[ What Dreamcatchers Do While We Sleep ] [Fantasy] [Videogame] [Tower Defense] [PG-10]

4-VideogameTowerDefense- What Dreamcatchers Do While We Sleep

What Dreamcatchers Do While We Sleep

Written by J. J. Bartel 

PG-10 Fantasy Videogame Tower Defense

Copyright 2023

 

In the near future, there will be a place north of the Atoyac River and east of Mexico City called Puebla. This place would hold Tototl, a thirteen-year-old with light blue eyes on top of dark eye bags traveling home from school. He wore his school jacket with his name on the chest pocket while he crumbled a note in his side pocket. A reprimand from his teacher for falling asleep in class. He walks through the busy marketplace after all the noise helps him stay awake. That, and many alleys, were not to be trusted.  A new, small stall catches his eyes. It’s not the older woman sitting on a thick rug but the strange circular and geometric merchandise. 

He walked to her and asked, “What is this?” 

“Dreamcatchers. Call me Tepi. I have traveled far north to learn a sacred art that can solve insomnia.” 

At the word insomnia, he jolts and looks at her, then at some of the swirling trinkets.

“Texas?” 

“A place even further north, which is so cold that it a wonder that anyone willingly chooses to live there.”

“New York?” 

“Worse Canada. Feel free to look around. The right dreamcatcher calls out to its owner.” 

He noticed they were unlike most of the other stall’s merchandise as he looked through. Many Mexican crafts were colored in warm, vibrant hues and sharply angled, while these dreamcatchers were all manner of blue, purple, pink, black, and white, with smatterings of browns. There was the occasional tourist trap trinket, colored in Mexican colors, but one in particular, light blue and gold, with a single black feather seemed to … well … call to him. He went and touched it. 

“Ah, you went for one of the good ones.”

“Good ones?” He said, rolling his eyes. He knew trinket sellers like her were filled with crafty words, ready to spill out at a moment’s notice. 

She said, “Yes, that was made based on glaciers and ravens. The swirls catch bad dreams and unravel them. The feather drips that energy on your head. Raven feathers are particular for prophetic dreams. The idea is to hang them above your head or bedpost, though some dreams come through windows and doors, so those can work.” 

“Well, I have been suffering from insomnia since I was 10. Medicine doesn’t work, so might as well try Canadian magic. How much for this?” 

“It’s Ojibwa magic!” she snapped. The woman whispered to herself, “Wait, since ten?” Then noticed his jacket, and her face crinkled up as if she had swallowed too many limes. She looked at the jacket, her eyes darting between the two several times before she shook her head. 

She said, “Look, it’s better to have repeat customers than overcharge. Never mind the price. You can take that one free.” Wrinkled yet nimble hands grabbed the dreamcatcher and placed it in his hand. It was small, and the feather and circle could fit into one. 

“Weird. Ok. Thanks, Tepi.” He stuffed the dreamcatcher in his pocket and headed home. The rest of the day was uneventful, but when he went to bed, he saw the dreamcatcher and the teacher’s note sticking out of his pocket. He shrugged his shoulders and threw the note away. He hung the dreamcatcher above his head and tried to fall asleep, the swaying feather lulled him to his dreams. 

An hour or so after the sun had fully set, in one of the darker dead-end alleys, where not even the cats and rats dared to live, was a man hunched over his cauldron. He, too, sat on the carpet, but this was matted with dirt and grease. 

“I have left the Amazon as a proper Yaotl. I, Ecatl, will take my family’s inheritance with my powers. I just need to collect enough dreams from the people in this city, and I will be strong enough to take all four of their lives.” He snickered to himself, then said sarcastically, “Oh brother, you don’t have to leave. We would love to support your studies here.” He then hissed like a beast and spat on his cauldron. “Yes, where you could watch me, wait for me to make a mistake. No. I may have come from the second wife, but I am the first in Mexican and Brazilian Brujeria!” He cut his arm, and a drop of blood fell into the cauldron, turning the liquid black and rusty red. Hundreds of ghostly, grotesque figures flew out of the bowl and began to phase through windows and doors. It was all to pull good dreams out of their victim’s ears with clawed fingers and put a dark dream there. 

One of these headed off to Tototl’s house. 

It went through, and smiled. It could smell the insomnia, a weak victim. It smiled, crooked shark teeth clacking together. It came closer, and the dreamcatcher began to glow with an otherworldly light blue and gold hue. In the center of the geometric spirals, a spiritual force shot out and grabbed the nightmare maker, vaporizing it. The remnants scattered across the room, and through the night, the black-red remnants were pulled into the circle, turned blue, and dripped onto his head. The tension left his face, and while asleep, smiled. 

For a while, Tototl slept well while Ecatl kept losing dream thieves. On the ninth night, in an even darker and dinger alleyway where not even the dogs walked, Ecatl looked up and let loose a guttural scream. 

“So someone or something is killing my slaves. These monsters should be free from any local limitation.” He paced back and forth, shaking his head, letting his spittle fly. “So what could stop them? No local force-” Abruptly, he stopped. He smiled and said to himself, “Well, there are foul powers that can restrain darkness worldwide. So it’s a foreign tradition. No matter.” 

He felt through his shirt pockets. In between cheap cigarettes, he found musty petals. “A Tiger Lilly infusion should be enough. Whatever protection it has will be overwhelmed. He threw it into the cauldron, and now, with his blood, the black and rusty red liquid had some orange speckles. 

“Go, several at a time, to the same place. If you start falling, come back and tell me where I am losing slaves!” 

The ghostly, grotesque figures flew out of the bowl and began to scatter in clumps. Many went across the city and robbed the dreams of many that night. One cluster came to the house of Tototl. Five terrible dream thieves came through the closed window. The dreamcatcher again came alive with a light blue and gold hue. It fired upon one of the demons and pinned one down, but it survived the blast. The one struck thrashed about, its corporeal skin eaten away by the blast. It was wounded but not dead as it fled the room. The other four smiled and charged all at once. The dreamcatcher returned with new light and fired upon the four like a spiritual turret, but it could not overwhelm them all. The four reached Tototl and ripped out his good dreams from his ear. They dripped their own ghostly blood into his ear, and he began to shiver and shake from the nightmare. As they fled the teenager, the spiritual turret with gold and blue energy finally managed to kill one. The three went to his father and mother, then stole their dreams and gave them nasty nightmares. They fled back to Ecatl, their ghostly skin sizzling from the wounds. 

Ecatl said, “So it’s a circular charm of protection colored in light blue and a raven feather, and they’re spreading over this town. Yes, my slaves, you are powerful but unfamiliar with this charm. Much like that nemesis! That crone! She advised my brothers to be on guard, and I would have already taken them if not for the wrinkled one’s warning. She still fails to be caught by my scrying. No matter. We only need to steal one more night of dreams, and a wave of death will make my dreams come true!” He started laughing out loud to himself as the sun came up. The thought of his brothers in coffins brought him glee. 

The next morning, Tototl, with fewer bags under his eyes, looked up and down the marketplace and headed straight for the Dreamcatcher stall after school. Unlike before, there was quite a crowd, and she counted pesos from all her customers. 

“Ah, Tototl, you have returned to Tepi’s dreamcatchers.” She said with a smile. “What brings you here?” 

“Your dreamcatcher worked for a while until last night. I had horrible nightmares!” 

“So did many in this city.” The woman said, her smile gone. “I can feel it, dark forces are doing terrible things. It’s been so long since I was last here, but the darkness around here has grown in power. I fear that nightmares are only the beginning of something worse!” 

“Really?” He asked sarcastically. 

“Science has not explained everything, you sweet child. The realm of spirits exists where science can not test.” 

“Whatever. I just know that something is working.” 

“Well, that raven feather was one of a kind, but I did make something similar.” She grabs four more, each light blue with various shaped feathers. “This all came from the same bird. Fluffy downy feathers for the door, long wingtip feathers for the window, and this one can go at the foot of the bed.” 

“Fine, how much.” 

She looked at his jacket as if she had eaten too many limes at once. “Look, just take them. I have had a really good week since I got here. You go and enjoy a nice rest.” 

“Thanks, Tepi!” He took them and ran off. Later that night, he hung up three in his room and one with his parents. In a different yet miserable alley where not even gangsters smoke, Ecatl was sitting on his dirty, matted carpets and cut deep into his arm. It was flowing blood, pouring into the cauldron. He bandaged his arm while throwing various withered herbs in the cauldron. 

“Tonight, I will astral project, and together with my slaves, we will not just steal dreams but lives! We will break the protected places first, and with everyone despairing, the entire town will perish and give me power!” He laughed maniacally for a bit, almost knocking over the cauldron. The ghostly thieves, colored in mostly black, some red, with flecks of orange, now bigger than ever, came forth and looked down at him. He smiled, closed his eyes, and his heart slowed down. A ghostly form came from his body, a black and green-tinged figure with claws instead of hands and fangs instead of teeth. 

“Tonight, slaves, I prove why I am a proper Yaotl!” He flew through the air and headed straight for Tototl’s house! He, with several minions, approached the window. Like a spiritual ray gun, the dream catcher began to glow and hum with energy. Before they could approach, a massive golden blue beam shot out and vaporized one of them.

“I know this work and what it would take to end this annoyance!” 

He grabbed a servant in each hand and rushed the thing as it shot out again, destroying another servant. Before it could fire again, he thrust his own monster into the center of the circle, where it thrashed about, and one of the strings broke. That single string breaking made the dreamcatcher inert. The others began to hum with energy. Over the next several minutes, he and his minions went about the room, breaking each of the four dream catchers. The large one by the bed cost three. The one by the door managed to kill four, and the first one hanging by his head managed to take out seven. He was alone in the room, the ghostly black and red remains strewn about the room. It was just him and Tototl. 

“I see the resemblance. First you, then everyone else! He rested his ghostly knees on the teenager’s chest. “I, the great Yaotl Ecatl, shall make your death the first of many, the first for my great-.” A powerful beam from beyond the hallway blasted forward and punched a hole through his head. With a single shot, his ghostly form dissipated into nothing. At the same time, the body in the alleyway slumped over, dead. The dream catcher in the hallway above the parent’s door began pulling all the ghostly black-red and black-green bits into itself, dripping clean energy through the house. Everyone in that household slept well. 

Tototl was walking about sometime later with no bags under his eyes. His light blue eyes sparkled like living jewels. He saw the woman selling another dreamcatcher to another customer and approached her. 

She smiled, waved him closer, and said, “Hello, Tepi.” 

“You sleeping well.” 

“Thanks to you, grandma.” 

She stiffened up as if she swallowed lemons, then relaxed and said, “Little Tototl, when did you know?” 

“It was obvious. My mother kept telling me of a spiritual grandma who abandoned the family several years ago, and when you saw my name on my jacket, you looked guilty; you gave me free gifts like a grandma would, and we have the same eye color.” 

The older grandma sighed and said, “By blood, I am, but not by deed. When those brothers asked me for help, I didn’t realize how dark their youngest was, how powerful. It was a lot of money, but I would not take that job again.” 

She shook her head and continued on. “He has been casting terrible magic for many years now, and our family has always had a knack for spiritual matters. There is a reason why we were priests and therapists since the Aztecs. You were especially sensitive but untrained, which only caused you problems. When his dark powers started tormenting you, I tried and failed to free you from your torment. What good is a grandma that can’t help her grandson?” 

“Is that why you left? As mom tells it, ‘without a word’?” 

“Yes. I traveled north to northern cousins and went as far north as Frozen Canada. It was three years of walking, hitchhiking, and studying before I returned. An evil spiritual person is often called a Yaotl, a great foe, Little Tototl. What else do you call a grandma that abandoned her grandson in his time of need?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Your grandma died when she left. It was pride that made me leave, not love.” She sighed a breath of sadness. “I am sorry, and nothing will make the past right.” 

“Well, Grandma, you won’t improve my past, but you could come and be with us. That would make the future better.” 

She looked into his eyes, smiled, and said, “You seem good with words.” 

“It’s easier with sleep.” 

Tepi started laughing, and soon, Tototl started laughing. Before the sunset, the two headed home. By the night’s end, the parents, grandma, and Tototl had gotten into bed and had the first of many blissful nights under the same roof.