Morpheus woke in Sleep. Having been spoken into being, he existed.

Created knowing, he had memories passed to him by his creators.

Morpheus had a mother. Her name was Opium. He knew places she had lived: Dream, Bóinne, Sleep, Los Angeles, and Limbo. Two of those were in The Empty World.  Her mother, Morpheus' grandmother, had been born there.

Morpheus didn't know his grandmother's name.

It seemed natural that Morpheus call his second parent Father. He did more or less prefer masculine pronouns. His father had many names, but the easiest for Morpheus to say was Sleep.

The language that would be American was his mother tongue.

Morpheus shared that and his parents with his sister.

Maya had been spoken into being alongside him. They were twins. Newly created and still half delirious, Morpheus gazed at her. Her dark eyes passed over him, scanning the room.

Morpheus noticed for the first time that the dim bed chamber was filled with people. Angels and Half-angels. Radiant yet dark as night, a few bright in color, and others pale like cave fauna, but with few exceptions cloaked in black.

Family.

"Morpheus." His father's voice was soft, like one who wouldn't wake a soul.

Sleep beckoned Morpheus onto his couch.

At the center of the chamber was the couch that served as Sleep's bed and throne: an ebony base covered by cushions made of silk extruded by small creatures and trimmed in black plumes that glinted green and violet.

Morpheus felt his Mother's hands along his arm, guiding him onto the couch.

They seated Maya beside him. Morpheus reached for her long black hair; the skin of his arm was white while her skin was blue.

There was blue in his hair. Morpheus knew without viewing himself, in the same way he knew they both had their mother's eyes.

When Morpheus concentrated on Maya's appearance, his own appearance changed. His black wings shifted into an extra pair of arms. The hair on his head darkened and lengthened. His flesh shifted to mimic her form, down to each piece of silver jewelry.

Once he stopped concentrating on their similarity, Morpheus shifted back to his native form.

"So many," Maya said.

"It's OK," Mother said, her voice higher than the others. "They're here to meet you."

The most highly ranked Angels came forward first. Morpheus nearly swooned from their presence and reached for Maya's closest hand to hold it.

They presented gifts and gave their preferred names, but Morpheus could barely keep track of them all: tall Angels with elaborate wings, others the medium-sized and colorful, smaller pale ones.

There was a break in the procession as Sleep spoke quietly from behind Morpheus to thank these high-ranking Princes and Archons for their visit.

Afterward came a procession of Angels and Half-angels cloaked in black: the Children of Night. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and more distant relations were all descendants of Leliel, Angel of Night and Arch Regent of the Night Regions in which they dwelt.

Grandfather Leliel himself was absent.

The last of this family group were Sleep's sons, half-brothers to Morpheus and Maya. Morpheus flinched at the one carrying a snake. There were ninety-eight....

Then the ninety-ninth. Morpheus felt a stronger sense of recognition seeing this brother; there were memories of him spending time with both Mother and their father, and his coloring was different.

"Laudanum," Morpheus said, knowing his name before he was formally given it. His hair and eyes and wings were all orangey-brown and he smelled like warm spice.

"Hello, Morpheus." Laudanum leaned forward and kissed Morpheus' cheek.

Morpheus blinked slowly as Laudanum stepped aside to greet Maya.

There were only a few more people in the room, as those who had made their formal greetings left to continue their usual duties. The vacancy made farther reaches of the chamber visible. There was a second bed draped in net, some chairs, a sarcophagus, and a pale Angel waiting near the fire place. 

Just in front of Morpheus, startling him as his vision returned to center, was a Half-Angel with amber and green coloring. Her relationship to Morpheus was difficult to translate, but he knew her name.

"Absinthe," Morpheus sighed.

"Hi!" Absinthe smiled and waved. Her particular tendril-like wing-parts bowed over her shoulders to touch Morpheus' face.

"Our mother, Metro, is here," Laudanum said, as Absinthe embraced Maya. " She cannot greet you herself." Laudanum gestured towards the netting-draped bed. Morpheus could just make out the silhouette of a reclining female.

"She's a prophetess," Maya said, also having inherited memory.

"Not always," Absinthe said, "but now."

The only one  to not yet greet Morpheus or Maya was the Angel near the fireplace. He turned from the paintings above the mantle to make his approach, wearing the black cloak of the Children of Night, robes trimmed in white fur, and ivory jewelry. He was Opium's father, Morpheus realized, making him Morpheus and Maya's grandfather.

Mother winced and Morpheus felt as if something cool had shot into his brain. The experience was new, but he knew it indicated the sensing of something, though not precisely what.

"What was that?" Morpheus asked.

"Someone's pulling," Mother said, her voice shrill.

"Mother?" Maya called.

"You felt it, Morpheus?" Grandfather Jibril asked; that was his preferred name.

"A summons?" Sleep asked from behind. "Now?" The couch's cushion moved as he shifted forward.

"I don't know." Morpheus wasn't certain whether he had sensed the summons itself or Mother's reaction to it.

"Shut up! All of you!"

There was silence as Mother walked past the chairs, where Absinthe and Laudanum sat, towards the fireplace.

"Opi," Sleep finally whispered.

"Sigh." Mother said the word. "I don't know who it is, not without scrying. But only a few should know the summons, and they wouldn't use it lightly."

"Then, My Love, you know your duty," Sleep said. He slipped between Morpheus and Maya to leave the couch.  

"It can't be right. I can't be expected to part from them so soon."

But it was. Morpheus knew that. The Children of Night must not lapse in their duties. If one faltered another must immediately take their place. 

Mother knew it, too. "This reeks!"

"Take them with you," Jibril suggested, "I can reserve my gift for now."

"We expect no less of you," Sleep whispered. His deep blue eyes shifted to Morpheus. "Can you accompany your mother?"

Morpheus understood the question. The summons would be coming from the Empty World and not all who were part Angel had the ability to cross between realms.

Morpheus stood and then opened his vision. His eyes went black to their corners. He saw the realms spread out before him and their dimensions of time and space.

"I can," Morpheus said.

From the couch, Maya said, "I don't know."

Morpheus pulled a single black feather from his wing. He offered this to Maya. "Come with us."

Maya took the feather in one hand.

"Morpheus," Mother said, "I can't take the both of you with me, so you will have to take the both of us with you."

"Sin and I will take care of your duties here," Laudanum said from his chair.

Mother nodded to Absinthe and Laudanum.

 Morpheus reached for another of Maya's hands and lead her to their mother. He brought Mother and Maya into the space of his arms and wings and then sent his body through the void between worlds.

[image: Author's recolor of  'Night & Sleep' by Evelyn De Morgan, 1878. Original painting in the public domain.]

The coldness of the void was against Morpheus for an instant, as Mother's mind urged him toward their goal. Feeling heavy, Morpheus came into the Empty World with the sound of wings.

There was a male Human standing in a large room staring at them. Morpheus could not feel his mother or sister, though they stood before him. Frantically, he grabbed at his mother's clothes and felt only air and the presence of a soul.

Her eyes found his. He knew she had the ability to show visions to others, if they gazed in her eyes; Morpheus saw only a mother's eyes.

"It's cool. I'll explain later."

Morpheus looked to Maya. She seemed translucent and shimmering, while he stood on the floor, feeling substantial and something he thought might be hunger.

Morpheus turned slowly to study the man.

"Steven Jewel," Mother said.

The Human gulped, swallowed saliva. Morpheus tried it. He wondered why the man had done it.

"It's Joy," said the man, "She taught me the trick. She's dead. I don't know what to do."

Morpheus saw his mother glance back at him a moment. "Where?"

The man, Steven, took them from his penthouse and down a hallway to another. Morpheus liked walking on the knobby gray carpeting. At his side, Maya appeared to hover.

There was a woman in the apartment, about the same height as the man, with striking red hair. Morpheus thought the brightly colored hair Angelic. When he looked at her, right in the eyes, he knew things he hadn't before. Her name was Helen.

Helen was the one who directed them to the bathroom. Morpheus saw the hovering soul, her dead body, and an Angel.

Morpheus knew the Angel. Not only had the information come to him from his parents, but he remembered being introduced just a short time ago. Zerachiel was one of the Children of Night, and manifesting as female at the moment.

Zerachiel hovered in mid-air, and her black hair floated about her head, as large white wings extended from her back, along with two secondary tendrils. It was somewhat unusual; the slighter and less colorful Angels of the lower orders had secondary wing parts.

"She's not one of mine," she said.

Mother turned to Steven. "You and Helen should go."

"But, what will-?" His head was bowed, looking at the lifeless body, as if he didn't see the soul crawling on the bathroom ceiling.

"Give us the room for a bit," Mother said.

Steven turned his head and gave a nod to Mother. Morpheus watched as he walked toward the wide windows where Helen waited. When Helen looked past him, toward the bathroom, her eyes seemed to focus well above the floor.

"Yeah, she's one of ours," Mother said looking at the body, "let me think."

Maya was in the bathroom, reaching a finger toward the soul. Like the body, the soul appeared a female with tan skin and brown hair and eyes, only less solid.

Mother, although intangible, had the appearance of being solid as she crouched near the body.

"This is Joy Lesleigh Fortnight," Zerachiel said. "A soul who believed she was Human. I take it this death comes unexpectedly?"

"She is Human, of a sort," Mother said. "She's programmed to breakdown every ten years, to prevent her understanding she's ageless. We collect her, bring her to a new home with false souvenirs and IDs, and we wake her, memory wiped clean." Mother turned her head to glance out the bathroom door, toward the windows. "This is a year early."

"The death is self-inflicted," Zerachiel said.

"Heroin," Morpheus said. He just knew. "It could be accidental."

Mother glanced up at him, her dark lips in a tight smile.

"If she's one of yours, I do not need to be here," Zerachiel said, "I've a lot of souls to collect downtown."

Someone coughed. Helen. Steven remained behind in a chair near the windows, with his head in his hands. Beyond the glass, a column of smoke rose over distant skyscrapers.

Helen gestured toward another door, toward an adjacent room of the penthouse. "It's in the refrigerator, what you're looking for."

Morpheus did not understand what Helen believed they were seeking, but he knew what a refrigerator was.

Morpheus walked into the kitchen and opened the chilling appliance. There was not much in the fridge; the old bottle struck him immediately. It was unlabeled and, though sealed with a cork, smelled of blood.

"Vampyre blood," Zerachiel said, as Morpheus returned.

"I don't believe they left her like this," Mother said, "but there's really no other choice now." She reached a hand towards Morpheus.

He gave her the bottle.

"You can go now, Zerachiel," Mother said.

The Angel faded from sight.

Mother uncorked the bottle. The blood smelled good in a way, but Morpheus also remembered something about his mother giving up blood offerings.

"I can make my own way back," Mother said, "It's better if she's not able to see you as she's re-animated."

Morpheus reached for Maya and thought of home.

---

video media is 'Hypnos' by Chelsea Wolfe.

image media (top) is a graphic I did featuring Opium.