Where Dreams Would Go (Part 1)

As we all know, many American comic book editors share the same approach: when they don't know how to express an abstract concept, they concretize it into a human character, allowing it to appear in the comic book in human form and giving it a human personality.

Conversely, if they don't know how to motivate an ordinary person to participate in something, they will add divinity to his character, the so-called "savior complex".

"Human God" and "Divine Man" are two Eternity themes in American comics, and Morpheus "Sandman," happens to be one of the former.

To understand his origins, we must begin with the Endless.

The Endless is a fictional concept that has been given a human form and human personality traits, resulting in characters created from it.

There are seven members in this family, each representing a different element: dream, death, Destiny, despair, desire, madness, and destruction.

These concepts are invisible and intangible in real life, but they have a fixed image in comics, and each even has its own responsibilities and personality.

The Sandman, or the Dream God, is the Morpheus who is now standing before Schiller.

As is also well known, conceptual beings are generally very strong. Unlike superheroes whose strength is determined by their combat achievements, these conceptual characters are powerful enough just by their attributes.

Sandman Morpheus, is the master of all dreams. Morpheus was born when the first being in the universe entered a dream. He can create a dream of a thousand cats to replace reality, or to make people's lives like their dreams.

Unlike Marvel, which often emphasizes the powerful conceptual beings or the differences in their fields of expertise, DC Comics prefers to highlight their unique personalities. For example, Sandman Morpheus is actually the most dedicated of the seven members of the Endless, second only to Destiny.

As mentioned in the comics, he is extremely careful in fulfilling his duties. Despite possessing immense power, he has never allowed it to cause trouble. He is also rather aloof, has few friends, and often gets lost in philosophical contemplation.

Because his domain was not closely related to the domains of other members of the Endless, he always appeared very mysterious. He had countless externalized images, but he always only showed one or two of them. In most cases, he was a pale and thin man with dark blue hair, wearing Cloak made of black night.

The person who appeared before Schiller was the same. Of course, it is more likely that everyone sees Sandman differently, and he is what each person thinks he is. Schiller's memory was of Morpheus the comics, so he presented this appearance.

The original book also mentioned that the first Sandman Morpheus was capricious, but now he has clearly gone beyond that and seems to be in a state of exasperation.

He stared at Schiller with his gleaming eyes, then said in a hoarse voice, "Why did you connect your dream to my Dreamscape, and then put a..."

His expression at that moment was hard to describe, which was actually quite strange, because even if such a concept exists, people don't really express their emotions as obviously as ordinary humans do. Moreover, Morpheus has always been rather introverted, but now you can see disgust, aversion, confusion, bewilderment after being woken up, and anger at his home being a mess all at the same time on his face.

Speaking of the Dreamscape, it's not hard to understand. Each member of the Endless has their own unique domain, in which they are almost omniscient and omnipotent. The God of Sleep's domain is called the Dreamscape, which is a name that sounds somewhat dreamy. But at this moment, after being splashed with excrement, it's hard to say whether the Dreamscape can still fit this dreamy style.

"Before you asked me that question, I had many questions for you," Schiller said, looking at Morpheus. "I think you're already prepared to answer them, aren't you?"

"Don't tell me you know nothing about my situation."

"Get that madman out of my house first," Morpheus emphasized again. "Do you know what he's done in the Dreamscape???"

"I can imagine that I feel very sorry and deeply sympathetic."

Morpheus looked at Schiller, and Schiller looked at Morpheus. Neither of them was willing to give in. Fortunately, they were in a dream, and time was the one thing that was never lacking in a dream.

Perhaps the Joker had truly committed some heinous act, or perhaps Morpheus himself was somewhat interested in Schiller; in the end, he gave in first, saying, "What do you want to ask?"

"I must tell you first that there are many things I know that I cannot describe to you humans. The world is different in our eyes."

"Of course, of course, I know very well..." Schiller reached out a reassuring gesture, then gestured for Morpheus to sit on the sofa opposite him.

The globe on the table behind him was spinning, but this time, he wasn't wearing a globe head; instead, he appeared as a normal human being, just like in real life.

"Before I ask my questions, I think you must have some doubts, such as why I wanted to contact you and how I found you."

Schiller appeared relaxed, as if he were facing an old friend rather than a powerful enemy. He explained to Morpheus, "You can control all dreams, which means you can read all my memories, including those in the surface and deep consciousness spaces. So, I don't think I need to go into too much detail about my origins."

"Actually, I had my doubts as early as when I first experienced some changes in my dreams, because I knew that this place was completely different from the world I originally lived in. All the concepts here are controlled by you, by certain concepts, or rather, by deities,"

"This sounds incredible, but it actually makes it easier for me to reason, because if a problem arises in a certain field, you can always find the person in charge of it."

"For example, if something always happens while I'm asleep, who else can I turn to besides the Sandman?"

"Of course, I know that the areas you control are crucial to this universe, so it's understandable that you're too busy to explain certain details to me. But that's alright. Since you won't come to talk to me, I can just go to your door and ring your doorbell..."

Morpheus's face was extremely pale. Although he had always been pale, anyone could see that his expression was very unnatural. He said, "Is this how you knock on the door? Letting a madman who is not controlled by dreams, or rather, who even dreams cannot understand, into my house???"

Morpheus's voice had a strange rhythm, somewhat like a singer performing an aria. He said, "You have no idea how dangerous your actions are. He almost created a huge hole in the Dreamscape. Luckily, I woke up in time to stop him. If he had succeeded, the creatures of the Dreamscape would have escaped..."

Morpheus shook his head and said, "All my work over the past ten thousand years will be for naught, and I may have to spend another ten thousand years making up for this accident."

"This was just an experiment on my part." Schiller didn't shirk responsibility, but continued, "You have to understand, I'm just an ordinary human being. I don't know how loud a doorbell has to be to wake you conceptual beings..."

"So you just went for the loudest one??"

"That's right. When something happens frequently in my dreams, I know who I'm looking for, and the next step is figuring out how to find you."

"I believe that since you are the Dream God, you must control the dreams of everyone in this world, including mine. The One question is, how exactly do you control these people's dreams?"

"I know very well that there is absolutely no Shade of you in my surface consciousness space. I have a strong control over my surface consciousness space, including building a 330-plus-story Mind Palace here, evolving countless personalities as residents, and constructing many domains with special rules. My control over this place is meticulous. I am very certain that no outsiders live here."

"So, I guess you must be in a deeper level of consciousness."

"However, in order to build my Mind Palace, I laid a very solid foundation for my surface consciousness, which led to a very awkward situation. I couldn't pry open this foundation on my own. It's as difficult as asking someone to step on their right foot and fly into the sky in the real world."

"So, when I discovered a miraculous drug that could affect human dreams, I had this idea. I asked a friend to mix certain liquids together to create a kind of wine that could connect with human dreams..."

"Then I invited my friends into this space of consciousness, and with the help of another psychologist, I dug through the foundation of the surface consciousness, allowing Jack to jump into my deep consciousness, and then dig downwards..."

"Actually, before you appeared, I wasn't sure if digging to the bottom would lead to your Dreamscape, but now it seems my guess was right..."

"Reality and dreams are two sides of the same coin. If the highest point of my Mind Palace is 'reality,' then the lowest point of my deepest consciousness should be your Dreamscape."

"The reason I woke you up with a doorbell is because I hope you can answer my question..."

Schiller looked at Morpheus and said, "What exactly is this thing that keeps happening in my dreams?"

"If I don't answer, are you going to let that annoying doorbell keep ringing?"

"Don't say that," Schiller waved his hand and said, "Just as you can't control him, I can't control him either. Although I made a tiny, insignificant deal with him, I can't control where he wants to go."

"Then let me ask it another way..." Morpheus's tone was always somewhat indifferent, or rather, it was the kind of resistance to communication that is unique to autistic and withdrawn people.

"If I answer your question, you'll have a way to get rid of him, right?"

"That's exactly right."