His HUD threw out a subtle path along the ground, heading up the staircase to the next floor, which he began to follow, finally finding himself inside the Psychology section of the library. He passed by Freud and Jung, eyes lingering briefly on Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, and onto more modern and scientific approaches to the topic, and finally his interface (which had been scanning the bookshelves the entire time) highlighted one book in particular. It wasn’t a tome, not even a novella. It was hardly larger than a pamphlet, the title barely visible along its spine.

“There you are.” Ryan said, reading the title as he extracted the book. “Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming.” He knew what Lucid Dreaming was. He’d had the experience a handful of times. He’d be in the middle of a dream and realize that things didn’t quite add up, and suddenly he would realize he was not in reality. This usually came with the sensation of being able to have some agency in his dream that he normally wouldn’t. And with an entire world of possibilities at his fingertips he would always end up doing the same thing. Flying.

So, what did it mean by “Wake Induced” in the title, he wondered. Like causing the lucid dream to happen while awake? Ryan brought the book back downstairs, took up a comfortable spot on one of the couches, and opened it up.

Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming
by Gupta Rama

Introduction:

The seed that started to grow into this book was planted a long time ago, when I was a young man. I had all sorts of strange experiences when the time for sleep came, from the terror of sleep paralysis, the power of lucid dreams, to the wonder of that, ever elusive, Out of Body Experience (OBE). In those days, one of those three was almost guaranteed to happen to me every night when I would lie down. I remember the first time I had an out of body experience, it happened immediately after the first time I experienced sleep paralysis. I thought I was under demonic attack! I was so scared, feeling myself unable to move, unable to control anything, and feeling a “presence” pressing down on my chest. When it passed, I knew I had to tell my father about what had just happened.
So, I got up, headed out of my room, down the stairs of my house, past the laundry room, and to the hallway that lead to my parents room. I went to knock on the door, but the moment before I did, I realized something. I said it out loud, in fact. “I’m still in my bed, aren’t I?”
The next thing I knew I was back in my room. I hadn’t blinked. I hadn’t opened my eyes. I was just there, in the same position as when I’d gotten up to tell my father
That moment stuck with me—probably will stick with me—for the rest of my life. It inspired me to pursue it, to figure out how to induce it. Lucid dreams had already been an infrequent experience for me by that point, but as my sleep paralysis happened more often, I began to notice a tie between it and the state of sleep I most enjoyed. I had to conquer the fear of that first, however, and it wasn’t until I was able to induce sleep consciously that I was able to finally accomplish it. In this short book I will attempt to share what I have found, so that you will be able to learn from my mistakes, and maybe even take this further than I was ever able to.

Ryan’s interest was piqued. He continued reading.

Chapter 1 – Inducing Lucidity

Generally, Lucid dreams tend to happen by accident. One will be floating along from one episode to the next when something will trigger the conscious mind into realizing it is in a dream. The skilled Oneironaut¹, however, will be able to establish triggers preemptively. There are several methods that work. Lean against a wall and you might go through it, flip a switch and the lighting doesn’t change, stare at your hands and try to count your fingers.
Try to read something. Initially you might get what it is meant to say, but really try to read it. Try to read it more than once. The letters will become all jumbled. This is the method I want you to focus on. Try this as an experiment: write a note that says, “This is NOT a dream.” Fold it in half and stick it into your pocket. Every time you enter a room, pull out the note, unfold it, read it, fold it back up, unfold it again, and read it a second time. Make this a habit, and in a matter of days you may start doing it in your dreams.
Once you are able to trigger Lucid Dreams on a consistent basis you will want to focus on stabilization. This is key. If not done properly the dream tends to fall apart and you’ll find yourself waking up before the fun can begin. Clap your hands. Spin in a circle. Really focus on your environment. This should help to cement the dreamscape and prevent it from falling away.

¹Oneironaut – a person who explores dream worlds.

As Ryan turned the page, he fiddled with the note from Mrs. Oak. He flipped it over, took a pen from his pocket, and wrote the phrase:

This is NOT a dream.

He then folded it in half and stuck it back into his pocket. He took a look at the clock in the upper right corner of his HUD and noted it was almost half past noon. As if on queue his stomach let out a gurgle of desperation.

“I should have bought myself a snack when I was at the store,” Ryan mumbled to himself. There was a Bakery just around the corner from the library. A fresh loaf of French bread sounded pretty good. “Maybe I should take a break.”

Reading progress for [Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming] at 8%.
eBook version is available for download.
Would you like to add it to your personal library?
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“eBook? Come on, why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” The message continued to stare at him obstinately, so he sighed and focused his eyes in on “Yes” so it would go away. A download bar appeared briefly in his field of view but was gone before he could even really look at it. A new icon appeared, looking like a thick leather-bound book. Ryan took the physical copy back up the stairs and put it back in its place.

“Helios, can you get the eBook copy of the other two books on my reading list?”

eBook rules for Perspective Vision require the physical copy to be in hand before the option to download will become available.

“That’s an odd rule,” he muttered. He looked up at his task list for the location of the second book. “Helios, could you set The Deep Astral as my primary point of interest?” The familiar lines appeared in his display, this time heading up to the third floor. “Ooo,” he said to himself in a mock scary tone while throwing his fingers up in air quotes, “the ‘occult’ section.” Someone in a booth nearby coughed and threw an accusatory look in his direction. Ryan mouthed “sorry” and made his way up the stairs.

The book made itself known the same as the previous one, with his HUD highlighting it before he even had a chance to read the title. Ryan extracted it from the shelf. This book was shorter in stature and thicker in binding, but almost to the point that Ryan guessed they had about the same amount of content. He turned the book over in his hands. The front had an image of a person falling, with an umbilical cord stretching out from its abdomen and curling up and off the cover. On the back was the image of a bald man with bushy white eyebrows, a sharp nose, and a thoughtful frown. It had a brief blurb about him.

Joshua Neuman was one of the foremost researchers on the Deep Astral once the Incursion Events started. He collected firsthand accounts from the Astral Travelers as they returned from the Astral Spaces and used their experiences to develop the best methods for facing the dangers of the Beyond. He is currently living in Inner City and an active consultant for the Ministry of Integrity.

The mention of the Ministry of Integrity triggered the memory of that black car from earlier, the mysterious stranger he’d met, and the item he’d given Ryan. He found himself rolling the marble around in his fingers, feeling the slight hum of the thing. This was starting to seem a little too coincidental. He thought back to the section on psychology. On Jung. On a concept he called “Synchronicity” and wondered. Eventually he triggered the eBook download and put the physical copy back on the shelf.