Chapter 3 Naga

chapter 3: Naga

Asuka emerged through a portal on the moon. By the koi ponds she spotted Raven and Nomad, Mosh's friends. Raven was giving Nomad hell because he was smoking on the moon. Nomad apologized to Raven and put it out. Raven was saying they had a goal to accomplish, and that goal was to fight The Vampire King. Asuka ran to them and stopped them, and Nomad was turning into a half man and half jaguar.

"Wait, wait!" She yelled waving her arms in the air. "It's Mosh, There's some strange man hurting him... eating black stuff from him. You guys have to come help!" She didn't realize she was speaking Japanese still.

"Slow down!" Nomad said. "Raven let's turn on our dream translators." They both took a moment to slap their own heads; it looked rather silly to Asuka. "Ok, repeat what you just said a second ago." Asuka repeated her statement. "No way!", Nomad said excitedly. “Where is he? Where is this happening? We have to help."

"In his room," Asuka replied. "The man is old looking, and he's just eating black stuff from his chest and MoSh is unconscious." Raven nodded at Nomad who was looking a bit concerned. Suddenly some loud metal music played all around them, the music seemed to be coming from Raven and pretty soon a portal began to open.

Music! She opens portals with music… very clever. Asuka thought.

The music continued and pretty soon two other people teleported right by the portal. First was a man had a big smile. He was in a purple lion cartoon form wearing a faded purple t-shirt with a cartoon music band picture on it, and was holding a guitar. He gave Asuka a nod and then said to Raven, “If there’s going to be healing, I’ll be needed.” Raven said it was okay and then called him Bashir. Second was a woman who seemed to be with Bashir, who introduced herself to Asuka as Selene, who was Nomad’s dream lover. Selene was pretty and also had long brown hair and eyes. Selene went and kissed Nomad, and she didn’t seem to be showing any restraint. Now Raven was standing there and just staring at Nomad and Selene. Nomad stopped kissing Selene and changed into a funky outfit. He changed his background to a black and red checkered dance floor. Lights came up from behind him along with some funky disco music. Nomad was break dancing now, while at the same time singing about going nowhere.

“As if you haven’t noticed!,” Asuka yelled at them. “Mosh needs our help right away.” Nomad said sorry again for the second time in those few minutes.

"I got distracted by the pretty lights," he said.

They all stepped through the portal. It seemed to be a long transition to get through. Nomad was body surfing through the portal on waves of gravity. Bashir was sitting on a silver disc singing, and now he was wearing a red vinyl jacket, pants and boots. Selene was flying like superman. Raven was in a grey canoe, rowing with a very determined look on her face. Nomad shot Raven a funny look, because it seemed like he found it amusing. She shot him back a dirty look, obviously not realizing she was paddling a canoe. Asuka was just floating through the portal not really amused at the scene; she was too busy being worried about Mosh.

Finally they all arrived in the bedroom of Mosh. The creature man from before was still standing over him and scooping black stuff out of Mosh’s chest and then eating it. Nomad thought it looked like something similar they fought off of Aeona a number of weeks ago. Nomad was terrified at first, but he mustered up some courage and strength and said "f**k this. This is a dream."

Nomad changed into a man with a hyena head, fur and legs. He roared like a lion and tackled the tar eating creature. The creature was knocked off the bed, him and nomad rolled over to the far bedroom wall and phased through it. Bashir approached Mosh who was now covered in a dark aura. He told Raven that he could handle the healing for now, and that her friend Nomad would need help outside. Asuka stayed with Bashir and MoSh and said that she too knew a thing or two about healing. Raven then followed Selene through the wall.

***

After Nomad had phased through the wall with the tar creature, he was on the ground with the creature. It was growling ferociously and trying to bite Nomad's wrists. Nomad turned into a black and purple jaguar again and began spewing flames into the creature's face. Selene was floating in the air and shooting moonlight blasts into the fray. The flames burned the creature and sent loads of black tar onto Nomad's fur which began melting in. Nomad roared and then changed into a shaman wearing a jaguar skin and wielding an axe; he chopped on the creatures leg and then picked the creature up. Nomad swung him around by the chopped leg and then threw him on the ground. By now Raven had joined the fight, so she used music magic to hit the creature with lightning while nomad made his way back to the house. The creature burned and turned into some sort of mist, which Selene then captured in a tornado. Raven switched the song spell, and combined a red phaser beam with Selene's moon blasts. After they stopped firing the mist had vaporized. They followed Nomad into Mosh's room.

Back in Mosh's room Asuka and Bashir were using a white energy to try and heal Mosh. Bashir was was playing a guitar while Asuka was singing, their music combined in the energy they were using to heal Mosh. He was still asleep and was covered in black tar, which was also on Nomad, Raven and Selene. Asuka said MoSh needed more healing, because she And Bashir couldn't get it off. Raven summoned a wand and used it to lift Mosh off of the bed. Raven said, "We should take him to the healing glen, there's a frost giant there that can help him."

"Funny," Nomad said. "I've always seen him as a giant crystal man."

"And Mosh, sees him as a stone giant" Raven said as they all stepped through the portal and into a healing glen. They walked towards the mouth of a cave. There a young boy was standing with him arms spread feeling the breeze. He spotted nomad and ran to him. Nomad called him Joseph. Joseph handed Nomad a toy green frog. Nomad ate it and said it was delicious! Asuka was wondering where this healing giant was. As if on cue, a big giant approached them. Raven handed the Mosh to the healing giant and he took him into the cave and then everyone followed them into the cave. Inside the cave was a bed of grass where the healing giant laid Mosh to rest.

The Giant noticed the black tar still on everyone. "You should get rid of that stuff." he commanded. They all agreed to a mutual healing. Asuka sat down by Mosh and stroked his hair while singing softly to him. Raven began her music healing spell, while Nomad joined in with his didgeridoo, and still Bashir chimed in with his guitar. Selene just stayed and enjoyed the healing as the white energy from the music turned golden and began cleansing everyone in the cave. The Healing Giant blew herbs on Mosh which produced parasites that begun to spring up from his dream body. White birds flew into the cave and began gobbling the parasites up. The Giant then said "His wounds are very deep... He's going to need a special mixture for them. A poultice if you will."

Mosh then arose from them the bed of grass. Or at least a part of him did. Another mosh seemed to have gotten up and out from the Mosh lying on the ground. The Giant acted like it was nothing, Asuka's reaction was the same. Bashir and Selene shrugged and vanished through a portal. Nomad and Raven stood in awe. The Mosh that got up went over to Nomad and put his hand on his shoulder. Nomad watched as Mosh's background changed. Mosh now looked like a cartoon 16 year old boy with brown hair and no facial hair. He was wearing a grey T-shirt with green sleeves; he was also wearing blue jeans with worn casual shoes. For a moment they seemed to both be in a cartoon backyard with a treehouse that Mosh made. "Hello Nomad." He said.

"Nyah! how did you do that?" Nomad replied.

"This is my dream body, and THAT... is my astral body." Mosh said pointing to the other version of him lying on the bed of grass. Nomad followed Mosh out to the mouth of the cave. Raven lingered behind to talk with the healing Giant.

"Oh really?" Nomad said. "I didn't know there was a difference."

"Oh yes, dumb a*s." Mosh grinned and a snake tongue formed and flickered from his mouth. He became a giant green cobra, and swayed back and forth; his eyes became black and red spirals. The background changed to a temple of a snake god. Nomad was petrified.

"Don't you recognize me.... brother?" Mosh's eyes glowed red. "You don't remember it all do you? It's a shame. After all, I did let you marry my sister. I am NAGA!" At the word 'Naga,' he threw back his head. Feathered wings burst from his back and glowed red. His voice changed at that word, and sounded like the roar of a thousand crocodiles. Nomad was transfixed and thinking married my sister? Naga? WHAT? Just then a dream flowed into Nomad's memory, In which he met the Dream Warrior Master: Gawn. He remembered that Selene was Gawn's daughter. No it can't be... Nomad thought in realization. Selene is Mosh's....

"You chose the wrong place to attack, Serpent!" Raven yelled as she came from the mouth of the cave. Naga-Mosh turned to Raven and roared like a jaguar. Raven formed a sword and swung it at the Naga. Naga-Mosh took to the sky right away, and Raven managed to stab her sword through his long tail. "Come back you flakey jerk!" Raven yelled at Naga-Mosh.

"No, don't!" Nomad called to Raven. "That's Mosh!" Raven stopped following the serpent, which flew into the sky and vanished behind some clouds.

"Mosh?" Raven repeated looking confused. "What the hell?" Her eyes were as big as saucers. Nomad was terrified with Mosh's unexpected transformation, and vowed to himself to forget the entire thing. Raven and Nomad walked back into the cave in silence. Asuka was still sitting by Astral Mosh. The healing giant approached them.

"As I said," The giant began, "your friend here needs a poultice, the tar is still there in his deep wounds and there is still tar left on yourselves. I need a mix of grey, and clay type mud... grass, dark purple berries and a fungus that looks like a sponge. This will drain all the toxins out. I will give him first aid. Now go clean yourselves up."

***

Asuka accompanied Nomad and Raven to collected the needed items for the poultice. They went through a portal to a land of the north. Nomad and Asuka were scooping mud into a bucket by the river bank. Asuka left for a minute and found some extra flowers that she thought would help Mosh. She went back to the group and noticed that Bashir was with them again. He was using a wind force to collect berries and dropping them into the bucket. "Let's go look for the fungus" Raven said. They all went into the woods, flipping over rocks and logs. Nomad found the fungus growing at the base of a tree. It was fat and round so Asuka helped Nomad pull it off of the tree. They then opened a portal back to the cave. They gave the bucket and sponge to The Healing Giant, who then squeezed the lemons into the poultice. Asuka showed him the flowers, which he inspected for a moment, nodded and then added it into the mixture. He sliced up the fungus with a knife, and then laid the slices on Mosh's chest. Then, he smeared the poultice on with a wooden spoon. Mosh took a deep breathe and sighed in his sleep. Asuka looked at him then, and then at the others. She smiled.

***

Asuka decided to join Raven and Nomad on their next trip. They were standing on top of a giant green hill. They all looked like dark elves. "Do you want me to call you Juargawn or something Nomad?" Raven asked, "Because I'm not going to call you that." Nomad shrugged and grinned. Asuka was rather bored by now and wondered if she should have stayed with Mosh's astral body still asleep in the healing glen. "Oh well, where to now?" Raven asked.

"To my temple!" Nomad said. Raven nodded. Asuka thought she may as well see the temple. Nomad created a black and white mirror portal, and rode in with Asuka and Raven following. On the other side, Nomad was still a dark elf, Raven was now a wraith, and Asuka was back in her normal attire. Nomad felt like he was being watched.

A large snake the size of an anaconda leapt from out of the portal, and wriggled on the ground like a worm. It stood up and expanded it's hood. It was a green cobra. It was Naga-Mosh. "Hello brother!" the snake said in a deep throaty hiss. Nomad changed into a jaguar and howled at the snake. Naga-Mosh recoiled and hissed. Then the snake coiled, leapt at Nomad and wrapped around him while squeezing him. Asuka was shocked at the scene of Naga-Mosh and Nomad tumbling around the temple. Raven was holding back and not trying to draw her sword. Mosh turned into a light colored jaguar, pinned Nomad and licked his face. Nomad stood up after Mosh let him loose and changed into a half man and half jaguar. "Who are you?" asked nomad, still denying the whole transformation. Mosh Changed back into a large snake and sprouted wings from his back.

"You know who I am." Mosh roared. "I am Naga!" Naga-Mosh flapped his wings creating a tornado which began to suck everyone inside. It grabbed Asuka and Nomad and then the tornado moved outside the doors of the temple. Raven followed and jumped into the tornado which went up, which brought them to a horizontal portal in the sky.

Everyone went in.

The portal changed into a wormhole and the tornado was spinning faster. "Woah woah!" Said raven. Asuka was screaming.

"screw this tornado crap." Nomad said and pulled a sword out. He rested on the sword and stopped spinning. Both Raven and Asuka were too occupied with spinning to grab the mind to stop spinning themselves. "Let's see where this takes us." Nomad said.

They emerged through the portal and all landed safely. When the tornado disappeared they stood in a stone archway overlooking a valley. In the valley was a kingdom of some sort. Nomad knew he was somewhere inside Hollow earth. Asuka and Raven were now calm inspecting the scenery of the place, which seemed to look like vibrant pastel colors. There were translucent animals floating in the air. There was a path laid before them consisting of of a pale, pink and coral colored brick. They all walked down the hill and into the valley along the path. When they neared the kingdom, there were translucent palm trees lining the sides of the path and in between each tree stood Nagas. They all walked along the path as if in a trance. The Nagas bowed to them as they walked by.

As they neared the Naga throne everything went terrifying. Asuka, Nomad, and Raven saw everyone as zombies, and putrid blood dripped from the sky. People were heard moaning and writing in pain. Everywhere were pits of fire. "Change your perception!" commanded the Naga King, who To the group, the looked like a wraith. They all stared at his eyes which were swirling yellow and black portals. Then everything returned to normal and the Naga King was a snake man. Mosh was a snake man on his right of the throne, and Selene was on his left. The Naga King smiled, and then patted Mosh on the head. He turned to Mosh saying, "Thou art my son, with whom I am well pleased." He scratched Selene under the chin.

Everyone in the group bowed to the Naga king. "Stand up immortals!" He commanded, "I am no greater than you. I am simply bound to this plane." He then spoke simultaneously to everyone. He Told Asuka, "Welcome, Asuka, Goddess of sacred peace and guardian of sacred dreams. Thou road ahead is a difficult one, for you must stay by my son's side and prepare him for the future yet untold."

To Raven he said, "Welcome Holy Queen of Night and guardian of sacred dreams. Thou road a head is tough. For shall you traverse it, you must overcome your life long barrier of not believing in one's self."

To Nomad he said, "Welcome, Juargawn, god of nothing, Dreamscaper, Windwalker, and guardian of sacred dreams." He chuckled. "Thou art a most holy rabbit and look delicious." Nomad's eyes bugged out in fear. 'Don't worry, I am not going to eat you. That was a joke. I can't kill you, It's against the rules. You three along with my children Roarga'an and Selene are the Guardians of of Sacred dreams."

"Are you Gawn?" Nomad asked.

"Gawn is not here." He chuckled, "Yes and no. I am one of Gawn's selves. There are many versions of us and we exist in multiple planes and multiple dimensions. Even many places in the same dimension. But, I am not Gawn. My name is unimportant and you already know who I am."

"What are the rules?"Nomad asked.

"Oh, you know the rules, You have begun to learn them already. Thank you for watching over my son. Now this version of him is free from The Cannibal."

"What is The Cannibal?"

"He was a Naga of old, but then he turned to darkness. He feeds on energy, but first, he converts it to darkness."

"How does he do that?"

"Pain and sorrow. But we will not speak of that any longer. giving attention to such creatures increases their power." Raven summoned a staff and bowed to The Naga King. He infused her staff with some sort of power. Nomad and Asuka went into some sort of trance, when more power came out of The Naga king, which looked like golden electricity. They both also had staffs which became infused with the power. Nomad Changed into a gorilla. Asuka changed into a small white yappy dog. Raven changed into a Jaguar Woman wearing a white robe. And then she changed into a giraffe, and then she changed into three large African birds with large bills. The scene changed to night and the three turned into hyenas. They yipped loudly and madly at the sky. Strange stars floated above them in between the ground and the black sun. The scene changed into day again. Mosh and Selene blew at them, and tornadoes came out of their mouths.

***

Asuka awoke the next night in Mosh's dream bedroom. He was fully healed with his astral and dream body merged. She had just awoken from her astral projection, during which, she had wanted to check what he had remembered, which wasn't a lot surprisingly. Several times he had awoken with chest pains. There was a fragment about lying in a bedroom surrounded by people, and then another fragment about being on top of a hill and overlooking a strange city. He noted the dreams felt very important for him. She watched him read Nomad's version of the dreams, which were more detailed. Mosh read them again, and he seemed to be in some turmoil about reading Nomad's dreams. Mosh himself didn't seem to be taking his Naga transformation with ease. She concluded his attack had effected his recall.

She got up from his dream bed, and noticed Mosh was still asleep. He would be up soon so in the meantime she decided to check up on something. Mosh's dreams that were logged on his dream computer were more detailed. She was concerned about his relation to Aeona, who she feared had a darker agenda with Mosh. She went onto his computer and found his dream log. She scrolled a bit and found his latest log about Aeona. She clicked the dream and it began to play for her like a video.

The dream showed Mosh walking in some woods near a lake towards a nice looking house. He let himself into the house like he lived there, or, that he knew the people there. He walked into a nice looking living room that was overlooking the lake. In the living room was Aeona and her boyfriend Poet. They both had a dark aura made of dark energy. The energy seemed to be coming from a dark shard lodged into Poet's heart. Mosh sat with them on the couch, with Aeona in the middle between him and Poet. Asuka didn't like the look of Mosh sitting with two shady characters looking like they were trying to mind control him due to his lack of lucidity. Aeona pressed up against poet and played with his hair. She seemed to be playing too rough and tugging his hair, to which, he looked at her with an annoyed look. She pretended not to notice.

The three of them were talking to each other in a friendly manner, whatever Aeona and Poet were up to, they didn't seem to be wanting to reveal anything at that point in time. The stuff they were talking about didn't make a lot of sense, Asuka figured that was because Mosh wasn't lucid while Aeona and Poet were just playing along. While they were talking Asuka noticed Aeona slide farther away from Poet and closer to Mosh in the manner someone might sidle up to their lover… Mosh seemed a bit uncomfortable with that, Poet had a strange smirk on his face and his eyes had black swirls in the whites… looked really weird… Mosh was focusing most of his attention on Aeona, who seemed to be whispering something to Mosh… Asuka couldn't hear what was being said, so she zoomed the picture in closer to them and listened carefully… Aeona was saying something about poison, then something about drugs… damn… she still couldn't hear it very clearly. Asuka really needed to hear what was being said, she thought it might be important…

Asuka turned up the speakers forgetting Mosh was still asleep in the room not far away. Aeona didn't seem to be speaking in an entirely coherent manner. She was telling Mosh that she had been poisoned, and that poison was drugs; she said Mosh should do some drugs. She said that the universe is her supplier, and Poet is just some back-street dealer and a pimp with the delusions that his dick was long enough to butt-f**k himself. Then she said she was so f*****g high that she was looking up her own a*s. She said Poet is hung like a horse in his own mind but really, he is hung like a mouse. She giggled and pointed at Poet, who shot her back a dirty look.Aeona turned back and was looking into Mosh's eyes, which seemed to make him rather uncomfortable. She said she could see infinity in his eyes. By this time she was practically draped over MoSh just as she had been draped over Poet a few moments ago. Mosh clearly didn't like the situation, he got up and left the room rather quickly as Aeona practically fell off the couch, saying she could make MoSh feel really good if he could just hear the same colors as she did.

MoSh left the house, though now it was snowing outside when it had been completely clear and sunny just a short time ago, and there was also a thick layer of snow on the ground. Footprints led away from the door into the trees, disappearing into the forest. Mosh looked at the footprints for a bit and then followed them towards the forest. The closer he got to the forest the harder the snow came down and the harder the wind blew, turning a gentle flurry into an all out blizzard as he reached the tree line. Somehow the trees didn't provide any shelter from the blizzard, which was at a blinding level now, although the snow didn't seem to be filling in the footprints Mosh was following. The footprints led to a cave, where Mosh went inside and got out of the blizzard, the footprints led back into the cave as Mosh followed them. The cave got darker and darker until it would soon be impossible to see, so Mosh turned to go back, but instead of getting lighter as he got closer to the cave entrance it continued getting darker… until there was absolutely no light left at all. This is where the dream ended, so even though Asuka couldn't see Mosh, Asuka was assuming he disappeared as he woke.

She scrolled through his journal again and found another dream just a few days farther back... In the dream, Mosh was walking on an army base. He was dressed in an army outfit, and carried no gun. He seemed to be avoiding some tanks and troops that were heading out of an army warehouse and down the driveway towards some gates where the highway was. After they passed Mosh got out of his hiding place, ran across the pavement and entered a bunker. Mosh hurriedly looked through the bunker overturning seats and looking in people's sheets. He then found a locker room, he pulled out a key and opened a locker with his name on it. In there he found another army uniform. He placed it on a bench and patted it down, searched the pockets and did a double take inside his locker. "No gun?" He shouted, "I'm on an army base, and in the army and I have no gun?. How am I going to fight the New World Order and their plans with no gun?" Mosh put everything back in the locker and headed towards the exit.

Just then Poet and Aeona walked through the door. Mosh was startled and stepped back a few feet. Asuka saw Poet was using his dark shard to cover Aeona with a tight dark energy blanket which was masking her appearance. She zipped past Mosh in an instant trying not to be seen. Mosh however, clearly noticed. "Relax brother." Poet said to Mosh. Mosh was staring into Poet's eyes. Mosh was seeing Poet with a young face, bright eyes and white hair that was blowing even though there was no wind.

"You're not my brother." Mosh said and backed away a few feet. Poet walking up to Mosh and Dark energy arms reached from Poet's torso and tried to grab something from Mosh. Poet and Mosh stood facing each other, while Mosh's arms were blocking the dark energy arms with super speed. To Asuka it looked as if both sets of arms were moving as fast as gunfire. Yet their facial expressions acted as if nothing was really happening. Poet seemed to notice however.

Poet said, "Nice moves man! where did you learn that?" Asuka seemed to think Poet looked more scared of Mosh, his fright turned to frustration as he seemed to realize he hadn't got what he had wanted. "You haven't beat me since the time of Mu." Poet said.

"It's Tiger and Crane kung-fu," Mosh said. Poet looked confused. "You call yourself a fighter and you have never heard of Kung-fu?" Mosh laughed and then disappeared waking up from the dream. Aeona got up from the bench she was sitting on and shaking her head.

Asuka was definitely concerned now. Obviously Aeona and Poet were trying to get something from Mosh. But what? She thought. First, they tried to attack him and failed... Then they had tried to lure him to dark energy, and also had failed. She checked his Skype chat logs with them to see if she could come up with something else. She only found a bunch of confusion between Mosh and Aeona. Aeona said that she loved him and that they had spent past lives together. At one time she said that her friend Poet was just a friend. Then Nomad told Mosh that Poet was her boyfriend. When Mosh confronted Aeona, she shrugged it off and said it was okay; both could love her. Mosh was clearly uncomfortable with that. Asuka was steaming mad by now. not only was Aeona attacking him and trying to steal something from him. But she was also deliberately manipulating his feelings. Asuka then saw the chat logs asking Raven if she would help him find a dream girlfriend kind of like what Nomad had with Selene. No wonder he came to find me, he was trying to escape the situation and cut himself from Aeona's drama. Asuka thought.

Just then Mosh emerged from his bedroom. "I'm late for work!" He yelled running down the hallway. He unconsciously summoned a coffee and a smoke, consumed them both in two seconds and bolted out the door. Asuka was going to stop him and tell him that it was a dream. But then she shrugged, and decided just to follow him instead. She would make sure he remembered her this time.