You're getting pretty far into the dream world - aren't you?
[ The first experiment ]
The first time I explored the dream world, I was accompanied by 2 friends. I acted as the guide, and the additional friend simply listened in, recording the exploration.
We were all a bit unsure of how to operate, and as a guide I felt scared throughout that I would bring the dreamer in the way of harm.
She awoke in the corridoors, walking towards a door. I asked her to describe the color and material, and she without hesitation said it was a brown wooden door. It didn't
take her long at all to acclimate to the dream world - I find some people have difficulty maintaining the dream for the first few minutes.
It was a very plain room, with pink walls and carpet, and simply a chair. She didn't have anything in her pockets of note, and interacting with the chair didn't provide anything meaningful.
I asked her to continue, and she explained there were 3 doors in this room. Red, Blue, and Green.
I asked her to choose, and if I recall correctly, we entered the Red door first.
It was a botanical garden, arranged in a corridoor shape with a corner in the middle - you couldn't see the other side just yet. She said the place felt artificial. Like it wanted
to appear as if it was outside, but was definitely still inside. The plants were real, but there were bird noises and insect sounds - but none to be seen. She said she could sort
of tell when the tape recording of the noises was looping too.
Oftentimes, when the dreamer encounters an unnerving or even scary location such as this, the guide will feel scared and want to exit the dream. In actuality, the dreamer often says
they feel fine, or that even if they're scared it doesn't matter. I can't speak to what survival instinct this comes from, but it reminds me of that analogy of the toad boiling alive in
slowly-boiling water.
Much of the dream was the same, exploring places that felt somewhat fake, but no immediate danger. This was a 20-minute session, and we explored around 10 or so rooms. I will
spare you the details of each room, many were boring generic spaces, generated as filler content from the mind. One thing to note, though, was the presence of a rustling noise.
It seemed to follow her from room to room, though she couldn't remember when it started. We saw no living things throughout the dream, yet this rustling noise persisted.
She also noted that as opposed to the recorded sounds of the garden, this thing definitely felt real. Perhaps I should have taken that as a sign something was wrong - it was only at the
end of the dream that the problem occured.
We had set a 20-minute alarm for the dream, and once it rang we promptly executed the procedure to wake the dreamer up - return to the corridoor, closing all doors on the way.
The issue came once we reached the main room with the 3 different coloured doors. The brown wooden door she had entered through was gone.
She was panicking, as was I, but I wanted to safely exit the dream, so I tried to help her manipulate the dream to let her out. I asked her to knock on the space where the
door was, and she noted it was hollow. She was able to smash the wall down, and enter a new room - NOT the corridoor.
It was a waiting room, for a doctor or dentist, and there was a door infront of her - with the name "Dr (removed for privacy)" written on it.
This was insane to us - she said she'd never met someone with this name, but it was definitely a believable English last name. She said she felt there was someone behind the door,
and for the first time in the dream, she felt genuinely scared. I directed her to leave the room immediately, and guided her into the Red door.
I didn't know what to do at this point, but I figured simply waking her up right now may be bad. I asked her to smash something again, this time the glass of a window.
Outside was a fairly generic landscape, just green fields as far as the eye could see. I asked her to lie down, close her eyes, and fall asleep.
From there I was able to safely wake her, through 2 layers of dreams.
That was a fairly intimidating first experience, wasn't it ! I'm surprised the other friend wanted a turn afterwards. Of note, the Doctor whose name was written on the door actually
did have a basis in real-life. A couple days later, we were walking near her house and saw a building with that word written on it. We were pretty stoked to find some sort of meaning
in that. The other friend said it sounded like the dreamer was in a trance - a couple seconds into the dream and already her voice had lowered, and she was generating detail imagery.
The experience was really incredible to me, and I became obsessed with performing these with many different friends - and now I'm writing about it online!!!
I won't write much about the 2nd friends' dream, as it appeared to contain a lot of personal imagery and meaning. In short, they explored rooms from their grandparent's house,
and places that felt so familiar to them, but couldn't quite remember. There was a teddybear in every room. It was lovely and nice on the way in, but dark and cold on the way back.
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[ The Library ]
This dream dive was performed with a separate group, all of whom were beginners.
We performed the entering ritual perfectly, and upon opening her first door, the dreamer noted she was in a library. In truth, this dreamer has aphantasia - the inability to clearly
visualise imagery in her mind. At first she really struggled, but as soon as she entered the library, things became a lot more smooth. She described her dream sort of
like a pop-up book. There is nothing there unless I ask or prompt a question, and then she can sort of imagine what might be there.
It was a medium-sized library, with an old style. The first thing I asked her to do was open a book and read - often words can be decieving in dreams. There's a rumor that
if you read something in a dream and look away, once you look back the words will have changed. Perhaps this is a good way to perform reality checks for lucid dreams.
In the dreamer's case, the book was clearly Harry Potter to her. I wasn't interested so we moved on. There was some faint music playing in the library -
"Merry-go-round of life" from Howl's Moving Castle (Joe Hisaishi). I asked if she saw anyone, or could hear anyone. She said it felt like there was someone there -
somewhere else in the libray, but that she couldn't see them yet. The elephant in the nose of the library was a huge spiral staircase, elevating many floors.
Of course, I asked her to ascend it - and she noted that the music was getting louder. We reached a floor eventually where she saw a record player - playing a vinyl
of the music. It was honestly a lovely little dream.
At this point, she saw a door, and I asked her to enter. Inside was a kitchen. This may be a strange room to attach to a library, so I wondered if the dreamer
felt she had entered an entirely new place. In actuality, she was certain the kitchen was still part of the library.
Still, we closed the door behind us, and explored. The kettle had just been boiled actually, with 2 cups empty on the counter. They both had teabags inside, but one had 2 scoops
of sugar. The dreamer was shocked! That was the way she brewed tea for herself - she felt like this was meant for her. I asked if she knew who the other tea belonged to,
but she couldn't picture anyone. She poured the hot water into the teacups, and started drinking hers whilst sitting down at the table.
There was a knock at the door. I started panicking - thinking of the previous dream in the doctor's waiting room. She wanted to answer it, and went to open the door herself.
What she described seeing was a tall man in a suit. I immediately told her to close the door. There are many horror stories featuring tall suited men as villains - there must
be some sort of cultural subconscious fear of an imposing powerful man perhaps. Regardless of if this character was nice or not, it's best not to take chances. I asked her if there
were any other doors in the kitchen - and she quietly replied no. It should be noted, that the dreamer herself wasn't scared. As stated before, in these seemingly terrifying
scenarious, the dreamer themself doesn't seem to feel in danger. We quickly made an alternative escape route. There was a pantry cupboard low down in the room, and she was able to crawl through. It seemed to extend, similar to the tunnel in Coraline. It lead to another floor on the library, and we were able to quickly head back to the corridoor and exit the dream.
After the fact, the dreamer was adamant that she wasn't in danger. She felt that it was some sort of test or puzzle - that she was supposed to brew the 2 cups of tea,
and let the man come in and drink with her. Perhaps I was being too cautious. From this dream onwards I tried to engage with the dream worlds' inhabitants more.
I asked her what the man's face looked like, and she said she didn't know. He was so tall that when she opened the door, she couldn't see his face.
[ The School ]
This dream was performed directly after the library dream, with another friend.
We entered the corridoor steadily, and opened the first door into a dark classroom. I insisted we continue exploring, perhaps we'll find a light or torch.
She noted that the classroom had heavy air - it felt dusty and old. The windows were bordered up. We checked some cupboards and desks,
but only found regular school equipment.
We found another door, and I asked her to open it. Inside it was pitch black. Normally, this is a sign to leave and explore elsewhere - but it was the only door
available. She walked in, and I asked her to hug the wall until she found another door. She said it felt like a gymnasium perhaps, it was a big room. She eventually
found a fire door, and opening it into the outside world.
It was night time, and found herself in a parking lot, with just one car. I asked her to look through the window, and she said there were lots of things in the backseat.
Like someone was living there, and that it was recently used. Food, clothing, bedding, but no flashlight.
She continued, and I asked her to walk up the road. This was a very isolated place, with just fields and hills as far as the eye could see. There were
a couple houses nearby, so she explored one. She had to break in, as the windows were bordered up and the door was locked. She said she felt there was someone
nearby, but couldn't see them. It was dark in here, but she was able to navigate upstairs. She found a children's bedroom, with toys covered in dust. The atmosphere
of this entire dream was heavy. We felt it was best to leave, so we returned to the school and woke up.
The best explanation for this dream was that it felt like a World War 2 era abandoned village. The windows were bordered up for air raids and the rooms were dusty
from being abandoned. This person is a Japanese history major, so she has extensively studied World war 2. She felt overall the dream was a nice experience, however.
[ Synchronised Dreams ]
This one is a little silly, so if the previous dreams were getting dark and heavy, this one is a much lighter read.
In truth, there were 3 of us altogether, and whilst stoned, I had the idea for us to try and hold 2 dreams simultaneously. Perhaps we could even meet up!
To start, they both entered their dreams together, and I had to swap back and forth to help them explore their individual dreams.
The man awoke in the corridoors, but didn't find the doors that interesting. They all had numbers, and seemed to be part of something much bigger. The corridoor was very dark, lit only by blacklights around the doors. The rooms themselves were
test chambers of sorts, each a different experiment. One was white, one was black, etc. He eventually found an unmarked door, and opened it to discover a metal staircase leading up.
It was so dark, he could only see the staircase, and the connected landing it was attached to. It was similar to a fire escape- comprised of black steel gratings. This dream
was very different to most others. The corridoor room itself was the main dream, and he was exploring the industrial complex behind it. I was incredibly intrigued to see
if this dream would shed any light on how this nexus works, but it was time to see how the other dreamer was doing.
This was actually not their first time, I had done this before with them the same time we explored the library and school. The man had dreamt of an empty castle in the highlands where
he was the king, and the woman dreamt of a beach. She swam into the ocean deeper and deeper down, until she eventually realised she had become a mermaid. Both of these were lovely
dreams, so I thought perhaps their minds were not the sort to conjure dark imagery.
The woman awoke, and entered a door to a hotel room. This was how her previous mermaid dream had started to! She found a door leading to another corridoor, and eventually a ball pit.
She wanted to jump in, so she started playing in the ball pit, and stayed there whilst I switched over to the man's dream.
She had gone quiet. I asked what's wrong and she said:
"Um. Freddy Fastbender is watching me." And I burst out laughing. I had NO idea what she was saying. I could tell she actually felt scared, but I was caught up on this name.
"Who?"
"Ummmm. Fred Fastbear?"
"... Do you mean Freddy Fazbear?"
And yes, she was having a dream about the five nights at freddy's character. It was literally so funny. He was on a stage, doing a dance to a crowd of no-one except her. She left
the ball pit and slowly approached him, only to realise he wasn't dangerous at all. He just kept doing his routine on stage, and actually she wanted to join him! She got on
stage and started copying his moves, and had a good time.
In the other dream, he found his way into the outside world. It was night time, and he was by a beach. The ocean was pitch black, and there were a billion stars in the sky. He walked
onwards, to find a path leading up the cliff side. He felt completely at peace here, probably enough for him to fall asleep truly. From the top of the cliff, he was able to look down
at the scene. The complex was huge, but seemed to have most of its depth underground. The ocean howevever, completely dwarfed it. The black waves crashing in as far the eye could see.
He took a rest here, before turning around and continuing. There was a dense deep forest, and I left him to explore that before switching over.
At this point, I was asking them how it felt when hearing about the other dream. For the man, he felt like he was transplanted into the woman's dream while she described it,
but she said she was just standing there waiting for further instructions when hearing about his. She actually never did anything of her own volition, she always waited for a
command from me.
After finishing her dance, we exited stage left and found a door leading to the backroom. It was most likely the power room, with lots of equipment and wires. Inside was
Chica, I think her rockstar version? She was deactivated. I asked her to find a switch or something, and turn her on.
Her eyes glowed red, and the dreamer got scared. At this point I was laughing, because this was like. Too creepypasta to be real.
Chica started chasing her, and backed her into a corner. The dreamer was desparately asking me for directions on what to do - she literally wouldn't move unless I
told her to.
I was laughing so hard I couldn't even speak, and she said Chica started grabbing her and shaking her. I got her to say "I'm sorry" and Chica immediately calmed down.
I find often if there's a dangerous foe in a dream, running only makes it worse. Apologising to the foe or trying to fight them often works a lot better.
The dreamer was safe now, but wanted to wake up, so we guided her back to the corridoor and woke up.
The other dreamer was still exploring a forest, but we figured it was going to be a while before anything else happened, so I got him to lie down and fall asleep, and then wake up in the real world.
Honestly every now and then I think about her saying "Freddy Fastbear is there" and burst out laughing.
[ The Digital Dream ]
I have a good good friend from Switzerland, and I wanted to try this out with them. We arranged a discord call where I proposed the idea. Obviously it was a little less connected,
because I wasn't physically in the room with them. However, this was by far the most detail and longest dream so far.
They awoke in the corridoor, and found themselves entering a hotel room. There was a balcony, and from outside they realised they were inside a skyscraper - higher than the clouds.
They couldn't see any other buildings, or the ground. In a moment of insanity I told them to jump off the balcony. As soon as they fell off, a backpack appeared on them. They pulled the string, but nothing came out. They were stressing out, so I told them to spread their arms and legs out. This worked! They slowed down, more and more, until eventually they stopped.
They were able to walk along the clouds. They started walking. After a while, they broke out into a sprint, and realised they could somehow accelerate to inhuman speeds. They ran faster
and faster - to the point they blinked - and opened their eyes inside a library. They somehow ran so fast they ended up inside! I asked if there was a spiral staircase or music, but they
said no. The library was populated by many people, however none of them had faces. They spoke to a woman who was reading a book.
"What is your name?"
"It's [ ], nice to meet you"
"Where are we?"
"Inside the library, it's near the town."
"What's the town's name?"
"It's [ ]"
Sometimes the characters would say words, but they'd be blanked out. They had no faces, so they couldn't even read their lips. This one woman in particular made them feel
uncomfortable, so we left her. They opened a book, and tried to read some words, but the text kept moving out - like it didn't want to be seen. They asked the woman if she could
read, and she said yes, but couldn't say what it said.
On a nearby table sat a man with a face. He looked like the character Nishiki from Tokyo Ghoul - one of the dreamers' favourite manga. He seemed to be a student, and gave
short, cold answers.
"What is your name?"
"Peter."
"What are you reading?"
"Marine Biology"
"That's cool"
"..."
"Where are we?"
Peter started to get a little angry. The dreamer had checked their pockets earlier, and had found some candy. I told them to offer it to Peter, but something was stopping them.
It was similar to the way some words are obscured, it was like the dream didn't want to let the dreamer give him candy - like it would invalidate the world.
The dreamer persisted, forcing their hands to move and give him it.
Something went really wrong when they managed to do that. Peter started screaming, and stood up, getting taller and taller. The dreamer started running, and Peter chased,
their voice growing louder. They found a fire exit and burst through. The screaming ceased, but they still felt incredibly scared.
It was a dark dark tunnel, but they kept running into it to escape Peter. At the end was a pair of double doors, with the sign "Cafeteria". I asked the dreamer if they wanted
to go inside, but they suddenly felt very scared about whatever was in there. We turned around, and slowly headed back to the library.
The screaming was gone, everything seemed fine. Peter was sat down again, so the dreamer approached him.
"Why did you chase me?"
"I wanted to scare you"
"Why?"
"..."
"What's in the canteen?"
"A monster"
"What kind of monster?"
"By the way, there's something behind you"
The dreamer didn't want to turn around, so I suggested they close their eyes, slowly turn, and then hug whatever is behind them.
They said it felt warm, and tall. When they opened their eyes, it was gone. They closed them again, and started asking questions.
"What are you?"
"Monster"
"What is your name?"
"Monster"
"What would you like to be called?"
"Monster"
"... Why did you chase me?"
"I'm sorry"
"Why did you disappear?"
"I don't like being looked at"
I actually forget some details here, but for whatever reason, Peter, The monster, and The dreamer decided to try and enter the Cafeteria together.
Peter had sort of become a bit more friendly at this point - or perhaps he just wanted to see what would happen out of curiosity.
The cafeteria was pitch black, so everyone started looking for a light. Upon flicking the switch, the dreamer noted Peter was nowhere to be seen, but the Monster
was clearly visible now. The dreamer suspected The monster of eating Peter, so they told him to throw him up. Peter didn't seem too upset about the whole ordeal.
There were no more doors after this, so I suggested the dreamer break through a wall. It lead to what appeared to be a childrens' bedroom. Peter stepped through, then the dreamer,
but the monster wasn't able to follow. The dreamer felt sad about this. The monster seemed to be a troubled creature that just needed some affection.
We tried to go back to the cafeteria, but the wall had closed up behind. At this point, the dreamer felt something was wrong.
They told me they thing they're being messed with, and just wanted to leave the library world right now.
We broke the wall back, and headed to the library. Peter had stopped following us at this point. We found a door leading out, and continued along. It was another
long corridoor, similar to the industrial complex from the previous dream. Upon finally arriving at the end, they opened the door to the outside world.
They felt scared. Something was watching them. They turned around, and right behind them was the woman with no face from earlier. There was no way she could have followed
them without them realising. They had a small conversation, but I don't remember what they said. The dreamer just wanted to leave. To get out of her line of sight. She felt
incredibly dangerous in this moment, moreso than anything they had previously encountered.
They walked more into the outside world, deeper and deeper into a forest, until they felt the woman couldn't see them anymore. It was at this point, they started jumping.
Similar to when they were running before, they noticed they could somehow jump higher and higher - impossibly high - with each jump.
They reached an incredible height, where suddenly they were surrounded by colorful lights.
"Hello?"
"Hello there [Dreamers' name]"
"Who are you?"
"I'm God"
"..."
"..."
This was incredible. The sort of thing rituals are formed out of. Whatever this was, I didn't want to miss any opportunities, so I started asking questions.
God explained this was a dream. They knew the dreamer. They knew Peter. They knew me.
They told the dreamer to start thinking for themselves, in response to me asking about myself. As quickly as they appeared, God vanished, and my friend dropped to the ground.
They walked in the forest for a while, before encountering Peter. He was covered in blood and smiling. He told the dreamer he had killed the scary faceless lady.
I still felt very apprehensive about Peter, but
the dreamer considered this to be a gesture of kindness, like he was protecting him.
They started walking through the forest together, and the dreamer tried to summon God again to show Peter. It didn't work, and then Peter started getting scary again. His head started growing bigger, and he began laughing again.
The dreamer started to think maybe Peter was God, or that Peter had shown them the appearance of God before or something. They felt scared again,
so they lashed out. The dreamer pulled out a knife and started stabbing Peter relentlessly. He continued to laugh. In truth, I had never seen this dreamer act so violently before. They wanted to tear Peter to shreds.
Eventually, Peter somehow died, and lay on the floor. When the dreamer turned to walk away however, Peter was right there stood up. They turned around and the body on the floor was that of the Monster's.
I wanted to ask questions and take actions against Peter, but the dreamer decided to move on their own.
They turned away and said out loud:
"I don't care anymore."
This miraculously worked, and they were able to walk away from the scene. God was right, they just needed to think for themselves.
The dream sort of shifted into a new paradigm from this point, as the dreamer made it a focus to stay away from any of the surreality of the library.
They encountered a fairy, a magical cottage, and were able to grow wings. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but a lovely way to end this mostly traumatic dream for them. This has been my favourite dream by far, I think about it all the time.
[ The Other Nexus ]
This dream takes place at night time, in a children's playground. We were going for a walk when it started raining, so we took shelter under the playground roof, and I suggested we begin this dream.
I had performed a dream with this person once before, in which they had encountered a scary Tall Man who followed them without moving. They didn't seem to hold any apprehension though, and the dream began as usual.
They walked down the corridor, and eventually opened a room with a dragon inside. It had 3 heads and breathed fire. I told my friend to leave, and upon exiting the door they were greeted with another scary figure. He was very tall, and had dark sunken eyes. His head seemed to grow closer and closer towards the dreamer's, but never touched them. Sort of like how if you move forward by 1/2 forever you will always get closer but never reach your destination. My friend was frozen in fear, so I told them to punch the figure.
God this is really weird but. If I remember correctly the figure turned into Tom Cruise or something and then jumped out a window? Something like that.
My friend checked the dragon room again to find it had been killed by the man.
I told my friend to jump out the window, and once again miraculously a backpack appeared on their back. This one worked properly, and they pulled the cord for a parachute.
The building again seemed to be a tall skyscraper with a window only on the floor they jumped from. Perhaps it was the same skyscraper.
They fell for a long time, before noticing they had stopped. In fact, they were a giant in this world, and their head was very high up above the clouds.
They started walking forwards. I asked them if they wanted to destroy anything as a giant, but they were against the idea. They saw villages in a world much smaller than them, and walked a great distance. Eventually they came to a well, large enough for them to enter. I wonder what this well's purpose was in the world of the small people.
They started climbing down the ladder in the well, until they arrived in a dark sewer.
There was someone here, a man in a suit of armour with a fish head.
The man said his name was Jacob, and that he was looking for a way out the sewer. My friend said the ladder was right here, but Jacob said he didn't see it until just then. I didn't believe him, but my friend wasn't skeptical in the slightest.
They walked along the sewer together for a while, and Jacob explained his story. The tall man had been terrorising his village for a long time, appearing out of nowhere and eating people. His world was underwater, and everyone was a fish. He had never heard of our world, or the digital world. Jacob had found the way into this sewer, which contained many entrances and exits into other worlds. His goal was to find the tall man and kill it.
My friend explained that they were able to enter this world through dreaming, and Jacob said "Don't be silly."
I wanted to ask a lot more questions about the nature of the Nexus and the other worlds, but Jacob found the entrance back to his world.
At this point, I noticed there were two people having sex opposite the playground from us, but they couldn't see us in the dark. I burst out laughing which caused my friend to open their eyes. Absolutely bizarre experience, it was literally still raining.
When we returned to the dream, it seemed that a lot of time had passed. Jacob had gone and returned from his fish world, with wonderful news. The monster had entered his world to eat everyone, but they managed to kill it and crucify its body in the town square. My friend seemed to relax. Jacob was going to return to his own world, and my friend asked if they would ever meet again. Jacob said maybe, but I think he was lying. They hugged each other close, and Jacob left for his own world.
I guided my friend to wake up, where they felt a strange sense of loss.