'Never eat cheese before going to sleep - it will cause you nightmares!'
From a very early age, Jack has been having out-of-body experiences in Qualm, the dream realm. Eating cheese prior to sleeping seems to cause this extraordinary effect. As a youngster, he would relate to his parents regarding his adventures during the night. They believe that cheese is causing him nightmares and try to restrict his consumption.
In Qualm, there is turmoil: Neojack, the dark lord, has stolen the Balantix Stone from the Spiral of Dreams. This causes mayhem. The Dream Sprites can no longer generate calm dreams in Adam's Realm (our world) which causes endless humans sleep paralysis; a seemingly never-ending nightmare. Some never wake up.
Jack's young sister falls foul of Neojack's foul plan to make our world bedlam. She does not wake up, her tiny heart is overwhelmed, and gives up. After paying his respects to his sister in the hospital, a doctor bobs his head to Jack on leaving the ward, as if he knew him. Confused, Jack turns and sees the doctor's red eyes and hideous snarling leer.
Jack freaks out and tries to attack the doctor. He is restrained by security guards and ultimately heavily sedated, which nullifies his ability to travel to Qualm. He is kept in a padded cell, permanently sedated by a minion of Neojack, the dark lord. By escaping one day to the confines of his own mind, he returns to Qualm to find out that twenty-six years have passed. He is irrevocably changed and hell-bent on revenge. Whilst his body is sedated in Adam's Realm, his quest for revenge on Neojack continues in Qualm, as does the prophecy of The Prince of Dreams
