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

"Twenty-seven" (Draft 2)

It was a completely typical twilight. The violet sky and the edge of the land met at the orange-brown haze of Limbo, the cross-roads of the world. Regions shifted across the land silently. Nightfall was in the midst of shifting from a long ring of mountains to a single mammoth peak in the middle of the land and looked a tall straight range. Los Angeles, always retaining its circular map, was rolling against the edge of the world like the small toothed wheel in a Spirograph. And then the storm came.

It wasn't a very big storm, but the dark clouds suddenly billowing out of the haze of Limbo were enough to scare the souls to neighboring regions. Animals of the Night Regions took flight. The Maze Mice in the Maze of Black came scurrying up to the top of the tower. River noticed them before Morpheus did. Morpheus had been asleep.

"Morpheus, there are mice running all over the floor," the lizard said.

Morpheus sat up right away and wiped the sleep from his eyes. What had looked a writhing mass of dark and light shapes became focused, white mice scurrying across his bedroom floor. "Something is not right," Morpheus said.

"You better check the mirrors," River said.

Morpheus got up slowly. He scooped River up and sat him on his right shoulder. He called his three Djinn into the shapes of three women in pastel Chanel suits. And then he skipped over the mice to the watching room. He stood in the middle of the room searching the mirrors for a disturbance. He didn't immediately notice one. And then he focused the large mirror on the sky. It was violet as usual, though there were several Angels in flight above the tower.

Morpheus went down a flight and looked out the window. He had a view of limbo then, and he saw the clouds. And as he stood watching a great rumbling came from that same place. The orange haze was clearing up. And as Los Angeles came rolling by, it seemed to skip, and actually roll backward for a moment before passing behind the clouds. Morpheus sensed the great crying out from the city. It had actually been shaken.

"It's like in that movie!" River said.

For a moment Morpheus thought he meant Star Wars, but River wouldn't have sensed that cry that Morpheus had. "Neverending Story?" Morpheus asked and knew then he'd guessed right. River was around the same age as him, a generation or so before Morpheus, but Morpheus had been born knowing what his mother knew of The Eighties. "It looks like that movie. But the clouds aren't taking anything away...I don't know...what could cause a skip in the shifting. The shifting has always been perfect."

"In California, they call them earthquakes," the lizard said sarcastically.

"This isn't Earth; we don't have quakes," Morpheus said. And then he panicked. Obviously they'd had one. Something had caught as two regions shifted against each other. He ran up to the watching room. His three Djinn were standing about looking pretty. He focused the large mirror on Joy. He was supposed to be keeping track of her still. But nothing seemed to ever happen, and so he hadn't worried.

She was unconscious, dazed, staring into space. Not in the Palace. No. She'd gone to New Orleans with the others for Mardi Gras. She was in the attic room of Angel's house. Amadeo was leaning over her.

The window was open. Amadeo stood and looked out. Andrew was vaulting over the fence in a blur, Angel and Athen were already streaking across the yards ahead of him. Shade and Ardor stood on the porch of Andrew's house looking up at the window.

"Shit!" Morpheus said.

"What is it?" River asked.

"She's had a snap. She must have seen one of them, Daniel, or her brother. Shit! Shit!" Morpheus watched as Amadeo went downstairs. There was a videophone in the hall it's screen was flashing a message: disconnected. Amadeo had left it hanging.