Friday, June 22, 2012

My Fucked Up Dream: "The Great Visage"


Ok, guys. I usually don't do this, but I'm going to post a dream of mine here, mainly because I think it's too long for a Facebook post and I think this is the best place to put it. Last night I had probably one of the scariest, most fucked up dreams that I've ever had. It was so vivid and real, I can remember the events and what was said so clearly.

Important Note: This isn't related to Slender Man at all, it is something completely different, yet still quite disturbing. It is long and graphic, so get some popcorn ready.

I decided to make this small visualization in Photoshop to accompany you as you read, it took me five minutes.
This is how the chapel looked in my dream, more or less.

I was somehow filming a sequel to Speceballs. (this wasn't the scary part) I barely remember what that was all about, but once I was out of that, I traveled home. I realized that I was highly athletic and could sprint and hop with reflexes like a ninja. I went to a park and started practicing some moves, when this guy came up to me who looked strikingly like an old friend of mine with a buzz cut, except his name was Collin. He said that he was watching me and liked my style, offering me to this karate place downtown. Feeling I should exercise my new found abilities, I said what the hell and went with him there. Once there, a bunch of other people were there acting like I was, kicking and fighting each other. All of them oddly had their heads shaved like Collin. I was greeted by the sensei; he shook my hand and welcomed me into his 'congregation'. Collin made me sign my name in this very large book next to the number "263" and I started to practice some moves. So, for a while, I sparred with everyone until it became dark outside. I went to call my house to tell my parents that I'd be home late because of my new abilities and this new karate place I've found, but there was no signal. As I was busy on the phone, everyone in the sparring room, left through a side door into another room. When I was done trying to call my folks, Collin asked me to join the others in the other room for the 'ceremony'. Confused, I followed him into the next room. To my confusion, the next room was a chapel of sorts, lined with several pews divided by a middle pathway. It was very foggy inside with a stark mildew/rotten eggs stench, like a smoke machine was blasting air from some terrible swamp. The room was divided into two sections; to the right were all the karate guys dressed in black robes with big hoods, and on the left a bunch of men and women with horribly disfigured faces. I soon made out through the mist that they were wearing lifelike masks with numbers carved into their foreheads. Collin gave me a black robe and a white mask, mine had the number "263" written on the forehead of the mask. Collin's had the number "196". He ushered me to sit in one of the back rows of the congregation's right side, I obeyed reluctantly. Hooded men with rifles stood in each corner of the room. The sensei, who was up at the pulpit dressed in a large black hood with a mask numbered "14", began the ceremony. What he said was horrifying, talking of weakling sinners walking the earth and how retribution would be delivered to them through 'our' faith. I still had no idea what this whole thing was, but I was almost certain that it was a cult of some sort, a karate cult oddly enough. He explained how their lord came to be after the "Great 20, including myself summoned the great lord into our plane of existence many years ago." After a bunch of vague ranting about how sinners who leave this place are to be severely punished for their heresy, he ended his sermon with, "My brothers and sisters, may we now summon the Face of Judgment to decide the fate of the sinners we have brought here today." The men in robes began chanting this evil sounding song in low tones. I looked over at the 'sinners' sitting in the pews at the left side of the room. Save for the ugly masks, they were wearing normal clothing and had their hands bound behind their backs, shackled to their seats. Listening harder, I could hear their muffled cries, hinting that they were gagged behind their masks. Knowing I didn't belong here at all, I began to get really scared, having this odd feeling like I should really be on their side, even though I wasn't. And to my horror, as I looked back up at the center stage, looming above the sensei was a giant floating facemask. It was completely black, with two holes for eyes, but no mouth. On its forehead, I could make out the inscription of an "O", but later, I realized this to be a zero. It seemed to be materialized by the smoke, not made up of any real matter, but dark enough to appear real. At the sight of this massive face, I became dizzily transfixed on it and nearly paralyzed. "All behold the Great Visage!" yelled the sensei, and the right side of the congregation repeated his words, "He is without expression, he is without bias, he is without flaw. All knowing, all seeing, all judging, and all present, he is us, and we are him. Without his guidance, we are lost forever. All glory to the Face - The eternal Face of everyone and everything." At this, the people on the left howled through their gags at his presence, a terrifying sound. "SILENCE," the face demanded in a loud, echoic voice. The face began chastising the sinners for their crimes, and shouted at them for disobeying the sacred texts and denouncing him as their almighty lord. I remember a recurring theme of self-sacrifice. After that, the face then announced "NOW, WE WILL SING THE INCANTATION OF [[some gnarled word]]" and began chanting in odd tongues, the congregation singing along. During this, I managed to muster control of my body and leave the room nonchalantly and exited the chapel doors. The doors slammed behind me and, I heard the face shout, "THE NEW MEMBER HAS EXITED THE SACRED SCEREMONY". This is when I woke up at like 10am. I quickly went back to sleep and, luckily, I found myself back in the same karate room. There were candles everywhere now. I tried to call 911, but my phone was dead. The doors were bolted shut and the exits were all locked with heavy chains, including the windows and the bathroom. There was only one door that wasn't locked, and behind it was a dark stairwell that I didn't want to go up. This was when, I realized that the chapel had silenced. Knowing nowhere else to go, I went back through the doors to the chapel. As I opened the doors, everyone was turned around staring directly at me, including the face who was looming right in front of me over the doorway. "WHY HAVE YOU EXITED THE CEREMONY?" it boomed. Scared out of my fucking mind, I bowed and announced in the most humble manner I could, "Forgive me, my lord, for I had to use the restroom. I will be seated for the remainder of the ceremony." And I stood there, bowing for a good ten seconds before the face responded, "SUCH IS WHAT A SINNER WOULD DO. YOU ARE FORGIVEN THIS TIME, FOR YOU ARE STILL UNDERGOING ENLIGHTENMENT. DO NOT DIASAPPOINT MY PRESENCE AGAIN, NEW ONE. BE SEATED. NOW." I sat down as calmly as I could. Looking over at Collin, I asked him what the hell this is all about. He lifted up his mask to reveal this awful wide-eyed look on his face, like I had just killed someone. "Do not desecrate the sacred ritual! It is forbidden! The Face of Judgment must not be disrespected! Do you wish to be cast into the bath of eternal darkness?!" I responded in a scared whisper as the face floated back up to the pulpit, "I came here for karate, not worshiping a giant face!" He shushed me and the face began again, "TO INITIATE OUR NEW MEMBER, A SINNER MUST BE SAVED. BEGIN THE RITUAL." The sensei at the pulpit took out a spinning cage full of little white balls, like one you'd see at a bingo hall to announce numbers, and spun it. As he did the robed men began humming and someone in the left side of the room must have undone their gag and screamed, "Its just a projection! Can't you fucking see? They're pumping in gas to make you hallucinate, to make you forget!" the face turned fast toward him and screamed, "SILENCE THE HEATHEN SINNER." One of the guards took the butt of his rifle and slammed it into the man's chest, refastening the gag under the man’s mask. Just then, the sensei stopped spinning the cage and plucked out a ball. "MEMBER 14, ANNOUNCE THE HOLY NUMBER." Holding up the ball high in the air, he shouted "Number 145!" There were several screams from the left side of the congregation. One of the guards pulled Member 145 from their seat and brought him up on stage. "MEMBER 145," shouted the face, "GUILTY OF ABANDONING OUR SACRED PLACE OF WORSHIP, RENOUNCING THE FAITH, DISCARDING THE SACRED TEXTS, AND DESTROYING MEMBER 17. THIS IS HERESY OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE. I SENTANCE YOU TO BATHE IN THE ETERNAL BATH OF DARKNESS." The sensei banged a large drum and the congregation chanted, "May their mortal body serve as a token to the Almighty Face's grace and form. All glory to the Face - The eternal Face of everyone and everything." Then, the sensei gave the word and two guards rolled out a peculiar thing: It was what looked like a golf cart, except inside of it contained metal braces and other binding shackles. "STRIP MEMBER 145 OF ALL MORTAL POSSESSIONS" shouted the face, and the guards began removing all of his clothing, all except for the mask. He was then shoved into the contraption, his limbs fastened to the cart, except for his right arm. One of the guards took a blade, slashed down his wrist, and placed the arm up to the elbow in this large translucent glass tube that fed into a thick yellow rubber tube connected to the back of the cart. A small amount of blood began to collect at the bottom of the glass. "INITIATE THE BLOOD HARVEST," said the face and one of the guards turned the ignition of the cart. The man in the cart began to scream through his gag and shake violently; the guards had to hold him steady. The glass tube must have been sucking harshly on his arm, because blood began filling up the glass very swiftly, traveling down the tube and turning it a dark crimson. When it was nearly halfway full, the ignition was turned off, and the face said loudly "NOW, MY CHILDREN, DRINK OF HIS LIFE FLUID, SO THAT YOU MAY GAIN HIS SPIRITUAL ENERGY AND MORTAL STRENGTH." The left side of the congregation and I formed a line in front of the cart. The robed men were taking what looked like a gas pump hose that was connected to the yellow tubing and putting it up to their mouths and sucking before giving it to the next member in line and then sitting back down. When it came to my turn, I was absolutely disgusted. I put the nozzle up to my face and pretended to suck, but didn't actually do it. After I removed it, the face yelled, "DRINK, NEW ONE. BECOME STRONGER WITH US." Scared for my life, I was forced to suck a small bit of blood from the hose and swallow it before coughing and gagging some of the putrid stuff up. I sat back down, seeing Collin preform the hose sucking like it was second nature. Sitting back next to me, he said smiling, "Don't worry, man. You get used to it. To me, it tastes like candy." I was too sickened and disturbed to respond. "RELINQUISH THE BODY TO ME," said the face, "GO FOURTH 27, 196, 221 AND 263. TAKE HIM TO THE SACRED BATH." The man was hand cuffed behind his back, and the four of us escorted him out of the room through another door as the congregation chanted, "All glory to the Face - The eternal Face of everyone and everything." As we walked around a lengthy corridor, I was silent, but Collin whispered in my ear, "I recruited you because new members are always needed. Sacrifices are required to maintain the great visage. Without them, our eternal lord would not be able to materialize on our plane and would not be able to be summoned any longer." At this point, we had descended down a great deal of stairs into a basement. A large bookshelf was removed, to reveal an elevator, the kind you'd see from a coalmine. We descended in the elevator for quite some time before hitting the bottom. It was very hot and humid, difficult to breathe. We walked down this long corridor to find a very old looking oak door. Behind the door was a small room lit with blue flamed candles. There was nothing in the room except a bunch of candles, one guard, and an old looking bathtub, the kind held up by little legs bolted to the ground. This old bathtub looked normal enough, until we walked closer. The tub was filled nearly to the brim with a pitch black liquid. The fluid was too dark to be blood, as I first thought. Looking closer, it resembled highly viscous tar. The guard who was already there took out a black book and began chanting in tongues. "It is time," said one of the hooded men with us, removing 145's gag, "have you any final praises to the lord before you join him?" He began lashing out at us, "Fuck you! Fuck all of you assholes! None of this shit is real, don’t you fucking get it? It's a goddamn cult." He then turned his attention to me, "Kid, get the fuck out of here, they drug you with that mind control shit from South America. Don't give in, it's all a sham, it's a-" One of the men pulled his head back, giving me a knife. "End his life, so that you may compensate his with yours." I didn't want to kill the guy, he seemed the most logical. One of the men took a rifle out and pointed at me. "Do it, or join him," he said. "Kid," said 145, "Turn off the projector, destroy it. You've gotta end this hell..." With no other choice, I slit his throat. They held his neck above the black ooze of the tub, his neck gushing blood into the tub. Once he had stopped squirming, two men raised him up and lowered him into the tub. As they let go, everyone began chanting with the guard. The fluid was so thick it took a few seconds for him to submerge completely. After they finished chanting, something emerged from the top of the black liquid. Collin went over to pick it up. It was the guy's mask. This part disturbed me a lot too, because if everyone else's mask was like mine, and I assumed that they were, they were pretty tightly attached to our heads. How did it come off? "Now you must drink from the tub to complete the ritual" said Collin, "and you will finally be one of us." "No," I said sternly. No way in hell was I putting anything else in my mouth. "Do it, or they’ll kill you," he said, motioning to the man with the rifle. I was so enraged at this whole spectacle, that I decided that it was ending here. I slowly took off my robe, and then threw it at the guy with the rifle. He fell back into the tub and dropped the gun. I grabbed it and shot everyone before they could get to me, all except for Collin. I was sobbing as I pointed the gun at him. "Wait! Don't shoot!" he pleaded, "if I am to die tonight, I will end myself by joining with the lord." He removed all of his clothes and walked over to the tub. "May the Face have mercy on you," he said as he jumped into the tub. As he sunk it then occurred to me how impossible it was that three people could fit in a tub like that. I reached into the tub to feel around, except I felt nothing. There was no bottom of the bathtub, it was definitely deeper than it should have been. I then felt what I thought to have been hair on a scalp, and then a hand grasped at my wrist. I pulled away before it could drag me in. Taking all the ammo I could find from the guard, I darted to the elevator and rode it up to the top. I decided that I was going to find the projection room and reveal to everyone that this face was a lie. I ran up the stairs and made it back to the first floor. Opening the chapel we had exited through slightly, I saw what seemed to be a small window in the back of the chapel, which I assumed to be a projection room. I burst into the chapel, interrupting their chanting. I fired at the sensei, killing him, and then firing at the robed men, killing some of them. "THE NEW ONE IS A HERETIC SINNER. HE HAS DESECRATED OUR SACRED RITUAL. DESTROY HIM." screamed the face. I ran through the pews through the double doors. Next to the doors was a large piece of exorcising equipment, like a Bowflex or something. I pulled it down to block the doors. I managed to pull out one of the support bars and put it between the door handles. I went back to the door with the dark stairwell, and went up it. I shot the lock off the door and kicked it open. The room was completely bare, save for the small window, and a large chair. There was no projector in this room, and the chair was empty. I ran to the small window to see what was happening downstairs in the chapel. The surviving robed men were trying to push open the door, the sinners were still seated, but the giant face was gone. I turned around and my heart stopped. There was a large being sitting in the chair now, his skin composed of a dripping black substance similar to that of the tub. He was completely covered in it, save for his face, which was hidden behind a white mask. The mask was the same as that of giant facemask. He got up and walked toward me. I shot at him, but the holes the rifle made in his body clean white mask only regenerated. I ran around him and ran down the stairs. I knocked the candles down, and the building began to catch on fire. I tried to open the front doors, but the chains were too strong. I turned around to see the masked being coming towards me. "YOUR ACTIONS ARE UNFORGIVABLE. YOU WILL BECOME ONE WITH ME," It shouted. I aimed my rifle and managed to get a clean headshot. The mask exploded, along with his head, and his body fell backward. His form then melted into a dark puddle on the floor, which caught fire from the flames. As I tried to break the door down, I could hear the congregation chanting loudly from behind the chapel doors over and over, "All glory to the Face - The eternal Face of everyone and everything.". I finally managed to shoot the chains and padlocks off of the front door and kick them open to reveal a bright light. Then I woke up. It was 4pm, and wrote this all down as fast as I could before I forgot anything.

In the end, I felt it was like what would happen if The Wizard of Oz, Red State, and Silent Hill had an evil lovechild. If I ever get around to directing well budgeted films, I want to make one around this dream.