~ Prologue ~

        For thousands of years people have dreamed, whether they are awake and gazing into the sky, or slumbering away in their beds.  Some might agree that dreams are the stuff of life- that without this escape to some magically magnificent world that life would be naught but a chore.  Dreams come from our wild imaginations, our innermost thoughts and secrets, our fantasies, and from our subconscious.

        Scientists and psychologists might conclude that a dream is nothing more than a few short images strung together, and they only last seconds.  So then why is it that when the sleeping person has awoken, they have either forgotten the dream completely, or they remember it to be much more complicated to only have been a mere few seconds long.?

        The mind is a complex and fragile thing- if the dream has been forgotten; one might say it was clearly not vivid or important enough to be remembered.  Though sometimes aspects of forgotten dreams shine forth, triggered by everyday events, causing the strange sensation of being somewhere before, or having seen something before, when the person knows it isn’t possible.  Thus the theory of déjà vu arises.  Yes, that is certainly how it happens.

        When it comes to remembering a dream that seems to have lasted for hours, days, even weeks, those pesky professors of science seem to have an answer.  They came up with the theory that since the mind is capable of several things, it can very well create dreams.  Meaning those short erratic images that appear to have no sequence to them are recorded into the mind, and then the brain fills in the blanks, fabricating a logical, or sometimes illogical, complex storyline.  While some dreams do make sense, most of them are completely nonsense. For instance, if the brain is so advanced, then why would it place confusing images between the other ones?  In a dream, why would a person taking a test in their underwear at school one moment, then the next be standing on a building sprouting hot pink chicken wings?  A great portion of what happened in between seems to be missing.

        Forget the books that interpret dreams- many people have begun to rely on them and they’re nothing but what the author claims each detail of a dream means.  How can one possibly believe that a red colored shirt hanging on a clothesline means something chaotic has happened in their life?  Occasionally someone might interpret a dream into something that actually fits the events in their life at that time or with something that has already passed, but perhaps that’s only wishful thinking.  Forget the scientist and the psychologist who seem to think they know why we dream or how we dream, because people are always searching for the logical and rational explanation of everything that happens.  Because the truth, no matter how far-fetched it seems, makes more sense than any of their deductions ever will…

        Remember dream catchers?  Those hand made webs laced with tiny beads caught in a circle of faux suede leather with fringe and feathers randomly attached to it?  Story has it that Native Americans made these dream catchers and hung them over their beds to catch nightmares and allow the good dreams to pass through.  If someone had enough faith in such a thing, it was possible that quite often they would only have pleasant dreams and very rarely have nightmares.  The Native Americans were on the right path.  They were close to unraveling the mysteries of nightmares and dreamscapes and how to lessen the first and have more of the latter.  Close…but no cigar.

        Take their concept of the dream catcher then evolve it into an idea a hundred, even a thousand times, until the idea has evolved into a living being.  A person who held the strings to everything anyone ever dreamt, and ever will dream.  The puppet-master of what a sleeper sees while they slumber away in their beds, or what the conscious person sees while gazing out a window during their history lecture.  This person has the remote control of what our dreams are manifested from, and that is a mighty power to hold.

        Imagine now that power being divided, shared by millions of others just like the first.  A network of puppeteers to pull the right strings connected to the dreaming minds of every single sleeping person in the world.  Sort of an internet of masters making sure their pawns are all happily dreaming while being able to communicate to each other no matter how far apart they are. 

        Where are they, the keepers of our happy dreams?  Why can’t we see them? Why don’t we know who they are?  The answer lies within our dreams, where there they are all around us just waiting to be discovered.  Once they are found within our minds, they emerge, and nothing is impossible.  Their power, the gifts they possess, allows them to do anything they want to.  Changing face and shape at will, manipulating the very fabrics of space and time, walking into our minds and regaining control- they can do it all as long as they have dreamers to thrive on. 

        The name Dream-weavers has been given to them, and they are raw, wild, and unbound to any rule or law we have come to know.  They have the power to make someone dream of taking that test in their underwear and then sprout hot pink chicken wings the next moment without ever having to insert an explanation of what happened in between.  Their reason is to protect us, however intimidating they might appear to be, as authority figures will.  To protect us from the cruelties of those who dare to weave nightmares rather than pleasantries.  While Dream-weavers can live youthfully forever as long as there are dreamers, they are not immortal.  A horrible wound can kill them, they can starve or die of thirst, and they can pass on from a broken heart, or be murdered by magical spells in their dream world.

        Most of the time a fatal wound or a magical woven spell is what kills them off, and it is often by those who possess the same gifts as they.  Dark-weavers, the creators of nightmares, are the natural bane of the Dream-weavers.  They choose to conjure up hellishly frightening images in stead of fields of poppies and rainbow water to torture a dreamer. 

        Legend has that the Supreme Being, whether it is called God, Allah, an idol, deity, or otherwise, had a gift for his most precious angel.  He had the gift of dream manipulation, and during the passing of it to his favorite and most trustworthy angel, whom he knew would use this gift solely for the happiness of Mankind, a fallen archangel had swooped in and tore it in half.  The archangel took the half with him into a fiery chasm from whence he came leaving the other with the first angel. However, the only way for the fallen archangel to ever hope to surpass the powers of his rival was for him to obtain more followers than the other.  While he did slowly but surely get followers to share this power with, the angel, becoming a Dream-weaver, ultimately found plenty more than the now labeled Dark-weaver.  From there the theory that good would always conquer evil formed, and until some unity is made between the two, the battle will be constant.

        Until someone slips up on one side or the other, that is.  Dream-weavers must always exist to ward off and repel the darkness, even if it means placing some bizarre event into a dream in place of an otherwise frightful event.  Confusing? Silly? Yes. But it is far better than seeing the evil that resides in a nightmare.

        While we sleep, our souls lie in their hands.  The risk we take of closing our eyes to pass into a majestic lullaby land is more than anyone would want to really know.  There never seemed to be any danger in sleeping, it is, after all, an every day routine.  Yet, when we sleep, anything is possible, and everything can happen.  Time, life, death- these are no obstacle to Dream-weavers or Dark-weavers.  They can overcome them as easily as a person can blink their eyes, and they are at their disposal to use as the weavers please.  But not to worry, we can always just wake up.  Right?  As long as the weavers consent to it we can.  As malevolent as a Dark-weaver can be, they usually allow the dreamer to wake from a terrifying nightmare for fear of facing a Dream-weaver.  However…there can be mistakes and more rebellious Dark-weavers do exist who could care less what the consequences are. 

        If we’re not allowed to be free from our dreams, be they dark and horrifying or light and lovely, then we are in for a long, long sleep…the only advice worthy to be given is…dare to dream.