PART FOUR: THE SECOND TRIP TO THE SECRET HALLWAY
Harmon tucked his son Kairo into bed before making himself a steaming mug of coffee and settling into his home office. The lights automatically turned on when he walked into the room and he took a seat, placing his coffee on his left side as was customary. He turned on the psychographic typewriter on his desk, adding spirit paper to it then he begun to recount his experiences on his latest adventure. The typewriter was a top-of-the-line Psi-Typewriter which meant that its primary function was to follow its users’ thoughts and transmit them onto the paper provided. The Psi-Typewriter would also decode and paraphrase its users’ thoughts and make them more coherent and decipherable, condensing them into a comprehensive report.
However, as Harmon recounted his strange dreams in the Elysian Plain upon entering the mysterious door to the past, his thoughts became increasingly jumbled and the type-writer often halted, recanted whole statements (the statements would simply vanish off the spirit paper in such instances) or even erased entire sections. Harmon sighed and decided it was best not to include that portion of his visit to the Elysian Plain instead terminating his account on the guided tour in the bus led by the light elves. He read the report and once he was satisfied with the revised draft, he tasked the typewriter with sending the report to the San Elias branch Guild leader Yasir and to the Headquarters of the Seven Holy Islands Sights and Sees Adventurers’ Guild before retiring to bed.
Harmon stared up at his bedroom ceiling trying to make sense of the encounters in the second half of his visit to the Elysian Plain but no matter how hard he thought about it, it made no sense. Perhaps as the light elf had indicated, his mind and soul were not ready for whatever truth he was yet to learn. Until then, Harmon decided it was best for him to focus on doing his work well and being the best father he could be to Kairo.
As fate would have it, the Seven Holy Islands’ Sights and Sees Adventurers’ Guild was interested in exploring the Elysian Plain further deeming it one of the most important discoveries of the new century. The Guild collaborated with the International Association of Dream and Sleep Studies (IADSS), an organization that studied dreams and sleep of all major species and races in Ciboria, the earth-like planet where most of the creations of the Lord of Fire lived. IADSS was an organization owned by a race of Ciborians known as the Freemen.
The Freemen were a peaceful mixed race comprising of both magician and non-magician Ciborians that could be found virtually everywhere across the Physical Planes of Existence, including in lands that were outwardly hostile to Magicians especially in the Chalician empire (or the ‘Lord’s Holy Chalice’) territory. The Chalician empire was a vast non-magician empire spanning centuries. Chalicians were known to have a deep hatred and mistrust for all magicians and magical races such as the Hulda.
IADSS in collaboration with the Guild, set up a specialized team comprising of Sleep study experts, Dream study experts and a team of ‘Lucid Dreamers’ who were willing participants in the study which would go down in history as one of the largest dream studies in history. A team of medical experts hailing from the illustrious Meridian race known for their prowess in medicinal arts, were also on hand to ensure all dreamers remained safe while exploring the unknown dream space. A few sandmen had also been enlisted to assist in the dream study. The sandmen helped create a shared dream for all ‘Lucid Dreamers’ in the study for easier exploration.
Seeing as how Harmon had been the one to make the ground-breaking discovery of the Elysian Plain, he was assigned the the key role of guiding the ‘Lucid Dreamers’ to the Golden Door and hopefully guide them once they crossed over to the Elysian Plain. Harmon was initially worried that he might not be able to locate the Golden Door to the Plain and that he would fail the team and so he frantically went around the shared dreamscape in circles, desperate to find the Golden Door. He almost gave up hope but from the corner of his eye, he caught something glistening and despite his own self-doubt, he followed his instincts and finally found the golden door.
Harmon led the Lucid Dreamers through the golden door and they all managed to enter with the exception of two Lucid Dreamers who had been tasked with remaining on the opposite side of the door to report back what happened once the other Lucid Dreamers had successfully crossed over to the other side. Nothing truly spectacular happened on the other side with the exception of the door remaining open for a while until suddenly shutting autonomously and dematerializing roughly five minutes after the other Lucid Dreamers had successfully crossed over to the other side.
Unlike the previous time he had crossed over to the other side which had felt like waiting for a video game lobby to load in, Harmon was surprised that the brightly colored ceilings, wallpapers and carpet instantaneously appeared. The Lucid Dreamers used the latest in Dormio and Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) devices technology to record everything they encountered in the Elysian Plain.
The Lucid Dreamers reported feeling the same euphoric calmness and peace Harmon had described in his initial report which increased the more into the infinite hotel space they traversed. Some Lucid Dreamers tried accessing the various doors lining up the hallway but were unable to open them no matter how hard they tried. However, despite not being able to enter the doors lining the hallway, they encountered many other travelers to the Plain who were friendly and though they spoke different languages, they were all capable of understanding one another. Some Lucid Dreamers attempted to enter the doors through which the other travelers emerged from while they remained open and ended up being transported back to the start of the long hallway instead.
The team also discovered that there were other participants in dream studies from other worlds who had also just stumbled upon knowledge of the Elysian Plain and were also attempting to study them. They compared and contrasted notes as they traversed the long hotel hallway until they made it to the reception area. Harmon rang the bell and two elvish receptionists appeared before them.
The light elves welcomed and guided all travelers, offering up detailed explanation of the various lands hosted in the Elysian Plain. The larger Lucid Dreamers team split into several other functional groups for exploration as they had been instructed by IADSS. Harmon went along with his assigned team although his real intention was to explore the secret hallway he had been guided through before, hoping to obtain more answers to the strange encounters he had experienced there.
Harmon was surprised to find that rather than continuing to explore with his assigned team, he was suddenly back at the hotel reception area and the same light elf that had guided him to the secret hallway he had traversed before, appeared before him and guided him back to the door.
“Lord Harmon, you need not worry about your team. They have will assume that you have been along for their journey with them while you explore the memories behind this door. Your dream recording equipment shall also mimic the footage your colleagues record and not capture anything beyond the door,”
“Oh, um, thank you for the explanation, my lady. But last time… it was all a jumbled, confusing mess… Will this time be different? Will I finally get to know the truth of my past?”
“My Lord, you will only learn the truth of your past if your mind and soul are ready for it,” she responded firmly. They finally arrived and the light elf bowed respectfully before leaving Harmon to his own devices. Harmon took deep breaths before opening the door and entering into the space beyond it.
TO BE CONTINUED…
What shall Harmon learn of his past this time around? Stay tuned to find out! Links to previous parts in the series are listed below. Enjoy!
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