Dream 3: Castle Theme Park, Tidal Waves, Strange Religion

Woke up around 5.40 this morning after this dream - a long one. As with most of my dreams this one was extremely vivid, colourful and full of drama. It's hard to capture the essence of some parts because there was a complexity to it with subtle layers and feelings that are hard to translate into words and waking experiences. Anyway here goes - there were some bits leading up to this but I can only clearly remember from here:I was in a castle which was like a theme park but more sinister as people were actually trapped in there. It had a medieval feel to it, although there were modern aspects. I seemed to be a teenager. I was going from section to section in the castle. There were rooms where different events took place. They made it very realistic and it was decidedly scary. Some visitors could not work out what to do and ended up being trapped in certain sections. At one point I was caught up in a type of courtroom trial. There were sort of caves or cells in a balcony above the courtroom where all the prisoners were waiting. I was in one of those. There was no front to the cell, no bars or anything. When the prisoners were called forward they went to the front of the balcony or down into the court room. It was very chaotic and there was no law or justice to the proceedings. People in the cells were scrambling with each other to avoid being next in line. The other people awaiting trial were dressed in armour and similar medieval gear. There was a strong sense that we were all doomed. Some officials came to drag out the next victim and I leapt out and down over the balcony. They shouted after me and gave chase. They yelled that I was not allowed to leave and that I must stand trial. As I fled for the door I shouted back that I had a certificate and this seem to confuse them sufficiently for me to make good my escape. I ran into some others who had managed to escape from a different section. We briefly compared notes. They said the hardest section was the dog section, a mental picture of the room appeared and I remembered being in there but working out how to get away. They replied that that part was quite tricky but there was second part to the dog room and another mental picture came to me of the same room but with old fashioned school desks with dogs sitting at them and a dog teacher in mortar board and gown. They told me not to go into that room as it was very difficult to get out and there were people who had been stuck in there for ages, some had gone mad or had given up and were just weeping all the time.By this time I was in an open area making my way towards a gate. I ran across an official dressed in courtier's clothes, I mean as if he were one of the Kings cohorts, a nobleman of some kind. I thrust a bit of paper at him and said authoritatively 'sign this'. He bumbled and blustered a bit but I said it was my certificate and he had to sign it. There was scroll-work on the top of the paper which seemed to match up with what the nobleman expected. He signed it with a feather pen and I snatched it and ran for the exit. Once outside the whole town had a medieval feel and it was dark. I roamed the streets for some time trying to find a safe way home. I had to be careful not to be seen and I didn't know who was trustworthy or not so it was best to avoid everyone. I finally made it back home and got into bed. Shortly afterwards by parents came home, pretty worse for wear, especially my Dad. I pretended to be asleep but they would have woken me anyway. It was in the early hours of the morning and so they said it was officially my birthday. My Dad had made me a card he said. It was folded small in an odd shape with a bit sticking out. I opened it with dread, thinking my Dad was not a practical man and being drunk he'd probably made a complete mess of it. They both looked on smiling and giggling as I opened it up. It unfolded nicely and turned out to be quite large. It was painted a beautiful deep blue with a vibrant yellow duck on it. Like a cartoon duck. It was very well done and I was surprised and touched. They wished me Happy Birthday and went out.Later I sneaked out early to go and visit my friend T (a friend from my real life childhood and teenage years). We were walking along some cliffs heading for the town. The cliffs lead down to a bay which we had to cross. T was telling me something complicated, being clever and knowledgeable about it. I was looking out to sea. The waves were enormous. One crashed into the bay and threw up large spewms of spray. But there was an even larger one building up out to sea. It was growing bigger and bigger the nearer it came to shore. I could tell it was going to flood the whole bay and maybe even the cliff top. I stopped and tried to warn T. But she had gone down onto a lower path which lead to the bay. Then the wave thundered in. It swamped the bay and the end of the cliff along from where I was standing, the spray soaked me, but the strongest force of the wave had crashed into the cliff below. The water rapidly receded and I ran to the left edge of the cliff and screamed T's name. I threw myself flat on the ground and peered over the edge to see if I could see her, calling her name all the while. I spotted her on a concrete ledge near some steps. There was a lifeguard hut further down below, although it must have been completely underwater a few seconds ago. I yelled for someone to call an ambulance and then rooted around in my pocket for my mobile. I start to call. Then there was a close up of one of the lifeguards. He was an older man and he was already with T. He had a walkie-talkie phone devise and I could see and hear it ringing as I called him (although I was still up on the cliff I was also seeing him receiving my call).The next thing there are a few of us on a road with the older lifeguard. He was explaining that T was being taken care of and there was nothing we could do. He suggested going to a late night cafe (it was now the middle of the night again) for something to eat, some suggested chips, I wasn't sure about eating chips so late and also not knowing what had happened to T.Later again I was with my Mother in a flying machine, I suppose it was most like a helicopter but not. I was trying to help her navigate back to the castle. There was a sense that we were going to rescue someone and we had to be careful not to get caught ourselves. We emerged from a tunnel and immediately came up against the side of a huge round tower. I yelled at Mum to go up! Up! We were very close to crashing. She pulled hard and we rose up the side of the enormous tower, all we could see were the large stone bricks which curved in front of us. Then we were above it and looking down at the whole castle. There was an effigy of a man tied to the bottom of the flying machine. It was about three metres tall and made of stuffed white material like a large tailor's dummy with full arms and legs but no feet or hands. It was made to help us fight. But it had slashes down its arms, legs and body and needed repairing before it could protect us. Somehow it swung out away from under the flying machine and out over the furnace part of the castle. A place we all avoided. It was a large rectangular section with no roof and flames, sparks and burning debris leaping out above the high walls. Our fighter effigy caught fire and fell into the large deep moat surrounding the castle. I shouted to Mum that we had to go and rescue it. Then I woke up.It was about 5.40am and I lay there thinking about and trying to recall all the parts of the dream. About 5 mins later I got up and made a few notes. When I went back to sleep I had several other smaller confused dreams. The only bit I can remember now was visiting a souvenir shop for a newly founded religion. There were t-shirts, badges, cards and all sorts of the usual tat sold in such shops. Initially the religion was known by the acronym M.O.O.T.S, but while we were in the shop it changed to T.O.O.T.O.S or something like that and all the merchandise had to change itself to the new name.