Thousands of years passed, swirling around me like a mist. Yet I was nigh on oblivious to the passage of time. I was a dream creature, and I loved my new life. I made dreams, I entered dreams, and I battled nightmares. This was truly what I wanted most. I was living my dream. Literally. But, at times it was not fun, nor was it easy. Once, I had to battle a creature so powerful it could almost be called a god. This is the story.

I was drifting through the blue mist of subconscious thought that connects dreams, enjoying the ride. I loved the warm, tingling sensation that the thoughts gave my form. My purple, transparent arms were propping my head up. I was so content. I’m invincible, I thought, I cannot die. I am Rune.

Then, I noticed something odd. One of the dreamgates was not its usual blue, but red. I had to investigate. I passed through the shimmering light and into a dream.

As always, I returned to a human form in the dream. It comforts the dreamer. Makes me seem more relatable. I sent part of my consciousness to patrol the dreamweb. The rest remained in this dream, in the form of a warrior with a blue broadsword and a huge shield.

 I scanned my surroundings. I was in an ancient city, with crumbling buildings and a huge cathedral in the distance. The sky was bright blue, with a blazing sun in the sky. Something in my mind told me that I wouldn’t find anything in the city. I had to go to the cathedral.

As I walked through the seemingly deserted city, I sensed movement. Some creature darted between two buildings. It moved so fast, I didn’t get a chance to see what it was. All that I saw was that it was grey. A grey blur, nothing more. I moved into the deserted square where I had sensed the thing. I needed to know what it was.

Immediately, I was attacked. From all four sides came hideously deformed creatures. They might have been human once, but now they were just featureless, wrinkled, grey skin. No eyes, ears, nothing. They moved like the wind, hitting me so hard and so fast I barely had time to think. I knew I could no longer be this bulky warrior. I changed into a man with black sun glasses, a trench coat, and black hair. He had been in someone’s dream. In the dream, he moved so fast that you could barely see him. I became that man then. I became the one known as Neo.

Neo (or should I say I) flipped, kicked, and punched, keeping pace with the beasts. My arms hit their heads, going through them as if they weren’t there. No blood spilled, and they began to reform as soon as I had felled them. As I watched the creatures reform, I realized that these things were made of clay!

Clay! What hardens clay? Heat! I morphed again. I became a huge ball of flame. My heat hardened the ghastly creations at once. But, I didn’t have time to admire my handiwork. I changed form again. I became a runner, sprinting towards the cathedral. Something told me that the clock was ticking.

As soon as I reached the cathedral, I once again changed. I became Spider-Man and crawled up the wall of the cathedral. I noticed that there were no windows. Odd. Cathedrals almost always had windows in dreams. I shot a web to an inside wall and swung in. This was easy, because this character appeared in many dreams, especially those of young boys.

When I landed in the cathedral, I immediately noticed a problem. The dreamer was a magician. And, by the sound of the incantation, they were a necromancer. They were doing a dream summons, which meant that whatever they were calling on was extremely old, and extremely powerful.

I became a mouse and skittered up to the altar, where the magician stood. They were a woman, with black hair and black robes. Her eyes were closed, and she was saying, “Come Niktare, creature of the dark. Come to me, take the dreamweb. Nightmares to roam free again, one called Rune disposed of.”

I shuddered. This necromancer was summoning Niktare, the dark god from exile to destroy me and free the nightmares. I called on the rest of my consciousness that had been patrolling the dreamweb. I would need all of the strength I could get if I had to face Niktare. Morphing into the warrior I had been earlier, I spun around.

And was slammed into the far wall. I came up thinking fast… But not fast enough. A fist the size of one of the pews hit me. I flew back towards the wall, but this time I was ready. I kicked off the wall and rolled, morphing as I went. I was Neo, I was Spider-Man, I was a ninja, anything and everything I had ever been, desperate to confuse the dark god. The blows ceased. I got to my feet, once again as the warrior and got my first good look at Niktare.

He was 12 feet tall, in a humanoid form. His muscles were like boulders. His skin was black as midnight and he had two, glowing blue eyes. He wore a black cloak that covered most of his face.

“So,” he said in a voice like a rockslide, “You are Rune. Pathetic. You won’t even be amusing to crush. Ah well. If I must kill you to rise again, I will. Goodbye little spirit.”

Then, he morphed. He looked like a nightmare. Cloaked with blue eyes. But, his aura glowed like black flame. He shot fire at me. I ducked. He sent bands of shadow towards me. I glowed. Niktare laughed. “Goodnight,” he said, and the dream went pitch black.

Niktare had killed the light. I couldn’t see a thing, then- WHAM! He hit me. I flew back through the wall, outside. I could tell I was not in the cathedral because of the air. It had changed. Quickly, I morphed into an angel. I held a golden sword that glowed.

Niktare came flying at me. He now looked like one of the clay creatures, only black. As he reached for me, I swung my sword. It sliced through him, splitting him in half. Niktare fell to the ground. The light returned. I thought I had won. I was wrong.

Niktare turned to smoke. He began to fly away. Why? He could beat me, surely. My answer came quickly. The dreamgate! Niktare was going to poison the dreamweb!

I was a rocket, speeding towards the smoke that had almost reached the dreamgate. Too slow. Niktare floated into the dreamweb. I had to follow.

In the dreamweb, chaos had already broke loose. Some of the blue mist of subconscious thought had caught flame. This would case the innocent dreamers to go mad. I flew towards the malevolent flames. That was where Niktare was. I was sure.

I reached the fire. Heat seared my essence. But, I didn’t care. All I cared about was finding Niktare. And, sure enough, a black garbed figure was floating amidst the flame. He was laughing, enjoying the madness that would come from this. ENJOYING IT! I couldn’t take it. Concentrating all of my hatred into one concentrated burst of magic, I slammed Niktare out of the dreamweb. His laughter changed to a scream as he plummeted into the unknown, dragging me along with him.

The End