"Where do we even start? The date of the last video is almost two months ago. What if they've already gotten their hands on his family? Or maybe they've been bribed to remain quiet if they even found anything? There's a reason that all of this has been happening and there hasn't been even one report." Bruno said.

"I'm sure the families have been using their lackeys to make sure that even if things like these were reported, they were immediately covered up. We have a name for the doctor. Ally, is that enough?" Alrik asked.

"Let's hope it is. It all depends on how deep the cover up is. If they erased his identity completely from the citizen database, it would make it much more difficult. But with his name and profession, and his wife and daughter's names, if he was mentioned at all, I'll try my best to find them through his identity." Ally replied.

"From now on, all overtime work concerning this will receive double pay. I have a feeling we'll need you both on standby more often than not. We'll retain this place as a temporary base. I'm still not fully convinced that the disc is a hundred percent safe. Better to still keep it away from our network to avoid any invasion." Alrik said, and Jonah smiled.

They would both work regardless of the pay increase because they were loyal to the team, but the bonus was still much appreciated. They were already being paid handsomely for their work. Alrik was always a generous boss, even during his absence, Gaya upheld his work ethic of taking care of his employees.

"When we both have something substantial, we'll contact you. Should we bring Graham into the loop now? It would look strange if we kept him out since he's the team leader. And he has contacts within the registry office, so he can help us with file access we may not be able to access remotely." Ally said, and Alrik nodded before speaking.

"Gaya, update him, and Riley as well. No need prolonging it. They can both get to this location and watch the same videos we just did. Then Riley should start laying the groundwork for Valderran centered research. We need to find out the answer to the doctor's question about Valderran descendant families. Some of them may have already been corrupted, but if even one of them was still knowledgeable and willing to join the fight, we'll need to confirm, and then find a safe way to establish contact. The council definitely wouldn't take it kindly if they ever found out we were reaching out to Valderrans, partly because of the feud, and also because of the possibility of an alliance against the ones connected to Jaeryn."

s

"Also, I remember saying I'll send a copy of the files to your home computer, but it's not advisable since we're trying to be cautious. Copies could also have spyware, or a virus attached. I have a way though, and I'll need to scrub every inch of the metadata to make sure it's clean, it will just take a little while longer before I can send anything."

"Do it."

Alrik left with Gaya and Bruno after that.

"How do we update the others at home if we can't make copies for them to watch and see for themselves? This doesn't seem like something we wait to inform them when Ally's done cleaning the files before sending them across. And if we all start heading to the new base, even in groups, it might draw too much attention to the place." Bruno said.

"I might have a solution that could work, but it would require a lot of mana from you. Luckily, we'll be doing this in the dream realm, so you can recharge as well. It will give you a chance to also start skill development. With all this craziness, we've been neglecting your training and that needs to be rectified."

"What do you propose?" He asked Zee.

"A shared dream where you can project your thoughts to them. Show them what you saw with your own eyes. It might not be a hundred percent effective, but they'll get the gist at least since you'd prefer giving them a visual update."

"That would be so weird for them, but a challenge for me."

"Zee just gave me a solution." Alrik said with a grin and Bruno's brow arched.

"Do I want to know?"

"I'll tell you all when we're home. Though you and Gaya are exempt, but if you'd like to share the experience, do join in." Alrik chuckled.

When they got home, they were bombarded with questions by the others wanting to know how the meeting went. Alrik had just sent a group text when they left the hub to let them know the meeting was done and he'd be home soon to explain. Then a second text to let them know he was making a detour with Gaya and Bruno first. Even with that proof of life, the rest at home were still anxious while waiting, especially since Alrik texted, not a call where they could hear his voice. WHo knew what tricks the Council could pull off to fool them. But they had collectively decided to only panic if Alrik didn't return till it got dark. It was still early evening so it wasn't dark yet.

"Next time, call. No texting." Eliza scolded him as she jumped into his arms.

He chuckled, but he held her close. "I'm fine physically. I might be mentally scarred forever though with what we saw."

The others were alert immediately. "Were you threatened? Do we need to prepare for an attack?" Ren asked, and Alrik shook his head.

"Nothing that drastic yet, or I at least hope so. But who knows, with the horrors we saw, a surprise attack is low on the list of evil. But you all have a choice to make. Should we give you a quick debrief, or would you like to see for yourselves?" Alrik asked.

"By the look on your face, I don't think you mean you want to show us through normal means." Mira said with a frown.

"Nope. I got slipped a disc while we were in the Hub, and in it were videos from a doctor within the hub containing a lot of information, mostly on the missing history I needed to know. We had to use a separate base to prevent a hack, or spyware being leaked into our network, and until Ally scrubs every inch of it clean, we can't make copies to be sent to any of our devices. Going there physically might also attract attention, so Zee came up with a solution, A shared dream. Basically, I'll project the last few hours into your minds in dreams so you can all see what we saw. Either that or we just summarise it all here and now."

There was silence for several seconds and Alrik could see that most of them were curious to try the shared dream. Only three looked skeptical, Eliza, Ansa, and Kellan.

"Will it hurt?" Ansa asked.

"Zee, will it hurt any of them when I basically invade their dreams?"

"It shouldn't. I'll guide you properly, and we'll avoid causing any major discomfort, But it will feel like you're reaching your hands into their heads, so the sensation might weird them out. That's all."

"Zee says it wouldn't hurt. It would just be really invasive." He said and Ansa nodded.

"How invasive exactly? Are you going to have access to our minds completely? Or just that aspect of the dream. There are some things I would like to keep to myself, and I wouldn't appreciate you roaming around there."

"Tell him that we haven't gotten to the mind reading aspect of your abilities yet. Dream walking is just that, moving in dreams. Only what the person projects into their dreams can be accessed, and what you project into their dreams. Nothing more, nothing less. Though with more practice, you might be able to access past and possibly future dreams, but for now, those are out of your reach." Zee said.

"Zee says I won't have access to other parts of your mind. Just your dream. And it won't be you dreaming, it will be me giving you a dream." Alrik responded, and Kellan nodded.

"Me, I'm just worried about you. Won't it drain you to use this ability on so many of us at once?" Eliza asked, and he smiled.

"It will be draining. But I won't really feel it because I'll be in the dream realm, and I can recharge my Mana there. Like a phone being charged while being used."

"Not really a proper analogy, but I understand. So how do we do this? Do we all need to be asleep first?" She asked, and Alrik realised he never thought of that.

"First, let everyone have dinner and be comfortable. In order for this to be more effective since you're still learning, they all need to be close together, and have body contact, just holding hands will do. We'll go from there."

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