DREAM DIVERS

"You and I are going to have a great time."

He dropped the needle he had been holding since the beginning. Henry knelt down to get the needle.

"Very intriguing. As a result, this relic assists you in harnessing the power of the moon. I must say, this is a very useful relic. Imagine if this had been used by a true werewolf; their power would have easily doubled." Henry circled the needle, checking it from every angle.

"How do you intend to use it?" It cannot just be like holding it, can it? Because you still have that aura about you. The radiance of a purebred. Were you kicked out because you were not blessed by the moon? That is why I despise people like you.''

Henry turned and walked away to check on John, the third shadow manifestor, who had been kicked so hard that he fainted and remained unconscious throughout the fight.

"We still have a lot of time until morning, and you know how much fun it will be for me to torture you. You no longer have any tricks up your sleeve."

Adrian just kept staring at the moon through the hole that Henry's kick had left in him.

'What was I thinking in the first place?'

He shifted his gaze from the containers to the children. They had no hope left in their eyes.

'I gave them false hope. Exactly as my parents had hopes from me. Why am I thinking about such things right now?'

"If you are not going to talk, it is not going to be fun." What is your name? I should have asked you your name."

While talking with Adrian, Henry walked over to the broken container to check on something.

"I'm henry. Some people refer to me as Dr. Henry, but you already know I am not a doctor, so let us keep it simple. So, how about you?

"Adrian." Giving his name was not a big deal, and he knew that if he did not say anything, this sicko would become enraged and kill children. 

"All right, Adrian. No family name? That is unusual for a werewolf. They contain half of their power, don't they? So my educated guesses were correct. We shall-" Henry was about to continue speaking when he noticed something.

"Oh? Look at what we have got here." Suddenly, all of the shadows in the garage began rustling in all directions, except those holding Adrian.

"She finally had a chance to flee because of you, but she was stupid not to run."

Adrian had no idea what Henry was talking about, but judging by the shattered 9th container, he assumed a child had escaped.

Henry drew his shadows from all directions, and there she was, a girl caught in a web of shadows. Her face was completely expressionless. Her lack of expression was a canvas concealing a tempest of emotions.

Her silver hair, cascading like strands of moonlight, framed a cherubic face that belied the darkness within. The innocence of her features clashed with the coldness of her blue eyes, which bore a palpable emptiness, void of any youthful sparkle. 

She wore a long, green surgical garb that hung loosely, an ill fit for her fragile frame. The fabric seemed to weigh her down, accentuating her overall feebleness. Every movement she made was a whisper of frailty, a delicate dance of weakness.

But it was her eyes that told a story—blue orbs, icy and sharp, brimming with an unsettling emotion: hatred. Hatred seemed to have seeped into the very essence of her being. Her loathing was so intense that it seemed to consume her from within. 

There was a profound sadness in her emptiness, a sorrow that lingered in the depths of her gaze, perhaps born from the darkness she had witnessed or the cruelty she had endured.

Yet, despite her fragility, there was an aura of defiance, a silent rebellion against the forces that had shaped her existence.

As shadows drew Emilia to Henry, he clutched her neck and gazed at Adrian.

"This is Emilie, as you can see." The sole reason I started these experiments was to kidnap more kids. You may wonder what makes her so special. She is a dream diver!" Henry said it loudly, as if he was truly pleased with himself. 

Adrian could not help but wonder, because this was a big deal. "Dream diver? Didn't they go extinct when they had a war with your kind?" His surprise was valid.

A long time ago, in a world veiled by mystery and shrouded in twilight, there existed a rare kind known as Dream Divers. They were, by all accounts, enigmas to society—a unique breed of individuals blessed with the peculiar ability to traverse the realm of dreams.

The Dream Divers, once known as guardians of the dreamscape, had been tainted by the alluring power they sought to protect. Their once-noble purpose had been twisted, corrupted by an insatiable craving for control and supremacy.

The Dream Divers discovered their new purpose in this mysterious realm where reality and the ethereal intertwined. They were supposed to be dream-world thieves, stealing not only whatever existed in that realm but also other kinds of powers. They possessed the ability to render other types completely powerless. 

They were physically weaker than the shadow manifestors, but they possessed the ability to render other minds incapable of working.

The dreaded shadow manifestors, beings born of darkness, lurked among the shadows. They were too cryptic for other kinds, but an ancient and unending war had raged for eons between the Dream Divers and the shadow manifestors. 

The shadow manifestors, born of darkness and malice, on the other hand, reveled in the chaos they wreaked on the dreamscape. Their sinister pleasure stemmed from the pain they inflicted, relishing in the terror their shadows instilled in the hearts of dreamers.

Shadow manifestors, as people of the dark, spent the majority of their lives sleeping in the shadow realm, much like vampires.

Vampires, on the other hand, were safe because of their ancestral relic, which shadow manifestors lacked at the time. It was a battle of dreams versus shadows, a struggle for control of a realm beyond the visible. 

In this climactic moment, the enigmatic war reached its zenith—a turning point where the dreams of the innocent clashed with the shadows of the malevolent.

Both parties were driven by the depths of their malevolence, their desires fueled by a dark hunger for dominance over the realm of dreams.

Amidst the clash, innocent dreamers, caught in the crossfire, struggled to hold on to the purity of their dreams. The dreams, once a refuge, had transformed into battlegrounds where nightmares fought against greed and covetousness.

Henry laughed as he looked at Adrian. "Yes, according to the records, but some of them escaped through the dream realm. They still exist, and they are still being hunted down by our kind."

Henry kept strangling her neck and rubbed her head slowly and patiently, as if she were a valuable piece of merchandise.

"To be honest, I find it amusing. You may be wondering why I kidnapped her. I wanted to see if I could entice her kind to come here. You might not know, but there aren't that many strong people of her kind alive anymore.".

Adrian could not help but see Henry in a good mood and see this as an opportunity.

"What made you kidnap these children? I don't understand how they have anything to do with all this."

Henry looked at Adrian instead of rubbing her head.

"I wanted to give her abilities to other girls. According to the records, their powers can be bestowed, and I wanted to see if this was true. Does this satisfy your curiosity, wolfy?"

Henry stopped talking and went to check on the broken container with a maniacal laugh. Leaving Emilie behind.

'So he is insane. Their powers can only be bestowed to those they deem worthy of them.' Adrian took another look at the girl and could not help but admire her poise. 

'She is cursed in the same way I am. To be born as a dream diver, burdened by what her forefathers did.'

Adrian had sympathy for Emilie. He knew she was not as innocent as he was portraying her to be, but being experimented on in this way did not sit well with him.

Adrian was thinking about all of this when he noticed Emilia looking at him. Only curiosity filled her eyes. 

'Why is she staring at me? Don't look at me. Its making me creep out.'

"You -"

"Hm?"

"You- stink."

"....."