Dreamwalkers—concept

A while back—well, years ago now, even—I had a sketch/idea book. I used to write little blurbs in it—just ideas for stories or brief poems. I sometimes even drew in it (although I am not a very good artist. In the end, though, it was just for me, so the quality of the art didn't much matter. A couple of months back, when I was digging around in my closet for some Advil, I came across it again. I picked it up, read a few pages, and was brought right back to when I actually had a creative outlet that was not work related. That night, after our raid was done, I read through the rest of it. I had so many unfinished ideas back then! When I went to bed that night, my mind was racing with these ideas. Some of them I started expanding on... others I realized were complete and utter crap. I couldn't sleep; all I could do was think about these stories.

The next day I decided that I was going to start expanding on some of these ideas. I started by working on a drawing that represented a poem I had written. Again, I am not the best artist, so it wasn't that great, but it was a start. Later I decided that I would be better off working on one of the many stories I had started. One, in particular, caught my attention: It was called "Dreamwalkers." Now, the original idea was just a blurb—nothing more than a single paragraph that outlined an idea for a story that would take place entirely in a dream realm. I liked the idea, but the more I thought about it, and discussed it with others, the more I realized that it was too limiting. Sure, I could write this one story, but what about after that? Would there be room to continue with these characters if I ever wanted to? Now, I am not saying that I will end up writing more than one of these stories anyway, but I don't want to write myself into a corner either. I'd like the option to continue with it if I one day have the desire. To do that, I would need to take these characters out of this dream realm and have them affecting the real world more directly. That's when my idea morphed from a world of dreams to astral projection. These dreamwalkers could be used in more than just one good story—I could now begin.

The concept begins with a meteor headed for Earth. Various global powers see it coming, but not before it is too late to do much. There is just too much sky to watch, and by the time anyone sees the behemoth of a rock hurdling toward Earth, all they can try to do is blow it out of the sky and hope that the pieces that make landfall don't cause too much damage. There is no hope of diverting its path—this is not going to be a near miss.

The story will primarily take place in the U.S., but it won't be limited to just one area of the world. This event directly affects an entire hemisphere (and indirectly affects the entire planet). Somewhere in the U.S., a military base is getting ready to fire a barrage of missiles that they hope will break the meteor into small enough pieces to not be much of a threat, but before they can fire, the meteor shatters into thousands upon thousands of pieces—seemingly on its own. Governments from around the world are confused: Who took it out? Who saved their asses? The sight is a beautiful one. The sky is filled with shooting stars. Most of the pieces appear to be small enough to burn up without making landfall. The ones that do, don't appear to cause significant damage. There are a few deaths, some fires, and some fear induced panics, but overall, the damage is low.

In Norristown, Pennsylvania, landfall occurs. What makes it to Earth is not rock-like. Instead, the surviving pieces are crystalline. The crystals look similar to pieces of pure black onyx, but they are not what they appear to be. Several residents come across them. Unaware of what the crystals are, or their origin, most take them home—after all, the crystals are of stunning beauty. Most notable of those that found crystals in the Norristown area are three teens. They all attend the same school but are not friends; they all travel in different circles. None of them is prepared for what was to come next.

Before continuing on, I must explain a part of this universe that I am creating. In it, a body is just a shell for a person's essence. Their essence, or true being, is contained within this vessel. This containment is necessary for the essence to exist in our world. Without the body as an anchor, the essence would eventually dissipate, unable to hold its form; without the essence, the body would be catatonic. Each essence has the potential for a power. When first born, a person's essence is pure, unscathed, naive, a blank slate. As the person matures, and experiences life, their essence will develop an ability that is a result of their experiences. While trapped within the body, the essence cannot manifest its power, but the power is there. Each power has three stages of development (or strength), however, the power cannot progress through these stages without being used.

The crystals are not as benign as they may look. When a person has one of these crystals close to them while they are sleeping, their essence is able to manifest outside of their body. The crystal allows the essence to remain anchored to the body even though there may be a great distance between the two. Once outside of the body, the person's essence is finally able to manifest its power. However, because these people have never used their powers before, they will have to discover them... grow into them... develop them.

While the teens are not friends, and definitely not the hero types, they will eventually come to rely on one another and will even fight for a common goal. I will get more into that part of the story next time. That's it for now, though. Feel free to chime in if you have an idea or criticism. Nothing is set in stone yet. I have a lot of writing to do, and I am still in the early planning stages.