You find yourself in a complex dream narrative.
You're lucid,
But decide to simply let the story play out without any overt involvement.
And so it's like you're watching a movie,
Immersed in the narrative,
With full sensory engagement,
But with a subconscious director,
Writing the script and finding the right angles on the fly.
You feel happy at this vantage point,
Softly guided,
And intrigued as to where you're being led next.
The story up until this point goes a little something like this.
You're in a distant galaxy,
Far from Earth.
In this place,
An advanced group of beings known as the Elders exist.
This collective has long since evolved beyond physical form,
And they've taken up residence in the very fabric of the universe.
It's hard to explain,
But somehow,
Whilst they're in the dream,
It all makes perfect sense.
These beings are ethereal,
And because of their nature,
They can manipulate space and time.
In fact,
In a sense,
They are space and time.
And with this profound ability,
They're able to traverse the galaxy with ease,
The speed of light not applying.
The Elders have a well-established standing in the non-physical realms,
And each of their roles within their society is clearly defined.
For example,
One such Elder,
Named Carla,
Is responsible for maintaining the balance in Sector 20.
She does this by warping from planet to planet instantaneously at will,
And keeping a watchful eye on each one as she goes.
For millennia,
Carla has played this role perfectly,
Traversing the solar systems,
Observing each planet's evolution and ensuring that none stray too far from their roughly outlined path.
In the old times,
She'd watch planets being born from gas and dust,
Then evolve into thriving ecosystems.
She'd watch civilizations rise and fall,
Some succumbing to their own greed,
And others to external forces.
It was quite the role she had,
Admittedly,
One she dearly loved.
And now,
In more recent times,
Whilst warping from an empty system to its neighbor,
Carla stumbled upon a planet unlike one she'd ever seen before.
It had been named Zorin by the natives,
And it was teeming with life.
The Zorinians were a highly advanced race who had long since mastered the art of space travel.
They'd built massive ships capable of traveling between their home planets,
And they'd even colonized two of them.
This was an impressive feat,
Carla thought.
Carla watched in amazement as their ships glided effortlessly through the void of space,
Their engines leaving trails of brilliant white light in their wake.
She was surprised that she'd never come across this race before.
Until now,
She was completely unaware that this solar system was even inhabited.
And so,
As the centuries passed,
Carla returned again and again to check in with the Zorinians.
She became quite fond of them,
In fact,
And them of her,
As occasionally she'd make her presence known,
Sometimes through extreme weather events,
And other times through strange phenomena on their ships.
Recognizing the phenomena,
They began to praise her as a god,
And for a while,
All was well.
Eventually,
However,
The Zorinians seemed to lose interest in merely colonizing their home system,
And branched out to the next.
Unfortunately,
This is where problems arose.
This next system over was already inhabited,
You see,
And rather callously.
The Zorinians decided to take it as their own,
Regardless of the fact there was another civilization already living there.
At first,
The two civilizations talked and tried to reach some sort of agreement,
Some sort of compromise,
But none could be reached.
Shortly after,
War broke out.
This greatly saddened Carla,
And after conferring with the other elders of her group,
She decided to act,
Warping to the planet of Zorin,
And appearing as a great apparition in the sky.
She warned them of the error of their ways,
And that their aggressive behavior could no longer be permitted by the elders.
It was in this moment that Carla realized that the Zorinians had been blinded by their own ambitions.
They weren't evil,
No,
Far from it,
But their intellect had changed them.
They'd become too clever for their own good.
Expansion was all they cared about now,
And so,
As a way to show the Zorinian leaders where they'd gone wrong,
Carla transported a selection of their highest officials to a host planet,
Where they could spend some time alone,
To cool off,
And to simply observe the beauty and wonder of the universe.
For many months,
Carla put on displays to try and bring the Zorinians back to their hearts,
Showing them visions of the many planets in their local sector,
And the other civilizations that had already blossomed into their own cultures.
She showed them the ones that had prospered through cooperation and unity,
And conversely,
She showed them the ones that had crumbled under the weight of their own hubris.
Slowly but surely,
The Zorinians began to see the error of their ways.
They realized that their conquests had brought them nothing but destruction,
And that they'd strayed from a righteous path.
From there,
They came to understand the true beauty of the universe,
And the ultimate benefits of peace and cooperation.
Exactly three moon cycles into Carla's project,
The Zorinians repented,
Returned to their home system,
And just like that,
Her mission was complete.
With a final warp,
Carla returned to her post amongst the elders,
Eager to tell them all that had happened.
The universe hung in a delicate balance,
She explained,
And it was up to them to continue maintaining that balance.
The elders agreed,
And so,
At the end of her great mission,
She looked out at the vast expanse of space,
Filled with countless planets and civilizations,
And she knew that her work would never truly be done.
Civilizational autonomy was to be upheld at all costs.
Original cultures were to be maintained.
This was the way.
It would always be the way.
What a story,
You think?
Watching on.
Still lucid.
A wild ride for sure.
There were moments when you felt you were literally in the body of Carla,
And other moments when you felt like you were the actual planet of Zorin.
At other moments still,
You simply felt like an observer,
Watching the movie unfold from afar.
Wow.
Lucid dreaming really is such an interesting phenomenon,
You think?
It can take on so many forms.
And so,
As a sort of palette cleanser,
You decide to float.
In the clear light,
The story dissipates,
The visuals fade,
And what's left is simply you,
Pure consciousness.
Here you reside for a short while,
Resetting from the epic yarn of Carla and the Zorinians.
After floating in the clear light for an undefined time,
You feel ready for more.
For more.
This time you decide to take control.
And so,
Still lucid,
You raise up,
Back into bodily form,
And start directing the images around you.
First colors,
Then shapes,
Then brilliant patterns and grand structures.
A new dream scene is forming around you.
Back to Earth,
You think,
Paris specifically.
And just like that,
The Eiffel Tower raises up in front of you,
And the next chapter of your lucid dream begins.
