I've had this dream three different times over the past few years, and each time it has been a bit different. In it, there is a lush green forest dotted with ponds and creeks, and a tower whose top floor must be reached.
The first time I had the dream (when I was about 15), I started in the tower. Despite not knowing what was going on I was able to make it quite far up before I woke up. The second time (I was about 18 or so), I was in the woods and had a wonderful view of the seemingly endless tower.
The third, most recent time, is where things got serious. With a pair of people with me, my group followed a small path through the woods. In my hand was a small slip of paper that had some sort of instructions printed on it, but what they said exactly slips my mind. All I knew is that I'd done this before, so I knew where to go. The path that we followed took us out of the forest and we passed through a field into a massive expanse of a parking lot that almost stretched to the horizon. Amidst the sea of parked cars and bustling customers rose the tower, though it looked a bit different.
At the base, it looked like a Target department store that was silver instead of red. Atop that was a large section that looked like it was simply corrugated steel. Finally, there was an office building that rose up towards the sky, with no end in sight. As we walked towards the mismatched building, a man in a blue (not red) employee outfit walked up to us and asked us if there was anything we needed. The two people who were with me, a girl with long-ish hair and a guy with a maroon shirt, stopped to talk to the worker; I noticed that another worker was watching us from a short distance away, so I walked over to him.
"I'm looking for something," I spoke, making a shape like a box with my hands. "Something neat."
The man nodded and pointed to the store.
"Go to the back of the store and take the stairs to the third flight."
I nodded and went back to tell my group what needed to be done, and we entered the store with little delay. Inside, the store looked completely normal with the exception of the red decorations being silver. We found the stairs through an employee access door at the back of the store and went up. The second flight was filled with cardboard boxes and nothing else. Up we went to the third flight.
We found a lobby. There were lots of people, all split up into groups of three or four that were talking amongst themselves, and nobody really paid any attention to us. On the wall was a large painting of a night sky with bright stars. This is when I became lucid, and I motioned my group to follow me up to the second floor, which was several halls lined with offices. I immediately took the first hall to the left and went into the first office. Inside was an elderly man who was busying himself with some paperwork.
He looked at me and asked if I was here to get to the top, and I nodded. He continued, and said that I'd still need to visit all the relevant employees on the way up and to avoid the people in the halls that would get me disqualified. The memories of my past two dreams were fresh in my mind, so I knew what needed to be done.
"Mr. A," I said. "I've been here before. There are a lot more people here this time, but the situation isn't any different. Don't you remember me? Six years ago we sat and talked, and you assured me that there wasn't any danger if I was careful." I walked to his window and looked out at the view of the woods and lakes.
Mr. A looked at me with a slightly surprised smile. I can no longer remember his voice or exactly what he told me, but it was basically that things were going to be okay. We sat and talked for a minute before I realized that my group wasn't in the room with me. Excusing myself, I went back out into the hallway. The girl who was following me was standing by the door; she told me that my other partner had gotten sent back to the lobby after he tried to find the bathroom. I took out my cell phone to do a reality check and the screen was white.
On the lobby floor, everybody was still standing around. It was almost like they didn't want to go up. We sat near the landing of the stairs, and I looked at my phone again. This time it seemed to be working correctly, but the signal kept switching between roaming and almost no coverage. We leaned against the wall and tried to get some sleep before trying to go up again.
When I woke up, I was really awake.
