Nigkala Tales Pt. 33: Heroic Dreams

"I am unsure how, what I did, fits."

"Like anything you do, you can think about it later, and realize what you should have done. Then you use that lesson, to choose better options later. You did not understand the full nature of the dreamworld, but had hints of possibilities. By choosing Tina to influence their dreams within the dreamworld, you have learned how to control the dreamworld beyond your own existence within it. Today's terminology calls this action lucid dreaming. But your connection to the dreamworld is now strong enough that your dreams can affect others.

"This is something that my experienced priests learn. As such, I will teach you more of the dreamworld, and how to use it, not just for yourself, but for others. You will no longer need another to bring you here, and soon you will learn to bring others here when they are waking. Another aspect is bringing things from the dreamworld to reality. It is not easy, but it is a way to bring the mysterious into reality and allow others to dream new dreams.

"Have you any questions?"

"What I did. Was I wrong to do it?"

"Not as far as I am concerned. You have made a great stride, learning to manipulate reality. I am proud of your accomplishments in what I have to teach. As to the morality of it, you must deal with that yourself. Look behind you on the wall, and see what I saw, as you thought."

I looked, and my mind was laid bare. Some thoughts brought me shame, and others pride. In fact, most were thoughts I was glad I had.

"As you see, you know what is good and bad, and you clearly understand what you have done. There is no greater teacher than experience, and you have an exceptional amount. Part of this is because you notice many things. You see more clearly than others, even when it applies to yourself. Forgive yourself. All make mistakes, but it is learning to be better, because you fail, that truly makes you worthy."

"Huh?"

"You know of one such test, the test of the lake, even though you never failed it."

I recalled my dragon friend's home, and how even he had issues with it.

"There are many such tests out there, but passing them is not the goal. Rather, becoming one who can pass at need is far better. Do not compare yourself to others. Your path is not theirs, nor is their path, yours."

She faded, and I looked at the wall, and slowly it faded, revealing the words, "The dreamworld is influenced by the dreamers. The dreamers are influenced by the dreamworld." Then it faded.

I don't recall how the rest of the night went, or even if I had any dreams, but when I woke, I was clutching a piece of amber. I thought about the other pieces she gave me, and how I had them on a necklace, and suddenly, the necklace was there, and the amber I had glowed briefly before becoming another ornament on the necklace. At that moment, I realized the necklace, and not the pieces of amber, was her talisman for me. The amber represented facets of her. Knowledge of the forest life, knowledge of creative magics, and now, knowledge of the dreamworld.

That morning, I headed to the FBI office in LA, and found it eerily similar to what I saw in the dream. I asked to speak to whoever was in charge of the white slavery case, as I had possible information for them. They were reluctant until I whammied them, and then I was sent to a familiar conference room. I seemed to get a whiff of sex, yet no one else seemed to notice it. After waiting nearly an hour, a man, looking like a lesser version of Agent Carlos Smith walked in. He stopped in shock as he saw me, and asked, "Tina?"

"No, Becky Sue Tate. And you are?"

"I am Agent Carlo Schmidt. I swear, I must have seen you somewhere."

"I am the actress known as Helen Asher. Perhaps in a movie?"

"I don't catch many movies. I prefer opera."

"Can't say I've done that. Lived it, maybe, but not performed in one."

"So. You say you have information on the white slavery case?"

"Not exactly. I had a dream two nights ago. In it, I was a hero, like in my movies, and I went after the slavers. The end result was many indictments, but also twenty dead, consisting of corrupt politicians, cops, and judges. Twelve of the twenty were listed dead in the paper. I don't think it was a coincidence. If the rest of the dream aligns, then it may have been a vision. If so, and I tell you what I remember, perhaps reality will match up enough to help you solve the case."

"What makes you think I'll pay any attention to what you say?"

"Look me up. You'll see I've worked with the law before, and helped them, yet I did it for them, not for me. I sought no fame from it. Also, when you called me Tina, did you think I was a succubus? I played that character in some movies. Movies you never saw, because you don't watch movies. But I bet you had a dream a few nights ago where you saw Tina, but it was really me, with bigger boobs, and you had sex with me."

He looked pole-axed. "... How?"

"As I said, I think I had a vision, and I think you shared in it. So, want to take a chance I might have more truth?"

"... I don't know."

I placed my hands over the table, so he couldn't see beneath, then cast a spell to create a folded piece of paper with the word 'moles' followed by the five names from the dream on the front. I then opened my hands, and passed him the paper.

"In my dream, you were Carlos Smith, not Carlo Schmidt. In the dream, there were several moles on the staff. These are the dream names. They may be similar to a real name, or not. Open the paper, and I wrote the description of the person in the dream, and the details of their corruption that proved them false. It may be a waste of time, but it may also clean house for you. Have you been having problems with leaks?"

"We have. But... but... this is worthless as proof."

"I know. But it may point you where to look for proof. Think of it as an anonymous tip. Was a Nancy taken recently?"

"Yes."

"Check the cameras for a man signaling three others shortly before she was taken. Earlier, he signaled three more and another was taken. The one running the show pays cash, and wipes the table of his fingerprints, but he forgot about the jukebox. The card used for that became a big break."

"You seem quite sure of yourself."

"I have a very good memory, even of dreams. If you want to talk, here's my private card. Don't let anyone have this contact info."

He called for someone to escort me out, but I heard from him a few days later.

"Becky Sue, I don't know how to say this, but..."

"My dream was spot on?"

"Yeah. Can you come in? We'd like to ask you some questions about it."

"Sure. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"But you'll never get here that fast with all the traffic."

"Don't worry about that. See you shortly."

I collected the pile of papers I had written after the previous meeting, and then swapped my outfit for the Tina one. Ready, I cast the non-notice spell I had learned from Isis, as it was better than invisibility, then I teleported near the FBI building and walked two blocks to get there, dropping the spell as I did. I was quickly escorted to another conference room, and I immediately felt it seal, both sound and air. I looked at each in turn, and ignored what they were saying while I read each of them to see who they were, and if they would be trouble.

Suddenly, into the babble, I spoke with An's authority, and said, "Silence."

This surprised them, and into the quiet, I continued, "Senior Agent Kyle Sanders, your presence is not required. You have nothing to do with the case, and are only interested in what I was able to do. I will not be an experiment, and will give nothing while you are part of this."

This set him off, and he explained that I had a duty to say what I knew. Again, using the authority, I said, "No, I do not. We all have skeletons in our closets." I moved right next to him, then quietly continued, "Shall I mention yours, or will you leave?" I then quickly mouthed the three words of his secret.

He went white as a sheet, then left.

"Sorry, gentlemen, but I don't want that kind of publicity. I like helping out, but don't want official interest. Understood?" I saw nods. "Please excuse me for ignoring you at first. I needed to ensure you were here to solve the case, and not... other... things. Please, can we begin again?"

Again, nods, then Carlo introduced everyone. Once that was done, I handed the folder I brought to him, and said, "This is stuff I recall from the dream. Again, I have no idea how much it tracks to reality, but I must assume my last bit tracked sufficiently well, since you called me."

"It did. The names were a little off, and the descriptions were, how can I say it, bigger than life? But the places you said to look yielded fruit. Four are being fed false info, but the fifth is proving elusive. Just based on your accuracy, however, he is being watched, just in case. So, this new stuff is all you can recall?"

"No. In my dream, it was porno-land. People were more sexual, and well endowed than one would expect. Sex happened. I chose to exclude nearly all of that, as it was not relevant. I did include all the information on my dream-self-tracking the bad guys, and what I could remember of their organization. While I have included account numbers and such, I suspect they most likely will be wrong, given the name changes I noted. I leave it to you to deal with. Why don't you send out for pizza, and read my notes. After we eat, ask away."

They did as I suggested, and three hours later, I left. They had many questions about my dream, and I answered them for the most part. I learned that the jukebox was actually a karaoke machine, but it was caught on tape and led them a step further where they had been stymied before.

Over the next several weeks, I was texted many times, and when I called back, they had more questions. I did what I could, and three months later, the bust made national news. There was no mention of me, as I had asked. Two weeks later, Carlo came to me.

"Hello, Becky Sue, I'm on vacation after that big case."

"So what brings you here?"

"You do. I've been an agent for a very long time. Your 'dream' was far too accurate to be a coincidence. It was also far too inaccurate to be someone with knowledge, that is, an inside job. Also, I did look you up. Your 'Tina' was the woman in my dreams. Thanks for not adding those details. I fear to learn what else you might have said, as in my own dream you had sex with everyone at the office."

"So, too accurate, and not accurate enough. What does that mean?"

"It means, I think your dream was the real thing. There was no way you were involved with anyone in the crime, yet you knew so much. It would take an ordinary person months to learn what you learned, yet you were out of the country for some time, then heavily involved with your youngest kids. These impossibilities tell me that the impossible happened, and you did have a vision."

"You believe. What now?"

"There are so many crimes you could help with."

"At what price?"

"We can pay -"

"Not that price. What price would I pay?"

"Oh... I hadn't thought of that."

"Yeah. You suspect I can do other things, don't you?"

"Um... yeah."

"I can do quite a bit, actually, but I don't want the publicity."

"Huh? You're a movie star!"

"That price is being hounded for pictures of my naked body, and for my autograph. Same as nearly all other movie stars. I am ordinary in that, not unique. It is a price I accepted long ago. But an oracle? No. That price is too high, and why I tossed out the senior agent intruder."

"I see. So you won't do that."

"I didn't say that either. I'll tell you a secret. I am a priestess as well as many other things. One I serve is Inanna, and you might consider her a sex goddess as part of what she is." His eyes opened wide at that. "My own nature is like hers, and we mesh well. With her, sex is consensual. Sex slavery is offensive. I did something I had done before, but this time, it resulted in that dream. I know now how to do that on purpose. But my nature is also that of the hero. I like doing good. If you look deeper into my activities, you will find signs of that, but done out of sight, so to speak. My 'hero' is not out for glory, but for helping. I can, and will be happy to, help you again, but not often, and definitely without fanfare. You and the FBI have a lot of resources to do your job. Call me when you are truly stuck, or when the crime is truly evil, and you need speed to prevent it."

"Whoa. You have thought of this before."

"A lot. Few know I am a priestess, and I want to keep it that way. But I do have those extra abilities. The dream is but one of them. I can also be violent. My fight scenes rarely have stunt doubles because I am so hard to double. I am also a fight trainer. You've no doubt checked my file and seen that I am lethal, even unarmed. I am more than that. I can be lethal in ways you would have difficulty proving, and if I find the perp to be very evil, I might take things into my own hands, without guilt. I don't want to have that problem, but if you use my abilities, there is that risk. I have killed, and will likely need to again, but I do it to prevent greater evil. Even as you uphold the law, there are times you would kill."

"I see. You are right. That power can be potent, but the ones we go after can be sick. Sometimes, even we have issues."

"I had issues the first time I killed. I have since learned how to deal with it. I still don't like it."

"Some fail to resist that."

"It is the difference between a warrior and a killer, or, perhaps you would say, an agent and a murderer."

"You do understand."

"Yes. In a way, I am Nigkala, the Sumerian Warrior. Soldier, protector, and... nympho."

"What! I wasn't expecting that."

"I felt we were getting too serious, and you are on vacation."

"Yes, you're right. Well, thank you. I now understand you better, and will be reluctant to call upon you without true need."

"Good. I'm glad we have come to an understanding."

He left, but did eventually call upon me.

But that is another story...

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