Adele didn't remember when he walked out to University stands where his bicycle was parked. His mind was still reeling in the shock of information revealed by the Professor. Infact, he was still thinking it as some kind of elaborate hoax, but gravity shown by Professor was preventing him from running back to his Uncle's flat straight.
Last words shared between Professor and him once again floated in his mind,
'Listen Kid, I know you are doubting the situation but it is the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying to you, I also don't know who your Second Uncle is if I am trying to steer you back to some dangerous location.
I am honestly surprised. I thought you would be aware of the dangerous world we live in and prepare for such incidents. But you are so distraught that you are now holding my collar in disbelief. Adele, I am not your enemy, I am just a messenger. Keep your hands in check before I do something with them…'
Adele slowly settled on the concrete floor, as he thought back to the accident that happened last night. Clearly it was related to that… But 'infected' what does Aunt mean by it? Infected?
'.. And second uncle? I am sure she is talking about Uncle Max but. What is happening? '
After a few minutes of silent introspection, Adele suddenly stood up with a jump. He rubbed his hands on his tense forehead as he tried to calm himself down. His brain was in so much confusion and anxiety that he nearly debated upon banging his head on a nearby metal pole to control his quickly overspilling thoughts.
"OK, relax! just as uncle taught him. Deep breath. Deep breath. Calm your emotions, control them, don't let them out of your mask."
Though theory was right, Adele still struggled with following his technique to success. But still it was better than anything, as he was able to distract himself from thinking any longer about the bizarre message received.
"OK. I don't need to think much. I should first find Uncle Max. He will surely explain everything to me. Aunt also said to seek shelter with him for the next few days. "
Adele unlocked his cycle with a blur in his mind, which he caused deliberately by refusing anything to think about. He found himself moving robotically as he began to cycle towards the road. In a few seconds he hit the bike lane and was gone from the university.
Few minutes after he left, three people hurried to the bicycle stand. They appeared like a moving blurry film but soon stopped in the shade of the bicycle stand. Cray panted slightly, as he looked up to the blazing sun, and then back to his thralls who were converted servants raised by his family for him. He pointed to the bicycles and asked with a slight annoyance in voice,
"Did he already leave?"
Thralls, humans that were bitten by Vampires but not permitted to convert fully to the Vampires. They transform into mutated humans with extreme thirst for the blood of their Master which comes with an intense level of obedience. These qualities play them as perfect slaves of said Vampire. They are usually raised by Vampires as their puppets to do menial tasks, especially in the sunlight.
Thralls, 'White' and 'Gold' searched for a few seconds and then proceeded to cut their hands to drop blood on the floor which instantly evaporated upon making contact with the heated concrete floor. Their eyes turned red for a few seconds, as their faces paled a little but soon they got information they were looking for.
"Master Kaiser, he is already gone. Maybe by three minutes, we missed him by three minutes. "
Kaiser Romanov, a vampire baron, pursued his thin red lips as he didn't say anything but soon turned blur to vanish from the location. Thralls, Gold and white glanced at each other in dismay of failure but soon vanished too following behind their master. They were not privy to their Masters intentions for seeking that feeble human with scent of shadows on him.
It wasn't like that kid could be of any interest to their Young Master but who knows...as they had to just follow instructions of their master no matter what.
On the other hand, Adele was enroute to his uncle's home that was fortunately nearby relative to his own house. He was cycling silently, moving on instinct when suddenly something caught his eye as he hurriedly pressed brakes and in process skidding his bicycle to the stop.
Several angry horns sounded, as he suddenly crashed out of the bike lane nearly causing a chain of accidents on the road. But Adele was least paying attention to them as he dragged his cycle in hurry and left it on the walkway, as he rushed to an alleyway where something had just caught his eye.
As he jogged to the alleyway, an anxious expression floated on his face like he was having trouble believing upon seeing something so openly here. Just as he was a few steps in the alleyway, he raised his hand and touched the invisible air which soon set a frown on his face.
"Shadow Weaving ? Someone was using the powers of Shadow Weavers so openly here. And it is so thick…Like..Like..something entered into the dream realm from here not by opening the door to the realm but instead clawing his way in."
He wasn't that expert in Shadow weaving but raised by his uncle he was quite well versed in the theory part, especially related to Dream Walking which he was practicing with his uncle just recently. There are quite a number of rules one has to mind while Dream walking, especially for the beginners but as one attains mastery over Shadows, he can slowly bend even these rules to his whims. But this level of mastery was very rare, only the top of their class at Umbra Could achieve something like that.
Remembering his uncles words,
"To enter the Dream realm from our world is always a three step process with the underlying same principle of using the least amount of effort or energy.
The first - expenditure of will and human body effort, second - accurately tracking the coordinates of the Dream realm, and third - most important overcoming the law of our reality to enter into the Dream realm while bringing along our physical body.
Any step can't be missed, and when experienced… one can do all three within seconds. While learning Dream walking, we must first require the location where the energy of opening the gateway to the realm is lowest. Such a place is usually near sentient beings when they are asleep, as their dreams pave the way to dream realm closer.
Therefore, to practice Dream walking the location chosen is always some quiet suburbs at midnight where most people are fast asleep, deep in their dreams. Therefore, the dream realm is quite closer to our reality with their dreams providing connection to it. Thus, making energy expenditure the lowest.
That is why night is the optimal time for Dream walking. In the day, energy expenditure would be enormous but still not impossible for top Shadow Weavers. Second - coordinates are also important as someone sleeping nearby helps in accurate yet weak connection therefore as many sleeping people you can find are preferred.
But usually to have the option of Dream Walking in an emergency, one should also strengthen his personal connection to the realm. The stronger your traces in the dream realm, the stronger your personal connection will be to the dream realm. And these traces can only be collected by experience, that is repeated Dream Walking. Thus, after sufficient experience one can locate coordinates of Dream Realm by following his connection to the Dream Realm.
Third is to overcome laws of our own reality. It is not easy to overwrite the laws while moving from one realm to another, especially when you are doing it with your physical body, a very heavy baggage that adds enormous resistance for smooth realm transfer. Therefore when opening a portal one takes leverage from the dreams of sleeping people to overcome laws by the collective might of subconscious minds of many humans. Which is actually a pretty daunting task to do if you are alone, with no help from anyone."
Remembering these rules, made Adele think about his uncle again, but he pressed down his bubbling emotions with effort and focused on the traces of shadow weaving left in the air. It was so thick that he was able to spot these signs from the road while not exactly paying attention to his surroundings which means,
"One who has clawed his way into the dream realm from here is a top class Shadow weaver, so much so that he single handedly used his power to open…No, tear his way into the dream realm that too right in the middle of day. He has no need to follow all three rules of the Dream walking, as he practically forced his way into the realm by himself."
Suddenly, Adele raised his head as he smelled the smoke in the air. He just had to turn his head when he saw a plume of smoke rising into the air some distance away. Nearby people were already beginning to create ruckus with words like 'Fire', 'Extinguisher', 'Fire Brigade is on the way'...floated in his ears.
Apparently, A house had burst into flames almost without any warning in the nearby block. Fire had caught on so quickly that nobody was able to spot any warning signs and now efforts were being done to contain the fire as people were waiting for the fire brigade to arrive. All these discussions also fell into Adele's ears but he was mostly deaf to all these words right now as he stood there in shock, like someone had wrestled away soul from his body.
'It's… " he was not able to finish his own thoughts as he broke into a sprint towards the direction of smoke. He ran as fast as his legs could support him, so much so that he didn't even manage to halt himself in time as the crowd surrounding the burning house caught him to prevent him from falling down.
But he immediately wrung himself away from their hands, as he looked at the house burning in the plumes of Fire in front of him. At this moment he felt like heaven itself has came crashing down on him,
"It is Uncle Max's house."