"What is happening Lord Markus? "
Markus stood a few steps away from the convulsing Adele. He looked grim as he lifted his hand to conjure a light that tried to wrap around Adele, gently trying to wrestle him away from the influence of the Dream Realm, but just as his light touched the darkness it was devoured by the shadows like a pebble thrown into a ocean, there wasn't even shred of resistance.
Markus shook his head, and turned to face his fellow Night watchers.
"He is… gone. I think due to Dream Realm's such close proximity, it is trying to take over him. Though the will of the realm focused on him is miniscule but the little fingernail of the giant is still giant as compared to the tiny ants. Unless you can find anyone with enough will or power to resist even this miniscule influence of Dream Realm, it would be useless to try to save him.
If I have to guess, right now the whole Umbra is facing the same erosion by the dream realm in the same way as this young man. Infact, this kid is still fortunate to have not that deep imprint of Dream realm on him resulting in such miniscule will focusing on him.
From this imprint it is clear that the kid had visited Dream Realm no more than five times to Dream walk which is relatively fortunate but still unsaveable. But on the other hand, Umbra members…."
He shook his head in disappointment.
"Oh God, have mercy on your souls." A old man of Nightwatchers sighed and bowed his head to ask mercy for the tribulation that Umbra Collective was going through in front of their eyes while they stood there with their hands tied, unable to do anything.
"At least we are all right. Which means the whole city is not in any immediate danger, only Umbra is, who dabbles with such diabolical powers. Serves them right, playing with the powers beyond their understanding.
But Lord Markus, does Dream Realm… "
"Foolish!" Markus rebuked her harshly, making the woman who was about to ask him a question flinch slightly in fear. Markus realizing that he was unloading his frustration on these young watchers, sighed regretfully. Then answered in a relatively soft voice, as his eyes fluttered towards the Umbra.
"Heretical or not, they are still human like us. We have no right to judge them. Moreover, Dream Realm is not the entity we can understand with our breadth of mind. It is a sentient, single living being that is for sure but if it has consciousness like us humans do, that is not clear.
But whatever truth might be of its nature, one thing is clear. It is by no means benevolent or evil, at least according to human terms. Its actions can be broadly said as completely indifferent.
Therefore it is not sparing us or punishing Umbra for using its powers. According to my hypothesis, It is just instinctive reclaiming of its 'own' which is happening only because of the sudden closeness of the Dream Realm to the Earth, that has formed a connection between two."
"But didn't Umbra themselves do it? Why do they do it? Were they not aware of the…. "
Markus observed his team that was trying to understand the situation without any worry only because of a faint golden light barrier around them that was keeping pressure of the Dream Realm away from them. But the barrier was not all-encompassing. He could see it shrinking with speed visible to naked eyes, with the despair and fear in the air devouring it continuously.
"That is the real question. Knowing Umbra's people personally, I am of the opinion that they clearly knew the implication of doing so. But why do they have to do it? First closing their doors and going into self isolation, and now this. What is happening there exactly, we can only speculate.
But we don't have time. Listen Night watchers!
Leave here at once and reach the headquarters with haste. There under God's gaze you all surely will be protected from this evil influence. "
"Lord, what about you? "
Markus turned towards the shivering Adele, who was no longer convulsing violently as before. Clearly, he had been almost assimilated into the dream realm. His body now looked hideous with all veins and capillaries protruding on his skin had turned dark with black ink like blood running in them, giving him a contrasting yet frightening look.
But despite his body taken over, Adele's shivering soul was still resisting, however useless it might be…seeing this Markus resolved himself, reminding himself of his oath he had taken when he had first stepped into this path of no return. Since then his faith had only wavered once long ago in his life, but now it was completely unshakable.
"I will stay here and see his transformation to the end. The Dream realm can't stay as it is, indefinitely. See the hole in the sky, it had already begun to push back the Dream Realm. Clearly in a few minutes, everything will return to normal. But…"
Listening to his observation, everyone in the group looked up and surely they could spot the edges of the darkness that seemed to be unending before, now beginning to appear on the horizon. The Earth was recovering, its stabilized physical laws were pushing the leaking Dream Realm back to its dimension. It appeared slow but in reality the mending of the gap in the sky was becoming faster and faster with each second.
"But…. "Markus continued, "Would those who were corrupted by the Dream realm go back with the Dream realm to its dimension or..?
I must personally stay here to see it with my own eyes, if in any case they remain here as per my Nightwatcher duty that is to protect humanity, I will not hesitate to kill him at once.
You guys also remember. When the mending in the sky is complete. Without any delay, reach the Umbra Collective headquarters and deal with the situation. Even in the worst case situation, we can't let these Weave…now monsters move freely.
Now go and rest while remaining on your toes, because Nightwatchers, our real battle will begin as soon as this disaster ends."
With swoosh, Night watchers retreated at once leaving Markus alone with the now barely conscious Adele floating in the cloud of black smoke like darkness alongside him. He bowed his head to salute the spirit of the young man who even after facing such a monstrous entity was still struggling, instead of giving up instantly.
"I apologize but it is for the sake of Humanity. Please understand. "
Markus then slowly straightened and became ready to act at any moment's notice. But while he was waiting for an entirely different creature to wake up in Adele's body that belonged more to Dream Realm than Earth, a sudden unexpected change caught him off guard.
It happened after almost all of Adele's soul had been corrupted. The shadows of Dream realm molded through this metaphysical part of his body, taking over everything where it passed when at last, it finally reached the center of his soul. It was the last part it had to conquer to complete the transformation.
When the darkness reached the deepest part of Adele's soul, for the first time it encountered real resistance. This unexpected resistance began with a small glow in the center of his soul, akin to dying embers left behind by the fire that had died out quite a long time ago. But with the arrival of darkness, these embers began to stoke quickly, such that these dying embers began to stir.
First, it was the glow inside his soul that brightened which profusely tried to stop the darkness trying to pervade over it, but like every resistance before, it was silently devoured by the overcoming darkness without any problem.
But this unsuccessful attempt seemed to incite the anger of the embers which quickly began to burn brighter and brighter until…finally with an abrupt cackle crimson flames broke out from them and soon blazed into all encompassing flames that begun to push back against the darkness, and for the first time the steamrolling darkness was stopped still in its tracks.
Markus, who was observing Adele with a deep concentration, was first to notice this resistance as he saw something begin to glow inside the blanket of dark cloud of ink. He was surprised by sudden change of situation, and before he could react, a sudden outburst exploded that enveloped the whole inky cloud into a crimson blaze that appeared to have appeared from thin air.
Markus reacted instantly, as he raised his hands and began to collect white light to interfere with this weird situation when he noticed that these crimson flames, that were burning up to ten feet in the air, were actually originating from inside the body of Adele, who lay harmlessly inside it. The flames burned with such a bright crimson tinge that it made Markus's eyes sting in pain and slight fear.
Markus inadvertently thought, 'Oh My God, what are these flames?'
The crimson flames pushed back the darkness, in an attempt to wretch Adele's soul back from the control of the shadows which to the immense shock of Markus, actually succeeded though it only continued for a few seconds until the darkness began to condense together to defend back and brought the situation to delicate standstill.
Now crimson flames and darkness stood locked in stalemate as flames pushed back the darkness, while shadowy darkness tried to make its way in. Both of them were now in stalemate, as one was limited by the presence of the last of the remaining ember that were already dying while the other was just instinctively attacking with only a hint of miniscule will of Dream Realm behind it. Therefore, resulting in this absurd situation here.
Markus stood there dumbfounded as he could not understand the sudden change in situation,
"What is this crimson flame? Where did it come from? Did it represent good or it is another power trying to meddle in the affair… "
Markus stood there silently hesitating to make a decision, although earlier his strength was inconsequential but now when both powers were at an odd stalemate he wasn't sure if his power could permanently scale the tips on one side with his intervention.
"Stop… UgUgh.. Standing there… like a mute. And lend a hand to.. Ahh.. the…. crimson flames... idiot."
A croaning voice that was laced with a distinctive hint of out of breath old individual, sounded in Markus's ears making him turn around. His eyebrows shot up in shock upon recognizing the old woman that appeared out of thin air behind him.
An old lady, hardly five feet tall, stood there while panting hard. Wrinkles folding over her old face which along with her head full of white hair and slightly crooked posture gave an approximation of her advanced age. But brightness in her murky eyes, still rivaled that of youth of today.
She raised her hand, and a thin crooked walking stick appeared in her hand with which she stabilized herself up using it as an crutch while grumbling under her breath,
"Teleportation at my age! Curse you Mercy! Curse you shadows!
Because of how strong space was frozen by the will, my old bones had no choice but to wait for its hold to release a little, to use Teleportation and now all of my body is shaking in pain."
She then turned to the still frozen Markus, who had now a frown etched on his forehead alongside the initial shock.
"Old crone, you…? "
She lifted her stick and slammed it on the head of Markus, who returned back to his indifferent face while he avoided her stick cleanly. She wasn't angry but appeared to be raging as she pointed to the Adele,
"Why are you still standing? Act now, push back these bloody shadows, and save the kid. Can't you see that flames are about to die, those embers are already being overdrafted out of flames in the past few days."