give thoughts to the logic of dreams. Simply accept it as it is". Morpheus announced entering the train. All of people followed him. The locomotive was rushing through imaginary lands with the remarkable speed. It passed forests whispering legends of non-existent heroes and clearings on which bright, naked girls were dancing. It travelled across areas of the forgotten Atlantis, mists of Avalon and beautiful meadows of Tir na Nog. Dragons were flying over the train and unicorns were running on forest clearings.
"I'm feeling like I was stoned." Matts announced.
"The World is a beautiful place." Mint said delighted with views. The train entered into the tunnel and it dashed off towards the centre of the Earth. After minutes of the ride it was in the Lost World, where dinosaurs still reigned. The flying reptile dashed off toward the machine with the intention of attacking it. Alan Scott pointed his ring at the creature.
"My sensors are detecting nothing!" Rann shouted looking at the computer on his arm.
"Green Lantern. Leave your weapon." Dream said. The large pterodactyl dissolved into thin air.
"It isn't possible to be hurt by the creature which was created by your own power". The group got to the dream of some other man, the train became huge XVI-century galleon being adrift on a storm-tossed sea. Morpheus was standing on the bow of the ship and he was looking at stars. His bird Matthew was sitting on his shoulder and Corinthian went up on the crow's nest. Jessica was looking at the ocean.
"It's remarkable. I know that it's a dream and in spite of it I smell the sea, its humidity..."
"Be pleased that you didn't catch seasickness," Matts taunted her.
"I've never seen it... sea." Mint announced.
I've seen this before, but it's not a pleasant memory." Narea added.
"Remarkable... water-powered ship using the force of the wind for moving." Rann found the ship very interesting. Sakiko was looking at the distance not butting in conversations. Alan Scott came up to her.
"It is hard for you, right? If you want we can talk about it".
"I'm sure that it will be better, if we don't get acquainted. I'm not who you think I am".
"You would be surprised what kind of people I know".
The sky became dark and a storm broke out. Ship started to be shaken by waves and the lighting were striking above its sails.
"It isn't natural, boss!" Matthew screamed.
"I know, I would feel every change of the dreamscape. It is something unnatural. Listen everyone! We must stick together! We cannot let anything separate us! The living being cannot move in the Dreaming if he isn't sleeping! He would never find the road to the waking world."
A huge figure of the woman with large black wings and long hair appeared on the sky. She was keeping the ball of the light in hands. After a moment white worms with black heads got out of her body. There were thousands of them and all of them were flying in the direction of Morpheus' ship. They fell into the water and but they were still rushing in the same direction. When they hit the body of the ship, they pierced it entirely. The ship started drowning slowly and worms devoured it from inside. Morpheus looked at the sphere kept by the woman. He knew that it was a dream of somebody powerful and it was the source of larvae destroying everything. He was staring at its flickering glitter. Worms were closer and closer to the deck and the black-haired woman laughed out loud floating in the air above the raging element. Members of the team looked at each other with fear. The space around them started distorting and everything was absorbed by overwhelming white emerging from the bullet. In completely different world and time, bare stone circles, being remains after the temple destroyed a long time ago, were standing motionless amongst hills covered with meadows. Thousands of years before a beautiful, huge city was built in the place of these meadows in which a large temple raised in honor of Gods and the magic ruling the land was the central point. After those times nothing remained apart from large rocks wiped off by winds and rains, At their foot nine unconscious persons gathered by the Master of Dreams were lying. And the ancient god full of anger, woke up from his long dream.