[ WP ] Dreams have all been tests , and someone finally passed .

He'd been practicing lucid dreaming. This idea of being able to control his dreams fascinated him and he would often wander around the world, flying to places he had never been. In fact, this question had pestered him all of his life: `` How can I see things and places I'd never been to?''. 
 
 Tonight was no different. He'd brushed his teeth, gargled a strong mint flavored mouthwash and jumped straight into bed. As usual, he had set his alarm to 3am. Just enough time to fall into REM sleep and be awaken so he could bring his brain back down to the near meditative state of lucid dreaming. Just before letting his brain go, he repeated to himself in his mind: `` Tonight, I'm gon na figure out the meaning of life. I'm gon na see the source of us all and find out why are we here.''. He was incredibly smart but not especially attractive and by any definition, an underachiever. This would let his brain free to fantasize about being the one who would one day be the most influential person in history. `` I mean, I have the brains, I'm a genius... it's just that no one realizes it'' - he'd often think to himself. 
 
 *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* 
 
 No matter for how long he'd been doing this, he'd get the heavy head feeling every time the alarm went off. But he always instinctively knew what he had to do. He flipped his pillow to the cool side and once more he was focusing on the meaning of life. Soon after he was in a void. He had waken up not floating above his body but in a darkness so blinding that he could not see his own hands in front of his face. In fact, he had already started to check all his dream indicators and they had all failed the test. The watch on his wrist was ticking, his could not breathe if he held his nose and his index finger did not go through his palm as it usually would. 
 
 `` What the heck?!'' - he said out loud reaching to his bedside lamp switch as he assumed he had simply woken up. There was nothing, he was in complete void. Nothing was within reach. In fact, he had just now realized he was floating. There was no floor, no bed, just him. 
 
 Suddenly everything around him was bright as day. Blindingly white everywhere. A white so bright he instinctively covered his eyes to soften the pain but it was of no use. His arm could not block the light. Then a figure emerged from the brightness, a human by any definition. He asked the figure: `` Where am I? What is all of this?''. 
 
 `` You do n't remember?'' - the figure said, the features of whom could still not be discerned due to the light shining from behind it. 
 
 `` Remember what exactly? I was just laying on my bed, trying to fall asleep...''. 
 
 The figure chuckled. `` I told you not to do it... but you would n't listen. You have lucid dreamed 26 years in a dream where you got stuck. Lucid dreaming is how our species' gathers intel on our prey on Earth. Recently Hokun challenged you to do a full cycle and lucid dream into the mind of a baby on Earth. You with your stubborn ways just would n't let it go and decided to go ahead...'' - his face was now visible and he was clearly amused. 
 
 `` So all of this... you mean I've actually been dreaming?''. 
 
 `` Oh yes, and we've been monitoring you all along. As it turns out, as soon as you were born, you fell in love with your mother so badly your sub conscious did n't want to leave anymore. But now here you are, you're back, and we can use this brilliant new way to spy on those backwards monkeys.'' - the figure said, his eyes now squinting with visible hatred. 
 
 It was all slowly starting to come back to him. He'd implanted himself in a child's mind as a way to go undetected to Earth's LD-sensors. Every time, as soon as a child was born, his or her brain would be scanned and a baseline established for what were normal neural waves. Besides the normal changes through aging, the baseline did not significantly change throughout time. The Earth citizens would then all be implanted with a neural chip which upon detecting a major change in these waves, would change the physiology of their bodies to turn their skin blue ( thus being `` blue'' in Earth meant no one could trust you as you were being controlled by an LD'er ). 
 
 `` At any rate, you've succeeded.'' - the figure continued - `` This was the final part of your training as a Vonture LD'er. You had to get into someone's mind and have them commit suicide... but you decided to take things a step further.'' 
 
 `` Suicide? Do you mean that I...'' - he said out loud and completed with ``... died'' in his own mind. 
 
 `` Yes. You probably do n't remember this but yesterday you laced the salad with cyanide. Congratulations! You passed, with honors. You are to receive a commendation from your CO tomorrow at 09200kôr. Now let's get a drink to celebrate!'' 
 
 Still dumbfounded and with his memory slowly coming back to him and replacing the 26 years he had just lived in the dream, he instinctively realized he could float and so he did following the figure who'd just been talking with him. 
 
 `` What time is it? How long have I been out?'' - he asked the figure, thinking maybe he'd been out for several years in this world. 
 
 `` Oh you were always quick with this... you have n't been out for more than 300kôf''. 
 
 He had remembered just barely enough to convert this to Earth time. In fact, only 1 hour had passed in Vonture. 
 
 `` Zodrak.'' - he murmured. 
 
 `` What did you say?'' 
 
 `` It's my name, is n't it? Zodrak.'' 
 
 The figure stopped and nodded, and he was now standing at the door, waiting for Zodrak to follow him out of the test chamber.
