Journey Through the Arctic Abyss

I had a dream of traveling in the arctic. The terrain is dominated by big, rocky mountains and snowfields that cover the ice. Leaving a cave, I come to a small cliff. This cliff overlooks a field of ice and snow, so I strive out. Feeling confident, I jump onto the ice, but the ice breaks under me. Luckily, I don't plunge into the cold arctic water, but I still get wet and have to struggle out of the water. After a long time of struggling, I manage to climb onto another rocky cliff face and reach safety. Here, I encounter another explorer and she reprimanded me for being so bold in a place so dangerous. We make it back to my cave and I light a small fire to keep us warm. I introduce her to my pet, a large animal I called a "snow tiger" and her name was Aya. "Aya is my best friend and we've been traveling together for a long time." I said. The other explorer was in awe of Aya, having never seen an animal like her before. Looking around, I come to think why I even shelter here in the first place, but then I look onto a shelf carved into the rock and ice and see the cot. I didn't set it up, but I did take advantage of it, thinking to myself "Oh yeah. There's got to be more here." Eventually, the fire dies out and while the two of us are wondering what to do, Aya begins inspecting further into the cave. Without hesitation, I follow her. The other explorer asks me if this was okay, and I replied, "Of course it will be." As we explore, we eventually leave the cave and explore different parts of the arctic, meet new people and eventually, our group gets larger and larger. But, disaster strikes again. Aya begins dying and rapidly freezing to death from something I don't remember. Panicking, we get Aya into a cave, where some of the explorers have dug a tunnel into the earth, motioning me in. Usually, I am terrified of tight spaces with multiple passageways and I hesitate. But then, from around the corner, one of the other explorers, who resembled my real life friend, Isca, appeared and motioned for me to follow her. Carrying Aya, I follow Isca and come into a large room. It wasn't large enough to fully stand in, but enough that we could all lay in it with plenty of space. The room was very warm and glowed orange. I laid Aya onto the floor and began crying over her. Saying how much she meant to me and how much I loved her. Aya acknowledged me by flicking her tail before inevitably passing away. Feeling the sting of loss, I leave the room, feeling numb. Leaving into the tunnel, the ceiling gets taller until we can all stand in it and I explore the other branch. Surprisingly, we come to a large house that seemed well lived in, but abandoned. We all decide to move into it for the time being. Seeing the rooms, I find a children's bedroom, it had a desk filled with trophies next to it. I also find a bedroom with a large tv and some video games, no doubt a room for a teenager or young adult. I then find the master bedroom. As I'm collecting information, an idea comes to mind. "This family that once lived here, lost their father, husband and brother and had to carry on without him." I thought, the realization snapping me out of my numb state. We reconvened in the living room, where me and a few of the older adventurers are talking about our motivations for exploring and what we hope to find. One of the explorers, someone who appears smart and often gets called "Genius Pete" begins chastising me again. That the way I was living before would have driven Aya crazy from isolation eventually and that my death was assured. I argued back, "She would have been fine. I came out here to die. I was fine with freezing to death." Genius Pete and the others seemed shocked at my answer and the conversation came to a halt. Once more, we pressed onwards through the basement of the house and into an open valley. The mountains opened up unto the wide blue sky above and a snowy place fortunately lacking in ice. We decide to relax here a little while. While relaxing next to a fire, I hear someone talking about the sea. "What they forget," the voice says, "Is that the ocean is milky and frothy and always close by." Perspective shifts to a dark corner in the rocks as a pocket of ice shatters and the closed valley begins flooding with icy cold ocean water. Panicked, I immediately begin searching for a way out, finding a small rock we can jump off from to climb the cliffs and escape. Genius Pete is the first to take it. While we expect him to help us, he says instead, "I faked it the entire time, thanks for the help everyone and good luck." Waving to us before running off and leaving us to our fate. But, I refused to give up and climbed the rock myself, grabbing the ropes that the others were throwing up and helping everyone else get to the mountain. I recognized alot of their faces at this point. They were coworkers, cousins and other family members. Many of them were hesitating as the waters grew higher, but I began saying "It's just a little water, come on." Eventually, we managed to get everyone out. Feeling satisfied, I sat on the mountainside, looking at the water. That's when I woke up.