The Dream

Fred took a tentative step into the woods. It was very cold here, and the coldness seemed to chill Fred's soul as well as his body. The trees were gnarled, twisted, and dead. A few lone ravens sat on the branches and cried out. There was something that sounded like screams in the distance, crying for help.

Fred found that his body was different from his slim child's body. It was the body of a powerful adult warrior. Fred found this both exhilirating and disconcerting. As he looked down, he saw that he was wearing armor of a sort that had not been seen since the height of the Great Empire's power. It was strong and majestic, made of steel that shone with a purity of the sort that Fred had never seen in the amor of people he knew wore, but had heard of in the half-remembered fragments of legends long past. On his right shoulder was a design that seemed familiar and yet he could not quite remember it, like a half-forgotten memory. It was a kind of wheel, the rim of gold, the spokes of silver. There seemed to be a gryphon entertwined in the great wheel.

As Fred walked on, he saw that one vast tree towered over all the rest. Its twisting branches seemed almost to be the claws of a beast. Trapped in those tendrils was a lovely woman, and it was her screams that Fred had heard. Her skin was almost pure white, and her dark golden hair seemed like shining light. She was wearing no clothes, yet it seemed quite natural to her. Fred felt a strange, uncomfortable, but pleasant feeling toward her, something he'd never felt toward a woman before. She certainly wasn't like his mother, or the girls he knew from the Keep. He saw that a majestic sword was resting at his side, and pulled it from his scabbard. He walked toward the woman, whose eyes he now saw were the same color as her hair. The black branches struck at him, but Fred chopped them off with ease. He chopped them away from the woman, taking care not to harm her. She fell off of the tree, and Fred caught the lovely woman in his arms. She did not speak, but favored Fred with a smile, which made him feel as if he would die of happiness. She then began to sing, and the trees began to sprout green leaves again. The croaking of the ravens was replaced by the chirping of songbirds. As Fred's heart began to beat faster, the woman leaned in and kissed him. Before he could really comprehend what had happened, however,

1. Fred awoke. The sun had risen, and he was still in his mother's room.
2. Fred awoke. The sun had risen, and he was lying in a thickly wooded forest. He was in the body of a strong adult man, wearing the same armor as in his dream.
3. Fred awoke. The sun had risen, and he was lying in a thickly wooded forest. He was still a child, but was now wearing a medallion bearing the design of the armor.
4. The woman began to shift and change...

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