Nearly an hour later after Sarra had awoken in this unfamiliar place, Two young women saw the old lady ushering them into the place next to the living room, where they saw a young man sleeping quietly on the bed. He appeared to be in a very deep sleep with his features unnaturally pale like he was afflicted with some sort of chronic sickness, but despite that there was distinct heat radiating from his body.
"Is he… "
Sarra opened her mouth to say something but interrupting her, Old Maya stretched her hand to grab the chair on which she perched on quickly. She sighed in minor relief, preventing herself from the unnecessary strain of standing for a long time. Only after getting comfortable did she address Sarra and seriously introduced the young man on the bed,
"Sarra, meet the last living Shadow Weaver remaining on the earth after that incident. He is my nephew and is currently teetering on the edge of life and death. And to save him, I have invited both of you here. And alas…no, it doesn't matter."
Sarra quickly joined dots while she observed the young man. He didn't look anything special but being one of the last living Shadow weavers honestly gave him a great introduction bonus.
Although honestly she was adequately shocked to find that one of the Shadow weavers managed to survive from that incident. But even if he had, from his current appearance it was apparent that he wasn't that successful in it.
'So he is her nephew. She wants to save him but…wait a minute... '
"Did he fall into a coma like this at night during the incident? I mean, what I want to ask is… "
"Yes." For the first time since the conversation started between Sarra and Maya, Envy opened her mouth. Sarra glanced at her as she suddenly felt that the situation was changing for worse far more quickly, far more abruptly as a anticipation of dread settled into her heart. If what she was thinking is right then…
Envy likely anticipating her thoughts, finally turned around to look directly at her face which was rapidly losing color,
"Yes, Our mission is exactly to go where you are just guessing right now. That's why I said it is dangerously fatal. Prepare yourself mentally as quickly as you can."
Old Witch shook her head in dismay, as she lightly glared at the Envy who had laid out things so bare. She was about to tell everything to the girl by herself, but such a direct shot could very well….
"Y-you mean the Dream Realm?"
There was a flicker of surprise on the face of the Maya as she looked towards the Sarra, who despite being shocked out of her wits, calmly or at least pretended to calmly stutter out her words at the sudden revelation. From the first moment since Maya had laid eyes on Sarra it was probably the very first time she was genuinely surprised by her. Sarra was taking it quite well, unexpected by her. Because Maya had expected her to at least start crying just after hearing the name if not fainting down in fear.
"Oh, I know it's surprising, dear. Let me first be clear, I know what kind of dangerous mission I am sending both of you into but it is not that bad. Let me explain from the start."
She then sighed deeply and finally decided to come clean as now there was no need to go in circles, courtesy of Envy's direct approach,
"Sigh, Envy is right. He is Adele, youngest prospective member of the now-gone Umbra Collective. On the night of skyfall, I went to him to protect him. But as old and experienced I may be, I am not ashamed to admit that I proved to be as helpless as a newborn in front of the gigantic will of Dream Realm who wanted to take back everything that belonged to it.
But by stroke of ugh…some luck and unexpected help, I along with the lord from Night watchers was able to protect his soul and body from being taken over and barely protect his life. Though we won, it proved to be a bitter victory as soon we realized that the young Shadow weaver had fallen into a coma irrevocably. His psyche(consciousness) touched by the will of Dream Realm had been wrestled away by it though his soul and body remains here. He is now in a vegetative state, with each passing second making his condition deteriorating fast."
Sarra, who was blankly hearing the words of the old witch, felt it hard to follow her words. Due to her still continuing shock that Dream Realm was the subject of their mission, she was having a hard time not letting everything go blank in her ears. But soon her head began to grow more dazed by each passing second as she found Maya's words becoming distorted more and more by each passing second.
'What? What is she talking about? They…tried to wrestle against Dream Realm's will? And they won?
What? It is almost the same as listening that they challenged a God into fist fight and won. How could any of this be possible?'
Maya paused here patiently waiting for Sarra to absorb the situation, as she looked shocked by the premise of what she had just told her just as anyone sane would be. It was only Envy, who was an odd one as she had remained entirely impassive when she had told her all of this a few days before.
And honestly Maya could understand Sarra's sense of bewilderment as though however vague her words may be, in short she was telling him that she had just managed to resist the giganteum Dream Realm all by herself. Therefore only after finding out that Sarra had somewhat managed to come out of shock a little to focus again, she continued.
"Adele's consciousness is long claimed by the dream realm and is likely trapped there. Thus leaving his body and soul here in the slow dying state, and him in the lap of unending sleep. Thus, I would like both of you girls to enter the Dream Realm and rescue my Nephew's consciousness."
Sarra, who had already guessed the gist of it, still felt her mind going blank at the casual mention of the entering into the Dream realm by the Maya, the place that was only famous because of being the exclusive sanctuary of Dream Walkers(i.e.shadow weavers). If her earlier explanation sounded almost unbelievable, this sounded outright fatal to her as it concerned her directly. It was like she was saying that breaking into Dream realm is just another mundane task, not a mission that is almost a headfirst suicide.
Sarra found herself speechless by the end, as she had no words to say to this outlandish scenario presented in front of her. She just bit her lips and waited for the Old woman to continue hoping to find anything to which she could latch on. Maya too understanding the situation tried to explain her circumstances clearly,
"I have my hands tied, too. His body is a little special and if not for the ticking clock, I would have given you a little more time. In fact, by last night, I was in mind to have a three person team but now we have to do with just you two.
The third one I wanted to fetch, has his circumstances changed drastically suddenly last night. Now it has become a lot more troubling to get him here, therefore I have to abandon this idea unexpectedly.
But you don't have to fear, I am not sending both of you to your certain deaths. Envy is expert in such missions and can be relied on. And on the other hand, Sarra, I have chosen you solely because of our compatibility. I will be guiding you personally at every step, ensuring your survival to the best of my abilities."
Sarra took a silent breath as she tried to make words exit out of her mouth,
"But aunt can't you… like go by yourself. You are so powerful. I mean according to the texts… "
Aunt Maya smiled kindly, she wasn't offended by her question. She in fact was delighted that she was asking her to explain things further which means she wasn't that averse to the idea,
"Dear, I am not staying back because I am scared of Dream Realm. Though I admit just like you I am afraid of fighting with it, but I am not that scared to not even dare to enter such a marvelous dimension on my own.
But the thing is, if I were to take a single step in the realm, the whole realm would buzz away with alarm upto their heavens, which will prompt various native entities, some who are even older than time coming out of their crevices to resist me. My appearance even in secret would mean war, an invasion - thus evoking a great resistance from the residents there.
Therefore, I can not hope to save the young boy while simultaneously fighting such heavy weights who would be bent to make me leave at any cost. It's the rule of the powerful, which we have to abide when we surpass some limitations of powers."
At this point Sarra remained quiet, and unexpectedly it was Envy who raised a question even surprising Sarra a little as she thought that she was long roped into this and knew matters from inside out.
"Can we… She say no to this mission?"
As soon as she put this question forward, smiling Maya had no change in expression but there was something… something deep in her murky eyes that changed. She slightly raised her old head and glanced at the stringent Envy and politely answered,
"Does she or…Do both of you even dare to say it?"
Sarra shivered almost invisibly as once again the passage and grave warning of her coven sounded in her mind. It was also the moment she recalled the words the old woman had said before, which she had forgotten to pay attention to till now. Maya had said that she had studied some time with her coven, but despite that there was no mention of her in the coven or by teachers and leaders… why?
"I would not act as a hypocrite but will make it clear right here, from the very beginning." Old Maya, finding that both girls were looking a little confused, decided to make the boundary clear so that they can get an idea of what was expected of them and what she does not want to see at any cost.
"Adele is my nephew and to cure him I would like to enlist help from both of you. For you, I won't mince my words but will lay out the bare reality in front of you.
In this mission, you two will be at the front lines with my constant support. But like I said I would be honest, all risks would be borne by you two alone, that is 'death' would be the most likely outcome for you if anything goes wrong, and to cure my nephew I am willing to take this risk of sacrificing you both."
There was pin drop silence in the room, save for the weak breathing sounds of the sleeping boy. After some second, Maya sighed loudly breaking this tense silence as she looked at the sleeping boy likely with some unseen emotions swirling in her eyes as she reiterated,
"Envy, I rescued you from the Hell-Hounds. You would have been on the way to hell by now if I hadn't interfered midway… with force. For your survival I made an enemy with the force known as indestructible hellhounds, You have no option to refuse.
Sarra, you might be a junior sister of the same coven but you were very well dead by the ritual you have trapped yourself into. Not even your leader would have been able to do anything but watch you being eaten alive by the demons because of your own foolish mistake. If I wasn't there, you would not be here with a new arm and plenty of 'invaluable life-death experience'. You and your coven owe me for that if I put things in a polite way, and your leader is aware of this arrangement.
Girls, you are unaware thus let me introduce myself once again. I am Maya, an old witch, infamous throughout the earth and three dimensions. I try to be kind and gentle but this does not mean I would refrain from achieving my objectives. Therefore, I won't be pretending to paint you a facade that there is any option to back away. Both of you WILL enter Dream Realm to rescue the boy, no matter your choice. There is no point of your consent other than keeping things amiable between us."
Envy was first to bow lightly as she accepted the task without a frown on her face. It was Sarra who felt she had fallen head first into the pot of fire, with no way out. She could see certain death in her immediate future but alas there was nothing she could do to change it. Though Maya appeared to be kind, and again and again repeating that she was just like her junior sister, the only truth was that Sarra was just an ant, on the mercy of her casual whims. A feeble recipient of both her kindness and cruelty, all the same.
As for any wild hopes of escape, Sarra had no such false expectations. She was at least well clear in this matter, that even if her whole coven storms this place this old witch only has to strain herself a little to wipe out the whole sisterhood in a few minutes. That warning message of coven meant something after all.
Slowly coming to terms with her own grim immediate future, Sarra too bowed her head before the old woman whose kind smile now only seemed to invoke feelings of slight hatred in her heart, despite knowing that she had saved her life and it was the principle of this world to be expected to pay back. And it was not like she was being sent without her help but….
"OK, let me lay out some points of the mission…. "