Bubble Chapter Two: Universe of Dreams

“This is Oneiros?” I ask in astonishment, as I move water over my palm. I smell the sweet sent of grass. I feel the silt between my toes. This is all real. It feels and looks completely real. “Was I transported to another world?” I ask while simultaneously thinking it sounded stupid. 

Haru gives me a predatory look with a wicked grin as she crouches down then leaps directly at me! I shriek and cover my face with my arms while shutting my eyes in a defensive gesture while waiting for the little girl’s impact, but it doesn’t come. Hesitantly, I slowly open one eye then both go wide, as I see Haru’s brilliant blue eyes a few inches in front of my face before her face splits in a massive toothy smile. I see that she’s in a sitting position with her hands in her lap, and floating in the air! “Whaaa? Are you magic or something?” I say while not really thinking that it’s true. 

The massive cheese of her smile doesn’t fade as she chuckles to herself. “No kitten, I told you already. I’m your guide. I’m here to teach you how to use Oneiros,” she excitedly tells me with an intense stare. “Allow me to explain,” umm, yeah, I’ve been kinda waiting for that, I think before Haru continues. “Oneiros is a computer controlled electrochemical interface for theta wave management and augmentation,” she tells me with pride while folding her arms over her chest. I just stare at her blankly; having no idea what she just said. She looks at my blank stare cockeyed as her smile slips a bit. “In layman’s terms,” do people still say ‘layman’s’? I wonder as she continues. “Oneiros is basically a big computer, but this is not a computer-generated environment. I guess you could say that Oneiros is an interface with your dreams,” she proclaims as she leans her face incredibly close to mine. 

I look around at the grassy hills. I feel the water I’m still sitting in and a light breeze on my skin. “How can this be a dream? It feels so, so… real,” I say it as more of a statement than a question. “This doesn’t look like any dream I’ve ever had. It’s not just real, but it’s… nice,” I say while thinking of how the only dreams I could remember always felt out of control and frightening.

Haru’s smile falters, as she seems to look concerned before returning to a gleeful, if not slightly forced expression. “I’ll try to explain as best I can,” she says with a cute pout and head nod, as she crossed her arms and legs while still floating in midair. “All physical senses are simply electrochemical interpretations of sensory organs by our brains to understand our physical environment,” her eyes squint a bit, as she examines my confused expression. “When you see something, the image is your brain interpreting electrical signals from the optical nerve. When you touch something, nerves in your skin send electrical signals to your brain through your nervous system. Oneiros bypasses your nervous system and sensory organs to send information directly to your mind through stimulating and manipulated brainwaves that control dreams,” her look is blatantly prideful, as my eyes begin to widen in understanding.

Tentatively, I ask, “so… this is making me dream and controlling that dream?” I think about how real a dream can feel, and if all our senses are just a way to experience the physical world than does that mean our mind is what we really are? I suddenly thought of another question before Haru could answer the first, “Is there anything else here? Like, if I walk past those hills, what else is out there?” Haru looks slightly annoyed that I interrupted her, which I thought was strange for a computer program.

Regaining her serine expression, Haru tells me, “you could say this is a guided dream. Oneiros sets parameters for how much control you have over what happens. Everything here is generated by your mind, but Oneiros tells your mind what to generate, but not entirely,” her lip curled and nose scrunched up in a very cute expression at my confusion. “For example, the way you look now was generated by your desire of how you want to look, but it’s also reinforced by Oneiros to keep the interface stable. However, the environment we’re in now is just a staging location. The environment, who’s in it, what its purpose is, and what the rules are can change at any time,” she says with a pleased look, as if she can see the gears turning in my head.

“Sooo… we could be in a city instead of a field?” Haru nods yes, so I continue, “and who’s in it would be like NPCs?” an enthusiastic nod with a toothy smile. “Its purpose could be… like, a game?” Her eyes widen in excitement, “and the rules are… like how the game is played?” Haru seems to consider my last question.

“Yes, that is a way to describe it, but there’s several parts to that,” she says while now pacing back and forth on what looks like an invisible platform. “You have the rules of the game, the difficulty of the game itself, how close to physical reality you want it to be, and how much control you want to have over events. You could think of it like cheat or god mode to change events at will,” she looks in projected thoughtfulness, as she continues to pace.

I ponder that. “Do you mean like if I suddenly wanted to be able to fly that I could?” I ask skeptically. A new malevolent grin is on Haru’s face as she looks at me slyly.

 “I wonder, can you?” she asks in a playful yet toying manner. My face scrunches up in confusion before the world suddenly drops out from my feet! I don’t mean a hole formed where I was standing. No, the entire world was moving away from me, and I was suddenly thousands of feet in the air! I scream at the top of my lungs, as I continue to fall upwards at a faster and faster speed! I am hurtling towards white puffy clouds, and as I collide into them, I have to close my eyes as moisture builds in them. When I open them, I see the clouds steadily moving away from me, but I also see majestic ships of white and blue now sailing through them. My surroundings are gradually getting darker than the sunny day I was experiencing just a moment ago.

I feel weightless but unable to propel myself in any direction. “Am I, am I flyi…?” I begin to ask, but my words fail me, as I look around to see a completely alien universe expand out before me. Worlds on top of worlds, on top of worlds are all around me. Rivers of gold and silver stardust look like stellar highways snaking their way through a sky of neon rainbow hues that envelop my body. Translucent, ghost like fish with brightly colored fins that sway like fabric in water, swim about as if in an imperceptible ocean. Orbs of twinkling light drift about like fireflies with hypnotic patterns. I feel a shadow pass over me and look up to see a whale with overlapping wings fly through the heavens above me before bellowing a mournful song that fills the sky and send shivers through my body!

Haru, who’s still floating in front of me, as I gracelessly swing my arms and legs trying to swim through space, smiles broadly at my expression. “Welcome to your universe, kitten,” she tells me with an affectionate pride.

I look around to try and take in my surroundings while slowly tumbling about with no control. “how do I stop spinning?” I ask, as my psychedelic environment causes my vision to swim.

A big cheesy grin appears on her face again as she tells me, “you need to fly.” Her instruction is so matter of fact that I feel like I’m missing something. “I recommend learning quickly because it will make the next part far more enjoyable,” I squint in confusion at her words, before I start to feel the slightest tickle of air moving over my skin. I suddenly realize that I’m travelling very quickly; impossibly quickly! 

I am tumbling with flailing limbs while rocketing through a twisting and stretching array of stellar bodies, glowing nebulas, and cosmic godlike figures that are too massive to fully see as it all spins around me. One object keeps coming into view as I continue to spin. A massive orb that glows blue in the stellar light. I realize that I’m heading straight for it! 

“AAAAAEEEEHHHHHYYYYYAAAA!” I scream as I plummet towards what I now see is a sphere of turbulent liquid. It’s like a rolling sea turning in on itself in the form a massive world that I’m about to fall into! “I’M GONNA DIEEE!” I shriek in terror before noticing that Haru was in a sitting position with her chin in her hand while leaning forward looking at me expectantly. “Are ya gonna help or watch me die?!” I shout incredulously, but it’s too late. The flowing surface is coming at me too quickly to do more than reflexively brace for the impact!

Water rushes around me as I plunge through the surface in a rush of fizzy bubbles while being dragged at disorienting speed towards the core of the liquid sphere. Before I can even think that I need to breathe, I am being ejected out a spinning maelstrom in a frothing waterfall pouring out the eye of the storm. I see upside down fairytale castles floating in puffy clouds with elegant, sleek dragons flying over the whimsical turrets in a graceful dance.

As the castles rush by, I realize that they’re not upside down; I am, and I’m falling towards whatever lays beyond the clouds! As the cloud layer melts away in my plummet, I see red petals falling from the clouds like slow moving rain all around me. The ground itself is a massive blanket of piled red petals. 

The heaped surface is coming up quickly now. I close my eyes. The wind rushing over my skin while I grit my teeth with the anticipation of the collision. I feel a whoosh and the silky tickle of downy flowers all over my body in whoomph, as I pass through them. I open my eyes to see a world bathed in golden light with angelic crystal towers and arches that diffuse the heavenly light into an infinite number of warming rays as I float through them in perfect serenity. 

I feel baby soft hands gently hold my head, as a cherub face with a soothing expression comes into view above me. “It’s your dream, kitten. You control what happens. If you want to fly, just make it happen, but stop trying to control it with your body. Just know you can do it and do it.” she tells me in a soft voice as she begins to stroke my hair.

I close my eyes and bask in the warm rays that dance over my body. I feel myself adjust to a righted position. “This is my dream,” I whisper to myself, as gold-white wings materialize from my back and wrap around me in a warm embrace before erupting outward, as I speed away high up in the divine sky! I spin out a trail of stars in my wake, as I ascend higher and higher! I throw my wings, arms, and legs out in all directions, as all the rays of light shift to illuminate me in a deific glow of pure radiance.

I fall backwards before twisting my body and propelling myself down like a rocket with my wings folded in against me before spreading them again and swooping up in an arc, as I twist and turn with phenomenal speed through the crystal towers! I dive between arches before shooting straight up again. I fly farther and farther, as I soar away faster and faster! 

I leave the world behind as twinkling stars of every color come into view behind a sprawling cosmic city connected with highways of ethereal light. Tears begin to well in my eyes before trailing down my cheeks, but these aren’t tears of self-loathing or fear or shame. No, for the first time in my life, I’m shedding tears of pure unadulterated joy. “I knew you could do it, kitten,” Haru tells me from over my shoulder. 

I turn to her and pull her into a tight embrace. “Thank you,” is all I can manage to choke out through awe-inspiring emotions. She suddenly seems hesitant, but holds me back while putting her head against mine and whispering calming cooing noises to me. We just stayed like that; holding each other among the stars as I let joy fill my heart for the first time in my life.