Park Chung-Ho's voice wasn't trembling; his stare was sharp, and everyone around the table could notice that he was determined.
"I need to help you." He noticed that the others were about to talk, but he pursued his speech. "I've been spending some time now in Aislinn's domain, training, fighting against a dragon, trying to understand the basics of this realm. But this domain is about to disappear. I'll need to confront myself in the dream realm sooner or later. This day will happen. There is no way to escape it. I cannot get a better experience than to be surrounded by skilled hunters like you all. And you mentioned you needed more people anyway."
The six other people around the table had watched carefully the young and fired-up man speaking. There was no doubt, he was really motivated.
"You have good points, I can't deny it." Diane started. "But Albormare is in the equation. He wants you more than anything. You can't be safe in the dream realm."
"So, this means I won't ever be able to dream again?"
"I'm not saying that..."
"You wanna come in the Dream Realm with us? OK." Sasha cut Diane. "First things first, try to enter the Dream Realm. Can you even go out of your Domain? And by this, I mean to go out in a high layer. If you wanna go to the Dream Realm, you need to master it. You need to know what you're doing. I'm not sure you can handle that yet. I understand your will to go into the Dream Realm, to hunt, even the will to rescue Aislinn, despite the dangers you would fear. But you can't do any of this unprepared."
"I can change the runes that are activated in your room," Ida said. "I should be able to use some runes that could guide you to a high layer."
Diane looked around the table, astonished.
"You're not seriously encouraging him here, are you?"
Everyone looked at her with a smirk on their faces.
"Diane, he needs to see the realm," Sasha said. "You will give him all the advice and warnings you can, but he'll need to learn in the real conditions and not just a domain."
"But he needs to study, he's got a life out of the dream realm."
"Dreams are for the night. I'll work hard every day. I beg you, Mrs Nòttdottir, allow me to do this, and teach me."
Diane Nòttdottir knew that this young man didn't need her permission, and still, he was asking. She knew, judging by the look on his face, that he needed to test himself in the dream realm, but that he wanted her approval and help.
"My daughter and I told you not to go into the realm, but you're also the son of two hunters. There is no way you'll stay away from the dreaming lands forever. We will train you then. But you shall obey every word we say, for your own safety. I won't be able to join you in the realm; I'll stay an observer from my own domain." She turned to the others. "Let's say we'll start this training next week. You're on vacation next week, so we'll be on a trip, you and I. Sasha, you'll have to contact as many hunters as possible. We have to find some good dreams for training."
"Find some dreams? Aislinn already told me she had nightmares that she had collected from other people. But I don't know what this meant."
"You'll know it soon enough, then. I'll bring you to one of the most interesting places for hunters in the physical realm."
Park Chung-Ho looked around the table, questioning them all with his eyes.
"THE DREAM AUCTION!" roared the table around him.
"What's this?"
"Exactly what the name says. This is a place where people are selling or renting their dreams and nightmares."
"Wait... you can sell your nightmares? You're selling it to someone else, and you never have this nightmare again?"
"It takes specialists to extract the nightmare or the dream, and you can't extract dreams that are too deep for the extractors. And I mean extractors with an 's'. This job is very hard and dangerous, and this explains why dreams and nightmares cost a lot at the Auction House."
"So.. We're gonna get some dreams or nightmares so that I can train?"
"That's the plan indeed."Park Chung-Ho was processing the information. There was a place where you could buy and sell dreams. You could even rent a dream there. He didn't know how this worked, but that sounded incredible anyway. Maybe this was where Aislinn got her nightmare with the dragon.
"Pack your bags. We'll travel light and fast."
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Aislinn was in the middle of the place where the cage stood. This place was so sticky that Albormare didn't need to place her in a cage to make sure that she wouldn't escape.
She had been exploring the area every day, but this place was gigantic. She had been exploring the whole city in which the grand Place was located. The church, the castle, the market... Everything was like in a city in the physical realm, and a big one. She had seen miles and miles of this city and found no elevator. She knew there was even more than just this city, but it would take her a lot more time to explore it all. She was there, surrounded by nightmares and dreams that seemed to have no goal at all. They all seemed to be trapped in this prison, like she was. She knew she was in the Tower of Despair and that every level of this tower was a cell of a prison. She had learned a lot about this place; her mother wanted to keep her far from it, and now she was at the lowest level, the basis of the tower. Each time she wasn't under Albormare's direct surveillance, she would try to sense her essence, which allowed her to know if Park Chung-Ho was doing well, but at this very moment, something wasn't right, and she thought :
"Why is my essence so feeble today? It can't be the leak, I don't feel myself being more complete. Chung-Ho must be somewhere I cannot sense as well as I normally do. But where is he?"
Something wasn't right there. She knew that he wasn't in the Dream Realm; this was for sure, her essence would feel like it was glowing and warm if he had been there. He was in the Physical Realm. But he wasn't near the DS anymore, nor in the dormitories of the faculty. Those were two places that she had a strong link with, and the sensing was easy for her. No, there was something very different. First of all, the essence didn't seem stable; it was pulsing. As if every time she managed to catch it, it was slipping away. He may have been moving, but that was fast, way too fast for a mere human.
"Maybe a train? Or a plane? But where is he going? Is he alone? What's going to happen if he has no protection? I closed my domain, so he'll be in his own, and he knows it's not good to go out of it without knowing where to go. But he saw the tower... I hope mom told him not to go there..."
She had to find a solution. She knew what danger Park Chung-Ho would face, but he had no clue.
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The plane was flying high, and Park Chung-Ho had no Idea about what was going on in the Dream Realm. He was still reading books that Diane gave him. Aislinn's mother was sleeping, but he couldn't. He had crafted some pills to avoid sleep while on the plane. He had runes on leather straps that Ida placed on each arm and leg. He wasn't sure if this was enough to totally avoid him from being pulled into the depths of the Dream Realm. He could feel that sleep was calling him, but he was struggling as much as possible to avoid entering the Realm. He yawned several times; his eyes were blurred with tears of exhaustion. He couldn't resist anymore. It had been more than ten hours of flight already, and he hadn't slept for thirty hours. The fight between his exhaustion and his will is slowly going in favor of sleep. His pill effect was running off, and he didn't hear the book falling down.
The fire was there, the heat and the smoke. Always the same. He touched the wall and made all the fire and its effects disappear. He took a deep breath.
"I'm in need of rest. So let's rest." He said to himself. "Aislinn, are you here?" He asked, but hoped that there would be no answer. She was in trouble because of him, and Albormare noticed that she was visiting him while he was sleeping. A voice echoed in the room.
"I cannot manifest here anymore. Albormare is trying to get you through me. I closed my domain so that my essence stays with you. The more I am in a domain, the more my essence leaks back to me, and if I'm complete again, Albormare will use me as a vessel to get into the physical world. You must keep my essence safe at all costs and avoid going to the tower."
"Stay safe, Aislinn," he thought, "I'm gonna grab some dreams and nightmares and prepare to defend myself from Albormare. He's done enough already."
Aislinn's voice echoed again, with the very same words. It was as if she had sent a message, and it was cycling to make sure that he would get it.