XIV. The Dream Masters
This document must be brief.
My anti-psychotic medicines have a limited duration, and I cannot exceed my current dosage. I would die. And death would not free me from what I know.
I…
I must finish this briefing. I must.
I was a researcher for San Cipriano University’s… special academic group. I will not cite our name directly herein. Unauthorized persons may learn of our existence. This could be disastrous.
I say “was,” because I believe this will be the last document I ever complete. And I must complete it. This information must reach the correct viewers. Everything depends on it.
The Fields We Know
There is one universe, though it has a thousand faces. We, in our sunlit world, experience what is believed to be reality. And even when we turn away from the light and night falls over it all, there is an order to things. It is a terrible and dark order at times—but it is order.
There are indeed echoes of the dead that still think and speak and act. We call them “the Unquiet Dead.” There are also those who have died and yet remained in a limbo called “undeath.” Beings in this category—categories are important, they help hold back imprecision… chaos… categories—in this category, we find the Vampires, the self-styled “Lords of Eternal Darkness,” and certain members of the “Benevolent Society.” Dancing on the fringes of this death-power are humans who call themselves “Blood Dolls,” for their affinity for the Vampires among us.
We also find spiritual entities in our midst. Djinni, Messengers and Asuras may all be classed as quite similar, and all of them have archetypal resonance with known elements of the collective subconscious. Magicians (described as “Adepts” and “Loa Masters”), quasi-magicians (“Necromancers”) and paranormal-tech “libertarians” (“The Time Engineers”)… all fit within the parameters of the supernatural component of the universe. The murderous Slayers are a comfortable match, too, as they are people who are nearly antithetical parallels to the Blood Dolls.
All of this matches the expected patterns and outcomes of the world as we have known and recorded it to this point in history. Even Cultists are merely insane magicians, usually untrained or poorly trained, who wish to unwisely “pull a red lever and see what happens.”
But there is something else. It is my job to tell you of this other thing. My mission. The rest of the study group did not survive to this point… though not all of them have died.
The descriptive entries I am about to impart have been created from their notes. May their diligent work be remembered, and may this document be a useful memorial to their pioneering spirit.
A Second Supernature
There is one universe. But there is also Zero Universe.
Zeroes and ones.
It should be impossible, but it is true. We are not a computer simulation, but computer simulations, their language, at its base it is actually a representation of how reality truly functions. There is one universe. We may call it, poetically, “the Intrinsic Worlds.” And there is also the zero universe, or if you like, “the Extrinsic Worlds.”
A thing that can be, in a one universe, cannot be in a zero universe.
Should not be. Should. Not. Be.
Should and should not are natural and expected. Nature does what should be, and does not do what should not be. The nature of the one universe will not cross over. The nature of a zero universe will not cross over.
But if there is a supernature in a universe, it does what may be, and can be what it should not be. The supernature of the one universe can cross over.
And the supernature of the zero universe can cross over, two.
Too.
Natural law is only a description of the behavior of nature. “Should” really means “will,” in this context. Artificial things can only happen within nature. It is natural for thinking creatures to change their environment. No matter that a thing could not happen outside a laboratory or a factory, a laboratory or a factory happen in nature, and so artifice is a subset of nature.
Supernature is not a subset of nature. Nature is a subset of the supernatural.
Supra. Natural.
A wall of behaviors and existence that should give order and regularity to both one universe and zero universe is an empty void to supernatures. Supernature 1 and Supernature 2 may pass through such a boundary like hydrogen through solid steel.
It seeps.
It breaches.
There is another supernatural way, not of where we are and what we are. We know of it.
And it knows of us.
Systematization and Sanity
We stumbled across this truth while connecting seemingly random facts, many of them connected with an odd array of phenomena.
These phenomena could be called “omens” or “signs” if you prefer those nomenclatures, but we saw them as evidence. Any one or few of them might point to other supernatural causes. Such a mistake would be easy.
We did not make this mistake because we received direct knowledge. Through an encounter.
Returning to the point: The omens/evidence.
Confluences of patterns in everyday life, but not the usual pareidolia or para-psychotic connections. (“My coffee is speaking to me through symbols and allegory.”) Lines, angles, color values, lighting, timing. Much more geometric, spatial, almost as abstract art.
Neurological “backward masking.” The usual phenomenon called “backward masking” (messages ostensibly hidden in recorded audio media) is not present. An analog, however, is. Neurological scans of brain activities reveal hidden patterns that suggest an unknown language appearing in subject brains.
Paravisual subliminal phenomena. Many supernatural encounters are accompanied by “something seen in the corner of the eye.” The experiences we logged in our study referred to something unseen in the “corner of the eye,” a nagging sense that something should be present which draws the subject to look at what is not there.
“Peut-etre vu.” Another persistent side effect of many paranormal situations is either a sense of previous experience (“déjà vu”) or of the familiar as strange (“jamais vu”). This is particularly noticeable with active usage of psychic and magical effects. We discovered that the situations we investigated were sometimes associated with a phenomenon we termed “peut-etre vu”—“perhaps seen.” Anxiety and uneasiness were experienced as subjects entered an eerie and highly unpleasant state of existential uncertainty, as if they were actors in a play that was rapidly being rewritten as they lived it.
Apportation, teleportation, bilocation/multilocation. These are familiar phenomena from other supernatural sources, and under normal circumstances they are remarkable but not unknown. In this investigation, we found that they had a more ominous quality, as subjects could no longer be certain if a being/object was moving through or penetrating the fabric of spacetime, or if said being/object was actively defying the nature of spacetime itself, rendering it invalid in context.
Recursive dreams of portent. We joked about “inception.” It was a foolish series of jokes. At first, the dreams seemed to be nothing more than memories and anxieties recombining in our subconscious minds. A little lost sleep, nothing more. But it became impossible to be sure when we were awake. Asleep. Sleep researchers inform us that the line between being awake and being asleep can be read with instruments, but is feathery soft and blurry in our experience. Sleepwalking. Sleep-talking. Dreams where loved ones are only mental masks jawing through words that make no sense, puppeted by something too alien to contemplate. Masks that slipped. Faces that were not faces. Angles. Curves. Non-gestalt.
There.
There.
There were other phenomena, most of them arguably resulting from some other supernatural source. But the above items were sufficiently foreign and anomalous in character that we concluded that we had detected something new. Possibly something new to our universe.
Our suspicions were confirmed when the new set of phenomena took an interest in our investigative team.
I cannot explain or describe for you what happened to us in that terrifying week. When it was over… there were fewer of us. If I think about it too much…
I must not think of it. There is systematized knowledge to be shared before my meds wear off. Systematization makes the strange into familiar pieces of data. It gives us the power to control the unknown. We developed a system. It was made with our own minds. We used the new data. We used old data that we correlated. Old grimoires and diaries locked away. Strange facts from history that no one else had connected.
I will not describe the process. Believe me, it is better this way.
But we made a system to describe what we know.
The System of Doctor Yoshina and Professor Gonzalez
The second supernature of the Zero Universe has its own order and structure OR SO WE BELIEVE. We believe. We. Believe. Because we have been. TOLD. It was already in our sight with the data we had collected, collated, coordinated, coefficient. But the Masters of Dreams also.
Told.
Us.
Dream Masters. We call them Dream Masters.
They are not only
dreams.
They have a hierarchy. A demonology of alienness. Alienology.
I will tell it to you.
Now.
All of these PHENOMENA are heralded by the above signs given above and there are also other THINGs. There is a distortion in time and space that affects the SUBJECT as the Dream Masters approach. This creates a scent and sensation that is extremely subjectively extreme in unpleasantness.
Nausea. Cilia under the skin. Dizziness. “Greasy air.” Smell like ozone and burning bones.
Important: A strange (“unholy”) light fades into view as the Dream Masters manifest through the patterns of known reality. We DO NT KNOW F THIS IS REAL LIGT OR IF IS ONLY VISUAL CORTX.
The least of the Dream Masters are the Forerunners. Some think theyre servants. Others parasites. Others mitochondria. Others hallucinatiojns. MAYBE ALL.
The Vibrissae: Tremors and moving shadows resolve themselves into eclipse-black pseudopods that slither and TAKE. We lost Schreiner. SCHREINER VANISHED DOWN INTO THE EARTH
The Voorcha: Aliens, like eels or leeches, intelligent, levitating down from dark places in the sky, they want to learn about us
They have sharp keen eyes
The Sheggoniths: Cannot be seen only felt .shapeless and huge but behind the angles of time.. See them in patterns they make things happen
Encephalids: FRIENDS FRIENDS FRIENDS but only because they are not truly servitors—these are sapient alien life from ZERO UNIVERSE. Some fight for the Dream Masters. Others fight against them. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT FIGHTING MEANS TO THEM.
they spoke to us
Theresa was our “medium”
First came erratic behavior, then speech, then translation
They are brain tumors! Tumors that THINK!
Wendigo’s Children: A Shapeshifter tried to warn us but we didn’t listen. These are proof of old old old contact with Zero Universe. They are flesh eaters… they are only half human. Other half is from ZERO.
The Peaceful Ones: I will
I will try to be calm
Type this out
There is a fungus that loves our flesh and minds. It mates with us. We become part of it. No longer real people. Flesh and fungus
The others IT GOT THE OTHERS
Took the meds again. This will kill me.
The last part to know.
They have gods.
Here are their names, transcribed and given pronunciations and meanings of a kind. DO NOT TRY TO LEARN MORE.
The least of them, the demigods:
The Ministers of Madness
Zvatholah (zVAH-thoh-lah)
“Spider-bearded Zvatholah”
Amon-Lloitep (AM-un LOY-tep)
“Amon-Lloitep, Satrap of Time”
Sathathoa (sath-uh-THO-uh)
“Sathathoa, the Shadow of the Beyond”
Ygyth (EE-gith)
“Ygyth, Devourer of Hope”
Ghantur (GON-toor)
“Mother Ghantur, the Bearer of the Dead”
Ithashash (ith-uh-SHASH)
“Ithashash, Empress of the Unknown City”
Byagoth (bYAG-goth)
“Many-Eyed Byagoth”
Yhummog-Zhur (yoo-mawg ZHOOR)
“Yhummog-Zhur, the Weeping God”
Zog-Shuggon (ZOG-shug-on)
“The Whisperer in the Mist”
Tsagonoo (suh-GO-noo)
“Tsagonoo, The Dweller in Black Waters”
Chaubholos (CHAW-bo-lohss)
“Chaubholos of the Crimson Eyes”
Tugoloqua (TOO-go-LO-kwuh)
“Tugoloqua, the Other Saviour”
Dagnar-Gorthoth (DAG-nar GOR-thoth)
“Dagnar-Gorthoth, the Gnawer of Bones”
Nachala (nuh-CHAW-luh)
“Nachala the Wave-Walker”
Thabbog (THAB-bog)
“Thabbog, The Drowner in Darkness”
Mnolugg (GNAW-lug)
“Mnolugg, the Howler in the Lake”
Rhagoggua (ruh-GOG-wuh)
“Rhagoggua, the Doom of Sleep”
Vulkrug (VUL-krug)
“Vulkrug, the Shunned Goddess”
The lesser of them, the gods:
The Primal Entities
Hnarnac (hNAR-nack)
“Hnarnac, the Key of All Doorways”
Roghua-Tsaugn (ROH-gwuh SAWN)
“Roghua-Tsaugn, the Beast of Chaos”
Rhoghathoil (roe-GAH-thoe-ill)
“Rhoghathoil, the Universal Obscenity”
Nyathoom-Shubloth (nyah-thoom-SHUB-loth)
“Nyathoom-Shubloth, the Shaper of Flesh”
M’nathak (muh-NAH-thak)
“M’nathak, the Ultimate Pestilence”
The greatest of them, the arch-gods:
The Archaic Spawn
Nyaroth (nYAR-oth)
“Great Nyaroth, Master of Forbidden Secrets”
Ubbogghra (uh-BOG-gruh)
“Ubbogghra, the Space-Cancer”
Jutluch-Xcthaat (JUT-lutch ZIK-thot)
“Jutluch-Xcthaat, Weaver of Unbearable Memories”
Azogghua (uh-ZOG-wuh)
“Azogghua, the Screaming Madness”
Haslasha (huh-SLAW-shah)
“Haslasha the Faceless and Many-Faced”
Cthytaquah (kthit-AH-kwuh)
“Cthytaquah, the Mirror of Strange Truths”
Om-tegor (awm-TEH-gor)
“Om-tegor, the Great Fungus”
Turuana (too-roo-AH-nuh)
“Turuana the Impossible God”
Cnoggua (kuh-NOG-gwuh)
“Cnoggua, the Cosmic Despair”
Yhashtis (YASH-tiss)
“Yhashtis the Unnamable”
Shafeth-Koth (SHAW-feth KOTH)
“Shafeth-Koth, the Dreamer in the Gulf”
Shegtholqu (sheg-THOLE-koo)
“Shegtholqu, Queen of Worms”
HIDE THIS KNOWLEDGE. KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES. ABOVE ALL KEEP FROM CULTISTS
please god let me die
Hello, cousins. It is not common that we of the Myrmidon would cooperate and share information with you, who call yourselves the Lunar Covenant. As you know, this is a subject that demands our cooperation whenever it arises in our world.
And it is our world, after all. The biomass is full of other conscious living things, but they are all our successors, tenants on our planet. Our private dispute is still between factions of the true dominant species of this world, not with outsiders.
Most of the other factions are altered and augmented homo sapiens, a youthful species of primate. There are also spiritual entities from other vibrational planes that are trans-causally linked to this planet by homo sapiens’ interaction with their environment.
All of this is ordinary and expected. We will not debate the poetry and drama that you insist is present in this arrangement. That is part of our eons-old dispute and will not be resolved tonight.
Instead, we must briefly address the fact that we are no longer alone. There are outsiders who have come to our world, and they are hostile. As the first life to take form on this world that the primates call Earth, we must protect our territory.
The outsiders have been called “Dream Masters.” We will use that term for them, but it would be equally appropriate to call them “the aliens.” They are not native to our universe and do not belong in it.
Consider our universe. Approaching it from our perspective, we of the Myrmidon accept that panspermia and the vast reserves of life throughout time and space are real. We exist in a cloud of energy and matter, organized into patterns of stars and planets, teeming with life.
From your more imaginative and emotional point of view, this implies that everything is connected and that life is the norm. We agree, up to a point. As the primates would say, you see the forest while we see the trees. Ironic, given our chosen natures, but collectivism does not imply universal collectivism.
It makes no difference if you see our universe as a single vast entity or as a collection of many large entities: An outside infection is a threat to all. Both the Myrmidon and the Covenant agree that the Dream Masters are this kind of threat.
We “Shapeshifters” have known of incursions from the Dream Masters’ home universe since the dawn of time on this planet. It is thought we may also have unclear, quasi-epigenetic memory fragments of their incursions on other, older worlds in our universe.
It is understood that most life native to Earth is repulsed by the Dream Masters and things native to their universe, and so they have made little progress in their attempts to come to our home. Adaptation has changed this status quo.
Successful dominant species are highly adaptable. This is our strength, and it is also a strength of homo sapiens to a far lesser degree. We have the psychological strength to prevent adaptations that will aid the Dream Masters. Homo sapiens does not.
For you, it is a matter of memory selection and editing. This is your defense against the Dream Masters’ lethal mental corrosion. For us, it is our basic safety mode. The Myrmidon permit only rudimentary emotional responses by biological choice.
Homo sapiens, generally, regard it as necessary to both think and emote about the same subject matter. This permits them faster mental rearrangements than we can perform, but also makes them vulnerable to the Dream Masters’ influence.
It would be impossible to attempt to grasp the Dream Masters’ true nature or that of their home universe. Without resorting to poetic descriptions, we are clearly native to our Universe and they are native to Not-Universe. This is all we can definitively know.
Because they have frequently attempted to aggressively colonize and alter life forms, physical territory and space-time within our universe, and have made no attempt at harmonious interaction, they must be regarded as a dangerous infection.
There are clearly species associated with them that act as symbiotes, parasites, and other elements of their ecology. These species are also clearly hostile and work in tandem with the Dream Masters.
It is obvious that wherever an incursion of the Dream Masters occurs, it must be opposed with all possible force and intellectual rigor. There appears to be no possibility of useful communication or coexistence.
It is also obvious that in the entire biomass of Earth, there is only one species that is naturally inclined to be open to Dream Master influence: Homo sapiens.
We do not share the same perspectives on the primates who have overrun our world with their mineral constructs and combustion systems. We should agree on how they are to be dealt with if they harbor incursions of alien infections, and we of the Myrmidon think we do.
The rest of this assessment would become a series of details that can be shared at any time. It is important only to note that our dispute is always suspended when the Dream Master outsiders are found to have infected the planet we share.
Despite this, we of the Myrmidon offer the Lunar Covenant an idea to consider for possible future collaboration.
Homo sapiens is already a problematic species, and is prone to infection by the Dream Masters. We consider it statistically likely that they will endanger Earth for this reason within a short span of time.
We suggest that it may be valuable to exterminate homo sapiens entirely to prevent this threat from expanding or recurring. The cost to benefit ratio is highly favorable and the potential for success is strong. If we cooperate, the task could be completed quickly and as pleasantly as you might wish.
We hope that you will consider our suggestion. Time is not yet a pressing concern, but if it should become so, we have contingencies that could be forwarded for your consideration.
A temporary farewell, cousins, until our next encounter.
