He was amazingly intense, and as he lounged around his cool apartment, surrounded by his awesome possessions, it was very exciting to think that he didn’t have to go anywhere, he could just spend all his time reading and playing video games if he wanted.  He had so many things that he could do, that it was difficult to decide what to do next.  He started surfing the web looking for something to entertain him.  He caught sight of too many news articles, though, and he became very unhappy about the state of the world.  Since he had so much money, he knew that he should be plotting the overthrow of the current civilization.  He would have to do something to fuck with the minds of rich people, since they were the only ones who could really change things.  He would have to become rich himself in order to do it.  But he knew he couldn’t waste his time just trying to get money.  He had to have a target.

“Hello,” said a sultry yet snappy female voice, “I’m an angel of Mars.”

“Holy crap!” he shouted, and jumped back.  He could see the outline of a female form glowing in a strange, candelight-orange web of light.  She spread her vast wings and he could see them pass through the walls and ceiling — it was obvious that she existed in another dimension that was somehow superimposed over the physical world.  She seemed physically real, but she wasn’t limited to the place where he was.

“Don’t you remember that old poster, “Footsteps”, she said?  People used to show it to you all the time.”

“Yes, I remember.  You were always there and now you’re here.  I’m very glad to see you.  But all this energy is too intense!  I can’t handle it!  What am I supposed to do?  Can I go with you to another dimension?”

“I’m bringing the other dimension here.  That’s what this web is.”

“Okay, I’m out of ideas.  You do what you want.”

“There’s a great, evil octopus in the world Jason, and we have to fight it.”

“I assume you mean some kind of dark, astral thingy.”

“It’s a poison in the dream of humanity.  We have to divert the revenue streams to destroy it.”

“And how will we do that?  Will I get paid?”

“You’ll receive everything you desire, if you promise to work with me.”

“I promise.”

“Okay, get back on the web, I’m going to show you something.”

He turned back to his computer and put his hand on the mouse.  “What’s the address?”

Numbers began to flash on the screen.  “This is an experiment.  I’m over your computer.”  The screen came up with a picture of an old man.  He could hear that there was loud music playing.  He was performing a black magic ritual.  He had a young girl tied down on a crucifix in the center of a black magic pentacle, and he was having sex with her.  “He’s redirecting elemental forces, trying to undermine the structures of human consciousness and turn people into zombies.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in an ancient underwater city.  We have to stop him.”

He was doing ritual magic, and then the heavens opened up and an angel came through.  “You’re like a time bomb, ticking away.” she said, quoting a song.

“Does that mean I’m going to explode?” he asked.

“Only if you want to,” she replied.

“Well, what else should I do?”

“Lie down.” she said, we’re going to take a trip back to Ancent Egypt, where we first met.

He closed his eyes and felt the room shift around him.

“The key is to let it change you completely.” she whispered.

“But I still have all this pain in my face,” he protested.

“You’ll never be accustomed to this planet.  You’re not from here.  The idea was to do the job and go home, but they trapped you on the astral plane.  However I’m here to undo the spell, by showing you the people who put it on you.”

They were like rats scurrying in their goofy cave.  They never changed.  They went on forever like that.  They were pathetic, sad criminals whose lives were emptiness and lies.  They latched on to him like vampires.  They thought they could read him like a book, but really none of them could read books.  They didn’t understand anything he was doing, so when they hatched their plot they wound up hurting themselves more than him.  They were such crybabies that they blamed him for destroying their lives.

“But I know all this,” he said, “And yet I still have their disgusting images in my face.  Why am I telepathically linked to them? Why is there no explanation from anyone I’ve met?”

“It’s because you have to learn to build your own wall against them.  They tried to wall you in with them.”

“I miss the opportunities I lost, the girls I might have talked to.”

“I’m much better than any girl.  It will all be added up in the end, and you’ll get another chance to balance things out.”

“If that’s the case, then why do I have to keep role-playing in this stupid world where I don’t care about anything?”

“These people are like sheep, and you need to learn about herding sheep.”

He could feel the reality of the past lives now, how violent, stupid, and smelly they were.  It was just images he had in the 21st century, myths and archetypes.  But actually going through all that had been awful.  Well, maybe not awful all the time.

“What, again, am I supposed to be doing here?”

“You’re supposed to be developing your web presence, one day at a time.  Don’t worry about the rest, I’ll take care of it.”

Then he went to sleep, and even as he slept magical beings were rearranging the world so that something better would happen in the morning on his way to work.

His lousy mood was going to get better, because Catwoman was going to make an appearance.  He would have some reading to do.  He would find a new goal, and put the past behind him, like water under the bridge.