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

Three (Draft 3) "Hello, Pretty Pretty"

Morpheus chuckled, his left hand squeezed Julien's thigh.

"I'm OK with the time thing, now, if you are."

"Very OK." Morpheus grasped the edge of the couch with his right hand and propped himself up.

They proceeded without words, until Julien slipped his hand into the jeans Morpheus wore. When Julien's fingertips touched the smooth flesh of his potentiality, it bloomed into male sex.

"My preferred form or yours?"

Morpheus questioned himself a moment before answering: "Both."

Julien made love to Morpheus, doing just about everything hands and mouth could do to pleasure his body. Morpheus had a fleeting thought that Julien was reliving his own early experiences, yet, there was no fumbling or hesitation of actual youthful exploration, and Julien had obviously grown well into manhood before receiving the Vampyre blood. There wasn't a thing he did that Morpheus didn't come to find pleasurable.

It was exactly like Julien already knew what he liked.

Afterward, Morpheus lay on the couch, giddy and blissful, though not as sated as he'd thought he'd feel. Julien, undressed, was a cool weight against his chest, and Morpheus fidgeted with the torc about his neck.

"Is there anything I should do?"

Julien didn't answer immediately. "Do you want to do something, or are you asking if I expect you to?"

"Both, maybe, I don't know...."

"I'm not keeping score, Murph, but, you can ask me for anything. There's time...." Julien raised his head and glanced up at Morpheus. "Or isn't there?"

"I'm supposed to encourage you to continue your journey, but it's up to you when you leave."

Julien paused again, then smiled. "I don't think the person I was meeting will mind if I'm late."

Julien wouldn't have been late; he would have left into whenever he came, but Morpheus didn't tell him. He liked having this time, now, with Julien. Yet, Morpheus didn't feel it would be righteous to encourage Julien to stay. So, he said nothing encouraging or discouraging; he only pet Julien's hair.

Julien didn't show any sign of wanting to leave.

Morpheus was happy.

Until he heard the unfamiliar musical tune. Loren was first to find the small, dark, rectangular device from which the music sounded. Loren drew it from Julien's tattered suit.

Julien held out a hand to the Djinn and Loren passed the device to him.

"It's not mine." Julien glanced sidewise at Morpheus, then gestured at the device and lifted it near his right ear. He spoke into it. "No. It's me...Of course, I'm alive...No. I'm safe...OK."

Julien sat there for a while, clutching the device. Morpheus waited expectantly, but didn't voice his question. He was afraid he knew the answer.

"They're coming for me," Julien said, finally.

"All right."

Morpheus began his preparations to disassemble the mirage. Morpheus opened his vision across time, and saw the probability of the Vampyres' arrival. He anchored the physical components of the mirage to the time from which they would arrive to collect Julien.

Doing that, there was little time to wait, barely time to say goodbye. Morpheus didn't want to make it final, and Julien had been awfully quiet since the call.

Julien sensed their presence first, telling Morpheus they were here, before Morpheus sensed it himself. Their minds were shielded, the way Julien's had been when he arrived, but Julien's thoughts supplied their names: Athené and Faye.

Morpheus first glimpsed the Vampyres as they approached at sunset, laughing, falling against each other and swinging their hips in a dance as Loren greeted them—Heburn had retreated into the tent.

"Athen's an ass sometimes."

Morpheus glanced at Julien in his borrowed Roman clothing and then to the other Vampyres. Faye had warm, brown coloring where Athen had greater contrast between his black hair and deep gold complexion. Both were dressed in dark colors, Athen in snug tee and jeans and Faye in a velvet gown slightly caked with sand.

They both looked Morpheus over as well as the interior. "First century?" Athen made a so-so gesture with one hand. He looked younger than the other two, at least physically. "If Murph was with you—"

"Stop. Just—it's timey-wimey. Don't worry about him. You said there was an emergency, Thené."

"It's Joy. We need you."

Julien sighed. "What now?"

"Something's happened to her," Faye told him.

Julien nodded. He walked from the tent without saying goodbye, or even looking at Morpheus.

Morpheus barely noticed the others leaving, as he was briefly aware of Julien's voice in his mind: Sorry.

Joy. Again. What else could happen to her?

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TEMPORARY AUTHOR'S NOTE: Still Draft 3, but I made further additional minor revisions 6 June 2018. I watched a video about Emergence Theory and wanted to tweak the way timey-wimey aspects were explained. This is one of the most frequently revised chapters of the work, I think.

Image (top):  Author's pencil sketch of Julien

video media: "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. (I might change it, not sure yet.)

Image (mid-chapter): Virgin and Unicorn by Domenichino, c. 1602; painting is in the public domain.