Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 23

Morpheus was used to his body hurting by now. That price had to be paid, for Calliope's sake. He would not cease to exist because of that. But what was new, was the pain inside. A mortal would have said, 'in my soul' but did he have a soul?
This particular pain affected his body too, made breathing a hard feat, making him feel as if his chest would burst, the eyes watering all the time, sleeplessness - as if he ever slept! But the body seemed to need it, or it wasn't working properly.
Morpheus needed distraction, that was why he was here.
He inhaled, and prepared himself for the process, of giving the dreams more of his essence. Calliope would have loved to see this. But maybe, the male would visit her one night, to make love to her.
This was not helping. Morpheus needed to focus. He straightened his spine, closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool wind, sending soft rain into his face.
Weird. They had never had bad weather in their realm. But then, his realm was an extension of him. Seemed he was raining, inside.
The dreams. He stepped between them, and placed his hands on each shoulder. Immediately, their golden marbled veins started to glow from his essence. They fidgeted softly under his touch, coming to life. Morpheus closed his eyes, and searched for the darkness inside him. For cruelty, carelessness, and anger. Anger at a fate, that so cruelly played with Calliope and him.
His body could barely contain all these emotions, but they needed to come to the surface, in order to be bestowed onto the dreams. Morpheus leaned back and strained, used every fiber within himself to pull it up.
Another man, holding Calliope's wrists, brutally forcing himself onto her. Her soft sobs, his muffled grunts. Morpheus screamed and let the emotions flow into his creations.
The darkness vanished through his palms and left only exhaustion. His knees weak, he could barely breathe. He forced his leaden eyelids open and his hands to stay where they were, to not let go. But his force was already dwindling. A mortal body was not made for that kind of strain.
Both creations were charred on the side, where Morpheus had put his hands. Their faces were burnt off, their arms maimed and the surface melted, reminding him a little of Mazikeen's face.
Good. Morpheus had given them a superpower, they were now hybrid beings, dreams and nightmares at the same time.
He let go and forced himself to remain standing. He was not done yet. One final touch, and they were ready.
Morpheus took a deep breath, and straightened his back, pushing his pain and exhaustion aside.
Then he stepped to the male and cradled his face. "Adamu, go and fulfill your purpose." He kissed his brow, then stepped back.
Adamu lifted his chin and looked into his eyes. "Yes, my Creator." Then, he unfolded his wings, one a iridescent one, like all his dreams wore, the other one a black clawed leather wing, all his nightmares had, and flapped them a few times.
"Am I allowed to watch?" Adamu asked, and looked at Morpheus' other creation.
"You may."
One last time, then he would allow his tired body to rest.
Morpheus inhaled, and stepped to the female. He cradled her face and looked into her open eyes. "Hava, go and fulfill your purpose." His voice broke. He stepped back, swaying. Adamu stepped behind him, and steadied his shaking body.
Hava lifted her chin, then looked at him, with her round eyes, the sweet face, beneath the brown curls. "Yes, my creator." Her golden dress glinted in the sun, as she unfolded her wings, one golden transparent butterfly, the other glittery-white, spiked and leathery.
Morpheus' knees gave way, and he slid down into the sand.
"My creator?" Both creations knelt beside him. he pried his eyes open. "Find Lucienne in the castle..." He breathed into the sand. Then his body caved and blackness engulfed him.

****

Calliope walked down the steep trails of mount Helicon, trying to focus on the little pegasos' survival. Visiting her in the stables would comfort her in the coming days.
When Thalia and Calliope arrived in front of Erato's throne, she was alone. Erato straightened up and got hold of a glass of wine, her ringed hand lifting the goblet to her face as she sipped. "Why, Calliope! We've been worried. Where have you been, those last days? Thalia suggested Marcus, Palladius, and Acheloos go search for you, but the boys could not find you. Where have you been?"
"I, uh..." Calliope swallowed, the little pegasos shifting weight from one hoof to the other, behind her.
"I found Calliope at the spring of the Hippocrene," Thalia blurted, "with this!" She held up her makeshift reign.
Erato looked at Calliope, with risen eyebrows.
"Uh, the Endless, he, uh..." She stammered clasping her fingers.
Erato straightened immediately, anger burning in her eyes. "The worthless entity. Unable to bring proper gifts! Has he come back? Did he try and woo someone else?!"
"Uh,..." Calliope's hands shook.
"Yass!" Thalia beamed, "Look! He perfected it!"
"Are you suggesting he gave this to you, Thalia?" Erato hissed.
"Uh-huh!" Thalia sounded sassy. "And you don't get to touch it. It's mine! He wooed me with it."
Erato took a long draft of her wine, then looked at Calliope. "And where have you been? You've been gone the same time the other horse disappeared. Left Idios in quite a messy state, I might add, after you took the horse from the stables!"
"The Dreaming." No! Calliope slapped her hand to her mouth.
"The Dreaming. What kind of business would you have in the Dreaming, when the Endless is wooing your sister?"
"Uh...he..." Calliope's heart raced, "he asked me to..." she could barely breathe, "uh... bring back a better version of the pegasos,... for Thalia."
"Ah. Good. Take him to the stables, then, Dear sister." Erato said to Thalia.
Calliope exhaled and turned to follow her sister. "You, dear Calliope, stay. There is something we need to discuss."
Erato patted the bed-throne beside her.
With a heavy heart, Calliope ascended the steps to Erato's throne. Erato patted the space beside her and Calliope sat.
Erato let her gaze wander across Calliope's torn blue dress. "You know, you are quite nice to look at, if you take a little care of yourself."
Calliope tugged at a shredded part of her dress, so it covered more of her scratched cleavage.
"Thank you." She whispered, not knowing if this was a backhanded compliment.
"Have you finally chosen a man?" Erato's cat-eyes bore into her sister's.
"No. I-..." Could never love someone else. "I do not care."
Erato nodded. "You know that this is a prerequisite, don't you?" Her voice sounded almost tender.
Calliope nodded.
"Then what is it? Do you not like men? Would you prefer a woman?"
"I..." prefer a man with a universe in his eyes. "No."
"Would you like me to pick one then, the traditional way?" Her voice sounded far too sweet.
"Yes." Calliope looked down, trying to focus on her cold, clasped hands.
"Look, Calliope." Erato rose and started pacing around her bed-throne. "As your official guardian, I may have found the perfect candidate: he is a quite handsome man, rich, so he won't care that there is not a large dowry for you, my dear. I think no marriage trials will be necessary, since he is athletic and knows how to recite a good poem."
At least, Calliope would not have to witness the silly games the young men usually played to compete for a bride. "I agree."
"Perfect! I'll make arrangements for the engisys, to have you two lovebirds meet." She clapped for a servant and whispered into his ear. Then she turned back to Calliope. "Off you go, take a bath, clean up. Tonight, we will eat with Epithymiae of Athens."

(Are you ready to met Calliope's groom? And what's with Morpheus? How will he cope with a sudden wedding? Please vote for this chapter and come back here to read the new chapter that will be published tomorrow.)