I had such a strange dream, I can't quite shake the feeling.
I was in an abandoned complex, a collection of buildings at the base of a tower. I made my way up the floors of the tower, at each one there was some monster or challenge to overcome. I prevailed, or won, thus beating back some unnamed darkness and freeing myself and some of the friends I made along the way to live peacefully at the base of the tower. Although not completely vanquished, the danger retreated to lick its wounds in the further reaches of the tower.
I'm not present for every moment of this narrative, these are the impressions I'm left with. I remember the base of the tower, the abandoned old buildings. I remember bits of being in the tower, I remember being victorious. The bits in between, I have strong feelings, premonitions, or should I say postmonitions of what occurred. The exact moments elude me, but this is how dreams often are.
I'm back in the town at the base of the tower, my companions live there now, but they face some difficulties. there are are neighbors and border disputes, I go with some friends and protect the town from these outsiders. We succeed again, and win the day, but at the end, one of my close friends, who was with me when I surmounted the tower, betrays me. I feel so hurt, I can't understand why he'd betray me. Hadn't we had such great adventures together?
It is later, the malice of the Tower has grown strong once again and we must climb it and fight. It is difficult, but we are victorious. We have grown from a small group of companions to a band of a score or more. Many adventures were had and we return to our settlement at the base and rejoice, we throw a big party. I feel elated, everyone is celebrating and I am adored. I met a really cute girl and she's totally into me. My friends are happy and our town is safe, now we can live in peace.
The grand hall where we were cebrated is empty. Perhaps I passed out from the revelry? We must have had a good time. Where are my friends, my companions? I expect to see them snoring nearby, maybe they are in the next room. I wander and see no-one. It is as if they are intentionally avoiding me. What have I done? Why do they leave me? Weren't we just having such a great time? I must have done something bad, I cannot remember what. Could it have been so terrible? Will anyone tell me?
I wake in the grand hall again, it is busy, and crowded. Full of faces I've never seen before. Two students, younger than I approach the table I am slumped on. They seem to recognize me as the founder of their town, are awed by my presence but also confused. "Shouldn't you be bestowing [SOME GREAT AWARD] on [YOUR OLD COMPANION] in the throne room?"
"I don't know", I reply.
"But weren't you the one who decided to do it?", she asks earnestly.
"I'm not in charge of these things, like you may think" I reply.
I walk away before she asks more. I know she'll excitedly relate to her friends that she met me, a rare occurrence, and the meaning of my words will be lost on her until many years later.
I wander the town and notice how alive it is. The buildings lit up, fresh paint, dancing flames and lights. Old ruins restored, new life breathed into buildings I thought past forgotten. This world has moved on without me, I see monuments to revered elders, my old companions. I'm drawn to the tower, and begin to steadily climb. One last time, I feel, I'll ascend. No adventure this time, the way is so trodden I see graffiti from younger kids, as if following this path is a fun route for any gang of revelers. I climb for nostalgia, for a final farewell to a world that no longer has need of me.
I reach a room, along the way, and there is my old crew. They seem to have been going through the rooms on a pilgrimage as well. Maybe it is to celebrate some special occassion, perhaps the award ceremony the students in the grand hall mentioned? We are all delayed by a commotion up ahead and are briefly trapped here, idling as we wait for it to clear. It is awkward. They are not speaking to me, keeping their distance, and I am not inclined to stir them up. Yet cannot contain my guilt for I know not what, my feeling of betrayal, my hunger to know. "Just tell me!", I plead, "What did I do to drive you away? What did I do?". They look on sadly, but none move a muscle. They look at me pittyingly, as if they cannot do anything but watch me suffer. With faces closed, like they cannot stand to be hurt again.
I'm trying to put it together, I must know what happened. "Things were going so well, we always win the day....". One soul takes mercy on me (I thank you RFR), she cannot bare it, yet relents with an expression that shows she knows this will only hurt her, will only open wounds again.
I look in her eyes, I think I might know the answer to this riddle but the implications chill me,
"Are there", I stammer, "Is there more than one of me?"
"Yes", she says. All their eyes agree.
My thoughts are racing, I feel my time is short,
"Have you ever seen two of us at once?"
She looks uncertain, "Yes, it's happened" someone else answers from the gloom.
I wake.
These poor tormented friends, these daemons of my dream. Must they live, constantly visited by all-powerful Jonahs from the multiverse? Whenever I am not there, what Jonah do they get instead? What havoc does a lucid-dreaming Jonah wreak in the privacy of his dreams. I think I understand them now, as they know they cannot escape the whirlpool of the dreamer in the dream, their lines of fate tied to his unconscious mind. they are powerless against me. I've been their friend, but other me's have betrayed them, tortured them, I know not what. They know that any attachment to me will be fleeting, unremembered from one moment to the next, never knowing how long an incarnation will stay. I built that town, but I am its curse. Who knows how long it's been going on, was I the first founder of the town, or was the evil I confined to the tower distorted versions of myself from another world?