theworldofdreams.com

Note: connected with the Madness series.



Deep inside the heart of an immense mountain, a large spherical hollow was carved out of the living stone. The curving walls of the room exposed traceries of lodes of precious metals that glowed with an inner light. If you could actually look into this room, the faint illumination would show a tall, human figure floating in the center of the chamber. He required no sustenance, never left the chamber but roamed all over the World. At times his eyes would open and stare as if he was looking through the very rock that shielded him but most of the time, he dreamed.

The Dreamer wandered over the fields, through the forests and drifted among the clouds. His spirit was not bound to the corporeal form deep in the mountain but traveled freely and actively. He could go anywhere, and over the millenia had explored every portion of the World. He had seen the glorious kingdom of the Ophidians and quietly observed the seasonal rituals of the snake people. He watched races rise from barbarism and attain a high level of social interdependence with other races, all monitored and lightly ruled by the Ophidians. Then, he had seen the first humans step through a magical Gate into this World and everything changed. The ancient races were pushed back by the vital humans who bore a spark of life that burned hotter than any others. He watched with sadness as all the other races degraded and fell slowly back into barbarism.

He watched the humans with intense interest and found their minds, their dreams, much more reachable than the other races. He watched them move over the World like an unstoppable force until they were settled in their cities, towns and villages. The human race was fascinating in its search for knowledge and thirst for possessions. In an amazingly short time, the sages and wizards of the humans had far outstripped the previous holders of knowledge and built libraries and places of learning for others. It was as if, at times, the vital human spark ignited into an unquenchable blaze that burned high and illumined formerly hidden mysteries.

He smiled to himself wryly as he noted that the humans were not only noted for their intellectual capabilities but for their violence and avarice. Banks, storehouse, homes and locked chests all over the World were crammed full of any and every item that could be carried away. Human adventurers actively hunted over the entire world for more and more things to take. But, there was more than just greed here. It seemed to be part of the human psyche to achieve dominance over everything and everyone they encountered. They honored their fellows who had slain the most and greatest of who were their enemies now.

The Dreamer mused that even with all the avarice and violence, the humans were strangely gentle as well. He sensed deep questions within them as they regarded the World with awe. Indeed, many were deeply spiritual and some were deeply bonded with the very nature of the World. Others explored the outer limits of existence or transcendant vibrations of the celestial sphere.

The Dreamer had fallen in love with this race and now he was troubled. For many years now, something else was roaming the World. Something invisible, lethal and utterly insane. The Dreamer had never been able to catch sight of this entity but knew it was there. Evidence of it's perverted touch were all over. In the last few years the Dreamer had cautiously made contact with a few humans in the World. He had entered the dreams of many of the Brothers of the Abbey and established contact with a few sages who had hidden themselves away in the fastness of the wilderness. One interesting being had actually contacted him! Years ago an extremely powerful mage with vast future potentials had fallen prey to the undead but instead of withering into a mindless thing that only lusted for human blood and life, he had aligned his magery with the depthless power of necromancy and had risen to unimaginable heights.

But, he was a flawed creature, this Eliathan was. He was the Lord of Vampires, and possibly, Lord of all undead were the truth to be told. But he had entered the undead world in a moment of total human love that was thereafter denied to him. His existence was a paradox of sorts, filled with fleeting, overpowering human emotions mixed with the cold, objective regard of something totally non-human. Perhaps the latent human spark that still burst into flame within him had driven him to his prominence and allowed him to sense and contact the Dreamer.

They had conversed, in a fashion, over many months and Eliathan understood now this being, this thing they called the Taint. Many humans, uncounted animals, and the other races of the world that were collectively referred to by the humans as, monsters, had been influenced and warped by this being. Incredible scenes of violence and horror were becoming almost commonplace in this World and humans were influenced the most by it. They had once regarded the Virtues as the highest ideal of the land and although their was strife, humans always fight after all, there was also a sense of purpose.

Lately, the humans seemed to be concerned with more and more loot flowing into their coffers and they tended to live for that alone. That and violence for the sake of it. This was a direct, planned side effect of what the Taint had accomplished. The long sagas and quests that had brought out the very best of the human race were now but dim Histories in dusty tomes. Now the avarice and slaying seemed most prominent but there were those also that sank into the utter stillness of dead apathy. However, this was still a vital, elastic race that could spring back if the right conditions warranted a regrowth of Virtue.

As the Dreamer floated and mused, he became aware of Eliathan once again. Terrible inner conflicts were ripping at him and of a sudden, the Dreamer knew that Eliathan was under direct attack by the Taint. He tried to reach Eliathan mentally, emotionally but the undead man was walled off inside his own mind, unreachable. What immense, horrible consequence this could have. Abandoning his attempt to contact Eliathan momentarily, The Dreamer focused multitangentally on the Brothers and hidden sages and began to pass on what he had dreamed.