Soral waited until the planning session was over, and headed back to his room. Before he made any rash decisions, he decided to contact Ruena first. He didn’t think he was very good at planning. It had been long, and any information had been vague. That was why Soral was considering getting the details from Oasis himself.

“What do you think?” he asked Ruena.

“That does seem to be a bit of a problem,” she agreed, “If you really want to help them take out Doc, then going to Oasis might be the best option.”

“Yeah. I’m still fairly certain I hate Doc more than Oasis,” Soral replied, “He sounds a lot like Gero, but instead of selling the people he catches, he uses them to test his experiments.”

“What kind of experiments?” Ruena asked.

“I don’t know,” Soral admitted, “Like I said, the information was limited. I feel like Oasis will know more.”

“I agree,” Ruena told him, “but be careful. I don’t trust a man who can tie the hands of my benefactor.”

“I know. I don’t trust him either, but I am doing everything I can to make use of him, just like you said. I’m learning a lot. I can make five different types of cupcakes, and I can dodge most attacks thrown at me head on.”

It wasn’t anything expert on either level, but Ruena had to agree that he was learning remarkably quickly. If he kept this up, he might surpass her in no time.

“Good for you. Finish things up nicely. I’ll be waiting for your victory.”

Bolstered by Ruena’s well wishes, Soral slowly turned the tooth in the other direction. The soft click sounded through the tension as he waited to see what would happen.

“Yes? What is it?” Oasis’s voice asked through the charm. He sounded busy, and Soral hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I want to know about Doc,” he said.

“Soral?” Oasis asked in surprise, “I hadn’t expected you to actually contact me.” There was a sound as he put away whatever he had been working on to give Soral his full attention. “By Doc, do you mean my enemy, Doctor Richardson Alcard?”

“Yeah. That guy.”

“I think it is best if we discuss him in person. Can you find the room we met in last time?”

“Sure, but why can’t you tell me through this?” Soral asked.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I suspect that the man has planted spies in my compound, and there are those with talents that can listen in on spells like these,” Oasis replied.

Spies. Wow. Soral had never even considered the idea of spies being involved. It seemed it really was correct to call their battles a war, despite how peaceful it seemed here.

“Okay, but couldn’t spies listen in there as well?” he asked.

“That is just our meeting place. I will take you somewhere else,” Oasis informed him, “One more thing. Don’t trust the active orange group. I know for certain there is at least one spy among them. Most likely more.”

Soral thought back to everyone he had seen there. Spies among them? It was both a cool and scary prospect. He wished there was some way to know. He might be able to make magic for that, but the method of knowing was the issue.

He set that thought aside to meet with Oasis. With all the talk of spies, he was more aware of all the eyes on him as he made his way to the meeting place. It didn’t help that Soral had just made himself famous the day before.

Normally, he would have soaked up the attention, but he didn’t want to give anything away to potential spies. With all his cautious movements and concern, he was likely being even more suspicious to any spy watching, but he couldn’t help it.

Oasis was already waiting for him in the room once he arrived. Without a word, he led Soral through a secret passageway to another meeting room. Soral watched as the passageway closed behind them, sealing them inside.

“What did you wish to know?” Oasis asked.

“I want to take him down, so anything that might be helpful for that. What to watch out for. Any potential weaknesses. That sort of thing.”

“I’m afraid any weaknesses I knew before are useless now,” Oasis replied, “I have recently learned that he made a contract with the nightmare realm. Something like, in exchange for causing nightmares he will be granted power.”

“What is the nightmare realm?” Soral asked.

“Have you ever had nightmares when you sleep at night?” Oasis asked, “Anything you see in those nightmares exists there. It is a place beyond reality that can only be reached in dreams. At least, normally.”

So Doc had found some way to bring what should never have been real into reality and made a deal with it.

“So if we deal with the nightmares he will go back to normal?” Soral guessed.

“I suppose so, but not even my master knows how to banish nightmares from reality,” Oasis told him, “It would help if we knew how they got here.”

Soral thought about the issue again, and an idea hit him. It would take care of two problems at once! He could sniff out spies and find out how the nightmares came to reality.

“I have an idea,” Soral told Oasis, “I won’t tell you anything about it, but if it works I can find out more.”

Oasis stepped aside and opened the exit. He could feel Soral’s talents rising towards his potential so he didn’t dare to stop him. After all, Soral might be the only being alive who could deal with this situation.

==========

Rosalie returned to her room, torn by guilt. How she wished she could join the others who had become free the night before once their collars were destroyed. Her enslavement was far more powerful than some metal choker.

“Have you done it?” a voice asked inside her head. It was an unpleasant voice, especially to her.

“I did. The boy who released the collars has now joined my team,” she answered faithfully.

She had to, or the king of the nightmare realm would drag her back into the eternal prison of dreams. Despite the guilt she felt, Rosalie could not give up living in reality again. She could not even remember who she had been, or why she had been collected as a nightmare.

“Good. Make sure to keep a close eye on that one. It would be wonderful if I could bring him to my side. If not, I would love the chance to try to create a collar he cannot break,” the voice continued. He seemed taken with delight at the challenge.

“He seems very interested in taking you down,” Rosalie informed him. She wanted to hear him deflate, even a little, but did not get the response she hoped for.

“Good. That means he will visit me soon. Make sure when the time comes he has an opportunity to meet me face to face,” he instructed, “And one more thing. I have a new misinformation for you to spread. Tell them that I have Oasis’s family and am holding them hostage.”

“Why would you want them to think that?” Rosalie asked.

“It will limit their actions,” the man replied, “But more than that, it will fill them with pity for that disgusting sand beast and maybe even help with my nightmare quota.”

The nightmare quota. Just hearing about it gave Rosalie chills. She desperately wished for some way she could remain in reality without playing a part in this plot of theirs.