REAL ADRIAN

"Now that this relic is more important to me than you, you can..."

"...die."

The dome formed by shadows vanished as he finished speaking, and Henry appeared. His entire body was engulfed in shadows, as if he were a shadow himself.

But it wasn't a constant dark shade; it seemed to be vanishing. His entire body appeared to be a black fog. 

"He's not kidding around anymore, which is scary."

Adrian whispered to himself, unsure what he should do. He couldn't handle him when he wasn't even serious, and the odds looked even worse.

Adrian couldn't take the initiative to assault since he had to consider Emilie's safety as well. He wasn't sure if she required his protection.

Henry didn't play any tricks this time and began strolling gently towards Adrian.

"Do you believe you can keep her safe? You should be more concerned with yourself than with her. But who am I to stop you from being the hero? It'll be more enjoyable this way." Adrian couldn't help but sweat as he saw Henry coming closer. 

'He's going to kill me for sure this time.'

"You know, I could just go to the dream realm and you could flee." You don't have to be concerned about me or -" Just as Emilie was ready to continue speaking, she noticed Henry in front of her.

Henry glanced at her with a crescent-shaped smile on his face. "You guys are certainly close enough to be concerned about each other. Emilie, I'm hurt. We spent so much time together, and you'd never been so concerned about me."

'When did he get here.' Adrian spun around as quickly as he could to stab Henry, but he only hit a phantom of shadow.

"You see, your senses are acute, yet you are frail. Adrian, I have three cores. I don't know how many times I've told you this, but you can't beat me. Not you, not her, and not both of you."

Hearing this made it worse for Adrian, as he was the one who was supposed to fight this monster.

'Isn't it too much to ask of me to fight someone with three cores? What was that power that stopped all those shadows? How am I supposed to do it consciously when I don't know what I am?'

Adrian, unable to find a solution, plunged the needle into his chest without hesitation, hoping to regain the power he had previously. Nothing occurred for a time;

'Maybe I was expecting too much'.

Soon Henry was face-to-face with Adrian in his full natural shadow form. That's what shadow manifestors really looked like.

"It seems it's not doing anything anymore. Let me help you out a bit." Henry finished speaking, and Adrian found an arm in his chest in place of the needle. 

"I'll be taking this relic. If not me, someone else would take it. So you better just let me have it. From the start, I could feel that we shared a bond, a bond of true friendship."

All this would have sounded really good and pleasing only if Henry's arm wasn't currently lodged in Adrian's chest. Adrian spewed a mouthful of blood and held his arm in one place.

"Emilie, you can escape now. I don't think he can use his shadows while he's in contact with me. Just a hunch, though." A dry laugh came out of Adrian's mouth, albeit a forced one.

Henry, amused, looked at Adrian and then at Emilie, who was still standing in the same spot. Adrian couldn't help but feign anger.

"Why are you still standing?! Move already, or you'll die for sure! Do you really think someone will come and save you? Just run already!" The desperation in his voice was very apparent now, even when he tried to hide it pretty well.

"You know I can just go to dream realm and I'll be-"

Adrian cut her short, as he couldn't understand how her brain worked.

"Do you even know what the dream realm is? Do you know how many dangers exist? No, it's not like its name, and it won't be merciful to you at all. Do as I'm saying and run."

Noticing the urgency in his voice, Emilie couldn't help but get shaken. And then she did what he told her to; she took a step back and started running away towards the exit. She didn't look back even once.

"I can capture her again, you know? Why are you trying this hard for her? Do you feel sorry for her? Now look at her, running away, not paying any attention to you.''

Henry kept on going with his sarcastic remarks. But he failed to notice that his arm, which was being held by Adrian, now had a lighter shade of shadow.

Adrian looked down as if he were really hurt by Henry's words and disappointed by Emilie's doing.

"Do you know Henry, what's your problem? You are way too innocent." 

"What?" Henry couldn't believe what he just heard. "Did you finally lose your mind? Or is this your trick to make this end quickly?" A chilling aura started spewing out from Henry's body that almost became tangible.

"You haven't realized that you are about to die, have you?" The previous shakiness, the anger, the disappointment, the fear—all of it was gone now from Adrian's voice and face. His voice sounded extremely cold right now.

"Huh?" 

It took Henry a few seconds to process what he heard just now. It had been a long time since someone talked to him like that, and nonetheless, someone so weak.

He tried pulling his arm away from Adrian's chest, but he couldn't. Someone with three cores was unable to handle a person with- 

"How many cores do you have, Adrian?"

Adrian looked at Henry without any intention to answer his question. "You see, there is a thing that I hate the most about myself."

"It's the habit of making my enemies feel that they are winning. I just love the look on their faces when they feel a sense of defeat in their own game that they thought they won."

Henry didn't say anything as he kept trying to pull his arm and using his shadows, but to no avail. He tried pulling shadows from outside the garage and they did respond, but as soon as they got near Adrian they stopped. They stopped responding to Henry's call. It really was shocking, as this had never happened to him before. 

There existed every kind of being out there, but there were none that could control the powers of other people. It finally dawned on Henry that Adrian wasn't bullshitting.

"How are you doing it? You don't have any energy." As he said it, he felt something missing in his body.

After observing his cores and soul, Henry's face turned pale. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Still holding his arm that had no shadow remaining on it, fully pale, back to its normal form, Adrian calmly looked at Henry and said,

"You see, I'm cursed. I wasn't kicked out of my family because I was unable to use the blessing from Mother Moon. I was kicked out because... " Adrian brought his mouth closer to Henry's face and whispered something.

"It's not possible. No one in this world is supposed to possess that power. You cannot have-"

Adrian used his other hand to grab Henry's face, which lost the shadows as well.

"Let's keep it a secret between you and me now." finished talking, and Adrian finally took Henry's arms out of his chest. As soon as he did, his chest started healing at a visible speed.

"Time to wrap up things here. It was fun until it lasted. It was a good decision to come here, after all. I would have died of boredom at home."

After talking, Adrian left Henry, still too shocked to move or say anything.

Adrian went on and opened the containers one by one. The kids were unconscious because of the leakage of their aura earlier.

Aura was something normal human souls were not able to handle, making them the bottom feeders in the food chain. Such was their fate.

Like Adrian's fate, it was unchangeable.

.....

Selena, a dedicated and experienced police officer, had just finished her evening patrol when the call came in. It was Adrian on the line, an unexpected voice in the darkness.

Adrian's voice sounded as calm as ever: "Officer Selena, it's me, Adrian. I've found the missing kids. They're outside the city. I need your assistance to bring them back home."

Startled by the unexpected call, Selena quickly alerted her superior, Sergeant Alan. He took the phone from Selena and spoke firmly, "Adrian, this is Sergeant Alan. Can you give us your exact location and any details you have?"

Adrian's voice remained neutral: "I can't give you an exact location right now, but I'm on the outskirts of the city. I'll signal you with a flashlight. Please hurry. These kids need help."

Sergeant Alan nodded to Selena, and they both rushed to their patrol car, the sense of urgency palpable. As they sped towards the outskirts, Selena asked, "How did he find the kids, Alan? This is bizarre."

Sergeant Alan replied with a hint of concern in his voice, "I don't know, Selena, but we can't take any chances. If he's telling the truth, those kids need us. Stay on the line with Adrian and get as much information as you can."

Adrian continued to guide them towards his location, and the dark night seemed to hold secrets that would soon be revealed.

In the distance, a faint signal of light pierced the darkness, and the patrol car raced towards it, ready to confront the enigma that had led them on this mysterious journey.

When they arrived at the area where Adrian and the kids were, they couldn't help but be surprised to discover nothing but a van. They were surprised to uncover that no one was accountable for the kidnappings.

Selena began checking on the kids, and seeing that they were fine but unconscious, she rushed them to the emergency room for a checkup, leaving Alan and Adrian alone.

"I don't want any questions."

"I wasn't going to ask any questions."