I’ve seen him before. But I can’t think about that right now.
Hot drips of sweat trickled down my forehead, threatening to leak into my eyes.
The fire was coming closer. Fighting the aching in my back and legs, I sank into my ready position. Ready. I have to be ready.
I heard it first, a murmur just down the tracks.
The tunnel’s lights were out, only the glossy tiles reflected the traveling light. The murmur grew. The ground rumbled with its coming. I flexed my fingers around the rusty round plate he’d left on the tracks.
The fire barrelled towards me, the solid ball of flame thundering down on me. Both hands firmly on the shield, I ducked behind it and leaned in. It wouldn’t spare my legs, but it would be better than burning the rest of me alive. I crouched in the concourse and threw my weight against the shield, the interior already hot against my fingers.
Die in the dream, die in real life. That’s what he told me. I don’t know his name but I know his face as surely as the fire that seared my flesh in the dream now. I don’t want to die. Why would I dream this? I don’t want to die!
He stood by, impassive as the fire continued to lick from the sides of the shield. The roar of the fire was building. I could hardly hear him, his words were like whispers, metal scraping on metal.
You must learn the ways of the dream. Shift, young one.
Shift?! I don’t even know the meaning of the word! The sickening stench of burning hair invaded my nose, but I had to breathe it. It was my only air. I sucked it in, choking down the ash and smoke curling around the shield. Shift? I could barely stand!
Shift!
I wanted to shout back that I couldn’t, that I was frozen in place, taking all my energy to withstand the fire that wanted to consume me. Even opening my mouth took effort in the tunnel. I could feel the blistering and cracking on my lips as the fire consumed any moisture that remained.
Shift, young one!
My knees buckled, the shield slipped in my sweaty grip. Every twist of the heavy disc burnt a new sear into my palm. Would I suffer these burns in real life, too? Why was I having these dreams?
SHIFT, DAMN YOU! The mountains await!
If only it were that simple! I crumpled on my knees, squeezing my eyes shut as sweat trickled down my eyelids. I thought of the mountains. The sweet, clean air, crystallizing in my breath. Snow underfoot.
I shifted. Before even opening my eyes I knew it. The deafening crackle of the fire was gone. My legs were wet with hard packed snow. The back of my neck prickled with a sudden easterly gust. Just as the flames had seared me, so too did the snow, and I stumbled in surprise.
“How…..?”
Foolish child. You will never master the Dream this way.
I sputtered. Master the dream?! I’m sleeping to rest, now nearly cook myself in a subway concourse!
“What do you mean? What is this?”
We will try again tomorrow. With that he vanished, leaving me on a mountaintop. My burns were fading already, shrivelling away back to healed skin. The mountains faded to black like a warm swaddle of comfort, and I knew no more.
___
I thought of him all day. The pain felt so real in the dream. I still marvelled at my skin, almost feeling burns hidden beneath an unblemished surface.
Panic flooded me as I entered the subway tunnel to go to work. The still fresh memory of the dream haunted at me. I could almost feel the cinders sizzle as I descended down the stairs. Just a dream. It was just a dream.
That’s when I saw him. The Dream Weaver. He was at the end of the platform in a suit of creamy white, face placid as I walked towards him.
“This–this is my ssss-stop.” I told him.
His weathered smile and a wink was his only response. Maybe I’d gotten it wrong. Maybe this wasn’t the Dreamweaver…. No. It was him. I knew it, though I couldn’t rightly say how.
The train was coming. It was just a murmur just down the tracks, but the ground rumbled with it’s arrival. The lights of the concourse flickered. Hot air was pushing past, whipping my hair behind me in coils. It’s happening. It’s happening again.
I panicked, eyes searching wildly for the man but he was gone. Until I heard him, a booming voice that echoed down the tunnel.
Now SHIFT!