A Murder of Crows

Date: 8/2/2023

I was following an old lady named Ryuuk (possibly got that from the word Ryukyu, native people of Okinawa Prefecture) from a market across the road into a tall multi-story apartment building, I was really determined to catch up with her for some reason and felt like she was trying to lose me, get away from me. There are two ways into the building, she asks a group of people to guard the front entrance from me so I go around the back. I follow the lady up the stairs, all the way up to the very top floor where the lady lives (even though there's an elevator) and confront her. I'm at a loss for words when I catch her so I mostly stammer "what the hell? Why?" And I get this sense as if she's a guardian spirit who has decided to leave me. She replies that she doesn't want to watch over me anymore because I've "become boring." I consider this for a moment and then give her €50 cash, because I know she doesn't have much and I'm grateful for her having been there at all. She gladly takes the money but doesn't thank me. On my way back down the staircase I pass by one floor where I can hear someone in one of the apartments blasting angsty teen/emo rock. Something vaguely Green Day sounding, muffled through the walls. When I get outside, a group of excited kids runs past me, saying something about a "murder of crows" in the alley around the corner. Above my head I see about 30-40 crows flying by in the cloudy sky. I go to the alley where I find the crows are gathered around a small bird, like a sparrow or finch. Some of the crows are floating above the scene like kites in the wind & combining into one. Somehow I get a terrible feeling and know exactly what's happening and what's about to come. It's a ritual sacrifice the crows do every once in a while - trapping a small bird and then killing it - not for survival or fun but for spiritual/religious reasons. I step in and scatter the birds, allowing the small bird to escape. Apparently, I shouldn't have done that. Immediately, the wind picks up and I hear thunder rolling in the distance. I ignore it at first and walk away, going wherever I originally intended. Then I start seeing strange people and spirits. Near the path I was on was a lake and lying next to it was a strange naked woman with East Asian features (Japanese, Chinese, etc.) with some pale aquatic creatures (octopus? Jellyfish? I didn't get a good look) stuck to her body and entangled in her long black hair. She looked half-dead or like the spirit of a drowned woman. I thought I could simply ignore her, so I walked past her without acknowledgement. When I turned around to look back, I found her curled up right next to me, as if she teleported. I asked her "Do you need help?" And bent down closer to her. She was struggling to breathe and spoke in a pained whisper, she said that I should go where my mother-in-law (??) is, across the lake, because it is the only safe place left for me. I don't have any in-laws irl but somehow I knew exactly who she meant and I immediately went there. The mother in law was a petite woman in her 50s with curly blonde hair. She was sitting under a makeshift canopy, drinking tea and looking after a child (her grandson?), invited me right in. She knew exactly what was going on. Apparently, the forces of Death - reapers and earthbound spirits - were everywhere now that the crow ritual was interrupted. Turning around, I saw one of the Grim Reapers - in the form of an old man - absorb the soul of a woman he was talking to. The in law made a joke about it while I tried to keep the child from pulling down the canopy, which was held together by strings. If it fell apart I knew that Death could come in and take my soul too.