The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

One and a Half (Draft 3) "Degrees of Separation"

The path cut across the fields and towards the tower and distant city. Along the way, there were sleepers among the flowers, and fluffy sheep lazily grazing.

As they came to the tower, Morpheus felt somehow less himself. When he looked at it, he felt as if its structures should be regularly stepped, or rise in ordered stories, or spiral, but they seemed to do none of these things. Morpheus stood there a while, feeling unsettled.

"Morpheus," Mother called.

Morpheus blinked and averted his gaze from the length of the tower. The doors at its base were open and Mother stood waiting. Maya had already gone inside.

Morpheus hurried to join them and Mother smiled tight-lipped as he approached.

Inside was a maze of dark passages. It seemed imposing, but Morpheus realized he knew the way up, and that he was aware the goal was to reach the top. He went up stairways and ladders, and through passages, crawlspaces, and doors. Sometimes, he followed Maya, but when they got separated, he found his own way to her.

"Your tower is like a puzzle!" Maya said.

"For most who find their way here," said Mother. She bent down near a tiny door. Over her shoulder, Morpheus saw a writhing nest of mice, some of which were naked, pink, and blind.

"Your maze mice made children, too," Maya said.

Mother laid a hand upon one of Maya's front shoulders. "Yeah. My father gave them to me when I first left Dream for Sleep. I guess we need more help now it's not just me." She straightened and walked past Morpheus to a large arched door of ebony planks.

The door swung open at Mother's touch, revealing a narrow staircase.

The room at the top of the staircase was bright. The white walls were hung with looking glasses in many shapes: round, rectangular, octagonal, irregular. The floors were made up of a mosaic of mirrored shards. Three black couches were suspended from the ceiling by chains. Following the chains upward, Morpheus saw a final large piece of glass set in the ceiling. It showed a twilight sky, so it at first seemed a window, but it was another scrying glass.

As he walked across the floor, Morpheus saw each glass showed a different image. They were not reflections; he could not see himself in any of them. He saw other people.

Mother climbed onto one of the couches. "Make yourself at home," she said.

Morpheus bent to the floor, his fingers reaching to touch one glass and then an other. They vibrated slightly. "I can hear them!" he said.

"You need contact for the sound." Mother continued, "The tower is an enclave, physically within Limbo, but properly part of a divided state, whose Regent has delegated part of her work to me. I monitor these souls in the Empty World."

"Empty," Morpheus repeated. "This one is injecting Morphine."

"Sometimes we get those ones."

"Was Joy one you got?" Maya asked.

"Not exactly," Mother said. She hunched and rested her chin in one palm. "I couldn't tell Steven, but I'm not even sure how Joy knew my summons, much less how Steven knew."

"Maybe you tell her," Morpheus said.

"But I didn't," said Mother.

"Our Night Regions are not in the space-time of the Empty World," Morpheus stated.

"No. I know that," Mother said.

"So, you tell her, before she dies."

"Laughter," Mother said, "The whole linear/non-linear temporal mechanics stuff has always confused me."

"How can you travel realms without being able to see time?" Morpheus asked.

"Sigh. I only travel where summoned, or through a looking glass, unless Jibril opens one of his portals."

"Morpheus." Maya stepped up to him with her sandaled blue feet. "You can travel the way Angels do."

Morpheus shrugged and looked down at a glass showing wrestling boys. "And why is it we call it Empty?"

"Because some there don't seem to know they have souls."

"Everyone has a soul." Morpheus was fairly certain.

"They do," Maya agreed, "but they do not all seem able to see them. They think 'seeing is believing' and not 'believing is seeing'."

"But, 'believing is seeing' wouldn't make a vision any more true," Morpheus said.

Maya laughed and Morpheus soon laughed with her. His own laughter seemed rather Human—fleshy—and not like the tinkling or cooing of Angels.

"Why don't I show you your rooms?" Mother offered.

"Our rooms?" Maya asked.

"The tower makes them, so they should serve your purposes."

There were some smaller doors near the rear staircase by which they'd entered. One of these led to Mother's personal chamber, and two others to separate rooms for Morpheus and Maya.

While Morpheus stood looking into his room, furnished mainly with something he believed to be a type of futon, Mother went into her room and retrieved a chest, which she dragged into the hall. "The gifts from your Introduction have probably moved to your rooms, but you might make use of some of my old things."

Maya received ambient music recordings, perfume, face paint, sheer fabric, a synthesizer, a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and an old kaleidoscope.

Morpheus was given a pair of old boots, a long coat someone in a navy had worn, a guitar, albums with blurred photos on the covers, comic books, and videocassettes with brightly colored animated characters on the covers.

They each received several mirrors.

Morpheus was most attracted to the comic books and videos. He was amused to see his name in print describing the character that looked little like him except for the black eyes and pale skin. He enjoyed the videos about characters with large eyes and brightly colored hair, who in some ways seemed more like him.

Colorful hair reminded him of the meeting with Helen, Steven and Joy.

Morpheus went to the narrow hallway, where he could see into Maya's room. She performed an intricate series of arm and hand movements, which resulted in the illusion of a starry sky appearing on her ceiling.

"Opium?"

"Here," said Mother. She stepped into view of the hall.

"You never actually said what happened to Joy. Was she OK?"

Mother's face quizzed. "Alive," she said. "The Vampyre blood sealed her soul to her body. She'll be the same now, always."

"I haven't seen a Vampyre. Are they like us?"

"Not exactly, but rest now."

Morpheus retreated to his futon. He could still see Maya and her curtained bed across the hall.

"But—" There were so many things he didn't know.

"Rest. You'll have duties before you know it, and time to learn about Vampyres, and blood, and Faerie."

"Faerie," Morpheus sighed. He folded his wings over his body to keep warm and went to sleep.

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video media (top) is the song "White Rabbit"  (Cover of Jefferson Airplane song) by Emiliana Torrini

image media (mid-chapter) is a purchased iStock stock photo by tobi.