Of course, there would be serious risks. Dream is a dangerous element, subject to dangerous forces. Here, at its source, it could be lethal; a river of savage ephemera that could destroy a person’s mind. On the other hand, everything dreams; and if I could manage to link myself with the mind of a suitable dreamer, then perhaps I could manage the seemingly impossible task of being in two different places at once.

Yes, I know. I was naïve. But I was also desperate. Ready to risk my sanity, my life, for the chance to get away. And so I practised dreaming; not as a means of passing the time, but doggedly, laboriously, as a convict scrapes away the floor of his cell with a sharpened teaspoon, hoping one day to dig a hole large enough to make his escape.

There are two kinds of dreaming. The kind that takes you in completely, and the lucid kind, in which you’re aware of being between worlds and travelling. It was the second kind I sought. It took practice, and all the time I ran the risk of falling foul of one of the creatures that plumbed those depths, creatures all too eager to lure an unsuspecting dreamer before consuming him mind and soul, leaving his body to die in the waking world. A rare thing in the Middle Worlds, although it sometimes happens. But close as I was to the source of Dream, it was almost certain. And yet I considered the risk worthwhile. Anything to get off that rock, away from Sigyn and Snakey.

And so I began to sharpen my spoon. Gods, it was laborious. There were no days or nights here, of course. I slept when I could, which was seldom. Little by little, I came to know the perils and joys of that river and its islands of ephemera, some as small as a soap bubble; some as large as continents. I learnt to explore these islands; to skirt their dangers; to touch the minds of the dreamers who had created them. Little by little, I narrowed my search, all the time seeking a dreamer who would suit my purpose.

It had to be a strong mind, though not so strong as to resist my influence, or to try and consume me. An open mind; imaginative; not too constrained by moral issues. I tried many, only to find them all unsuitable in some way; and then, after an eternity of searching, I found the perfect one – or should I say, the dreamer found me. A strong mind, and imaginative, filled with familiar landscapes. A kindred soul, in fact, I thought; playing out scenarios that I almost recognized.