Book of Hypnos

How Was It Written

The Book of Hypnos was never actually written. It came to be when Somnus, the Roman-Usurper God of Sleep, defeated Hypnos and tore him in two. This created two lesser gods, Morpheus, God of Dreams, and Epiales, God of Nightmares.
But there was still some Hypnos in each of them. Somnus could not allow that. From each of the two new gods, he took from them the knowledge of how their powers worked and put that in a book.
As one final step, he took each half and forged each one into a mantle of power. Epiales he formed into a ball of black tendrils while Morpheus he formed into golden sand. Only when a living creature "donned" the mantle could they attain the power. They would then have to read their part of the book to understand how to use it.

The Mystery

With his breaking of Hypnos into these pieces, Somnus then traveled far over the world to place far from Rome. There he planted an Olympus olive tree in a cave where he made enough cracks above it to bring it rain an sunlight. These cracks would never let themselves be blocked, so the olive tree would never die.
In a hollow at the base of the tree, he placed the Book of Hypnos. Around the trunk of the tree he wound the black tendrils of Epiales and made sure the tendril hide the hollow from sight. Down in the roots near the tip of the tree's tap root, he wove in the Heart-box that held the golden dust of Morpheus.
Satisfied that everything was safelt hidden for all Eternity, Somnus returned to Olmpus. He never bothered to watch it close so never noticed the seed of a thornbush fall down the cracks to settle near the hollow on the tree. There it began to grow, partly nurtured by the tree.

The Trick Of The Book

by Solarus

Reading the book requires a living thing to "don" the mantle of Epiales or Morpheus.
They can then pick up the book and read it.
Once they have read it, the book will then link itself to the mantle that has not read it.
The book will remain with this mantle until the other mantle ceases to live.