LUCID

LUCID Part 2

Harley Warren

"Why did you sign this?" I demanded. "And why in blood?"

"It was the only way I could come and go into the Dreamlands on my own." Kenzie explained. "Plus, I couldn't have pulled you in here without doing so. If you sign this book, you can teleport, create things in this world, and..."

I interrupted Kenzie. "I'm not signing anything."

"Yeah." Kenzie relented. "I figured as much. Nash, I didn't know what I was doing then. The Great tricked..."

"The great?"

Kenzie continued, ignoring my interruption. "The Great showed me the Dream Realm. I was able to make all my dreams come true. Nash, in here, in this universe, I can do anything, be anyone! It was unimaginable! You have to believe me."

"And then something changed?" I asked.

Kenzie wiped her eyes. "Yes. Once I signed the book. After signing, the Great would pull me into the Dreamlands whenever he wanted and then..."

"And then?"

"Then he would torture me. Turn my dreams into nightmares. And even worse, he would..."

"I get it." I interrupted the woman. "This jackass brought you here, promised you paradise and delivered just the opposite. I guess this universe isn't too different from our own."

"Yes, Nash. Can you? Can the Corsair... free me from this curse?"

"Do you know how I can free you?"

"No."

No? I thought.

"Fine. Do you know where this 'great' jerk guy is?"

"No."

Are you serious? I thought sarcastically.

"Fine. What else can you tell me about him?"

"Nothing." Kenzie admitted. "He changes his appearance every time I see him. I don't know where he lives here or in the real world."

"You have no idea?" I asked. "Not even a guess?"

Kenzie thought about my question for a few moments before answering me. "Well, I doubt he lives there, but there's a huge castle atop a mountain about a hundred miles from here. Other Dreamlands residents say it's the domain of the 'Great Ones', but I don't think that's where the Great, my Great, lives."

"Maybe we should check this place out anyway." I commented.

"The castle is called Kadath and we can't."

"Why not?" I asked, my frustration becoming more and more evident.

"It's guarded by a thing. A huge, scary monster thing."

Are you serious? I thought again.

"Oh." I pondered our problems for a few moments, sitting at a nearby table. "Can't you simply imagine a monster-thing gun or something? Something to kill or capture this dream monster?"

"I could." Kenzie explained as she sat across from me. "But... if you die in Dreamlands. If the monsters kill you..."

"You die in real life." I guessed.

"No. Worse."

"Worse than dying in real life?" I asked incredulously.

"If you die here, you're stuck in the Dream Realm. In the underworld. As a ghost thing. That is, until your body in the real world rots and dies. If you die here, you haunt this place until your body dies back in our world."

"Well, we sure don't want that." I commented, hoping to bring Kenzie's morale up by my silliness.

"Can you help me, Nash?"

"Yes. Of course, I will. But what happens when we wake up in the real world? Truth be told, drugs or not, I'm not that deep a sleeper."

"If we wake up, this world continues on. Time is different here, but this world continues." Kenzie explained. "Nash, I'm so sorry to bring you into this, but please try to imagine. Every night... Every time I fall asleep... I find myself here... running... hiding... being found..."

"I get it." Placing the BOOK OF AZATHOTH on the library table, I reached out to hold Kenzie's shaking hands. "I'm not happy about you tricking me and bringing me here, but I will do what I can. First, I need to read this spellbook thing to learn..."

Kenzie snatched her hands away from mine and pointed behind me. "He's here!"

Leaping from my chair and whirling around, I drew the large-framed pistol from my shoulder holster and brought it up to fire.

The only thing I lacked was a target.

Are you serious? I thought.

Over the fixed sights of my .45 pistol, I stared at the open spaces between several bookcases, searching for a threat. "Where?" I shouted.

"On the ground!" Kenzie screamed. "Don't let him get me again, Nash! Please!"

Glancing down, I spied a rat scurrying towards us. Ignoring the rodent, I continued scanning for a legitimate target. After a few seconds, I realized Kenzie had referred to the rodent when she shouted, "He's here!"

Behind me, Kenzie leaped onto her chair and then on top of the table, inadvertently knocking the spellbook on the floor as I aimed at the white-fanged, furry rat running in a zig-zag pattern towards us.

"What the hell?" I whispered as I aimed at the rodent, horrifyingly discovering the rodent sported a rat's body but with a very human face.