Dream Knights: The Gate

By E. Barron

Some decisions have everlasting effects.

Destroying the network has ended energy mining and given dreams back to many adults. Yet, a new problem has emerged. 

A portal exists between the goblin kingdom and Earth, and the Dream Knights must stop goblins from freely entering. On their quest to prevent gob

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mind Fortress Books
• Release date: Dec 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985721836

Book preview

Dream Knights

The Gate

E. Barron

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Mind Fortress Books

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Dream Knights: The Gate Copyright © 2022 by E. Barron

Cover art Copyright © 2022 by Nick White

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For information regarding permission, write to [e-mail].

Published by Mind Fortress Books, Tempe, Arizona. Associated logos are trademarks of Mind Fortress Books.

ISBN 979-8-9857218-3-6

To MacKenna and Uncle Noel.

I love you.

What you doubt lies beyond what’s seen,

Past deserts, lakes, and fields of green.

No man had hope to find this source,

For none had ever seen the course.

Then four knights with the might of dreams

Opened a path for all it seems.

And now, fanciful worlds await

Those who employ the magic gate.

―E. Barron

Contents

1. Intro to Knight Dreams

2. Pier Pressure

3. Not On Earth

4. Sheriff Romeo

5. One Problem at a Time

6. Some Surprises Are Good

7. Springing Into Action

8. See for Yourself

9. The Messenger

10. Love Versus Loyalty

11. Frigid Waters

12. The Gate Debate

13. Everlasting Effects

14. Bad Breath

15. Think Before You Leap

16. An Entertaining Tail

17. Duel at Dawn

18. Nearly Perfect

19. Special Delivery

20. The Partnership

Thanks for Reading

Appendix

About the Author

Chapter 1

Intro to Knight Dreams

Winooski, VT

November 24

Ada

Iwish I could fast forward to tonight. I’m ready for another knight dream with Grant and Zahra. That’s what we call the dreams we control, and we haven’t shared one since we destroyed the network last week. The network was this huge pyramid with rows of cells—from top to bottom—on each side. The cells contained electricity that goblins stole from adults, so getting rid of it was a big deal.

Anyway, even though I’m new to knight dreams, I already know how they’re different from regular dreams. Knight dreams are a little hazy, like objects in the dream have been dipped in fog. As soon as Romeo, the amazing dog and fourth member of the Dream Knights, licked my face, my dream became hazy. Yet, I knew I was dreaming. That’s the next difference—you must be aware that you’re dreaming. That’s how you control your actions. Oh! Speaking of actions, they can be real and invisible . . . if you dream about your reality. Confusing? Yeah, it was for me too until I made a chart.

Although there are many types of knight dreams, I’ve narrowed them down to three categories: Reality, Imagination, and Different Reality. With these three categories, knight dreams are easier to understand.

During a knight dream, there are two versions of oneself. The Real Self is the sleeping, physical body. The Dream Self is the spirit that is accessed through dreams. Consider my chart for the following example.

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When I spent the night at Grant’s apartment, I played with his brother’s rocket for several minutes before setting it down. A moment later, it started floating. It went up and down, up and down. I glanced at Grant’s bed, and there he was . . . asleep. Freaked out, I searched the room and inspected the rocket, hoping to find a string attached to it. Nothing made it rise. Well, there wasn’t anything that I could see.

Grant, can you hear me? I asked.

The rocket tilted forward and backward, answering my question, but Real Grant was on his bed—his eyes shut, his body motionless.

Ca-can you talk?

Hellooo, he replied. His voice sounded muffled, like it was trapped inside a bubble. It also sounded like it was coming from right next to me, rather than from his bed.

So, what do you think? Which of the three categories would this example fall under? Remember, Grant dreamed about his exact time, which was around 8:15 p.m., and a place in his world—his bedroom. Dream Grant was invisible to me, and his actions were real. I was awake and witnessed the rocket moving. So, the answer is Reality.

Let’s test your understanding some more. What kind of knight dream did Grant, Zahra, and I have if our real selves were in the United States, and our dream selves were in the goblin kingdom? By the way, we were visible to goblins and each other, and our actions had real effects. Magical ones, in fact. Zahra used a scepter to blast the network with lightning, and Grant sent it to the sun. Side note: I don’t know if scepters and magic work on Earth. Tom gave me healing water that I poured into Lake Champlain, but I’m not going to injure myself just to test it. Maybe Grant has used his scepter at home. I’ll ask him tonight.

Anyway, if you guessed Different Reality, you were right. I mean, have you ever seen a goblin in the flesh? No, they don’t live on Earth . . . but they exist. Grant has a magical, bronze scepter to prove it.

How about Grant’s dream about playing on the partially frozen Winooski River? The ice really broke right where it happened in his dream, and it wasn’t a coincidence. However, the dream’s location didn’t exactly match Grant’s reality. Dream Grant was on the Winooski River while Real Grant was in his bedroom. Although this one is tricky, you must remember that Grant could have dreamed about being anywhere on Earth, and his actions would still have been invisible and real. Therefore, the answer is Reality.

So, how about last week’s Waterfront Park dream, the one where I gained awareness after Romeo licked me? Did it occur in a real place? Yes, Waterfront Park is a beautiful park in Burlington, Vermont. You’d love it! Was the dream set in my actual time? No. If you completed a chart like I suggested, you would know that only my imagination could create warm, sunny weather during winter. Obviously, this was an Imagination knight dream.

Speaking of Waterfront Park, it’s the only place I’ve dreamed about lately. Why? Because I hope certain things will repeat themselves. Sorry, let me rewind a bit.

When Romeo appeared in my first Waterfront Park dream, I didn’t have dream powers. In fact, I wasn’t even aware that he was the same German shepherd from Grant’s dreams. I just carried on, playing out my random actions. Apparently, I even got on all fours and acted like a dog. Things probably would have continued that way except Romeo licked my face. And somehow, I gained awareness. From there, Romeo led Grant and me to the goblin kingdom, and we met Zahra, a girl from Colorado Springs who was determined to obliterate the network. And with Grant’s help, she did. In the end, I tried to bring Romeo from my imagination to my physical world. After all, Grant and Zahra were able to do it with scepters. Yet, I woke up alone . . . to the sad realization that I failed.

That’s why I still dream about Waterfront Park—to find Romeo. He’s not afraid of anything, and he loves my cuddles. We’re buddies, a team. In the goblin kingdom, we were inseparable, always protecting one another. So, of course I’m bummed that he’s not with me now. And if I can’t bring Romeo back to my physical world, I can’t bring my dad back either.

He has been in all my recent dreams. I’ve talked to him, played with him, and created the knight dreams chart with him. My dreams have been great . . . but they’re not real. Every time I wake up, my dad is gone. That’s why I need to improve my dream powers.

Maybe my abilities don’t work like Grant’s. When he fell asleep holding his drone, it went with him into his knight dream. He held the drone again in his dream before waking up, and it came back with him to reality. He did that with a scepter too. Well, to be more accurate, he took the scepter from the goblin kingdom and brought it home. I can’t do that. The only power I’ve got is dream hopping. That’s what I call jumping from one dream location to another. It’s almost like teleporting. Anyway, why can’t I transport things from knight dreams like Grant?

Wait, I should give transporting things from a dream a special name too. Let’s see. Grant compares controlling his dreams to piloting an airplane. I should stick with that topic. So, what do airplanes transport? People, luggage, cargo—ooh cargo. But we’re dealing with dreams, not cars. Dreamgo? Yeah, dreamgo, the stuff dreamers transport and to transport stuff from dreams. It’s a noun and a verb, like search Google and Google it. Well, I want to dreamgo some dreamgo.

Movement in my house interrupts my thoughts. I get out of bed and press my ear against my bedroom door. There’s talking. No, it’s the TV. What time is it? I step out into the dark hallway. Light from the living room flickers off the walls.

Mom? I call out.

Just as I enter the living room, she turns away from the TV and adjusts her position on the couch.

Hey, sweetie. Why are you up so early?

I glance at the TV. Like most news programs, it displays the time at the bottom of the screen. 6:05.

It’s not that early, I reply.

I guess not, she agrees. I’m just used to waking you up.

It’s true. If she didn’t wake me on school days, I’d stay asleep. However, today is different. I’m too excited about meeting up with Grant and Zahra to sleep.

Are you becoming a morning person? Mom teases me.

Be-be-beep. Be-beep. The news program chimes, and we turn our attention to the screen.

New details now on a rise in crime heading into the holiday. Officials say reports of unprecedented crimes have skyrocketed in New England. Everything from disturbing the peace to assault and theft, the newscaster says.

"Locally, Lake Champlain Chocolate reported that their Church Street store’s entire display of goods was taken. One family received an alarming phone call that their boat, previously docked in Burlington, was found abandoned miles away in Bulwagga Bay, New York. A local couple reported harassment at Waterfront Park, claiming thugs pinned them to the ground and stole their coats. Unfortunately, the couple failed to provide physical descriptions of the perpetrators to the Burlington Police Department.

"In New York, the odd crimes have compounded. Yankee Stadium’s supply room has been ransacked, leaving the team with a shortage of bats and baseballs. Several 911 calls reveal that late-night patrons of Central Park have been terrorized. And a red panda from Central Park Zoo has disappeared.

Reporter Chelsea Simone is at the Financial District in New York where officials call for an end to the bizarre crimes. Chelsea.

Yeah, Lanetta, and they say that this most recent report is related to a vehicle found in the Battery Park Underpass. I’m standing by the Charging Bull, a prominent symbol of capitalism, with NYPD’s Officer Watkins. Why do you think these events are related, Officer Watkins?

We found four sets of fingerprints on the Charging Bull that matched the prints from the stolen vehicle. We’re not sure what they were trying to do, but the statue weighs over seven thousand pounds. It’s not going anywhere. As for the vehicle, its VIN shows that it came from the Tesla showroom on Washington Street. From video surveillance, we determined that the culprits were short, inexperienced drivers. Possibly teenagers. As for the fingerprints, there were no matches found in our databases.

And how do you intend to respond to these acts?

We’re fed up. We don’t tolerate citizens who lack good moral character. The department has extra patrols monitoring parks, especially at night, and we’re also calling on volunteers. Everyone needs to be vigilant. If you see something, say something. We want to apprehend the perpetrators and fine them for damages.

Thank you, Officer Watkins, the reporter responds. Back to you, Lanetta.

I can’t believe it. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Why are people acting so naughty? And whoever took that red panda better know how to care for it.

Mom, what do red pandas eat?

I don’t know, sweetheart. Plants? She shakes her head in disbelief. The world can be a crazy place.

That’s for sure. Goblins exist. Magic is real. I can control my dreams . . . just not as well as Zahra and Grant can. My shoulders droop, and I feel a little empty inside. Mom notices my disappointment and wraps her arm around me. I lean into her and hug her waist.

But you should focus on the good things, she announces.

Right. I’ve been to the goblin kingdom! I’ve poured healing water into Lake Champlain! I can dream hop! Who cares if I haven’t dreamgoed anything? My disappointment fades away, and my excitement returns.

Tonight, I’m going to try something different. I’m going to dream about reality. Zahra will see Vermont for the first time, and who knows? Maybe Romeo will finally show up too.

Chapter 2

Pier Pressure

Winooski, VT

November 24

Grant

There’s always that chunk of time when I’m asleep but not dreaming. Nothing goes on in my mind. It’s like I’m in a dark movie theater, waiting for something to show up on the screen. Before an image appears, I can make a choice—just watch the theater’s random movie or take a thought from the back of my mind and play it. That’s the difference between starting a regular dream and a knight dream.

Right