Dreamcaster

(A Ballad/Spellcaster Crossover)

Setting: Someplace, Nevada, USA, the Fall of 1980 A.D.

You are afraid to sleep.

Night comes to your town, casting a cool, pleasant breeze down the summer-warmed streets.  Outside, fireflies flicker across the air, and children run to and fro, trying to catch them.  Teenagers and young adults take advantage of the fine night to go for a drive or a jog.  After a while, your town becomes quieter as the wee-hours creep by and almost everyone goes to sleep.

Everyone, that is…but you.  You sit at your darkened window, looking out across your neighborhood.  As the last of the children go inside, and the last of the house lights darken, you stay at your window.  Though you can’t see much, for your neighborhood’s one street light has shorted out, you can make out the silhouettes of the houses.  You can see the stars and the pale moon shining full in the sky.  As you stare at the stars, a child-like sense of awe and wonder flickers inside you.  You remember when you used to look out your window and watch with fascination the night sky.  You watched it until you went to sleep.

Watching those stars gave a sense of awe, but at the same time, called up strange feelings of comfort.  When you slept, you used to dream about the stars.  For years, it was a recurring dream, of soaring through the cosmos, finding yourself at home in the heavens.  It was pleasant dream.

But then, the dreams stopped.  Just stopped.  For a long time, you didn’t dream at all.  Then, new dreams began to surface.  Ugly dreams, of monsters and demons.  For the past year especially, the dreams have been getting worse.  They call to you, tempting you with the promise of enlightenment and power, but you know there is something deeper than that.  There is something dark beneath their promises.

They want you.  You don’t know why.  You can’t understand why.  But they want you.

You are afraid to sleep, now, because you know that when you do, they will come.  The nightmares will come.  And God help you, you don’t know how much more you can take…





The woman flies with an easy grace across the ebony sky.  The full moon casts just enough light to show the observer that the person is indeed feminine.  Though she has no visible means of doing so, she soars through the air; her arms are outspread as though she’s using them as glider wings.  She is a raven-haired woman about forty years old, though looking like she’s thirty, wearing a green and navy leotard, with a figure like an Olympic Athlete.

Most people probably wouldn’t recognize the woman, despite her conspicuous attire.  This is probably because she isn’t a big name here in the United States.  But across the Atlantic, she is known as the Spellcaster, a mystical heroine whose super-heroic exploits have made her a household name in Europe.  Usually, Spellcaster doesn’t go to the States, but this time, something special has caught her attention.

During a session of spiritual meditation, her astral form had chanced across what seemed to be a beacon of sorts coming from somewhere in the United States.  A mystical beacon, giving off a power she had never before encountered.  In her astral form, she traced the beacon to a small town in Nevada.  When she reached that town, she intended to find the source of the beacon.  But instead, she found something else.  Something dark and evil.

That’s why she was physically on her way there now.  By the time her body had reached the town to join with her astral form, it was nearly three in the morning.  All was quiet.  All that stirred were the nocturnal animals going about their business.  Now, Spellcaster touches down in the town square and tries to get her bearings.  She is sure she has come to the right place.  She extends her mystical senses to find the dark presence she had felt before.  But there is nothing.  Confused, she takes to the air again, and extends her senses farther.  Still nothing.

Wait…  She senses something very nearby.  Not a dark presence…but not an angelic one, either.  It is more like a force, a sort of energy radiating from a specific point.  It is similar to the beacon she had felt before.  She begins to focus on the force, to try and identify it.




The town is a pretty small dot on the map.  Someplace in Nevada, I believe.  Just another pit stop along the ceaseless road I travel.

Hi.  My name is Ballad.  Perhaps you’ve heard of me.  Most people in the States and Europe call me the Mender of Roads.  In Australia and Africa, I’m known as the Grand Storyteller.  In Asia, people call me the Wanderer.  All fitting titles.  But no matter what you call me, it boils down to the same thing:  I am a nomadic storyteller.  For five hundred years, I’ve ceaselessly wandered the Earth.  Guided by a mysterious spiritual force, I wander the countries of the world, learning about the cultures and histories – and of course, the stories – of the people who live in them.  As I travel, I try and pass on my knowledge to others I encounter.

Oh, you might not think I’m that old, or that I know that much.  I look about thirty, dress in simple blue jeans and tee shirt with a long “duster” trench coat and a hat with foot-wide brim.  I’ve got soft blue-gray eyes and long brown hair, slightly wavy.  Looking at my hair, you might think I was a hippy.  Hey, give me tie-dye clothes and red-colored shades and I’d blend right in at Woodstock.  But anyway, now that you know all that, I’ve got a story to tell you.

You see, often times, my travels have brought me to things you would never have thought possible.  Often times, I might find myself encountering a beast from the ancient times.  More than once, I have encountered beings most people thought were common myth, even some extraterrestrials.  Of course, since superhumans have become more or less common around the world nowadays, what with all these superheroes and super villains and such, people have become more believing.  More of the unusual things are coming to light.  And that means that in the last several decades, I’ve encountered more bizarre things than ever before.

This is one of those accounts.  So, back to where I started:

This particular night, my travels have brought me to a small town in Nevada.  It is late at night, the wee-hours of the morning, in fact.  No one is awake, save for a mid-night jogger.  He passes by with a nod and a “hello.”  I smile and tip my hat towards him and walk on.  It seems like a nice town, this place.  Cozy and pleasant.  I like these kinds of towns.  I think maybe I’ll stay here for the night.  It’s a nice night, with mild weather.  There isn’t a cloud in the sky.  Maybe I’ll find some place to lie down and rest.  I don’t really need sleep or anything, but sometimes its nice to take a break.  It’s not like I’m in a hurry on my journey to Everywhere.

Eventually, I make my way to the town square.  As I begin to step into the square, I notice a dark-haired woman in a green and navy spandex costume standing in its center.  She seems to be concentrating on something.  I wonder where I have seen this woman before.  I give her a once-over, and think back.  Then it hits me.  I’ve seen her in the papers and on the news over in Europe.  Her name is Spellcaster.

I wonder what she is doing here?  Perhaps investigating something.  It occurs to me that I might be able to help.  Spellcaster is sorceress, and if she’s here on mystical business, I figure maybe I can lend her some information she may need.  Or at least help her figure out how to find it.  However, as I take a step towards her, she suddenly launches herself into the air.  A nimbus of pale blue energy envelopes her, and I can see her concentrate harder on some elusive object.  After a few moments, I can tell from her expression that she hasn’t found anything.

Suddenly, something seems to have caught her attention.  I watch her as she turns due south and begins to float in that direction.  Suddenly, though, there is a flash of orange, like a burst of fire, and a dark form appears out of nowhere.  More forms appear in a similar fashion.  They begin to fly towards Spellcaster.  And they don’t look very friendly.




You have tried to fend off sleep.  But you have been doing it for weeks now.  You’ve just become too tired.  Before you’re even aware of it, you’ve dragged yourself to the bed and collapsed on top of it.

The second your eyes close, the dreams come.

Reptilian forms swarm around you, some with bat-like wings, others with scorpion-like tails for legs, and still others that look like men with cloven hooves.  And there are still others, more than you can count, or even care to.  All you really care about is getting away.

They chase you, like a pack of frenzied hounds after a lone fox.  You run, faster than you have ever run before.  So fast, the world around you seems to blur until there is no world.  But somehow, one of them manages to grab your leg.  You fall flat on your face, and the monsters instantly swarm over you like maggots over meat.

They grab you and lift you high above their heads.  They roar.  Suddenly, something seems to surge throughout your entire being.  You feel a mighty force well up inside you, to the point that you feel you might burst.  It is feeling equal parts pleasure and pain; you don’t know whether to moan in pleasure, or scream in agony.  Then, suddenly, the force within you begins to drain, slower than it welled up to begin with, but nonetheless at an alarming rate.

Then, the creatures begin to fade.  After a while, there are no more of them around you.  But you are still restrained by some invisible grip.  You can feel the power within you still draining, now at a slower, steadier pace.  The monsters are gone…but for some reason, you feel even more terrified.




Spellcaster finally gets a lock on the source of the “beacon” she had felt earlier.  She turns and begins to fly towards it.  Suddenly, something viciously claws at her back.  She whirls to find herself facing a literal flock of bat-winged monsters; there are even more creatures on the ground, all of various shapes and sizes, running every which way.  Spellcaster instinctively calls up a surge of green, mystical energy, and uses it to push the monsters back.  They stagger in mid air for a moment, then surge forth with a sudden burst of unearthly rage.

Spellcaster begins to concentrate her mystical energy, firing it as bolts, and using it a means of binding the monsters in glowing green ropes.  The first salvo begins to fall back.  Spellcaster takes a moment to look at the monsters more closely.  She knows she had seen their kind before, but she can’t place it at first.  They appear to be demons of some sort, but their mystical energy isn’t the same.  No…they are more ethereal than demons usually are…almost like ghosts…

Suddenly, a snake-like monster leaps up form the ground, grabbing her legs, and hauling her down.  The monsters begin to swarm over her…




As the monsters begin to swarm over her, I run to help.  However, the monsters notice me.  Something that looks like a dog-sized scorpion and some nightmarish parody of a satyr run towards me.

I reel back, narrowly avoiding getting gutted by the scorpion’s tail.  The satyr, however, manages to get behind me and give me a hug.  It is far from affectionate.  As the satyr pins me, the scorpion moves in for the kill.

Fortunately, I’ve got my own form of defense.  Aside from being nearly ageless, I possess a strange, spiritual power within me.  Or maybe the power possesses me…  More often than not, the power tends to act with a mind of its own, literally pulling me away from danger or surging to destroy a monster without my telling it to.  So it is in this instance:

Just as the scorpion rears back to “sting” me with the huge spike on its tail, a nimbus of pure white energy surges from my body, blasting the two monsters away from me.  I watch as they writhe on the ground, suddenly dissipating into a black mist.

I turn to see the monsters swarming over Spellcaster.  They crawl over her like maggots over meat.  Suddenly, in a burst of emerald energy, Spellcaster blasts the monsters from her.  I step forward to go to her, but then, the power swells within me.

It tells me there is someone nearby linked to the monsters.  That is where the source of this trouble is.  I tell the power that Spellcaster needs help.  The power insists that this mysterious entity is far more important.  I sigh.  Usually, when the power wants me to go someplace, I don’t have much of a choice.

Deciding that Spellcaster can take care of herself (after all she is one of the most powerful mages in the world), I turn and begin to run down the street.  The power guides me, giving me little nudges when it wants me to turn.  Eventually, I make my way to a darkened house.




With a final burst of magic power, Spellcaster manages to knock the monsters away from her.  Immediately, she takes to the air.  In turn, the bat-demons dive down upon her.  Spellcaster whips up a mystical force field.  The monsters slam into it again and again.  Shrieking with rage, they use all their might to try and break the shield.  But all they wind up breaking are their own bones.  This, however, does not deter them, as the injured move aside to let fresh attackers take a turn.

The shield manages hold…for the moment.  Spellcaster knows it’s only a matter of time before they break through, however.  She has to get to the source of the matter.  She has a hunch that the force she had sensed before is connected to the presence of the demons.  Concentrating, she mumbles a few quick spells to focus her mind on the task at hand and begin searching for the force.  Eventually she finds it.  There is a mind behind the force…but it’s not what Spellcaster expected.

She had expected a demonic personality, perhaps that of a powerful demon who wants to attack the mortal realm again.  These monsters certainly seemed demonic enough as to likely be the minions of such a creature.  But when Spellcaster concentrates more, she does not sense evil, but…

…fear.

Suddenly, with a roar, a great, fat, pig-like monster slams into her force field, finally shattering it.  Spellcaster is forced to lose her focus on the force in order to defend herself again.

Sky blue fire forms around her hands, which she prepares to blast the pig-demon with.  As she renews her assault, she wonders what could possibly be in control of the force she senses.  While the power of the monsters definitely comes from the mind she had discovered, Spellcaster had detected a feeling of helplessness.  Perhaps, Spellcaster thinks, these monsters are not the minions of that entity, but in fact, the masters…




I go up to the front door of the house.  The power tells me that the source is definitely here.  I try the door handle.  Locked of course.  However, the power will not be daunted.  A spark passes from my hand and hits the doorknob.  I hear a click.  I try the knob again, and the door is unlocked.  My, how convenient the power can be.  Quickly, I dash through the house to the upstairs, the power telling me where to go.  I reach another door.  The source is in there, according to the power.

Hesitating only a moment, I open the door.  I don’t know what to expect, but it’s not what I see.  Then again, I have been used to seeing the unexpected for so long, it doesn’t faze me.  I see a small, sparse bedroom.  There’s just enough room for a desk and chair, and a bed.  You could maybe get ten people in here semi-comfortably, if three of them sat on the bed.  On the bed, there is person lying on their back.  A strange mist of myriad luminescent colors swirls around the person.  I can’t make out many features through the mist, though I can tell from the basic shape that the person is human.

Not sure what to do at this point, I reach out to touch the multi-colored mist that surrounds the person.  The second I do, my power suddenly sparks again, and I fall into white mist.  All around me in every direction there is nothing but white mist.  Suddenly, though, I see a dark shape ahead of me.  I walk to it.

Eventually, I can make out what it is.  It is a vaguely human form, wrapped in a sheath of multicolored mist.  It’s the person from the bedroom, of course… who else would it be?  The person is curled into a fetal position, and I can hear crying.  I go towards the person.




Trapped in this realm of infinite mist, you remained curled into a ball, scared, frightened, and helpless.  The monsters have done it at last.  Somehow, they got whatever they wanted from you.  You have no idea what it is or what they used it for, but you know it cannot be good.  And now that they have you, there is no way they will let go.  You are alone and utterly hopeless and helpless.

Suddenly, you feel a hand on your shoulder.  With a shriek, you jump back, expecting to find another demon… but instead, you see a man in thirties, with a calm face and long brown hair.  He smiles at you.

“Hello,” he says.  “My name is Ballad.  Don’t be afraid.  I’m here to help you.”

Instinctively, you feel you can trust this man.  Hesitating for a moment, you reach for his extended hand.  You grasp it.  His grip is gentle, but firm.

Suddenly, something surges from him into you.  It is a force of some sort.  You can feel it swell within you, like the power you felt before, when the demons had caught you.  But this power builds at a gentler pace, filling you with a feeling of warmth and easing your fear.

You hear Ballad speak.  It seems that he is speaking directly into your mind…

Do not be afraid, he says.  Those monsters outside have some sort of link to you.

I know, you think.  I’ve been dreaming of them for the past three years.  The nightmares kept getting worse.  And now they…

They must have been draining you all this time, Ballad says.

What do you mean? you ask, confused.

You have something within you, says Ballad.  A kind of spiritual power.  Much like me.  These demons…they are wraiths.  Nightmare creatures.  Boogeymen.  They have been haunting you these past years because of the power you have.  They have been able to utilize it to give themselves Earthly form.

Oh, great God, you think.

We can fight them, says Ballad.  You can fight them.  I can help you, but you have to…

But I don’t know how to… you start.

That’s okay, says Ballad.  Just relax.  In order to fight the monsters, you will have to face the nightmares.  Once you conquer your fear of them, you can defeat them.  It is only the fear that binds you.

But how do I…you say.

Just think happy thoughts, says Ballad.  You can detect the smile in his words.

Despite yourself, you smile as well.  You close your eyes and think.  Images flash by in your mind.  Think happy thoughts, you remind yourself.  You take a deep breath and think.  You think of your parents, for as long as they were alive.  You remember the happy days, of going fishing with your father, making cookies with your mother.  You think about your first kiss, of your first puppy, of your graduation day.  These are all pleasant thoughts, but something about them is lacking…

Don’t try so hard, you hear Ballad say.  Just let it flow naturally.

You take his advice and stop deliberately looking for something pleasant to think about.  You look in Ballad’s eyes.  He smiles reassuringly.  You see his eyes twinkle.  And then, you remember.  His eyes twinkled, and so do stars.

It suddenly returns like an old friend.  You remember the dreams of your youth, of flying among the stars, exploring fantastic and awesome worlds and phenomenon, taking in all the beauty and wonder the universe has to offer.

And, with a rush, the power fills you.  Vast power… your power.  And suddenly, you have the power to conquer your nightmares… and save your dreams…




Spellcaster screams a vile phrase to emphasize her spell of immolation.  The monsters around her suddenly burst into flame and vanish in puffs of black mist…but more keep coming.  She blasts them back with another spell, using the sky-blue fire to encase them in ice.  Green lightning crackles around her body and bolts of it shoot from her in all directions, blasting down many more monsters.

But they just…

…keep…

…COMING!

As powerful as she is, Spellcaster isn’t so sure she can fend them all off for much longer.  She sets up another spell of immolation as a fresh flock of creatures, gargoyle in shape, but colored like zebras, lunge towards her.

Before she can blast them with her spell, the monsters suddenly stop and reel back in pain.  She hears them all hiss and growl.  All the monsters have stopped what they are doing.  Spellcaster wonders what is going on.

Suddenly, she realizes she can use this moment to trace the entity she had sensed before.  Calling up another shield just incase, she focuses on the force she had felt before.  It is far easier to find this time, since she now knows where to look… and the personality behind the force has become far more pronounced.  Spellcaster extends her awareness farther, separating her astral form from her body to actually made contact with the entity.

She finds herself in a realm of mist.  Except for two people in front of her, there is nothing around at all.  Spellcaster looks at the two people.  One was a man with long, brown hair.  The other is a human…but that’s about all she can make out.  For some reason, the person has a multicolored haze around them that blocks all of their features.

The man speaks up.  “Spellcaster,” he says in a friendly tone.  “Glad to see you are all right.”

“More or less,” Spellcaster replies.  “Who are you?”

“My name is Ballad,” he says.

Spellcaster looks to the other person.  He or she stands there, fists clenched and body rigid, indicating extreme concentration.  Whoever it is does not acknowledge Spellcaster’s presence.  They do not seem to be focusing on anything within this realm.

“This…person here is the source of those boogeymen’s presence,” says Ballad.

“Boogeymen?” says Spellcaster.  She snaps her fingers.  “Of course!  I had thought they looked familiar.  I encountered them once in the Dreamworld, some years back.  Horrible creatures.”

“Yes,” says Ballad.  “Apparently, they have been tormenting this poor person for quite some time.  This person has a powerful force within them, Spellcaster.  It appears to be spiritual in nature, but I dare say it may be of cosmic origin.”

“One of the Talents?” asks Spellcaster, giving the person a raised eyebrow.  “Hmm.  They do seem to be more frequent these years…”

Ballad continues, “The Nightmares have been feeding off this energy.  Tonight, they seem to have gained sufficient power to break the barriers between the Dreamworld and the Earthly plain.”

“Interesting,” says Spellcaster.  “Then we have to figure out how to sever the link.”

“Our friend here is fighting them now,” says Ballad.

“I…I can’t fight them all,” the person suddenly says, in voice just above a whisper.  The voice is shaky.  Obviously, the person is going through a great amount of effort.  “There are too many.  I…I can’t beat them if they are all together.”

“I can only guide you,” says Ballad.  “Keep trying.”

Spellcaster thinks for a moment.  “I’m going to try something.”  Then, she returns her astral form to her body, returning her awareness to the physical world.  The Nightmares are all gathered together, with their arms reaching for the sky.  They all hold the same look of hate on their face.  But the hate is mixed with triumph.  By posing a united front, the Talent cannot defeat them.  Spellcaster knows that their uniformity is the key.

Calling up a powerful spell of vertigo, she fires a sickly greenish-yellow sphere of energy at the group of Nightmares.  Suddenly, they writhe in pain and nausea.  Their wall of resistance shatters; with cries of pain and hate, they begin to loose physical form…




You feel the power begin to work.  You can now reach into every Nightmarish creature and twist each one inside and out.  So thorough is your attack, that the Nightmares not only weaken and return to Dreamworld, but their entire beings are dissolved.  In a matter of moments the Nightmares are destroyed.

And then, the dreams return, at long last.  The stars lie before you.  Your sense of awe returns, a welcome relief to the fear and the pain.  As you begin to roam the familiar cosmos around you, you again feel that this is the place you belong.  And after so long a time, you have at least a rough understanding of why.  The power within you has something to do with it; the power comes from the stars…from the very cosmos itself…

Now, you have a new quest: to find out where you belong.

The answers lie within your dreams.




The Talent sleeps peacefully now, dreaming of stars and other worlds.  The storm has finally passed.  The Talent can now know peace once more.

Outside on the front step, I meet Spellcaster in the flesh.  “How is the Talent?” she says, worried.

I nod and give her a reassuring smile.  “Sleeping,” I say.  “Without fear, without pain… safe.”

“The Nightmares have all disappeared,” Spellcaster says.  “There isn’t a trace of them.”  She sighs.  She looks around.  All the houses are still dark.  Absent mindedly, she adds, “The monsters must have used the Talent’s power to keep everyone in town asleep as well.  I guess they wanted to make sure they had no interference when they got here.”

“Well, so much for that idea,” I say with laugh, regarding her.  “It’s a good thing you came here.  Without your presence, who knows what the Nightmares would have done?  For that matter, how would we have defeated them?  Thanks.  You probably helped save the world.”  I pause a moment.  Then I say, “Well, I guess you heroes hear that all the time, huh?”

She smiles at me, a smile very warm and pleasant, with a shade of gratitude.  “You are a hero as well, Ballad,” she says.  “You were just as instrumental in this as I.  Perhaps even more so.  I should be the one to thank you.”

She looks to the sky.  “I must get back,” she says.  She looks to me again, and says, “Farewell, Ballad.  I hope we meet again sometime.”

“Happy travels,” I say, and we shake hands.

Then, she raises into sky and flies off, graceful as an eagle.

I watch her go.  As an afterthought, I say, “And pleasant dreams.”

Then, I look around the town before me.  The night is still relatively young, and I’m not really tired.  I look up to see the moon, full and bright.  I decide it is a lovely night for a walk.  I suppose I won’t be staying the night after all.

I step off the porch and take a moment to pick a direction.  Then, I walk towards the horizon to find adventure elsewhere.

The End.

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AUTHOR’S NOTES: Man, here’s a blast from the past. More dream shenanigans, and a team-up between one of my many superhero characters and one of my severals of adventurer characters. This story is from nearly twenty years ago, back when my creativity revolved around a multiverse setting combining superheroes, modern fantasy, sci-fi, cartoon, and sword and sorcery worlds, and I was always trying to find ways to crossover the various realms, despite having very little establishing stories to build from.

This particular story was also an experiment in shifting perspectives, which I think was supposed to be the main gimmick of Ballad’s stories, if I remember correctly. I’m not sure how effective the attempt was, but it was fun to experiment at the time.

Spellcaster in particular is an interesting case of this, despite this being one of only two stories the character ever featured in. Spellcaster was originally born in the Sword and Sorcery universe, but got bounced over to the Superhero Universe, only to end up taking a three year jaunt into the Modern Fantasy universe. During this short stint, she meets Ballad (as detailed in this story), has a kid by him, and ends up getting shunted back into the Superhero universe, where she has the kid, just in time to get shunted back to the Sword and Sorcery universe and participating in a huge magic war, before ending up back into the Superhero Universe, where she’s by now become established as the resident “Super Mage” of that world.

Yeah, I had a lot of wacky plans like this for many of my characters, although not quite as ridiculous as Spellcaster. Oft times, my imagination was jetting off way beyond my ability to express. Still does to this day, sometimes.