Night of 20.1.19: The Spectral Hall

I was exploring what would best be described as a building that resembled a cross between a monastery and a mansion. Whatever purpose the building served it was giant, and now abandoned. I was stood in a square/rectangular courtyard which had six dilapidated pillars jutting up in a 3x2 formation. There may have also been a time-crumbled fountain in the centre, but I don’t remember clearly. As I was stood I saw a glimmer of something spectral, a flutter of a ghost, or some hint of the supernatural. I was spooked, so decided to leave the place for the day (strictly speaking evening) and come back another day (evening).

I came back to the courtyard again and the spectral something was more formed this time; or at least, its formlessness was more present: a slender being totally masked by a crumpled cloth that floated, faceless and silent, above the ground. I decided to follow it and it took me inside. I entered into a great hall with a lower tier in the middle and a step down to reach it. There were many side rooms and a large room at the far end. Similar in architecture to the Romanesque buildings I have seen in previous dreams, though this one seemed a bit more gothic. The whole place was desaturated too; the colour in this place was pale and dull and not like that of the courtyard outside. I started to hear whispers and hints of people and movement and got a strong sense of malice towards me.

I came to and from this spectral dimension a few times, each time exploring more and more and the whole thing becoming more and more real. One night I heard a voice resonate throughout the entire building that all subjects were to make their donations. The residents all mustered around a door leading out of the mansion. I followed them to a narrow path with a shear drop on each side. The path came to an abrupt end where a heaving, flesh coloured mass awaited us. This was the source of the voice we had all heard. The residents sequentially threw their offerings into the maw of the creature. Every now and then the thing would declare that the offerings weren't sufficient and that it required more from them. Some subjects would toss more gold into the thing's mouth, but others who had nothing left to give simply fell into its awaiting gullet. I got to the front of the queue and saw the hideous form more clearly. It had no eyes, nose or other sensory organ, it was simply a fleshy bag with a yawning gap cleft into it. I tossed some gold pieces down into it and its voice flooded my head:
"that was not clever, now you cannot leave, you will be forever my subject and I will forever require donations from you, I hope for your sake that you do not come up short". 

I came back again, this time with someone else. However, upon arrival at the courtyard, it was the same washed-out grey as the inside of the building was. I could now clearly see the spectre that I could only glimpse previously. It was hurtling around the courtyard telling me that I had stepped too many times into their world and that I would now be taken into it with no return. “the more you drink of our world, the more you live in it, the more you will live in it, and you shall not return to your own!”, that sort of thing. I asked my adjacent friend if they could see the flying spectre and they said they saw no such thing. Daunted, but not dissuaded we pressed into the hall.

Inside, there were phantom flames burning atop each of the now-repaired pillars, and ominious glows from many of the side rooms. My associate could not see any of this; it seemed this oppressive nightmare dimension was only perceptible to myself. We walked into the hall, them on the lowering step, and myself on the entry level floor. I then saw a great host of people, some with glowing red eyes, but all with their bodies in the same monochrome as the building appear in front of me. A leader of sorts sat up in the rafter and demanded that I be captured for sacrifice. The spirits, entities-whatever they were- gave chase and I fled. As I ran, more of them appeared in the side rooms and flooded out after me as well. Their leader jumped about in the rafters, keeping tabs on my location, cackling my movements down to the uproarious spirits that pursued me. Again, my company had no inkling whatsoever that this was happening, to them I was panickedly running around the hall for seemingly no reason. I don’t remember how that ended, but I wasn’t killed or sacrificed as they were threatening. I think it may have resulted in my physical form remaining, but perhaps I felt a compulsion to bring new people into this grey world of theirs.