Dream Diary: The Labyrinth

Dream Diaries
“The Labyrinth”
08/02/09

It started with a group of teens that loved to play soccer. There was one boy in particular and one girl in particular. We’ll call the boy Daren and the girl Elaine. Elaine loved the game especially, and didn’t mind that she had to play with the boys, although she wished they knew more about the history of the sport.

Somehow, in the middle of one of their games, there was a sudden earthquake, and they all got shaken off balance. When it was over Elaine emerged with a white pendant around her neck, and she held a jewel that resembled a clear and white marble. She couldn’t remember where the jewels had come from.

But now they were in a world that none of them knew. Everything had the appearance of strong, stone buildings that a terrible windstorm had swept through and eliminated all life. A strange fog lingered everywhere. The same thought touched on everyone’s minds, but it was one of the other boys, we’ll call him Andy, who spoke it first. “Where are we? …How do we get home?”

They wandered, and they descended onto a mountain path that was closed in by stone pillars on one side and completely open to the valley below on the other. It was then that a mysterious figure appeared to them. We’ll call him Genus.

Genus spoke kindly to them at first; inquiring about how such a group of kids could have arrived at a place like that. Elaine was the first to step forward and express her distrust of the man. Genus, appearing as an elderly man, got a wicked twinkle in his blue eye, and Elaine suddenly fell faint, and unconscious. And in a whirl of magical smoke, she was suddenly within Genus’s grasp.

Daren moved forward assertively but his friends held him back. “Let go of her!!”

Genus merely smiled deviously and held up the white jewel that he took from her hand. “This young woman has something of mine. I think I will take it back… Infact, with that pendant of hers it means that she is also something of mine. So I’m going to have to keep her.”

Daren started forward again but Genus merely laughed. “If you wish to have her back, merely enter my Labyrinth… There are more jewels like this one that I have had some trouble in collecting. Collect them for me, and she is yours.” And with that he disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Daren started forward for the labyrinth immediately, his friends flanking him.

“What do you suppose is in this labyrinth?” Andy asked. “I don’t care.” Daren responded. “We have to find Elaine!”

They entered the labyrinth and Daren was thrust into the very first room by himself. There he could see Genus holding Elaine prisoner, as he held a yellow jewel in his hand.

“I can’t actually enter the sacred grounds of the labyrinth.” Genus explained, and Daren realized that Genus and Elaine were semi-transparent; their images only appearing there by magic. “I give you this gem for free. But the others are going to be harder…”

The Genus apparition now approached Daren and stared him straight in the face. “But I must also ask that you do not touch the fiery alter between the Tower of Courage and the Dungeon of Wisdom. Retrieve the jewels only, and return them to me at the alter in the center of the labyrinth.” And with that, the Genus and Elaine apparitions disappeared and Daren was once again back with his friends.

“Where did you go?” One of them asked. Daren responded, “It doesn’t matter; let’s get moving.”

They wandered the labyrinth and eventually came to the corridor that led to the fiery alter, that Tower of Courage, and the Dungeon of Wisdom. Daren turned right, toward the tower of courage first.

The moment he started scaling the steps he found that he was alone. A mysterious apparition of a woman appeared before him and said, “None enter this tower who do not bring the power of courage. Bring it or you shall perish.”

Daren wasn’t sure what she meant, whether it was a power he had already or one he was meant to obtain by other means, but he pressed on anyway.

The stairs began to shake and twist, threatening to throw him off balance. The walls around him disappeared and there appeared to be a sandy desert miles beneath the floating staircase on which he stood. But he pressed on.

The stairs seemed endless, but he finally arrived at the top of the tower.  There he saw a bed, and a figure was lying across it, covered in a sheet. Daren lifted the sheet and to his horror, found the dead body of Elaine lying beneath it, torn apart and gruesome.

Daren shrank back against the wall, trying to cope with his fear and convince himself it wasn’t real. A torrent of images crossed his mind, as he seemed to be flung from the desert landscape into frozen wasteland of mountains. He struggled with his emotions, and finally obtained a firm grip on them. And suddenly he was back with his friends at the entrance to the Tower of Courage.

None had seemed to notice his disappearance, but now he held a green gem in his hand.

Next they focused on what appeared to be an empty frame that once held a painting. This puzzled everyone, but it was Andy who first noticed the image on the floor. It looked as if light were coming through a window, revealing the design on the floor through light and shadow. Daren stood so he could see it properly, and it showed a man and a woman, and his own shadow was cast in between the two.

Suddenly the light image faded and became the painting itself on the wall. Daren pushed it and it moved forward like a door into another chamber. There was the fiery altar that Genus had mentioned, and a red gem lay on another altar in front of it. Daren picked up the red gem, but felt uneasy. It seemed too simple. He set his gaze on the fiery altar and approached it.

“Don’t touch it!!” Andy yelled. “Didn’t that old man tell you not to??”

Daren ignored his words and touched the fiery altar. As he did, flames seemed to consume him. He emerged…and now he was able to control fire!

Daren looked up and saw Elaine standing at the back of the room. She looked confused, like she didn’t know how she’d gotten there. But Daren ran to her and they embraced.

Daren insisted that they leave now that they had Elaine back, but Elaine insisted that they continue.

So they came upon the entrance to the Dungeon of Wisdom. A different figure much like the one in the Tower of Courage appeared to them, and said, “None enter this dungeon who do not bring the power of wisdom. Bring it or you shall perish.”

Elaine took a bold step forward down into the dungeon. Daren tried to stop her, but she insisted that she had the wisdom that was demanded. As she descended the stairs she seemed to be walking into icy water until she was no longer visible.

When Elaine emerged she held the blue gem. She held a very wise look on her face and would not tell them of what she experienced.

Now they had four gems; yellow, green, red, and blue. Genus still had the white one.

So they descended down into the deep center of the labyrinth, where they beheld a huge alter of peculiar design.

(Design is pictured above)

The bottom half was submerged in water, and the top half was exposed about the surface, and large enough for each on them to stand on top of it with a jewel. Daren stood at the top, Elaine and Andy to either side, and Ben on the other part. But one part was empty. One jewel was missing.

Elaine looked down into the watery black depths and beheld a purple glow. As she watched, the water began to bubble and froth, until suddenly a huge snake-like creature burst from the water and captured Elaine in its mouth!

At the other side of the chamber, the snake-like creature Elaine in its mouth, and magically held all the gems out in front of it; white, yellow, green, red, blue, and now purple. The altar began to rotate and everyone was thrown off of it.

“Thank you for delivering the gems and the White Sky Princess to me!” The snake-like creature said with his mind. Its voice was familiar; it was Genus in his true form!

“Now all worlds will belong to me!” Genus was about to bite down on Elaine when Daren thrust forward his fist and shot a massive fireball at Genus. The snake-like creature yelled and dropped Elaine.

Daren ran for Elaine but before he could reach her, she was enveloped in a white light, and wings sprang forth from her back. Elaine zoomed around the chamber with speed and skill that had only been present on the soccer field. She held a bright rod that she would strike Genus with every time she flew by, burning the creature horribly. Daren finished it off with another fireball, and the creature was dead.

Immediately the teens were right back on their soccer field as if nothing had happened. They all gave each other confused and then knowing looks, and just smiled and laughed about the whole experience as they continued their interrupted game.