Sudden darkness blotted out everything as the light faltered, flickered, and failed. The change brought by the light going out was the first noteworthy thing in what felt to Cadance like an otherwise indiscernible grey eternity of simply walking wearily down the spiral stairs.

So taxed was Luna by the effort of maintaining the spell of silence, that she was forced to dispel the light she cast from her horn in order to keep her focus from slipping. Yet without being asked, and without a word spoken herself, Chrysalis had taken over the duty of lighting their way. Cadance had lost sense of how long they’d been travelling or how far down they’d made it. Their pace through the darkness was steady, but it had taken its toll by the time they finally reached the bottom.

Trudging forward automatically, lost in thoughts of home, Cadance nearly ran right into Chrysalis when she stopped at the bottom. The changeling stepped aside, and the three creatures gathered at the door which alleged to hold beyond it the final trial of the night. Hope flickered in the storm winds, but stayed alight, despite everything.

The strain was evident in her voice as Luna spoke. “Morphia lies asleep just ahead. Keep thy wits sharp, and do not give up hope. Whatever it may feel, it has been mere minutes since we entered this dream. Time in the unconscious mind is twisted every which way. Stay close by my side and we will end this.”

The slightest whisper of doubt drifted through Cadance’s thoughts, but they’d come this far. It was much too late to back out now. Her only option was to have faith.

Neither dreamer spoke or moved as Luna turned the ancient brass knob, green with age, and pushed open the heavy wooden door. Cadance held her breath, and felt her whole body tense with anticipation. What kind of creature could control dreams like this? What gave this ‘Queen Morphia’ power to rival that of the Princess of the Moon, and what did we do to draw her ire?

As Cadance’s head spun with the questions swirling around it, she got her first glimpse of what lay ahead. Following after her two companions, she stepped carefully through into the room beyond.

Her first impression was of serenity. Cadance’s eye was drawn immediately far up to movement near the ceiling. Stalactites hung there, dozens of them, strung with flower-laden vines like fairy lights. Each flower, white with wide petals and yellow cone-like stamen, was in full bloom, with no apparent concern for the time or lack of sunlight.

“Magnolias… how dare she…” Cadance barely caught the trailing whisper from Chrysalis as they both stood awestruck.

Among the hanging garden, countless fireflies flitted to and fro, filling the room below with the soft light from their ballroom as they danced together in an endless waltz.

Their gentle glow glinted here and there as it fell upon the desert below. Above Cadance stretched an enormous dune. Rather than grains of sand, it was made from an uncountable hoard of… well, this and that. Odds and ends, trinkets. She wasn’t sure how else to categorise the stupefying collection of objects that stretched before her.

As much of it was treasure as was trash, but none of it seemed well cared for. A rotting teddy bear considered Cadance with one baleful eye as she took it all in. She watched a glittering necklace of pearls slide down the dune and catch on the outstretched arm of a broken lyre. As Luna and Chrysalis picked their way carefully up the mountain of keepsakes, a cascade of baubles and knick-knacks slid down around them.

Shaking off a butterfly net that she’d caught her hoof in, Cadance hurried up the dune after her companions. Reaching the top, she saw sweat dripping down Luna’s furrowed brow as the lunar princess scouted across the mounds. The cavern seemed to go on forever, endless hills of forgotten junk. Here and there stacks of bookshelves, chests, and other furniture stuck out of a dune like palm trees around an oasis, or monuments celebrating an inscrutable history.

Everywhere overhead hung the haze of flowers, pollen, and fireflies, with fragments mirrored in the sentimental debris below.

Clambering up onto a wardrobe that seemed sturdy enough, Cadance cast about, searching for… something. She wasn’t sure what, but there had to be some sort of clue she could spot. Even if it was fruitless, she thought, it was better than standing about waiting to be led. Just as she finished forming that thought, something caught her eye.

Red curtains. Hung about something large and square. A bed she realised, a four poster. The kind of old musty thing you could find trying to decay privately in some dusty corner of Canterlot castle, or her own castle for that matter. When it was new, it could be the spitting image of the one she used to fantasise about as a filly. Before bleak, bright, shiny reality crushed innocent dreams of grandeur.

“Look!” she hissed to Chrysalis and Luna, gesturing with her hoof and trying not to fall from her perch on the wardrobe. “You said that this Morphia was asleep, surely a self proclaimed queen would want a grandiose place to sleep, what about that?”

“‘Tis surely our destination.” Whispered Luna, sounding out of breath. “I doubt time has dulled her ego like it has her treasures.”

Chrysalis scoffed quietly, dripping disdain.

“Are you fit to fly despite the change in form?” Luna asked the two dreamers, dropping her regal canterlot tone.

Cadance was caught off guard momentarily by her aunt abandoning the archaic mode of speech that she was known for, and hesitated before replying. “I think so.” Flapping the translucent, filmy insect wings of her dream form, she continued rhetorically, “How much harder could it be?”

Chrysalis sneered, though it seemed half hearted to Cadance, and said, “Don’t be too sure princess… It takes months of practice for my changelings to learn to fly with feathered wings, the method is completely different. How could you possibly know how to fly after spending a few hours in a changeling body?”

But Cadance could feel unfamiliar instincts telling her what to do as she reached out. Without speaking, she concentrated and listened to her body. Her dream body, she corrected herself mentally.

Cadance rose delicately from her perch on the rotting wardrobe. Hovering almost effortlessly, she smiled down at Chrysalis, proud of herself. It felt as natural as flying had always felt, even all the way back when she was just a lone pegasus filly in a village of earth ponies.

“How are you doing that?” Chrysalis snarled. “There’s no way a pony could possibly adapt that quickly.”

“I don’t know, I just… listened to my body, it seemed to know what to do.” Cadance shrugged.

“Preposterous…” Chrysalis grumbled. “It’s the dream, it’s letting you cheat.”

Without leaving room for anycreature to reply, the disgruntled changeling spread her feathered wings, and took off in the direction of the distant four poster bed. Luna flicked Cadance a nervous glance, before taking flight herself. For all her display of frustration, Chrysalis waited only a little way ahead, and the three flew together in agitated silence towards their goal.

Cadance’s heart rose in her throat as they flew. Anticipation pushed her to think of all the ways this could go wrong, steadily feeding her dread. The aching, throbbing fear in her head was left to run wild in the silence, and she couldn’t think of a single thing to say that wouldn’t sound vapid. Not that she dared to speak, even to cope with how she felt, it simply wasn’t safe. Luna looked as though she could lose her focus at any moment, and Cadance couldn’t bear the thought of being responsible for distracting her and ruining things if it came to that. It wasn’t just her neck on the line.

In no time at all the trio arrived at the crest of the dune upon which the once grand, timeworn four poster bed was perched. Cobwebs clung to the ruby red velvet, which somehow still held its sheen despite what looked like aeons of dust.

Luna landed first, managing to keep her balance despite the unstable collection that made up the junkpile. Chrysalis was right behind her. Neither were paying Cadance any heed as she approached. She took her time landing, wary of the potential cascade of trash that could be dislodged if she put her weight in the wrong place.

Her insectoid wings flickered, moving so fast they couldn’t be followed by the pony eye. Cadance thanked her lucky stars that some part of this ordeal was proving useful, she could never have hovered so delicately with her pegasus wings. Testing an upside down bathtub with gilt clawed feet, it seemed stable enough, and she landed, relieved to have finally made it. A short walk, a few more steps, and she could simply watch and wait. Luna would handle the rest, whatever it was that needed doing. It was too late to ask, and at this point, short of murder she felt she would condone practically anything to escape. Each dream seemed to take more out of her, and she felt as though she hadn’t slept in days. But it was nearly over.

Cautiously inching her way up to where the others were waiting, Cadance felt relief spring inside her. She knew it was too soon, that old adage about counting chickens before they hatch always rang true, but the idea of just… moving on from all this confusion and pain made her want to giggle and frolic like a foal.

As she caught up, she turned her attention from where she put her hooves to Luna. While Cadance had been occupied navigating the treacherous terrain of the dune, Luna had apparently drawn open the curtains of the bed, revealing what lay within.

Peering past the tall forms of the two alicorns, Cadance was only able to catch glimpses of whoever or whatever lay inside. Here a delicate white trunk, like a baby elephant, there a leg like an enormous pallid toad, and… something that might have been a crocodile’s tail.

After all this trouble, after everything she’d been through, the curiosity was too great. Cadance felt herself fall prey to it, too tired, wired, and excited to fight it wholeheartedly. She told herself it was too late for anything to go wrong, stretched to her full height and fought to get a clear look at the creature inside the canopy.

It still wasn’t quite enough to satisfy her. A lingering image of furry forelegs ending in clawed paws taunted her. She had to see more, she couldn’t bear it. There might not be another chance!

With that last thought leading her, Cadance buzzed her wings and placed a hoof on Chrysalis’ back to steady herself as she leant forwards over and between her companions.

For one glorious moment she had a perfect view of Morphia, self proclaimed Queen of Dreams.

Then it all came crashing down.

Chrysalis, startled by the unexpected contact from behind, nearly jumped out of her skin. The changeling half leapt, half spun, reacting automatically to some unknown threat, and beneath her the dune shifted ever so slightly. Her hooves slid on the debris, and acting on instinct, she reached out for the nearest thing to support herself with.

There was no sound as Chrysalis fell against the corner of the four poster bed. For a moment it seemed like it would support her weight, and then the trinkets underhoof betrayed her and she fell again. In spite of the enormous, carved wooden bulk of the bed, the dune did its duty, and the four poster began to slide.

Like a snowball rolling down a hill, the bed moved ponderously slow at first. Cadance felt her blood turn to ice, and clutched at the wooden bedframe with Luna. Chrysalis tried to right herself, tried to take her weight off the bed, but despite all their combined efforts it was too late. The four poster accelerated down the enormous dune.

“Fool!” Luna spat, glaring at Chrysalis as the changeling struggled to her hooves.

The universe held its breath as the bed raced to explode into splinters at the bottom. Time seemed to move like a glacier as Cadance watched. There was nothing else she could do.

At the last second, right before the inevitable eruption of shattered wood and torn velvet. Right before Morphia met some grisly fate, crushed in the wreckage at the bottom or impaled by broken timber. Right as Cadance felt she might die right then and there from shame and tension. Everything froze.

The showers of trinkets flowing down the dune after the bed hung suspended, so too did the thousands of soft white fireflies above.

A thundercrack split the air, and Cadance felt her stomach cartwheel as the world around her was rent asunder. For a fraction of a second everything in sight exploded into white light and the next fraction the dark void flooded in. Then the world reappeared, and somehow she was at the bottom of the dune. Cadance saw Luna and Chrysalis beside her, piled on top of each other, thrown there haphazardly like abandoned dolls.

Glancing up, she saw the four poster back on its perch at the top of the dune. A second later the curtains blew back as though a great gale was surging from within, and a harsh cackle echoed out over the dunes.

“Crude! Especially for you, Luna!” Morphia sneered. “You got this close and that was your best plan? Do they not let you handle knives after that whole ‘betraying everypony who ever loved you’ debacle?”

There was a telltale fizz of magic, and a moment later the creature Cadance had seen in the four poster appeared before them. Morphia.

The mismatched Queen looked down at her soon to be victims with a sultry smirk.

“For pity’s sake, why not pierce me through with that icepick of a horn and be done with it. Did a thousand years reduce your iron will to rust? What happened to the monster who once upon a time would hunt me til we were both bloody?”

The words came out almost in a singsong, as much a lullaby as a cryptic stab at Luna’s past.

Two ruby red eyes looked down at the trio, bemused, framed by a face very like that of an elephant. Her coat was white like sun bleached bone, and her body was… Cadance couldn’t think of it as anything other than a mess. Chaos even.

The front half of her body was almost like a ponies, but the legs were short and stumpy, ending in paws with long curved claws. Short, soft white fur covered everything from her waist up. Her broad ears twitched, betraying her cool demeanour. From her forehead jutted a horn like that of a unicorn, though rather than ending in a point, a large red crystal cut like a polished diamond was embedded in the tip.

The lower half of her body was… nearly amphibian. Pale white and ever so slightly pink toad’s legs hung awkwardly as she hovered, held aloft by her own magic. Her trunk was longer than her body, and her tail matched it, albino scales covering the long crocodilian bulk as it flicked angrily below her.

“You had me darling.” As Morphia spoke, the fury in her eyes shone through and pinned Luna in place. “Just like a thousand years ago when you sealed me away. But clearly one of us weathered the millennium better than the other.”

“Wait!” Cadance heard herself call out. “You’ve got it all wrong! We weren’t trying to kill you!”

Cadance saw Morphia glance down at her, faint surprise in her eyes, then the queen of dreams turned her piercing focus back to Luna.

In the singsong voice that one might use to talk to a foal, Morphia said, “Not now sweetheart, the grownups are talking,” and the red glow of her horn intensified. With the tip of her trunk she rapidly traced a trail of glowing red lines in the air, forming an intricate sigil. Completed, the sigil flashed once and then vanished, and Cadance felt an odd sensation flow across her face.

She clutched at her snout, realising there was only smooth skin where her lips ought to be. Panic set in immediately as she tried to scream and found that she couldn’t. The sound was muffled into almost nothing as she scraped frantically at the newly sealed skin on her face.

Turning back to Luna, Morphia sneered again, though it seemed halfhearted. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself Moonie dear?”

Luna glanced sympathetically at Cadance, then glowered up at the queen. Her armour clearly weighed on her, and she looked small and tired despite the grand and imposing design. Speaking through clearly forced calmness she said, “Cadance speaks the truth, we made no attempt on thy life. For all we have in common you made it clear a thousand years ago that neither compromise nor communication were possible. While you are free, Equestria cannot sleep safely. Thus I am forced to seal you away. History repeats itself.” She finished quietly.

Cadance was barely able to take all this in as she concentrated on slowing her breathing. She was vaguely aware of Chrysalis beside her demanding that she hold still. Squeezing her eyes closed, she shut out the world around her. Prodding at her lips with her magic, she thought she could feel the edges of the spell that had been cast on her. Then she found it, a thread of magic. It screamed painful red thorns into her mind when she touched it, and try as she might she couldn’t undo it or pull it loose. Panic surged again and she fought to swallow it down. This was a dream, this was just a dream. Morphia wasn’t playing by real world rules, surely she didn’t have to either, right?

She could sidestep the spell, find a loophole. If it was a dream, she could be anything and more importantly, do anything. Cadance concentrated as hard as she could on escaping the spell. It looked and felt like her lips had been melted, sealed shut. But that was just a trick played on her senses. Her lips were being held shut physically, so if she just… became intangible for a moment she could…

There was a sensation like falling, weightlessness. Cadance felt her body drift and flow like smoke, and a moment later she was gulping in air and staggering to her hooves. She realised she’d drifted a little distance away from Chrysalis and Luna, who were now staring at her wide eyed.

“My my, that one is full of surprises isn’t she?” Morphia said, bemused. There was a knowing tone in the strange creature’s voice that made Cadance’s skin crawl.

Her skin. Cadance glanced down at herself to find that she really was herself. Familiar pink fur, she’d never felt so relieved to see that colour. Not that she hated it, it just never exactly felt… right. She shook away the thought and turned back to Morphia, glaring intently.

“You won’t win this Morphia! You can’t control us, and you can’t kill us. We know your tricks and now we know your weakness, between the three of us we can handle anything you throw at us!” Cadance shouted up at the odd little creature. She knew it sounded foolhardy and shallow, she knew Morphia could see through her forced confidence. What mattered was that she stood up for herself, she was sure. She had to make it clear she wasn’t going to be easy prey. She had to fight.

As if reading Cadance’s mind, for the umpteenth time that evening Chrysalis did her best to skewer somecreature with her magic. The predictable toxic green bolt fizzled into nothing as it made contact with the magical aura Morphia shielded herself with, and Cadance felt a little pang of disappointment.

“You should listen to the pony. Whatever you are, a predator like yourself must know how dangerous cornered prey can be.” Chrysalis stood at her full height, at a glance Cadance could feel the genuine confidence radiating off her. “Even a pony can kill if sufficiently pushed, but I am not a pony. You’ve seen into my mind, you know what I am capable of. Let that temper your decision.”

For the first time since they were drawn together into this nightmare, the malice and cruelty projected by the changeling queen shook Cadance. This wasn’t an embarrassed, annoyed, or defensive reaction. She wasn’t trying to hide her real feelings, or push Cadance away. This was simply cold, calculating determination. The changeling queen would die fighting if she had to, of that Cadance had no doubt. She was glad that, even if it was temporary, Chrysalis was her ally.

Morphia said nothing, watching placidly as Cadance and Chrysalis made their proclamations in turn. Whatever she was thinking, she gave no trace of it away.

Turning to Luna, the cryptic mess of a queen spoke coolly. “And what say you, oh guardian of dreamers? Will you fight me to the last breath? Will you give everything you have left to defy me?”

Cadance wasn’t sure how to place the look that filled Morphia’s eyes as she spoke. Dreamy, but with a glittering intensity, she continued, eyes locked on Luna.

“Will you spill my blood one last time, in the name of your precious duty, oh knight of knights?”

Luna met her gaze, and Cadance had the distinct feeling of intruding on something that was none of her business as her aunt replied, her voice barely a whisper.

“If I must.”

The weariness of it seemed to drag the world down into the tow of its gravity. Somehow Luna stood adamant, and faced her age-old enemy unshaking. There was no question, only regret. Cadance got the sense that Luna had given up long ago on finding a better solution.

Morphia’s elephantine face lit up with a scowl. Visibility flushed, she turned away as she spoke, not bothering to hide her feelings.

“Duty! Always duty! You always had to be so holier than thou about everything Luna! I still don’t understand why you care so much about Harmony and protecting every one of those poor stupid ponies. You’re so much more. Together we could have done anything we wanted. Instead you’re trapped, held back by what that primordial hag set in motion. As if she was some beacon of goodness and purity, as if she knew what in tartarus she was doing. She did far, far, worse things than you or I ever did. Aeons of scheming and manipulation, but you and your lot act like she was some goddess.”

Morphia turned back to meet Luna’s gaze before continuing. “I never even really did that much damage! I never killed anyone. Neither did you! You stuck me up there, sealed in stone, and what good did it do you? Barely any time later your own sister pulled the same trick on you! Look what following Harmony got you, was it worth it Moonie?”

Luna said nothing. As the princess of the moon stared stoically up at her, Morphia seemed to buckle.

“Fine! Alright. So be it. I wasn’t going to kill them. Not all the way. They both have so much power, so much potential sitting there being squandered. It’s not as though these ignorant, inferior, ponies would miss a little bit of power.”

Chrysalis stepped forward, snarl on her lips, looking ready to go for Morphia’s throat at being called a pony. But before a single syllable could escape, a ruby red bubble was around the changeling. Cadance saw a vein bulge in the exiled queen’s neck as she visibly screamed and raged, but no sound escaped the bubble.

Turning back to address Luna, Morphia sighed. “If it really means that much to you, I can lay off. At least for a while… The world has changed a lot in a thousand years, there’s plenty of new ways to entertain myself I suppose.”

Rolling forward to float on her stomach just in front of Luna, Morphia continued, a hint of teasing in her tone. “Just don’t come to me with some sob story asking for help when either of these little accidents-waiting-to-happen melt down like you did and you have to deal with the fallout. Dear little Discord and I might both be a mess, but at least the hag knew what she was doing when she made us, more or less.”

Sighing again, Morphia finished. “Oh well, just give me a moment to wrap all this up and I’ll be on my way.”

Humming casually to herself, the self proclaimed queen pulled away and began drawing sigils in the air again. This time both her trunk and tail flashed through the air, almost blurring as they traced intricate patterns and symbols.

Still staring up at Morphia with the same blank look, Luna spoke, her tone dire. “Know that If I find you again, I won’t be able to give you another chance.”

There was that same gut wrenching flash to darkness as the world around them shifted again. Then Morphia scoffed. “Sweetheart if you ever see me again it’ll be because I want you to catch me.”

“Do be sure to keep an eye on that one though.” She said, nodding at Cadance. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Luna’s cool stare slipped, and she glanced at Cadance with a look of genuine astonishment and just a hint of disconcertion. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you could mean… Cadance is family. I’d trust her with my life.”

Morphia’s eyes went wide and she burst out in an abrupt half snort, half laugh. “Oh Moonie you’re not kidding are you? You let your fool of a sister turn her into an Alicorn and you don’t even know where she came from?” She laughed again, this time a full blown, genuine cackle.

Cadance felt her heartbeat pick up, and her stomach seemed to swim as she stepped forward in earnest. “What do you mean? What do you know about me?” She said, frantic as she saw this chance for information on her past about to slip away.

“Oh dearie, I’m so sorry, but it’s so much more fun if I let you find out for yourself.” Morphia held back laughter, barely suppressing her sadistic glee at whatever it was she wouldn’t tell. “Heredity’s no fun, take one look at me and you can tell I know what I’m talking about. Anyhow, I really don’t have all the answers you’re looking for sweetpea. You need to figure this one out for yourself.

“In any case, this has been a riot, but I think I better go before your young lady friend over there pops her top.” Morphia gestured with one clawed paw to Chrysalis, who was still raging despite the muzzle of silence placed on her by the red magic bubble.

“Ciao darlings” With a last playful look at Luna and a hiss of magic, Morphia vanished.

The red bubble popped, and Chrysalis fell to the floor, still ranting and cursing, but clearly nearly out of steam.

Cadance called out after the fading echo of Morphia, but she knew it was too late. She suppressed the urge to slump the floor and sob, and turned to Luna. She struggled to find the words. “Auntie… What did she mean?”

Luna could only give her an agonised look before shaking her head.

Before they could get any further there was a noise like a whole storm’s worth of waves crashing on a beach, and the endless grey nothing around them started rapidly fading to black.

“The dream...” Luna choked, then without further hesitation grabbed Cadance’s hoof and reached out to touch the still ranting form of Chrysalis. There was a momentary flash of blue light, and the trio was gone.

*****

“No! Wait!” Cadance shouted. The crystal princess flailed around, trying to find Luna or Chrysalis. But as her eyes adjusted to the light she realised she was alone, back in her bed, sitting up and clutching at nothing. The furniture of her study seemed so dead and unfriendly as it stared in disapproving silence at her outburst.

The early morning sun was like sharp claws raking against her horribly sleep deprived brain, and she lay back down, curled tight around herself and pulled the blankets up over her head.

Damn it all, she thought, as tears came unbidden and unrestrained. Her kingdom, her subjects. Right now even her family, as the loneliness of being unseen, and unheard crushed her. No one knew what she was feeling, and there was no one she could tell.

Moonbreeze had surely betrayed her trust. Luna… couldn’t help with this. Her husband wouldn’t understand. Celestia, right now she wasn’t sure what to feel about Celestia. Twilight would be even worse. What could she say to any of them in any case?

The only creature she felt she might have a chance of being understood by… she was gone. Back to wherever she was hiding. Cadance felt her heart might break as she lay with the thought that she would almost certainly never see Chrysalis again, and that even if she did, whatever the dreams had done to them… However Morphia had facilitated it, the common ground and understanding she’d created was just as likely gone. Never to return.

The questions raised by Morphia sat in her mind like heavy stones. Finding the dream-hopping ‘Queen’ when she didn’t want to be found would be almost impossible even with Luna’s help, of that she was certain.

Older questions she had buried long ago rose from their long-still graves. Who was her real family, where was she from, and why was she abandoned? For the first time in so many years there was some tiny flicker of hope that she might find all that out and maybe even more.

Apparently there really was something strange or special about her after all… Though trusting Morphia didn't seem like the wisest choice, given the circumstances.

It wasn’t much, but for the time being it would do. Right now, there was nothing left to do but sob, to let herself grieve and process. She knew that once she was done, she’d be able to pick herself up and move forward. There wasn’t any other choice.

For the first time since she was a filly she’d feign sickness. Just for today, the Crystal Empire would have to get along without her help.

Author's Note

First and foremost, I hope this chapter answers enough to satisfy, and asks enough to keep you curious!

Secondly! I hope you all like Morphia.

I'm not a regular reader of fanfiction, at least not usually. I read a little in 2016, and then reread all my old favourites and found quite a few new favourites in 2022. That's what inspired me to write my own stories, but I don't know how readers tend to take it when an author adds their own original characters. Well, I hope.

My intent is to keep this fic within bounds of believable, and my goal is to extend canon in a manner like the comics. I designed Morphia with that in mind, drawing on real world folklore and mythology in the same way the show and comics do for their villains.

Visually, Morphia is inspired by Nidra from Them's Fightin' Herds and Munna from Pokemon. I say visually but art is still something I need to put together for her. I'll be sure to post it once I've made some!

Thematically, she's drawing on the Baku from Japanese folklore, with a little bit of inspiration taken from Ancient Greek mythology. Her name specifically, I hope obviously comes across as an allusion to Morpheus, the god of sleep.

Setup, setup and more setup. Foreshadowing galore. I hope you're picking through these chapters with a fine toothed comb, dear readers. There are SO many carefully chosen words, metaphors, similes, and more in this chapter. I truly hope the mystery continues to draw you in as much as I find myself entangled in writing it.

One day everything will be answered, but in the mean time we trudge forward and build towards a finished work of fiction (or perhaps works? Time will tell).

Thanks again for reading, and triple thanks for bearing with me through this hiatus! We aren't totally out of the woods yet, but the trees are much less dense, and the road is in sight.

Hope to see you all again soon