Archion's Lake kept the both of them protected and undisturbed through their tryst. Even afterwards, when Morpheus needed to rest from relinquishing his energy to rejuvenate her, they didn't go far. They fell asleep on the earth, entwined in each other's arms as the eternal, night sky wafted above them.

After his rest, Morpheus awakened to find her still nestled against him. He smiled faintly. Under the celestial, blue glow of the sky, she was divinity's creature. He carefully and quietly carried her away from the magnificent groves, passing by a now peaceful Archion. He nodded to the great dragon, who returned the gesture in kind before venturing deeper into the forest.

In a whirling dervish of sand, they returned to his mansion on The Earthly Realm. As he laid her down on the bed they shared a few nights ago, he watched in adoration as she slightly stirred. By now, her alabaster dress would have dried, but he imagined she still might be cold, and so, pulled the sheets over her.

Matthew was downstairs, awaiting instruction. "So... how did it go?" he asked. Something in the raven's voice steamed with amusement, as if he already suspected they had...misbehaved.

"The Lunar Realm is now sealed," Morpheus clarified.

"And Selena?"

"Resting."

"Seems you've been tiring her out."

"Matthew." The dark, firm use of the raven's name caused the bird to retract his childish behavior quite quickly. When he watched him shrink back, the King of Dreams only offered the smallest of grins. "Though, you aren't wrong."

Despite his agreement, he wasn't about to boast about his engagement with Scylla.

"What is our next step?"

"One last, protective seal over The Dreaming," he said. If he was being honest, he did feel a small amount of shame for asking so much of Scylla. A part of him tried to assure himself she owed him this much, but like her, he had changed a great deal over the years. Even his anger towards her couldn't withstand the admiration that dissolved it from underneath.

"From there, we will rally who we can externally. Lilith has already vowed her allegiance." He wondered if Gault had returned with news on her recruit mission. That would be a question for Lucienne.

Back in The Dreaming, he received very good news from his confidante. Gaunt had indeed returned with confirmation that with short strings pulled, they would have a very valuable sorcerer on their side.

A descendant of Merlin, Emrys, would be on call to lay siege on hell, along with his cohorts of wizards that were almost equally as powerful. Emrys, once being a bodyguard of Hecate, stood for a cause to protect their kingdom to his last breath. However, when they watched it fall, it was later learned that Hecate was imprisoned by a powerful demon. For all Morpheus knew, it could have been in a similar way in which he was imprisoned by Roderick Burgess. Yet, her whereabouts were completely unknown.

"Emrys also shared with Gault that some of the other Lunar Children joined Lucifer's army only because they were bribed, not because of any loyalty to the Lord of Hell."

This was interesting, as well as promising. "Then, perhaps we have an opportunity to call them to arms for The Lunar Realm. With Scylla's return, they may feel more obligated."

"Perhaps, my lord, it only takes one to rally the others... Who would be most likely to come to her side?"

While he didn't want to say it openly, Scylla was never exactly close with any of her relatives. With all the chaos and trouble she caused, it was no wonder why they distanced themselves from her.

"You ask the wrong question. Who would be most likely to come to their mother's aid?"

"A better approach, indeed, my lord," Lucienne agreed.

Finally, Matthew chimed in. "And how are we going to get word to said recruits?" he asked. "Based on our last trip to hell, we can't exactly just waltz in there and snag up Lucifer's followers. You're very much a target, boss."

While the raven made a valid point, he didn't want to take the chance of losing Scylla to hell's damnation. "I will find a solution."

Returning to the Mortal Realm, Morpheus found the moon to be significantly brighter and larger than usual. He understood it as a sign of Scylla's powers cultivating.

Somehow, the mansion seemed different as he stepped inside, though he couldn't decipher the peculiarity until he reached the tower where Scylla's bedchambers resided. At first glance, the bedroom would have looked just the same, except Morpheus knew that there hadn't been another door on the right hand side before. The sound of running water could be heard beyond it, and his breath stilled, as if he had suddenly resorted to stealth.

Feeling somewhat like a naughty lover for giving into temptation to sneak a peek, he quietly turned the door handle. The bathroom beyond the threshold was nothing like the adjacent room, nor any of the other rooms in the old-fashioned dwelling, for that matter.

The bathroom was almost the size of the bedroomhe left behind, adorned in black-on-white marble flooring. A vanity table with black finish sat against the distant, left side of the room, and a sink and cabinet sat across from it. In its center was a clawfoot, standalone tub, which looked as though it had a brushed, iron finish to it.

Yet, it was the silhouette of The Lunar Daughter herself that drew his gaze to the basin filled with water. She looked as if framed in the giant, radius window beyond her, the full moon giving her naked body a mesmerizing gleam. Her head leaned back, eyes cast up to the ceiling. Starlight brightened her eyes, for a skylight hung above her. She spoke words - an incantation that he couldn't decode.

Then, the strange, yet elegant words were repeated, and she gestured. Her hands reached for the skylight window, and Morpheus watched with bewilderment as the great, celestial body began to change position, moving upward in the sky until it hung above the tower. Its radiant light shone down on her apricot hair from overhead. Her incantation became a song, and her voice was as mellifluous as a mockingbird.

It wasn't until her body began to levitate from the bathwater that he took his next step forward. As it did, the tub began to overflow with running water. A silvery, opal stream shot out from the center, just beneath her bare feet, like the radiant light from above had focused into a concentrated beam. Yet, Scylla did not fall. Instead, she bent her knees slightly, holding her body in perfect balance. Then, as if it were some kind of unspoken command, the slender stream of water curved around her body, arcing over her, starting with her ankles, then up to her waist. It trailed up her body, encircled one of her breasts, then over her shoulders.

Suddenly, her singing stopped, and the rope of liquid pulled her down. She was submerged in a matter of a split second, but as Morpheus ran to the bathtub, he found nothing but water splashing in her wake. Scylla's body was nowhere to be seen.

He thrust his arm into the bathtub, understanding almost instantly that he had to reach through realities to retrieve her before she drowned. He had to lean in further, and he felt frantically for her, submerged to the shoulder as he blindly sought tor her.

Once he felt her fingers graze his, he grabbed tightly, pulling her back up. She felt heavy, as if the water was trying to pull her back down, unwilling to let her go.

Once he finally pulled her out of the basin, Scylla collapsed onto his lap. As warm water splattered everywhere, she spat out water, coughing and sputtering. He couldn't understand what he had just witnessed.

"What happened?" he inquired, wiping her wet hair from her paled face.

"I was...trying to draw down the moon," she gasped for air, and in between coughs, she took a moment to regroup before further explaining herself. "I hoped it would allow me to see where she was being kept." Instantly, Dream understood that she was referring to her mother. "Instead, I was attacked." She sat up with his help, his long fingers resting against her back.

"Did you see anything?"

"I did, as a matter of fact," she said. "The Rusalka are keeping her in Atlantis."

That made things a bit complicated. The Rusalka and their queen, Leviathan, were water spirits of sorts that held no alliance to anyone but themselves. Morpheus couldn't imagine that Leviathan had any desire to band with Lucifer. Her reasons for kidnapping the Mother of the Moon were undoubtedly selfish, and he could only come to one conclusion: they must have been harnessing her powers for themselves, all while keeping her imprisoned. They were much stronger and more cunning than he anticipated.

"Then, let us find a way into Atlantis," he said supportively.

Easier said than done, suffice it to say. Atlantis was rumored to be nothing more than a myth for good reason, and that was because the Rusalka did a wondrous job of hiding their location. When Atlantis was discovered by fame-hungry scientists, they needed a way to relocate the entire, underground city so that it could not be found again. Only a great deal of magic could perform this impossible feat, hence how Hecate must have been involved. Morpheus could only guess whether her initial involvement had been voluntary or not. One way or another, the goddess of magic was jailed likely because her magic was the only thing keeping the Rusalka's inestimable home a secret.

The Rusalka were reclusive by nature. It came as no surprise that they didn't want to be tied to anyone's will by asking favors, so instead, they took what they needed by force.

And now that Scylla's ritual had drawn their attention, the Rusalka were bound to know they were coming. In order to successfully complete this rescue mission, however, they would need to retrieve a specific artifact that would assist them in their confrontation with Leviathan.