The beginning of something incredible...

As soon as Ethan's eyes closed, he felt his body slowly sinking through his bed. His eyes sprung open, but rather than seeing his bedroom ceiling, total darkness surrounded him. He tried to sit up but he felt like he didn't feel a bed beneath him--he just felt an invincible buoyancy keeping him upright. It felt like he was in a pool of thick, heavy water. He felt that he should be terrified, but it was like his panic was covered in a heavy blanket of calm and he could only feel a mild curiosity about his situation. This must be a dream, he was just laying in bed a moment ago, but he had never had a lucid dream before and he wasn't sure this was what it felt like.

"This isn't an ordinary dream, lucid or otherwise", a slow, deep voice answered, "You're in a place higher than normal dreams, Ethan".

"Who are you? Where am I then?"

"I'll tell you what you need to know if you listen. This is the fabric that all dreams are woven from. The net that holds them in. We're in a space very near near to your world. The crawlspace above the ceiling and below the floor. Where your minds go to rest. Watch."

As the voice commanded, Ethan saw the darkness recede as if a bag was slowly pulled off his head, and he saw the city below him. He could feel his own presence, but as he held his hands up to his face he saw nothing. A few feet in front of him was a pale-faced man wearing a gray monotone outfit of jeans, a trucking jacket, and baseball cap. They were both floating hundreds of feet above LA, but as Ethan looked around he noticed a strange silence.

"This is the city as it sleeps. Look around, feel how quiet it is here."

Ethan noticed that the city below him was totally still. The streets were empty, nobody was on the sidewalk, and even the dogs were silent. All he could hear was wind and the buzz of streetlights.

"Don't be afraid that you can't see your body. You can take whatever shape you'd like here, as it suits you. I left your form empty for now, but choose what shape suits you for now."

Ethan thought for a moment about the body he saw in the mirror every morning, and without realizing, he looked back down and realized that he was floating in the sky, his head attached to his torso. He felt his face, his hair, his legs. He thought for a moment about what the voice had said, and imagined how he would look with another two inches of height. He blinked and didn't feel a change.

The man laughed dryly, "It's hard to tell without a point of reference, but you did grow a bit. Like I said, whatever shape you want you can have here."

"But that's not the important thing. Look below you. In most of those houses down there is a sleeping body. It's about three in the morning."

Ethan and the man quickly descended to hover a few yards above the rooftops. Ethan realized he was seeing his apartment complex from above. As they continued to descend Ethan braced for impact on the asphalt roof, but they drifted straight through the roof as if it didn't exist. He saw himself asleep in bed, sprawled out with his phone on his belly and his hand in his boxers. He cringed and looked away quickly.

"Don't worry. I can watch everyone's sleeping body and yours is not unusual."

The man bent down, touched Ethan's head, and spoke, "While your body sleeps, your mind wanders. But it's bound right here. If you were dreaming now, I could reach down and into your private dreamscape. Of course, your mind is instead here with me. The dreaming mind is a **** thing, Ethan. People like to protect their conscious minds, their ego, with stubbornness. But plant seeds in their subconscious, and you can puppet their conscious mind without their notice. Show a man dreams of his wife cheating and he may be moved to paranoia, even ****. Show him the same dream with a different framing and instead he may develop an sexual fixation on such an infidelity."

The man pointed forward, and the pair floated through Ethan's walls out into the courtyard.

"I see your interest in Alexandra, you've dreamt of her many times. I need not repeat myself, but I've seen millions of dreams and there's no shame in attraction. It's perfectly natural for someone like yourself."

The pair began to drift through his neighbor's front door and towards her bedroom. They slowed to a stop in front of the bedroom door. The pale man gestured towards the door, which hung slightly ajar.

"I'm giving you a great gift, Ethan. A fraction of my power to tug on the strings that bind the conscious mind. When you shut your eyes to sleep, if you will it, you can visit this place again. And if you wish to alter anyone's dreamscape however you like, you may. Whisper in their ear while they sleep, change their beliefs, their desires, bind their will as you please. Follow your urges, do what you desire, the choice is all yours. What you will do is your choice and yours alone."

Ethan was stunned. He peered through the doorway. He turned around and saw the gray man start to slowly become more transparent, as if he was melting into the hallway shadow. Ethan had so many questions.

He called out, "Wait! Before you go, why me? What am I supposed to do?"

As the man continued to fade away, he smiled and replied, "I'm a being of balance. I enjoy tampering with your world, but I keep a light touch. It's a policy of mine that if I push the scales in one way, I must push the other way as well. If I nudge a few people to temperance, I push some to embrace their animal urges as well. As for you, do what you will. I'm no moral police, just an entertained observer. Goodnight, Ethan."