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

One (Draft 3) "Ordinary World"

Maya shook her head and laughed, it was not unlike the tinkling sound Jibril made.

"Air conditioning," Steven said. His brow wrinkled as he glanced at Morpheus.

Morpheus adjusted his tie to better match Steven's. "You condition your air to smell like it comes out of pipes?"

"Ah...the ventilation system has metal ducts."

"We have more pressing matters," Mother said.

"Right," Steven said and hurried to the next door.

"Hey," Mother called as Morpheus caught up to her, "Even if he says he knows about Angels, don't give away more than you have to."

"Right." Morpheus nodded. When Angels visited this world, they probably manifested flesh to disguise themselves from Humans. Morpheus closed his eyes to better focus his spiritual senses. "There's at least a couple Humans inside, and one of ours, I mean an Angel. Maybe something else. I'm not sure."

Steven was already moving through the open door when Morpheus opened his eyes. Mother only glanced at Morpheus and Maya before following the man.

"I can hide my wings," Morpheus said, "but I'm not sure there are many blue, four-armed Humans." He removed his Nightcloak and folded it over his arm along with Maya's. Morpheus then absorbed his wings into the central mass of his body.

"I can't do that," Maya said, "though it's beautiful when you do."

Morpheus wasn't convinced of any beauty. He held his arms out to his sides. "There's so much gravity here. How do Humans balance without wings?"

"I wouldn't know." Maya made another tinkling laugh. "But, if the Humans are not too guarded, I may be able to cast an illusion to make me appear less alien."

Morpheus gave a nod, then went ahead of Maya into the second penthouse. The interior was similar in form to the room they had left but lit mainly by light from the windows and the scrying device in one corner. It smelled different, like incense, sickness, and decay.

There was a second Human here, alive, and if Morpheus had noticed any sign of wings, he might have suspected her a Halfangel; her combination of bright red hair and pale pink skin seemed in that colorful range. She was Human and appeared more feminine than not. She wasn't so petite as Mother, or as thickly curved as Maya, or willowy as Absinthe, but there was the tightly rounded bulge of her belly.

The man seemed to have become distracted by the images on the scrying device. "Sorry," he said then, apparently aware of his own distraction. "It's just this morning."

The woman put a hand on Steven's shoulder.

"Helen stayed with her," Steven said, "but I found her. Joy. I found Joy—" Steven's voice broke and he made a gesture towards an interior door. "In the bathroom."

Morpheus opened the door for his mother. Inside the washroom was a body on the tile floor. Hovering above, was her ghost. It was obviously her ghost because she still looked just like her body down the little black dress, except the ghost remained tawny in complexion while her body's skin had gone blue at the extremities.

Morpheus recognized his own complexion must not look healthy to Humans and shifted the blue in his skin toward red.

Standing beside the body, near a rack of faded black towels, was one of the Children of Night. She had an androgynous form that was not uncommon in Angels, and the stark coloring and small stature of the lower Orders. With white skin and black hair, she seemed similar to Mother, though thinner in build and fully Angelic. To Morpheus she had a visible glow, even when manifesting flesh, and a pair of wide, white wings were draped behind her back.