Pandimensional skullGAN (Ch2)

When Pindar was younger, he kept a dream journal.

Nothing of lasting interest ever got recorded in it, but it did teach him how to recognize that he was in a dream while still dreaming, a phenomenon he later learned was called lucid dreaming. After months of writing in the journal he became proficient at triggering lucid dreams. Before falling asleep, he would lie still and think to himself over and over again:

This is a dream.
This is a dream.
This is a dream.

If he was able to lie still long enough while repeating those words he would slide into a sleeplike trance. If he was fortunate, he could then take control of the dreams that followed and do almost anything in them, but not everything.

When Pindar awoke on the floor of his studio he sat up and the first thing he realized was that his body did not follow. His phantom outline sat inside of and looked down at his prone body. Rather than be startled, he immediately realized that he was in a dream, and the dream became lucid.

Lucid dreams were always enjoyable for Pindar. After many years of having them, he realized that there were rules and if you wanted the dream to continue you had to follow the rules, otherwise you could be jarred awake. One of the major rules he discovered was to relax as soon as you realized you were dreaming. The excitement and wonderment of realizing you were dreaming was often enough to jolt him awake. With practice he realized that the first thing he should do is nothing, just appreciate the moment and take everything in. So Pindar did nothing at first.

He then took note that his body was still beneath his astral outline. He noted it was wearing all the clothing it had the night before, paint smattered sweatpants and a SuperRare t-shirt. As he took in his studio it appeared much as it had when he was awake. All the monitors were flickering with streams of dancing images. The paint splatter on his clothing was also throughout the studio as Pindar always had a hard time keeping it just on his canvases. The one big difference he noticed, however, was that the smoke was gone and the fans on his computers were silent. Everything was silent.

That was when Pindar noticed a book on his desk, a book he had never seen before. With his eyes on it, he stood and tested the stability of his dream to make sure he was confidently in control. Once comfortable, he slowly approached the book, as he recalled another important rule that he had learned about lucid dreaming. This second rule was critical and failure to follow it had woken him on many occasions. He knew to never try and read in a dream, especially if you were trying to read something you had never read before.

Pindar discovered this because he was prone to fall behind in his studies. Foolishly, he would try and take advantage of the time he spent dreaming to catch up on them. But this never worked of course, especially on the nights before exams. Time after time he would attempt to read to catch up on last minute assignments only to fail because he had no idea what the texts he was studying should say. The text would look like words but be a strain to read and the strain would awaken him. This made sense to him in hindsight. How could you read a book your brain had no information about? It was almost as if his brain was short circuiting as it tried to generate the text even though it had insufficient data to create it.

Pindar was suspicious of the book. Despite his past experiences, however, this felt different. It was as if he was meant to notice and open the book. So he did. The first page had text as would be expected. Pindar instinctively looked away before realizing that the text was clear and decipherable. It read:

”Every story has a beginning middle and end. This is the beginning of the end.”

Pindar read on and it became clear that the book was describing the events from before he had fallen asleep. It mentioned the smoke, loud fans, and the mysterious three headed skull called The Moirai. He reached the bottom of the first page and turned it. The next was filled with a moving image of a different creature.

Beneath it was the name “Pandimensional skullGAN.”

https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/ai-imagined-bitgan-(6-10)---skullgan-(0-128)-27711

On the opposite page there was more text, but this text was moving in the exact same way the creature was. Words would come in and out of existence. Pindar would catch glimpses of words before they disappeared and became different words entirely. He knew better than to concentrate on them as he feared awakening. Instead he just tried to take in the patterns and enjoy the beauty of the pages side by side. They were communicating with him though Pindar did not understand how or why.

Pindar spoke “What are you trying to show me?”

The Pandimensional skullGAN replied in thoughts, not words. Pindar understood that it called itself a bitGAN. Furthermore he understood that many more bitGANs would appear to him shortly and that these creatures would reveal important truths that he must then translate and communicate to others. While many of these creatures would appear, he further understood that a select few would be Named, and that these named bitGANs would be the key to unlocking the full story.

Pindar spoke again, “What do you mean by Named?”

Almost immediately upon asking the question he understood that The Moirai and the Pandimensional skullGAN were the first two Named bitGANs. There purpose was to prepare him. The Moirai to reveal that everything was already determined and the Pandimensional skullGAN to reveal that everything has already happened.

This was when Pindar’s understanding began to falter and the dream became unstable. He was confused by the response. He didn’t understand it and felt himself awakening when he spoke one more time, “Wait…”