. 10.04.13 salamander .

  It was past the hours of twilight and I roamed around the rooftops of a dark and bustling metropolis. From a glance, I knew it was the city of Gotham, and I was just one of its disliked inhabitants. I was a reptilian, half-breed, with blood-red and fiery ember scales. My hair was long and black like tar. I had a pair of horns, and my left eye was absolutely white though I wasn’t blind. I had a long, whip-like tail with sharp spikes at the end of it. My only companions were my two demon dogs, whom I named Psykes and Cleaver. As dangerous as I seemed with my entourage, my Persona didn’t seem criminal at all. Because of my likeness, I laid low and stayed out of people’s way in general. The shadows were my home.

  A big crime had gone down in my part of the city so I sent my dogs to investigate. The two dogs looked like zombie mutts, with shreds of their flesh missing here and there. They both had black and dark red fur. Their eyes were totally white, but glowed red when provoked. Something about them reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s characters Cain and Abel from the Sandman universe, how Cain would relentlessly torture and kill his younger brother over and over again but Abel kept regenerating because they were somewhat immortal. Psykes and Cleaver were exactly like that, Psykes being Cain. I called him Psykes because he had more of a psychotic streak than his younger brother.

  Psykes was picking a fight with Cleaver again and as he tore up his neck and slash his long claws at his belly, Cleaver would just whine and howl in agony. My character was a bit cold in character in the sense that this was the norm and didn’t bother intervening even as Cleaver died over and over again. Suddenly, alarm struck and the streets were busy. I shushed the dogs so that I could see what was going on. Something had struck Gotham city; Robin was dead, and the Dark Knight wants to know who killed him.

The Dream ended there, but if I were to continue the story, I’d guess that people started seeing me around the crime scenes and made me the prime suspect. This pisses Batman off and he tracks me down to question if I had anything to do with it. I’m innocent of course, and to prove it, I’d help Batman look for Robin’s actual killer. My dogs were better eyes and ears, and hunters for him in the underground metropolis. I call my character a Salamander because in some occult beliefs, the Salamander is the elemental of fire; a mythical being with an affinity to fire. Even though I didn’t see my Persona play with fire or anything, her scales reminded me of flames and her dogs seemed like Hellhounds so why not.

. 23.03.12 wolves .

  The whole Dreamworld was white; covered in snow and ice. Shimmers of black trees surrounding me; some dead, some Fir still semi-buried in the white and standing tall. I'm dressed in a thick coat and heavy military snow-boots; my face buried in the black scarf I wore on the inside of my hood. My gloved hands packing a sniper rifle by my side, as I stare into the distance of the tundra lands before me. At first I'm standing on a rooftop. As I descend back into the building, I find myself in a base of some kind with many others dressed like me. Each of them packing heat, though different sizes and types. I was one of the few snipers they had.

  I sit myself at the window. We're at the second floor of the base and I position my rifle where it should be. I scan the perimeter, anticipating something. The base stirs. Someone got a signal from one of ours nearby; them and their team on the outside. While the others move, I stay put. I don't leave the scope of my sniper. I keep watch. Soon I see some others exit the building below and stand their ground, guarding the base. As if something was approaching any time now.

  And then..... I saw movement.

  White wolves started charging from the cover of the black forest. Shots are fired and blood speckled the snow in minutes. I fired at the large, beautiful beasts regrettably. Wolves were one of my favorite animals. But these were no ordinary wolves. We were sent to this research base to protect it, so the people that belonged to it would continue their search for answers. There was a Canine parasite going around, making the wolves more aggressive than usual; almost rabid. The way they attacked, it was erratic. It seemed like they were even stronger, being able to tear human limbs apart.

  I had to shoot each wolf at least twice to put them down. A few of us were injured and we didn't know whether or not the parasite had any effect on humans. They were sent underground to the labs for medical attention and research. We didn't want any zombie cases to happen, and we wouldn't risk it. When the coast is clear, I go downstairs and outside to help my teammates clear the bodies. I look at the wolves; so majestic. I was sad I had to kill them.

  But then all of a sudden, one of the scientist's dogs started going berserk. He and his friend had to hold him down as he injected some prototype cure for the parasite. But the dog was getting too haywire. I didn't have my sniper with me but a normal rifle and I aimed at the dog's head, as it swayed violently from side to side, ready to gnash anything and everything. But the scientist told me to stand down and wait for the cure to take some effect. It wasn't showing any effect from my perspective. I kept my gun at the ready. The scientist was upset, I could understand. It was his dog. He didn't want to lose him to the parasite. He and his teammate were yelling, arguing some sense into each other when the dog bit into and tore off one of his fingers. Even with a bleeding hand, he still held on to the dog to keep him still, well enough for me to take the shot. And I did.

Poor dog. It was sad when I had to kill all those white wolves. They were so beautiful. And the poor scientist guy. He really loved his dog. I remember it well; it was a handsome, jet-black Labrador. But after the Dream ended, I wondered to myself instead of using bullets, why didn't we just use really strong tranquilizer? Wouldn't that be easier? Unless of course, the canines were already zombies and if that wouldn't take any effect, then I would understand.