I'd realized I was dreaming and was asking people in a room what their perception of me was. I told them who I thought it was and what year it is.
bearded man: "I give you fifteen seconds to..."
me: "Wait, fifteen seconds to what?"
I couldn't hear the rest of what the man said. But it turned out he was speaking to someone on the other side of the room. I had the impression that someone had been making fun of me and the bearded man was mad and gave them a challenge they couldn't perform.
bearded man: (to someone on the other side of the room) "Okay, time's up, you didn't do it. And look, he's modeling us as people because that's what he has."
me: "So you're saying...you're not people? Then what are you?"
At this point, everyone in the room had disappeared and I was talking to a CD cover that had a kind of animation on it. Then I could hear a voice. I looked around the room at the various things. There was a fireplace.
voice: "You're utilizing a tool, and unfortunately it's one that barely scratches the surface."
me: "Well, what am I to do about that? I'd like to do better but my skills have plateaued. It's been at kind of at a steady state for years, actually. Is there a migration path to better?"
Suddenly the fireplace began swelling and the room filled with fire, and I was consumed by the brightness of the flame and awoke.
Note
I didn't feel like I was being attacked so much as perhaps given some kind of power or insight. Perhaps insight into what it would feel like to be burned up with fire? It was very startling and not a typical wake up at all.