"I don't exactly know how you got here."
Morpheus's first sentence caused Shiller to frown, but he could sense that Morpheus wasn't lying.
If such conceptual beings truly do not wish to speak, no one can force them to. Although throwing the Joker into someone's house is somewhat annoying, it does not reach the level of threat. Since Morpheus chose to speak, it indicates his willingness, thus there's no need to lie further.
"But the moment you arrived here, we spotted you."
"You guys? Who else is there apart from you?"
"Fate. No one in all universes can evade the eyes of Fate. The moment you came here, he discovered you."
Shiller frowned, he didn't expect the involvement of Fate here.
"Fate" is one of the oldest and most unique entities in the Endless Family, one might even say he transcends the Endless Family. He is the highest being in the entire DC Multiverse.
Before the birth of the Cosmos, it was recorded on the first page of the Book of Destiny, which is to say that fate supersedes all things in the universe.
Most of the time, Fate appears as a hooded man. He has no eyes, but he observes everything, holding the Book of the Soul in his hand, wrapped in chains around his arm. However, comics also depict that he can remove the book from his arm and hand it to others.
"Book of soul." Morpheus uttered a term.
"It's a book that records everything in this cosmos, past, present, future; all tangible and intangible entities; all things that appear and don't appear, all are documented in this book...
"Except you."
After Morpheus came to this conclusion, he fell silent, and so did Shiller. The room plunged into a silence.
After a while, Morpheus seemed lost in memory. He said, "One day, Fate visited me. This is a rare occurrence, barely anyone ever visits me."
"He told me he discovered a man, a man not recorded in the Book of Souls. We observed you together but found nothing."
"In the past, it's not uncommon for creatures from other universes to visit this cosmos, but as soon as they enter this cosmos, their names inevitably get engraved in the Book of Soul, and Fate can write their stories in this book."
"But you appeared, yet your name didn't. Consequently, Fate visited me hoping I could observe you from Dreamland and find the cause of this anomaly."
"I can observe anyone's dreams from the Kingdom of Dreams, and when I saw this prestigious structure inside your dream, I was indeed taken aback." Morpheus' tone intensified slightly.
"I've never seen such a structure in anyone's dreams before. I'm quite interested in it, but it's of no use as I didn't find any peculiar reason here..."
"Fate told me, a name that doesn't exist in the Book of Soul, a person without a story, might severely affect the continuity of the cosmos and he must complete your name and story."
"Fate asked me to anchor your existence in the dream, and then he began to jot down your name, but in that precise moment... you disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Shiller squinted his eyes.
"Yes, the moment Fate's pen touched the paper, you vanished from this cosmos, even I couldn't hold on to your dream."
"I cannot describe exactly what transpired then because we perceive things differently. But the truth is, in an instant, you and your dream both left."
"Left from where?"
"Everywhere inside the 'Wall of Origin'."
"I passed through the Wall of Origin?"
"We don't know if you passed through the Wall of Origin. We didn't see anything."
Shiller's eyes were narrowed. It's hard to believe that a near-supreme conceptual element of the DC Universe told you that he didn't see anything.
"Whether you believe it or not, that's the truth." Morpheus' somewhat thin fingers interlocked, he said, "When you came back, Fate did not take any action again, seemingly acquiescing to all this. I don't know what he's thinking…"
"So why did all this happen while I was asleep?"
"I don't know." Morpheus shook his head, then, he proposed another guess.
"It may have to do with me anchoring your dreams. This is just my guess... I don't know where you as a person went, but your dreams have always carried the beacon I left, deeply inside your dreams."
Shiller understood Morpheus' guess. The beacon in the dream was like a rope tied to Shiller. When he left this universe to go to Marvel, the rope ensured that he could return to the universe.
He certainly knew that the system may be working behind his time travel, but he did not ask Morpheus about it, because he was unsure if Destiny and the Sleep Demon had observed this mysterious system.
Morpheus explained everything to him, but it felt like nothing had been explained at all. Shiller then asked, "Why didn't Destiny try to write my name in the Book of Souls once more?"
"I don't know, he didn't tell me. From the beginning to the end, I was merely observing you in your dreams for a while and then left a beacon in your subconscious. As for the answers you want to know, you may need to ask Destiny yourself," Morpheus replied.
Saying that, the Sleep demon showed a peculiar look saying, "No...I am not suggesting you install a doorbell at his house, you better not do that..."
"Since the universe came into existence, we have all had our roles. The fields controlled by each member of the Endless Family are vital to the cosmos, and Destiny is no exception," Morpheus continued.
"Like I told you before, a name that isn't written in the Book of Souls may cause harm to the universe. He wanted to write your name in it, it was one of his duties. He gave up, though, and I don't know why, but there must have been a reason."
"We aren't interested in the existence of any individual, we don't care how your lives turn out or what any of you do in your lives..."
"When I first saw your dreams, I was surprised. You were the first human who surprised me, before you, I hadn't felt this way regardless of how many dreams I had been through."
"Perhaps this is your unique characteristic, you might be special to every member of the Endless family, it's just that you haven't come in contact with the other members yet..."
"Other members?" Shiller recalled and then said, "Never mind the others for now, I should have already met Desire, right?"
Morpheus shook his head and said, "Desire doesn't work at all."
"Once, I heard a story from the wind that blew across the Kingdom of Dreams..." Morpheus' tone always carried a poetic beauty.
"Death is my sister, every individual that she takes away every day of every century, allows her to have a deeper understanding of her responsibility..."
"It's not a wonderful feeling, feeling that everything is destined to end. It's the price she pays for her great power, so I often wonder, what price will I have to pay for mine?"
Shiller seemed to be drawn by his words. He had always been interested in philosophical topics, he said, "I've always been curious about a higher being's perspective, always guessing what kind of conclusions you arrive at?"
Morpheus made a peculiar face again and said, "Only today did you make me realize that I didn't make dreams, but dreams made me."
"That doorbell you installed, made me feel that's the price I have to pay to control dreams."
"He's far too mad, completely irrational. I've tried many methods, but he always finds a way to escape my control and messes up my home."
Shiller heard Morpheus let out a little sigh, and he said, "Maybe it's not me who controls dreams, but dreams who control me..."
With his sigh, the globe on the table slowly stopped spinning. When Shiller woke up, the figure sitting across him had already disappeared, as if it had never been there before.
Shiller stood up, walked behind the table, then picked up the globe on the table. He spun it gently, and then he said to the open air, "If a dream is too realistic, when you wake up, you would question whether you were still dreaming."
"Perhaps, the price the dream god has to pay, is to never know whether he truly exists, or... just a dream."
Shiller's sigh echoed in the room, suddenly Jack, who was lying on the single-seater couch, woke up. He rubbed his eyes and sat up from the couch. He sat there, grinning broadly.
He gestures with his hands, as if he wants to describe a wonderful dream that made him incredibly happy, suddenly, his hands stopped in mid-air, it was like the harshness of reality had caused him to become disheartened. His smile gradually faded, then drooped into a frown.
Sitting dejectedly on the couch, he covered his face with his hands and said, "I'm back in this boring reality, oh my god..."
Shiller, looking at the globe in his hand that had come to a stop, said to Jack, "Your boring days will soon be over, Batman should be back soon."
Jack moved a bit, he lifted his face, peeked through his fingers to look at Shiller and said, "Do you think, I should prepare a big surprise for him to welcome him home?"
"As you wish."
Shiller put down the globe on the table, then turned around to pick up a book from the bookshelf.
Jack, with his hands behind his back, was whistling and walking towards the table. Just before Shiller turned around, Jack snatched the globe from the table and held it in his arms.
He held the globe as if it were a dance partner, he said to the globe, "Look! My little treasure... I love you so much. I can imagine how much joy you will bring me. Let's dance, right now..."
In the manor's living room lit by the setting sun, Shiller sat behind the table quietly reading his book, while Jack danced around the living room, holding the globe tightly, his face lit up in ecstasy.
The rays of the sunset poured into the room, Jack danced with a satisfied smile on his face, round and round.
When he stopped, the globe started spinning again, the smile on Jack's face deepened.
At that moment, Bruce's car was speeding on the highway, until he saw a big sign in his view that read: "Gotham Ahead".