The Endgame

Spoiler Alert: I have not seen the latest Avengers film. I did, however, live it in a wild dream last night, which I will talk about in this post. So if you have any concerns I might have precognition, consider this your warning I guess.

Happy Sunday, folks! How’s your weekend? Getting some writing done? Other projects? Spending time with loved ones? Hope you’re rested and hydrated! I wish I was feeling a bit more rested but my subconscious was working overtime while I tried to sleep last night. I was super busy fighting evil with the Avengers.

In my dream, the danger wasn’t Thanos, but some other mysterious world-destroying force, and basically everyone was a super hero. We realized our battle was futile and that the best course of action was to retreat. Clint and Scott were the first to realize this and sent me to spread the word that we were going underground.

There were so many costumed heroes running around and some were hurt or slowed and I went to the aid of one and got them to an elevator that would literally take us underground. A few others climbed in and immediately I knew the one standing in front of me was bad news, but I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t want to start a panic.

So once we were out I ran to Steve and Natasha to warn them that we had been infiltrated and our secret base was not so secret and definitely not safe. They just laughed at me and said I was just being paranoid. I asked them when I had ever been wrong before. Apparently my ability, whatever it was, and intel were always very reliable so why should they doubt me now?

Of course by then it was too late and the new evil had spread and corrupted half our remaining heroes. Nat and I both managed to escape, but not before we witnessed the souls of all our friends being torn out and tortured. (And then they were all turned into puppies, because apparently my brain felt that the ripped-soul-empty-body thing was too dark.)

We got separated in our escape, but we both had the same leads and wound up at the house of this gangster around the same time. He was the sorcerer or whatever who had hurt our friends and if we could take him out, they would be saved. He was having a family dinner or something and she had snuck into the room. I was holding my breath in a narrow hallway between the room and the kitchen. Somehow we were unseen by everyone (SNEAK 100). I managed to slip her a knife (a butter knife, but I knew she could be just as deadly with that as with a sharper blade) but they discovered us before she could kill him.

This time I fled by myself. He had a creepy run-down kill-floor style dungeon in the basement and I thought “how did no one ever realize he was evil when his basement looks like this?” I escaped through the back and ran across the yard. There was a parking lot on the other side of a fence and someone was waiting for me with a grappling hook thrown over the fence for me to pull myself out.

It was my cousin. (Cousin-in-law? My husband’s cousin’s wife. Cousin is easiest to say. I digress.) I hopped in her car and we sped away. She drove us right to church. Which was weird because I was on the run, and I had left Natasha behind and needed to go back and save her. But also I was in rags and covered in dirt and blood and hardly presentable to go into church. Luckily I had managed to bring out (or had previously left with my cousin, either way it was in her car when I needed it) a shopping bag with a summer dress I had purchased in an earlier dream. (Hello, meta dreaming.)

I realized the church was the absolute last place the evil guy would look for me. My biggest concern at that point became my lack of shoes, but even so I figured God would forgive me my bare feet for coming into a sanctuary given my circumstances. Before I could get out of the car and into the church to plan my next move to save everyone though, I woke up.

I suspect an evening of writing build-up to the endgame in an old project while drinking gin and tonics, munching on popcorn watching my husband play Black Ops 4 with his friends, and then reading one of the final chapters in Fires of Heaven (the fifth Wheel of Time book) before bed really fueled my dream machine. I can pinpoint certain elements of the dreams to different things I was seeing/reading/writing during the night. For one thing, I’m pretty sure the place we were retreating from at the beginning of my dream was a Call of Duty map. The creepy dungeon was probably inspired by another map. Still, hell of a way to wake up with an adrenaline rush.

To segue into the list of prompts for the week and tie the title into something writing-related, the endgame is an important part of any piece of fiction. It’s what your characters have been working toward. It’s what the antagonist has been striving for. It’s the whole point of the journey of the book. Maybe one of these prompts will help you reach your own endgame!

251. What is your favorite dessert?
252. Describe your first kiss.
253. If you could visit anyone on the planet right now, who would you go see?
254. What is the best thing about being either single or partnered (whichever you are right now)?
255. What do you think you are destined for in this life?

Ahh, those are some good prompts! I kind of did #252 back in the fall when I was taking a NaNo prep course on setting and description, but I’m sure I can come up with something new! I might go see Endgame after work some day this week, which would mean a night off from the blog, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll just wait until next weekend. Hubby went today because he didn’t want to wait any longer and this way he’ll be able to tell me when I can go to the bathroom because I cannot sit still for 3 and a half hours with no potty break. Hopefully he doesn’t break before I see it!

Alright, that does it for your regularly scheduled Sunday update! Have a great rest of your day! See you tomorrow!

PS-Like these prompts? Like the short stories I write based on these prompts? Want to show your support? Give the blog a follow! Leave a comment! Buy me a coffee! I put a lot of time and effort into these posts and your support means the world to me! Ok, now go out there and write!