When I dream, it is not unusual for me to "inhabit" people or creatures other than myself. In fact, I slide very fluidly from "myself" and my own consciousness and the consciousness of whatever or whoever I am at the time. That bit of backstory aside, I had a very interesting dream adventure last night that featured a new entity that I had never encountered before... and I was this entity.
His name was something similar to "Astaroth", but more like "Astreth" or "Astoreth". He was vaguely draconic looking, but had no wings. He was very dark in color, not quite matte black, but closer to a very dark charcoal that had a faint glitter to it when the light hit it just right. His entire body was this solid dark color. He had an outer exoskeleton of sorts encasing softer flesh, and his tongue, mouth, and inner flesh were all a darker shade of that charcoal color. He had a tail, but I couldn't quite see it--hard to see one's own tail when one is a quadruped. But there was more to this bizarre entity than meets the eye, which requires the story to be told.
The dream is a little hazy; I was with a group of humans, in a school-type setting. There was one woman in particular whom I had bonded with; she was white, had curly blonde hair (almost a strawberry/dirty blonde color, between red-blonde and brown-blonde) and looked to be about in her thirties. I had come to speak to these humans, to tell them more about myself and about the universe in general. But I was very aware that I didn't have much time left; I was getting old, and reaching the point of my death. Near the last leg of my dream, I had gone into the school and curled up on a group of desks, my breathing labored as people quietly filed in to give me their last good-byes. One of my eyes (I feel like I may have had more than two) had been sealed shut as the exoskeleton began to crack and the black "blood" within began to spread and harden over my body--as was usual for my kind near death. Some offered their life force to me for me to feed on, and others tried to get me to eat the light as I had before (I could deeply inhale light, making the entire area darker by increments every time I ate), but I refused them. I talked a little, but it was too much for me in my weakened state. The lady I had bonded so closely with came up, and she looked very concerned. There was trouble, and I had promised to help with it--but I hadn't realized how little time I'd had. Still, I'd promised. I got up, despite the protests of my shaking body, and began to follow her. I told her, as we left the others, that if it looked like I had fallen down and was having a seizure, to get the hell away and run as far as she could.
We went into some bizarre manor/mansion that was near the epicenter of this semi-modern, steampunk-esque town. We were there to face the owner of the place--why, I can't quite remember--who was a cruel man. We got up to the high balcony overlooking the rest of the manor, and he was there. He mocked me, in my weak state... and I moved up to fight with him. At first, it was a pathetic thing. I wasn't able to do much against him, especially since my hide continued to crack and ooze more of the black "blood" that was hardening over me. But I was still mentally sharp; I backed him up to the railing, then pushed him over. He landed floors below with a sickening thud. The lady was very happy, but I was spent. I fell to the ground, started to twitch and writhe like I was having a seizure--and she didn't run. I tried to tell her to, but it was too late. My body broke apart; the entire exoskeleton was gone, and now, while I retained the same basic shape, my "skin" was a constantly oozing black sludge. I turned to her, groaning like a zombie; I was "alive," but I was not entirely me anymore. She tried to get me to eat the light, and I did--but it did nothing. Even the life energy I tried to drain was not enough; I needed to feed on death energy now, to drain corpses of their essence. I turned toward her and some of the others that had caught up with us from the school...
And then I woke up. It was an absolutely bizarre experience, but I feel very connected to this "Astreth" character. I wonder if they are entities that really exist, or if he was more a metaphorical being? Either way, it was a very interesting experience; I hope that I can learn more about this fellow and his species in the future, but my dreams are very fickle in where they take me night to night! We'll see.
