Dream Journal: The Underwater Wizard (December 10, 2008)

DREAM 

There once lived a mysterious hermit who turned out to be a magician. His tragic purpose was to prevent evil from happening, but at a great cost--the lives of those who helped him.

This fabled wizard was said to hold great healing powers. Young people often went in search of the wizard to help them a cure for some kind medieval malady that they contracted. (BTW, we are set in the 16th century, Redmond.)Smallpox, Collera, abortions, and unknown diseases were common reasons of misadventurers to attempt to find him. Some just went for the thrill of it. The myth remained alive over the years because every once in a great while, kids who went in search of him, never returned...

This is the story of my involvement with him.

One day, near Christmas, I attended a stake choir festival for young adults. This didn't seem to be just any ordinary choir concert. The city pulled out all the stops! There were imported organs, professional sound and lighting, and the most elegant of decor. I later found out that this specific celebration was all federally funded as it it a landmark event in every community across the United States.

Despite having attended a single practice [as I stepped into this dream only moments beforehand] I was honored to sing in a trio, separate from the body of the youth choir. Fortunately, we three sang simple, non-religious children's songs, like 3 Blind Mice, to accent the beautiful harmonies of the choir behind us.

After the performance, there was a celebration ceremony to recognize the youths' transition into adulthood. The meaning of Adulthood, in this somewhat difference culture, was to accept responsibility for your life's path as it is chosen by your father or guardian. It was a terrific honor to accept one's destiny at this time.

My reason of attending the party, however, was to determine if a rumor I overheard from the Orgill boys was true. They kept to themselves much of the time, not fraternizing with the others in their age group. Both Nate and Jon had supposedly accepted their life callings and were taking steps towards fulfilling them. But something that I accidentally overheard them discussing bothered me.

"Poor kids," said Jon.
"Yeah. It's going to be all over for them come the celebration," added Nate.
"I only wish we knew the delivery method of the drug so that we could prevent the mind control from taking place." Nate furrowed his brow in concentration.
"There's nothing WE can do. Let's hope the wizard can do something about it," concluded Jon, nervous that someone might overhear their conversation.

That was all that was said. I had so little to go on, and yet I felt compelled to try to dispel any conspiracies before I submitted my life over to "the community need". My task was not an easy one. For me, an idealistic young person, finding an alleged mind control drug amongst esteemed parents, teachers, and community leaders would be more difficult than searching for a crumb of cheese under a pile of rats.

As the servers brought in the feast, I looked around at all of my grown up friends and family. Mr. Beirman was there. Coaches Hass and Heid from PeeWee football were both their with their families. Could all of them be in on it?! Just then, a revelation came to me from the immortal words of Detective Sherlock Holmes. He said, "We must fall back on the old axiom, that when other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

With this thought in mind, another revelation became clear to me. The government was also a suspect. It became incontrovertible in my mind that the alleged saboteur was neither a youth or a member of our close-knit community. Youth are more interested in playing out their childhoods that colluding to form their futures. The community of adults would be unable to decide upon a consensus for the future of their children. Therefore, the powers of deduction, the culprit must be an influential outside party. The thought followed, this food is all catered and paid for by the government!

Without a thought I leapt to the stage, "drop your food and run for the woods," I shouted!

To my surprise, no one moved except for the federally paid security guards who were closing in on my position from either side of the stage.

I jumped from the stage down to a serving table below. I grabbed the arms of two of my friends on my way to the nearest exit. By this point, the parents were beginning to make some noise. A few hands reached out to restrain me as I careened for the door but I wiggled out of their holds. I was ruining their party.

In the woods, we took refuge in a group of overgrown bushes. We heard irritated chatter and the chatter of walkie talkies from the city building behind us.

"Do either of you know of a magician who lives in town," I asked frantically? They looked at me with retreating eyes, disbelieving that they actually sacrificed their futures for what they were hearing me say. I'm sure they were both calculating how much trouble they would be in if they turned back now.

"You ate the food didn't you," I asked quietly.

They nodded, knowing that they couldn't turn back now.

(This story is becoming too long and I apologize. Thank you for the few who have actually read this far. I'll some up the rest.)

With great difficulty we made it to the wizard's house. (Which happened to also be the Goldbloom's house. The wizard occupied the same space, but mostly in a different dimension of space. The only bit of his house accessible from our dimension was a keyhole in the backyard hidden amongst the ivy.) We ended up hiding and secretly tailing the Orgill Twins to the keyhole and through the portal.

When the wizard arrived, he first welcomed us but then insisted that we return to our world. The punishment that waited for us back there was much less demanding than the that which would befall us if we stayed. He looked at the Orgills. Their eyes held conviction. One of my friends simply turned for the door and vanished.

"I'm staying," I stated resolutely.

"Then step onto the pool. You will learn everything you need to know on there." The pool was 5,000 sq. ft. bordered by thick polished wood. It had light vegetation growing in it and a small passage out to the large body of water outside the house.


The lights dimmed. The Orgills took a step onto the indoor water garden. My heart stopped momentarily when their feet didn't penetrate the water's surface. They made their way toward the center of the pool. I joined them, walking on water all the while. The sensation of the water supporting my feet could be related to walking through the woods barefoot; ripples would collapse under your feet like a bunch of grass. Sometimes the apex of the tiny chop would poke your feet like a twig or pokie leave would in the forest.

All at once, I fell through water. I reached for the surface, but I couldn't break back through. I banged on the surface to get the attention of the twins to not avail. The passage to the outside opened and a rush of cold current swept past my body pushing me backward. Air escaped my mouth.

A small boy with pale skin and black eyes came through the small portal from the outside. He playfully swam from one underwater growth to the next seemingly to be examining each one. Closer, closer; he hasn't noticed me yet.

My chest burned! I couldn't hold my breath much longer. Why wouldn't he hurry?! If I were to die, I wanted to know what this strange being's role in all of this was before I drowned.

[Squeezing my eyes shut. Exploding exhale. Gasping water into my lungs. Again. And again.]

I was still conscious. But the pressure in my head was next to unbearable. When I opened my eyes, they felt like they were going to pop out! I couldn't see a thing--just fuzzy, blue sea water.

"Hello. And welcome, Bryan."

"Who is that?!", I said surprising myself that I was able to speak.

"I am the record keeper. I manage the missions and life forces of each of you younglings who chose to assist The Beneficent Mage, Wesley Mordock, in his quest to rid your dimension of The Evil One and reunite your dimension with peaceful Federation of Intergalactic Galaxies."

A pair of soft, black circles came in to focus, surrounded by the outline of a boy.

"Why can't I see anything," I pleaded desperately?

"Your eyes will continue to adjust over time. This magical pool which the Mage has created allows humans to adapt to underwater habitation. It will be essential for your future missions. (The Evil One's HQ and many of his satellite stations are located subsurface in international waters.) The pressure you feel in your eyes is the flow of excreted water that your body doesn't use for oxygen use. Water enters by way of your mouth and is broken down in your lungs where oxygen latches onto the alveoli. The by-product is forced out tiny openings near your tear ducts. Quite ingenious, if you ask me. Mordock invented this spell himself."

(Sorry; no more storytelling. Here's the bottom line.)

The boy held up a clipboard with names and numbers. I saw saw my name under the Orgill boys' names. They both had 18's in line with their names. I had a 20 next to mine. After inquiry, I learned that the numbers indicate how many more missions each crusader could perform before their life-force is depleted. I continued to watch as each of the Orgills received a shot of black substance through the soles of their feet. This inoculation served as a passport which the Universe demands to be able to travel between and even co-exist between dimensions. It animates our bodies in a realm where it would otherwise be impossible. The problem with the inoculation is that it slowly poisons the body by burning up what is simply described as our life force found in our blood.


The Orgills fell through the surface and swam for the opening in the pool that leads to the outside. Their mission was to discover the hidden location of The Evil One's mid-Pacific lair capable of penetrating through to my home dimension. I was to accompany them as a training mission.

I looked back at the wizard standing at the edge of the pool. His voice resonated in my mind. (He opened a channel of telepathic communication from above the surface.) He prompted me to check my foot. I looked and found that I had a freshly opened puncture wound. I had already been inoculated.

"Why should I waste one of my 20 inoculations by going home when I could swim out there and make a difference?"

So I swam.

The wizard waved goodbye and smiled with sad eyes.

Evil's troops are waiting for us...