peter

It's been weeks since I posted a dream, most of them were boring.

I had to catch up a lot of sleep + a cold kept me from having a deep sleep required for getting those wonderful dreams where you end up in other worlds and experience wild adventures.

Last night, fortunately, was one of those night. A magical portal was found into the world of Zootopia! Let's dive into the dream world.

---

It all started with me being at home. Apparently, I was in a very heavy fight with my mom, but the reason was unknown. All I knew was that it was a very heated fight.

We were screaming and yelling at each other in the living room, and outside it was semi-dark, suggesting it was around early evening. This type of fight never happens in real life.

I was yelling at her, when suddenly, we heard a loud “knock!” — so loud, that it broke our fight instantly. With an expression of fear, we both peaked out the window. The faint daylight made it possible to still look outside.

What I saw there, was beyond normal – my uncle and some of his friends held machetes or big, dull knifes and were about to break into our house. Once fighting, my mom and I now teamed up to fight our new common enemy. We swiftly grabbed the biggest knifes in the kitchen and opened the front door and attacked them before they could get in.

It was a big bloody painful fight, I remember getting cut left and right from my uncle and his buddies. The reasons why they attacked us was unknown, but it hurt a lot, even for a dream. (I always feel things in dreams as if they were happening IRL, sometimes I even wake up with the same pain on my real body, luckily that didn't happen this time).

For some reason we managed to win the fight and went back inside to treat our wounds. After that, news came out that a portal was found in our world that leads to … Zootopia?

The best part was that it was open to the public. So I went to the portal, it looked somewhat like this.

Just before the portal, an animal was waiting near the entrance, leaning against it. It looked like a brown animal that I couldn't place well. It asked me: “Do you want to enter as human or as your animal counterpart?”

“Just as my human”, I replied, surprised there were options.

I passed through the rubber curtain, and instantly I was in this lovely room with a bar, a lot of plants, and some music that fits well in a Savannah themed area!

I opened my eyes wide walked slowly inside the room and looked around, the scene was so beautifully crafted as if my dream was made by Disney or DreamWorks! The style fit so well that it was almost impossible to imagine. I still don't understand why I ended up in the real world of Zootopia, because I don't even like Zootopia all that much (the art style doesn't speak to me).

That didn't make it any less special, I knew full well I was witnessing something amazing – animals of all kinds and sizes sat at the bar or relaxing on big pillows on the floor. It was clear this place was set up for those that just arrived through the portal.

I sat at the bar, and asked for a drink, I was served something that was akin to beer, but it was different in taste.

I remember having fun and talking to other animals there for a while. A tap on my shoulder broke the fun.

I looked back, and this female gazelle like creature met my gaze. Behind her was this giant bull-like creature. Both of them wore police uniforms.

“Mister Willemsen, Could you come with us please?”, the gazelle asked me with a stern expression.

“Sure…” I said softly, afraid of what was going to happen. I was guided in a room not far from the café where there was this big square table, police and other animals were sitting, they ordered me to take a seat next to them.

“Am I under arrest?” I asked the police animals. “We just want to ask you a few questions…”, the gazelle replied, also having taken a seat at the other side of the table.

I swallowed… I knew what it was about, the fight I had with my uncle! Shit I'm going to jail for violence!

“I… I swear it was self-defense!” I replied directly. “That's what we will find out”, she replied.

“C-can I go get a drink real quick?”, I asked. “Sure,” she said.

I got off again, and for some reason, I didn't walk to the bar, but I walked straight past it, through the portal again, and to my own house to grab a glass of lemonade! I have no idea why! It would've been easier to go to the bar as it was closer by.

This did make me lucid, though, as when I walked back to the portal, the distance seemed much further than it normally was! In fact, it took me nearly 30 minutes in dream time to go back to the portal, even though to my house and kitchen was like 5 minutes.

This huge discrepancy in time made me aware that this was a dream. I still wanted to be in Zootopia, so I started running towards the portal, but my running slowed down as if it was recorded in slow-motion. It also almost woke me up.

I don't know why, but for some reason, I could feel that, IRL, I was still very early in my sleep and had plenty of time, so I decided to walk again and focus on the portal. Finally, having found it, I walked through it again. I got back at the table with my drink, but sadly, at that point, I already woke up…

This dream was sort of a hit-and-miss but still fun. Before sleep, I planned to become a dragon. Nothing special but I wanted to relax and as a dragon I have every opportunity in doing so!

---

It started with me dreaming about being on holiday somewhere in Greece. I went back to my hotel after a long day and went to sleep.

Lightning struck, and it was so loud that I heard tinnitus from it. My vision became blank. The last flash of existence I saw was a tsunami that wiped all land as far my eyes could see for that split second.

I was dead.

I “woke up”, strangely enough, still in the hotel room – it was in ruins. The sun was shining, but the world was nothing like before.

Once outside, there was another human, a lot smaller than me. He told me that the world has seized to exist and thousands of years later became re-inhabited by people like him, and that somehow, I survived for thousands of years to make it into this brave new world.

Using a laser pointing device – rather out of place for the time period we seemed to be in – he gave me a tour around the city, which looked rather medieval.

It was nice to see, but at some point, I gained awareness I was dreaming. Realizing I wanted to change into a dragon I simply took a left turn while he kept walking straight ahead.

I kept taking turns making sure that I'd lose him. The world had small pathways branching out in all directions, and even though I did lose him out of sight, I could still hear his voice talking in the background!

It didn't matter, though. I found a small house with an unlocked front door and opened it. To my surprise, the first thing I saw, was a toilet made of clay! It seemed embedded into the floor (also made of clay).

“What the… who puts a toilet here!” I thought, startled by the sight.

The toilet itself was non-functional, there was no way to flush, it was just a bunch of clay shaped like an ordinary toilet, but in reality it was just a hole in the ground.

Remembering my goal, I had to be quick to go to a different world, to make sure I wasn't going to be found. When doing lucid dreaming stuff, I rather break up the old dream first to make sure that the situation doesn't escalate when things don't go the way the dream wants it to go.

Armed with the memory of my original scaly goal, I dived into the toilet head-first, sinking down deep in the crust of the earth.

Everything turned dark. It took a while, but once I got out, I was in yet another completely new, unrecognizable world. But this one looked far more futuristic – big, modern buildings, malls, yet with a tiny shred of fantasy-vibe to it.

People walking in all directions, being busy, yet everything was sparkling clean. It was a true behemoth of urban utopia, genuinely happy but busy people, commerce, and pride.

While I rather not grow up in a world encompassed by mass consumerism, this somehow felt “just right”. It was… different. I've never been to this dimension in my life before and that's what made it more interesting.

Looking to my left was a gigantic mall with a big LED display showing an ad for a new kind of “healthy bubbly drinks” made of vegetables.

I wanted to try one, and was about to walk into the mall to buy such drink, but then I saw something even more fascinating. Right ahead of me, was a bench, but not a usual bench. Oh no, this was an attraction. Art mixed with magic.

I saw a female sitting on one side of the bench, and right next to the female, another female who looked just like her sat in the exact same pose but the opposite direction!

There was a sign next to the bench, it read:

Symmetry bench
=====
Meet your opposite self!

“Oh my God that's cool!” I yelled. The female probably saw me, and demonstrated it even further by putting an arm around her backwards self. The copy did the exact same thing. It was really cool to see. When she walked away, the copy did so too, and vanished out of view.

Magical artifacts in this seemingly capitalist-heavy world is probably why it gave such a good vibe for me. Encountering such a cool bench certainly helped to put the smile on my face that I still have to the very moment of writing it down right now in the waking world…

I returned to the sign, and walked into the mall underneath it. Sadly, right before entering, and seeing the shop that sold these wonderful drinks, I was out.

---

There I was, laying in my bed. My sleeping mask firmly fit over my eyes, preventing me to see anything.

Disappointed that the dream ended already, I sat up in my bed. I couldn't even turn into a dragon!

I put off my sleeping mask and was about to get ready for the day.

Except it didn't.

The mask stayed firmly on my head. I even felt the band of the mask still stuck on my head! “What the hell?”, I thought, trying it again. And yet, it was still stuck even though I felt myself touching the band, and pulling it off my head!

“Sleep paralysis”, I thought. That's the only explanation I had for this.

Sleep paralysis often goes hand in hand with very nasty hallucinations. Being a lucid dreamer for 20 years, I am no stranger with sleep paralysis, and I almost never have any issues with them.

Normally, I just wait it out. I lay down, take a breath, and keep trying to move until I actually wake up.

But that would never result in a new lucid dream. So now I was caught in a crossfire – am I going to risk going into a full-blown nightmare by moving when I really can't, or am I going to play it safe, and wait it out?

I decided to go the scary route, and began to do the very thing I always advised myself never to do: move.

Getting up from my bed was seemingly impossible, but I kept pushing. While pushing the slightest hint of fear with each step I took to my window to the back of my mind, I managed to make it.

As I climbed up, I turned in the dragon, jumped out, and flew away.

I landed somewhere just outside my house. I made it! With a sense of relief flowing over me, I tried to fly again, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing worked.

I tried again and again, but nothing seemed to get me off the ground. I looked down at myself, seeing thick red scaly arms and legs.

“Still a dragon”, I said softly to myself. “Why do I have so much trouble today?”

I tried flying faster than the speed of sound (something the dragon body can do) and that too didn't work. Time to find a higher point.

I went into my grandpas house which is right across the street. Once inside a bunch of children ran after me. Annoyed and with every muscle in this strong body I pushed the door closed as the children kept trying to barge in, and the children were left outside.

“What are those kids doing here?!” my grandpa screamed from the living room. Apparently, he was awake.

“I have no idea, just ignore it!”, I yelled back at my grandpa. He seemed not disturbed by the fact that his grandson is now a larger red dragon.

I went into his backyard and climbed up the shed. “You sure this will work?”, my grandpa asked, who was now down in the garden as well.

“I don't see why not”, I replied, standing on the edge. I jumped and spread my arms, and flew away in circles, yelling “weeeeh it works!!”

But the fun quickly ended as I landed back in his garden! Just as I was about to climb back on his shed, 2 children climbed down, resulting in an annoyed expression on my face. One child was bigger and older than the other. The other was so young that he just was able to talk.

“What is it…” I said, followed by a big sigh, knowing full well that I couldn't avoid these children this time.

“We are your biggest fan!”, the bigger child exclaimed. “You are the coolest dragon!”. While I was praised, the younger child jumped happily around me, clearly happy to see me.

I have never seen these kids before, not even in other dreams. How did they know me?

The older kid took a mug out of a backpack and held it in front of me. He also grabbed a sharpie and asked if I could sign the mug for him.

“Uhm, sure”, I said as I stared at the blank mug and held the sharpie in my claw. “Shit I don't have a signature as a dragon!” I thought. Quickly, I came up with some circle that had a curl inside.

I gave the mug and the sharpie to the child and was about to climb back up the shed when the younger child began jumping around me with another mug in his 2 hands. “My little brother wants one too!”, the older child exclaimed.

“Oh my god this never ends”, I thought with a sigh. I took his mug as well, and got nervous… “Shit I forgot what I drew on the first mug!”, I thought. Luckily, the older child still held his mug in his hand and with a quick glance, I was able to replicate the signature on the mug of the younger child.

With that, I returned the sharpie and the mug and climbed up, this time for real. The younger child screamed from below. “If I scratch at the mug, the signature goes away!”, he was about to cry.

“Then stop scratching at it!!” I screamed, fully frustrated now, and that's when I woke up, this time, not in strange worlds, and no sleep paralysis!

---

While the dream ended quite frustrating, I didn't feel like that at all, it was fun, and enjoyable. I didn't think I had fans in the dream space!

I “woke up” (or so I thought) in my original, IRL bedroom despite being on holiday. Quickly, a strange being entered the room. It had the face and body of my sister, but had 4 arms and legs, dangling next to her body as some kind of mix between a human and an octopus!

It was terrifying, but for some reason, I managed to stay calm, and I found out that clapping makes a loud bang and scared the demon away.

I did this every time, and while it made the demon stay at a distance, it didn't fully defeat her!

I decided that turning in my dragon (a red dragon with wings under his arms known to others as Orebark) and flying away into the sunset would be the best solution.

It seems silly, but for some reason when I shape-shift, current monsters will either fail to recognize me and walk away or lose interest entirely.

While it turns out to be the guaranteed getaway method, it also backfires at times, when monsters that are interested in the dragon are within vicinity (and would normally walk away from me).

These monsters are entirely different looking than the ones attracted to me, so it's easy to assess the situation. Where mine are mostly ghosts and demon versions of my family, his are typically men in black figures.

Shape-shifting was extremely realistic and cinematic, I jumped up and while I threw myself out the window of my bedroom, my body twisted.

The second I passed the open window, I spread my arms and stayed in the air, gliding happily while the window with the evil being faded from existence.

It was so nice to know I have this level of skill and confidence to pull this transition off without a shred of doubt. It makes me feel good that I've come a long way from having to look at my own shadow and watch it transition into the dragon (which came with its own limitations such as needing a light source).

To see my red scales transition from reflecting the lights of my invaded bedroom to the shimmer of the moonlight was a remarkable experience. It was as if my mind turned more quiet than it can get IRL. I knew my job was done here, now I was in a lucid dream. I could wake up at any point in the dream and be extremely relaxed.

Yet, there was a part of me that was a bit anxious the demon could come after me and I wanted to prevent that. This body has one big trick up its scaly sleeve, when near water it can fly faster than the speed of sound!

While having these thoughts, I was close to the park near my house, I decided to do just that, as the park is full of water. I focussed on the speed of sound and for the second time in my dreams I managed to hear the sonic boom only for a split second before the dragon body escaped its own explosion sounds!

It's so beautiful to be able to experience this level of flight, if only there was a way to convey it in words.

After the sonic boom, everything became a white blur, and it all happened so fast, that there was no way of making out where I was.

I slowed down only after I was confident enough the demon wouldn't chase me. Given the distance I just traveled, I expected to be in a place so exotic it's beyond comprehension! But that wasn't the case at all… there was one strange looking building with geometric shapes in varying colors for a roof. Near the window, a yellow triangle or circle was merged with the concrete.

But that was all, the only other thing I saw was the park near my house again, but it was different… it was as if it was cut out of its world and placed in a room. It also was surrounded by a glowy black lattice of floating stars that made me feel extremely uncomfortable just looking at it.

I decided to walk inside, and it brought shivers all over me. I began to be put in this constant state of fear… as ghosts were everywhere but none ever came. It didn't end until I walked out of it.

I didn't know what it meant until after I woke up and began writing this dream. The park with the black glowy things wasn't a recent copy but rather an older looking version of it. I also remembered this park from another dream, back when the stars were white and didn't feel so dark, as if they were frozen in time.

It was then that I realized where I was – at the edge of my dream! This was the dream equivalent of the storage unit of a large movie studio, past and future dreams stored as nothing but props. A spell cast on them to make the dreamer feel extreme sense of discomfort to avoid them wandering in dreams they weren't supposed to see yet.

To now realize I was at a place where all I was and all I will ever be, to say it was shocking doesn't begin to do it justice.

I began thinking, is there a possibility there's something directing our dreams and deciding what we dream at night? Is it possible managed to get out of the matrix and found the source? It wasn't the first time talked to the directors of my dreams (where they even explained why they cut corners in some places).

The dream fast forwarded to me being on some grassy field where a group of people including a guy with blond, curly hair that I referred to as “the nerd” throughout the dream. Unlike his nickname, he was quite a sporty figure and was playing baseball with another group. At some, point we decided to team up and continued together.

More people have joined our crew, but I don't know where they came from.

The last thing I remembered was that we were at the house of thoughty2, a YouTuber who was showing us how to use Keeps, a treatment against premature hair loss.

The dream had a surprisingly good and normal ending, we were back at my house and the entire crew was in my mom's bedroom, the room next to the one with the demon. They told me that it's time to say goodbye. While it wasn't said in words, it was clear to all that there was a portal back home down the stairs.

The crew laid down on my moms bed and tried to sleep. I wanted to know why but didn't ask, my hypothesis was that since they are natives in this dream they need to sleep now for them to dream.

They told me that they would disappear when I go through the portal, which got me a bit emotional, to say goodbye like that, especially with the nerd I was becoming friends with.

While most of the middle dream vanished from memory, I knew we did a lot together.

They did add that ending it like this is better than suddenly waking up, as now we got to say goodbye.

I took a breath and walked downstairs. The more I did, the blurrier the dream got, there certainly was something down there.

A part of me couldn't do it and I ran back upstairs, the entire crew except the nerd was gone already. He looked at me and laughed “haha I knew you'd come back for me”, and I laughed too, saying: “haha yeah you were right!”, but we both knew the inevitable.

“Goodbye, nerd, keep doing what you love”, I said to him, referring to the sports.

“Until next time, mate”, he said, and tears formed on my eyes as I walked downstairs. This time, I continued to the door and the second I got close I woke up mere seconds before the alarm, and not just awake, but absolutely 100% clearly awake! It was as if I genuinely stepped through a portal!

Hey everyone, first post here. I worked a long time on this intro and am super happy how it turned out.

The first part is black, but that's where the video is supposed to fade in.

This was one of those relaxing nights

---

I walked into the local park, and suddenly noticed something strange – my hands were covered in dog poop. I have no idea how it happened, but there it was, sticky and stinking.

For some reason, I immediately got lucid right this second. Wanting to get rid of this situation, I focused my thoughts and imagined a sink with soap appearing in front of me.

To my surprise, it worked. A shiny ceramic sink materialized, complete with a bottle of soap.

I eagerly grabbed the bottle and took a sniff, expecting a delightful fragrance. It had no scent at all. It was as if the soap was just a prop, a mere illusion.

Feeling that soap that was already in the dream to begin with might have a smell, I left the park and walked through the streets, where I found a portable toilet.

Inside, I discovered a fully functional sink, complete with soap! Eager to test its scent, I took a deep breath, and oh joy, it smelled like a cheap lemon soap. It wasn't divine as you might expect in a dream, but it was “ok”!

Shortly after, everything began to feel wonky. The ground beneath me seemed to sway, like a drunk man, I was struggling to maintain balance.

Rather than fight it, I decided it was time to move on to another dream scenario. Closing my eyes, I ran straight through the wall of the portable toilet. I kept running, feeling the ground shift beneath me until it became soft and spongy.

When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself standing on a massive wooden circle, surrounded by water. In the distance, I saw other similar structures, each connected by narrow walkways made of ropes. One of them had a huge pile of boats, all nailed together. It was like a floating city.

As I got distracted by the sight, a local suddenly appeared beside me and explained that these wooden platforms used to be warships, but now they served as hotels and apartments.

Just then, another man, named Michael, arrived in the same way as I did. Before we could talk more, a group of panicked civilians rushed towards us, warning that a war was breaking out once again.

“Who are the strongest wizards here?” I said, eager to offer assistance. 3 men, including Micheal, raised their hands.

“We'll take the front line,” I declared, looking at Michael and the other men present. I instructed them, “We hold the line, and the rest of you keep anything that gets past us from getting too far!”

The battle began, and it was intense. Giant otters emerged from the water, seemingly out of nowhere, determined to claim this wooden land for themselves. We fought valiantly, and the air was filled by people shouting spells, followed by explosions, fireballs, and lightning bolts.

After what felt like hours, the last otter disappeared beneath the waves. Behind us, we heard a sudden applause, and only then we knew it was over. Turning around, we saw the civilians of this strange world cheering for us.

This was like a VR game but far more real! The second I dreamed, I plunged into this strange futuristic world. I had a house with me and my bf somewhere outside the city near a metal dump.

Outside, a car was parked. It was a light brown 1898 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL with some mods on there – pipes running over the front and back of the car.

My bf and I had some discussion about what to do tomorrow as it was almost night. When I looked out the window, I saw a group of 4 guys running at our house, and it seemed they were up to rob us. I quickly jumped out of the house and into the car, started it up with a press on a futuristic looking start button.

The car instantly sprung to life and I ran over all 4 guys once. They were instantly dead. Once I got out of the car, more started to jump over the fence. Suddenly, a menu bar appeared on top of the dream and I could choose between weapons and strangely enough, potions too!

I picked a high energy and health potion and began fighting the guys one by one. I had the time of my life.

After fighting them off, my bf came outside and told me: “Hey you got a lot of potions because you never knew how to use them!”

I replied: “Yeah, the game is so much easier now!”

The first apparently died because he rubbed his hands together. Due to the climate on Krypton, air got in his hands and then in his bloodstream, causing his heart to give out. I even saw his old car on the planet as I arrived, giving me shivers.

This dream was quite cool, I'm a huge fan of Dankpods and his YouTube channel (the short version is he does iPod repairs and reviews various audio equipment old and new, often with a big touch of humor).

For some reason, he invited me to his house in Australia, and he was showing me his computer and all that.

Proudly, he showed me and app on his computer called “Chrome v.s. You” that showed how many percent in the world is looking at Google Chrome right now v.s. people watching your YouTube channel.

2% of all people looking at Chrome was watching his channel, and he flexed that to me, while staying humble at the same time, making it sound like he was prouder of it rather than rubbing it in someone's face. It was a very refreshing vibe.

The realization that I was in the presence of a legend kicked in, and I almost didn't dare to ask it, but I asked if he and I could collaborate on some video in the future. I also do repairs of some older devices, so it didn't seem to far-fetched! His answer was that he'll look for content that matches my channel and get in touch! I couldn't believe it!

I had no lucid dreaming goal set out, so when I did get lucid, things got messy pretty fast…

First, I found a mysterious crystal that reflects your spirit animal, and then I found a portal that brings you straight into the world of Zootopia.

I woke up feeling full in a strange, indescribable way.

Buckle up, and let's drive into the dream space.

---

The dream starts with me being in some place outside with my mom. It wasn't anywhere on earth. The climate was tropical, and the sun shined uninterrupted.

There was this temple who's outside construction mostly existed of tiles with a cloudy pattern of yellow and red, as if 2 paints were mixed together.

This is where I realized I was dreaming, as something quite peculiar happened. Being the silly me, I always find patterns. Dreams are no exception.

I found out that if I looked at a tile, it has a random pattern. When I look at another tile, it has another random pattern – still the same “art style” but differently arranged. Given the cloudy pattern is random, this makes sense.

But if I looked back at the original tile I first laid my eyes on, the pattern was random again! I remembered a red patch of color on the top left, but when looking back, it was not there.

I told my mom of this discovery, and she was completely uninterested, saying something like “whatever”. This experiment I tried a number of times to see if it kept happening (it did).

But I didn't stop there – I closed my eyes while fixating on 1 specific tile – upon opening my eyes, instead of randomizing tile art, it stayed the same.

“WOW mom it's like my brain hasn't got enough resources to store a specific pattern, but it can retrieve the exact same pattern when you're not looking away at another tile! It probably overwrites the pattern each time you see a tile. This is so cool, because at first glance you don't notice it in a dream unless you pay real good attention!”

My mom got upset – “Peter just let it go, who cares.”

I was a bit turned off, and I walked into the direction of a cave that was on the left side of the temple. On the left side just 1 step inside the cave, there was this giant purple crystal with a flat side. From the side of it, I could already tell it was magical. But I didn't dare to look myself.

I grabbed my mom and pushed her in front of the crystal. It showed an eagle that was tilting its head up and screamed. I realized this was a crystal that shows your spirit animal in your reflection.

Then I saw my stepdad who I also pushed in front of the crystal. He had a badger as reflection.

I then walked further into the cave, where suddenly vision began to turn foggy… More and more smoke surrounded my full body – I covered my face with both my arms as my entire body felt so cold from the humidity... Then suddenly…

Poof.

Behind me was a door. Above it was an exit sign… In front of me was a normal looking hallway. That was all.

I walked…

“Hey are you ok, buddy?” a voice asked me as the first signs of life appeared ahead of me.

The voice was manly yet slightly high-pitched, but ever so slightly. I froze, in front of me was a walking fox, on 2 legs, having clothes on.

“What is this place?” I asked him.

“This is Zootopia!,” he exclaimed. “What? Are you new here?”, he continued.

“Uhm… y-yes?” I stuttered. This can't be.

“Well let me give you a tour then!” the fox said as he swung an arm around me.

Everything looked exactly like the art style of the Zootopia movie. While this character wasn't exactly Nick Wilde, he was a generic fox that fit the design of the other foxes in the movie.

I was really stunned by how well my dream could render a world with a completely different timeline than the movie, yet look so alike. If you held it side-by-side, nobody would be able to tell the scene in my dream wasn't a scene in the movie.

The fox wore blue overalls, and had no shoes on. We walked throughout the building for a while, and he showed me various animals walking around, and we talked about life around here.

Something I noticed, however, was that some animals were laying flat on the floor or on a bench somewhere. They weren't sleeping, looked almost dead, but they were alive.

I couldn't help but begin about it, as everyone seems to be completely naive to the fact that animals lay completely dormant amidst the furry crowd.

“Hey, what is up with those sleepy animals?”, I asked softly. “Oh, they are on drugs”, the fox replied confidently. “There is this new drug that's completely wowzers, do you want to have a hit?”, he continued as he held up some blue vape-like device, with a glass tip where you're supposed to inhale.

I was stunned, no way I'd be taking something that makes animals do this! “Uhm, no thanks”, I stuttered again.

“Suit yourself,” he said as he put the device back in his pocket, but he didn't make a big deal out of it.

After our tour, we were on the way to the portal place where I entered. On my right, I saw a bench where a fat looking fox (also wearing blue overalls, but larger than the fox that gave me the tour, since he was a lot bigger) lay dormant. Within his grip was a smaller fox cub, this fox wore a purple t-shirt with no print and light blue shorts.

I stopped and looked closer at the cub. He, too, was not asleep at all. I got angry. “Hey what the fuck! You guys give this shit to kids now?!”, I snarled at the fox that gave me the tour.

“Uhm...” the fox stuttered for the first time. “N-no that's not what happened at all! You see, the laws for work here changed and you have to work longer hours now, he's probably just very tired you know!..”

“No way kids work that long here”, I thought. “But better not to dwell on it.”

“Ok, well, you might review your little drug problem here…” I added, stopping the discussion as we walked back to the door that let me into this world.

“Well, it seems that my time is up here…”, I said softly, a little sad. I felt I might have a purpose in this world, even if I'm just a human in a world full of animals.

A moment of silence fell... "Is this world real?" I asked the fox.

"Yes, it's very real."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the movie 'Polar Express'?", I asked the fox.

"We have something like that I think", the fox hesitated but answered.

"In the end, the kids get a little bell that you can only hear ringing when you still believe in Christmas.", I replied.

The fox interrupted me. "We don't have a bell like that around here..."

"I know, but in the end, the bells sounds slowly faded out as they quit believing. What if that happens to me?", I asked.

“Well, here's to hoping you keep believing then”, the fox replied playfully. The mood was both joyful and sad, it was really a Disney-esque vibe.

“Here's to hope. Goodbye.”, I said as I opened the completely normal looking exit door, almost about to cry. The entrance to the door was as filled with black fog as it was when I entered deeper into the cave.

---

The second I entered into the doorway, I woke up, the clock said 06:23. It was super early, but I was really awake. I couldn't sleep anymore.

What made me more sad, was that the second I was awake I already lost belief in this world's existence. I thought it would die out slowly, but no, it faded in seconds. Fuck… That made me sadder than any Disney movie ever did.

What also made me feel weird is that I don't like the art style of Zootopia all that much, and my boyfriend is a huge fan, and I felt almost as if this was supposed to be his dream.

This tool lets you migrate your own posts from any subreddit to any Lemmy community you want, I made it because I couldn't find anything else that did it the way I wanted to. I'm super happy how it turned out, I managed to get 9 years worth of posts over this way...

The GitHub link shows how to use it in case you want to!

This post is originally created by /u/peterwilli at Wed, 14 Sep 2022 19:41:48 GMT UTC. Click here to view original post.

---

This was one of the most trippy things that could've happened! I failed lucid dreaming, and somehow ended up in the dream of a stranger. How could I tell? Everything about the dream felt unlike my own. Nothing was like how I would've dreamed it, making it eerie... I felt like a stranger in my own head. Yet, it was beautiful in its own way.

With that, lets dive in the dream space.

---

The dream started in my own dream. I was on horse riding (much like how I was as a kid). I immediately became lucid.

Desperate for a way to get out and do, well, lucid dreaming stuff, I checked my surroundings: I was holding a horse by a leash, and was about to walk towards the place where the horse riding began.

My mom was walking right behind me. I knew full well that if I were to walk away right now, it'll spark a nightmare, my mom would come running after me and turn into some kind of demon.

Instead, I said "Hey mom, my horse is really agitated, I'll go walk him around a little".

"That's ok, good luck", my mom said, and I walked away with the horse following me.

Once I was far away enough (but my mom still had me in her line of sight, as I only walked in 1 direction), I left the horse and walked outside.

My mom came running after me: "Hey you have horse riding lessons! Get back here!", she screamed angrily.

Damn! So close... I walked back with a sigh and started to think of different ways to do it. A second idea came: what if I walk out of sight? "Mom my horse is still super agitated, is it ok if I take another walk?"

"Sure, that's fine, just be back on time", she answered.

This time, I walked outside with the horse until I was well out of sight of anyone in or around the stables.

IRL, there would be a place to ride the horses outside, but in my dream there was a forest. Aside from the location, nothing seemed out of place.

I bound the horse to a tree on the edge of the forest, in case I needed him later for when it goes wrong again.

Nobody went after me as I walked into the forest.

And then everything went dark.

The transition could be described as seeing black spots in front of your eyes slowly growing in size until everything is dark.

"What…? Did I wake up?" I asked myself. Sleeping with a sleeping mask, it's perfectly plausible that I woke up and that I'm seeing the darkness of the mask.

But no, I could not move or get out of bed. It wasn't sleep paralysis. I had no body at all - I was a floating soul in an empty black void. Nothing, no sound, no light, no sight, no feeling, no smell. All I did was existing when nothing else did.

I tried to remain still for the whole period as to not wake up if I was still dreaming, and waited it out.

I didn't have to wait long. Around me, the forest came back, the sounds of birds chirping came from all directions and things started to look like as if the dream would progress as it left off before.

Except it didn't.

The forest, while I could tell was the same, looked nothing like what it was before. Yes, the trees were the same kind, and it was around the same time of day as before the dream went dark, but... this wasn't my forest!

The style was slightly different, everything felt out of my own head. Even the floor was slightly different! Everything just... wasn't me...

I'm not saying this was some kind of spiritual encounter where I suddenly entered someone else's mind, but it certainly felt like it!

Nothing was scary or threatening to me, but the slight change of art style, combined with the fact that I still was a floating spectator with no control as to where I went, rather than a physical body with limbs made it even less natural.

My "camera" stopped after panning in on a pathway in the forest that went 4 different directions, much like a sandy crossroad.

Soon, a boy spawned in the center of the crossroad. He was young, around 15 years old and wore clothing similar to what I would wear on an average sunny day: shorts of a mostly solid color and a basic shirt, nothing too fancy.

The boy didn't see me, and if he looked into my direction, he was looking straight through me, it was clear he wasn't aware of my presence.

I can't explain, but I could tell he was getting lucid right there on that path.

You could see him looking around, trying to take in the environment and getting ready to execute his plan of action. I felt happy for him, for he too has unlocked a power of being God in your own little big domain.

However, I could tell it wasn't his first time, as immediately he set out doing what he wanted to do, and he did it very well from the get-go. He walked towards me, but right when he passed me, my "camera" rotated to keep track of him and apparently, behind me was a cave sealed with rocks.

Soon, from behind us, 2 people came from the right side of the crossroad - 2 girls, one Chinese girl around 12yo, and one blond girl of adult age. The blond girl had her hair in a knot and the Chinese girl had her hair hanging over her shoulders.

I could tell that the boy knew the girls, and he seemed afraid of them.

"Hey let's go play!" the girls asked him, nodding in the direction of the path to the right, urging him to go with them.

The boy decided to ignore them and kept walking towards the cave, albeit slowly.

The girls started to display an increasingly angry face and as they walked closer to the boy, that face became disproportionally angry. Like the boy, they too could not see me, and at no point I felt they were a threat to me.

I noticed the boy getting increasingly fearful, even feeling his warmth as fear started to strike now that the boy can go no further due to the cave blocking his way, with the girls closing in on him.

Armed with only faith, he pushed his hands on the cave.

Soon, I heard the sound of breaking and falling rocks as the boy pushed his hand on the cave's blocked entry. With no strength at all, the boulders collapsed with a lot of noise, and opened the entrance into the cave.

The girls simply looked at him with disappointment, but made no further movement to attack him. I started wondering why...

A man got out of the cave, but never fully exiting it, just standing halfway outside. An old man, I guess around his 70s. He had short gray hair, a black suit and black pants, and polished black shoes.

The man was exceptionally well-dressed given that he just came out of a cave with a lot of dust around.

"Ah... You finally made it", the man told the boy, in a soft, elderly British accent.

The girls looked angrily at the man, but decided not to attack, somehow they were afraid to get any closer.

I can't say for sure that this is what really happened, but everything clicked somehow. I started to realize that this is very similar to my lucid dreams but in the style of whatever is in the boys mind:

• Getting lucid, pretty much at random
• Someone tries to pull you back in a normal dream as it should progress (in my case it's my family, in his case it's the 2 girls, whoever they are).
• There's something you're after (in his case, breaking in that cave)
• There's some entity that breaks every fear that is in your dream (In his case it's the old man)

While relatable, I felt by no means comfortable in this situation, my mind was still looking for similarities, anything to make me realize this still is my dream.

Sadly, everything, not just the art style, but even the way the man spoke, wasn't something that I'd call my imagination, driving me further into madness, but also, further into joy - there was something pleasant about having to put in no effort but to watch. It was very similar to watching a movie, but more immersive, and it didn't take any time out of my day.

"Come... I have made some changes to the place, I'm sure you'll love them", the English man continued slowly with a crystal clear British accent.

The boy, who wasn't afraid of the man, and seemingly knows him, followed him inside the cave.

My view followed the 2 into the cave, where I was greeted by an ... elevator? That just stood there in the cave.

Elevators are a common theme in my dreams, so it's nice to see that this guy also has them. While the object was relatable, once again, it was a completely different art style.

For starters, this wasn't really an elevator, it was more like a fantasy transportation device that looked like an elevator. It looked like a box the size of a phone cell, with windows on all sides. It was quite spacious and there was a double bottom underneath, possibly to hide any magical engine that makes this thing tick.

The rest of the vehicle was designed like a Vintage late 1940s NYC bus in a light blue color scheme.

The dream fast-forwards to them flying inside the elevator-like device, passing the most magnificent lands, mountains, forests and waters. It was flying around 20 meters above the ground, incredibly fast - I think our ground speed was over 300 kilometers per hour.

My vision was above them. Still, I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, I couldn't even adjust my vision! Someone, or something else was looking for me.

I could only think: "All those beautiful landscapes and they fly over it! Such a shame!" I thought, eager to walk there instead (something I'd do in my dream).

After a short flight, the magical machine landed in the town square of a fantasy city, next to a basic circular fountain with no statue on it, just a decorative stone pillar that spews the water up to make it fall back down.

It was very lively, with people walking around, featuring mixes of vintage (but futuristic for it's seemingly medieval theme) and steampunk styles, with the elevator standing out, borrowing post-ww2 boomer era vintage aesthetic. Combined with the streets made of cobblestone paths, it was a wonderful sight to behold.

I couldn't believe what I saw! People were mostly paying no attention to the elevator that just landed in the middle of the square, they seemed to go on about their day. Some were washing clothes some were carrying around what seemed to be milk.

My vision remained hovering slightly above the elevator, but was looking down upon the people and the 2 passengers getting out of the elevator.

Then... the noises were quickly drowned out by critters where the camera then focussed on. They were dragons. Around 15 tiny, fat looking dragons waddling around town.

I wouldn't even call them dragons: Each one of them was so fat that their bellies were basically fully round. They had wings too small to fly, and overall looked more like pigs with wings than anything draconic.

They made a cute pug-like noise whenever they moved, and I think despite their posture, they were somehow unbelievably cute, I could imagine they were a common pet in this world.

The old man pointed at a castle out of town, this is probably what he wanted to show the boy.

As they walked out, the dream faded out, and I woke up for real.

---

Wow... yeah. That was one way to wake up. It was extremely strange to see something that just couldn't be my imagination.

While it wasn't fun to be so extremely restricted that you didn't even have your own body to even breathe, it was really nice, and entertaining to just be in the backseat for a change!

Maybe even spiritually enlightening, to see someone else's lucid dream life, because while I was in other people's dreams before, never was it a lucid dream, so this was more relatable than anything I had before.