◆︎ Assorodus ◆︎⌛︎◆︎ Morpheus ◆︎ The Sandman ◆︎

III.

He balanced on the cliff's edge, a whirlwind of shifting forms, Kai'ckul then Dream, for me, for her, all the same. He kept doing it, even though she escaped to her death minutes ago, long enough to register. I heard him shout across the channels of time and I abandoned my work in progress like I received an order. I wasn't sure why, what condemned me to act so abruptly. He wasn't calling for me specifically, nor did he need an exact person at the moment. What reached me was an exclamation of pain and inertness. Then came the flitting parchment in the wind, strange, uncompleted purpose, yet still ongoing. Partly I convinced myself that this was the reason I travelled so fast.

Shifting his eyes between me and the mangled body on the rocks, his black coat violently flapped in the wind, a gown of a defeated king. I could imagine his crown tumbling after her. He was surprised to find me by his side, his face told it all, he must have expected his sister first. Finally, his angry gaze settled on me, jaw clenched, ready to outburst. He made the connections and invented a reason in his head for my arrival. I foresaw that he will call me to account, questioning whether this was the purpose I had given Nada at birth. The purpose of turning him down and breaking his heart.

"Did everything go as you planned?" I let him blame me, and he regretted it later with a silent apology. He was never good at saying those out loud.

"I think so." Pebbles fell from the great height by my strides as I took my place next to him, he sidestepped, avoiding my closeness even. "Her song is not dead yet, she still has things to do."

He must have thought I'm joking with him, turning against him as his sister-brother did sometimes, an elaborate jest just to make him scarred. With furiously shaking fingers he pointed down as if I didn't notice his past lover laying there before in a grotesque assortment of limbs and brain matter.

"Why then?" For a fleeting moment, I believed he would grab and shake me, not much, just to make himself feel a bit better. Why losing our second love hurts much more? We must assume that once we are past the pain it can't happen again, that we are somehow shielded from it, prepared for what's about to happen. Then reality hits like a slap to the face and we realize that we are not at all ready.

Morpheus wouldn't have hurt me of course.

"I can't say for certain, my best guess would be to teach a lesson that you must learn."

Stars blazed in his eyes, swimming over his blue irises, engulfing them in darkness, like ink on water. He seemed so sure that I'm mocking him, but that was far from the truth. He was young, not as preceptive.

"So you have taken it upon yourself to educate me?" Shadows curled around him, bent at his will as invisible pawns. I felt like he might have tossed us into a dream on his whim, cleverly disguised as reality to gain the upper hand for an assault that was never coming. Only I would have still had enough power to free myself, but I found no spell to get rid of. The mortal plane took his side and lent him its shadows. "Shall I remind you who I am?"

"No need, King of Dreams." He pushed me too far. My hand lashed out, grabbing onto the hair at the nape of his neck. I pulled him close with just enough force so that I don't hurt him, but render him unable to escape the situation. "Do I need to ask you the same question?"

Dream struggles, tilting his head up defiantly, however, I held him with more than just my arm or physical force. Compared to the form I had chosen to appear in he was much taller, almost by a whole head. I waited for him to settle.

"No," he groaned then.

"What have you done to her?" Regret flashed in his vision, disappearing fast and without a trace. It wouldn't have been him if he didn't stand by his choices.