Nephilim Quest Book 1: Shadowhunter

16. Timeless realms 1/2

Professor Rowan gave me a look that revealed he had a keen intelligence behind the slightly nutty-professor-like appearance.

Then he navigated his computer with a few clicks, and strange music filled the room. It was loud and sonorous and seemed to resonate in my spine in an unpleasant way. I squirmed involuntarily with discomfort for a few seconds, wondering how any music could have had this effect on me. I felt as though I was developing a high fever and had to force myself to sit still.

The professor saw me frown and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry; the room is sound-proofed. The other staff know my hobby is primitive singing and bells and bowls, and they kindly allowed me to sound-proof this room. At my own expense of course, and after I gave permission for the little faculty choir to have their weekly practise here - there's plenty of room for them as you can see. What they don't know is why I want to play this kind of music - it prevents the shadows and their masters from hearing us."

I was not sure that knowing we were sitting in a sound-proofed room improved things at all. Nor the knowledge that there were shadows around us. Not to mention the "shadow masters", who must be way scarier than the shadows. I glanced quickly at the clock in the room, away again, and back. Nothing had changed. Fingers - one, two, three, four, thumb. Normal. Dammit, normal!

I didn't know for sure whether I could trust the professor or not. Still, I had come too far to shrink away now. I took the book out of my bag and showed it to him. To my surprise he did not reach for it, but instead just leaned back on his chair, nodded, and sighed.

"Yes, that's the book. Now, I need to know who told you about it. How did you get it?"

"I was in a bookstore and this young man almost knocked me over. He came out of nowhere. I fell down, and it was only later that I noticed this book was in my bag. I believe he put it there."

"What did he look like?" Suddenly I realized of whom the professor reminded me.  He was just like the professor from the film "Back to the future", only his hair showed evidence of being combed earlier that day, and it was chestnut colored, streaked with grey. I got the feeling that somehow he was not as old as he tried to look, though as I could not stare at him openly, I couldn't pin down his age with certainty.

"He was blonde. Very blue eyes. Very tall. And hot."

"Hot as in body heat?"

"Er, yes," I felt myself blushing again at the memory of the young man.

"Quite, quite..." the professor nodded to himself as is he was pleased with something. "Good, very good..."

He continued to mumble to himself and I waited.

Finally I coughed and the professor almost jumped. Even though the small voice I managed to make was almost buried in the strange metallic music, the professor obviously had very good hearing.

"I do beg your pardon... I suppose you need explanations now. But first: who told you to find me, and how did they tell you who, and where, I was?"

"To cut a long story short - I had a dream. A lucid dream. In it, a lady told me to find the fifth name on the list at the back of this book, someone that lived in this city. And by chance... " I didn't get any further because as soon as I said the word "chance" Professor Rowan interrupted me.

"No such things as chance, my dear, no such thing...  I shall explain this to you now. The story will seem incredible, but I suppose you have already crossed the line of incredulity, having read what is in the book, and having seen one of the shadows. Not to mention having had the experience of a lucid dream."

He said "the book" in almost reverent tones, as though it was a personality that he knew and admired. Then he lifted his eyebrows, which made his forehead crease, and looked at me as if asking my permission. I nodded, and he continued.

"Very well then. So the book tells us that there is a buffer zone between our physical world and the Unseen Worlds, where time does not exist for anyone who gets there. Does this sound believable to you?"

"Well... not really. I mean I suppose we would know about it."

"And indeed we have known about it, always," the professor beamed as if I had been a good student and given the right answer. "There are so many stories in which someone falls asleep and wakes up years later – time has passed and they enter a changed world when they awaken. You must have heard some of them. These narratives have their roots in reality. One of the oldest is the story of HoniM'agel. He was a Jewish scholar, who according to the tale, fell asleep one day..." The professor switched to the historic present, as though he was seeing the story unfold in front of him. "Prior to falling asleep, he sees a man planting a carob tree, and asks him why he would do such a thing, when it was of no benefit to him. It would take 70 years for the tree to mature and carry fruit, and the man who planted it would be dead. When HoniM'agel awakens, he realizes he is under the very same carob tree, which has now fully matured. Big branches are reaching for the sky above him. Time has passed, and he discovers that he even has a grandson now."

"I have never heard of HoniM'agel..." I admitted

The music made an especially loud howling noise. I cringed. I would describe it as just like toothache in my back. Was I getting ill? Sounds didn't have this effect on me normally...