"That's it? That's all it took?" Park Chung-Ho asked with surprise and amusement.
Aislinn smiled.
"Alright, first of all, what you just did isn't that simple. You seem to have a huge connection with the Dream Realm. I don't know why, but you have a natural talent. This wasn't just a projection this time."
"That means I was able to fix this nightmare?"
"Not totally, that was going to be my second point. You managed to fix the instance I created. Less strong than the real one, and, because yours is based on memory, you can't vanquish it. You will have to live with it for your whole life. But you'll be able to change it and make it a peaceful dream instead of a dreadful nightmare reminiscent of your oldest trauma. You'll need to train to make it for real. But this domain of mine is a perfect place for training. If I'm not here at night, don't hesitate to train."
"If you're not here? I thought this place was a part of you."
"It's more like a part of me created this place. Also, I must be vigilant and avoid being caught when I'm helping you. I pretend to be asleep or that the nightmares around me affect me too much. But they will notice it one day."
"That means you're in trouble. And if I understand things well, you're in big trouble right now."
"I'm in no trouble. I just need to be careful. Keep concentrated on training here. You need to protect yourself from nightmares, remember?"
"But I have your safe place, right?"
"You do. But it may disappear one day."
"Why?"
"It can't last forever, sadly. But long enough for you to train, don't worry."
"And how can I train here? I can't create nightmares. You can."
"That's true, you don't know many nightmares. Let me give you this one then."
She placed her hand on his chest, and from her shoulder to her fingers, he saw a glimmer with a dark silhouette rushing to him and entering his chest. He got pushed back and saw glimpses of the forest with the dragon. In a fraction of a second, he saw multiples times the attack of the dragon, each one was different, but each one was frightening. He couldn't help but let a scream echo in the empty room where he fell on his bottom.
"What the fuck was that?"
"I just gave you the dragon nightmare. You'll be able to materialise it at your will to train."
"What do you mean you gave it to me? Can you give a nightmare?"
"You can even sell it. There's a place where you should go once you're skilled enough. Maybe I'll bring you there!"
They both heard a ringing sound echoing from far away.
"Time for you to wake up, Chung-Ho!"
And Aislinn vanished.
He opened his eyes and saw the cat on his chest.
"Hello Nòtt"
The cat purred, stretched on his chest, and left.
Park Chung-Ho wondered if this would be his new daily routine. But he liked cats, and he was smiling while watching the cat go.
"This night has been very productive," he thought. "Aislinn really showed me the concepts we talked about during dinner. But I should keep this night talk with her for me, as she asked."
He heard the sound of a conversation that seemed to come from the main room of the house. He looked at his pants and sweater.
"I need to get a shower and change, or Aislinn will notice even in a dream," he thought while laughing.
Someone knocked at his door.
"I saw the light," Peter Burns said. "Do you need anything? From what I heard, you didn't get any clothes with you when you left your place. Apart from those ones. We can go get some if you want."
Park Chung-Ho nodded. That was exactly what he was hoping for. Changing. Another image appeared in his mind: a shower.
They arrived at his dormitory quickly. Park Chung-Ho took on fresh clothes quickly.
"Can you wait for me for 10 minutes? I would like to take a shower; the common bathroom is on the other side of the building."
"You know there is a shower at the DS, too, right? You won't need to share it."
They got in the car and headed back to the DS. While he was driving, Peter Burns asked :
"I wanted to tell you something about your projections. When you built it, you lacked something, I think. To make it stronger, you need to have a link between the places you draw in your head."
"What do you mean?"
"For example, between your dormitory and the room in flames, you need to go through the door. It doesn't matter if this door should open up to the corridor. If you wanna get to another place, draw it in your mind behind this door. If you change the room itself, there are too many changes, too obvious. No one will believe it. Neither you nor any dream."
"If I had done it that way, I couldn't have moved there anyway."
"If you can't move, you can move the place where you are. You can tilt it so that you would fall through the door."
"And THIS wouldn't be too obvious?" Park Chung-Ho laughed. "It's not a simple modification of the dream, right?"
"Do you know what a Cartograph is responsible for when we're in the Dream Realm?"
"If we weren't speaking of the Dream Realm, I would say you draw maps. But speaking of a place where a lot of things can change, where the logic is different, I think you have to connect places together."
"That's why you're explaining this to me."
"Exactly. Connecting places together is really hard work. Usually, we prepare before going into the Dream Realm, because we need to connect the places where we'll go. Also, you know there are multiple layers in the Dream Realm. This is also my duty to keep track of which layer the places are on so that we don't do jumps that are too big."
"You mean jumping from one layer to another?"
"Yes, if you skip layers, it's like a ladder. You can really be in big trouble. People often get lost in the Realms because they skipped layers and won't ever be able to come back."
"Ok, so we need to prepare before going on a rescue mission, for example?"
"That's what we're doing right now. We can't afford to go unprepared. And I only talk about the road. There are many more threats in the Nightmare Realms, because this is where we'll go. Well, not you, you will need to stay safe in your room when you sleep."
"But do you know exactly where you'll need to go yet?"
"We have an idea. But this is really way too deep. No one ever ventured there... The place is more like a legend that we heard about through some Dreams and Nightmares we've encountered."
Peter Burns parked the car.
"But don't worry, focus on your learning. We'll bring Aislinn back."
Park Chung-Ho wasn't sure about what to say. He had the possibility to speak with Aislinn, and she said that he should keep this information for himself. But there were 6 people searching for a way to bring her back, and if he could get some info for them, it would be crucial.
"Let's try to find as much information as possible about how ready they are and warn Aislinn," he thought.
---------------------------He spent the whole day studying in the Library, trying to learn more about layers and places in the Dream Realm. He also tried to hear anything he could from the 6 hunters. If he couldn't get any information on what they were planning, he could sense that they were more and more willing to make a first move in the Dream Realm.
Layers in the Dream Realm tend to be recognisable by the fact that the deeper you go, the more detailed and vast the place is.
This book, which he found that day, was more explicit about the structure of the Dream Realm.
There are places that we are able to find in a lot of layers, and that can be used a bit like an elevator. You can use that place to go into another layer.
Without such a place, it was exactly as Peter explained to him this morning: you needed to connect places together and go layer by layer. But like the day before, a sentence caught his attention.
If you go deeper than you're ready to go, you will probably suffer from an oppression and a pulling effect that could get you stuck in this place.
But it was a bit further that he found something that stunned him.
Getting out without an elevator isn't a choice. The sacrifice it demands should never be made.
"What kind of sacrifice can this be?" Park Chung-Ho thought. "To get out of the Dream Realm once you're too deep, this must be something really costly indeed. But I'm sure no one will tell me what this sacrifice really is. And it's probably better that way."
The Dinner was more silent than the day before, and he felt that tension was growing.
"They're gonna make a move tonight," he thought.
Diane turned to him just before dessert.
"Do you have work to do for tomorrow?"
Park Chung-Ho was in his dormitory this morning, but he hadn't thought about the faculty this whole weekend. They had work to realise for Wednesday, but nothing for tomorrow.
"No, there's nothing for tomorrow. But I think I'll need to work a bit in the next two days. We have a project to do, Aislinn and I, but I'll manage to realise it if she's not back. It is not for this week, though, so we still have time."
"If you need anything, feel free to ask. We have a lot of resources in here. This could be helpful too. My daughter always borrows some books and stuff."
"I will Ask don't worry. But for now. All I need is to dream."