10 Sandman Fates Worse Than Death
4. Being A Victim Of The “Sleepy Sickness”
When Dream was captured on 10 June 1916, by Rodrick Burgess’ Order of Ancient Mysteries, thousands of people across the world began experiencing Encephalitis lethargica or “sleepy sickness”. Because all of these people were cut off from the Dreaming due to the absence of its king, the sickness manifested itself in different ways in different people.
Introduced in Sandman #1, in terms of the Dreaming, the most “famous” victim of the sleepy sickness was Unity Kincaid. She was destined to be the “Dream Vortex” of this age that threatened the very fabric of the Dreaming, and was the one time that Dream may kill a mortal. Unity slept for nearly 80 years, Morpheus’ sibling Desire raped and impregnated her in her sleep and she had a daughter, Miranda. She had two children of her own, Rose, who inherited the mantle of the Dream Vortex, and Jed.
Desire’s plan was that Dream would destroy the vortex but would also unknowingly kill a member of his family, which would be breaking one of their most sacred laws and would lead to his death. Upon waking, Unity joined Morpheus and Rose in the Dreaming and asked her granddaughter for her heart. The younger woman reached inside and pulled out a ruby glass heart. The grandmother broke the heart, killed herself, and saved the Dreaming, her granddaughter, and all of humanity.