The story he just heard had brought new questions to Park Chung-Ho's mind.
"Excuse me, but... You talked about Corruption, but how can a nightmare from the depths of the Dream Realm corrupt a human?"
The memory Diane Nòttdottir shared seemed to have impacted her. It was Sasha who answered.
"When a human enters the Dream Realm, it's through something we call the dream essence. But when a dream enters the Physical Realm, they leave their dream essence behind them, but there are interactions between the two realms thanks to this essence."
Aislinn used the word essence the night before, but the young man needed to hide this information.
"The person who attacked my parents and I, was it Albormare or someone else? Is it possible that Albormare took control of someone? Of a dream in the physical world?"
"Why do you ask this, boy?" The tall man said.
"When I was in the depths, during my surgery, the nightmare that attacked me talked strangely. He said "THAT night", speaking about the day my parents died. But he also said something that makes me think it was Aislinn's father. He said Mom let you come to me finally."
Diane Nòttdottir seemed to snap out of her stupor immediately upon hearing those words.
"Aislinn made a mistake..." She said. "She thought it was Albormare, but she was wrong... The dreamcatcher worked even better than we imagined. That means..."
She was pacing back and forth and seemed to talk to herself. Park Chung-Ho drew the vial containing the shards of the dreamcatcher's bead out of his jeans.
"You told me that this could be useful, but these are only the fragments of one of the beads. I fear there is no trace of the rest of the dreamcatcher. It may have burned that day."
The headmistress stopped immediately and came closer to watch the vial. The fire's lights were glowing on the glass.
"Those are the last remains of it, Sasha. But this could help us find Aislinn... You gave us information that changes everything, son." She added, looking at the young man.
"I think I know what you're thinking of, Diane. But we'll need to investigate further. And we owe this boy the full story."
"I explained what happened in the Dream Realm. I let you tell the Physical Realm part..."
The tall man turned to face Park Chung-Ho.
"When your parents came out, they explained to us all what happened. They told us we needed to rescue Diane in the Dream Realm. We sent two hunters to seek her. But none of them managed to go that deep. Meanwhile, we had tracked down the Windigo. As the threat in the physical realm was over, we all went into the dream realm. I was the one who could go the deepest among our group. I managed to go to the place where Diane was last seen. But there was no one to be found there anymore. She was even deeper at that time. We had to go back to the Physical Realm. We've searched for many ideas to get her, and while we were doing so, our shamans kept her body safe. It was like for Aislinn now, like for anyone in a coma, we need to hydrate the body and have it under surveillance. The shamans tried to help her with rituals and dreamcatchers. Your parents were there too. They have spent weeks searching the Dream Realm, Reading Books to find a solution and bring Diane back. And one day, she came back, and a dream emerged from the Dream Realm. The shamans detected her pregnancy. My grandmother, who was our eldest and most skilled shaman, decided to give Diane our most ancient Dreamcatcher, to protect her and the baby from the nightmares. And I think you guessed that this was the dreamcatcher above your cradle."
Diane came back from the library, with a book in hand.
"Sasha, we need to gather the best hunters we can. She can be saved with the shards. She..."
"Diane, calm down," the tall man said. "Maybe you should talk with the boy first."
The headmistress looked and Park Chung-Ho.
"I'm sorry... This dreamcatcher... It may be the key to Aislinn's rescue. I think we could use one shard of it to find her."
The young man looked at the vial and handed it to his friend's mother.
"Then let's find her. What do you think?"
She smiled, but she didn't take the vial.
"Keep it until we really need it. It's yours. I gave this dreamcatcher to your parents, with the permission of Sasha, when we noticed that your birth could be endangered by Aislinn's father."
"I will keep it. But I hope we can use it in the very next days. We need to rescue her the fastest possible."
It was past midnight and they all decided to go to sleep. For Park Chung-Ho, it meant that he would be able to talk with his friend and he was really looking forward to it.
**************************************
Nótt entered the room. It was difficult to mistake this cat with any other. His dark hair with sparkles of gold was quite unique. The cat jumped on the bed, purring. Park Chung-Ho turned the light off, and Nótt stepped on his belly. The purring sound and vibrations were so relaxing that he instantly fell asleep. Everything was dark around him. He knew he was in the safe place, but he was alone.
"Aislinn?" He asked, just to hear his voice echo in the dark. He felt something touching his leg.
"Nótt?" He asked, as he identified what touched him as a cat.
"Who else do you think I am?" He knew this voice, but as the place brightened suddenly, he saw it was really coming from the cat that was purring on his chest in the Physical Realm.
"Now I hear a cat that speaks." Said Park Chung-Ho.
"It's me, Aislinn," she laughed as she turned into her true self. "You really thought a cat could speak to you in the Dream Realm?"
"Why not? I think that not only humans are capable of dreaming, right?"
"You're totally right. But you could be surprised at how cats dream!"
"Anyway, I have got some great news. We found a way to come and bring you back!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Sasha and your mom told me the story of my dreamcatcher."
"The full story, you say? I'm not sure that she told you who killed your parents..."
"She told me."
"Do you realise what this means?"
He looked at her and breathed out.
"Aislinn... Are you safe actually?"
The girl seemed surprised and not knowing what to say for a few seconds.
"Safe?"
"You disappeared with your father when I got freed from the bead's shards. I just want to be sure you're not in danger."
"We were talking about my father..."
"We're still talking about him. You disappeared with him."
"I speak about what he did to your familly and you."
"What has been done is done. I won't lie, though, I wanna find him and get my revenge. But what I do care at the moment is what we can do. My parents died, but you're alive. Let's bring you back first of all, shall we?"
"Bring me... What are you saying. You never went in the dream realm and you wanna go down hundred layers now?"
"So you're on the hundredth layer..."
"No! I said a random number. I don't even know where I am."
"Why? Don't you recognise anything around you?"
"No, I'm in a kind of mist. I've never seen that before."
The young man was pacing back and forth.
"How did you get there? I saw you disappear with him."
"I don't really know. As I said, I have no clue about where I am."
"There is a link with the dreamcatcher. Your mother said it would be usefull to bring you back. I don't know how nor why, though."
The young woman was looking him straight in the eye, as if she was searching for an answer.
"My mother thinks she'll manage to bring me back thanks to this dreamcatcher? I guess it's because I used a shard..."
"You used a shard? When?"
"When you we're in that nightmare, during the surgery, you got pulled so fast that I could 't follow you. I had to wake up and grab a shard to get back to you and my dad. But I took him with me, I droped the shard, and I think this is why I don't know where I am. And this is also why you can't use that dreamcatcher's shards to get to me. My dad's essence was tied to this dreamcatcher. This is why I could find you both. But when I lost the grab on it, we got separated."
"I understand." He was thinking and suddenly he asked, "can you tell me how I get to your domain? It feels the same as if I was still in the burning room. I feel like I don't have access to the dream realm."
"That's because of me... My essence said that you were connecting to the dream realm, so I joined you before you even entered it. But I can leave you if you want. And you will access the dream realm."
"No, no... I don't care about the dream realm as of now. I want to bring you back first. But... If you are here and in this mist... Can I do the same and have a part of my essence here and another at another place?"
"I don't think this is possible for you. You're not a dream."
"And aren't both part of your essence connected in some way?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you here and there at the same time?"
"Well... Yes and no. My essence is at both locations. But I can interact only in one of them at a time."
The young man was staring at her with a smile.
"What?" She asked.
"I am going to bring you back really fast. It's cool to be in your domain, but... I wanna dream with you one day."
"This place is made for it you know."
"This isn't the dream realm. It's your own realm, but you cannot do everything you want in here."