War Mantle (Dancing with Death part 3)

The God of Sleep

"You..." Ali stumbled over her words in surprise. "You were expecting us?"

Hypnos smoothed a wrinkle in his robe. "Well, of course. Who did you think sent that harpy girl the prophecy?"

Tyler stared at the god in stunned confusion. "But... you aren't the god of prophecy."

Hypnos tapped the side of his nose with his finger. "Very true." He bent over and dragged a small chest from under his bed. "I didn't create the prophecy. I simply delivered it." Unlocking the latch, he tossed back the lid, triggering a cloud of dust. He waved the particles aside and snatched an ancient-looking scroll from among the contents of the chest. "Aha!" He lifted the scroll as if it held the secrets of life itself. "I received this scroll nearly a millennia ago with strict instructions not to open it until the pantheon relocated to the US." He offered the scroll to Ali.

She gently took the yellowed parchment and unrolled it, revealing the prophecy in long sloping handwriting.

"When I first read it, I though it referred to Apollo and Artemis themselves." Hypnos explained. "But prophecies are rarely about the gods. We don't exactly go on quests." He picked a a piece of lint off his shoulder and flicked it at Morpheus.

The god of dreams scowled, but held himself back from doing anything stupid.

"I began to despair." He continued. "For, at the time,"

"There were no children of Artemis." Ali finished.

Hypnos gave a small smile and nodded. "That is, until you were born."

Ali stared at the prophecy scrolled across the scroll. "How did you know when to deliver it?"

Hypnos shrugged. "Context clues mostly." He nodded towards Tyler. "You met a son of Apollo in the heat of war and treated him as a friend instead of an enemy, fulfilling he first line. That was when I knew, it was you two who were destined to stop my sons' childish fighting."

"About that." Ali reverently handed the scroll back to Hypnos. "It would help us to know exactly what happened. Why did you bind them together? And make them... turn into cats?"

The god of sleep chuckled at himself. "I suppose an explanation is in order." He shot his two sons annoyed glares. "Anything to end your foolish bickering."

Both brothers started talking at once, filling the too much noise as they tried to defend themselves.

"Enough!" Hypnos called over them. "I don't care what you think the other is responsible for. This needs. To. Stop." He took a deep breath and faced the half-bloods. "If you'll excuse my sons," he forced a cordial smile. "They were just leaving."

"But..." both of them protested.

Hypnos glared over his shoulder, his voice snort with anger. "Just. Leaving."

The gods of dreams quieted, bowed politely to their father, and stalked out of the room, muttering angrily at each other.

Hypnos pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "'Children are a blessing' they said." He muttered to himself. "'You're life will never be the same' they said." He groaned. "Well it certainly isn't." He took a deep breath to compose himself and faced the half-bloods. "Now, where were we?"

Ali looked at Tyler, who was worried, confused, and a little overwhelmed. She gave him a quick jab to the ribs with her elbow to snap him out of it. "You were about to tell us what happened with Morpheus and Phantasus."

"Oh, yes! Of course." He waved his hand towards his guests and two chairs appeared out of clouds behind them. "Please, have a seat. This may take a while." He settled into a chair of his own, which appeared out of a cloud with over-stuffed cushions and a bowl of grapes on the armrest.

"Now," he plucked a grape off one of the stems. "where to begin?" He popped the small fruit in his mouth, chewing slowly as he thought. "Ah! I know. Just after the second titan war." He snapped his fingers and two bags of popcorn appeared in the half-bloods' laps. "As I'm sure you know, Morpheus took Kronos' side in the war. A prophecy summoned you to this realm." He pointed a grape at Ali. "Morpheus attacked you. So, Phantasus fought him and trapped him with his sword. Unfortunately, Morpheus escaped and put the entire city of Manhattan to sleep." He recapped, popping grapes into his mouth.

"Now, after the war ended, Morpheus returned to my realm and apologized for his actions, but Phantasus didn't trust him. I only stoked his rage by allowing Morpheus to return to his post as messenger for the gods." He flicked a tiny piece of stem away. "Those two have never had a very good relationship, but things got worse after that." He waved his hand over his bowl and more grapes appeared. "They were constantly fighting. And not just arguments, actually fighting, with swords and all that." He pantomimed swinging a blade. "I swear, if they could kill each other, they would've." He spit out a seed. "And that's not the worst of it. They've been so busy fighting each other, that they've neglected their duties and Epialtes has gained more power because of it."

Ali stiffened in her chair. "My nightmares have seemed more tangible - more real."

Hypnos nodded. "He grows bolder with each passing day. My sons' quarrels have left us vulnerable. They must settle this and return to their gates or the whole of the Dream Realm will fall into darkness." He rolled a grape between his fingers thoughtfully. "I hoped I could end this nonsense by forcing them to stay together, but I fear it did not help much. It may even have made things worse."

Tyler set his bag of popcorn on the floor by his feet. "And what about the cats?"

Hypnos sighed. "That 'curse' was originally just for Morpheus. To weaken him in the mortal world. The only reason Phantasus is affected now is because of the bound I forged between them.

Ali clenched her fists, crunching the paper bag of popcorn. "So... what do we do?" She met Hypnos' gaze. "How do we stop this?"

The god sighed again. "I'm afraid I don't know."

A/N
Well, that was filler, but I hope you enjoyed. I really like Hypnos' character. 😂 Who's with me? Honestly, I like all of the Dream/sleep gods. (Now I just have to bring in their little brother - Phobetor. 🤔)
Anyway, thanks for the support. Glad you're all enjoying the story. 😁
-Cheshire