◆︎ Assorodus ◆︎⌛︎◆︎ Morpheus ◆︎ The Sandman ◆︎

VII.

I knew him for so long by then with all of his secrets, the hidden corners of his soul and he mapped out mine all the same. The thought of knowing something that he did not was absurd, the feeling like a thorn in my side, aching with every breath. The truth just tried to force itself out to the open from behind the bars of my teeth, especially in his proximity. Yet I made a promise to his brother before he left his post, leaving behind his realm, his purpose. I let him take my writing then, it was a gift after all. And he was too close to my heart to take it back.

I retreated to Destiny's domain, for he was the only one who shared my clandestine secret. Alongside him I walked the many paths of his garden, his face obscured by his white, tattered hood. We conversed about what was to come.

"You have declared unlikely promises in the past centuries." He pointed out to me, the chain of his hefty book clinking with the rhythm of our strides, the gravel grating beneath our feet. "And moreover I noticed that you tend to put your duties behind these vows of adoration when the occasion calls for it.

"You are to call me feckless, Destiny?" The languid breeze fluttered between the folds of our robes, his alabaster, mine a deep burgundy red. "Albeit I think there is little harm in my agreement with your brother."

"Your words tie you to two of my brothers, which one do you mean?"

"The younger one."

Destruction, even while abandoning his role, was the least problematic after Destiny, out of all the sons of Time. I had trusted him to make his own choices, if he wanted to go it had to be. At least accorded by the Endless walking next to me. "He was adamant you know?"

Of course, he did.

"You have given too much hope to Dream." He announced, leading the conversation. My advantage in years didn't count in the presence of Destiny. Sometimes I wondered if he was born with an older spirit than mine.

"By telling him that I will stay by his side?"

"Yes." His shackle glinted in the sunlight. Not a speck of rust, as if the years didn't count in his domain.

"I said that ages ago." When Orpheus met his fate. "I'm not always with him anyways. I have a role to fill."

"Staying by his side doesn't necessarily mean that the two of you are physically residing on the same plane." Correcting me he took a quick glimpse in his leather-bound tome. "It means that you are at ready when he has need of you. And that is a dangerous promise to give anyone. Especially looking at your significance in the universe."

"I can deny his call if I wish to do so." Now that was a lie, because I couldn't imagine a situation where I would have ignored him. I learned that all too well.

"There will be a time when you will not be able to get to him, whether you would want to or not." He informed me, speaking of the future.

"When will this happen?"

"Soon, for the days are mere seconds for our kind." We halted.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To let you prepare. It might seem like my interior is cold, but I too have a heart and it would fill with sorrow upon seeing a friend suffer." Even for his blindness, I felt his deeply penetrating gaze. "He will come to you today and ask questions."

I supposed he would. And I knew what I had to do.

"I will say nothing to him." I breathed, an oath made with incredible difficulty. "Thank you Destiny."

The nails of Mazikeen dig into my skin, forming bruised indents, but I'm unattached from the reality of the situation, swimming in the muddy bliss of relief, slowly drowning. Like a distant echo throbbing behind my eyeballs, I repeat the chant, a mantra that was meant to be, that someone wrote for me a long time ago, louder than anything else. I saved him, I saved him, I saved him... Nothing else matters from now, whether he emerges victorious or falls, Hell cannot grasp him in its claws. It's an out-of-body experience, poisonous like the fens bordering Fairy lands, yet I'm drunk for it, I swallow it up until it's all oblivion.