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

One (Draft 3) "Ordinary World"

The coldness of the void was against Morpheus for an instant, but he concentrated on the coordinates supplied by Mother's mind and sent himself into the Empty World.

Feeling heavy, Morpheus landed with the sound of wings. He stood in a wide, brightly lit room with a wall of glass along one side, looking out onto a city with tall and then even taller buildings.

Morpheus quickly noticed an absence. Mother appeared to be before him, but he did not feel her body other than the presence of her soul. Maya was similarly intangible, only worse, she appeared to be translucent and shimmering. Yet, Morpheus felt very much substantial and something he thought might be hunger.

"It's OK," Mother said, "we're here. It's not your doing. It's always like this for me."

"But—"

"We are not alone," Maya whispered. Her hands where she clutched the feather seemed more fully there than the rest of her.

There was a Human staring at them. He seemed fairly masculine and rather muted in color compared to most Angels, with pinkish-tan skin and brown hair. He certainly didn't have wings or glowing skin, though he looked clean and neatly groomed.

Mother glanced over her shoulder.

The man didn't move.

Mother extended an index finger and poked Morpheus in his arm. He could feel her touch. "I can control it, somewhat, but Maya hasn't had any practice. Stay close to her."

Over Mother's shoulder, the man seemed expectant with raised brows.

Morpheus stooped and lifted Maya's fallen Nightcloak from the floor.

Finally, Mother turned around to address the Human. "Steven Jewel," she said. Morpheus didn't know if they were acquainted, or Mother were simply taking the name from his mind, but Mr. Jewel didn't trigger any inherited memories.

"Just Steven. Steven's fine." He gulped audibly.

Morpheus tried it. He wasn't sure what purpose it served to swallow saliva.

"Joy. She taught me the summoning thing. I don't know the rules, but...she's dead."

"Joy?" Mother asked.

"Yeah, I know that—"

"Of course," Mother interrupted, "and...."

Morpheus tried looking in Steven's mind. It was more guarded than he might have assumed a Human mind to be, though he'd never previously met a Human to know how Steven compared. He got the impression that Steven knew who Opium was, though Morpheus hadn't inherited any memories indicating they had met.

"I know about the Vampyres and Angels and such," Steven told them.

Morpheus recognized the word Vampyre, though it existed without context.

"Where is Joy?" Mother asked.

"Just down the hall. We have the two adjacent penthouses." Steven gestured past them where, upon turning, Morpheus saw the door.

They left the first apartment for an interior corridor, with Steven leading the way. Morpheus liked the feel of the knobby carpeting, but he noticed Steven wore shoes. Morpheus knew he could shift parts of his body, so he tried forming shoes. Once he managed that, he shifted his exostructure to form some approximation of the trousers, dress shirt, and necktie Steven wore.

Maya, gliding along at his side, wrinkled her nose.

Morpheus sniffed. "Is it the air?" he asked. "It's cold and dry here, and metallic."