A couple weeks ago...

I was running down a mountain, on a wide, steep path. It was smooth, and made of carefully placed cut quarry stone that was now covered in moss. The moss was damp from a recent rain, and I was sliding on it. By remaining light on my feet, I could essentially ski down the mountain, and as it was dusk, I chose to take advantage of the state of the moss rather than suffer from it in the dark. I reached the bottom quickly, and as I started to slow my decent I crossed the path of an old woman just starting up the mountain with her dog, a large, dark grey wolfish creature with piercing metallic eyes, calmly pushing a golden brick back and forth across the ground. I hopped over the brick and skipped around the dog, as I had no time to wonder why these two were just starting to climb the mountain at this hour.

The dog crossed my path again as I approached the large metal gate at the bottom of the trail, only he had become a large cat - perhaps a mountain lion. I only knew him by those metal eyes. He pushed the brick across my path again, and again I declined to converse with or wonder about the creature, it's brick, or what had become of the old woman. I passed through the gate, and the creature, now a raven, flew toward me, with the golden brick in it's claws. It was very little effort to avoid it's path again, so I did so, but it immediately came at me a fourth time, and so I grabbed the brick.

"Leave me be", I yelled at the creature, but it was now a bat, and attempted to bite my hand. I had a firm grasp on the brick, and the memory of the creatures more formidable guises loomed in my mind, so I slammed the creature against the wall twice, crushing it with the brick. It was now a rat, and I was awake, and it ran into my bedsheets. I lept out of bed, and turned on the light, but there had been no rat in my bed, it was just the last wisp of a very powerful dream. If I was more superstitious, I would be looking up various animals in books of omens or spirit guides. As it happens, I think I am just going to not ever again eat smoked salmon and bok choy before bed.