Dream Travel

## A Warning...

Before you begin studying dream travel, it is important that the dangers be first impressed upon you. The Dream World is unstable and ever changing. It is confusing and mysterious. Many who have set off in exploration have never returned, their bodies withering away while loved ones remain, watching helplessly. Still others have suddenly disappeared, vanished from their bed, never to be seen again.

## Introduction

Dream Travel is a method of transporting one’s self from one place to another through a shortcut which can only be traversed by incorporeal spirits. Your body cannot, as far as we know, enter the Dream World. The things on your person, however, can, and will.

When traveling in the Dream World, everything you have on your body will come with your spirit into the Dream World. That includes your clothing, anything in your pockets, and anything in your hands. Nothing that is under you or merely laying on top of you will be transported though, only things you are holding or have on your person.

## The OM

To travel in the Dream World as opposed to lightly visiting it in a dream, you must draw this symbol on your forehead and speak the mantra until you enter a trance or fall asleep. If you are conscious (Lucid Dreaming) while traveling, do not be surprised to see the symbol pop up along your travels. It has been said that the symbol will guide you to your spirit’s true wish if you follow it, but none who follow it have returned. Do your best to ignore it, and when you awake, it will have faded from your head (hopefully both your forehead and your thoughts).

## The Life Line

The most important thing to have with you when you travel in the Dream World is a life-line. Your life-line is what will guide you to and unlock the exit from the Dream World, back to reality.

Only those who have complete control and dream lucidly can dream travel without a life-line. Normal dreamers’ spirits will always return to their bodies upon waking instead of the other way around, but those who enter with the intent to travel and have the symbol on their skin, will not reunite with their bodies until their spirit exits the Dream World.

A life-line is a medallion which is keyed to a certain exit point, called a ‘dream net’, or sometimes even just a ‘net’. Currently, the Coalition has two exit point nets in its boarders, one at Sator, and one in the Magical Abilities Testing building (often referred to as the MAT Building) in Union City.

The life-lines and exit points are created by breaking a magical object into smaller pieces which are then crafted by magic users of Earth and Metal, who use their special abilities to break down the magical objects to refashion them into the medallions and nets.

These pieces, no matter what is done to them, will always be pulled towards each other, though on a level not noticeable in the waking world. In the Dream World however, they will propel a normal unconscious dreamer to their destination faster than a speeding train. The more lucid and in control a person is, the more slowly they will travel and though they will still feel the pull of the medallion, they will not be as compelled to follow it.

## Exits

Exit points look like a giant circular net over an asymmetrical opening and were designed very specifically like a round web with a hole in the center. In order to pass through the web, the life-line must first go through the hole, allowing your spirit to follow. In this manner, the net serves as a sort of lock, which can only be opened with the medallion key. If someone tries to pass through the net without the medallion, they will become trapped in it.

The other purpose of the net is to keep the doorway open. The net keeps the exit point opening open and it never changes. It remains fixed and substantial.

Could a net be removed from a doorway? Yes, a lucid dreamer could remove a net. In the dream world, doors can be open, closed, or suddenly not exist at all. They can also change shape and size or even disappear in the blink of an eye. Most doors are completely unsubstantial to non-lucid dreamers and they pass right through them. Lucid dreamers can also pass through the doors without opening them, but they run the risk of slipping into a dream state and losing control.

Each medallion is keyed to a bed in the arrival room at both exit points in the Coalition and going through the web will cause your spirit (and therefore your body) to be drawn to that particular bed. Your body remains in the place you left it during dream travel, then snaps like a rubber band, back to your spirit as soon as it leaves the dream world through a portal. Your clothes and anything on your person will travel with you.

## Non Lucid Dreaming

A non-lucid dreamer will most likely remember nothing from dream travel, simply falling asleep in one bed and waking up in another because the lifeline will pull them along too quickly.

When they enter the dream world during sleep without the symbol or a life-line medallion, they will only remember bits and pieces, usually unclear. There is no danger entering the dream world this way without since the symbol must be on your body and the mantra must be spoken or thought as you go into a trance in order for your spirit to disconnect from your body while you are there.

## Lucid Dreaming

Lucid Dreamers can remember some, or even all of their time in the dream world, depending on their level of proficiency. When a lucid dreamer enters the world of dreams with a life line, they can choose to allow the lifeline to pull them along, though doing so will greatly damage their ability to remain in control or remember what occurred.

To lucid dreamers, the dream world is much more solid, though still constantly changing. Everything in the dream world is affected by both reality and perception. Things that change in the real world change in the dream world at an even higher frequency. Emotions and a strong enough belief can affect the scenery, and lucid dreamers can control this to some extent.

Exercising that control will slow them down however, if they have a life line they are following. Most new lucid dreamers will start off in control, but slip out of it and are propelled by the lifeline, forgetting most of their travels.

## How to Exit the World of Dreams Without a Net and Lifeline

This is a carefully guarded secret only known to a select few in the coalition, but is common knowledge to witches.

To create an opening to exit the World of Dreams, you must have first been to the place you wish to exit in the waking world, and it helps greatly if you left your DNA behind. Witches often keep a vial of blood in the rooms which does the trick nicely.

The blood or DNA comes in handy because you need to travel there through the Dream World, which can be tricky as the World of Dreams is constantly changing. Skilled lucid dreamers can feel the pull of their DNA though, the more they left in the waking world, the stronger the pull, so they can follow that.

Once they get to the place in the World of Dreams, they must shed their blood again, using it to draw a circle where they wish awake (usually a bed) and then using it to draw the OM symbol on themselves once again which will create an opening to appear where they drew the circle which will close behind them.

Superficial wounds such as this do not do much damage upon waking, but all wounds in the Dream World are wounds of the spirit and so their damage is often psychological. In the case of these minor cuts it would possibly make the person somewhat tired, irritable, impulsive, or distracted for a few hours the next day. For more serious injuries in the Dream World, it is possible for a person to completely lose their mind.