The Dreamer (From now on referred to as “Dee”) woke up this morning screaming and crying. She’s had bad dreams before, but she doesn’t usually wake up like this, so we were concerned. She kept saying that someone had died and resisted our attempts to calm her.
After the grogginess wore off and she’d had a breakfast (which she only ate part of), she’d come to her senses enough to begin to tell us what she saw. I’m entering a transcript of her description now:
Dee: "The first thing I remember, we were living in a large apartment. Ah-- We, my husband and I. Or-- her husband. It was safe there. I remember feeling safe. So many floors up, the infected wouldn't know which floor we lived on or which room. And the doors were locked, so... we'd been living there for a long time.
We settled down for bed, turned the lights off, and were about to fall asleep when I noticed the lights were on. My husband looked around the room and eventually discovered my brother hiding in the other room. Apparently we'd forgotten to lock up that night and he'd just let himself in.
We, um... he died, right there in our apartment. He got infected, and..."
Observer 1: "Infected by what?"
Dee: "... A parasite. It, um... it's very small. But it... T-takes over... and..."
[Dee begins to cry]
Observer 2: "It's okay if you need to take a break."
Dee: "I-I'm okay. But... The parasite... My brother knew where we were living, and it told him to come to us. He had no choice... He died as soon as he found us. Our home... we couldn't stay there anymore. We, um... we packed up and left."
Observer 1: "Was the apartment of Terran construction?"
Dee: "I... I think so. But... more advanced. Everything was... touch screens and holograms."
Observer 1: "I see... go on."
Dee: "We didn't want to risk living in the city, so... we left, to the outskirts, where there was a forest. We were chased by wild animals. It took a long time, but we found a cabin. It was deserted, so we thought it was safe."
Observer 2: "Thought?"
[Dee starts crying again]
Dee: "A-after... after we settled in, my husband started to act strangely. He--He threw himself to the animals outside. He... got close enough to my brother... and..."
Observer 1: "...Hmmm."
Dee: "He did it while I was asleep. He... He..."
[Audio ends with Dee crying out loud]Even after regaining her original personality, Dee retained the emotions of the person she was observing through for some time. She has witnessed many deaths, but I don’t think we have on record any spouses being lost. She is currently seeing her therapist.
Her dream seems to describe a world lost to a highly invasive parasite which infects the mind of the host and drives the host into areas where the parasite can spread, such as with known family members or even wild animals. The host then dies, and the parasite’s offspring can then spread.
The fate of the person Dee was viewing this world through is unknown, but we don’t think it’s a Terran Shard, so we don’t think we could check ourselves. But considering her close proximity to her spouse and the unusually hostile animals nearby, her outlook isn’t great.
We advise against pursuing this Shard further. Even if only for Dee’s sake.