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

Eight (these scenes move to Twelve in revised scene list)

Twilight predominated the sky as usual, there was none of the chaos and loss of joy suffered here as in The Empty World. Morpheus hovered over his father's region contemplating his possible choices of direction. He watched the regions shift against each other, the rivers bend, hills roll. It was really very beautiful, never violent enough to upset buildings, never anything but a smooth slow movement.

He saw the boy sitting at the edge of Mirror Lake, though, Morpheus thought, Mother and Dream both called it Our Glass Lake. He set down at the boy's side, 14-hole Doc's stepping lightly on the reeds that whistled at him as he came. "Hello Narcissus," he said.

"Hello," said the boy not tearing his gaze from his perfect reflection.

Morpheus had been to this lake just several times. It was a place special to his mother. He had seen it many times coming into Dream, the two regions of Dream and Beauty always touched at this lake.

Morpheus stepped away from the lake, the reeds whistling as he went. He was in Beholder's region. Everything was beautiful, but it was not manicured, not in this part. Many trees, flowers, and shrubs grew wild, some were quite bent by the cool constant breeze, but still beautiful. The land became manicured as he moved on, grass trees and delicate pebbled paths lain out in some perfect design. He followed the path to Beholder's house, sprawling, airy, divinely proportioned, covered in naturally beige and rose marble stone and pale wood, the wood ornately carved with delicate lace-like patterns. Gauzy white curtains fluttered in the windows.

The door was open, the front hall not large but like everything here, perfectly beautiful; thought out. Mirrors in gilt frames decorated walls of slate, tall flamboyant iron works stood next to small slender objects of crystal. There was no one about.

Morpheus stood before one of the mirrors, ran his fingers back through his hair. He hoped for the day that he would grow out of this body, it looked half made to him now. He found a doorway, entered. Here were Beholder's servants and friends, a tall voluptuous woman with a high flush to her cheeks, several tattooed persons done in different styles, a slender boy covered in scars, some spelling out words, there was a girl with short orange hair showing off multiple piercings. The only one in the room who wore clothing was the flush woman, she wore a simple dress and elaborate corset above it.

Morpheus smiled when he realized who she was. "Hello, Elzbieta, is the Regent in?"

"The Regent Beholder has gone, without leaving anyone in its stead; Beholder keeps things in their order from where it is. The Amber Palace."

Morpheus thanked Elzbieta, and walked from the house. The Amber Palace couldn't be seen from where he stood. He looked up, and saw he was again at the foot of Nightfall, thought the castle wasn't visible at this side, only a thin flow of molten rock and metal that would become the Phlegethon. Morpheus flew to the top of the hill.

There was a small shrine here, undoubtedly a classical Greek structure. From the height, Morpheus saw its sister shrine, and between the two hills, a valley etched by a steaming river, the Acheron, with lush forests of tall slender trees at its sides. Near the Mountain, the greenery gave way to stone and rock, where the Phlegethon bored into the earth; and met the steaming Acheron, where geysers and hot springs fed its waters.

The mountainside was made of smooth mineral deposits, and glittering multicolored stone. Set into the mountain, beside the gold rich fall of the Phlegethon, the Amber Palace balanced on natural pillars and terraced earthworks.

He walked the terraced slope to the palace, itself covered in the gold-rich metal that inspired its name. The Palace was based on the Golden Mean, and its ideal classical proportion, but its position reflected none of the mathematical order; its entire mammoth structure stood precariously over the chaos of molten flows and hot springs.