Dreams, dreams are strange things. Visions of events, places, people, impossibilities and realities are all possible in dreams. Many people don’t remember their dreams after waking, I am no exception to this. When I was a kid I kept a sort of ‘dream journal’ where I would write down my dreams before I had forgotten them. Sometimes they were cool dreams, like riding dinosaurs or flying through the air. Other times they aren’t so pleasant. Being chased by crazed killers, drowning and wandering through a city that was completely empty were all nightmares I’ve had. Occasionally you’ll realize that you’re in a dream, most of the time when this happens you wake up. Other times you don’t and gain full control over you’re the dream.

What I was currently experiencing was no normal dream. I was aware, yet did not wake nor was I able to exert control over it.

I stood on solid ground obscured by vast amounts of what I assumed to be smoke. No matter where I looked, there were thick amounts of smoke. I moved my left hand through the thick smoke with a gesture, thinking it would roll away from my hand, pushed by the wind. Instead the smoke coiled around my hand, engulfed it and darkened from light grey to black. Strange warmth pulsed within the swirling smoke, it felt almost peaceful. I moved my hand about, closing and opening my fingers. The smoke followed my every move, but when I opened my hand the smoke rushed forward in a small wave. Upon closing my fist the smoke receded back to my hand.

“Cool!” I grinned as I moved about the smoky area, throwing my left hand forward to shoot out bouts of thick black smoke. I began to experiment with different hand gestures. By cupping my hand the smoke condensed into a ball. With a heave I tossed the black ball of smoke. It soared through the air in a straight line, never slowing or dropping. When I closed my hand into a fist the far away ball exploded into a large blast of black smoke, clearly visible despite being far off into the grey smoke.

It was then that I felt the tug towards the black smoke, as if being called to it. I felt an urge to reach towards the darkness, and so I reached out with my left hand. Before I realized what had happened I found myself within the black smoke. My mind raced at what had just happened and my breathing quickened.

Had I just…teleported?

My thoughts were a pure mess as I tried to sort through what had occurred. I clenched my fist and the nearby smoke condensed around my hand once more. I sat upon the smoke-covered ground and rubbed my beard in thought. Dreams always meant something, or at least the average person thinks so. I myself believe dreams have a meaning but that doesn’t stop me from raising an eyebrow at so-called ‘Dream Analysts’. If I were to call one now and describe this dream they’d say some BS such as “Oh, this dream reflects your innermost desire to hide and you feel safe in the obscuring smoke. Are you having trouble in your personal life that you wish to hide from?”

Nah lady, I only got sucked through some portal thing into a land with lizard cultists, Dwarves, lion people, ant people, frog people and who knows what else kind of people? It was cool as hell, I won’t lie. I’ve always dreamed of meeting aliens, but to these people I’m the alien. At least they know I come in peace, I even got to meet their leader! Well, at least the leader of Shimmer Creek. Who knows how many settlements there are on this world? The people here weren’t too technologically advanced, though the Dwarves did have MagiTech. Perhaps I was just dropped off in the boonies by the portal.

Imagine, a city run with MagiTech! A fantasy New York City with lights and buildings powered by crystals with hovering cars driving around was pictured in my mind. It was sweet as hell. Though Ovglach had said earlier that self-moving carriages weren’t a thing in this world, with thanks to me showing up with Bartholomew perhaps that would change in the near future.

I may have accidentally started a technological revolution in this world. Oops.

The sound of footsteps broke me free from my imagination. My ears strained to listen, but the steps seemed to come from all directions. I rose from my seated position, if I was about to have company I may as well face them standing. As I turned my head round and round I could find nothing before the sound of footsteps faded. I scratched my beard. The feeling I was being watched was very strong. But as I strained my eyes to look through the thick smoke I saw nothing. That was when I felt wind.

It was faint at first, but quickly grew into a whirling storm. My clothes pulled straight ahead, towards the center of the windstorm. I blocked what wind I could by bracing my arms in an X in front of me and watched all the grey smoke be sucked into the whirlwind. As my surroundings cleared of smoke I saw people. They were people of all different races, shapes, sizes, men, women, children and the elderly. Mikthar, Humans, Dwarves, Shren, Hib’litan, Lizard people both with and without wings and many, many, others.

They all gathered around with me in the center of their attention. The whirlwind had dissipated after all the smoke had been cleared. All around me in a circle were hundreds upon hundreds of people just staring at me in their center. Their clothing was grey, the same as the smoke that had been here moments before. They seemed to be waiting for something.

Shame I was piss poor at giving public speeches. I raised my hand in greeting, “Yo.”

The sound and sight of a hundreds of robed arms being raised in greeting surrounded me, followed by an avalanche of sound. “Yo!” Ah fuck, they were copying me. Well if they were going to play this game then I was going to be entertained. I began to make monkey noises and danced around in a circle, rubbing my belly and patting my head. When I stopped I glanced around. They all stared at me without moving. Someone even coughed in the crowd.

“Well that’s fine. I enjoy making an ass of myself in public anyway!” I called out as laughter rumbled from all directions. Bastards. Silence slowly returned to the gathering that surrounded me. “Well now that we’ve all had a laugh at my expense, please by all means, introduce yourselves. I’m Mark by the way.”

“Greetings Mark, Lord of Darkness.” They spoke in unison, “We are what the people of this world call The Thousand.” The Thousand eh? That struck a familiar cord with me…ah! I snapped my fingers,

“You mean the Thousand-Faced God that Velle mentioned before. Though there seems to be more than just one of you with a thousand faces. And you remind me more of the demons from the Bible more than anything.”

“We are Legion, for we are many.” They did that unison voice thing again which freaked me out.

“Yeah you can stop that right now or else I’m gonna call an old priest and a young priest to exorcise your asses.” Laughter rumbled from all around. Instantly, bright light flashed before me, burning my eyes before I could look away. As I blinked and rubbed my eyes to clear my vision one of The Thousand began to approach me.

I slowly opened my eyes to see a single person standing before me. A quick glance around revealed that where there were once hundreds of people now stood no one. “Is this more to your expectations?” the person before me asked in a fusion of voices both male and female. Their face slightly shrouded by their good constantly shifting between the races I had met and others I have not.

“Yeah, you got the real Thousand-Faced God vibe going on now.” A large spider’s mouth opened, what was either a very deadly smile with venom dripping from its fangs, or a very hungry one. “Yeah stop that, its freaking me out.” A chittering sound faded as he…shifted form. What he did next was even worse. He used my own face. “Alright, wake me up now I’m fucking done with this.” It’s strange, hearing your own voice laugh at you.

“Sorry, not sorry. I don’t get this sort of chance often. Most times when I visit others in their dreams they kneel and grovel. ‘Oh I’m not worthy my lord!’ they always say. Gets tiring after a while.” He shifted once more, taking the form of a young woman with long golden hair.

“Alright, then let me ask, the hells with this black smoke around my left hand? Why are you, a god, calling me a Lord of Darkness? And most of all when can I go back home?” She smiled at me sweetly.

“You can’t go home because I won’t allow it.” She stated in a bored voice which angered me greatly. “You are here for a reason.”

“What reason?” I demanded.

“That is for you to find out for yourself!”

“You’d make a great politician, avoiding questions like that.” Her face shifted to that of Richard Nixon’s

“I am not a crook.” He stated matter-of-factly before laughing and changing back. “Sorry Mark, but I’m taking a strictly hands-off approach to this whole affair besides this moment and when you first came to this world.”

“What do you mean?” I questioned curiously. She changed form once more into the familiar lizard cultist I had hit with my car, knocked out, zip-tied up and eventually had imprisoned by the Shimmer Lake guards.

“Praise the Lord of Darkness!” he cried frantically and kneeled before me and then shifted back. “The jeep surprised me, most summons arrive on foot.” She smiled, “You’re the first to pass my test sadly.”

“Again, what do you mean?” I repeated, still coming to terms that I had assaulted and detained a god.

“You aren’t the first Shadowmancer I’ve summoned, only the first to pass my test.” She changed her face once more and became Petal. “Thank…you…”

“You mean you’re Petal and the Lizard? At the same time?”

“Oh heavens no! Petal is a real Mikthar just as you are a real human. No, the test was to judge you based on your character. Of the six Shadowmancers I’ve summoned before you are the first one to have disabled the ‘loony cultist’ first and helped Petal after. The others were over-eager about being called a Lord of Darkness and moved to kill the poor girl.” She smiled sadly and stared at the ground,

“I killed them first. This world doesn’t need an egomaniac. It needs someone that respects life.” She shifted back to her golden-haired form. “After each summoning I would wipe the girl’s memories of the whole event and wait until I could summon another. I hated seeing that poor girl suffer. She’d have died much sooner if I wasn’t sustaining her with a magical connection. Thank you for helping her.”

I had heard enough. My fist was clenched and shaking at my side. How dare anyone, even a god or a goddess keep anyone, especially a child, on the brink of starvation. I remembered my meeting Petal. How she looked so skinny, so hungry. Her eyes filled with fear.

“Forgive me.” The Thousand-Faced God begged in a whisper. I looked at her as she looked at me with sadness in her eyes. I threw my fist at her and she did not move. I breathed heavily as I stopped my fist mere inches from her face. To her respect, she didn’t flinch. I dropped my arm to my side.

“It’s not me who you should be asking for forgiveness.” She nodded her head in silence.

“I’ll seek it in time, but for now we have other pressing matters.” A look of determination crossed her face as she stared at me. “As for you being called a Lord of Darkness, well, Shadowmancers have been hunted to extinction in this world. A sort of following had deemed Shadow Magic to be evil in the eyes of their faith. As the faith spread, those able to use Shadow Magic were killed. Now, none remain where there were once thousands.”

“This faith is still around isn’t it?” Bad feelings galore with this explanation.

“It’s more powerful than you currently realize. Now I'm at a point where I have to intervene directly to bring someone such as you here so that Shadow Magic would return to this world.”

“So what exactly is a Shadowmancer then?”

“To put it simply, they were men and women who could walk through shadows, jumping between dark places in an instant. Able to walk the night unseen and unheard, masters of stealth and deception. The faith preached to end those who used Shadow Magic, for there were many who used their powers for corrupt purposes.”

“Assassination is first among those purposes isn’t it?” I could see where this was going.

“Funny you should mention that, an assassination by a Shadowmancer was exactly what started this shift in faith.”

“What? Did the person kill this world’s Pope?”

“Yes.”

Ah yes, that would start a religious revolution for sure. I can only imagine the backlash that would occur if someone were to kill a Pope on Earth in this day and age. At least he had a bullet-proof bubble car in which to ride around in. In this world they wouldn’t be so lucky.

“Now as for…you…do…first…jump…” The Goddess’ voice was cutting in and out like a bad phone call connection, but kept talking not seeing something was wrong. I felt something lightly on my chest. The Goddess’ face became frantic as she waved her hands around as she realized what was happening.

“…Up.” I heard a voice mutter quietly near my ear. “Wake…up…” I groaned aloud as the dream I was in faded into obscurity. As I opened my eyes I found myself being lightly shaken by Petal who wore a light blue sundress. Looks like I had fallen asleep on the bench out front the Matriarch’s house. A quick glance at a sky full of stars informed me it was still late at night.

“Wake…up…” Petal repeated as she kept shaking me. I smiled at her worried face and put my arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry.” I apologized as I held her tight. “I’m so sorry you had to go through it all Petal.” I wasn’t going to cry. Nope, not me.

“Not…your fault…” she patted me which made me chuckle. “Bad man…gone now…”

“You’re right, thanks Petal.” I released her. “So why’d you wake me up?” She pointed towards the gate the led to the town. Outside the town walls were hundreds upon hundreds of torches in what appeared to be a massive gathering.

“Scared.” She mumbled as she clung to me. She then looked at my left hand and then up to my face, her eyes wide with wonder. Curious, I glanced towards my left hand, only to find my arm up to my elbow wreathed in black smoke.

“Mark…Lord of…Dark…” She stated and regarded me with awe.

“Ah hell.” I had some ‘splainin to do.

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Took a break from writing the other day for a rest and now I'm back in business. Chapter is a bit longer than the others to make up for my day off. Enjoy!