Our story begins with a family dinner, between 6 of the 7 Brothers of the Endless. The 6, all present in their formal, role appropriate wardrobe, are:
Destiny, the oldest, and the one who called for the meeting
Death, the second oldest, and the one who is always there. For everyone
Dream, better known as Morpheus, The Sandman, the King of Dreams, the Prince of Stories, and many many more.
The twins: Desire & Despair
And Delirium (formerly known as Delight)
This is the first family gathering that the Endless have had in centuries. This only happens when a huge change is about to hit them, and reality itself, for better or worse. What event could have the power of such magnitude? Destiny answers:
This meeting. That is all.
The weight of that statement silences you while you turn the page, where Dream is frustrated. He demands an explanation, but Destiny gives him none. His ways are to be known only by him. He just leaves his brothers to talk, for that is all that is needed.
Delirium breaks the silence, cause she’s not one to enjoy it. Her stories are short, playful, and disturbing, but the Prince of Stories thinks he has better ones to tell. He wants to leave, but Desire wants something else. To tease its’ older brother.
Dream was once in love with a mortal woman, Kana, which rejected his advances. The King of Dreams was a quite…prideful individual in those centuries…..so he had her soul sent to Hell for all of eternity.
Yeah…Morpheus was kind of d!#k before we meet him in issue #1 of the series. The further you go into the story (both in reading and in connecting the dots), you realise that the entire Sandman series is about Morpheus taking responsibility for all of his faults and mistakes as Dream, doing his best to set things right for everyone else.
The memory of Kana, and Desire’s words cut deep, reaching the King of Dreams’ guilt. He lashes at this family, but his discipline, his sense of responsibility and a verbal slap from his sister Death, make him realize that answering rejection with a one way trip to the Underworld was really poor form on his part.
Morpheus decides to make his leave, peacefully this time, to go undo the wrong he’s done and release Nada’s soul from Hell. But one’s mistakes can never be erased so easily. In order to save the soul of his former love, Dream must confront the one who he had just recently scorned and turned into an enemy: The Ruler of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar.
Death returns to the table, but Destiny claims that their meeting is done. For…