Okay, here's some mythology 101 for ya. There's a lot of reference to this stuff but it doesn't go into it enough to really explain it all. I put together some things you need to know in order to understand what's taking place here.

In Greek myth, there's a god of dreams named Morpheus. He is the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and the Grace know as Aglia, or brightness. It makes sense because dreams are basically light while you sleep. Morpheus had a thousand other brothers and sisters with black wings; they were called the Oneiros, and had no names and looked like children. (I thought up Ká all by myself and didn't learn what the lesser of Morpheus' siblings looked like until later. Creepy.) They handled the dreams of common people. There were also three brothers of real power; Morpheus, able to change into any person and adapt their mannerisms; Phantasus, able to transform into inanimate objects; and Icelus, also known as Phobetor, who could transform into any animal. (I chose to split Icelus into two people so there would be more people for the Tantei to fight individually. The Gate of Horn and the Gate of Ivory are places were dreams come from; the Gate of Horn is were dreams of truth come from, and the Ivory Gate is were false dreams come from. The Brothers of the Night get their power from these gates. As for the rods that will be mentioned for the gates in this chapter, they are a work of my own and they control the gates.

Enough of my blathering; enjoy!

Chapter 22

Horn and Ivory

The Reikai prince shuffled through the papers on his desk. Reports were literally pouring in from all over Makai and half of Reikai. His normally present hat was on the floor, buried under mountains of paperwork. The palace was in frenzy as ogres rushed to and fro, shouting to each other and carry yet more stacks of papers. The stacks were so high in their arms they could not see over the tops, and the only thing keeping them from crashing into each other was the deeply integrated system of organization and transportation.

The telltale shimmering of a circle in the wall alerted the prince of company; Yusuke and Kuwabara leapt into the room and ran up to Koenma's desk. "We're here, Koenma," Yusuke announced.

"Where are Kurama and the shrimp?" Kuwabara asked. A sharp blow to his cranium answered for him. Hiei stood triumphantly over Kuwabara on a stack of folders. Kurama revealed himself by clearing his throat dramatically. Yusuke jumped and looked over his shoulder at the redhead. "You okay, man?" Yusuke asked; Kurama's hair was uncharacteristically limp, in much the same way, as an animal would lower its ears when saddened. In addition, his green eyes were tired and reddened. "I'm fine," was his reply.

Yusuke didn't buy it for a second, but there were more important matters at hand. Koenma looked up from his paperwork, signaling for all of the ogres to leave, "Where's Botan and Gabi?" he asked from behind his pacifier. The doors to his office swished open and said women ran in. "We're here, Koenma sir," Botan said, vanishing her oar. Gabriel slowed to a walk as she passed Kurama, their gazes averted away from each other.

"Nice dress, Tinkerbell," Yusuke joked; Kuwabara joined him in snickering. She hooked his neck into her crook and drove is face into the ground. Darkness shadowing her eyes, she silently challenged Kuwabara to say something. He held up his hands, withdrawing his offense. Koenma cleared his throat, "As you may have gathered by the accumulation of reports, the balance between the worlds is once again out of sync. We're losing all contact with the spirits of the living, as if they were all dead, but if that were so, we would still have access, as they would come here. Their minds are completely cut off from us. The spirits of every living thing in the worlds are out of order and out of control! The stars are burning, the sun is fading, rain is flooding the desert, fire is erupting in tundra, the ocean is falling back and gathering in unnatural places-"

"What's causing this?" Kurama asked.

"I don't have any idea; we're also getting huge readings on excess dream waves. Evilness and goodness are tearing the universe apart."

"Darkening dreams is the work of that Morpheus," Yusuke said, "We already beat him once, how is he still able to work his stuff on people?"

"May I remind you that we only beat the people who work for him?" Gabriel put in.

Koenma nodded, "They were just pawns, and he could have an infinite number of pawns."

"Koenma sir," George yelled, bursting through the door. Koenma fixed a glare on the blue ogre, "I told all of the servants to stay out of here, ogre!" George shrank slightly under his gaze as he stepped forward to present information.

"This is an emergency, sir! The Rods have been reported missing! The Gates of Horn and Ivory are empty."

"WHAT!" the princeling roared, causing several stacks of papers to blow away. Botan and Gabriel gasped.

"The Gates are real!" the blonde squeaked in fear.

"Hold on, what're you guys talking about?" Yusuke asked, scratching his head.

"The Gates of Horn and Ivory; both part of Greek mythology, as is the god of dreams, Morpheus. He and his brothers Icelus, or Phobetor and Phantasus, derive their powers from these gates." The blonde recited.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kuwabara said, "I thought the guy we're up against was Morpheus, and Oneiros was his first name."

"It is!" Hiei snarled impatiently. "And that's just some stupid name he probably thought up to make himself look clever, dimwit."

"Maybe Daren has something about it in here," Gabriel mused, setting the journal down on Koenma's desk. Koenma glanced down at the crest on the cover, "Gabi," he said in a voice only she could hear, "where did you get-"

"I know who I am Koenma; exactly who I thought I wasn't. Daren left this for me, and it told me everything." She whispered back, and opened it. Another blast of wind sent papers scattering and Daren's voice drew their attention.

There is a growing danger not far off; I know of your role as a spirit detective and I allowed you to go into numerous dangers with only the help your friends. I know of your battles with the illusions of the water youkai, Oneiros Morpheus. If you are to believe anything I am telling you, then of all these unbelievable tales, you must know he is extremely powerful in both the world of dreams and reality, and he can control people as they sleep, trapping their minds in the world of dreams. There is a way to break free of him, but I do not yet know what it is. You must take care to shield your thoughts from him as you sleep.

I tell you these things through my journal because I have gone myself to help in your quest. I go to seek the Rods of Horn and Ivory. The four servants of Morpheus have stolen them from their respective gates.

With these rods, he can control every living person through their dreams, and they will never truly wake up again unless we stop him. I have gone to find the rods and return them before the Night becomes eternal; I do not expect to return, but to buy you time so that you may save the world of dreams from darkened hands before he decides to do something horrible, like destroy the Gates. Farewell my beloved pup, and be careful.

Koenma sat silently at his desk, weighing the dangers on his mind, "You are all in terrible danger," he said quietly, drawing the attention of the Tantei. "If Morpheus has the Rods, he can control people as soon as they fall asleep, and they will never be able to escape. You remember how Icelus said the people that were under control could escape if they wanted to? Well that would be pretty much impossible now."

"What do we do?" Yusuke asked.

"Find him, retrieve the Rods, and return them to their respective Gates." Using the buttons on his desk, the tiny ruler turned on his view screen and projected the image of two keys. They were shaped like old-fashioned keys, with identical edges; on the handles were a pair of decorative wings made of black metal. The feathers on one side arched up, while the other side arched down. "These are the keys to the Gates, crafted many millennia ago from the masts of the Argos and Andromeda; and I don't mean the actual ships, I mean the stars themselves. The shafts are made of pure albino elephant's ivory, and the horn of a ram with Golden Fleece. It's very easy to confuse these. So pay attention!" he pressed another button and two more images appeared on the screen. These were of wrought iron gates standing on rocky peaks; they seemed not to lead anywhere. "The two Gates they belong to are located on two different mountain tops in Ningenkai. Both are appropriately located in Greece.

"Again, we have lost control of the portals so the closest I can bring you to the locations is roughly five miles away. Your communication mirrors can be equipped with tracking devices to help you find what you're looking for based on the concentration of dream waves. Also, I would like to offer you this," he had George reveal a solid gold coffee maker encrusted with diamonds.

"Elton John's coffee pot?" Yusuke joked.

"Very funny," the princeling continued, "this is where I get my coffee from. I want you each to take a small thermos of this coffee. It is incredibly potent, ten times the stimulant of any drug in Ningenkai, but a touch bitter. I don't want to take the chance of any of you falling asleep and falling under the control of dreams, especially since the air is filled with the Sandman's magic. Should you, and I recommend you do, choose to drink it don't plan on sleeping for seven days. If one of you falls asleep, it will wake you up again in a snap. Since none of you have built up a tolerance to it, you should find more than enough energy from drinking it." Koenma produced five small, blue thermoses with shoulder straps from his desk drawer and filled each one from the magic coffee machine.

"I don't need your beverage," Hiei snorted, "I can go weeks without sleep." He winced as the small metal tube glanced off his skull, "Put it on, bitch, or I'll break my foot off in your ass!" Gabriel snarled.

"Insolent wench!" he hissed back.

"Um, are you okay?" Yusuke asked cautiously.

"None of your damn business!" she barked, "Lets get going."

Keh heh heh! I don't even remember howI got the idea for coffee,I don't even drink coffee! ButI love the kind of adventure stories where even the humblest item is magical, like the spining wheel in sleeping beauty, or the mirror Snowwhite's stepmother had.