Morpheus and Hypnos were equally baffled by the suddenness of the request as well as the backstory that predated it.
"I sympathize with you, dragons. It sounds as though you have been through a rather arduous ordeal. But I fear my power may not be the answer to your problem."
"You are a maker of dreams that take human form, are you not?" Valerie asked.
Hypnos placed a hand on his son’s shoulder to support him.
"Indeed, he is, but from what you describe, it seems as though Lady Izanami has endured a vision or hallucination. Not a dream." Hypnos clarified. "My son has no power over that distinction."
"Not yet."
"Ma’am..?"
"We need you to give our love a dream of her vision. Then you can bring our son’s essence into reality."
Morpheus was visibly shaken. "What you ask for borders on human pseudoscience. I shape dreams from experiences, desires, and secret shas. I-I have never crafted a dream from a visi-"
"There is no desire of mine more fervent than to see my child breathing the sa air as I. If desire is all that it takes for you to make dreams, then I believe we should have co to you far sooner."
"...You have my sympathies, my lady. Truly. But I am not certain that whatever essence I could grab hold of would be transmutable into sothing physical."
"You can rely on for that when the ti cos." Valerie finally spoke. "All you need to do is make the attempt."
Morpheus rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"I must confess, I still find myself having so reservations about-"
"We shall compensate you handsoly for your ti."
"My father always taught that a man should try their hand at everything at least once."
-
Izanami lay on a stone table with the hands of both her lovers on her stomach.
Her chest rose and fell steadily to signal that she was fully asleep.
Hypnos stood in the corner of the room, staring into the drinking horn he carried around with him.
"Never in my existence have I failed to put any creature, man or woman, to sleep. Least of all sothing that appears to weigh less than myself."
Abaddon smiled proudly. "My love’s diminutive form is quite deceptive, right? She is a very splendid creature..."
Hypnos knew Abaddon a bit better than most gods, even if they weren’t the closest.
Seeing him devolve into a lovesick fool did not surprise the ancient deity in the slightest.
"I confess that I would not have expected you to co to for help in this matter... is this not sothing you could have done yourself?"
Abaddon’s expression beca complicated. "...Perhaps. But I am a bit under the weather at the mont, and none of my family are particularly experts in dream magic... let alone bringing them into reality."
They both naturally turned toward Morpheus, who was in deep conversation with Valerie before they began.
"Besides... your son is imnsely talented. He will be an imnse help in making sure that the process has... feeling."
"aning?"
"In my realm, I could perhaps automate the task. Create a version of my son based on what I have seen from my wife’s mories. But that would not be him. It would be a copy. There’s a huge chance he could lack emotions or any real thought and only act upon the patterns I know him to have."
Abaddon’s gaze was aptly focused on Morpheus. He could see the dream god stiffen in fear.
"However, your son has the right touch needed to bring my son out of the dream world and into this one. And if all goes well, he should be his perfect happy self."
The dragon suddenly brought a hand to his mouth and coughed. It was a sound that greatly shocked the god he was conversing with.
Hypnos stared at Abaddon with silent, wide eyes.
"...As I said." The dragon smiled wryly. "Under the weather."
"...Right. And do I want to know how this has happened? Is there an epidemic of flu going around that I should know about?"
"Sothing like that." Nyx stepped between the two n.
She patted the dragon on top of his head and spoke to him in a child-like voice.
"Our infamous little dark dragon just keeps putting things in his mouth that he’s not supposed to. Would’ve thought you’d learned after the first forty-nine tis."
"I like even numbers." Abaddon shrugged as he swatted her hand away.
Hypnos looked back and forth between his mother and the man who was effectively his uncle.
*Ahem* "That reminds , mother. Father ca by not long ago, and he wanted to know if I had-"
Nyx’s gaze turned abysmal. "Your what..?"
"...I said fatter. I’ve noticed myself getting a bit rounder in the face."
Nyx grinned as brightly as a shooting star. "Oh, my dear boy. You’re just imagining things. Tell him, Abaddon."
The dragon held up two thumbs.
"See? And he would know. When your uncle was human, he used to be-"
Abaddon quickly placed a hand over Nyx’s mouth.
"Oh, my cherished best friend..." he smiled through clenched teeth. "Let’s not go around telling one’s family secrets now, okay?"
"So sensitive." Nyx removed his hand. "As you wish, but don’t be so afraid of-"
"OH, MY GOD!"
A sudden yell draws the group’s attention back towards Izanami and the others.
They find Morpheus looming over her head with a haunted expression.
"What?! What’s the matter?!"
"There’s so much sex!"
Morpheus brought dreams to the lowliest and most upstanding of mortals and gods alike.
He had seen his fair share of intimacy.
This was not that.
Valerie smashed her fist over his head. "Keep your eyes off our happy fun-ti and focus on finding her vision."
"I’m trying! But between the lot of you, this woman has seen more pussy than a petting zoo, and every third thought is about your husband’s junk!"
Abaddon lifted his brow. "That doesn’t sound right..."
"There’s so cute stuff in here about your kids too, but the other stuff caught my attention first!"
Abaddon nodded.
"Just find what we need you to find so that you can get out of my wife’s head." Valerie huffed. "You have to go back more than a decade to find it."
"Fine, fine... I’ll see if I can get through all this smut."
"Close your eyes, and I’ll tell you when to look."
"...That’s not-"
"I. Said. Close."
Morpheus closed his eyes.
The glow over Izanami’s head continued to illuminate the room as he sifted through her mories.
It took an excess of around twenty minutes for him to locate the point of focus.
He was baffled by everything he witnessed.
"She... she really had a life in here... who would do such a thing to her?"
Valerie bit her lip.
"...A soon-to-be-dead bitch, I guarantee it." She growled. "Can you pull him out right away?"
Morpheus concentrated as he tried to grab hold of a specific figure within the mory.
As he suspected, it did not work upn first try.
"No... It’s too fragile."
At that point, Valerie began applying her power to Morpheus’ magics.
"Rember everything that you see about our son. Do not miss a single detail."
Morpheus nodded, concentrating.
He swallowed deeply as he visualized a small boy with a head full of dark curly hair and a wide, innocent smile full of small teeth.
Gradually, he flexed the muscles in his hands.
A faint smile ford on Izanami’s face as she dread the most pleasant dream.
Gradually, Morpheus began pulling his hand back.
As he did so, a string of power beca concentrated in his palm.
Gradually, it took the form of a small bead that appeared no different from an ordinary marble.
Valeie’s eyes widened. "That’s it... You’re doing it!"
Morpheus could barely hear her over the mounting pressure between his ears.
Dots of white began to fill his vision. A line of golden blood ran from his left nostril and stained his himation.
Finally, Morpheus collapsed onto one knee, and the spell was broken.
"Son!" Hypnos rushed forward.
"I’m alright, father..." Morpheus breathed heavily. "Just a bit winded, but.."
The winged god held up a tiny marble with an odd cyan glow.
"I did it. I hope you dragons don’t reneg on that reward you promised ..."
Abaddon smiled as he stepped forward to help Morpheus get to his feet. "Well done, young man. Truly. My wives and I are in your debt."
Morpheus scratched his cheek while blushing slightly. "Ah, it was nothing... We can skip all of the flowery words, and I’ll... settle for maybe being made a dream deity of the Abyss?"
""Done."" Valerie and Abaddon said at once.
Not a second after the word left their lips, Morpheus felt a new connection to a place that was previously beyond his reach.
"It may take so ti for them to start worshiping you, though. But you know what to do to speed that process up." Abaddon nudged him.
"Y-Yes, yes, sir, of course! Thank you!" Morpheus bowed deeply.
But once his excitent faded, a thought seed to cross his mind. He held out the marble for Abaddon to take, but gave him an unexpected warning.
"Just so you know... I’m not sure if the child will live as a real being or as a dream co to life. There’s a chance that.."
Abaddon’s gaze beca solemn. "You’re saying that he might not age past what he was in the dream."
Morpheus nodded.
Abaddon stared at the marble in his palm for a long ti. A million different thoughts seem to swim around in his mind.
But when Valerie intertwined her fingers with his, all of the background noise seed to go silent.
"...He’ll still be our miracle no matter what." Abaddon smiled.
Once he was ready, he tilted his head back and threw the marble into his mouth.
Nyx nudged Hypnos. "See what I told you? He can’t help himself."
Reviews
All reviews (0)