#behind an army while she played the victim and midas was not having any of it and didnt hesitate to whipe out the army and go for the kill

[beyondthemasquerade]

Never Stop Fighting...?

This one’s about a dream I had last night...

A large crowd gathered on a vast space of land for a weekend of learning. This wasn’t any ordinary conference, because some of the breakout sessions required long hikes through thick woods to reach them— treks up hills and mountains alongside other weary attendees.

Finally my destination arrived: a one room schoolhouse, tucked into a picture-perfect grove of trees in the middle of the pristine forest. The other students shuffled inside and took their seats, and the teacher began into the session.

It was hard to pay attention to the content, because some of those sitting in the front row kept fooling around. The breakout leader seemed not to notice, continuing to teach despite the continued mocking from those in at the front of the room. When they decided to start smoking right at their desks, causing several others to cough and hack, I was pretty much ready to head out the door.

Thankfully it wasn’t long before the session ended. Crowds of people, seemingly much larger than could have fit into that small schoolhouse, flocked through the woods and down the mountain towards the main gathering place. I hadn’t known anyone inside the small room, but now as I walked I recognized a few of the hikers.

One woman in particular stood out to me, an old friend whom I haven’t seen in years. We briefly talked, but then she noticed some abandoned buildings off the side of the path and down a small hill. We headed down and entered one of them— a dark and imposing stone church that had long been vacant.

Suddenly (as often happens in dreams), we were instantanously accompanied by some of the other strangers from the session; a few of them the troublemakers who had been the source of the problems moments before. Together, we agreed that it may be interesting to investigate the building’s basement, and we carefully descended down the gloomy stairs one at a time.

Upon arrival in the black, we squinted in an attempt to get our eyes adjusted to this absence of light. As my eyes started to make out objects, I realized that something strange had come over one of those troublesome men from the breakout group. He was no longer just a mischief-maker or an agitator— his body had become infused by evil itself. As dark as the room was, there was something darker in his eyes.

The demon violently grabbed my friend, and we all jumped back in shock and terror. Somehow, beyond all hope, she managed to get herself free from his grasp, and the entire group rushed up the stairs— the creature close behind.

As our group arrived on the main floor, bright light steamed into the church through a few windows and the front door, which had long been ripped from its hinges. The demon hunched on the basement stairs, peering at us through a hole in the wall. It seemed obvious that something was keeping him there in the darkness, unable to maneuver into areas of light.

The demon was able to manipulate objects from his place on the stairs, and he caused a live electric wire to fall from the ceiling across our path, making our escape even more difficult. I urged my friend, who was on the other side of the wire, to get outside while I helped the others.

After a few moments, we stumbled out of the gaping hole that once was a front door into the sunlight. I knew immediately something was wrong. I took inventory of people, and it was apparent not only that my friend was missing, but a deep sense of horror told me that he had her. That somehow, the force from the church basement had taken her back into the bowels of the building before she was able to escape.

I came back later, armed with a thick branch sharpened to a point. I find that there are more people who have gathered in the old sanctuary on the first floor, and we rally together to rescue my friend from the clutches of the basement of Hell.

Carefully and quietly descending the stairs, I thought I was prepared for anything. I expected to face the devil once again. I expected and thought I had prepared myself for the battle of my life. What I saw in actuality was completely the opposite of anything I had planned for.

Instead of darkness, an eerie series of multicolored lights filled the space. It was reminiscent of a demented circus, with blues and reds and yellows spinning on the walls.

Instead of seeing the one familiar muscled villain with evil intent as I had expected, we encountered an endless mass of demons, all of them behaving differently.  Some of them acted strange, preforming feats of contortion and laughing hysterically to place fear in the hearts of those they approached.

Other demons acted afraid, playing the victim, sobbing, and walking up to members of my hastily assembled rescue team to say things like “why are you trying to hurt us? please don’t let him lie to you!”— the him in this case accompanied by a glance and pointed finger in my direction.

Others were violent and armed with crude weapons, engaging in deathly brawls with those on my team who were quick to raise a fist in their direction.

What struck me about the chaos was that, in the midst of all those different “personalities,” members of my team only seemed to acknowledge the one who had approached them. Those who were hypnotized by the odd scene of the contortionist seemingly didn’t even notice the blood from those in the fights. The soldiers in the battle didn’t even glance in the direction of those who were pretending to grieve... and so on and so forth. Each individual was truly in a sort of trance, taken captive by what the demons knew would take ahold of them the most.

The demons knew me too, because all else faded away as I recognized the man who had taken my friend. With a disturbing grin, he walked quickly (and then ran) towards me.

I was prepared, and I used the force of his approach combined with my own to shove my weapon— the sharpened wood— directly through his eye. There was no blood, just a seeping of black smoke from the wound.

For a moment, it felt as if I had won. All of the creatures, from the fighters to the contortonists to the grief-stricken, all froze in place, heads twitching in unison like I’d done the ultimate damage from which they’d be unable to recover.

But the moment was short-lived. With a vengance, the Legion roared and became more physically homicidal than ever before. As one, they pushed towards my makeshift army and struck down several— with those of us who could escape stumbling our way up the stairs and into relative safety.

My final thought as we were herded like cats by vicious dogs up those stairs was that I hadn’t even seen my friend’s face in that Hell. I had no idea where the Legion was keeping her.

Some time later, I had virtually lost my mind. I had set up a base camp near the basement, plotting in great depths day after day what weapons I could use to finally chart the ultimate rescue attempt. Maybe with a gun, or an army with explosives, or some sort of tactical gear... it had to be possible.

A friend named Jeff stopped by, and commented on my obsession with the cellar. I told him that I didn’t care what other people thought— I would continue my attempt to rescue my friend, fighting the demons until my dying breath or until she was freed.

Jeff asked me why I was fighting, which seemed like a pretty stupid question. Didn’t he realize what was at stake: the life of my good friend? Of course I needed to arm myself, of course I needed to prepare to physically face the Legion once more.

He stopped, looked me in the eye, and simply said:

“But don’t you know that perfect love casts out all fear?”

And then I woke up, with the lyrics to Faust, Midas, and Myself from Switchfoot playing in my head.

This one’s about a dream I had last night How an old man tracked me home and stepped inside He put his foot inside the door and gave a crooked smile There was something in his eyes,  something in his laugh, something in his voice that made my skin crawl off

He said I’ve seen you here before, I know your name You could have your pick of pretty things You could have it all, everything at once... Everything you’ve seen; everything you’ll need.. Everything you’ve ever had in fantasies...