The world of dreams. It is the realm that, each night, opens
itself to us as we enter the deep sleep. It is fueled by our imagination and secret
desires and is nothing more than an alternative to the reality that possesses us during
our waking hours.
Not anymore.
There is another stage of consciousness that exists within
the dream world. It has reality of it’s own and is as real as any other. But only to
those who can enter that realm. While most of us wander in and out of dreams, oblivious to
the worlds that we create and destroy with mere thought, there are those who inhabit the
dream realm...who can transverse from one dream to another...who can bend the fabric of
their consciousness and fold it into the dreamer’s. These are the dream riders. Their
home is not a physical plane like we associate with earth but a level of existence that
touches the subconscious. It is the realm where dreams and nightmares reside, where all
the hidden thoughts of mankind manifest themselves in the dark corners of the cerebral
cortex, where inhibitions are shed like leaves on a blustery autumn day.
It is the level of consciousness that transcends reality and
dreams.
It is Level X.
Six research subjects are chosen to undergo an experiment.
From a pool of over 50 volunteers, six of the college students become eligible to
continue. Their interests are as diverse as their backgrounds. JJ is was a
"can’t miss" football player who found his natural talents aren’t
enough anymore, Cyril attends classes only to have access to the school’s facilities
in his quest to be a computer game designer. Shiela sees dance as her ticket to fame,
knowing that she can only rely on her stunning looks for a decade before gravity defeats
her. Winston follows his passion for history, secure in the study of the past yet afraid
to live in today’s world. Thad is a psychiatry major secretly harboring a desire for
jazz, and Jennifer, as if to atone for the sexiness that seems to ooze from her, attempts
to prove her most valuable asset is her mind. They all have their own reasons with the
most obvious being the $1,000.00 fee. For most, that is enough reason. But for Thad, jazz
is not his only hidden desire---Jennifer epitomizes his concept of the ideal woman and he
knows he must pursue the opportunity.
Each of them are lucid and vivid dreamers. They can remember
even the smallest details of their dreams and while in a dream can influence the direction
of it. Each also faces an agonizing torment as they descend into the sleep world. They are
all victims of Pavor Nocturnus---Night Terrors. Each night, they are visited by
unknown faces intruding into their dreams. It shocks them awake and only the agony of
insomnia can protect them. Science has differentiated Night Terrors from Nightmares. The
latter is referred to as a bad dream and nothing more. But the Night Terrors? The best
answer science has to offer is that they are self induced hallucinations. They come at a
stage between deep sleep and wakefulness...where dreams have already faded into oblivion.
Those who suffer from the Night Terror have to wonder…how can you hallucinate
something beyond your imagination?
There is an answer. The LeMarc Foundation has found it. It
does not involve dream analysis, nor does it require a psychological probe of the waking
mind. The intrusion into the dreams is not their own minds playing tricks on them. They
have an ability, an ability to tap into the portal of another world, another level of
consciousness. They can cross the doorway into Level X.
A special computer is hooked up to the six subjects. As they
pass into the dream world, their dreams begin to mesh together. They have gone beyond
their solitary dreams to impact onto others’ dreams. The computer system integrates
them together and also with itself. Their physical bodies remain in the material world yet
their consciousness is in a realm of unexplored territory but it is not any less real. It
becomes their reality and to their horror, in this reality, one can also die.
The research facility, able to visually monitor the subjects
and their escapades, are in a race against time as their life support systems have been
taken over by the computer and continually fed medication to prevent the Night Terror from
waking them. The subjects are forced to push the boundaries of their own fear and take the
next step...across the threshold. But it is not just the computer that presents a danger
to the group. They are being hunted.
As the group bounces from dream to dream, they realize a
common enemy that appears in many guises. He is the boogey man...he is the shadowy figure
whose footsteps follow yours...he is the twisted psychopath around the next corner...he is
the hidden beast kept deep in your soul. He is a combination of everyone’s definition
of evil. He surrounds your psyche and his dark tentacles stroke the thoughts that
you’re not supposed to have. He is from within you….within me…within all of
us.
And he wants out of the dream world. He wants our world.
He wants to become a tangible entity in the physical realm of
what we call reality. And the only way he can do it is to consume the six subjects so that
he becomes the core that binds them together. And then he can exist.
The researchers desperately try to find a way to release the
subjects from the control of the computer, unaware of the force that could be unleashed
once that happens. As the subjects try for their own survival, they too, are unaware that
if they are all consumed, the terrible evil that will be set free. Nightmares will become
real. Imagination will now create physical representations. There will be no difference
between waking thoughts and dream thoughts...all will now be in the same reality. All will
exist.
From dream to dream, the subjects are bounced . As they enter
a dream, they become part of it. Their own fears and egos are expressed in the dreams
which induce a night terror of it’s own onto the dreamer. Sometimes, their own
repressed desires will manifest as Jennifer discovers when Thad’s exotic thoughts of
her seem to engulf his very essence. In the dream world, it is hard to hide secrets.
The sudden waking up of the dreamer catapults the subjects
into a new dream or a new nightmare with the dark shadow hot on their heels. When they
tragically discover that they can die in the dreams and death is real on all levels, they
feel hopeless for how can they hope to stand against one that knows how to manipulate the
dreams? They realize they must beat the dark dream rider at his own game if they are to
survive.
As the dream subjects grapple with the dark menace haunting
their minds, the research team also comes to grips with the potential terror. Sean LeMarc,
the founder of the Foundation, had a different agenda then originally revealed. His son,
Joshua, is an Autistic Savant. Considered almost imbecilic yet he possessed an
extraordinary talent in painting. Like most "idiot savants", Joshua was superbly
talented in one area at the expense of all normal functions. LeMarc had hoped the study of
the subconscious mind in dreams would reveal the key to his son’s handicap. What was
not known to anyone was that Joshua’s paintings were taken from the dreams of others.
He is a dream rider.
His paintings are manifestations of the dreams he visited.
When the research team discovers his latest painting spotlights Jennifer, they understand
the connection. However, what they don’t realize is that Joshua does more than tap
into the dream world, he is the conduit for the mysterious dark figure…and holds the
key as the host body for the evil force that snakes through the dreams.
Level X will be the ultimate thriller. It will feature a
variety of special effects from the technological holograms of the research institute to
the inner workings of a computer. Fantastical elements will play throughout as the
subjects are plunged from dream to dream which run the gamut from a Nazi concentration
camp to a medieval town to a surreal landscape lined with horrific elements. It would
feature a young cast caught in the maelstrom of horror that can exist in the mind with no
limits beyond our imagination. The villain can vary his appearance although undoubtedly
would settle on one coherent look. The potential of Level X as a franchise property is
enormous and could easily be modified for sequels or television and the exploitative
possibilities can run from action figures to games to an Internet multi user domain game.
