There is a place outside of time. No human knows of its existence, nor will they ever know. It is a dark, eerie place. A place without light, without life.
It was created for The Seven, as a place of refuge, a place of thought. However, in all the millenia since their incarnation, not one of them attempted entry to this place - it was said that once one entered the Void, one did not leave, nor harbour any desire to leave.
This is a story of what folly it truly is to ignore a warning such as that.
+
There are many paths leading to the Garden Of Destiny. On that night, all where closed off. The cowled man, clutching his precious book tightly to his chest, walked into a room adorned with seven framed artifacts. He pauses for one moment and opens his book, looking down at a page which opens randomly.
"Yes" he mumbles, "Now is the time"
He raises his arms and cries aloud :
"My brothers and sisters, I stand in my gallery and I call you to a meeting of The Endless. And, with that, Destiny turned and walked to the door, turning as he walked out to address his somewhat intrigued siblings:
"You will remain here until destiny takes its course. You will not attempt to leave until you realise what action must be taken."
+
There they stood, each watching the other, each wondering what the ominous words of Destiny meant this time. Dream, garbed still in the white robe to indicate mourning of the passing of Morpheus, remained perfectly still and watched. Desire walked around the room, looking at the walls, grinning at some private muse.
And they thought. Each of them, every one of them, wondered what Destiny was referring to. Dream remembered the last time such an event had happenned - Morpheus ended up going to Hell to free the soul of Nada ( a long story - see Sandman : Season Of Mists ). And they sorted through their own lives in silence.
For five minutes they stood there, in complete silence. Death rose from the shadows with a half-grin on her face.
"I swear, you 're all acting like children. I mean, nothing happened the last time a meeting was called until Desire started causing trouble - where are your cutting remarks now, Desire? Where are the insults? Where, the accusations?"
Desire stopped in mid-step.
"You know not of that which you speak of with such authority, Elder Sister. I do not meddle in your affairs, I do not expect you to interfere with my own."
"hMmMmMmMmMmMmMmM" said Delirium, crouched in a corner of the room, clothes torn. She was holding a purple magnifying glass, which she held to her eye before rising and looking around the room.
"Sister, just what are you doing?" spoke Desire.
Delirium jumped up and down, clapping with glee.
"I kNoW wHaT hE mEaNt FaMiLy I kNoW wHaT wE'rE mEaNt To ReAlIsE"
Dreams face broke into a wry smile. "Really, my sister? And what ARE we meant to realise?"
"sHeS nOt HeRe!! He CaLlEd Us To A mEeTiNg So ShE hAd To CoMe! BuT sHeS nOt HeRe"
Suddenly there was a smash from the other side of the room. Desire had thrown one of Destinys Framed artifacts against the wall. It leant down gingerly and plucked up a barbed ring from the shards of Glass.
Desire looked up at its family with tears in its eyes.
"It 's Despair"
"I can 't sense her"
"She must be dead."
+
With that pronouncement, Destiny strode once more into the room. "Destiny has taken its course, my family. You may leave when you please. Or, if you prefer, you could stay for some wine"
"YOU" Desire hissed between clenched teeth, grabbing a hold of Destinys cloak "You did this. This is your FAULT!"
"Release my cloak, sibling. Think of that which you are doing. Do not make any rash judgements. In truth, I had nought to do with your twins dissapearance, as you well know. Now, Sibling, Release me"
Desire loosened its hold on Destinys cloak, before slumping to its knees. Death spoke from the shadows once more, in an unusual voice
"Desire. What did you do to Despair?"
"wh....what? what do you mean?"
"Destiny said you 'well know' that it had nothing to do with Despairs dissapearence. I say dissapearance, not Death sister, and it was most foolish of you to say she was dead - I, of all people, would know. Now, tell me what you did to Despair, or what you know about her dissapearance, I have had ENOUGH of sorting out messes caused by YOU, you will tell me what you have done."
Desire rose to its feet and stared defiantly at its older sister. "You have no power over me, sister" it hissed "I am not afraid of you". With that, Desire vanished in a plume of dark smoke, which left Death coughing. A moment later, she noticed that Desires sigil was blackened off - a sign that Desires realm had been closed off to all communications and entries.
Death frowned.
At that precise moment, Delirium transformed into 439 multicoloured butterflies, which in turned vanished, back to her realm.
And so, left alone in that room, where Destiny, Dream, and Death.
"My Sister" Dream spoke, "If you need assistance I am here. I know of the bond I shared with you - I wish to continue it"
"Daniel", her hair fell forward to cover her eyes, "Thank You. But this is not a problem for me to take direct action in. This is a problem for Desire, only it knows what can be done to aid our sister - Desire will call to us if it has need of us."
None of them saw it, but from the shadows watched their prodigal sister, Despair. She wondered why Desire was so sad, why everyone was wondering where she was. She knew where she was - nothing else mattered.
She didn 't want to go back.
And so it was then that the room was finally restored to its original state - a gallery, seven frames, seven sigils. Except it wasn 't. Lying on the floor was the smashed frame of Despairs realm. The cloaked figure dropped softly to its knees and plucked the barbed ring from the glass, nicking his finger in the process - which should not have been possible. Destiny frowns, and watches drops of his blood drip quietly onto the floor.
And now he opens his book once more, marking some pages with blood, and reads on.
+
Exactly 19 seconds before that, Matthew The Raven got the fright of his life ( and, indeed, his death ) when the pale white figure appeared right in front of him. This in itself was not unusual - Daniel made himself manifest to Matthew quite a lot - Matthew always wondered why Daniel doesn 't just summon him like Morpheus would have.....
Appearing like this wasn 't unusual. It was just that, at that precise moment, Matthew was turning his head to look at the Fashion Things latest craze. He turned around just in time to know what was going to happen. He closed his eyes tightly.
When he opened them, he was in the Throneroom, sitting at the shoulder of The King Of Dreams, feeling, to say the least, slightly disoriented. And Daniel told his familiar the tale of Despair.
"So, boss, what 're you tellin' me all this for then?"
Deep in Daniels eyes, a green light shone briefly. Anyone who had their hand on the DreamStone ( which was of course on the necklace Daniel wore " ) would have noticed it suddenly warm up slightly.
"I....do not know, Matthew. I know you were a trusted advisor of my predecessor Morpheus, and I would like you to continue in the role."
The Raven hopped off Daniels shoulder and paced around the floor, looking pensive ( well, as pensive as a Raven can look ).
"Look...Kid...you 're new at this so I 'd be happy to help you out for a while. But I will end our little agreement, not you boss. Clear?"
Daniel laughed softly:
"Little Raven, I admire your strength of spirit. Here you are, in my realm, in the center of my power. Nothing exists here save what I will. And yet you talk with such...authority. I agree to your terms Matthew, as I knew exactly what they would be before you mentioned them..."
The raven let out a loud "cccccaawwwwwkkkk" which echoed around the rather large room. "Let me guess," the raven said, "you spoke to Eve".
Daniel smiled once more.."Yes, Matthew, I talked to Eve. She knows you better than most, and can be trusted more than some of your other...friends. But, such things can wait. I wish to hear your opinion on the events currently taking place in the family."
"OK" said the Raven, "I know exactly what you need to do boss. Come with me to the Gallery, we need to get something from there before we go"
"Go?" asked the Lord Of Dreams "Go where?"
Now Matthew was the one with laughter on his tones : "Go where I say we 'll go, boss. Just like the old days...."
+
Immediately after leaving Destinys room, Desire made its way to its galleryand removed its own symbol from the wall, thus rendering it unreachable to all.
Nobody knows how Desires mind works - nobody can possibly hope to UNDERSTAND the force that drives Desire. It 's just not possible. Desire walked the length of its Realm thinking about all the possible outcomes of this problem. And then, suddenly and without warning, Desire stopped, tears in its eyes. It turned slowly and made its way to the Gallery Of Desire.
Once there, it slid the hooked ring of Despair onto her finger, raised her hands, and was gone.
+
[ Note : I am aware that Destiny is Blind, but Gaimans work already makes it clear that he can read ]
And in his garden, Destiny sits, reading from his book, reading these very words as they had been written already in his book. And he finds himself slightly curious as to the location of his younger sister. And so, Destiny rises and walks towards his main garden, in which are stored the seven statues of the Endless. He has many many main gardens - and as such he went towards the one nearest to the present.
As he rounded the last corner, he found himself surprised for the first time in many years at what he saw. Despairs statue stood before him, looking perfectly normal. Except for one thing.
Despair was depicted cutting her throat open....with her own ring.
+
And so now we have accounted for the actions of all the Endless save two on that fateful day. Death, as usual, was attending to her duties.
And Delirium? She had decided to replace Despair with a statue made from Strawberry Cake. Deliriums actions to solve the problem where, it should be noted, a LOT safer than what Dream and Desire were about to attempt....
+
"OK Boss, here we are. Now, put her ring onto your finger."
Daniel did so, and looked at the Raven, puzzled...."Matthew, what are you planning? Surely you know that we cannot enter the realm of my sister when she is not there - it would be extremely dangerous!"
Matthew shook his head; "Haven 't you learned anything, kid? You have to try and help Despair in any way you can. Even if it means risking everything."
Daniel looked grim...."Matthew, this is a most unwise course of action. I do not think Morpheus would have acted so."
"Kid, I know you and Morpheus are kinda the same, so let me explain. Morpheus would have done EXACTLY the same thing in these circumstances. But, if you asked him on a normal day he would say 'risk everything Matthew? such folly, I think not' or something similar - Morpheus talked a hell of a lot like one cold sonuvabitch, but deep down, he cared."
"Matthew, you need say no more. We will go, then, into the realm of Despair, to locate she who ruled there. Or die trying."
+
They had been gone for several moments, and the room had fell dark once more, when one of the sigils upon the wall glowed softly, and a female voice spoke.
"My Brother, I stand in my gallery and I hold your symbol, will you talk with me?"
The voice fell silent for a few moments.
"Oh drat. I knew they 'd run off after her....You 'd swear I was the only one with WORK to do around here!"
And then the
room was dark once more.....
In Kansas, Joseph Whitborne is standing at a sink with a razorblade poised above his wrists. Three days ago his daughter Lou-Anne and his wife Mary were killed by a drunk-driver. They had been shopping for his birthday present. He wants to stop the pain.
In Guatemala, a 12 year old boy is hiding under his bed crying. The time is 1:02 AM. ninety-five minutes ago, his father walked into his room and raped him. When asked later why, the father said it was because of a lack of discipline. The real reason is that the boy spilled some milk on his fathers new couch.
In France, a woman stands alone on a balcony above the Seine. She feels lost. She feels alone. She feels stupid. Her fiancee left her because he discovered that she was taking heroin - he went to a local bar and consumed a large amount of alcohol. He crashed his car while 6 times over the legal alcohol limit.
These three people are situated far, far away from each other. And yet, at the same time, paradoxically, they are all in the same place...
This is a place where angels fear to tred. A place where your darkest, deepest agonies live. A place that can be hurt incarnate. A place that can hurt you - not physically hurt you, no, much worse than that. The realm of Despair will destroy your mind, if left unchecked.
The realm itself is an endless mist, consuming and enveloping the dark mirrors of the soul. These mirrors are perhaps the most dangerous things in existence.
The winds howl constantly, but somehow without affecting the mists. And, there is one other thing about the realm of Despair. It does not welcome visitors without approval from its ruler.
On the threshold of Despairs realm, from the Shifting Zones, two strangers enter quietly. One of these strangers is Matthew the Raven, and the other his Lord, Daniel Hall, Dream King. They pause and survey the mists surrounding them.
"Hmmm...I am not sure this is a wise course of action Matthew. It is extremely dangerous for us to be here..."
The Raven atop his should spoke quietly...
"Brrrr.....it 's pretty spooky alright boss - but hey, you 're Endless, you 're not in any real danger now are you? Anyway, they wouldn 't dare to attack their masters sister. Um. Would they?"
"I do not know Matthew. However, we do what we must, and I will do what I have to do"
The two figures walked on, exchanging hushed tones of conversation as they made their way further into the realm of Despair. Suddenly, there was a flash of....not light, exactly, but not darkness. A flash of....anti-light? ( copyright Pratchett;) )
And they vanished.
Daniel stood alone in the very center of Despairs Realm. He was surrounded by mirrors, whispering to him with the voices of dead lovers and friends. He looked carefully around at each mirror in turn, seeing his darkest secrets in each of them. Then, surrounded by death, the Dream-King laughed quietly. He throws one hand into the air:
"Is this truly the best you can do to me? Can it be that the most dangerous realm of all is in fact as tame as Destinys? Mirrors and parlour-trick fog? Did you truly think for a moment that paltry magics such as these would harm ME?"
His voice rose into a roar
"Are you listening? I am Daniel Hall, King of Dreams, and you DARE to attempt such a coup? Desist in your efforts immediately, or I will see to it that whoever is responsible will be flayed alive upon my sisters return..."
An image caught Morpheus eye in one particular mirror. It was the FIRST Despair, and it struck a chord within him, and he recommenced shouting:
"You DARE to show me an image of HER? HER , whom your own mistress dares not disrepect, you would sully her name??"
The image stepped OUT of the mirror frame. It hung there, shimmering, transparent - Daniel could see the mist rolling behind it. It spoke frankly to Daniel:
"Dream King, you are not welcome here. Depart. Now. If you do not leave immediately, you will never leave again - It would take considerable time and resources, but, rest assured, we can destroy you Lord Shaper, and we are not afraid to do so"
A voice from behind the mirror pierced the mist, and Desire stepped into the circle of mirrors...
"Perhaps it is possible that you could destroy my older brother. However, you would never dare to destroy, or even detain, two of the Endless. Tell me where my sister is, and tell me now, little haunt"
"The....twin....This is a most unexpected pleasure. I shall tell you where your sister has gone - for you can no more save her than she can save herself. Despair has gone to the Place Of No Return, The Final Place, Graveyard of Gods, The Void. She has been gone for some time now. Now, it is time both of you left"
Another flash then, and the figures vanished. The spectre nodded, and then frowned as it heard something amiss in the realm it had been assigned to supervise. It sounded almost like.....a voice....approaching from a distance, but coming up fast....
"TELL ME WHERE YOU SENT HIM! Tell me NOW or I 'll make your life hell"
The spirit smiled, for the first in a long time. It mumbled the word 'Go' and Matthew the Raven departed as his master had not so long ago.
"But, Danny, I don 't get it, what is this Void place? Why 's it so bad? Is it holding Despair prisoner? Boss? BOSS!?"
Daniel looked up from his pendant, which was glowing softly in the darkness of the throne-room, light trickling into the darkness around them.
"Matthew, please. The void is a place which delivers contentness to any who visit - however, it also delivers forgetfulness...By now, Despair has in all likelihoods forgotten what it really is, never mind its responsibilities. I have spoken to my sister about this matter - if a member of the Endless were to enter the Void, we would fall foul as Despair has and likely never return."
Matthew considered this for a while...
"Boss...does absolutely everything and everyone who enters the Void, y' know, stay there?"
"Everything Real, yes, Matthew"
"And Dreams?" Daniel considered this carefully
He nodded
"Of a sort, Matthew. Of a sort - It would be possible for a dream to survive in the Void, but several things would influence for just how long. A well-established Dream would be the best chosen."
Matthew pecked at the back of Daniels Throne...
"Err...What about Lucien then? You told me once he was the FIRST raven - he 's been around as long as you have."
"This is true Matthew - however, you have misunderstood. Individual lifespan does not influence anything - it is the lifespan of the dream, of the idea. You would have as much chance as Lucien, as you are both manifestations of an old, old idea. Indeed, the prime representatives of Nightmare, Lust, and the others would also be among those with the best chance.
"Uh-oh, boss, I can see where this is leading. Don 't do it, that guy creeps me out, he 's a weirdo!"
"He is what he is Matthew, and you will do as I order. Once again, yourself and the Corinthian will carry out a most important task. I have the utmost faith in you Matthew, I trust you will not dissapoint me"
"No, boss" said Matthew quietly, "wouldn 't f*~kin' dream of it"
And so it was, on Moonsday, The Dream-King set out with his minions to the Shifting Zones, and pointed the way towards a Black Hole, approximately 4 feet across and 5 feet up.
"This is the way to the Void, Matthew. I can go no further, for this place is extremely dangerous even to me. When you find Despair, I do not know how difficult you will find it to persuade her to accompany you."
The Corinthian stood in silence, surveying the Shifting Zones. They made him uneasy....they where filled with unusual forces which did unusual things to ones perception. The Corinthian didn 't mind enemies - he just hated enemies he couldn 't, if you 'll pardon the expression, see.
"Don 't worry about it boss, we 'll get her back somehow"
And then they vanished through the portal, leaving Dream to stand alone next to the entry. Without looking up, he spoke
"My sister, what an unexpected pleasure. To what do I owe the honour?"
Death looked up and smiled at her brother. Her thoughts are so complex I couldn 't explain them with a galaxy of paper. Death is more intelligent than just about everybody else you 've ever seen. She was quite pleased with Daniels progress as Dream so far.
"If everyone viewed a visit by me an honour, brother, my job would be a lot easier. I just thought I should drop by to see how you were getting along."
Dream looked up, worry etched in his features
"I have made a most grievous error. I did not warn them fully of the dangers. If they are lost in the Void, I will not be able to recreate them in the Dreaming, they will be lost forever. I feel...slightly guilty"
"Well, thats a relief. It 's nice to know you aren 't bottling it up like old stoneface used to. Look, you 're doing all you can - what else can anyone ask of you? Come on, lets go to my place, you look like you could murder a curry"
"A curry, my sister?"
"It 's kinda like a red-hot ice-cube. Have you ever bitten a red-hot ice-cube?"
"No."
"Ah, well then, follow me, you 're in for a pleasant surprise"
Dream sighed and followed his sister towards the Sunless Lands.
( UNFINISHED )