Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 20

A few hours later, having shown Calliope the pleasure of bliss without fornication, Morpheus held his muse in his arms.
This. Right there. All these emotions in just one body, for one lifetime, no - just one night. How could humans do this? Maybe this was why they became so tired at the end of their life. They were full, or drained, that depended.
This feeling in his chest. Gratitude? But to whom? These emotions in his body, the need to celebrate and cry at the same time, contrasting with the painful erection.
Morpheus would not endanger the fate of his little Muse. Never! This was hard to bear, but what was one night compared to an eternity? What was the fulfillment of his bodily needs, compared to her lifetime filled with misery. He knew that now.
"I made a mistake with Nada."
Calliope looked up to him with wide brown eyes. "I know she will forgive you, eventually."
Morpheus kissed her brow and draped the covers over them, ignoring his body screaming with need. She cuddled against his chest and inhaled.
"Are you all right, Calliope?" He asked her softly, and brushed a stray curl from her cheek.
She nodded. "More than. I am blissful." She smiled.
"Good." Morpheus turned her face, that she looked up into his. "Promise me, that you will accept no less, from a man, in the future."
Her eyes went wide.
"I mean it." He held her gaze with his. "Promise me, that no man, who is not ready to give at least as much as I did, will get more of you."
"I promise." She whispered.
"Good." He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Relax and sleep a little, my sweet muse, I'll be right by your side in a few minutes."
Then, he slipped off the bed, made sure she was properly tucked in, kissed her brow and padded towards the bathroom. This body of his needed release, or he would turn into that kind of man, he wanted to protect her from.

****

This time, Calliope willed herself to be at the entrance to the library. She hastened across the shelves, up the winding staircase, looked quickly at Lucienne's desk, glad that she wasn't there and strode right into the reading nook.
She needed to know why Oneiros was still refusing her. He loved her! He had not said it, but he had proved it. Why had he not asked her to stay with him in the dreaming, like he had done with Nada? Why was he loving her, but still pushing her away at the same time?
Calliope needed to know the truth.
The answer, she suspected, would be somewhere in Polihymnia's book. Her oldest sister had a hint of the gift, and regularly visited the oracle of Delphi. There had been a reason, she had forbidden, that Calliope meet the Endless.
She opened the book and sat on the edge of the bench, painfully aware, that Oneiros could come back to bed at any given moment and wake her up. She held the large tome with the thin pages in her hands, reading-glasses on her nose, unsure where to start.
The last time Poli had been in Delphi, she had departed with a worried glance in her direction and much whispering with Erato. Then, calliope had thought they were already planning her inauguration, but there had to be something else.
Calliope leafed back, until she found the word Delphi standing out.

...on her way back from Delphi...

No. She leafed further back in the book.

... Calliope ...

Just a bit further. There...

...Polihymnia knelt beside the large orange glowing abyss, above which the oracle's tripod resided, and lowered her head.
She greeted the One who were Three, the Three who were One, the Hecate with the ritual words, and placed her gifts on the floor: a golden necklace, rare condiments, and honey, collected from the bees on the banks of the Hippocrene.
"Greetings, Sister!" the maid Clotho said.
"It is good to see you back, Daughter." Said the matron Lachesis.
"We see, you brought gifts!" the matriarch Atropos rasped.
Polihymnia bowed, then looked up to the three that throned as one on the sacred tripod.
"I come and seek your wisdom. Calliope is soon to be inaugurated. She is way past her age, but has not been with a man yet. I seek your advice."
The Crone said, "this is why we have sent you dreams, my child."
The Woman added, "to warn you, oh Polihymnia."
And the Girl joined them, "and make sure she lies with a man soon, before something bad will happen."
Polihymnia, not satisfied with what she had dreamed, exclaimed, "you warned me of the Endless and that he would father a child. But why is a child so bad?"
"The child will anger the Kindly Ones." The Daughter answered.
"That sure can be resolved, can it?" Polihymnia asked.
The Mother answered, "this will lead to the mother's broken heart, and her son's imprisonment in his own head."
"But how-" Polihymnia started, but already the Grandmother rasped, "This will eventually lead to the end of existence of Lord Morpheus."

Calliope gasped. They would have a child. A wonderful, lovely child...
Her heart swelled.
But then... loving her, would eventually lead to Oneiros' death.
No!
She could not let that happen. She would rather be heartbroken with another man, than condemning her lover to death.
But even tough their love was doomed, there was one thing Calliope wanted to do. One thing she needed to give him, before she left his realm.
Calliope wiped the tears from her eyes, straightened her back.
She was ready to wake up again.

****

Calliope woke alone in her bed. The fire blazed, and her lover was nowhere to be seen. Light filtered from the adjacent bathroom door.
She rose from the bed, when her foot caught in Onerios' coat. When she picked up the soft, billowy fabric, it shrank, so its hem barely brushed the soil. Calliope smiled, and wrapped it loosely over her bare shoulders.
When she gently pushed at the door to the silent bathroom, her breath caught in her chest.
Oneiros sat on the floor, bent forward, naked shoulders moving to the rhythm of his sobs. So vulnerable with his this white body, shivering and flushed.
"Oneiros..." She sank to the floor, her palm touching his bent knee, sending a swirl of color across his skin, traveling up his leg, until it reached his painfully bluish erection. He inhaled shakily, but said nothing.
Calliope cupped his cheek with her other hand, lifting his head, so that his overflowing eyes looked up into hers. "What is it, my love?"
The pain in his eyes tore like a dagger through her chest. "We can not. Never! You must promise me." His voice was barely audible, but his eyes begged her with so much despair.
She knew. "I promise." Calliope wiped a tear from his cheek. "But that does not mean I can not love you. That doe not mean I can't be there for you."
She held his face between her hands, holding his gaze. "You are in pain. Tell me."
"I exist to serve humankind. Seems that I shall serve you in your quest for fulfillment." A mirtless smile curled his lips.
"How?"
"Every touch, every thought, every breath with you made my astral self become flesh and bone. So real, that I can not find release, without serving my purpose."
Her quest for fulfillment. Her love. Her chest ached for him. "Then come." She rose, and held out her hand to him.
He took it and stood, then stepped close to her. "You do look beautiful in my coat, Calliope." He whispered, before he kissed her.

(If you want to how how inspiring just the fact can be, that your body isn't acting up all the time, and how Calliope finally inspires the perfect Dream, vote for this chapter and come back tomorrow for th next one.)