DAYDREAMER

PART V: The Dreamspace

Swimming through the stars... They traversed through the gateway, covering their eyes as they walked; protecting their faces from the powerful light, piercing them from all directions. Vertiginous but adamant... There was something at the end of the gate for them, and they felt a euphoria that lay before them, a utopia that would satiate their every desire, a feeling that got stronger as they lost their touch on the ground, and began to hover...

Aiden was the first to open his eyes, he stood on shiny black marble tiles, he looked up, noticing the cyan neon lights that lined the perimeter of the area, it looked like a subway, with metro tracks that laid behind tinted glass, the grey brick walls were also lined with posters, based on all things astronomical and celestial. One in particular piqued his interest, it was a poster of a man in what seemed to be a futuristic motorcycle helmet and in an all-black and grey suit, he looked smart and professional in the photo, what fascinated him the most about the poster was that the man wore the same pin that Lucia wore, the same sun-eye symbol, that rested on his breast pocket. He found a bench and collapsed onto it, rubbing his eyes; blinking heavily. A lot had just happened in the past hour, to think that just yesterday, he was sleeping in some cosy cottage in London, and now? He was laying down in some stellar planetary subway, with bizarre posters and from the looks of it... Unorthodox architecture. The worst part about it for him was that he still had no idea what even happened, he seemed to be following everyone's lead, and one thing supposedly lead to another. He fixed his gaze to the neon sign that flickered on one of the pillars, surveying the message.

"WELCOME TO THE DREAMSPACE, NEXT STOP QAIETIOX VI"

"Interesting," He muttered.

Lucia and the rest caught up with him, each making their way to the centre of the subway, Aiden went over to greet them.

"I'll be completely honest, this place... Is kinda cool!" Magnus laughed, sitting down on the bench and wrapping his arms around Aiden, "If this is all just a dream, I don't quite mind it at all!"

"Have you seen the posters around here?" Aiden asked, ignoring Magnus' sudden serenity.

"You mean Mr Motorcycle-head? Yeah, I've seen him... Quite an odd outfit to have on," Lucia mentioned, they all burst into laughter.

"A guy wearing a motorcycle helmet, in a suit?" Jake added, wiping a tear from his eye, the dopiness of the outfit was really getting to them, so much so that they were straying away from where they were.

"That's very funny and all, but I'm still trying to figure out... Where are we? And what's a 'Dreamspace'? or a 'Qaietiox VI'..." Madeleine asked, scrutinising the sign. They all shrugged, except for Cynthia who took out the railway blueprints that had been in her bag and unfurled it.

"Aha! Seems like there might be some use to these blueprints after all!" She exclaimed, as she read the blueprint, "According to thse blueprints... This subway station is called the Dreamspace, and by the looks of it... Qaietiox VI is the capital city-"

"Capital city of what though?" Jake interrupted, "I find it funny; we find Kieran's house, Lucia's funny brooch starts to act up, putting us in this so called 'Lucid dream' where there are sectors that align with blueprints we got OUTSIDE of the so-called 'Lucid dream'" he ranted, "You know? Color me crazy, but I'm starting to think that this isn't a dream,"

Magnus grabbed Jake by the collar and slapped him across the face, like he did to him.

"Pull yourself together man! You had a go at me for whining before, right?"

"Ow! Why'd you slap me? I was being perfectly rational!"

"No, you weren't!" Magnus exclaimed, slapping him once again.