Dreams & Nightmares/ Howler Chronicles/ Alex Vidal

Dream Demon

A stormy night fell over the entire town and the dreams of a child were less
than pleasant. What began as a sweet trip by the river with his family soon became
a death race between him and a myriad of bats, and rabid rats chasing him; the
poor kid woke up scared. What he saw in the back of the room, in between the
shadows, a pale figure, with black deep holes were its eyes should have been. To
the kid it appeared that the creature smiled and disappeared. He turned on his bed
light and there was nothing to be seen on his room. He turned his head to turn off
the light again and the creature was there staring back at him. He screamed loud
enough to wake up all his family. They found him crying. To them the strangest
thing that happened was how his sheets were covered in a dense layer of white
sand.

The morning after the incident, while in school the kid told what happened to
his friends about the dream and the creature. They all seemed not surprised about
it. After all he was of the kind that liked horror movies, and creepy stuff; so a
nightmare of such scale wasnt a big surprise. He kept telling that the creature
wasnt a dream. He saw the creature and the creature saw him back. His friends
laughed and walked away. What happened next was something the kid never
expected. A girl of a higher grade approached him and asked him to tell the tale
one more time. He thought she wanted to laugh at him too; but anyways he told the
entire story again. The girl looked quite intrigued and worried. -Let me ask a friend
about it- she told him and walked away as the break was over. The rest of the day
was pretty normal without any confrontation or more words about last night, nor by
his friends or anyone else. When the day was over he was approached again by
the same girl. Listen, my friend told me that it could be serious- her voice wasnt
calm as it was during the break he wants to meet with you. Today if you agree?-
to him all seemed like a bad joke; but something in her eyes made him believe in
her; and both went to meet this friend of hers.

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They arrived to an old apartment building. They knocked the door three
times and it opened. They went through the stairs to the ninth floor and knocked
again. The door opened and he finally saw this famous friend she was talking
about. In the background some metal song was being played in an old
phonograph. He invited them inside and they started to look at the apartment.
Finally he spoke on deep voice. So this is the kid you told me about- both turned
around, they almost forgot about why they were there. yes, this is Him, what do
you think John?- the guy in question a young fellow of 24 years old, dress in old
jeans, black shirt and long hair was looking at the duo without blinking. There is
definitively something weird about him- he approached the kid and put a hand on
his forehead. Your name is Thomas doesnt it, you live northwest of the school
and your family just moved to that old house you lived in recently- Thomas was
astonished he got everything right. you got your school badge on your shirt
Thomas felt a bit embarrassed; but stand still.

John sat on an old arm chair in front of the only desk in the entire room. The
creaking sound of a bad oiled rail let them knew he opened an old heavy drawer.
He placed a darkened skull that seemed to be of some sort of animal, engraved
with white symbols all over it. He lighted a cigarette and blew the smoke through
the skull, making its eyes shine. Thomas felt observed and saw a great beast
looking right at Him and by his side was John. Then he looked behind and saw the
creature, pale, dark bottomless eyes and a sewn mouth. For a moment Thomas
felt dizzy but soon it regained consciousness and he was again sat on the old chair
in the apartment of this John fellow. He rose up and escaped running through the
door, flew by the stairs. Thomas didnt stop till he got back at home and locked
himself on his room. Back in the apartment Sarah the girl that was interested in
Thomas situation was talking with John. there is really something chasing him
John- he reflexed about it for a few seconds and answered as calmly as he could.
yes and its very old and aggressive- his eyes left no doubt about that he was
worried too I need to search in the old books about that creature before its too
late- Sarah was more worried than before; but John told her to calm down because
stress and fear were of no help at the time. She leaved the apartment and John put

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himself on the work of looking into all the grimoires he possessed the way to
exorcise the creature away from Thomas.

That night Thomas felt more anxious than before. Going to sleep that night
was about to be a test of courage and valor on his part. Again he fell asleep and
the dream began once more. A normal day at school, the class of sports in which
he sucked and fell twice on the jump the box exercise. The dream changed its
pace the sound of the rats running through the walls scared him, he was
completely alone again. The floor began to crack in half. He ran and ran, through
the halls of the school and the floor keep splitting up behind him and the rats
chased him through the walls. He felt tired and his breath was abandoning him
faster each step he took. He shouted for help but heard no response. The creature
stood again in front of him. Tried to grab him with his skeletal claw; but something
happened. The creature stood still and he saw a figure surrounded by a dark light
standing between him and the creature. The thing was roaring but made no
attempt of getting near neither the figure nor him. That person turned around and
whisper just to words wake up. It was morning already and the traces of sand
were nowhere to be found this time.

That morning in the lunch break Thomas friends approached him again and
started asking about the creature, if it visited him again. He told them that it didnt
happened last night. The disappointment on their faces was obvious they wanted a
good story or a good laugh; but there simply wasnt going to be none that morning.
They ran to play basketball and asked Thomas to come and play with them. He
declined and sat near the oldest oak three in the school thinking about last night
dream. The creature was there, the nightmares were there; but who was the last
one to appear in his dream. He felt tired and fell asleep under the three and this
dream was different. It wasnt placed in the school, or his house, or any place he
knew. He was in the middle of a deep forest, surrounded by threes and wild life. A
loud sound broke the calm of the forest, animals started to run, the sound became
louder and louder. It was a battle cry a bunch of natives were dressed in war
clothes, face painted red and were running towards him. He tried to run but

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couldnt move his feet. The aggressors ran through him and he saw what they
were fighting a dark cloud made of pure agony, fear, anger, he could felt everything
through all the fibers of his body but couldnt do anything. He felt like falling into a
deep abyss until something hit him in the head. Sarah was there sitting beside him,
watching his face. What were you dreaming? - She asked softly another
nightmare? Thomas nodded and both heard the sound of the bell that calls out
the break.

In the solitude of his apartment John was searching and diving in all the
books he collected and bargained for through his short years in the craft.
Thousands of reference to dream demons and nightmare crawlers; but the sand
was something unseen in many cases. Haunting dreams its easy to do. You just
need to take something from the person, add a bit of blood, a focusing crystal and
a clear intention to invade someone life and thats all. After checking the entire
house for all the notebooks, grimoires, even some napkin scribes, when he felt
defeated an old grimoire that was being used to balance a couch meet his sight.
He took it into his hands and start searching without any hope till he reached an old
bookmark. Dream Walkers, soul devourers, Sandman the creature was known
way back in the days by the inhabitants as the child eater. The more He read the
more he felt the urge to find a way to stop the entity from devouring Thomas. The
infestation was already complete. He was feeding itself from Thomas every night or
worse every moment he fell asleep. The time was running short. The little dream
shield trick wont work a second time due to the creature already knew what to
expect. John took his bag throw in the old grimoire, a few candles, talisman,
crystal, coins, and a silver dagger inscribed with runes. Then he locked up the
apartment and ran to the school. He needed to find Sarah and get in touch with
Thomas before the creature felt hunger one more time.

In the school Thomas ran to tell Sarah about his dream and how real it felt.
Sarah was astonished; but not surprised she was an addict to local history and the
forest that used to be there was inhabit by various shamanic tribes. The bell from
the break rang and Thomas ran to his classroom Sarah stayed to pick up

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somethings she left on the back of the gym. While she was picking her stuff up, a
shadow approximated from behind and she scream as loud as her lungs allowed.
Gerry the senior year football captain was behind her. Playing with the small boys
Sarah? - He mocked getting near, and trapping her between his body and the wall.
What about a big boy now- Sarah sweat cold as he approached to her. Hey
jackass, be gone jumping down the wall John stare at Gerry angry enough to let
his eyes displayed the emotion. Fuck off, shes mine- she looked back planning
to kiss Sarah but she wasnt there anymore. She went running to the main building.
you made me loose a great chance with a hot chick- Gerry uttered clutching his
fist you are going to pay for that- He pushed all his body weight against John,
which evaded him with ease. Gerry fell heavily into the floor and when he rolled to
get up, he froze cold by the sight of the vicious look of John and the silver dagger
touching his throat. You will leave her alone or your pretty face will be not so
pretty tomorrow- john hissed, his voice sound as cold as his blade was
understood, jack ass? - John pressed the knife against his neck. Gerry nodded and
ran to his classroom pale as a corpse

John jump again the wall of the school and waited outside for both of them
until the classes were over. He went along with both of them to Thomas house
where he explained what he had found. Everything he read about the demon
indicated that he only attack children to feed when he felt the energy of old times,
or magic as its commonly referred nowadays. Thomas could barely believe what
he was hearing. His family has always been of the common ones. Not even his
grandma has dedicated time to study or read about magic or ancient rituals or
those things. John told him that it doesnt matter if he believed his family was
normal or not. The gift could manifest in everyone and everyone possessed the
same probability of become both infected or a wizard. John started to lay down
everything needed for the ritual on the floor. A blue crystal for mind protection, his
silver dagger at hand for physical and spiritual fights and a mix of herbs that started
to burn slowly filling the room with a dense and suffocating smoke. Sarah was told
to stay out of the room in case the being manifested again and tried to attack

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anyone. The ritual started and both John and Thomas felt the dizziness of the
herbs leading them to the Oneiros, the dream land.

The world of dreams was a new experience for the young magician and
even more weird to the inexperienced Dream walker. It looked just like a mockery
of the Wake realm. They both were standing in the room of Thomas while both of
their bodies were sat with their eyes closed. They saw Sarah sat on the couch near
to the stairs. Little they have to wander to find the place where all the darkness
came from. The basement of the house had a dark aura spreading in all directions.
When they reached for the door the entity manifested again throwing them a few
feet back to the wall. What must happen, will happen- the dry voice of the
creature hissed you got nothing to do here wizard -. John rose smiling and walked
again for the door, the creature hissed again and tried to stop him; but felt
constrained. The creature roared and groaned trying to get free and john knew that
little trick wont last more than a few minutes; but need to see what was behind the
black door. He opened and saw the darkness, the evil; the magic of old ages and
felt overwhelmed. He fainted and leaved the Oneiros to find himself unconscious
lying on the floor.

Inside the Oneiros Thomas was standing in front of the creature. He

trembled at any step that the creature took to get closer to him. Thomas began to
cry thinking about death and how this would be his last dream. He clutched his fists
and got all his courage together and tried to fight the creature that laughed at the
kids attempt of fighting him. The sandman moved both of its claws towards the
neck of the child; but the kid banished in front of its reach. The creature roared,
growled, and scratched the walls, the sound moved through the wall between the
Oneiros and the Wake. Thomas opened his eyes widely and jump from where he
was sat. He saw John still unconscious on the floor; but there was no trace of the
creature, not even a small signal.

With a lot of effort, Sarah and Thomas woke up John and send him home
before Thomas parents arrived home. Sarah walked home quickly without stop
until she was safe behind his bedroom doors, and forget everything for that night.

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John on the other hand; sat on the middle of his apartment with candles, crystals
and herbs burning. The feelings of tiredness overwhelmed him and he felt asleep
in the middle of the room. John stands in the middle of the forest, surrounded only
by trees and wilderness. The storm engulfed the skies and the tall figure of slender
body and claw like skeletal fingers the soil dried and the heaven cried for help. The
defenses John put up on his mind were shattering with ease in presence of the
creature. Images of his family dying in hideous ways, over and over again clouded
his focus. Lacerations started to cover his body. He woke up covered in sweat and
the creature was in front of his bed. Ill get you soul instead of his; wizard- snarled
the creature before banishing into a cloud of thick white sand.

A drop of heavy sweat fell from John forehead, the ritual worked. Thomas
wasnt cursed anymore now the stake was his soul. The funny part of every ritual
and craft is that residual energy is left on the circle; especially if that circle is not
properly closed. Once John fade out the circle broke and the entity was able to
track his aura. John quickly checked again the grimoire in which he found the
name of the creature and all the information he could find about it. The only thing
found on each mention was that nobody have banished or even survived the
depredation of the dream entity. He felt a bit helpless; but also excited about the
challenge on being the first wizard on defeating an entity of such caliber. He took
all the knowledge he gathered and figured out a way to enthrall the danger; if he
couldnt banish it yet at least he will trap it inside something more useful. The first
step was to set a kind of magickal* fortress inside its room to be in control of the
situation, anise seeds and white silk was deeply needed now. The hardest part of
the plan would be to get mandrake root for the trapping ritual. All those ideas were
crossing through John mind when the sun started to rise in the sky. Morning was
already started and the final battleground was about to be set.

Thomas and Sarah were chatting vividly in the outside garden of the school
when they heard the familiar sound of someone jumping down the wall. The bags
under the eyes of John were a sign of something wrong happening. Thomas told
John that he finally could sleep without nightmares and that the spirit wasnt near

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his house anymore. John smiled and told him that everything went according to
plan. The exorcism was successful and he was just tired due to the energy
required to banish something that big from this realm of existence; but the residual
energy of the entity was deeply rooted so he needed to do one more ritual on his
own in order to banish it completely. Neither Thomas nor Sarah looked all that
confident on his words but they trusted him.

Back at home John prepared the final stance; marked his body with a
mixture of ink and mandrake extract, his silver dagger in hand blessed with moon
water, and the eight color candles of the chaostar to perform the ritual. The night
began to fell while John meditated to enter the Oneiros one more time to face the
creature. The flame of the candles burned with highest intensity and the room
began to fill with a dense mist. The reality distortion caused by the entity enhanced
by the ritual took a quick effect on the apartment. The creature manifested itself in
front of him. Now its form was solid completely and the pitch black darkness of its
eyes carved into Johns soul. The room around them started to crumble as the
creaking sound of the creatures hard skin and bones filled the room. Even if he
made the preparations such a creature manifesting on a room and materializing
was a frightful sight. He gripped his dagger so hard that his knuckles turned white.
With his other hand threw a white dust at the creature and woke up in the floor of
the room, the creature in front of him growling viciously. The creature knew that it
was no longer inside the Oneiros. Now the score was even. The room was a giant
trap box and every room had a dream catcher spell to avoid any possible escape
of the creature.

As the creature approach to John he grasped and was decided to fight it.
The marks of the claws burnt in the walls of the room, the smell of charcoal
overflowed the room; the creature move slowly and calculative as a tiger waiting for
the exact moment to strike. John felt the cold embrace of reality and the smoke
oppressing his lungs. This was nothing compared to his previous exorcisms this
was the real deal; an ancient evil that nobody has ever beat before.

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The creature with a swift movement reached for Johns arm and leaved a
nasty wound. Blood didnt flow but the flesh turned white and John felt something
weird. It felt as if his body was drying out and crackling, almost like if the scar turn
his flesh into sand. Suddenly I got it. I ran to the old bathroom of the apartment and
smashed the pipe waiting for that thing to follow me. It didnt took long till the door
flew in a thousand of splinters in any direction filled the little room. Some got stuck
in my arm; but it was now or never. I let the water flowed to the max and it
drenched the room immediately. Nothing but a temporal distraction, nonetheless it
worked. The creature hissed and roared slashing the air. I run as fast as I could
and grabbed an old music box from the shelf and started carving as fast as my
aching hands let me. The creature with a quick move turned around scraping the
walls and hissing. I grasped the box between my hands so hard that my knuckles
turned white and pointed towards the creature. A second that felt eternal, a blinding
light shone and everything went dead silence. I opened my eyes after the sudden
flash the boney finger of the creature was uncomfortably near to my throat. Then it
turned into sand. The creature was not banished but at least trapped inside the
box. I closed it and put it on a safe place for the sake of finishing this damn
business for the time on.

Next morning while I was doing the cleanup of the apartment a neighbor
showed up asking questions. A wild party was the only convincing thing that
came to my mind at the time. She started at me, and then walked away. A few
hours later Sarah showed up and looked a beaten up me, and a ruined apartment.
What did you did last night? - I looked impatiently at her and her eyes burned
through my covers. I confront that thing and imprisoned it- After everything that
Sarah said I was willing to fight that creature again. At least the demon wasnt
complaining for a well done job. At least somebody was happy that day. Sarah got
a message from Thomas telling her that everything was ok now in his house, and
thanking me for helping out. I felt weird, receiving thanks and almost dying the
same day was just weird. After the apartment got to a decent looking parody of a
house again, Sarah and I went to walk to the nearby park. She asked me about the

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other world and how real it was. I could only answer very real, so real that its
scary.

The same guy that bothered Sarah at school was there in the park to our
bad luck with his playing buddies. They approached us. I told Sarah if she wanted
to see how real the other realm could be. I produce a piece of scribbled paper and
my lighter. I pointed the flame towards them and burned the paper. It exploded in a
cloud of blue smoke, and tweeting birds. Bully number one and his party of dorks
flew out of the park screaming. Sarah burst into laughter, holding her stomach. It
was a cheap trick; but more than enough to avoid conflicts, and the blueberry skin
will dissuade them to bother her from that point on. I walked her back home and
then left to take a night walk by the street. Down the street everything went dead.
An oppressing darkness engulfed the street, and dread was taking the best of me. I
gathered my will and reached for my lighter and hit the spark. I saw sparks of
things happening elsewhere or not happening yet, I couldnt tell. Your time is over
wizard a cold whisper began to rise in the darkness. The void is coming there
was no way to outrun the voice. The air felt like water filling my lungs, I couldnt
hold my breath. Everything went dark. When I could get a hold of myself again
there was this dark cloaked man staring at me. I felt the cold pierce of its eyes
through the piece of cloth. In the blink of an eye it was gone. I got home and fell on
the bed as a log. I felt too tired to wander what was that darkness. It caught me out
of guard and almost drowned me in that oppressing feeling. That night I slept with
the candles lit. Something was coming and it was bigger I could felt it. I slept
peacefully that night. At least there was one demon less to worry about in the
Dream realm.

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