Eliza was nervous, but she decided to trust that Alrik would be protected in the dream realm. They ate together, and discussed their day, and then they gathered in one of the living rooms, all seated on the ground with pillows surrounding them. Alrik was seated at the center and he told them to get comfortable, so they lay down, but held hands, or were touching in some way. Gaya and Bruno decided not to join in, firstly because they already knew what Alrik wanted to show the others, but also because they didn't feel comfortable letting all of them be incapacitated at the same time. Even if there would be no threat, they decided it was better that at least the two of them were awake, just in case.

"Okay, just relax. I know some of you may be nervous because we've never done this before…"

"More like because we never knew this was possible in the first place, but I get your point. But falling asleep like this might be a bit of a problem for me. First, it's still too early in the day, even if it's almost dark outside. Everyone knows I don't usually sleep till the wee hours of the morning. Plus, it's like when you're being told to do something, even if you wanted to do it before, you start feeling hesitant to do it." Kellan said and Alrik chuckled.

"Don't worry. All you need to do is relax. Zee says I can lull you to sleep with my energy. By the way, Kellan, what secret do you want to hide so well that you're making unknowingly making excuses and trying to find a way to get out of this? I trust you, but I have to say, I'm a little curious. Also, you don't have to force yourself to do this if you really don't want to. This isn't a prison." Alrik said with an arched brow and Kellan's face flushed before he replied.

"We may be family, but everyone is entitled to some form of privacy, right? I do hope I won't become a suspect just because of that."

"Don't worry. You wouldn't be here if I didn't trust you with my life. But like I said, I'm curious."

Kellan made the mistake of glancing towards the door. Even though he immediately looked away, Alrik noticed it. And probably one or two of the others noticed it as well. Alrik decided not to bring up the topic again, but now that the suspicion had been put into his mind, he decided he would investigate later. He had an idea of the big secret that Kellan was trying so hard to keep to himself.

"Okay everyone, lean back, and relax."

Alrik closed his eyes, and began his breathing in seven counts. He stayed that way for a few minutes till he slipped into a meditative state. Sleeping was one way for Alrik to naturally slip into the world of dreams, but meditation was a second way.

"Concentrate on their essence.Get a piece of it. We'll use it as a beacon of sorts to find them in the dream realm." Zee instructed, and he reached out with his energy to each of them.

He was careful to keep it close so he wouldn't accidentally include Bruno, Gaya or any of the staff members just going about their day.

It just required more concentration, and energy. He could feel his stored Mana depleting rapidly, but he didn't let it derail his focus. Ten minutes later, he felt that floating sensation that came with being in a realm that had no fixed form or shape.

"I'm here, Zee."

"So am I. First, refill your Mana. You've been drained."

Alrik took a deep breath even though breathing wasn't required here. Force of habit. Refilling his energy was easier now after doing it the first time.

"I'm ready."

"Remember what I told you the first time? Dreams can take any form or shape. Your will, and the energy you wield is a tool you can use to give it the desired shape. Like before, the dream realm itself is a castle, with different rooms. We don't have the time to search through all nearby rooms to find the exact ones you need, especially since I'm sure not all of them have fallen asleep. Their essence, you have a piece of each of them. It's like their signature, or should I say it's like checking into a hotel room with your key so only you have access to it. You have their keys, but you're not visiting them individually. Make a room, let's call it a lounge and invite them all in. Using human terms to explain makes it easier for you to visualise it. But you can make it anything you want."

Focusing on each piece of their essence separately, but also having to consider them as a group was the most challenging part of it for Alrik. He would get a hold of two, then three, then lose the connection to them all and have to start all over.

He decided to try something different. Instead of imagining a lounge with invites to them all, he used a memory. He imagined it like a meeting, one they would normally all be present for. But this time, Gaya was on a different assignment with Bruno assisting her, so they were both absent. And Eliza came in to check on them with coffee for everyone, and ask if they needed anything more. With this in mind, he could easily grab on to their essence, and bring them all together. He didn't even need Zee to inform him when it worked. He could feel it. It was like he was in their minds and they were in his at the same time.

"Whoa. Weird. I know this is a dream, but it feels so real. I don't even know when I fell asleep." Kellan said as he stood, and walked around.

"It looks just like one of the conference rooms in the office." Ansa said and sighed.

"I feel that. Not gonna lie, I'm a bit disappointed. I expected to be pulled into some kind of fairytale land first, before we start addressing the real reason we're here." Ren responded.

"Why do I have coffee? Am I the delivery person here?" Eliza asked as she dropped the 6 pack of coffee on the table.

Alrik chuckled. This might look easy, but it's not, trust me. I had to use something familiar to me to summon you all here. I can change it all now that I succeeded though. In the next second, they were all dressed like they were in an old fairytale movie, wearing armour and chainmail, with swords attached to their hips. Meanwhile, Eliza was wearing a puffy ball gown, with a tiara. The room changed to a castle, and when Ren looked out the window, he saw that they were in a high tower.

"Your knights are at your service, Lady Crest. Would you like a dragon for us to slay?" Alrik said and bowed.

They all began to laugh, and Eliza spun around, making the fabric of the gown swirl. "Okay, this is ridiculous. I prefer the first version."

Then it went back to being a conference room, though the coffee was gone now. They couldn't really eat or drink anything here anyway since it wasn't real.

"Back to business. Brace yourselves." The meeting room table changed to that of the new base where Alrik, Gaya and Bruno had been with Ally and Jonah. Alrik didn't project the others he had been with, just the table, and the laptop they had all been watching the video from. He made the video play, but willed it to display on the wall like a projector so they could all see it clearly.

By the time the videos ended, they were all experiencing various levels of shock, disgust, and anger. Only Eliza had tears in her eyes, but they could all relate to the emotion, even if it wasn't shown outwardly.

"How could they do all of this? And still continue despite the countless lives sacrificed?"

"We'll talk about it when we're out of here."

Alrik released their essence, and left the dream realm. As he opened his eyes, he looked around to see they were all still lying down, asleep. He frowned. They should have all woken up just as he did. Did something go wrong?

As he asked himself that, he began to panic. What if he had trapped them in the dream realm? Or somehow affected their minds in a bad way? Nothing had seemed wrong, but this was his first time trying something of this scale.

"Zee, something is wrong."

But there was no response from Zee. Another indication that something was wrong.

He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, so he could slip back into the dream realm, but his worry was messing with his focus. What if they never woke up?

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