Levi laid down on the couch. He closed his eyes as his head landed on the soft cushions of the couch. He could feel himself fading, entering that world of colours and impressions.
He was almost back in that colourful realm, when he was abruptly torn from it.
Slowly opening his eyes, slightly dazed and drowsy, he tried to get his bearings.
He struggled to breathe as a woman dressed in a dark red gown held him up by his throat. Her eyes were an unnatural shade of green, too deep, too rich. Her hair was as black as ink, and her face seemed as white as chalk.
She grinned at him, as she tightened her grip on Levi’s throat.
‘Ah, good you’re still awake. Can’t have you entering that dream world again now, dreamwalker.’
He mumbled something.
The woman cocked her head, then smiled, loosening her grip. Levi barely caught himself on time to prevent faceplanting back onto the couch.
‘Sorry.’ She said, as her smile widened. ‘What were you trying to ask?’
All of Levi’s instincts told him to run. To break down and cry. To give up.
But rationally he knew there was no way this woman would let him go until she was done with him.
She chuckled. ‘Why are you so tense?’ She spread her arms. ‘I’m here to offer you the job of a lifetime.’ Then she looked at him again. ‘However long or short that may be.’
Levi’s brow furrowed. ‘Job? I’m just a college student, I work at McDonalds on the weekends.’
The woman chuckled again. ‘Oh my dear boy. You could do so much more than that. Your talents are wasted here.’
Levi shook his head. Talents? Him? The most extraordinary thing he’d ever done was beat Jackson at monopoly that one time, and that had mostly been luck.
‘You, my soon to be employee,’ she continued. ‘Are a dreamwalker.’ She turned away from him to grab and look at the picture of him and his housemates on the nearby table. She looked it over then put it back as she spoke. ‘A mind designed to traverse the realm of dreams, expression, and emotion.’ She clicked her tongue. ‘Those old Fae hags were stuck-up as fuck, but not even I have managed to quite reach their understanding of mental manipulation.’ She scoffed, then she shook her head. ‘Not that it matters, they’re dead now.’ She shrugged. ‘Or as dead as immortal beings can really be, I suppose.’
Then she shook her head. ‘Anyways, what really matters is that you, mister dreamwalker you, are a rarity, presumably one of a kind. Which makes you valuable and useful.’
‘Which is why you’re offering me a job?’ Levi asked, slightly more relaxed now that he realised she really was not here to kill him.
She nodded with a smile. ‘There you go! I knew you’d get it eventually!’
She sat down next to him with a flourish, and gestured widely with her arms. ‘This is my vision: The greatest form of entertainment streamed straight into the audience’s mind! Forget movies! Forget video games! Forget the dusty old pages of a book! With your help we’ll pioneer the final form of entertainment!’ She smiled widely. ‘There will be no need for interpretations of artworks, as the intended meaning will be directly sent to the recipient! No arguing over who is best girl, or whether the ending was satisfactory or not! No need for complex discussions about representation and washing of any kind! All intentions and experiences will be communicated exactly as intended!’
Levi found himself nodding. The woman’s sales pitch did at least seem to make sense.
The woman smiled. ‘Sooooo what do you think?’ She asked, her intense green eyes meeting his dull blue ones. He felt strangely drawn in by them. Like they were the centre of a black hole sucking up all his attention. As if they drained colour out of the room, like everything else would soon fade to black.
Mesmerised by these eyes he spoke. ‘That sounds wonderful.’
The woman perked up. ‘I know, right?!’
Levi then hesitated. ‘But how exactly do I help? You mentioned I was a dreamwalker? But what does that mean?’
‘Oh don’t worry about that, darling.’ She said, waving his problems away. ‘All you have to know is that your mind, particularly your soul, has a very special structure, and that allows you to slip into the mental world, where eventually the minds of all living beings intersect. After some training you’ll be able to traverse that world, and affect it, instead of having it affect you, like when you dreamed last night.’
Levi shook his head. ‘But I’ve never experienced dreams like those before-’
‘Tonight?’ She grinned. ‘That’s because I poisoned your wine last night. Did you not notice any nausea or headaches of the like?’ She chuckled. ‘Or did you think that was the alcohol?’ She added as she playfully flicked a lock of her now suddenly dark brown hair past her face. And it passed her dark green eyes, they suddenly shifted to a light brown, and her chalk white face gained a small bit of colour.
Levi’s eyes widened.
‘Miranda?’ He asked, recognising the woman in front of him as the girlfriend of one of his housemates.
The woman shook her head. ‘That is how you and your housemates would know me, yes. But,’ she snapped her finger, and her features immediately turned back to the pale black haired women with the mesmerising eyes. ‘I think you’ve realised I am far more than that.’
Levi shook his head. This was a lot to take in. Miranda, Cain’s girlfriend, was offering him a job as a dreamwalker?
The woman sighed. ‘No not as a dreamwalker, boy, but as an entertainer, an engine for my grandest work of art yet!’
Levi shook his head, he was not sure about this, but he also did not think this woman, Miranda, would take no for an answer. And she seemed dangerous. No Levi did not have much of a choice at all.
Without Levi even saying anything the woman grinned, and held out her hand. The room seemed to darken again, the deep green in her eyes once again seeming to be the only colour left.
‘So, it’s a deal then?’