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

One (Draft 3) "Ordinary World"

After the various Regents and Vice-Regents made their introductions, Children of Night of lesser rank presented themselves, including Sleep's many sons. Ninety-eight of them, including the one with the pet snake.

And then the ninety-ninth. He did not keep the polite distance of others, but walked to the very edge of the couch and put his hands on Morpheus.

"Hello, Little Brother!" He resembled Morpheus in his features, though his wings were smaller, and where Morpheus was cool in coloring his elder brother was warm.

"Laudanum," Morpheus said. With inherited memory or without, the proximity between them enabled the information to pass readily between minds or souls.

Laudanum smiled then kissed Morpheus upon his cheek.

Morpheus blinked slowly as he watched Laudanum sidestep to give Maya his greeting. Morpheus was just beginning to suspect his brother's kisses were soporific when he was startled by a yellow Halfangel leaning toward him.

"Hi!" She tipped her head. "That's how you say it in your American, isn't it?" Like Laudanum, she didn't appear fully Angelic, due to her combination of features being outside those in the Orders. She was tall, brightly colored, and had small tendril-form wings.

"You're—"

"Sin," she said, "Absinthe. I'm your cousin, or your aunt, or both."

"Oh," Morpheus said, wondering how that was.

"Don't worry about it," Absinthe said, "it's fine when it happens between Angels. Opium and Laudanum are each my half-sibling."

"Yeah," Morpheus said. He wasn't sure he wanted to think about it.

"Let me introduce our mother," Laudanum said, shifting his gaze to include both Morpheus and Maya. He gestured toward a corner of the bedchamber where Maya probably had a better view than Morpheus. He could only see that there was something draped in translucent netting, but he was getting triggered memories again.

"She is a prophetess?" Maya asked, having the same inherited memory.

"Sleeping Beauty," Morpheus said.

"Not always," said Absinthe, "but now. She is both sleeper and prophet."

"Her name's Metro," Laudanum said.

Morpheus looked back into the room, expecting a further line of visitors, but now that most of his brothers had left, there were only eight of them remaining, including Metro and a pale Angel standing near the fireplace.

"Why do I feel a dark faerie should appear?" Morpheus asked.

"Morpheus knows stories." The pale Angel turned from the portraits above the mantle as he voiced a tinkling laugh. "We wouldn't dream of disinviting Leliel, though it's been a while since he attended a family gathering." He crossed a seating area to approach the couch, his Nightcloak worn over powder blue robes and stole of in white fur. His coily hair stood above his head like a stack of cobwebs. When Morpheus looked at his eyes, he couldn't tell what color they might be.

He did not introduce himself, this Angel, instead it was Mother who spoke, "Jibril's Regent of Dream. He's also my father."

Jibril made a bow to Mother. "I did create Opium."

Sleep began to speak, but his soft voice was drownd out by Mother's cry. In the same moment, Morpheus felt as if there were some icy touch to his soul, accompanied by a tingle at the back of his skull. Maya squeezed his hand.

"What was that?" Morpheus asked.

"Someone's summoning," Mother said.

"And your new ones felt it?" Jibril asked.