IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION

The following story is fictional. Any resemblance it bears to actual people, places or events is purely coincidental, and not the intention of the publisher.

The Ancient One
"Bad Dreams"
By; Speaker Gerald Polley

This story contains violence which may not be appropriate for young readers.

.Now, for many nights The Ancient One had been planting seeds for different groups making up those forces in Spirit which were skilled with his people. This particular night however, he was in an ugly mood. That day, for no reason, one of his co-workers had insulted and threatened him merely because he did not like The Ancient One's ways. The Ancient One needed to plant the seeds in a certain locality in a Northeastern City, but there were simply no desirable bodies for him to use. He was drawn to one of the city's slums. Darkness radiated from one particular building and it drew The Ancient One's curiosity.
He descended, entering through a sealed doorway. He found what had once been a lavish ballroom of a small hotel, high up on its top floor. Now, scattered about on mattresses were twenty-one young men, and fourteen young women. Some had long hair on one side of their heads, and none on the other. Some had mohawks, some had no hair at all, but a tiny bit in a long pigtail running down their back. The Ancient One shook his head.
The large room was tightly sealed, and eight kerosene space heaters were scattered about it. There was so little oxygen left in the room the young people were nearly suffocated. As The Ancient One looked around, something came out of the darkness in one corner. It had once been a man, but now it was barely recognizable.
"Go away!" it said, "Go away! They are mine! Get out of here!"
As the thing grew closer, The Ancient One extended his hand and repeated an ancient incantation. A shimmering glow of light surrounded him.
"Aaaah!" the creature cried, and backed off. "Have pity, Lord Of Light!" he cried.
"Be gone!" The Ancient One said, "You will not draw sustenance from those these ones destroy any more. Their days of terrorizing have come to an end. Be gone, demon. Find a new source of nourishment!"
The horrid creature backed off further. "What mischief do you intend, Lord of Light?" it asked. "What will you do to my servants?"
"I will send them," said The Ancient One, "to That Place where they will weep and wail, and I will give those forms to others who will put them to GOOD use."
The Demon boldly stepped closer. "Does that make you any better than me?" he asked. "Who are you to decide who is good and who is evil, what is just, and what is unjust? You surrounded yourself in a shield of light, but are you any better than me? You, too, destroy."
"There is a difference," The Ancient One said, "All that I do, I do for Good. And I can only destroy Evil. Against the Good I am powerless. But you destroy everything and anything, merely to feed your own greed, to ward off for another day your certain destruction. That is the difference. I will go on forever. Someday, someday soon there will be none left to feed you, and you will die the final death, the total death, you will be drawn up by The Darkness and devoured!"
"I live forever!" the Demon screamed, "Forever!"
The Ancient One laughed and extended his hand. The brightness around him increased. "Perhaps," he said, "he who would live forever should see himself!"
The shield before The Ancient One became like a mirror reflecting the demon's image. "NO!" the Demon screamed. "No!" falling to his knees. "Please! Please! Take it away! I will depart. I will argue with you no more! Take it away!"
The Ancient One again extended his hand, and the demon rose and fled through a boarded up window. The Ancient One went to a couple of windows and ripped holes in the dark plastic covering
them to let in air. The flames in the heaters immediately brightened, then returning to the center of the room, The Ancient One extended his hands and concentrated. He entered the dreams of each person in the room, binding their dreams together as one. And in their dreams each person in the room awoke and sat up, looking at him strangely. For in the dream The Ancient One took on his ordinary form.
"Who are you?" said one of the men.
"Your executioner," answered The Ancient One. "I have come into your dreams and in your dreams I will kill you. Do you know what happens when you die in your dreams? The bond between you and your body is broken and your body dies. But your bodies won't die because I'll put someone else back in them, someone that will use them rightly.
The man who had been speaking laughed.
"Frederico," he said, "Higgles, Spike Head, kill this kook and throw his body out back so we can go back to sleep."
The Ancient One was well aware that three young men had been walking up behind him. Suddenly one of them brought a crowbar hard on the back of The Ancient One's head, but with a loud metallic "PING!" the crowbar bounced off and flew back, driving its point deep into the young man's forehead. Without even looking The Ancient One reached back, yanked the crowbar free, and with two lightning-fast strokes sent the other two to the floor! The three young men faded out and three others appeared in their place, wearing the uniforms of Polish soldiers from different eras. They quickly got to their feet and backed off to the room's only exit, blocking it. Suddenly two of the women in the room gave a startled cry, and faded out. Two women in Polish dress took their places.
"What to hell?" said the man who had been speaking.
"Literally," explained The Ancient One, "they were frightened to death."
The man reached under his coat and pulled out an automatic pistol. Several of his companions also drew weapons.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The Ancient One warned. Each of the weapons however, began to fire, and the women began to cry out and fall over, and several of the men, too, until the guns were empty. The last round from each struck the person firing. All the bodies shimmered, disappeared, and others reappeared in their place. Now, only two women and one man of the room's original occupants remained.
The Ancient One walked over to the man. Reaching under his coat he drew out a folding knife. "You used this," he said, "to kill the old lady down the street, so you could steal what little she possessed to feed your habit." The Ancient One drove the blade deep nto the man's chest and yanked it out. The man keeled over as The Ancient One turned towards the woman beside him. "And you stood there laughing while she died. You thought it was really funny!"
The knife again drove home and the woman, too, collapsed. The Ancient One stood back as they faded out and their replacements appeared. The lone woman remaining shrieked in terror and ran for the door. When the guards there barred her way, she stepped back a little ways into the room, and fell to her knees, crying.
"Don't be afraid," The Ancient One said, "I can't harm you. You will awake from this nightmare I hope with an understanding that will change your life."
"You can't hurt me?" the woman asked.
"You have done nothing," The Ancient One assured, "deserving death. Fleeing your father was no crime, and seeking protection anywhere you could was also not evil. You did as much as you could to shield yourself from the evil they were doing. You were a victim, not a participant."
One of the Polish soldiers walked over.
"Colonel Petrus," he said, "Polish Free Forces. What do we do with her, sir?"
"If I were you," The Ancient One suggested, "I'd take very good care of her because she's going to
be the only one in this city knowing your secret."
The Colonel looked around. "Some of them disappeared completely," he said, "there's only ten men and women left."
"The rest had criminal records," explained The Ancient One, "that made their bodies of no use to us. The rest had only misdemeanors. None of the real crimes they had committed could be proven."
The Colonel nodded. "I am going to leave the dream state," warned The Ancient One. "When I do you will awaken. You know where all the valuables are they keep here. I would strip them of their weapons and jewelry and depart quickly. Let the police clean up this mess. Let the coroner go crazy trying to figure it out!"
The Colonel motioned to his people and they retreated to where their bodies lay. The girl got up and looked confused. "Go lie down where you were," ordered The Ancient One. The girl obeyed and The Ancient One held out his hand and reentered the real world. No sooner had he done so, then twenty-one bodies stirred for a moment, but only eleven rose. The girl stood, bewildered and confused as the others began to strip the bodies that didn't get up.
"My God!" she cried, "Oh, my God! It WASN'T a dream! It was REAL!"
One of the men came over to her. "Grab your things," he ordered, "we've got to get out of here!"
"Where's the other man?" the girl asked.
"He's still here," her companion said, "but he'll be leaving soon. His work is done."
"I'm scared!" the girl said.
"There's no need to be!" her companion told her. "As far as anyone else is concerned, you had a nightmare. As long as you don't try to tell anyone it was any more than that, you will be perfectly safe. None of us would ever harm you."
The girl looked around at all the smiling faces surrounding her.
"Please be our friend!" one of the women pleaded. "You will see we can do only good."
"The girl returned the smile and gathered up her things and they all hurried out.
The Ancient One left too, going out on the balcony. He paused a moment before winging home.
"Out of evil," he said, 'has been made good. From out of The Darkness comes Light. Some might say it was wrong, but I think it's a fair night's work."
He leapt skyward and soared home.

THE END

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