1 Just a dream?

It was a beautiful night. I was sitting in a pavillion in midst of a lush garden that seemed to stretch indefinitely far in the horizon. In my hand was a cup full of steaming coffee, that I occasionally sipped.

A slight breeze was caressing my cheek and in the distance I could faintly hear some unknown animal noises. The whole scene had something peaceful but also alien to it.

While I let my eyes take in the impressive sight, suddenly a voice interrupted my peace.

"Who are you?". I turned my head and saw an unfamiliar man coming out of the otherworldly garden.

With the exception of his attire he looked like the protagonist of some mediocre teen drama. Black hair, blue eyes and a smug smile on his face. His clothing however, was far from ordinary. In fact I had never seen anything that even came close to what he was wearing. At least not in person.

Instead of the practical nano-fiber suit I had worn all my life, he wore something that I can only describe as some sort of obscure medieval robe.

After sizing him up for a few seconds I politely smiled and finally replied, "I'm Morden, but who might you be?". Despite the strangeness of the situation there was naturally no need to be rude.

"My name is Jackson Noel and in the name of the queens corps, I wish to know why you are invading the dream of a regular human. It is a capital crime to invade other beings dreams, even if it is just a regular!" He seemed slightly aggrivated but after a short pause he continued, "If any of my collegues would have found you, you would already be under custody!".

My thoughts started to race. What was he talking about? Invading dreams.. what could he mean by that? Also queens corps? The solar union never had a queen. We were a democracy after all!

Despite my confusion I decided to play it save. "In that case I'm quite lucky that you and not anyone else found me", I said while still slightly smiling at him.

With a smug grin he replied, "Indeed you are. But lets get down to buisness. 50 lir and I have never seen anything. Otherwise... Well I heard the royal court is especially unforgiving towards magic crimes in recent times".

Lir? Magic? All those new and unfamiliar words left me momentarily speechless. Lir was pretty obvious. Although I never heard of it I naturally assumed it was foreign money. Magic however was something entirely different. It had to be a codeword for something. Drugs? Maybe. But what if not? He can't mean actual magic, can he?

"I don't have the whole night! Do you have the money or do I have to arrest you?", he rudely interrupted my thought process.

I let out a long sigh and made my descision. "Certainly I have it! How much was it again?". While talking I slowly walked towards him.

"Haha excellent. 70 lir mister!", his stupid grin got even broader. When I was right before him I stopped and reached in my jacket. In one fluid motion I took out a long sharp looking dagger and swiftly cut his throat.

His eyes went wide and he tried grabbing me but before he could make any real move, he was already dead.

I sighed again. I hate killing law enforcement. First of all they do a very honorable job, and secondly its a always such a chore to make them disappear. Especially now, in this strange and foreign place what i'd done could have very serious repercussions.

But what choice did I have? Without money to bribe him how was I supposed to make sure he wouldn't just sell me out? Besides, he was rude, and I have an aversion against rude people.

It's just a pity that I couldn't ask him any questions. He most likely knew a lot more about this strange world than me.

Speaking of which, I tried to remember how I even got here. The last thing I was sure of was that I had just finished a job and got in my small rental apartment for some rest. I had made myself some quick bacon and eggs and went to sleep afterwards. Does that mean everything here is just a dream? That would be in line with what mister dead man here said before. At that thought I kicked his head playfully.

Still, everything felt too real for a simple dream. I always had the ability to be lucid while dreaming but I was usually able to tell the difference between a dream and real life. Now however, I could not. If not for this magical and physically impossible garden around me I might even be fooled.

Well if that is indeed a dream I should be able to wake up easily right? Following a spontaneous thought I pinched myself slightly.

"Ouch!"

Well that didn't work huh. I briefly laughed at my own foolishness but quickly got back to work. While I tried to think of a solution I suddenly saw a large bed with golden bedsheets and black pillows standing not far from the pavillion.

Huh? That definitely wasn't there when I first inspected my surroundings! Suddenly a crazed thought came to my mind. If I got here by sleeping wouldn't it make sense to get back by sleeping as well? Probably not. But it doesn't hurt to try, does it?

As I got closer I couldn't help but notice how terrible the golden bedsheets looked. Not my taste at all! As soon as I finished that thought, the sheets suddenly started to turn white.

Although surprised at first I quickly got myself together and examined the sheets. They were a kind of dim white without even a trace of the previous gold.

I laughed inwardly. It was in a dream after all. Of course I can change the environment!

Despite this amazing discovery I still didn't change my current goal. At any other time I would love to play around in such a realistic lucid dream but now clearly wasn't the time.

The man from before and this strange dream in general, gave me a very alarming feeling and I just had to know if it was just a very weird dream or if there was more to it.

Laying on the confortable bed I fell asleep almost instantly. Strangely I could still think clearly! My senses were blocked though. I could neither hear not see anything except darkness.

Objectively I was only a few minutes in this state but even that felt like an eternity.

Sigh.

Finally something happened! I was felt that I was laying on a hard surface and it also was pretty cold around me. Next I regained my sense of smell, then my hearing and finally I could open my eyes.