Ebrugh Report 8: The Dangers of Lucid Dreaming

An artist's rendering of the dreamscape.

In this Ebrugh Report, a teenager gets his hands on a strange book about lucid dreaming.

## Summary

William's life takes a curious and ultimately tragic turn when he encounters a mysterious stranger who gifts him an ancient book on lucid dreams. This cryptic tome becomes a gateway to an immersive and otherworldly realm, and William's curiosity leads him to delve deeper into the world of dreams than is healthy. As he becomes increasingly consumed by the ethereal landscapes he explores during sleep, his waking life begins to unravel.

William's transformation becomes noticeable to his concerned sister, Kim. She becomes determined to rescue him from the clutches of the enigmatic book and the perils of lucid dreaming. Desperate to save her brother from the increasingly isolated and distant person he has become, Kim embarks on her own journey into the realm of dreams.

In the dream world, Kim joins William in his quest to break free from the mesmerizing yet perilous allure of lucid dreaming. Together, they encounter a surreal and harrowing landscape where they are relentlessly pursued by a sinister and elusive creature. As they navigate this surreal dreamscape, the boundaries between reality and the dream world blur, testing the limits of their resilience and the strength of their sibling bond.

In a climactic moment, Kim witnesses her brother's tragic descent into an eternal abyss within the dream, as he is relentlessly hunted by the malevolent creature. This haunting vision leaves her with a profound sense of powerlessness and despair.

As Kim awakens from the dream, she is confronted by the harsh reality that William's obsession with lucid dreaming has exacted a heavy toll. Her brother, once full of life and promise, has prematurely aged and now stands on the brink of madness, laughing maniacally in the face of an irreversible transformation, finally succumbing to his aged body and madness.

## Ebrugh Report 8

### Rumoured Origin

*This story comes from a woman living in Munich. She wrote it down in 2003. I discovered the story after having looked into some rumours near the city. The events themselves have probably taken place around the year 1965.*

### Report

Perhaps you will not believe me, but I have to finally get this story off my chest. I can only write it down, because telling it out loud… I cannot risk. It happened about a year ago, but I have never forgotten about it since then. The happenings are always present in my mind, like a scar, tainting me. It is a story about my brother.

My brother William and I had shared a room for as long as I can think back. Our parents did not have a lot of money and my father worked many hours in a small Italian restaurant at the edges of the city, every day, just to make ends meet. My mother was often sick and therefore did not find any work, so all of us had to live in a tiny flat in the Andalstreet. The room of ours was not very big and besides two old beds, a shabby wardrobe, and several shelves, creaking under the weight of many books, we had nothing to distract us. The books were second or third hand, bargains mainly, some even presents. I have to admit that I almost never read and have only used some books for schoolwork, but my brother went through everything he could find, often more than once. I envied him a little for his stamina and for being able to remember all those stories, dates and facts in astonishing detail. Our friends often called him „encyclopedia" and William seemed to like that name. There were never any doubts in my mind about him one day graduating school with honors, visiting one of the best universities in the country and leaving our run-down flat behind...

It was shortly after the start of our last school year, when our lives suddenly changed because of strange events - the events I only dare to write down now, almost a year later and with my heart beating like a drum. Even now, I still remember it all… I remember William being late for class one day, having visited one of the old antique shops on Humboltstreet, one that had gone bankrupt and therefore sold some old tomes for unbelievably low prices.

William came to class with a smile on his face, ignoring the scolding of our teacher. I had never seen him that feverish, holding an old, smelly book in his hands and scanning the cover with big eyes.

„He gave this one to me, Kim. As a present," he proudly told me after we had returned home.

"Who?" I asked, packing some things for my weekly trip to the swimming club.

„The old man in the shop. He almost forced it on me, seemed to try to get rid of it. It is a guide for dreaming!"

"What are you gonna do with that? You have never liked esoteric stuff," I skeptically asked.

„It's not one of THOSE books!"

He dismissively shook his head.

„It is supposed to teach you control of your dreams. I have always wanted to try that out. I think they call it 'lucid dreaming' nowadays, but back then it probably had another name. Even the old Native Americans did something similar. And… you would know that if you stopped thinking about sports occasionally!"

"Yes, you are probably right. Just be glad! You got it for free. Very nice of that man," I said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I am! Very lucky!" he agreed, smiling.

On that day, I left William alone with his new book, only returning home in the late afternoon. As expected, he was still lost between the old pages of the tome. When I threw my sporting bag on the ground with a loud bang, he jumped up in shock.

"Why did you do that?" he asked accusingly, giving me a strange look.

I heard an unnerving panic in his words, but back then, I did not pay much attention to it. Today I would give everything up to turn back time, just to rip the accursed book from his hands and sink it in the nearest pond. Back then, however, I probably just gave him a faint smile. Whilst lying on my bed, learning some vocabulary, William and the tome slowly slipped my mind. Only when he snapped the book shut, I looked up.

"You will never believe, what this… points towards!" William said, shaking with excitement.

"I am sure you are about to tell me," I answered.

"The book describes where our minds travel to during our dreams. This is remarkable! There even are some exceptional exercises for training. I wonder how anybody could possibly give this book away?"

"Since when are you so naïve? That is just some superstitious crap! Shouldn't you be worrying more about school? Not long now until the finals arrive!" I tried to warn him, but he did not even seem to hear any of my words.

"I have to go back! Ask the shop owner whether he knows more about the tome and its..."

He stopped.

"What is it?"

I wanted to know. William frowned and seemed to concentrate on something far away.

„I... I don't remember what he looked like. The shop owner... I don't know. Why…?" he asked.

"No idea. Perhaps you were too elated because you got a free book?" I suggested.

"No, that's not it... I remember everything, the store, the smells, even his clothing. But the face... just a void in my memories..."

His thoughts seemed to trail off, but suddenly he winced and let out a quiet laugh.

"What does it even matter? Perhaps I am already getting old. Never mind, I must try out the exercises. Apparently, you first have to keep a dream diary, write down all of your dreams and always test whether you are awake or asleep. I think that is something I can easily manage."

He seemed to have talked enough about the topic and started reading some of his other books.

In the evening, William put down some white sheets of paper next to his bed and in the next morning, he woke up from his sleep full of glee and started writing down page after page. With an expressionless face he gave me some of his sheets to read and because I had nothing else to do, I took him up on the offer.

*"I am walking through the town centre, passing clothing stores and the bookshop of Allen’s. It is unfamiliarly quiet, and no people are around anywhere. The sun shines down its yellow-green light and some black pigeons are looking for things to eat on the paved street, threateningly cooing. When I reach the park, only dead trees are rotting on the ground, framed by brown grass. On a bench I find a newspaper. I decide to take it and read it. There is a picture on the frontpage, a picture of foreign ruins. I am at the ruins. I see men in the distance, strangely moving on a straight path to their unknown goals, emitting danger. I can not see their faces, but I think that is for the best. I turn around, look at an ocean and hear strange winds wheezing. Another black pidgeon appears. Its feathers are covered by a crimson fluid and it is menacingly cooing at me. I turn around and see the strange men, floating, moving towards the pidgeon, menacingly, as I slowly fade into another dream. I am in an old corridor, see darkness emerge in the distance. Finally, I realise that I am dreaming. I look at the corridor and tell it to disappear. Slowly it melts into the ground, becoming one with it. I turn around and call for my dream spirit, exactly as I had read in the tome… I am standing on a grassy field, verdant green. There is a man beside me. A cloak is covering his whole body and he is wearing a felt hat on top of his head. "Are you my dream spirit?" I ask the man. "Exactly. I am your dream spirit..." he answers, gurgling."*

My mother suddenly called for me, having prepared breakfast and therefore I threw the pages onto William's bed, hurrying to get to the kitchen table. The dreams of my brother had been rather nuts, yet I was amazed about a successful lucid dream during his first night of trying. When I returned to our bedroom, the sheets of paper had gone. William entered the room only moments later, looking at me intensely. I tried to apologize for losing his writings, but he only told me that he had gotten rid of all of it by himself.

"Why?" I wanted to know.

"I don't like other people being able to read my dreams. That can be dangerous. There are things you shouldn’t know," he replied and left the room again, not turning around another time.

I got a queasy feeling, because normally we did not keep secrets from each other. The next few days, William grew more and more distant and cold. All the time his view shifted towards distant skies and he seemed to be somewhere else with his thoughts. When asked about his behaviour, he just replied that he had to think things over. He also stopped writing down his dreams, so that I had no idea what he did on his nightly adventures.

One day, I asked about the old man I had read about.

"Yes, the Old One. He teaches me things," William answered flatly. "You wouldn't understand, you are not... there."

That is all he had to say. I worried more and more, because the finals got closer and I did not see William learning even once. All the time, he was lying on top of his bed, eyes closed, daydreaming, speaking less and less. To everybody's surprise, he aced every test, got every point there was. I was amazed and admired him, having only gotten average results with the help of all the learning I had done. William just laughed at the easy problems and undemanding texts, calling them shamefully easy and antiquated.

"How do you know all those things?" my mother asked him one day.

"I always knew. The mind is locked away by this world and our bodies all the time. Though, within dreams… within dreams we can set ourselves free, reaching the knowledge slumbering inside everybody's mind."

Looking at William during the nights, when he was sleeping, I got afraid more than once. He seemed almost dead, was always short of breath, his skin shimmering palely. He never talked in his sleep, just lay there motionless, not even lifting a finger.

When I wanted to tell my father, he just laughed, telling me to be happy about his success at school and what that meant for William’s future. My mother had gotten sick again, so I did not want to give her more worries than she already had and decided not to talk to her. In the end, I to take matters into my own hands.

"You changed," I told him, one late evening.

"Changed? Of course. I am so much more knowledgeable."

"That's not what I meant. We did so much together. Before. Now you are not even with us anymore. The others have been asking for some time now… about you not talking to them anymore."

"Why should I? They have become only shadows to me, dear Kin of Mine."

William had never called me that before and the alien gleam of his eyes did worry me.

"I do not care about those old friends of ours anymore. If you only knew what wonders I discovered deep within myself. Cities and libraries, books as far as the eyes can see. An incredible, infinite freedom. The Old One has shown me so much, explained so many things. I was in places you cannot even fathom. Impossible architecture, vast cathedrals. Oh, those magnificent cathedrals..."

William seemed to start daydreaming again and he rolled his eyes so far up that I could only see their white. Hastily, I started shaking him.

"What... yes. I did not want to doze off. Soon, I will have unleashed my true potential. Kim, you will be truly amazed!"

He looked at me, smiling, and for a brief moment he seemed to turn back to his old self. He got up and left the room, whistling. When I saw him again later that night, he had fallen back into his almost catatonic state, much to my dismay.

In the next morning, a scream woke me from my sleep. I got up, terrified, and looked for William. He sat on top of his bed, straight up, like a candle, sweating. Tears ran down his face.

"William, what happened?" I asked, panicking.

"It's over. I know everything. My mind is explored, everything that was inside me… I have learned it all. There will be nothing new. Never again!"

With those words he fainted, pale as chalk. My parents took him to a nearby hospital and he had to stay there for some days.

"This is all my fault, I should have been home more often!" my poor father exclaimed.

He was devastated. I had never seen him that way before. After all those years of hard work, never having shown a sign of giving up, his worries for his son had finally broken him, cut into his very soul. My mother was also under shock, not saying another word that evening. I decided to try and help William on my own.

The next day, I went to Humboltstreet, looking for the antique shop. I was in luck; the old man still lived above his closed store. I must admit that I was a bit afraid, as William forgetting the man’s face came back to my mind and made me wonder… Was it clever to go there alone? However, I quickly swept away those thoughts, as my brother was clearly in danger. I had to do something! When I rang the bell, my feelings of uneasiness and terror slowly started to ramp up.

Why did he not remember the face?

What had William seen there? Or had he just been kidding me on that fateful day? When he had gotten the book? My hands started sweating, as I heard the steps closing in on me from behind the old wooden door. Soon, he would be here, standing in front of me. The man that had caused all this harm to my family. Should I run? I could…

The door opened and…

A jolly old man stood there, looking at me in slight confusion.

“Yes, what may I do for you? How can I help you?”

The feeling of danger was gone, and I let out a sigh. However, when I asked him about William, he did not remember him. The man even insisted that no one had bought or gotten anything from him and most of his things had been given to a nursing home. Confused, I left his door, slowly walking through the streets.

Was I on the wrong track? Was it in the end just that accursed book? Where was it even from? I was drowning in thoughts of worry, my mind trailing off, when…

Someone grabbed me by my shoulder.

I turned around and saw a… person behind me.

*"If you want to help your brother, let him dream. Let him dreaaam!"*

It was an old man - at least back then that is what I thought he was. He stood very tall, his whole body covered by a cloak. Strangely, my eyes could not look at his face, even seemed to force my gaze away from it. Something deep inside me refused to see… and without any good reason, I suddenly stopped to care about it. It was just an old man. I was sure of that. Oh, how terribly wrong I was, a damn fool...

"I'll do my best!" I answered. The old man was long gone, almost as if it had all just been a daydream.

Hesitating at first, I finally made my way to the hospital and delivered the message to my brother. He was in no way fazed when I told him about my encounter and just stared at a wall. In the end, I left William in his room at the hospital. The way home seemed longer than before, and I thought of other ways to help him. Were there any? I just wanted my brother back!

Perhaps... I could visit William in a dream, cheering him up? Today, I do not remember how I got that crazy idea, but I had to grasp at every straw. Back home, I looked for the tome and to my relief I found it under his bed. I was happy that he had not asked for it at the hospital, but perhaps fate was just kind to me for once. The cover of the book smelled like ruin and the pages had already turned yellow, the words on them having been written by hand. Though the symbols and language were foreign, I had no problem deciphering them, but back then, I did not care, although I should have…

I quickly read the first chapter and found a small note in the end that gave me new hope. Apparently, dreams could be shared after some long training, but blood-related people had done it by accident on some occasions more easily. I did not need to know more.

That night, I dozed off with high expectations and like a miracle I quickly realized that I was dreaming. I concentrated all my mind on one wish: visiting my brother inside his dreams. I had to get to him, I had to get him back, I had to save him! Nothing happened. I concentrated, again and again repeating my thoughts. When I had almost given up, I suddenly found myself standing in an ancient city.

Huge temples made from marble and ivory reached high into a crimson sky, bearing beautiful ornaments. The architecture was impossible by the laws of nature I knew and the monuments towered high into the heavens around me. The gateways and doors and windows were unnaturally high and unnervingly slim, but their beautiful colors made me forget my worries. Crystal clear fountains and contorted walkways made everything look magnificent, but alien. The rooftops were connected by fragile tubes and on the few occasions I could see beyond the buildings, there were gigantic cylindric towers, far away.

Somehow, I felt William's presence and carried on through the cyclopean city. After some wandering about I reached a gigantic abyss, brightly white and gaping. This was where the city ended. Beyond that abyss, there was pure nothingness, as if the world had been cut off. I did not dare get closer and spotted a small stairway reaching over the void and ending at a large door made from bronze, apparently leading nowhere.

I walked along the edge of the abyss until I had reached the foot of the stairs, though I did not dare to get closer than three meters towards the cliff separating city from void. I peeked down into the emptiness below, but every time I did, I had to quickly look away again, because the sterile white awoke an immense fear inside me. I almost did not notice something slipping past me.

Or someone.

When I looked back at the stairs, I recognized William, who had just taken the first steps, walking behind a figure clothed in a green, partly rotten cloak. I did not see the face, but it appeared to be the old man I had met in the city. The two of them marched towards the bronze door. Almost had reached it.

"William! What are you doing?" I shouted as loudly as I could, my words echoing through the emptiness of the dream.

"Kim? What...? I do not have time for mirages," he shouted back at me. "I found a way out! Limitless, eternal knowledge! Waiting for me, just there!" He waved his hands towards the closed bronze door.

"I will rule over all knowledge! Everything that was, everything that is! Everything that ever will and could be! I will change, become something different, no mere human, no! Something better! Something more! So much more!"

He laughed maniacally.

I could not take it anymore.

„Come back, please! Our parents are worried sick! You have to end this madness!" I cried, pleading.

William laughed again, high pitched and crazed.

"The Old One shows me a way out. A way to growth and flourishment!"

William took the last steps towards the door, passing the old man. He started pulling at the door handles like a maniac. What would we see after they opened up? Would they suck us in? I was afraid and watched in terror, frozen in place by fear.

"Open up! Open up!" William cried out, getting more and more agitated, now banging at the door.

But the gate stayed shut.

Nothing happened…. For a short while.

Then…

*"It isss not you, it isss not you, it issss not youuuu..."*

When I heard the terrible voice, I almost went mad. Gurgling and hissing it echoed through the dream, ancient and evil. Never before had I heard something like it, such pure darkness crystallizing in words, threatening to rip me out of the dream.

I did not know where they came from, but deep within me a horrible suspicion started to grow. When the felt hat flew away, dropping into the abyss, I started screaming.

Where the head of the… old man… should have been, only a big, craggy, six fingered hand rose into the air. It twitched, grabbing at nothingness, mad and crazed. But the worst thing was the giant eye, staring at me from the palm of the hand with an icy, hostile gaze. The neck the hand was sprouting from grew longer and longer. In the end, it almost seemed as if a long, skinny arm with an unhealthy number of joints sprouted from the collar of the cloak, winding itself towards my brother like a snake.

When William, having come to his senses through my scream, noticed the being, he also started roaring in fear. But it was too late. As he tried to jump past the creature, more and more arms grew out of the cloak's sleeves, moving around, the mouths and eyes of a dozen palms lusting for my brother. William was pulled into the growing sea of limbs and I had to watch powerlessly as the dream started to fade.

"Let him go!" I screamed.

*"It iss not him... it issss not him... we do not need… him... it issss not him..."*

The voice's volume started to increase even more, making me feel dizzy. I could only watch in horror as William was ejected by the teeming mass, falling down from the stairs and into the endless white abyss, while he disappeared from my field of view after a long while, emitting a long horrible scream. The dream started to get hazier, more distant. Suddenly, the eyes on the palms turned around to look at me and the mouths started to speak again, whispering and drooling:

*"Is it you....? Iss it youu...? Isssss it yooooouuuuuu....?"*

When the being started to flow towards me, the dream ruptured around me and I found myself back in my bed, heavily breathing and sweating. What the hell had just happened? What a nightmare! I just could hope for William to be alright. Had it been an omen? A premonition? Was William in danger? In the hospital? I looked for the book but was unable to find it. Where had it gone? It had to be somewhere around here...

Then, the squeaking sound of the front door got to my ears.

What?

Was that the man, that terrible dream entity, coming for me?

I stared at my room's closed door, listening. Something came down the floor outside.

Slowly.

Scuffling.

*Tap.*

*Tap.*

*Tap.*

I will never forget those sounds. These terrible sounds of things to come. I heard the thing stop in front of the door, fiddling around with the handle.

Finally, the door swung open, squeaking, and I was able to see it.

There he was, William, almost not recognizable. His hair had turned long, snow-white and ruffled, his eyes were tiny, red and hazy. He limped into the middle of our room and said with a coarse voice:

"I have seen eternity, Kim. I have seen eternity."

The creature that had once been my beloved brother started laughing madly, standing in front of me, his body being shaken by spasms, until he collapsed and dropped dead on the floor. I fainted with a scream, only waking up three days later at the hospital.

Until this day, I have no idea what had exactly happened to William, and I do not want to know. I am only going to sleep after taking dream suppressant pills. That way, it can never find me.

## Characters

* Kim
* William
* Father
* Mother

## Entities & Objects

* City in the Dream
* Dream Entity
* Men in the Dream
* Pidgeons

## Possible Connections to the Ebrugh

* The Dream Entity consists of hands with six fingers, similar to the Entity in Rome.

## Trivia

* The fate William suffers is similar to that of Ricky in Stephen Kings horror story *The Jaunt*.