i_weavedreams A Hope in Hell [Part 1]
Who: Kyle Rayner, and Morpheus (Special guest appearance by Nada) What: Unfinished Business Where: The Dreaming, The Gates of Hell, The Wood of Suicides, and the City of Dis When:: Before Desire's 'Gift' Note: This log was over 18 pages in MS Word.
[Kyle]: He knew that he had to sleep that night, but never before had it been so hard for his mind to drift off to slumber. Kyle was tired, that much was for sure. After his 'dream' that morning he'd gone to work and tried to act as if everything was normal, but that facade had been hard, to say the least, and exhausting to keep up.
He'd been too nervous to eat anything for the day either other than a small bag of chips. None of his normal caffeine was running through his system. Poor Frank had been awfully confused when Kyle walked through the store on his way back to his apartment in the evening without stopping for coffee. Instead, he'd gone straight upstairs, put his things away, and sat down in bed.
It was three hours later now, 11:30. Kyle was on his back, eyes drooping though not even under the covers, just continuously pondering exactly what was in store for this night. Hell. How many people got to say that they were going to visit hell for a night...
...and possibly not come back.
[Morpheus]: Dream was waiting for him when Kyle arrived on the Shores of the Dreaming. It wasn't long after the Lantern had laid down that a light sprinkle of sand had helped him into the Dreamlord's realm.
The monarch himself was standing in the sand. He didn't look the type to stand barefoot on the shoreline, but with the black cloak swirling around his feet, who could ever know what was beneath? Perhaps there was no separation between Dream and the realm his controlled - it was simply an extension of his self, which he was occasionally able to physically part from.
Who knew? Dream did, of course, but he wasn't about to tell anyone.
He extended a hand to Kyle, to help him up. "Are you ready to go?"
[Kyle]: The travel was just as it had been that morning. Quickly; Kyle didn't even realise the instance in which it had happened. He just knew that one minute he'd been in his room, and now he was here. Completely suited up, sans mask, and ring on his finger as it always was. Dream's question almost startled him though he'd been staring at the Dream Lord ever since opening his eyes.
Kyle took the offered hand and stood up, looking around before taking a breath. "I am."
[Morpheus]: Dream nodded. His hand slipped inside his robes, and he withdrew from them a strange looking mask. A helmet, a crown, made from the bones of a dead god. Morpheus's sigil of power, as the ankh was to Death. "Then, let us go."
The helm was placed on his head, and Dream moved a hand, opening a hold in the air beside them. "The way to Hell lies within nightmares, Rayner. You would do well to stay close to me ."
The portal didn't wait for them to move into it; it closed over them where they stood, and the landscape turned black around them.
[Kyle]: Kyle nodded. He certainly wasn't planning on straying away from Dream, not here in some land he didn't know. And... definitely not if they were going to be walking through nightmares. He almost shuddered to think what that would entail.
Watching as Dream pulled things from his robes, Kyle wondered if tonight the other man would be in the mood for questions. It was quite possible that he'd used up all of his questions during their first meetings.
"What are those for?" Kyle asked after a moment of thinking. He was pointing to the items Dream held.
[Morpheus]: The Dreamlord smiled a bit. "These are the tools of my trade. You possess a ring, which grants you the powers of a Lantern. I possess my sand bag, and my helm. Tools of a different sort, but tools nevertheless. They are also my regalia, and the physical symbols of my rule."
There were shapes in the darkness, shapes without form. Tendrils, whisps, and an oozing sludge-like material seemed to reach for them, only to shy away again when Morpheus's dark eyes passed over them.
There were whispers. Voices. Voices from the past, whispering hundreds of cruelties, terrifying thoughts. Behind them, a hulking shape of stale and rotting dreams began to take form, and lumbered after them.
[Kyle]: It was the kind of place that made him want to shudder and possibly walk away from. But he didn't have that option. Kyle knew he'd agreed to this, he wondered why, slightly, but he had. So he'd do his best to see it through. Even with the unpleasant whispers and voices. He didn't know what to do about those.
"How long until we reach the gates?" They were going towards the gates of Hell, right? Seemed to be the only thing to call them.
Kyle looked around, trying to find the source of all the misery (besides the obvious fact of them being in a land of nightmares) but couldn't find anything distinct. It was maybe a little worrisome, but he was trying to stay cool, calm, and collected.
[Morpheus]: For Morpheus himself, the descent would have gone much faster. But traveling through dreams was a much more delicate feat for mortals, whose minds were so much more frail. "That would strongly depend on how well you fare. There are few I would even risk bringing along this path."
Behind them, the dream creature continued to approach. After a moment more of struggling to follow, one tendril of an ochre ooze slid from it, and swiftly encircled the young mortal's ankle.
[Kyle]: "Well. Guess that makes me sp--" Kyle stopped when suddenly he blinked and realised that he was back in New York. Dream was nowhere to be seen.
Something hit him in the stomach before he even had a chance to look around and he fell hard to the ground. His head hit something soft, but instead of looking back he instinctively held up his ring hand, looking to gaurd himself from whatever was attacking. There was a small problem though, his hand was lacking a ring. When a giant green fist knocked his stomach again, Kyle knew why.
He'd lost the ring. He scrambled up off of the ground, coming face to face with a tall, muscular, black woman with long hair and... were those pointed ears? Kyle didn't have time to examine them, because next thing he knew, he was on the ground again.
"Your turn..." she said, and Kyle tried to look up at her again. "Bet your girlfriend's missing you, so I'd better make this fast." She raised her hand again, green ring glowing.
Kyle spared a quick glance to the side, confused as to what she'd been talking about. The mystery was solved quickly, and with only a flash of a lifeless green body to confirm it. "...oh God, Jennie?"
[Morpheus]: Morpheus turned at a sudden sound, and Kyle was gone. Vanished. But the sulking form of rotted dreams was trying to slink back into the shadows. "RAYNER!"
Dream's eyes flashed, and the creature flinched in sudden pain. In an instant, it was unmade, and Morpheus was moving through the Dreaming. He found the Lantern quickly enough, and grasped the young man by the arm, dispelling the shroud of the nightmare that had covered him. It resisted, but the King of Dreams was able to pull the Lantern out of the nightmare regardless. Once they were free, the rogue dream was easy to destroy.
"Are you alright?"
[Kyle]: Kyle felt a hand grab his arm and for a moment was convinced that it was the woman with his ring. He hadn't yet figured out a way to get it back, mostly because he couldn't concentrated on formulating a plan when Jennie was dead. He'd managed to ease his way over to her body and he'd laid his hands on her, but nothing.
The woman laughed, completely unihibited, but he just didn't know what was to be done. Without the ring, he could do nothing and unless he did something he was going to--
"Are you alright?"
"What...?" Kyle jumped back slightly and took in his surroundings. New York was gone. "What the hell was that? Where's Jennie?"
Dyan at work: "That," Morpheus stated, simply, "was a nightmare."
He took stock of the young man. Apart from being frightened, he seemed alright. But it was better to hear it from the boy himself.
"Are you able to go on?"
[Kyle]: "I..." Kyle had to look around once more, just to assure himself that New York had really gone. He took a deep calming breath once assuring himself that everything was back to normal. "I can, yeah. She... took my ring. Sorry, it's never happened before." He rubbed the ring on his right hand just to confirm again that it was snuggly around his finger. He wouldn't have gone on without it.
[Morpheus]: Morpheus eyed him warily, but then turned and raised a hand. Let mortals heed their own ways. There was a flash of light, and he spoke. "Desist. Stop this foolishness. I will stand for no more."
The voices, the whispers, the shuddering of the landscape stilled, and then began to withdraw.
Forgive us, Lord came the new sounds, subserviant, submissive. Apologies, Master.
Morpheus gave them no heed. He turned his head to regard Kyle. "Prepare yourself for the final descent," he warned. "If you have armor, now is the time for it."
[Kyle]: Ah. So Dream had been waiting until after he got pulled into a nightmare to warn him about armour. Yes... that made sense.
Kyle paid attention to the instructions though, using his ring to create extra green plating around his uniform. It was the best he'd be able to do for the time being, until he knew exactly what was going to come at him.
"So, you can control the nightmares?" Kyle asked, conversational like as he tried to control his nervousness.
[Morpheus]: "Of course," Dream replied. "I am Dream."
As if that explained everything. Which, to him, it did. He didn't see the nightmares as a threat, because he was their overlord and master. They were, in essence, merely an extension of his will. He had created them.
[Kyle]: Kyle just shook his head. Might have explained everything to Dream, but Kyle was still wondering about the ins and outs of the whole thing. The details. But he didn't want to essentially ask the same question twice. So instead he moved on to something just as pressing.
"This mission we're on... A key, right? That's all we're looking for?"
[Morpheus]: Morpheus shook his head. "No. The Key is but one of our missions. We are also to find and retrieve the horns of the Morningstar."
He was beginning to see it, through the blackness the were falling through. Falling into nothingness so absolute one could scarcely tell it was falling. But the way into Hell was always a Fall.
It occured to him then that Kyle might not be aware of who the Morningstar was. "Lucifer. The one you call Satan."
[Kyle]: On that note, Kyle halted. A perfectly normal reaction really, when one found out that not only were they grabbing the keys to hell, they were also taking something that belonged to the Devil himself.
Kyle was pretty much a good Catholic raised boy, so that actively searching for something of the Devil's did not sound like such a good idea to him, should not have been a surprise to Dream. "Are you and the Morningstar... friends?"
[Morpheus]: Morpheus halted as well, to consider the question and his response. "No," he said, finally. "But, in this case, the enemy of my enemy is certainly my enemy."
He faced Kyle. "The Morningstar has certain leverage which he has chosen to hold against me. In exchange, I have promised to retrieve his horns."
It was a bit more complicated than that, but the rest of the story was all political bollocks. Nada was the true reason behind what they were doing. Nada was the reason Dream was willing to brave the hoardes of Hell.
[Kyle]: "Oh," Kyle said. He paused only briefly to wonder if asking what this leverage was would be considered impolite. He supposed that, being the devil after all, this leverage could be any number of things. Both beings had probably been around for millenia. That was a long time and probably a lot of secrets to gather.
Kyle hoped it wasn't some particually damning information. Like news that Dream killed people in their sleep. It was understandable that he wouldn't want something like that getting out to the general populace. It was kind of...
Whoa. So completely tangental there, it wasn't even funny. He amazed even himself sometimes. 'Ask the damn question, Rayner...'
"What's he got against you?"
[Morpheus]: Morpheus shot a look at the young Lantern, a look so blank and so black at the same time it nearly turned to ice between them. Then he turned away, and they landed.
Rather suddenly. From one instand to the next, the ground was missing, and then it was there. For Dream, he landed solidly, feet striking the blasted ground, creating a few cracks and fissures from the impact.
The gates stood before them, and Morpheus's stone expression examined them. They were shut, but not barred. The metal, forged by no heat man could ever hope to produce, had been twisted and pulled like taffy.
"A woman," Dream answered. "Ten thousand years have I loved her, and ten thousand years has she been imprisoned behind these gates." His head dropped a bit, eyes downcast, in sudden shame for what he had done to her. "Her name is Nada."
[Kyle]: Well. It was nice to know that Dream was a normal guy, at least.
On the other hand... he was being dragged down to Hell because the Devil was holding some woman hostage? Granted, Dream had been in love with this woman for a good nine thousand nine hundred and seventy seven years longer than Kyle had been alive, but still...
All this fuss over a woman?
She had better be some woman. For this? Flowers needed to bloom where she stepped. Birds should sing her praises in their songs. Nymphs...
Ah, more tangents. This time expanded upon by the ring. Though once Kyle fully took the time to look at the gates, the green nymphs disappeared. These were the gates to Hell after all. It wasn't everyday that one got to stand here and be in awe of them.
"So. Do we knock? Ask to borrow a cup of sugar and brimstone?"
[Morpheus]: Morpheus glanced at the nymphs, watching them from the time they appeared to the moment they vanished. Then his eyes turned towards Kyle.
"We certainly do not. That would attract more attention." He was looking over the gates caretully. "The enchantments are coming undone. They will not be able to resist much." He looked at Kyle. "Open them."
[Kyle]: "You want me to..." He looked at Dream. Okay, no Dream didn't look like he was joking. He wanted Kyle to open the Gates to Hell. He really hoped he made it back so he could tell Jennie about this one.
He nodded finally and turned back towards the doors. He wasn't sure exactly what he was meant to do here to open the doors. Just pull? It didn't hurt to try.
He didn't think it wise to touch the doors. Kyle didn't know why, something just told him not to. Maybe it was his paranoia rearing its ugly head again. It didn't particualy matter though, he had the ring.
It was easy enough for him to create two very large hands which he put in charge of grabbing the doors. With a jerk he pulled at the doors, hoping that Dream was prepared for whatever might be behind them.
[Morpheus]: Morpheus was well prepared for what was behind those gates. He had counted on it, staked both their lives on it, and he had been correct.
Nothing.
Not a soul. Not a single demon. Nothing but more of the blasted landscape, with some fallen pillars and splinters of wood.
The Dreamlord gave Kyle a nod, and stepped inside Hell. "The wars have begun," he said. "They would have fought here first. But by now they should have been driven back into the inner circles." His gaze went left, then right. "Raise the Gates behind us, Lantern. Make it so no soul can leave without your say. Then, through the Wood of Suicides, and we shall find the Key."
Dream had a feeling he knew where to find the horns. But if there was a hope in Hell, he hoped it would not come to that. The Key and Nada would come first.
[Kyle]: Kyle did so. And it was surprisingly easy. Easier than he thought it should be. He created a giant animated looking padlock and intertwined it inbetween the handles before locking it. It all glowed a low green. Anyone would be able to tell that it wasn't your ordinary lock and upon trying to open it they'd find themselves very unable. The form of the key was in Kyle's head, and only he could use the ring to draw it out.
And, though it might have seemed silly, he used glue. He wasn't above using childish or cartoonish tactics in his crime fighting and the same applied here. They worked so what was the point of not? Green glue was brushed into the crack between the two doors and then Kyle stepped back to look at his work.
"That should do it," he said, glancing over at Dream. He hadn't looked at him while he was working, just to keep from being distracted. "Do you think... anything else?"
[Morpheus]: Dream shook his head. "It will suffice." He approved of the glue. Locks could be broken, but the glue would hold as long as Kyle imagined it would.
Without saying anything further, Dream led the way to the Wood of Suicides. Dream remembered it as a grove, dozens of trees with the souls that hung from them, wailng in their plights. Nowadays, it resembled a forest.
There was no way to walk straight through. The wood was too thick. Every few steps had Morpheus changing course, diverting around this or that. He ignored the sobs of the damned. They had chosen this fate for themselves.
[Kyle]: It seemed appropriate to be quiet when walking through such a place as this, especially once Kyle realised that everything was rather literal down here. Wood of Sucides really meant what it said. He could only assume that the cries heard were people who'd commited suicide.
"It really is a mortal sin, then," he muttered, mostly to himself, though there was no doubt that Dream would hear.
This wasn't the kind of thing you were supposed to have validated. Not before you died, anyway.
[Morpheus]: "The soul is never able to confess and repent for the final sin of murder," Morpheus stated as they walked. "Thus, it can never be cleansed. They knew this when they chose to take their lives."
Perhaps it was cold of him to think so, but it seemed rather stupid of them. Their Creator had given them a list. Ten things he asked of them. That was all. When they break a rule, they were sent here. They were even given the option of being forgiven, but chose not to take it. No, he wouldn't have compassion. The damned were so by their own doing.
They came to a clearing or sorts. There was a ten-pace break in the trees, and then a smaller grove was within. The trees were white, twisted, and hanging upside-down from each one was a soul, wailing in misery, in a cacaphony. At the center of this was a much larger tree, the bark once white but long since stained with the blood that ran from it. There were no less than thirty hanging from the branches, wailing soundlessly from tongueless mouths.
It was to this tree that Morpheus strode. The souls hanging from the branches reached for him, but the fabric of his cloak slid away from their touch like smoke.
[Kyle]: "That's horrible," Kyle said simply, looking around at the souls of the trees they'd approached. "Isn't the point of suicide to find something better after death?" He looked around again and shook his head.
"Some people don't even believe in that creator, what happens to them?" He followed Dream towards the tree, trying to avoid any souls around him.
[Morpheus]: Dream looked back at him. "Why don't you ask them if this existence is better than what they had in life?" He motioned toward the tortured souls. "Some may feel that way. Others were possibly misguided. Many accepted a permanent solution to a temporary problem. They all chose their fates, in the end."
At the roots of the bloodied tree, Morpheus kneeled. His hand touched the bark, and he concentrated. After a moment, the white hand passed through the trunk of the tree, disappearing halfway to the elbow. "It depends on their faith, Lantern. If they have willfully rejected their Creator, there is a Circle within for blasphemers. Have you not read the Comedy of Dante Alighieri?"
Then his fingers closed around something. A something that was metal, and thick. A shudder ripped through the entire Realm, and all the souls therein cried out simultanuously.
Dream withdrew his arm, now coated in blood, and the Key glowed red-hot in his hand.
[Kyle]: "No, I--" Kyle had been prepared to inform Dream that no, he had not read Dante's Inferno. Though perhaps if this was to be his life, and he was going to find himself associating with people such as Dream who wanted to take him to places like Hell, then it was a book he should think about investing in.
But none of that got out, because when the screams rang out around him he stopped, throwing his hands up to his ears. The cries were harder to listen to than the initial wails on their journey through had been. He wondered if they were truly meant for any human to actually hear.
When Kyle finally brought his hands down he noticed Dream and what he was holding. He hesitated to move closer, staring at his arm mostly covered in blood. The key looked dangerous to touch. "Is that it?"
[Morpheus]: "Yes."
Morpheus looked up. The sky, already a dreary grey to begin, was starting to change to a pink. Soon it would become rose. Then red. Then crimson, as the hoards drew closer to them. "Time will move against us now," he said, rising to his feet. He wanted to open his hand and ease the burning on his skin, but he dared not. Instead, he folded the Key into the abyss of his robes. But he knew it could not stay there long. Hidden in dreams, the Key would only disrupt his realm, and damage the fabric of the Dreaming. "Follow quickly."
Using the cloak, he reached into the Dreaming and took from one a pair of wings, fitting them to his own form. Morpheus beat the wings, hard, and began to ascend, slapping at the hands of the souls who reached for him. Over the tops of the trees he could see the mountains of Dis, and the black cells cut into the cliffside.
[Kyle]: Kyle briefly wondered how Dream knew he'd be able to fly, but stopped as... well, it was rather obvious how. The guy seemed to know everything.
He waisted no time in taking off into the sky after Dream and following the wings in front of him took little effort. His eyes could afford to leave the wings momentarily to stare at the ominous looking hills in front of them. They didn't bode well at all.
Time moving against them didn't seem like good news either. Kyle was more than ready to finish what they'd come to do. They had the key, now, he assumed, they needed the girl.
[Morpheus]: Morpheus flew along the cliffside until he dropped, rather suddenly, onto the thin ledge in front of a cell. They were little more than holes cut into the side of the mountain, with bars made of bone and tied with skin. There was a figure in there, huddled into the back of the cave. At the sound of the wings, Nada looked up, and crawled towards the bars.
"Kai'ckul?" she called, in a voice that was hoarse. "Is that you, my love?"
Dream bowed his head. The wings slipped back into his cloak, and he placed a hand upon the bars of her cell. "Nada. My Queen."
Dark-skinned hands reached through the bars, ignoring the abrasions they gave her skin, and she clasped his hand. "Dreamlord! I hoped one day you would come to me. Have you come at last? Only your forgiveness can free me, Lord!"
He caught her hands, held them, and stroked his thumbs along the wasted flesh. "I... I forgive you, Nada."
At his words, the bone bars melted away. The woman, a wasted and tortured thing, fell against him when they vanished under her. Dream caught her by the arms, and by the time he helped her to stand, the flesh and form had been renewed. It was a beautiful woman who stepped back from him, with raven hair and skin like chocolate.
Above them, the sky was steadily deepening in color, and there was the sound of thunder on the horizon, moving closer.
[Kyle]: Now they had the girl. But it seemed having the girl pleased no one else in the area but them. Things were turning dark and sounds were brewing.
Kyle didn't bother Nada with pleasentries. Nor did he stop and gawk as he might have done had he passed her on the street. Though he'd never passed a woman that stunning on the street (besides Jennie, of course).
But he didn't feel as if they had time to exchange greetings and he certainly didn't have the time to gawk.
He turned to Dream instead, choosing to just nod at Nada. He really, really hoped that she was worth the trouble he sensed they could get into. "Should it have been that easy?" It looked a simple task at least.
[Morpheus]: Morpheus glanced at the Lantern, but it was Nada who answered. "If it was that simple, he might have done it ten thousand years ago." Her hand brushed the Dreamlord's face, pushing black strands of hair from his eyes. "Forgiveness is never simple."
She looked up at the skies, and then at Dream. "Kai'ckul?"
"They come for me," he said. "Not for you." He glanced at Kyle, as the wings returned from under his cloak. "Can you fly with Nada?" he asked. "They will be coming for the Key. And to settle an old score."
He had insulted a demon under Beelzebub, after all. Insulted them all, and walked out of Hell with his relics, while not a soul was so much as able to meet his eyes. Demons didn't forget slights like that.
[Kyle]: She looked to be the carpet type. So Kyle provided Nada with a green flying carpet. It was safer and easier than trying to grip her while he concentrated on going wherever Dream would direct them.
"Step on," he directed her. "Don't worry... you won't fall off." He looked at Dream. "Where am I going?"
[Morpheus]: "Back towards the Gates," he said. "As quickly as you can manage. Let her out, and then find me." His voice quieted. "I imagine my location will not be hard to track, from the noise."
Nada looked like she was going to protest, but Dream silenced her with a brush of a kiss against her lips. Then, with a few powerful flaps from his wings, he ascended, and flew in the opposite direction from the Gates, to lead the Hoards away.
[Kyle]: Kyle wanted to protest too. Just to at least ask him if he was sure he wouldn;'t need help immediately. But he was gone before the question could even form on his lips.
He watched Dream fly into the air for a split second before turning slowly back to Nada. "Come on. He's probably right about that whole quickly thing." They both had to know he'd been right, but hey, this was a way to start conversation anyway.
He took off, and by the power of the ring, she was close by his side.
[Nada]: Nada still looked unsure, but she settled onto the carpet with the grace of a Queen. "Thank you, sir," she said. Worried, yes. But Kai'ckul was of the Endless. Surely he would be alright. Surely? Concern was etched on her face as they flew. Nada did not take the opportunity to view her surroundings. She'd seen enough of Hell to last a a thousand lifetimes.
But the green glow on the Gates surprised her. She recognized it as belonging to the young man escorting her, and she glanced over at him. "It is a strange magic that you have."
A roar filled the air. Helpless not to, Nada looked back towards the sky, and she gave a small cry. High above, the scarlet cloud was surrounding a black speck.
[Kyle]: He could have gone into the 'it's not magic, it's an alien technology' speil, but it turned out not to be the time.
Kyle looked back too when Nada did, and everything halted. They simply floated in mid air for the moment. He knew Dream had told them to go straight towards the gates, and Kyle had had every intention of doing that. As soon as...
"No." He shook his head and looked down to Nada, almost for her approval. "We should keep going."
[Morpheus]: Nada nodded. "Quickly," she said. They could not, shoud not incur Kai'ckul's wrath. "Move quickly, and help him. Please."
High above, Morpheus was beating his wings to stay in the air. It wasn't the only means of flight he had available to him, but for now, it best suited his purpose.
The demons surrounded him, Beelzebub and Azazel in the lead, the remainind diarchy of Hell. "You have the Key, Dreamlord," Azazel said, his voice carrying over the din of the hoards. "Hand it to us, or we will take it from you."
"You will do nothing of the sort," Dream replied. "I hold what was left for me by the King you have discarded. Even Hell has laws, and these shall be followed."
"Thiiiivesss ssspeak with ssssssuch brasssss," buzzed Beelzebub. "You entered Hell assss a ssssssspy, Morpheusssss. Sssssuch a thing isssss unbecoming."
"Damned souls, and damned fools." Morpheus drew a sword from his cloak, a shining and glowing thing, and looked over the creatures surrounding him. "Strike me down, and you shall never recover it." As he looked them over, his eyes flickered towards the green glow of the gates, waiting for Kyle to complete his task.
[Kyle]: He brought down the green glow just for a very quick moment so that they could both pass through. There was an infinately safer feeling on the other side of these gates, but Kyle knew he had to go back.
He set Nada down, leaving her under the over of some trees by the gates. She had to be alright. It would be a shame to see her heart after they'd gone through all that trouble. "We'll be back... soon, I hope."
Kyle nodded at her and quickly put the precautions back up on the gates. From there it was a swift flight back towards the pink tinged sky.