April fools. :(
In all seriousness though, this month has actually been a productive one for me. I thank all of you who offered me help and advice. In truth I would have taken it were I able. But the only option was to flee. The guardians awoke this 200-foot metallic clockwork monster mech death machine thing to kill me, and I had no way of fighting it. The Master's magic he gave me does no good on fellow Atlantean magic. Ramira and I figured out a way to open the iris at the last second, and there was no way for the thing that‘s following me to open it. It takes archmastery to do something like that. Somehow I think that if the invisible masters know of me, which I fear they might, they are more discerning than common mages in their actions.
We found ourselves in a beautiful village of green, with houses and farms stretching down a quaint and lovely hill. The village itself got more dense as we reached the peak of the hill, which became a dense and thickly populated town of sorts. The people were people exactly as I might have expected them to be, people every bit as real and physical as the people of Earth. They did not speak our tongue, but the time of being bothered by such things is past for me, and it became surprisingly easy to speak even without magical aid. Many recognized me, in fact, and I was hailed as a dreamer of great renown. All showed unto me respect and directed us to the monastery, a massive stone chapel in the center of town called the Temple of the Elder Ones. Within this temple was a wizened man named Atal, fully three centuries old but still very keen of mind and memory. From him I learned where the iris had led Ramira and myself. We traveled in body where most humans will only visit of mind; to the unearthly vistas and impossible world known as the Dreamlands. The place of human slumber for as long as history has recorded.
It feels so strange to be writing to all of you new. An unearthly thing that I have not done in a very long time. This is true from my perspective, because time here does not flow in sync with time back home. The priest Atal informed me of this and many other things as I met with him the first time. Though only a month has passed for you, nearly a year of time has flown by for me. I have lived here in the Dreamlands as though it were the only world. This is literally true for more and more every day; I am not the only one from our world here. Indeed, many humans (and only humans) visit this place in their slumber, and those that die while visiting remain long after the death of their bodies. I don’t knew if I will have aged as long as I stay here when I return to Earth. Atal tells that time itself is simply less troublesome here; that this is the place of stories more than the place of laws. That much I do believe, having lived it.
Seriously... I can’t believe the time‘s actually come to write all of you. But my cell phone has been keeping track. It might not have cell service here (technology here in the Dreamlands is medieval at best) but at least it can keep track of time and forces magic can keep it charged. Mana is plentiful here, more plentiful than I have ever felt before. A chance to grow and advance and study has been mine for the year since I arrived. A time of rest and of preparation. Much has been accomplished since I arrived here. Despite the chance for much needed rest, I can assure all of you that I have not been doing nothing. I fear the changes you are making to the world. Austin, I fear for more than most. I have never heard of such a device before, and power like that frightens me. It does not seem the Atlanteans would have simply left such a powerful machine to crumble. Something doesn't feel right. Just be careful.
Oh God I hope I haven’t really been gone for a year this whole time I've been here. The war is probably over by now. There would be no world to return to. I suppose the Dreamlands wouldn’t be a bad place to live, but I fear that the Outside would find its way in here eventually. It is already here, actually. The crawling chaos Nyarlathotep dwells here, messenger to Azathoth. He seems perfectly content to exist here exactly as he ever has, though. Leng and Kadath aside, he leaves Dreamland well enough alone, and has for the whole time I was here. Actually, I've even met him once. Rather cordial and polite. More than I expected for one of the Outsiders. But then we were conversing on his terms.
I fear I'm not making sense. I fear that a single entry isn’t sufficient to say what I want to say. I can't tell you how many times I've written this and rewritten this, thinking and dreaming and imagining what I might tell you when the time came. The time is here, but I cannot make a message that is too long. I will choose only the most important things and hopefully that will be enough.
This world is vast, at least as large as Earth, though it is very different. Humans are the only race like it here, but there are others. Cats, for instance, are one of the more powerful and prominent races here. There are others. Gouls and Zoogs and the strange travelers from Leng with their turbans and too—wide grins. But I was not concerned with them. Ramira and I spent the first little while relaxing. We stayed in a charming little inn here in Ulthar. After a week, the two of us were feeling much better. Not once anyone made an attempt on our lives, or done anything at all that was even the slightest bit frightening. The world might be ending back home, but nobody told anyone here. Life goes on here as it has for many years, likely will for many years to come.
When we realized that we had more or less as much time as we could possibly want, Ramra and I spent some time deliberating. What could we do that would be an effective use of our time? How could we come back into the world. Obviously both of us are very much targets, and many have made it clear cf their intentions to kill us and not ask questions on the matter. So many stupid efforts and attempts had been made on our lives, but now was different. Now we could be safe, since both of us are immune to Sympathetic magic in our different ways. The mages wishing to kill us might dream here of course, but when they did they would not remember us, since every dreamer carries with them the memories of their life in the dreamlands, not in the waking world. So, we were safe, safe and free to do whatever we wished and return at whatever point we desired to return.
The realization did not take us very long. There are vast powers arrayed here in the Dreamlands, which is indeed a world no different in size than our own, though not nearly as expansive along other dimensions as the real world. So Ramira and I embarked on a journey across the realm to see if there was anything or anyone we could win to our aid against the outsiders. Once we were both healthy and ready to go, we waved goodbye to Ulthar and took our journey to Thran. It was no easy trek, but I will spare the details in light of limited time and ability to transmit across the gulf of the void. At least I must assume there is such a gulf for I am warned that a message too long will not reach. It seems that the strain of crossing the border of universes is not an easy one to overcome.
The Dreamlands are vast and are ruled by powerful city states. Thran is the mightiest of these, a city older than memory, made from beautiful alabaster stone with two hundred towers, all wrought in one solid piece by what means no man knows, for none is old enough to say. I had not come to explore architecture, however.
Thran is a city of traders and magic. A city of mages like myself, many of which are far older than any man of Earth could live. Many of them were once dreamers of Earth, and like many mages, learned of this place and instructed kin to kill them in their sleep, thus assure their immortality. It is not true life of course, since they are trapped within the Dreamlands forever. Or so they thought. So far as anyone has ever known, there has never been a way to travel between Earth and the Dreamlands in anything more than spirit. It is better this way, or at least it has been. Indeed Ramira and I had great advantage to be here in body as well. We have a power far beyond anyone here... we are more real than they, and they all see it. It earns us great respect wherever we go, since people can see we are dreamers of no small learning.
Of course I am not here the proper way and neither is Ramira. Many times during my stay here have people thanked me or complimented me for my deeds, but never have I known what they were talking about. Evidently my appearance is the same however. I was already known to the people of Thran as we neared the gates, and we were admitted without paying the usual toll. The city stretched huge before us, but we had one goal in mind: the immortal council of mages from Earth that rules the city. I cannot rehearse names for fear they might be displeased with me, but suffice it to say that the list contains many influential historical figures. The enlightenment in particular is well represented. Founding fathers not a few, and many others. All were Masons, if that helps. It seems the Masonic order has known of this place for some time, and has been instructing its members regarding travel and power here for many years. Without the Abyss to get between us and the Supernal (if such a place exists), one need not be a mage on Earth to do magic here. All of the council, or the Undying Ones as they are more properly termed, knew we were coming. They had seen us. Dreamed us here, as they put it. For a specific purpose. Though they could not influence affairs back home anymore, they were concerned for the welfare of Earth and wanted to do everything they could to protect it. They had been praying to the feeble gods of Earth for a way to make a difference, and here we were.
You can imagine my relief when they told us this story. You can’t imagine my feeling to finally know someone, anyone, was not out to kill us but actually had our positive interests at heart. A relief beyond reliefs. So we had friends. Friends in the absolute mess of a world that we were living in right now. Friends who wanted to help and had some power to do it.
I spoke of the Diamond Nation, Darrel. I nor the united orders ever called themselves that. The Diamond Nation is the dream of uniting humanity under the rulership of benevolent mages who would rule with an enlightened grace and protect us from all threats. I imagined that I had helped to create such a thing, to begin what might be the recreation of Atlantis itself on Earth. But my vast dreams were made to nothing. There was no hope. I fear that in uniting the orders the way I did that I have done more harm than good. Now I will have the opportunity to undo that harm. The undying ones have made a plan for Earth’s protection and reclamation. Many days, weeks even, were spent planning our tactics. The undying ones had planned such things many times, but now they had to work with me to adapt one of their many stratagems for use in the real world. I had something they had not imagined: a physical way to travel between the worlds. No more would we need to rely on cats to pass messages to people on Earth proper, a difficult method considering the number of people who can speak to them. Aside from you Rick, and your kind, we have had very little luck passing messages until now. After all, your kind cannot come here themselves. Once they leave humanity behind they also leave the Dreamland. Nobody can remember anyone who's ever not come back because of becoming an animal or a werewolf or something, but that doesn‘t mean they never came here. It might be memory of them is gone from us when it happens. Or it might mean they were never really human to begin with and so had no place here. Meaningless philosophy.
It is true all the great powers are mobilizing for the defense of reality. Darrel has spoken of the spirits, and Austin‘s Sea Org for humanity and the Union for all of us of course. To say nothing sf Rick’s petting zoo (don’t tell them I called it that). I have dire news of what the enemy is planning. An invasion of Mi-Go. An entire fleet has been organized and should be arriving from their travel in from extra-universal space within a few months of our time. You are high on their list of targets, Austin, but beyond that it is very hard to say what they plan to do. Their master would tell me only so much. The crawling Chaos has ordered Earth to be taken at last. Expect them to come in all their technological might. Weapons of molecular disruption shall be employed, and far stranger things I cannot even speculate on. I have tried to gather all the lore I could, but I don’t knew how much of it is strictly true. The fleet is coming, that I know for sure. The Undying ones have seen it.
With a plan devised, the forces of the Dreamlands have been marshaled. Every bit of monetary or diplomatic pressure that Thran has at its disposal has been employed. At first it was just meetings with the leaders of the other city states. But as months passed, a tent city has begun to form around Thran, as dreamers from all over travel here, flocking to the very literal banners of our Diamond Nation. There are legions of us now. Every major city and village is represented here. The strange northerners from the arctic waste of Inquanok. The cats in their vast numbers, all except for the hideous almost-people transposed here trom frightened Leng to the northeast. There are now two cities, and a constant flow of men and provisions into the city of cloth as well as the city of stone and magic. Every supernatural resource has been spent. Many dreamers of past ages have come. They are the captains or leaders of our legions. We might not have technology, but we shall make up for it with magic. Magic the likes of which the Earth has never seen, not since the Dreamlands were a part of Earth itself and trade between the two was free and frequent.
The plan now is this. Using the magic I have perfected here, I intend to widen the iris so that it will permit the travel of many souls at once, perhaps a hundred abreast or more. The army is very large, and many of us will be riding horses. Once we have established ourselves on Earth around the exit to the portal, I shall make my presence known. We wi11 be returning to Shanghai. My colleges shall see me again soon. The guardians are done. I have dreamed them gone, and now all that remains is to do it. With their influence removed, we can reunite the mages of Earth with the mages of the dream, and together be prepared for the cataclysmic end. Let hell try and stop us.
((Four points. Advancement, plot, other people, and on time. Kirby, please get this posted ASAP so people don't have to wait like last month.))
