At the end of our conscious mind, a certain type of dust starts to accumulate. It spreads across a canvas creating the static we see under the haze of sleep. It gathers in places where we have hidden our deepest desires and our gut-wrenching fears. Occasionally, there may be a glimmer of color and a flash of light mixing with the velvet darkness. Hues of purple, blue, and green wave in black space like strings leading us along a path our soul is summoned towards. Sometimes photographs captured within our mind appear to move in such a way that calls our bodies to sink into them, deeper into the mattress of elongating time and fragmenting memory. And as if on cue, dreams cradle our bodies with a burst of air, a splash of liquid, and a clink of a glass. Our soul latches onto this new space filled with creation, topped with the cherry of desire, and caffeinated with the security of sleep.
Through the clearing of dust, someone wide-eyed yet fast asleep floats on a inner tube downstream. The stream borders many fields littered with fluorescent roses and tall neon green grass. The sky above reflects the many hues enumerated within the landscape as a beautiful rainbow sunset, cascading to an emergence of night. The dreamer continues floating atop the iridescent donut. They begin to feel something more expansive than bliss and something more potent than hunger. Within their heart, made of glass, is sparkling water; it bubbles more and more, creating an inner atmosphere that hugs the roof of their life itself. Their chest swells with tension and their lungs search for air, and in a moment, the sky becomes a night of longing and desperation.
Tears stream down from the shiny eyes of the new player as they curl themselves atop the tube as transparent as their emotions. Their feelings are the only echoes they hear upon the shadows of night. Do they not know a new journey has already begun?
Perhaps it's because of their own fear, that they lay floating within a winding river seeped in oblivion. Though, perhaps it might be a gift that they found these channels, and these flowers, and the stars that crackle through the sky above? For the river, it spills the player into the mouth of a peculiar place, so divine that it holds the passage of reality and dreams alike at an arm's reach. In this passage, there is no sight amongst the darkness of despair. Only gentle sounds can pierce the ears of the vulnerable player. For example, a certain, familiar sound approaches from a far-off place, stepping along a tiled stone floor; they move towards the player's soaked body lying atop the now-deflated inner tube. These steps reverberate from a creature more transparent than visible to a human eye, but seemingly void of harmful intention. Instead, the creature carries a message for the dreamer, still breathing with a strained rhythm.
The beast stops moving a few inches from the player's body, its tone soft but voice gritty. "What has Wild Beam bestowed on us this time, huh?" The creature pauses for a moment, the whirring of silence encapsulating both of them.
"Ah, it seems we found another one, yes..." Inching close enough to the player, the entity's breath tickles the lobe of the dreamer's ear, "You are in for quite a ride now, aren't you?"
It is not clear whether the creature smiled, or if it was warning of the potential future the new player beckons. Nevertheless, the darkness called back to the messenger and the messenger crept back into obscurity, allowing the player to absorb the words left beside them.