Mask Dream

Last night I had a dream that a group of 8 people and I were checking out our new neighborhood.  We were going house to house, saying hello and introducing ourselves.  We came upon a house with a large screened in porch, and a middle age couple came out to greet us.  They told us they loved the area and had been there for many years.  They said there were just about to eat, and did we want any food.  I felt like something wasn't right, and that we shouldn't eat the food.  One of my group accepted however, and as they started to eat, the house began hurtling through space and time.  Out the window I could see different scenery flash by.

We landed in an ancient civilization, maybe Egypt, and were taken to a processing center.  The first step was the culture's punishment ritual, those who had done wrong were supposed to try to throw axes at us on the train car we'd been placed in.  I saw an axe drop near me, but missed, then the person throwing it was supposed to jump down into the tracks and sacrifice themselves if they missed.  When the person jumped, I saw it was a tiny girl, 2 or 3 years old, dark hair and eyes, and I caught her.  Her sister was above, and told me that now I was responsible for her life.  I promised I would take care of her.

We moved onto the next step of initiation, a cleansing ritual by one of the local people.  As we walked to our quarters, I could see the barren rocky landscape, the unusual rock formations, the lack of vegatation. 

I saw rows and rows of people encamped to one side, the civilization was being taken over by aliens.  They had similar bodies to humans, but noticeably different faces, so they wore shiny black masks with faces carved out, but no holes for eyes, nose or mouth.  The people in that land had adopted the masks, and almost everyone had started wearing them so they couldn't tell the difference between them and the aliens. 

In the end, I waited for my turn (last) to have the cleansing ritual, and saw my housemates falling under the spell of the land, getting distracted and forgetting they weren't from there.  I knew if I waited and kept alert, I could go home.  I just had to remember who I was.  I said my name, and woke up.