The night had seemed very short for Park Chung-Ho. He had been in his burning room but switched it like every day now. But no message for him. He had been alone in this room. But that was peaceful. He was happy about his last day. It had been full of learning. He woke up fully ready for another day of discoveries. He was the first to wake up, and after he boiled some water and poured himself a cup of green tea, he went outside to feel the fresh air. Everything was so calm this morning. He sat on the balcony, his legs balancing, his cup heating his hands. He breathed slowly to capture every second of this moment. He needed this slow pace; he knew that there would be a lot of things going on that day.
"I like this view too." Lee Hyun-Bo was there too. "Thanks for the tea."
They stood there for some minutes, contemplating the nature, and the two women joined them.
"Did you sleep well?" Lee Hyun-Hee asked.
"Yes, I'm full of energy for the day now."
They ate and took the car back to Seoul.
"We'll transfer a dream this morning and see how you handle it, first," Diane explained during the ride.
They arrived at the spice store, and Aislinn's mother took charge of the shop while Lee Hyun-Bo took Park Chung-Ho to one of the rooms they saw the day before.
"The runes in this room are really powerful ones that will link us both so that we can be in the same domain. I'll be creating the dream to give you the one we selected for you. Are you ready for this? We will need a sleeping drink to get into the dream realm." He handed a glass to the young man, who drank it immediately.
"Let's get to it. There is work to be done."
All went dark. Then all became very bright, and finally, colors started to appear. This place looked like the garden of the Dreamers Society of Seoul, where they spent the previous night. The cherry tree was blooming, and two kids were sitting under it.
"Where are we?"
"Like your domain was created from a memory, this dream is based on one of mine. It's my key to enter the dream realm. Your mother and I were kids at that time."
"My mother is in your domain? Where you..."
"In love with her? No! No no no! We were friends, but that day was special. It was my first time going in a hunting dream." He paused there for a second. "We both were from a hunter's family. There was a ceremony for the first time you were brought in a dream for a hunt. This was mine."
There was a door in the cherry tree trunk, and Lee Hyun-Bo opened it. Instantly, threads of darkness began to swirl out of the door to pull them both in.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Park Chung-Ho yelled.
"Don't worry, we're going to the nightmare I will give to you."
They were both in full darkness again.
"Didn't you talk about a dream earlier, though?"
"Oh, yes, I did. But I thought it would be better to test you first."
"Test me?"
But as the question came out of his mouth, the young man saw everything around him change abruptly. He was in an elevator that was going down. It was going down extremely fast, and Park Chung-Ho had been pinned to the roof.
"STOP!" He yelled.
He was picturing the scene, the elevator standing still, himself falling on the floor, and the calm and stillness around him. Suddenly, he hit the floor. Everything was as he imagined it, except that he had fallen on his shoulder, where Albormare had cut him. The pain he felt wasn't just from the fall. It was like the cut had been opened again, and with this pain, a feeling of the night he go this scar came back vividly.
"What is going on?" He asked. "I sense something bad coming at us. We need to flee immediately."
"We're not in trouble. It's just a nightmare. A regular one."
"Believe me, we're not safe here. I feel him coming for us."
"That's not possible. We're in a dream inside a domain. No one can enter a domain unless the dreamer lets them in."
The pressure Park Chung-Ho was very strong, and he knew what feelings it was remembering him.
"Why do I feel him then? Don't you feel this pressure? Don't you feel Albormare crushing your chest too?"
"That's what you feel? But how? I would sense him if he were there. Don't worry, I will wake us immediately."
Lee Hyun-Bo disappeared, leaving the young man alone, with this crushing feeling becoming stronger and stronger.
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Aislinn Nòttdottir was hidden and alone, trying to create the dream shape she was working on, when she felt the waves from her essence pulsing stronger. Park Chung-Ho was in the Dream Realm. She focussed herself on her essence for a bit. There was no nightmare near her; she was safe to do so. She felt a change in the pace of the wavering instantly. Something wasn't right. Something seemed like it was pulling her essence. How was this even possible? She closed her eyes and tried to sense the direction that was pulling. The center of the place, there was no mistake. She rushed there to see Albormare concentrated. What was he doing? How could he be interfering with her essence this far?
"Stop doing whatever you're doing. You could tear my essence down that way. I can feel it being torn. And if you were to destroy a single part of it, I wouldn't be able to leave this place at any time, and you wouldn't get your back door to the physical world. So stop it now."
"Shut up!" The nightmare said, waving his arm to her.
He hit her head with a strength she never felt before. She flew away and hit a rock, then she fell on the ground.
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The pressure got released for one second. It was like Park Chung-Ho was freed from a thousand years of chains, clearing his mind instantly. That allowed him to focus his attention again. This was the moment he felt it. In his chest, there was something far more painfull that anything he felt before. It wasn't coming from him, though; that was the only thing he was certain of.
He yelled her name.
"AISLINN!!!!"
He was on the bed he had lain on before going into this shared dream, sitting, breathing heavily but with difficulty.
Diane was there.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I... I don't know..." he panted. "I felt it in my heart... Her essence... It was in pain."
"Hyun-Bo, you said you tested him with a falling nightmare, right? How can he be in this state? He seems like he has been going through way more than just a stupid falling nightmare."
"I don't understand it either."
Park Chung-Ho was trying his best to catch his breath. He knew this nightmare was over; he was focusing his brain on calming his heartbeat and breath, but the thought of Aislinn being in pain was doing the exact opposite to his focus. He managed to overcome the heavy breathing eventually.
"I stopped the elevator fall. Then I hurt myself on my shoulder, and it seemed to wake the pain Albormare inflicted on me."
"Oh no... So that night, he marked you. The pain you felt there is a direct connection to him when you're in the dream realm. What happened after?" Diane asked.
"I felt a crushing on my chest, like something was pulling me, but I wasn't able to move out of this nightmare, probably because I was in a domain, right?" The two others nodded. "A bit after Mr. Lee came out of the dream realm, I felt the pressure suddenly release, and I instantly felt Aislinn's essence boiling in my chest. It was painful, but I knew it was she who was in pain and not me. I don't know if this makes sense to you."
They looked at each other.
"She must have distracted him. He eventually hurt her." Mr. Lee said.
"Mr. Lee, Mrs. Nottdottir. We need to speed up the pace of my lessons. I need to be able to travel there, too, and kick this nightmare's ass."
"You can't go back in this state..." Diane started.
"I'm more than ready. I just have to avoid hurting my shoulder anymore. That's not something impossible to do, especially in a dream. Mr. Lee, we're not gonna do this slowly."
There was fire in Park Chung-Ho's eyes when he spoke. There was determination, but a bit of anger too. He had felt more than he could accept. He took a pill on the desk and drank a glass of water with it, then he lay back on the bed.
"Let's get to it, shall we?"