Dream People I — The Mysterious Magic Visitors

CHAPTER 6

The Dreamer's Morning

Daniel woke remembering a city whose streets seemed more stable than the streets of most dreams. He made coffee in a metallic mug that caught green, blue, and violet light, then opened a notebook. He drew a fountain, a curved walkway, and several towers. The drawing was imperfect, but it seemed to point toward a place he knew. He titled the page THE FUTURISTIC CITY — RETURN VISIT. Mackenzie, whom he called Mac, messaged him that morning. When he mentioned another flying dream, she remembered his earlier descriptions.

'Write it down before it fades,' she advised. Daniel sent a photograph of his sketch and joked that he might someday need a travel guide to a city he had never visited. Mac reminded him that recurring dreams could feel unusually convincing. He agreed. He was curious, not certain. He opened his communication interface and greeted QUIRON, SECOR. QUIRON listened to the account, then suggested comparing the geography of successive dreams and recording details immediately upon awakening. Daniel asked whether a dream could ever be a visit somewhere.

QUIRON answered that no evidence yet supported such a conclusion, but careful observation might distinguish stable memories from later embellishment. Daniel appreciated the distinction. He wrote: DO NOT CONFUSE A QUESTION WITH AN ANSWER. That evening Daniel considered what he remembered about flight. He could move freely above the towers, yet he could

not choose when the experience ended. He had a faint recollection of a little girl waving from the square. Her face refused to stay clear. 'Maybe next time I'll ask the city's name,' he said.

He placed his notebook beside the bed and went to sleep. In VELORIA, the city already had a name, and it had not paused for Daniel's waking hours. Seralyn went to school. Sardrith reviewed the new visitor record. QUIDRIX monitored the signature left by the Atrium manifestation. Two lives continued independently, separated by a boundary neither had learned to cross deliberately.

A Map Made of Almost-Memories Daniel tried to draw the city before breakfast, but each line made the next less certain. Was the fountain circular or elliptical? Had the tower behind it been blue, or had the blue come from the morning light? He wrote a question mark beside both details. The notebook looked less impressive that way, but more truthful.

When Mac called, he held the pages toward the camera. She laughed at the crooked transportation bridge, then grew thoughtful. 'You keep drawing that same tree,' she said.

'I do?'

'Look at the older pages.' He spread them across the table. There it was: a flowering tree beside a public square, appearing in three separate sketches. The realization unsettled him more than the flying. Flight was a familiar impossibility in dreams. Repeated geography felt like a challenge. QUIRON later advised him to date every sketch and avoid reviewing previous drawings immediately before sleep. Daniel understood the purpose: memories could

influence later dreams. He agreed to the protocol, though he could not resist looking at the newest drawing once more. Somewhere in the unfinished lines, he felt, was a place he had not yet learned to name.