Orpheus

The whole Night I spent searching for you within the four walls of Sleep. I sang a sweet Song of desire, the shining ebony walls parted, and my body floated above the bottomless floor of Sleep. Although my eyes were closed, I saw clearly every object clinging to its own nightspace, fearful that a random light shaft might loosen its grip, and it would fall down the vast vertical length of Night... I searched with hand and eye, the Eight Chambers of Sleep, avoiding only the fourth where creatures that hate humanity lurk in readiness. In two chambers I sensed your recent presence, traces of colors and sounds still came to my senses. In the awesome sobriety of this dark realm, I was intoxicated by this awareness. My resolve was as tight as a stretched bow, and the arrow of expectation was released. It showed me a path to the Fifth Chamber. No further magic flight aided me, I had to climb the high plateau of this immense chamber. An exhausted man reached the top, refreshed only by the ambiguous night air swirling around me. But you were not there... I slid down the opposite slope into the sloshy ground between ground between Chambers Six and Seven. In the turgid air, I saw our spiritual rival, MELATRON, sitting on a gold throne. Even in his disgrace, his beauty is startling. He knows me well enough, but he acknowledges only those who stoop to beg for his unholy help. Your image shining in my mind, swelling in my heart, gave me strength, and I left him in his regal solitude. I arrived at the hinterlands of the Eighth Chamber and witnessed a dire sight: a burning lake or river sent columns of fire into the blank sky, sucking out breathable air. I knew my journey was over, my quest for you, once again frustrated. But do not be sad for me: every step I take brings me closer to you, and in time you too will take a Night Journey toward me. We may, on one of these nights which stretch before us without end, cross paths in a paroxysm of Joy.