In OPEN SPACE
(Dayéd and Lazra)
Discovery of the sculpture:
The statue of David, standing
naked upright in graceful balance on its pedestal, is in a semi-desert valley
far out in open space, immersed in a shady illumination coming from some remote
lighting body of the star system of which it has become a part. It is not the
original work, to tell the truth, but rather a copy of the outstanding figure
that the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpted at the beginning of the 16th
century after Christ on the planet Earth, out of a big block of marble, about
twice as tall as a man who already is himself very tall. The dimensions of this
copy are half those of the original piece, and therefore they approximately
correspond to the actual size of a man. Even though it is daytime, the sky
overlooking the statue is pitch-black and starry, not made blue by the
dispersion of light in the atmosphere as is that in which the original sculpture
was brought into being, but one may still well discern the elegant lines and
proportions in the composition of the parts and the whole.
At a short distance, an
extra-terrestrial being is walking along his path of sand, rocks and stones
which leads him to overstep the ridge of a slight headland and therefore come
within sight of the ample, open valley in which the sculpture rests. The
creature, wrapped up in a protective space suit, has a different body from that
of the terrestrials, but the overall dimensions of his build, as well as his
general body shape, are not altogether foreign to those of a man.
The extra-terrestrial is
taken aback in the first place, astounded and uncertain at the sight of the
unusual and unexpected object. After the pause of a few moments in which he
musters up his feelings and thoughts, he takes a few steps down the slight and
short slope that leads to the valley in which the statue stands. With hesitant
and uncertain moves, but all the more curious, he makes his way toward it. As
he is approaching, while maintaining a fearful and cautious attitude, he gets
reassured in not noticing any sudden effects caused by that presence, and feels
appreciation for the composure and the graceful proportions of the human
figure represented. Once he arrives in close proximity to it, in front of it
and slightly to the side, he stops again, gazing at it enchanted and in
wonderment. He stares at its face, and then at its different parts, and finally
moving all around it with tentative steps. Next, he reaches out and touches it,
in order to get a feel of his consistency, even though through the inert
thickness of his space suit. At the contact he feels a force coming to him from
the object, and he is overwhelmed by a sensation of serenity and harmony. After
a few instants of daze, the extra-terrestrial being goes back in his mind to
what the goal for his presence in that place is, and by pressing some switches
on the outside of his helmet he activates a communication with his planet-mate
companions, a few of which are not far away from where he is standing. They
converse in their own language, the most widespread on planet Gaia, different
from any idioms of planet Earth, and therefore normally incomprehensible to
women and men, although it is also emitted out of the inferior opening of the
face of those living beings.
First perplexities:
After a short period of time,
the entire team of 9 units is reunited in the same place, in order to verify in
person the novelty of the object just discovered, in a spirit which ranges from
the astonished and incredulous enchantment to a fearful and deferential
interest. In fact, even though the statue represents a being of another
species, with respect to themselves from planet Gaia,
a great emotional intensity is conveyed through it to them. Several of the team
units step closer and gather around it, they speechlessly tilt their heads,
they change points of view, and they touch the marble with curiosity and awe,
and all of them, at the physical contact, perceive the
same sensation as if of a harmonious sound. Some of the team stand back and
watch for the most part the approaches and the reactions of their companions.
After a close observation,
one of the group takes a few steps back to reach a
certain distance behind the statue, where the first discoverer stands upright
and awaiting, as he’s watching the scene. He arrives by his side, and looking
at him he touches his arm and with a gesture of his head he signals to follow
him.
Shortly thereafter, they both
find themselves along with two other companions inside the closely spaced cabin
of a little space-ship. They have taken their helmets off, although they are
still wearing their space suits, and they can speak comfortably in their
language.
-- “And you sighted it right
there where it stands?”, asks of the first discoverer
the one that approached him, who appears to be a shrewd supervisor.
-- “Yes”, answers the other
one, “I was coming from the higher plane, and I was accomplishing one of the
usual inspection routes to see if there were any rises of the Atlantis stone.
For this time as well we have already collected enough, but I was doing that
basically in order to set up the next expedition. All of a sudden I noticed
that… thing”, and he makes a gesture with his arm to indicate the direction in
which lies what he is talking about.
-- “And you didn’t notice
anything else in particular?”, asks one of the other
two present, “Didn’t you spot anybody? Nothing or no-one
moving?”
-- “No. I mean… I didn’t
see anything, not that there wasn’t.”
-- “It has been a while now”,
intervenes the fourth one in a thoughtful manner, “that a sort of tacit
agreement has existed between us and the inhabitants of Threesix, so that when
they come to Atlas to get their supplies of stones, we don’t
, and vice versa. Up to this moment, there have never been any
particular or unexpected situations or events. It is since the time of the wars
that we haven’t bothered each other anymore. But if that object does not come
from the inhabitants of Threesix, who else ever might have been on visit to
Atlas?”
-- “I wouldn’t know…”, continues to answer the first discoverer, “but as far as
I’m concerned that thing is not a bother.”
-- “Alright”, says the one
who started the discussion, “let us gather together, finish loading, and head
back to Gaia”.
Toward the satellite Atlas:
In open space where one may
discern planets and stellar bodies of various types and dimensions, and where
the reflected lights and colors fade in and out varying the intensity according
to the time and the period of position of the stars, a space-ship of medium
size, escorted by two smaller ones at the sides of its trail, is lifting up and
moving away from a vividly illuminated planet, and is heading at cruising speed
toward a little star, the most relevant space body in the proximity of the
planet.
On board the main space-ship
is located a functional and discreet room, a sort of studio and working
laboratory that, as all the other environments of the vehicle, is equipped with
what is strictly necessary to the activities which from time to time take place
in it, with no accessories or implements that are useless and superfluous. A
guy is in there, of the same species of aliens as before, and he is standing
solitary in front of a full-height glass window, staring outside into the open
and endless depths, with a meditative air.
The inhabitants of planet
Gaia, as has been mentioned, have an aspect of dimensions and proportions
similar to those of the human body. They, too, have legs, arms, a torso and a
head as men do, but they are slimmer in their limbs, have slighter masses, and
so on the whole they appear thinner and more slender. To tell the truth, their
specific consistency is such that they have an average weight very close to
that of the terrestrials, despite what their figure would suggest to the eye.
In particular their heads are more elongated in the back, where sometimes they
are also larger, and in the lower part of their face, that is in their cheeks
and chins. Their eyes are opaque and less penetrable than those of men, but
they are enormous by comparison, and in proportion with their whole face, and
they lie in an inclined position, with the higher part toward the outside.
Their nose have a very little protuberance, and their mouth consists in a thin and
short opening, with a mobility that exceeds in nimbleness and promptness that
of the human lips. The exterior skin of the gaiasis (inhabitants from Gaia) may
be yellow-ochre, or blue.
The fellow who is staring out
the window is wearing clothes that respond to the bodily needs of the
particular astral climate, with no frills nor
ostentation. At a short distance from where he stands, a table is positioned
along with a few seats, and other supports fixed at different heights, on which
to sit or lean against. One of the two councillors-collaborators that are
accompanying him on his journey is sitting at the table, while the other one is
standing and is in part attentive to the acts of the fellow at the window, and
in part turned toward his colleague. The two councillors wear formal suits, not
particularly showy or elegant, but aspiring to be typical of a certain exterior
distinction, the equivalent, in short, of the suit and tie among men of planet
Earth. The councillor who is on his feet steps closer to the companion sitting
at the table, bends over toward him, and the two mumble something, and they
take glances of sceptical and somewhat teasing expectation in the direction of
the individual at the glass wall, engrossed in his own thoughts. The councillor
on his feet, finally walks toward him.
-- “Tell me, councillor”, the
fellow at the window urges him.
-- “President Shalon, the
Interplanetary Guardians that are escorting us along onto the satellite Atlas
mean let you know that they joined the expedition, and they are well disposed
to carry on their assistance, only in the case that this is welcome and
appreciated, otherwise, they say…”, and he turns to give an ironic look to his
companion, “…at just one word they would disappear into the air”, he concludes
looking at the President with an air of derision, while the latter goes on
regardless staring out the window.
-- “Yes it is appreciated”,
answers the President thoughtfully and a little uneasily, “almost always I
appreciate it, and I have said that several times as well”. After a moment’s
reflection he adds: “There are times when I wonder whether I still would have
the same attitude toward them if my daughter didn’t feel that instinctive
affection for their Order”. He then turns to give a look to his collaborator
right next to him and he lets his thoughtful composure be taken over by a
momentary confidential laugh, “What a situation, though, huh? The President of
the Council of the Twelve from planet Gaia who is influenced in his official
and public behaviour by the motions of his little daughter’s heart! What would
some members of the Government Assembly say, even though on my own side?”
The collaborator hints at a
tight smile, pondering whether to show off embarrassment, but then he
continues: “The object that we are on our way to visit was discovered
approximately ten days ago on Atlas, by one of our teams of stone-quarriers
that periodically go there to collect their supplies. It seems that it has a
certain magnetic effect on whoever sees it or touches it”, and then he gives
his colleague sitting at the table another look of complicity, “As requested by
the extraordinary session of the Council, a group of researchers immediately
set out surveying the matter in order to ascertain and arrange all the
information at hand. We will meet them upon our arrival at Atlas.”
-- “Fine. We will see”, answers the
President Shalon while becoming meditative again, and observing the satellite
Atlas out the window, growing bigger as they move closer to it. President
Shalon is an inhabitant from Gaia with a rather robust bulk, with respect to
other members of his species, although by comparison with men and women, as
already mentioned, these extraterrestrials are on the average slighter and more
slender in the proportions. He does not love pomp, luxuries and frills, and
even in worldly things which have a certain impact on the outward appearance he
constantly aspires to gestures, situations, events, instruments being exactly
what is required by their own nature and by the task which they are called to
carry out, avoiding wastes and useless excesses, as well as all that regards
ostentation and appearances.
Visit to the find:
The convoy consisting in the
space-ship of the President of the Twelve and the two retinue space-shuttles
subsequently land on the satellite Atlas, and the President himself along with
his two collaborators-councillors descend from the first one, whereas the two
Interplanetary Guardians exit the escort vehicles. The Guardians are an
independent and discreet presence, and nevertheless an important reference for
Shalon. The group of researchers, who has been taking care of the discovered
object for a few days, receives them upon their arrival at the space station as
visiting guests. There isn’t any particular crowding, those are present for the
most part who have had something to do with the event in some way., more or less directly, but no public.
-- “President Oma’b Shalon”,
starts out the supervisor of the young scholars, “on behalf of the
Interplanetary Knowledge and Experimentation Group I wish to express to you the
warmest welcome onto the satellite Atlas. It is an immense honor that you grant
us with your personal visit in answer to our solicitation, all the more that on
account of the circumstances the timing at our disposal has been really scanty.
We are aware of the intention of the Council of the Twelve not to attribute
much emphasis to this find in the public opinion until it is understood and
known with a certain degree of certitude what it represents and what
implications it might have for planet Gaia and its population. However, our
latest observations have revealed to us facts that we considered it opportune to
share as soon as possible with the Council, so that they could be debated and
evaluated, if this was deemed necessary, by subjects in charge of governing
decisions.”
The President and his crew
exchange a few glances, understanding that there is important novelty of which
they are going to gain knowledge.
Once they reach the resting
place of the statue, that has been purposely
maintained in the position in which the team of quarriers initially discovered
it, Shalon, the members of the Council and the Interplanetary Guardians become
acquainted with the find and the information at hand:
-- “It is made out of a stony
material”, continues the supervisor of the researching group, “which is found
neither on Atlas, nor on planet Gaia, nor in this star system; judging by how
the object presents itself, it is not immediately deducible how it might have
gotten to Atlas, and how it has been positioned in this manner. However there
are a few signs engraved at the base of the figure, in front of it and slightly
off to the side, which at first glance don’t seem to have any particular
meaning for us. After meditations and researches carried out with the keenest
possible skill and expertise, our investigating team has come to consider those
as a writing expressed in several different languages, even though we are not
familiar with any of them. We have agreed on according to it a unique
interpretation: that the work is the reproduction of a sculpture of the 16th
century in the Christian era of planet Earth, and that it represents a man, an
inhabitant of such a place; one of them has fashioned it, and it has been
situated here as a sign of brotherhood, of favorable disposition and good hope
on behalf of its producers toward the other creatures that might encounter it.”
-- “But how can it possibly
be that someone brought it over here and nobody on Gaia was aware of anything
anyhow?”, the President asks astounded.
-- “I wouldn’t know for sure,
but if the means of transport had been very small size, or if this object had
actually arrived here somehow on its own, it probably might have come through
unobserved…”
Shalon remains silently
thoughtful, and so the young researcher goes on:
-- “Moreover, in this spot
here the inscription says that the object has the peculiarity of coming to
life, moving and speaking, on the occasion of a particular cosmic conjunction,
described here, which occurs every 500 years. The calculation of the times was
carried through and, according to the date of creation of the work, we deduced
that the recurrence of such a conjunction is about to take place in a very
short time.”
-- “When should this
particular cosmic conjunction take place?”, the
President Shalon asks somewhat uncertain and surprised. “And how exactly would
the object come to life and start speaking?”
-- “The moment of the
conjunction will occur in five days from now, and the statue will animate
itself for the time period of one night. We just do not know exactly in which
way it will become animated, but the idea that we elaborated is that its inert
matter, in a sense, will be brought to life. This is what the message says,
inscribed in its pedestal.”
Once the visit to the object
of the discovery is accomplished and the report of the latest news is through,
the President, the Guardians, the representatives of the research group and
most of the people present, gradually move away from the location of the find,
whereas the two councillors who have accompanied Shalon still linger around,
and continue to observe the statue.
-- “What do you say?”, asks the one of the two who was sitting at the table on
board the space-ship.
-- “I don’t know what to say
or think. All I know is what we have been told: that the subject represented by
that solid is a form of alien life, living somewhere in the infinite space”,
and in saying these last few words he opens his eyes wide and raises his brows.
-- “It is as long as the
message was correctly interpreted, and if there even is a message at all, in
those scribbles down there”, and in the meantime they go on staring at the
figure.
-- “This would be the first
form of contact between us and… another living species. One certainly has a
hard time realizing that a fact like this is possible…”,
he concludes giving his colleague a sceptical and condescending look, and
stretching a faint sneer.
Lazra…:
Here is the pretty face of a girl, that is a young
terrestrial woman, endearing and most of all with an intelligent and
interesting expression, and with red-brown and curly hair of medium length that
hangs bouncing down over her shoulders. As she is nibbling at her lips, she
musters up her concentration, arranges her ideas, and once again goes over in
her mind the things that she means to say, after which she rubs the fingers in
her hands with a certain nervousness, plucks up her courage and she steps
closer to a soft seating support of the living-room (a sort of couch) on which
are seated or leaned against three gaiasi girls, and one young gaiasi man by
the name of Raski.
-- “Excuse me, but I don’t
think that this is fair. I mean, if there is something to do in the house,
whether it is taking out the trash, in all the different sorts of it, or doing
the laundry when it happens that Mom and Pop are away, or any others of the
common chores of the household, it is always me that take care of them. After
that, if something unexpected happens that has to be looked after, or if Mom
and Pop need to ask a favor, even though, poor them, they hardly ever do that,
it always comes down to me. You guys, in the best case, say yes I will, but
then all the time you keep putting it all off either until the last minute,
when there isn’t any more time to do anything, or until somebody else finally
takes care of it.”
The young gaiasis exchange
astounded stares among each other, almost in disbelief to be hearing these
things through their own ears.
-- “Lazra, nobody ever told
you to do anything”, observes one of the gaiasi girls, with a severe and
contemptuous tone. “You do what you feel like. If you want to do the laundry,
go ahead and do your own, and leave the other clothes aside! I will not come to
you and tell you what to do!”
-- “But if there are some
things to be done”, replies Lazra, “it is right for everyone to do their part,
when the need arises, and not just pretend nothing’s happening…”
-- “Lazra, aren’t you ashamed
to go analyzing who does what and how?”, it is the
male now that assumes a hostile attitude. “With your sisters
and brother? You are not even a real member of this family, can’t you
see yourself? You have been adopted 12 years ago, we rescued and retrieved you,
thank goodness, from that disaster of a space-shuttle where all of your
terrestrial companions died, and in which you too, certainly, would not have survived
for a long time. Now you put yourself on the same level as those who were born
and raised here? So much for manifestations of gratitude!”
In saying this, Raski has stood up, and although Lazra is not intimidated nor
does she lose her composure, he gets worked up and gestures around theatrically
while uttering certain expressions.
-- “If I were you I would be
ashamed of myself!...”, intervenes another one of her
sisters.
-- “What does that have to do
with it? Of course I am thankful for that”, responds Lazra in a slightly lower
voice and with an unsteady glance, “But as people who live in the same place it
is fair that everyone gets committed to his or her own share of common duties,
all of them, possibly also by turns, and not just looking the other way until
the dirt and the trash piles up to the neck, or someone else finally gets
around to it…” After all, however, Lazra doesn’t want to quarrel, because she
feels that coming down to that wouldn’t change anything.
-- “And you persist in
telling others what they must do, huh? Do you realize that?”, exclaims with emphasis her brother.
At this point Oma’b Shalon,
the President of the Council of the Twelve of Gaia, walks in and says hello to
everybody present.
-- “Hi, kids! You are all here tonight, did you guys set this up? It hardly ever happens!”
-- “Hi, Pop!”, “Hi!”, Lazra’s sisters promptly greet him, standing up and
running to hug him and kiss him with smiles and a little sweet talk.
-- “Hello!...”
is Raski’s matter-of-fact welcome, as he doesn’t budge, and, indeed, he sits
back down.
Lazra barely sways in his
direction and mumbles ‘hi’, but then it is Shalon himself that walks up to her
and gives her a kiss.
-- “How is my favourite
daughter doing?”, and then turning toward everyone: “Have you guys eaten
already?”
-- “No, not yet…” answers
Raski.
-- “Oh, kids!”, resumes Shalon, “I set up in the other room two
quantities of minor scraps: can anybody please take them to the collection
center? They only need to be turned in as they are!”
-- “I am leaving just now…”, says the young gaiasi man, while consulting a pocket
monitor, “and maybe I will not even make it back in time for supper!”
Shalon exits.
-- “I need to finish getting
ready and I am late”, announces also one of the daughters, and walks out, accompanied
by a sister. Lazra and the youngest daughter are now the only ones left in the
room, and the latter plays for time in rummaging through a cupboard set in the
wall. Lazra looks down, and sets out in the direction that the President Shalon
walked in, toward the two quantities of minor scraps.
…survivor from space:
Oma’b Shalon then enters a
service room, slightly less spacious than the previous living-room, and
provided with various equipment and instrumentation for the preservation and
the cooking of food and for the manipulation of other substances which can be
useful for the domestic activities. As a matter of fact, in here Shalon’s wife
uses, in one area, a stove and a few fires to cook food, and, in an adjacent
environment, greater ovens for the firing of ceramic and porcelain forms, which
she first models at an appropriate desk. Besides the fires, stoves and ovens
for a variety of needs, in this room there are preservation cupboards, also at
particular temperatures, tables and working counters, several utensils for
foods and various substances, and seats at different heights to lean against or
sit upon. The wife and mother is particularly concerned with keeping order,
cleanliness, and distinction of the activities that are scarcely compatible
with each other, so that anyone, at any moment, may come in here and prepare
some food comfortably, whereas she might be handling quite different matters
just a few steps away. In the house there is also another room which is used in
a similar way, although it is uniquely a working laboratory with no cooking,
since it is much more demanding in regard to maintenance and cleanliness, as
her husband carries out manual activities in there for the production and
assembly of various artifacts which imply a greater amount of scraps and
rejects.
At the moment Mrs. Shalon is
at work, and is preparing some food for the next meal, coming up in a few
minutes. She is standing in front of a basin full of water, in which she is
rinsing some products of the earth of the planet, and as they are ready she
lays them down on a working counter beside her.
-- “Hi Merie,” her husband
addresses her on walking in, “how are you?”, he steps
closer to give her a kiss on the cheek.
-- “Fine, thank
you. Supper will be ready soon, for those who are hungry. I heard that you
were on transfer today.”
-- “Yes”, he answers as he
heads for a sort of wide sink, on the other side of the room, and washes up in
his turn some tools resting there, positioning them to dry into a cupboard at
the height of his head. “We went onto satellite Atlas to take a look at an
object that was discovered a few days ago.” He closes off the water faucet and
stops, becoming thoughtful. “It is a solid made of stone representing a man, a
terrestrial man”, he continues turning around toward her, and looking at her
with a certain gravity. She stares at him, amazed, incredulous and speechless.
-- “There is a message
engraved into its pedestal, saying that it was sent from planet Earth on behalf
of some of its inhabitants as a sign of brotherhood and friendship, that in
five days from now it will come to life for one night, and so, presumably, we
will soon have other information. This is all we know for now.”
-- “What do you think?”
-- “I don’t know, for now I
will just wait until it’s animated…”.
-- “Oma’b”, Merie starts to
say with seriousness and an intense emotion, groping for the simplest words,
“Lazra is a daughter for us, and you have a particular affection for her too.”
She takes a pause of reflection, about something that is not even clear yet in
her soul. “Up until now, we have chosen along with her the individual type of
education and upbringing, for her as well as for the other kids. So they have
always been to basically private and out-of-the-way environments. Lazra,
therefore, in part for this reason and in part because of her own reserved
nature, never has been particularly noticed for being a terrestrial girl,
besides the people that she usually sees and meets and who deal with her, for
the most part in this district. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been for her a
relatively quiet and common life.” Shalon is staring at her, and listening
carefully. “But if this fact of the find should turn out to be important for
all the gaiasis, do you think that we should somehow introduce Lazra officially
to the public and to the authorities?”
-- “First of all Lazra is
19-years-old now, and is therefore responsible for herself, but if she asked me
for an opinion I would tell her: and for what reason? For
what purpose? What could a 19-year-old terrestrial survivor possibly do?
I wouldn’t want to go looking for clamors or useless and pointless bothers.”
About the Order of the Interplanetary Guardians:
Lazra deeply loves to spend
time in natural environments and landscapes, in which the vegetation, the
fruits and the products of the earth of Gaia grow without the contact and the
effect of the artificial manipulations. Not far away from where she lives a
place exists of wide extensions, which is appreciated and attended by many,
when the climatic conditions permit it, because although there are a few
streets, lanes and a number of buildings, it is primarily inhabited by nature,
in several different forms and variations of landscape. There are wide open
fields, woods more or less thick with vegetation, deposits of weather
precipitations, and areas and environments suitable for certain animals. Lazra
loves to go there most of all by herself, when she can read, meditate,
at times also pick up edible vegetables.
Right at this moment she is
sauntering along a lane lined with trees on both sides, keeping company with
two Interplanetary Guardians, Gus-par and Yu’ko, who are just a little older
than she is herself. By the side of the path is, on one hand, thick vegetation
of trees and bushes, and, on the other hand, a vast open field of grass and
short plants. Lazra is walking on one side of all three of them, and the
Guardians are on her right-hand side. Her hands are thrust into her pants pockets,
and she is also wearing a sort of ample jersey. She usually dresses in a casual
and comfortable fashion, taking care in being as much at ease as she can in the
situations that she finds herself in and for what she has to do, rather than in
elegance in itself or in exterior appearances. In this she is very similar to
her adoptive father. The two Guardians are both wearing the habit that is
characteristic to them, having no cowl over their heads, and the one closer to
Lazra, Gus-par, has his arms bent at a right angle in front of him, and his
hands crossed at the height of his belly, whereas Yu’ko has joined them behind
his back.
-- “Thank you
again for coming. This time you really gave immediate availability!”, observes Lazra laughing.
-- “Oh, it is our pleasure”,
answers Gus-par next to her, “because we know that you have an
affection for our Order. The only thing is that, maybe, if your father
knew that we meet so often he might feel a little awkward in the administrative
matters”
-- “As a matter of fact, he
knows that I know you guys, but not that I hang out with you.” They remain
silent for a moment. “In what way do you guys deal with him?”
-- “Us personally, not much”,
replies Yu’ko with a slight smile, walking on the opposite side. “The Order of
the Interplanetary Guardians in general does. They carry out a function of
assistance, support, sometimes of guidance, other times of advice, to the
government organs of several entities, such as a district, an association of
districts, as is the case of the Council of the Twelve of which your father is
President, or also something else, outside of planet Gaia. The Order assists
the administrative organization of several planets in this stellar system. Not all of them, not of the planet Threesix, for instance.”
-- “How do you
determine the degree to which you assist or guide a certain administration?”
-- “We cannot force anybody
to do anything”, resumes Gus-par. “It is all up to the desire, to the resolve
of the administration itself. On the whole, those who choose to consult us know
that what we propose to them is to their own good, and it’s meant to be useful
and advantageous for them. If other questions arise, the relations are off,
with no problem. The fact is that the Guardians are projected and devoted to
the inner life, to cultivating the spirit. Periodically, for instance, they
spend some time in total solitude, and they constantly search within themselves
for their own resources, and this is what really counts for them. They aspire
to be detached and independent of any mundane things or activities. For this
reason, and since they continuously move from one place to the other, they
encourage the hope that their activity is not easily corrupted by bias,
yearning, or greed of any kind, and that it may not be affected by the
attachment to material possessions, places or to particular temporal
situations.”
-- “How are those
things established among you guys? How do you… learn them?”
-- “There’s actually a
Statute that defines our behaviour, and sets some rules. The
Statute of the Order. Usually you may pick us out from the suit that we
wear too, since apart from minor variations, we all wear a habit with a cowl.”
-- “Is it just for males?”
-- “No. There is a
Statute for females as well”, resumes Yu’ko, “even though they take part in the
Order in a more reserved and private manner. They seldom meet with members of
the administrations, for instance.”
-- “Do you guys get married?”
-- “Only in very particular
cases”, he goes on. “It is not forbidden, but usually a living being, from
planet Gaia or elsewhere, who chooses to join the Order, consecrates his or her
life to the service.”
Lazra remains silent and
thoughtful.
Oppositions:
The President of the Twelve is
now walking along an ample and airy corridor of communication among several
collective chambers of the Palace of the Government Assembly. He is conversing
superficially with a few collaborators that are accompanying him about upcoming
commitments and appointments, when he realizes that ahead on his path a
renowned public official is awaiting him, with a tight affected smile, and
escorted by two assistants. As he arrives next to them, they set out in stride
along with him.
-- “President Shalon”, the
public official addresses him with a persuasive tone at first, “you know the
respect and the consideration that we feel and that we have always retained
toward you and the position that you hold, as several times we have had the
chance to declare and to demonstrate. Also, the profound devotion, which
characterizes our actions towards the country and the planet Gaia in general,
has always been manifest. Well, it is in the name of this that we would like to
remind you that the satellite Atlas, on which the statue was discovered, is a
reserve of stone and rock quarries not only for us gaiasis, but also for the
inhabitants of the planet Threesix, which in certain stellar periods approaches
the position of Gaia so much that it is visible to the naked eye even in daylight.
It is known that its inhabitants have no scruples in taking advantage of any
circumstances barely favourable to them in order to discourage their
competitors from continuing to make use of the reserves on Atlas. Also, as long
as they can turn out to be irreproachable from a formal point of view and of
the interstellar code, they will not even retain from any aggressive and
violent behaviour.”
-- “Honestly”, the President
Shalon answers in a passive and calm way, “even though I recall the situations and
the episodes that have taken place in the past, I must say that it has been a
while since the tension with the inhabitants from Threesix has let up, despite
the reserves on Atlas are not reforming as rapidly as the quarriers are making
use of them. Also, I don’t assume that a trick such as that of the statue would
be in their ways: I don’t think that in order to hatch a plot or a device of
argument they would have thought up an elaborate affair like this…”
-- “President,” the official
now presses him with a more urging tone, as he steps out in front of him, “as
experts in the Exchange and Commerce Relations of Gaia and Tannoiser, who in
the past have also held important jobs of official management, we claim that
despite the friendly and peaceful appearances of the message, and the emotional
impact that the artefact seems to exercise upon anyone who approaches it, it is
nothing more than the deceiving work of ill-intentioned adversaries. Falling
into the trap would be the beginning of gloomy consequences!”
Encounter of Shalon with a few Guardians:
The President Shalon is in
his office, standing by the side of his desk which sits next to an ample
window. He has a darkened and restless air about him, and although he keeps his
stare down to the objects on the table which he is fiddling with, he seems
absent-minded, almost as if he were waiting for something.
The visitor-beeper rings out,
so he presses the entrance button on his desk and he gets ready to receive
company. Three Guardians walk in: Gahk, Juanio and Petr.
-- “Good morning,
President Shalon! How are you?”, Gahk begins
with delight, being the one with more presence of the three. “Good-morning”,
Juanio and Petr also say, with friendly smiles.
-- “Good-morning,
and welcome. I am alright, and by the appearances I would say the same about you
guys.”
-- “It’s not bad, thank you.
We have heard about your daughter, lately, it seems that she is turning into a
very good person, of vivid and prompt spirit, attentive and interested.”
-- “My wife and I are a
little concerned about her these days…”, and he turns
his eyes back down to his desk.
-- “Is it because of that
recent visit to Atlas? We have heard some information about the unusual and
unexpected find.” Gahk’s tone of voice has now gotten more serious.
-- “Yes, dear Gahk”, he
answers thoughtfully, turning to look at them again. “I was curious to see you
and talk to you because of this, in fact. Would you like some juice? Or water,
if you are thirsty?”
-- “Not me, thank you, I’m fine
like this”, answers Gahk, “No, thank you”, “No, thank you”,
Juanio and Petr also reply shaking their heads and smiling. It’s
Petr now speaking:
-- “Is it true that despite a
few oppositions and a number of different voices and opinions, of which some at
least understandable, others senseless altogether, the resolution about to be
taken is to bring the work onto Gaia, and accept it as a gift from outer
space?”
Shalon listens to him looking
at him, and then he turns his eyes down to the floor:
-- “That’s right, even though
the expected session to decide that properly hasn’t taken place yet. Have you
heard the whole story already?”
-- “I think so”,
Gahk replies, “at least as much as was told us by the Guardians who escorted
you along on your visit.”
-- “Well, what do you guys
think? What do you say about this matter? I mean, I’m asking even just out of
curiosity, as I have done other times, after that I don’t know what will come
of this…”
Juanio intervenes:
-- “I was on Atlas. I believe
it is an exceptional piece of work. It is a reproduction, not the original, but
still it has an intensity and a grace to it that leave
one in disbelief until they experience it directly. Also, it seems to emanate a
hypnotic and magnetic force, it passes on a sort of electric shock, at the
touch, except that it feels like a harmonious sound. In any case, I feel that
we should trust it, and assume an attitude that grants it at least the benefit
of the doubt, and therefore bring the object onto Gaia, yes, and accept it and
receive it exactly for what it was communicated to us that it is, a gift and a
sign of brotherhood and harmony. I believe it is a moral duty.”
Petr adds:
-- “Then if the moment of the
cosmic conjunction in which the figure should come to life and be animated is
within three days, there will be a chance to set up the event and then
additional information will be given which may be very important in order to
establish any relations with terrestrial men and women.”
-- “Yes…”,
resumes Gahk finally, “if you were opting to bring that object from space over
here, wisdom will be on your side. Moreover, regardless of the efforts to keep
the novelty undertone, the word spread out rapidly, and the inhabitants of
Thoponim are in such fervent expectation that it is even hoped that it will be
transported overland, so as to let it be seen as it passes by. It would be a
worthy honor, for a gift worthy of honor.”
-- “And if it turns out to be
a deceit? A trap that we are going to regret?”, Shalon
asks anxiously.
-- “No…”,
Gahk resumes slowly, with his stare fixed in the eyes of the President. “That
won’t be it. There will be important matters to deal with, and dangerous too,
maybe more than if it was actually a trap, but that piece in itself is not a
lie.”
A supper at Shalon’s place:
Now it is at Shalon’s again,
in the same living-room as before, where the confrontation between Lazra and
her sisters and brother took place, and it is supper time, and as a matter of
fact the terrestrial girl is sitting at the table along with her three sisters,
her brother, her mother and three guests, of whom two young males, about the
same age as Shalon’s daughters and son, and a more adult female by the name of
Urie, who are friends of Oma’b and Merie’s. The atmosphere is familiar and
confidential, and the participants are taking the food and entertaining
themselves in liberty and light-heartedly.
-- “Lazra, if you see it you
will fall in love, I assure you!”, Urie exclaims
chuckling cheerfully. “It is a man, from your planet Earth. It is really a
beautiful work, everybody says that. You just couldn’t get tired of looking at
it, and you are being told by someone who has never had anything to do with men
from the Earth!”
Lazra is astounded, and does
not react. In spite of the high spirits of the conversation, she is emotionally
struck.
-- “Yes…”Meire Shalon replies
with a somewhat thoughtful tone and with her eyes turned down to the dishes on
the table, “we’ll see what happens in a couple of days when it should be
animated…”.
-- “I will certainly be there!”, exclaims again the gaiasi guest with enthusiasm.
Suddenly they hear a
continuous acute sound, indicating a presence just arrived at the entrance, and
Mrs. Shalon stands up: “Oh, excuse me for a moment, it must be Oma’b…”, and
walks out.
-- “But how did it get to
Atlas?”, Lazra asks with amazement.
-- “Nobody knows”, answers
one of the two young acquaintances, by the name of Bool, “it is one of the
reasons why they are expecting to have other information from the object
itself.”
-- “There is something
mysterious about that thing…!”, the other young guest
comments straightforwardly. “I have heard that in touching it you feel a sort
of shiver, and that it gives you sensations,
particular emotions…”
-- “I don’t think that
anybody brought it there, though…”, Lazra supposes,
while staring ahead over the table absent-mindedly, as if she were reflecting
out loud.
-- “Yes, but if you think
something that doesn’t mean that it is true, huh!”,
her brother observes sourly, and then exchanges a glance with one of the two
male guests.
-- “In fact, I expressed an
opinion about something I don’t know…”, she tries to
explain, with a mild tone but clearly.
-- “Just think if it was to
happen that relationships are established with someone from your own species,
Lazra!”, Urie remarks to her.
-- “I wouldn’t know what to
think…”, replies Lazra, with a smile.
-- “Just try and make some
mental efforts sometimes, instead of always floating among planets!...”,
another sister attacks her, the only one of the three younger than her, who
then seeks a knowing look with Bool, while Raski bursts into a laugh that he
tries to hold back.
-- “Lyha! Finish eating so
I can change bowls!”, her mother suggests to her with
an absent-minded tone, as she walks back in.
-- “Can just anybody go to
the assembly where the object will come to life?”,
asks Bool. Oma’b Shalon is now entering the room, and he answers himself:
-- “Yes, as long as there is
room to occupy”, he stops in proximity of the table,
setting his hands on his hips and glancing at the situation. “After which the
admittances will begin to be set off, if the statue should still attract more.”
Then he slowly steps closer to Lazra from behind her seat, he lays his hands on
her shoulders, beside her neck, and he massages her delicately. “Lazra will be
right there in the first line by Pop’s side, won’t she?”,
he exclaims with a certain pride, and in asking her for confirmation he bends
down toward her, and he gives her a kiss on the cheek. Raski and the eldest
sister exchange a casual glance of envy and impatience, while Lazra half smiles
with a slight embarrassment: she sincerely feels comforted, and she is very
thankful for that, but she does not wish to be favored in any way.
Entrance of the statue into the city:
The following day, which is
the eve of the particular star conjunction mentioned by the inscription, the
work original from the planet Earth is transported onto Gaia, and gets laid
down outside of the city of Thoponim, capital of President Shalon’s district,
which is the most important and influential one of the planet. Overland, the
statue is pulled through one of the gateways of the city, without the use of
pomp or ostentation, which the gaiasis are used to doing without even in
ceremonies or in the public official situations. Despite the initial purpose
not to give the matter great emphasis in the public opinion, the rumor has
extended, and so has the sense of involvement and participation on the
inhabitants’ part. As a matter of fact there is such curiosity, genuine
enthusiasm and joyous festivity in the public who’s rushed over to accompany
the statue along its path, that it probably is not of
a lesser degree than at the moving of the original sculpture and its
positioning in front of Palazzo Vecchio in
In particular, upon a vast
terrace slightly elevated from street-level, in the crowd that is attending and
at certain moments presses and swells, one may catch sight of the public
official, who has expressed his opposition to the President Shalon, keeping
company with his two assistants again. After observing for a little while, with
deep disappointment and annoyance which confer to his face an unnatural
expression of uneasiness, he slowly backs away together with his companions. In
walking off with gravity, he spots a few steps away the two councillors who
escorted Shalon onto Atlas, along with a third colleague, while they are
watching the happening. The official steps closer to them, and as he’s gotten
near enough to be heard even in the surrounding uproar he says:
-- “It’s been a wretched
initiative, on the part of the senselessly blind! You will come to realize what
a responsibility you have decided to take upon yourselves!”, and he stares the
one closer to him in the eyes for an instant, after which he walks away.
At another point of the
journey of the terrestrial find, somewhat closer to the Palace of the
Government Assembly, Gahk and Juanio are standing one next to the other, with a
relaxed and attentive air about them, and they watch as the object is withdrawn
toward the entrance of the building. Gahk comments:
-- “Well, this is an event of
importance and relevance probably greater than we can even imagine. It is true
that Lazra has been on this planet for the past 12 years, but she is a survivor
who has been adopted and grown up here. Now, instead, there is maybe an attempt
to establish a contact between different species of living beings. I am curious
to attend whatever happens at the cosmic conjunction…”, and he exchanges a glance
with Juanio.
So, in the alternation
between, on one hand, clamor, shouting and partying manifestations, and, on the
other hand, of reverent silence and a concentrated attention, the statue
arrives at the Assembly Palace, and here it gets positioned inside the huge
main entrance hall, by the side of the doorway, in expectation of a more
appropriate and definitive location.
The
particular cosmic conjunction:
It
is the night of the astral conjunction, and the spacious entrance-hall of the
Palace of the Government Assembly is now packed with people of all kinds, all
occupations and of all interests, arrived here to assist at the fateful
happening, in which the statue from Earth should come to life and be animated,
as is indicated by the engraving in its basement.
Public
personalities are present who hold official jobs, as the President Shalon
himself, who at this moment is meeting with his daughter Lazra and two of her
sisters, and a few Councillors of the Twelve, who gather together and exchange
opinions; some Interplanetary Guardians are in discreet and watchful
expectation, among whom one may recognize Gahk, Juanio, Petr, and may spot
those more in friendship with Lazra, Gus-par and Yu’ko, although younger and of
less important presence, and others never seen before; and then there are
curious private citizens, and among others stand Urie and Bool, who gather one
next to the other in anxious, throbbing and deferential expectation. In spite
of the excitement, originated from the hope and the trust, and the anxiety,
caused by the unknown and the incertitude, the crowd holds in an orderly
composure, emits a constant and undertone buzz, and is attentive and watchful
about the situation.
Some
notice Lazra, never having met or seen her before, while she is waiting
together with her sisters in proximity of her adoptive father, and they mumble
comments to their neighbors. As the evening proceeds, and the buzz and the
voices drop and fade away, the whole attention is absorbed by the terrestrial
object. Sometimes a few attendants exchange glances among acquaintances or
strangers, just to recover a little of the sense of community and sociality,
because otherwise the figure from space attracts every spirit to itself.
In
the late evening, the statue begins to give out vibrations, at first almost
imperceptibly, and then all the more intensely. It is vibrations of which one
feels a penetrating physical impression, through the sense of hearing, in the
form of a continuous and harmonious sound, and throughout the entire body,
which is overrun by quivers. Those who have happened to touch the statue
realize that it is the same sensation which they felt at the contact with it,
only that now it occurs even without approaching it. Subsequently the matter of
the statue, the marble, gradually dematerializes becoming more and more
imperceptible and eventually transparent, vanishing altogether into the air.
In
reverse and at the same time, from the figure fading away an immaterial
presence appears, the spirit of the object, which becomes increasingly visible
dissociating itself from its matter as it dissolves. At first it is in the same
position as the body of the statue, and then it gradually starts to move, with
the manners and the gestures of live men, although it is a spirit. It assumes a
standing position, static and natural, withdrawing his sling from behind his
back and pulling it together in his hands. Mustering up his concentration, he
raises up his eyes hesitantly and, perfectly careless of his nudity, he
addresses them over here and there at the crowd gathered around him. He is in a
certain way intimidated by them, as if he felt that he couldn’t really deal
with such a number of people.
As
has been previously arranged by the President Shalon, a Guardian is the one who
establishes the first contact on behalf of the President himself and of the
Council of the Twelve of planet Gaia. It is Gahk, who takes a slow step forward
toward the spirit, into the open space that has formed around it, and addresses
it, slightly opening both arms, somewhat bent at the elbows, and with his hands
relaxed but stretched open:
--
“Welcome onto the planet Gaia, of the constellation of Tannoiser. We, present
here, are the inhabitants from Gaia, and we are in the city of
The spirit of the sculpture:
-- “I give infinite thanks to
everybody present here”, the bewildered spirit starts out timidly. “My name is
Dayéd, and I am the spirit of the piece that you recovered and received into
this place. At the end of the scheduled period of one night, I will vanish out
of sight again, and the statue will re-form itself. It is established that it
comes to life at intervals of 500 years. That object represents a man, that is
a living-being original from the planet Earth, belonging to the stellar system
of the Milky Way. Men, together with women, who are beings from the same
species but of opposite sex, are the principal inhabitants of the Earth. They
were created by God, who is the Spirit that gives life, and who, before them,
has created the world and the universe.
Their civilization has always
consisted in deepening the knowledge of themselves and, therefore, of the
universe, and of what they could perceive through their senses, and of the
things of the spirit.” The spirit of Dayéd visualizes to the eyes of the audience,
by means of a sort of collective spiritual vision, some images that follow each
other as he proceeds with his exposition, in order to illustrate or exemplify
the subjects which he is recounting. Signs are shown, then, of a few
transformations brought into the environment and to the matters of their
planet. While talking, Dayéd turns primarily to Gahk, and then to the President
Shalon, but also toward all those who surround him. “Ever since his origins,
man has exerted himself to interact with the environment in which he found
himself, in the attempt to make his life on Earth better and easier. He then
began to manipulate matter, at first in order to fulfil primary and basic
needs, such as nourishing and taking shelter, and subsequently for many other
complementary and secondary necessities. He has developed the activities of
hunting, fishing, cultivation of the earth, of constructions, and as men and
women from nomads have become settlers they have built urban centers and great
cities. They established and refined relations of exchange and commerce, and,
in reference to nature and the Creation, they conceived ideas and
interpretations regarding the immediate surrounding environment, the space and
the universe, and subsequently, as time went by, they dedicated themselves to
the observation and the particular study of natural and physical phenomena,
withdrawing from them revelations and useful knowledge. In this manner,
universal laws have been discovered of the becoming in time and space, which
may be applied in order to provide men with instruments and techniques apt to
satisfy their needs.”
The images proceed to
illustrate the inventions, the developments, and the innovations of the devices
and the practical means of which men have availed themselves in the course of
their history. Figures have already flashed by of the plough, of metals, fire,
the pyramids, monuments, the wheel, graffiti, works of art, huts, sculptures,
paintings, of different ages and places of origin.
-- “Through the use of
writing”, continues Dayéd, “men have left testimonies to their own fellowmen in
innumerable works, concerning the most different subjects and purposes, in
order to edify or delight the spirit, as well as to illustrate and convey
information and knowledge. Many doctrines, natural and technical knowledge have
therefore been passed down in this manner in the course of their history,
sometimes for centuries and millenniums.” Works of writing appear and vanish,
followed by ancient and modern reproductions of figures, traced on yellowish
heavy volumes, as well as projected over thin and transparent virtual screens.
According to the spirit’s explanation, moreover, flashes are shown of boats,
geographical maps, buildings, urban areas, means of transport. The images
sometimes appear slowly, other times they follow in succession so rapidly that
a superficial impression remains of each one, and basically they integrate into
a general sensation of several of them together.
-- “However”, he resumes,
“unfortunately, too often it has happened that in the life of men, in the
practical applications of the resources and knowledge, the purposes of hatred,
violence and destruction prevailed over those, instead, of love, fraternity and
charity, and that these were neglected, both in terms of priority, and of
development in time. Therefore, absurdities can take place so that several
nations possess weapons powerful enough to destroy the entire planet a number
of times, or they abandon precious supplies and resources to waste, whereas in
certain places vast segments of the population don’t even have enough with
which to feed themselves. The crucial event in the history of men and women of
the planet Earth, in the part of them which the soul that is speaking comes
from, has been the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God Almighty,
Creator of the skies, and the earths and of all things, visible and invisible
contained in them. Every year the recurrence of his birthday is celebrated, and
the history of men is punctuated by that event, between a before and an after.”
Sculptures appear then, and paintings depicting the Cross, the Virgin Mother,
the Apostles and the Saints. “However, his teaching of love, charity and peace
gets so often altogether ignored and forsaken.” Images flash by of explosions,
bombs, people suffering, and then other illustrations follow of violence,
oppressions, acts sprung from greed and covetousness, and of pains and hurting
endurances, which are maybe less evident, but present and diffuse.
-- “The object that you recovered
from Atlas is the reproduction of a sculpture dating back to the 16th
century after Christ, accomplished by Michelangelo Buonarroti, a terrestrial
from the country of Italy. This here speaking is the soul of that object and
represents the spirit of David, king of
When he finishes speaking,
the President Shalon takes a look at Gahk, who returns it back at him, and then
at Juanio and Petr, near by Shalon. Lazra is standing in proximity of her
father, and she is wearing a veil that screens part of her face and her neck,
and she is therefore not entirely visible, and the attention which she draws to
herself is rather spare. President Shalon then begins speaking:
-- “In listening to your
explanation I have confirmed my supposition that the object discovered was a
precious find, of immense value. I would like to express the most sincere
gratitude to you in particular for what you recounted, and to the men and women
whom you talked about for sending it.”
-- “Infinite thanks to you
all for receiving the statue upon Gaia, and into this particular place…”,
replies the soul Dayéd.
Time is passing quickly,
however, and the spirit, a little at a time, recovers his usual composure upon
its marble pedestal, as its movements become more and more corporeal and slowed
down by the condensation of the masses, and while its voice fades away, he
turns hard, massive and heavy.
The gaiasis in attendance
look at each other and reflect, now for the most part informed and convinced of
the origin and the goal of the find recently discovered. A citizen, who’s grown
curious, utters to the companion by his side:
-- “And now he won’t spell a
word for another 500 years!...Can you imagine that?”
-- “Hard to believe it. Ehi,
but I will be there! Maybe just like him, in spirit!...”, the other one
concludes.
A dream of the President Shalon:
The following day,
arrangements are made immediately in order to give the sculpture a new
location, definitive and of greater importance, in which it can be properly
visited and appreciated. It is therefore transported into an adjacent room,
ampler and collective, which serves as a communication hall towards several
assembly chambers, habitually used by public figures and by common citizens for
several purposes. The statue gets cleaned up and polished.
That night, the President
Shalon has a dream. He pictures that the statue comes back to life, as it is
expected to do in the future on the occasion of the next cosmic conjunction,
and not in the form of aerial and incorporeal spirit, but instead in that of an
actual man, with a body of flesh and blood characteristic to his species,
animated by the spirit just encountered. In the dream, his daughter, still a
little girl even younger than she actually is at the moment, plays with a ball
on a pier on the shore of the Orion sea, and the ball slips from her hands and
falls into the water. The statue, in flesh and blood, reaches her from the shore, where he saw what
happened, and reassures her, promising that he will go and get it back for her.
A few minutes later he breaks back above the water, holding in his hands the
little girl’s toy and a city in miniature, both of which he entrusts to the
Lazra’s hands. The dream fades out with the two of them exchanging affectionate
and intense looks, before he finally steps back and moves away.
A Council of the Twelve…:
The day after, Shalon walks
through the doorway of the Palace of the Government Assembly, and heads for the
chambers. In passing by the statue, he stops and stares at it thoughtfully. He surprises
himself mumbling out loud:
-- “…you stay away from my
daughter!...”, half ironically and half seriously.
Shortly afterwards, he is
sitting at a slightly elliptical table, together with the various members of
the council in an extraordinary session, which is taking place in one of the
chambers of small size. The President Shalon is situated at one end of the
longer side of the table. In catching sight of them from a few steps away,
their debate might be perceived as a buzz in which one may barely make out a
few more stressful tones or some more acute sounds. As one steps closer,
however, it might get more distinct that they are discussing the recent
happening. The entrances to the room where they are sitting are open, and every
now and then someone walks in to bring full bottles of water in replacement of
the empty ones. The councillors, from time to time, take a drink from the
glasses to wet their conversation. The ceiling is usefully low, and at this
moment the table and the relative seats around it are the only equipment inside
the room.
-- “…certainly I understand
the Guardians when they assert that this event has historical significance,
unprecedented in the past ages of planet Gaia, and of the entire system of
Tannoiser, for that matter, that is the attempt of a contact between our
species and that of men and women of the planet Earth. This is undoubtedly an
extraordinary situation, but I consider that as long as it hasn’t been
ascertained, with the due care and caution, in what we can make ourselves
available and useful in relation to the people who sent those objects into
space, it is opportune not to raise any expectations or deceiving enthusiasms
regarding what is beyond the real and concrete possibilities for us gaiasis to
do.”
-- “I agree with what the
colleague is asserting”, intervenes another councillor sitting at the table,
while the President Shalon and the others pay attention carefully. “So much so
that he was very optimistic and confident in his statements. I mean to say that
there are no doubts that it’s impossible with the only information that we have
been provided with by that…appearance, to conclude in a wise and concrete
manner what ever actually might be done.”
-- “Well…”, continues a third
one. “It is a fact that, a part from what we have been told regarding the
civilization of terrestrial men and women and their difficult situation,
current or past that it might be, we do not have at our disposal any particular
names, or references of any kind, or any position-coordinates so as to think
about attempting an initiative, or meeting somebody. If we even had the
opportunity and the will to do something, it would be impossible to decide from
who or what or where to begin…”, and in pronouncing these last words, he runs
his eyes over the faces of his colleagues present at the table, without meeting
with any replies.
…and a meeting with Lazra:
Not a long time afterwards,
the President Shalon is proceeding solitary, discomforted and down-hearted,
along an ample corridor, the same one in which he encountered the public
official who was opposing to the transport of the statue onto Gaia. Other busy
people are accidently rushing by his side, in the one sense and the other, some
in a hurry, while others are standing around, either talking in company, or by
themselves reading a paper.
It is the night of the same
day, Lazra is alone in her room, at home, sitting at a desk. She is writing
something by hand on some sheets of paper, taking the starting point from a
text that she is rolling along on a flat monitor-screen, slightly tilted,
incorporated in the desktop. At the same time she is nibbling some food for
supper from a plate, resting on a hanging plane close by. She hears knocking at
the door and she says: “Come in!”. Her adoptive father sticks his head in.
-- “Hi, Lazra…”, he says with
a uneasy tone of voice.
-- “Hi, Pop! How are you
doing?”
-- “Good enough, thank you.”,
he answers as he steps further inside the room. “How are you? What do you say
about the spirit of the sculpture?”
-- “Well,…”, she stands up as
her eyes are livening up, and her enthusiasm mounts at the subject, “…I’m sorry
that he disappeared again!”. She starts rubbing her hands with a certain
nervous excitement. Her glance runs here and there, almost as if it were caught
in slight embarrassment, and she is visibly passionate at considering the
revelations of two nights before.
-- “I imagine…”, answers
melancholic Shalon.
-- “It’s ever since I was
7-years-old that I hadn’t seen a fellowman of mine…or something that reminded
me of one…Also, poor him, I believe that what he said was fascinating.”
-- “Yes, I thought he was
sort of a nice guy too. Listen, though, I wanted to tell you right away that I
am coming out of the Council of the Twelve now, and it was decided unanimously
that nothing will be done about this matter…”
-- “What do you mean?”
-- “That there is nothing to
do, Lazra, I’m sorry”. He makes a gesture of discomfort and resignation. “We
don’t have any information nor any necessary references to even start thinking
about it…”
Lazra feels more astonished
and in disbelief than frustrated, almost as if she can’t quite realize what she
is hearing with her ears.
It is night, Lazra is
sleeping in her bed, and she is dreaming. She sees Dayéd again, not in spirit
but in flesh and blood, and he is staring at her and tries to attract her
attention, and he makes gestures as if to invite her towards him, to go to him.
The prophecy:
At the same time, outdoors,
one could catch sight of two councillors walking out of a night-club, the same
fellows who accompanied Shalon onto Atlas on his initial visit. There is a
certain crowd in front of the entrance of the bar-club, of people who are about
to get in or on their way out, or else standing around and chatting while
sipping at something. The place is emphasised by a gaudy rig in bad taste of
lights, colors, decorations, and ornaments, which is useless and cumbersome, and
is nevertheless showed off with pride for wanting to be a luxury and trendy
club. The councillors are approached by a colleague of theirs, an
assistant-collaborator, who is just now arriving at the bar himself, and walks
up to them. He shakes their hand with smiles and over-the-top, theatrical
gestures.
-- “Ehi! Have you heard the
news? It seems that even that clown Erì-thong wanted to say a word about the
issue of the rock from space! It sounds like he’s dreamed up a prophecy, this
time. I can’t believe how he still has the courage to speak up, that
fellow!”
-- “Yes, we have heard…”,
answers one of the two officials, with scorn and disdain, “…that is all they
talk about in here today”, and he makes a gesture with his arm to indicate the
club behind his shoulders.
-- “One just doesn’t know
what to think up anymore, to work up a gossip and get some attention!”, the
other of the two continues, half sneering scornfully.
-- “I am astounded”, resumes
the first councillor, “that someone might even consider these things seriously,
at the present day!”
-- “The way I look at it,”
finally says ironically the assistant who just got there, “only somebody who
doesn’t know how else to spend their time will talk about that!”, and saying
good-bye to them quickly he heads for the entrance of the club. The other two
exchange a glance between them.
While the first lights of the
day are fading the darkness away, Gahk and Juanio are on board an elevated
platform suspended in the open space for the most part, which is a docking harbour,
for the landing and take-off of space vessels of small and medium sizes, of a
larger and more important space-ship. The place is calm and peaceful, at this
time of morning, and surrounded as it is by such infinite spaces. Juanio is
loading a few pieces of luggage into the trunk of a means of transport for two
passengers, while Gahk is taking a look inside the front engine alongside a
mechanic.
Two other governmental
officials reach them at this moment, wearing formal suits very similar to those
of their colleagues of a short time ago, although maybe, on account of the
time, they are not quite in impeccable order in the figure. They turn to Gahk,
who signals the mechanic to carry on with his work on the engine.
-- “Good-morning”, begins one
of the two officials with an air of commanding haughty. “We wanted to ask you
whether you had heard something regarding this prophecy which everybody’s
talking about, and what it consists in more exactly. Since several rumors have
spread out about it, it’s easy not to understand a thing…”
-- “It’s Erì-thong. You guys
remember him, don’t you? He used to be in the Order.”
-- “Yes, he must have gotten
in a real nasty mess and they kicked him out, and as a matter of fact he
doesn’t enjoy too good a reputation, that old stunned-head…”, comments the
official with an ironic tone.
-- “Erì-thong has a value
that those like you cannot even imagine. He was not kicked out and he did not
commit any faults for not being in the Order anymore.”
-- “I am waiting for you to tell
me about the prophecy…”
-- “It is about a dream that
Erì-thong has had,” Gahk reports staring him straight in the eye, and then he
pulls back and he also goes about loading some littler objects into the cockpit
of the vehicle, continuing to talk in a louder voice: “that is that the only
living being who can do something in order to bring back the soul of Dayéd, and
therefore make contacts possible between Gaia and men from the Earth, is Lazra,
the young woman President Shalon’s adoptive daughter”.
-- “The President Shalon has
an adoptive daughter?”, exclaims surprised the official. His colleague
proceeds:
-- “And what should
this…Lazra do, in order to bring back the ghost?”
-- “What Lazra is supposed to
do according to the prophecy I do not know, and it doesn’t sound to me as if it
has been revealed at all”, Gahk replies, with a conclusive tone, stopping and
turning around to look at the two. “But if it is possible to get back in touch
with the spirit of Dayéd so as to better decide what to do with the terrestrials,
only Lazra is the chosen instrument by whom that can happen.”
About Erì-thong:
Lazra is again together with
her Guardian friends Gus-par and Yu’ko, who described to her in outline the
characteristics of the Order, and once more in that place of vast natural
landscape where both she and they love to stay and meditate very much. At this
moment the two Guardians are removing bad weeds from a ground with little trees
and various vegetation. Some plants they pull out with their bare hands, others
they cut off with an appropriate instrument that this time they thought of
carrying along with them. As they cut off or tear out, they throw the bad weeds
to one side, where they are piling up in a slight heap. Standing at a short
distance from them, Lazra is for the most part watching them, hesitantly, at
the moment inexpert and unprepared to take part in the same activity, and in
fact both Gus-par and Yu’ko every now and then explain and illustrate to her
what they are up to.
-- “Me? What do you mean me?”,
Lazra is trying to gather her ideas, with a voice of plead and anxiety. “What
could I ever do?!”
Gus-par, who is closer to
her, turns to look at her and smiles.
-- “And then I’ve heard from
several places that this guy, Erì-thong, is a fool, some say that he is no
good, that they turned him away from the Order because of some weird things
that he messed up with, imagine that. Then he gets me involved, and now a lot
of people are talking about it!...”, and she casts a glance of faint despair.
“Who knows whatever I had to do in this whole story!...”
-- “Erì-thong is a great
man”, Gus-par asserts peacefully. He lowers his eyes for a moment, and then he
looks back at her and resumes speaking: “True value, virtue, always meets with
a violent reaction from the widespread opinion. This is the reason why
sometimes, by the appearances, it can be difficult to discern it from a sham,
for instance. It takes a supernatural intuition and lucidity to be able to
recognize it and remain faithful to it, without being affected by the rumors or
by the shouting of convenience.”
He stops for an instant and
he smiles at her warmly. She just stares at him without saying anything.
“He used to be in the Order,
once”, he continues, “and he was just as he is now in his private life, very
loyal and zealous toward the Statute. He is a man of great integrity. At that
time, however, there were some in the Order who favored a more elastic and
moderate interpretation of the Statute, and therefore a life that was more
relaxed and compromising with certain allures of the senses or the material
possessions. The Order then split into two parts: one that was for a coherent
and upright righteousness of life and relied upon Erì-thong and two other
Guardians now passed away, and the other one according to which certain ideas
could accommodate more to the things of the world, and it was supported by a
fair amount of adversaries of Erì-thong and his companions. Quite soon the
contrast became vicious, and certain leaders of the latter section took on violent
and brutal attitudes toward Erì-thong and his people, to the point of
unleashing a real persecution. The Order suffered very much from all these
tensions, and the Guardians were not carrying out their duty with the necessary
serenity, and what is worse, in general the motivation for which to trust them
and have confidence in them was darkened. Therefore Erì-thong believed that it
wasn’t worth giving battle inside the Order itself, and so he retired to
private life. Among the Guardians the major tensions gradually faded away, and
now, if nothing else, the Order can carry on its activity. There are sometimes
corruptions and downfalls on the part of many, which are balanced by the huge
efforts of the worthiest and most valuable representatives, who sublimate what
is individual and personal into a consideration of that which is universally
true, good and wise. Value, zeal is for the most part up to the individual
initiative. Let it be known, though, that if it hadn’t been for Erì-thong and
his companions, today there would not even be an Order to speak about.”
Lazra stares at him,
meditating and remaining silent. In the meantime Yu’ko hasn’t interrupted his
work, and even though he’s been listening and participating he continues
picking up bad weeds and plants.
All of a sudden, an assistant
of Shalon’s comes rushing along all out of breath, as he evidently has been
running around searching for Lazra:
-- “Miss Lazra, at last I am
finding you! Your father asked me to tell you to go see him as soon as
possible, that he wants to speak to you!” She heads for home, which is not too
far.
Lazra and Shalon on what to do:
Shalon is in his home office,
and at the moment he seems absorbed in re-arranging some sheets of paper, discs
and various objects on his desk, with a somewhat thoughtful and absent-minded
attitude, or as if he were for the most part waiting for something. Lazra
arrives, and she immediately notices a murky look on his father’s face.
-- “Hi, Lazra, we finally see
you.”
-- “Hi, Pop.”
-- “Listen, I haven’t seen
you for a while, and since it’s a couple of days since there has been so much
talk going on about that prophecy of Erì-thong’s…”, and in uttering this name
he raises his eyebrows upward and rolls his eyes back.
-- “Oh, yes!”, she exclaims,
“I’ve heard he’s a good character!”, she reports with a certain enthusiasm, and
smiling. Shalon reproaches her with an annoyed, severe frown:
-- “He is a fool!”, he
exclaims in a higher pitch, and with slight scorn. “A crazy-head. Among other
things, many claim that he didn’t behave right at all when he was in the Order
of the Guardians, and so he got laid off.”
-- “He wasn’t laid off, he
quit on purpose”.
-- “I don’t think so, Lazra,
you should be better informed. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about him. I wanted
to tell you about the prophecy. I am rather resentful as to how your name was
brought up to put together an uncalled-for swindle with which to fill the loud
mouths of the loafers. Many say that it’s even been done on purpose, in order
to get attention and some free advertising. Just think what it comes down to!”,
and he accompanies this last expression with a gesture of impatience and
contempt. Lazra stares at him for a few instants, undecided, and then replies:
-- “I’m just sorry because
I’m convinced that I cannot do anything! What in the world should I ever do?”,
and she says this half stretching a hysterical smile. “But if there is a
chance, however faint it might be, to bring Dayéd back I would indeed want
someone to try it! But certainly not me!!”
-- “Lazra, that thing gets
animated every 500 years. I don’t have the power to resuscitate the spirits
ahead of time, nor to fast-forward the passing of centuries. For this reason it
is best not to think about this whole story anymore. I am sorry to say this,
most of all for those who sent off that message, men and women from the Earth,
but there is nothing that we can do!”, and he spells out these last words
emphasizing them severely, since it is the second time that he has pronounced
them. Lazra has a petrified and frustrated expression.
A night in public hall:
It is night, in a large
public hall at the ground-floor of a building, looking out a full-height
glass-window onto the street outside. The room is used for the occasion as a
reception hall, as refreshments and little bits of food of various types are
placed on the tables, from which the numerous guests pick and choose in the
course of the conversations and the mundane entertainment. At the moment there
are approximately twenty people present, young ones predominantly and few
adults, but the newly-arrived keep flowing in, and everybody knows everybody
else, at least by sight or from hearsay. Some of them are comfortably seated,
others are leaned against wall- or floor-supports, but the most part of the
guests are standing around, gathered together in pairs or groups of
light-hearted distraction, chat and gossip. On one side, along one of the glass
walls looking onto the street outside, Lazra is keeping company with two of her
sisters, the elder ones, her brother Raski and a few friends and acquaintances,
among whom one of the two young guys that went to their place for dinner
together with Urie. Lazra is feeling a little uneasy, like a fish out of water
in an atmosphere that she feels as quite fake and bogus, and she stays aside
somewhat to herself. One of their friends is mumbling something into the ear of
one of her sisters, and she giggles as she looks in the direction indicated to
her by him. On the side of the room where they are standing, a vegetation area
is located right in front of the glass wall looking outside, where a few little
trees and plants of several different kinds grow in a layer of earth beside the
glass. At night, this natural corner is purposely illuminated by means of a few
light-points, and it consists in a pleasant presence both for those who are
inside the hall, and for the passers-by outside. Lazra is observing, closely
and with interest, the constitution of the trunk of one little tree and of the
hardened resin on its surface. When one of their acquaintances, who had dinner
at their place along with Bool and Urie, steps away momentarily from their
group and then comes back carrying a tray of full glasses and some bits of
food, she doesn’t even notice, while everybody helps themselves and they
rapidly finish up all the provisions. When she turns toward the others, the
fellow with the tray, pretentiously showing off fake embarrassment, exclaims
with hypocrisy:
-- “Ooops! There’s no more!
Sorry, Lazra…!”
-- “Oh, don’t worry about
it!”, she answers good-naturedly, as she sincerely doesn’t care much. “I’m just
fine like this, thank you! Didn’t want any.”
In the meantime outside they
can catch sight through the glass walls of a young gaiasi girl carrying a
recently-born son in her arms and wearing worn-out and run-down clothes. She is
nearing a few guests of the reception who are standing outside of the public
hall, in front of the entrance, and she begs for charity, discreetly and with
her eyes downward. Most of the present barely take a look at her, engrossed as
they are in the drinks and the gossip, and she just draws back and moves on to
someone else. Almost everyone of the Shalons’ company notices her.
-- “Shortly the District
Assembly ought to be discussing the security ordinance”, asserts one of the
friends, who is also companion to one of Lazra’s sisters. “They will see
whether to change it or not, and whether to approve it definitively.”
-- “Yes, but in my opinion
they will pass it as it is by now. And I hope so, at least”, a girlfriend
comments.
-- “In my view it is too
soft, it really isn’t much good”, another intervenes, who is a friend of the
first one. “It implies that those who are caught sleeping or bunking around the
urban streets, and most of all begging for charity, will be put on record and
under surveillance, in order to discourage these annoying activities that can
sometimes be threatening, until they spontaneously fade away altogether. I
think they should downright arrest those people, and forget spontaneously!
There are times when you can’t be out in the street for 5 minutes that there is
some wretch popping by begging for something!”. Lazra is astounded and deeply
grieved.
-- “Yes,” her elder sister
adds, “but it also provides that private patrols may be set up by the citizens,
also in the evening and at night, and if they notice suspicious or insecure
situations, or makeshift shelters that are improvised and chancy, they can
report them to the repression units.”
Outside the young beggar keeps
on approaching a few.
-- “How can you agree with a
similar dirty sham?”, Lazra then exclaims profoundly upset. “This is called the
security ordinance? It hits the weakest ones of all, who almost always are the
victims of insecurity and evil, or at least they’ve suffered from that. Instead
of having compassion for them, and providing for help and assistance, it aims
to wipe them away altogether? For whom would they be a threat? And they’re even
a bother if they go begging for something? At times it just gets hard to know
who to harass with impunity! That is so despicable!”
The others of the group, her
sisters, her brother, their friends and acquaintances, look at her askance,
with an aloof and suspicious air.
-- “You certainly are quite
conceited!”, observes Raski. “There is nobody here that looks at it that way”,
and he pronounces the word ‘nobody’ with emphasis, indicating with his hand the
present company, “and still you expect to be right, what arrogance!”. After
which he turns toward the others abruptly, giving her partially the back.
-- “Lazra, I think you should
go out for a walk at night, sometime, to really check out for yourself if it’s
not worth being scared of!”, her other sister goes on.
-- “So, what does that
mean?”, replies Lazra. She is very emotionally distressed, on one side she is
angry, on the other her eyes are getting wet .
-- “What you are saying is
quite ingenious”, another one of the friends interjects, with a half a smile on
his lips, “and also sounds from an ideal, utopian world. The reality is that someone who
continuously goes asking others in the street for something is bothering and
annoying. I appreciate more those who can take care of themselves, the others
are dragging!...”
-- “Oh, come on!”, exclaims
one of the girlfriends with a harsher tone of voice, as if from someone who is
losing her patience, indicating with a swing of her arm the members of the
group present there. “There must be some reason why we are all saying the same
thing, won’t there? I don’t understand this…”, and she shakes her head annoyed,
and rolls her eyeballs upward.
Outdoors, in the meantime, a
fellow among the guests loses his patience, and decides to take the initiative
toward the young beggar, who is drawing near some whom she hasn’t passed by yet
timidly holding out her open hand. He walks up to her, he puts a hand on her
shoulder and gives her a push backward, shaking his head with his eyes turned
downward.
-- “Get out of here!...”, he
enjoins her in a low voice. “Get away!”, and he pushes her back, at the same time
pressing her with growing urgency. The young gaiasi woman backs away from the
pushes, but she stops. He keeps on moving forward, “Go!”, he is yelling now,
while among the others present somebody watches and approves, someone else also
adds:
-- “Yes! We’ve had enough of
this!”, and others are shouting:
-- “Go get a life and a
job!!”. Someone giggles, commenting with the neighbor. The young gaiasi girl,
with her baby in her arms, now backs off by herself, and finally she turns
around and runs away.
Lazra, after watching the
scene, breaks out of the place quickly, through another doorway closer to
her.
An unexpected encounter:
It is night, Lazra leaves the
public hall with the desperation of someone who would like to go away and never
come back. After all the sensations accumulated, she has become quite upset,
and having walked a certain distance by herself, she is overwhelmed by an
emotional surge that brings her to sigh and let out tears. The evening goes on,
while she is walking, covering distances and getting out of the actual
inhabited area, and she moves into the surrounding natural landscapes. She
hardly encounters anybody, and she finds comfort in the open and infinite
spaces.
All of a sudden it starts
raining, with thick precipitation and wind, and as thunder and lightening
strike hard, in an unexpected and abrupt twist of the atmospheric conditions, a
storm breaks out. Finding herself outdoors and at a certain distance by
now from the town settlement, Lazra is
fully exposed to the weather, and has to take cover however and wherever she
can. First of all she tries to shield herself under a tree, although that is
good only for the first instants, and after those the rain tumbles down on her
unstopped. Then, even though she has lost her sense of orientation, she starts
running in search of any shelter, be it a roof or a recess. She doesn’t know
where she is headed, not even whether she is going back towards the town or
moving further away, but she keeps on running in the relentless rain, which has
turned into hail, and in the cold wind. At a certain point she catches sight of
a building with openings lit up from the inside, and she sets out in that
direction with no hesitation. It looks like a home, even though peculiar and
all by itself. Lazra reaches what appears to her as the entrance doorway and
knocks upon it with despair. An old man opens up to her, with a very natural
and uncared-for aspect, wearing a suit that vaguely resembles the habit of the
Guardians’ Order, although without a cowl, and of a different color. He seems
to recognize her, as if he is aware who she is, although he’s never met her
before. He lets her in.
The house is very simple,
equipped in a sober and austere fashion, as is in general the life led by the
person who lives in it. The devices it is provided with are simple and
essential, measured according to the convenient use that is made of them. The
gaiasi-man hands Lazra something to dry herself with, while she takes a look at
herself and she realizes that she is soaking wet and dripping water.
-- “I’m sorry…I’m flooding
your house!”
-- “Oh, it doesn’t matter,
don’t worry about it”
-- “Thank you for letting me
in, really. I don’t know what kind of storm this is, I’ve never seen anything
like it! If you happen to be in it, after a while it almost takes your breath
away!”
-- “Yes, I imagine. It is a
rather exceptional precipitation, and it must be flooding several places. If
you wish to change your clothes, until it stops or at least lets up, I can give
you something dry, although it’s gaiasi-man’s clothes.”
-- “Listen, maybe it would be
nice to say no, but if you don’t mind I’ll accept the kind proposal, because I
am really soaking wet!”
-- “Of course! You are
right!”, and he promptly walks off getting a hold of some garments, and shortly
Lazra is sitting with blankets wrapped all around her.
-- “My name is Lazra.”
-- “Yes, I know. I have heard
of you”, he replies, as he goes about preparing something to eat on a plate.
-- “Is that a habit of the
Order that you are wearing?”, she inquires while she’s watching him.
-- “No, it is just a habit.”
-- “But you are not a
Guardian?”
-- “No, I was when I was
young, a long time ago.”
-- “I have some friends who
are Guardians. I admire them very much. Today, they were telling me about the
prophecy by someone called Erì-thong. A lot of people have talked about it in
the past few days, for that matter, I don’t know if you’ve heard of that.”
-- “Well, not really. But I
do know about the prophecy.” He stops and looks at her for a moment. “My name
is Erì-thong.”
About the prophecy:
Lazra stares at him with
amazement and deferent enchantment.
-- “What was defined as a
‘prophecy’”, he continues, “is a dream that I had a few nights ago, to which I
gave an interpretation. I told some Guardians friends about it once, and the
word spread out in a flash, in a way that nobody expected, nor did I wish for.
Within a short time, so many people had heard about it as the ‘prophecy’”
He steps closer to her and
hands her over a plate containing some dry fruit, a sort of honey and a piece
of bread. She accepts it, without saying a word, as if she were conforming to
the circumstances. She picks at something, looking at it with a questioning
air.
-- “I dreamed that you, as a
little girl, were playing with a ball on a pier. The ball fell into the sea,
and Dayéd came up to you from the shore, a live man in flesh and blood. He dove
in, and got back up with the ball and a whole city in miniature in his hands.
He gave you both things and then he left. The morning after I had no doubts
that you were the one who could have the spirit of Dayéd appear again.”
-- “How should it happen that
I…I…can have the spirit of Dayéd appear again ?”, she asks, putting her hands
to her chest and accentuating with bewilderment the word ‘I’.
-- “By making a trip to the
afterlife world, to the realm of the hereafter, to the world of the spirits
that were, that are and that will be. The spirit of Dayéd is there, and in
order to bring him back temporarily to this world of the becoming in time, one
will have to go to the eternal realm of the souls and address a supplication
for grace to the Virgin Mother, Lady of the Skys, so that this may be granted
from above. Dayéd will come back into a body of flesh and blood, to live the life
of an adult.”
Lazra stares at him
uninterruptedly, with her eyes wide open and her mouth hanging downward. In
pronouncing these things, he is in a motionless composure which is serene,
serious, and appeasing. He observes her deeply, and expresses the words with
every faculty of his spirit, and after finishing he gives a faint smile. Then
he purposely waits a few moments, so as to give Lazra the opportunity to react.
-- “…to the eternal world of
the souls?...”, she repeats bewildered and enchanted, “…and where is
that?...how does one get there?...”
-- “It is the realm of the
spirit, of what ordinarily, in the world of material things, one does not see
with the eyes of the body. One may perceive it with the interior sight, of the
soul.”
-- “Oh…listen…”, and in the
meantime she tries to get a hold of herself, running her glance distractedly
over the surrounding environment, “…I may be a terrestrial in this place, and I
don’t belong to the species of the gaiasis, you just have to take a look at me
to see that, but for everything else I really am not a particular being,
believe me…”. Lazra is almost groping for excuses, as she stands up, slowly and
hesitantly, holding up the blankets, and she gets ready to say good-bye, out of
fearful discretion and a sense of inadequacy, rather than scepticism or a lack
of confidence in Erì-thong. “What could I ever do, sir? I can’t even get along
too well in the everyday world, that we can see…I’m sorry.”
Erì-thong lowers his eyes,
out of tactful respect for a confession which is, if nothing else, sincere and
intimate. Then he resumes:
--“The spirit is materially
invisible, or imperceptible through the senses, but it’s not outside, or in
another place with reference to the everyday world. Truthfully, I don’t mean to
suggest anything particular about yourself. I was only giving an interpretation
of what the dream meant to me, and I believe that is the truth. The facts,
destiny, will then go along their course, and if they don’t call on me
personally, I will not try to interfere with them.”
At the bar-club:
Inside the fashionable bar
night-club, which was seen once already with the crowd of an evening in full
swing, at this moment, in the afternoon, the same three councillor officials,
who met each other and were hanging around that night, are in the middle of a
refreshing break, in their formal suits as usual. Two of them are sitting at a
little tall table, on tall stools, whereas the third one is standing close by,
and one of the two seated and the one standing are having a drink, resting on
the table, while the other colleague is just keeping company. A waitress
approaches them and hands over to them a little plate of something to eat.
-- “Ehi, Martha!”, cries out
the one who, on the initial trip to Atlas, was talking to Shalon, putting an
arm around her hips from the stool where he is sitting, while she is partially
going along with the game. “What an extraordinary woman! That’s just what was
missing right at this time, and we didn’t even have to ask for it!”. His
manners are quite loud, and, while the others sneer and nod, he continues:
-- “I wonder what we would
ever do in this place without you!”
-- “You would probably put
down roots!...”, she comments, with irony and impatience.
He bursts into laughter:
-- “Ah! Ah! Maybe you’re
right!”, and he pulls her tighter to him, to the point that she jerks away and
walks off.
The three of them grow
serious again, and the other colleague sitting at the table interjects:
-- “At any rate, prophecy or
not, this afternoon the question of the rock from space ought to be officially
over with. It was about time! With all the stories and the rumors that have
been made up on purpose, it was getting to be a ridiculous affair…”
-- “It’s not like I really
believed much in the story of the gifts, the inscriptions, the contacts…”, the
one standing comments, giggling.
-- “Well, anyway, from
tomorrow on there shouldn’t be much talk about it anymore…”, finishes the one
who was entertaining himself with the waitress, and he pours in one shot the
rest of his glass down his throat.
Shalon and Lazra are back home:
It is night, in the
living-room of the Shalons’ are the President’s daughters and son, except for
Lazra, and the same two gaiasi guys who came here once as guests for dinner
together with Urie, one of whom was present on the night at the public hall
from which Lazra suddenly rushed away. Raski, the two elder sisters and one of
the two guests are sitting around the table and are entertaining themselves
with a company-game, whereas the other two are standing around somewhat by
themselves. and yet attending and participating in the conversation, often
picking at the little plates and the bowls of bits of food, and at the glasses
of wine lying on the table. Between the two on their feet, that is Lyha the
youngest and Bool, there seems to be a particular feeling, and in fact at this
moment they are exchanging confidential looks and they are talking about
something concerning them only.
-- “The next time I’ll buy,
though, ok?”, he whispers close to her face, while he puts a piece of food into
her mouth, and she bites into it smiling.
-- “Don’t think about it…”,
she replies, drawing back to make for the table.
-- “Ehi!”, Raski reproaches
her jokingly, while Lyha grabs two full glasses. “You guys are wiping out all
the food!”. She smiles and she gets back to Bool.
-- “What happened to your
sister?”, the young guest sitting at the table inquires. “I haven’t seen her
for a while. Does she still go around confessing herself with those guru
friends of hers?”
-- “Ahah!”, replies one of
the two sisters seated.
-- “Don’t talk like that in
front of her or else she’ll burst into tears!”, observes the other sister.
-- “Ehm, yes!...It’s not
fair!...” their brother comments ironically, assuming a mocking expression and
drying away fake tears. Then he starts talking seriously again:
-- “Let’s hope that now that
the story of the statue is over with she won’t be a pain in the neck anymore,
because she was starting to be a little big-headed about it…”
Oma’b Shalon then enters the
room, and with an indifferent and distracted attitude he says hi to everyone.
He thoughtfully walks up to a shelf on the wall, and rummages for something
among paper files and discs. Bool asks him:
-- “So, Mr. President, how
was the council this afternoon?”
-- “Fine, it was fine, Bool,
thank you. Nothing new or unexpected, on the whole.”
-- “And once the event is
through and filed, what’s going to happen to the rock from space?”
-- “Eh!”, exclaims Shalon
smiling at the ironic definition new to him. “It will be cleaned up and
polished accurately, and then we’ll see whether to leave it where it is or to
transfer it to the waiting room of the space station for Atlas and the other
satellites.”
-- “Uh, good!”, replies the
other guest. “At least it’ll turn out to be useful for something!”
Shalon gets close to the
table, picks something from the pieces of food and takes a quick look, while
chewing on a bite, at the company-game. Lazra walks in, saying hi timidly, and
she barely steps in the doorway. As soon as the present company notice her, the
conversation drops immediately, reducing itself to Raski’s low voice, who
giggles although trying to hold himself.
-- “Hi, Lazra,” Shalon
addresses her, “by the way, I just met out here two Guardians, that I had never
seen before, and they said they were supposed to meet with you. I explained to
them that their service is welcome and appreciated as long as it regards
administrative matters. I told them to go and never confuse the public with the
private again!”. He finishes with determination and a certain anger, while
Lazra doesn’t answer anything, she just stares at him petrified and speechless.
-- “Say, guys!”, Shalon
continues raising his voice and turning toward all of his kids. “Someone should
drop by the market place to get some fermented dough because Mom needs it for
dinner”, he lays some money down on the same shelf on the wall, in proximity of
the door. After that, he says good-bye hurriedly and exits.
-- “I did it! I won!”, the
son cries out, cheerful about the cards that are lying in front of him on the
table.
-- “Now you did it, huh?
Where were you before?”, his elder sister rebukes him sceptically.
-- “Look, don’t go cheating
on us buddy, please, it must be a quarter of an hour that the game has been on
pause!...”, comments again the other sister sitting at the table. Lyha and Bool
step up nearer smiling. Lazra grabs the money, distressed both for herself and
for Mom and Pop, and she heads out the door.
Meditations and decisions:
Erì-thong is in his home,
which is sober, humble, and at the same time practical, and at this moment it
is warmly lit by the flames glowing in a fire of wood burning in a sort of
fireplace, which for the most part he rather uses to cook food or else than for the actual heating,
which is usually provided by an exterior boiler. Erì-thong is sitting on a low
seat, with no back piece, and with his forearms resting on his knees he is
meditatively watching the flames, although by now they’re low and scant. He
stands up, thoughtfully, he slightly moves over, he kneels down, leaning
backwards on his heels, with his back straight up, his head hung downward, his
hands on his legs, and he prays closing his eyes.
Lazra is instead in her favourite
natural environment, pacing alone slowly and in a pensive and absent frame of
mind. There’s still a dim light, but it’s getting dark, and she is walking
along the same lane where Gus-par and Yu’ko told her about the Order of the
Interplanetary Guardians, and about the Statute. At a certain point, to her
right-hand side, beyond a vast open space, where a peaceful grassy terrain
lies, and of some thick vegetation, she particularly notices a few mountains
over the horizon, of medium height and grouped together in a curved and
continuous line. They evidently were in that place every time that she came by
before, but in this pass they attract her attention more than usual. She stops
and she observes them, still engrossed in her meditations.
Again on board the docking
platform on which two government officials questioned them in regard to the
prophecy, the Interplanetary Guardians Gahk and Juanio finally approach the
space vessel that they were loading and preparing for the departure. Without
saying a word, they take their seats inside the cockpit, with a slightly
discomforted air, and Juanio, in the pilot’s seat, turns on the engine
connections, and points out into the open space, which in the late dusk appears
almost completely dark.
Return to Erì-thong:
The night has fallen,
Erì-thong is now standing next to a plastic container, in a recess of a wall of
his house, and he slowly pulls out of it a seashell first, and then another
one, of the spiral type, the size of the palm of a hand, and he examines them, still
absorbed in his reflections. After a few instants, he puts them back in place,
he turns around and he heads back for the fireplace, stopping in proximity of
it, with his arms loosely hanging down along his sides, his head relaxed and
his eyes closed. He hears knocking at the door.
Erì-thong steps over and
opens up, and he finds Lazra standing right in front of him:
-- “Good evening!...”, she
utters.
-- “Hi, Lazra. Please, come
on in.” , She walks in, hesitantly and by little steps.
-- “I…just wanted to ask you
something more,…out of curiosity, about that ‘trip’ you were talking about the
last time…”
-- “Alright”, he answers with
a peaceful and mild tone.
-- “So, just to know,
how…from where would one leave to go to the afterlife world of the souls, as you
were saying…?”
-- “Well, there isn’t
properly a definite way in, because it is the immaterial world. One would get
to it through a spiritual condition, an interior state of grace. In order to
acquire that, for instance, you could walk along the valley of the Soles, a
plain that lies behind the chain of the Pathos mountains. Between the valley
and the mountains there is a wood, that after a certain extension slightly
rises up along the slope of the reliefs. From the clearing of the valley, you
could walk into the wood, which gets gradually thicker, and proceed straight
ahead in the direction of the mountains, without ever turning around nor
bending off. After a period of time your perception of time and space will
become hazy, you will not know anymore how deep inside you have gone, nor if
the mountains are close or far off. Somehow as if in a dream. You just keep
going, however, right on ahead, without looking away, and then…you will see for
yourself.”
-- “I will see what? How
could I know what to do and how, if I know nothing?”
-- “You don’t need to know
anything more than you do now. When you find yourself over there, you will see.
If and when it should happen that you can’t discern and decide for yourself,
and you need assistance and guidance, you will find it along the way, to do
what you have to.”
-- “And how should someone
go? What would she carry with her? What clothes would they be wearing…?...”,
she asks, trying to find her way through her ideas.
-- “It’s not necessary to
take anything along. One doesn’t need to
be dressed any differently from tonight... However, there are certain
conditions that require to be observed on a trip to the spirit world. First of
all, it’s necessary to fast, to stay off any food for the whole time, or else
bodily ties would come from it with the places that you will go. Second of all,
only a maximum period of three days will be available for being there.
Otherwise, in both cases, there won’t be any way back.”
Lazra has become frightened
and speechless, staring the old hermit in the eye. Then, she lightly shakes her
head, as if to turn away certain thoughts, and looking elsewhere, with
hesitation, she speaks again:
-- “…I was only asking from
curiosity, as information. I wanted to know some more…” She gets herself
together and she stands up, ready to say good-bye.
-- “Yes, I understand. I hope
I answered you.” She is still staring at him, with fear and incertitude, and
somewhat thoughtfully.
It is the following day, at a
moment when the light is dimming down again, as the shade of the evening takes
over, and Lazra is walking along the same path of the natural landscape that
she knows and cherishes, in the opposite direction in regard to the day before.
Again, she lays the stare on the chain of reliefs that she can spot at a
certain distance to her left-hand side, and she stops a few moments to look at
them.
Lazra sets out…:
A short while later, in the
darkness of the late evening, Lazra is hiking along at a resolute and staunch
pace, although not fast. There is determination in her look fixed ahead of her,
and in her attitude. She is setting out, and she reaches the valley of the
Soles. She stops on its edge, where a plain of grassy terrain opens up ahead,
wide and airy, beyond which the wood is visible through the dark, thick with
various vegetation, that the wise former-Guardian described to her. Slowly, and
with caution, she walks on ahead.
She approaches the first
trees, which appear spaced-out in the plain at first, and she slows down
momentarily. They become thicker and thicker as she carefully proceeds further
in, moving straight on ahead of her. She also tries with remarkable effort not
to look away from right in front of her, so as not to get distracted by anything,
plant, shadow, or appearance that it might be, since, among other things, it is
very hard to recognize certain shapes in the darkness among the trees, where
not even a faint light from the stars can pass through. Every now and then, her
eyeballs slip to the sides of her eyes, and she gets nervous when she lets that
happen.
Now I would like to call upon
the Lord so that He may assist and inspire me as I go on, because I am
uncertain and hesitant, not being used to narration, nor experienced with the writing.
Every time that I have had doubts or uncertainties regarding the exposition, I
have always attempted to prefer a form of communication which was the most
efficient and the most visual that I
could. I have tried, that is, for what I could, to let the facts and the
situations illustrate themselves, without getting into elegant and exhaustive
descriptions. May God want to inspire me at least a little, however, for what
really counts, and that is the subject of the story, or my attempts to think of
something will be useless and in vain.
As she proceeds further into
the wood, Lazra gets somewhat used to the darkness, but basically because it
becomes less extraneous to her and less unusual as she spends more time in it,
and not because she can make out anything more than she could when she first
set out. And little by little, at the same time, she feels that her sense of
orientation and her perception of time are growing weaker. She doesn’t fully
realize anymore how much distance she has covered, maybe, she thinks, also
because she doesn’t look away from right in front of her, so she is not well
aware of what lies to her sides. At certain moments she is tempted to turn
around, to see whether the clearing is still in sight among the vegetation
she’s just gone past, but she reminds herself not to even think about it. She couldn’t tell
whether she is closer to the valley behind or rather to the mountains ahead,
and for what she feels in herself, she might even have gone past those. The
only thing that she makes sure of is that she keeps moving forward ahead of
her, as she was told. The farther she goes on, the more disoriented she
becomes, but she doesn’t get particular anguish or desperation from that, as if
she felt that it’s something else she needs to worry about, and of which she
has to take care.
Meeting with Erì-thong:
At a certain
point, up ahead of her she catches a glimpse of a gleam, among the trees and
the vegetation. It is a discreet and comfortable light, although with an
intense presence, of the shape and the size of a gaiasi man, or of a
terrestrial, standing upright and Lazra approaches it while proceeding on her
path. She gradually recognizes Erì-thong’s figure at the core of the gleam,
though he looks younger: it is now a middle-aged gaiasi man, in the form of a
spirit, instead of an old man as the last time that she saw him. He is on his
feet, still and motionless, with his hands joined together in front of him, and
sweetly smiling at her:
-- “Hi, Lazra.”
-- “Good evening!
I didn’t expect to see you here…”, confesses the girl, “if nothing else, I did
not even tell you that I was coming…Anyway, it is a relief!”
-- “Don’t say that
yet. When we saw each other, I didn’t have any idea either that I would meet
you on your way, in spirit, as you see me.”
-- “What do I have
to do? I am feeling so confused that I was thinking, maybe, I should go back…”,
she admits with a beseeching and discomforted tone. “I have no idea where I am,
except that the valley is behind, and I can see nothing!...” She stifles a
sigh, barely perceptible, while taking a look into the surrounding darkness,
“..I wonder whatever I was thinking when I made up my mind…”
-- “If you like, I
am here to escort you for a while…” Lazra stares at him, thoughtfully, with a
deep anguish and indecision, while she is mainly pondering the situation, for
what she feels she can do. “Let’s go…” he encourages her, turning around beside
her in order to walk on along next to her, and giving a slight comforting
smile. She hesitates for a moment, and then she complies with his suggestion,
and slowly at first she resumes her journey alongside him.
-- “The world of
the spirit is immaterial, ordinarily it is not perceived through the senses,
that is the sight, the hearing, the tact…In manifesting itself, it will assume
the exterior features of the one who visits it, because it is one’s own image
that reveals itself to him or her. In your case, for instance, you will see
souls in the aspect of men and women, and you will hear and understand about
the human nature, native of the planet Earth, with its characteristics and its
culture, of what it has been, it is and it will be. If it were an inhabitant
from Gaia, for instance, to make a trip to the afterlife realm, the spirits
would appear to him or her with his or her own features, in the form of that
particular nature, according to that world.”
In the meantime,
they both proceed at a pace which doesn’t require efforts, but that is not
relaxed either. A moment of silence follows between the two of them in which
Lazra hears something that in the first place she can’t recognize well. It
sounds confused, and as if it came from across vast depths of spaces, but, at
the same time, not from far away. Then once more, a little more distinctly.
-- “The world of
the souls is sensed, is perceived, through an interior, spiritual sight, and
it’s because of a state of grace that the spirit can become aware of it.” While
Erì-thong is uttering these words, Lazra hears again what sounds to her as
laments from sufferance, furious and beastly cries, which barely surface to her
hearing for a moment, and then they vanish again into the silence of the night.
-- “Since it is a
world beyond the bodily senses, if a particular state of grace is not granted,
which however is but temporary for a living being, it is something in which one
believes, and that one feels.” In the meantime Lazra hears some more cries,
inhuman yelps, and takes looks around her with apprehension and dismay.
They get to a
river, of dark, dense waters in continuous and muffled movement, from which a
thick vapour rises, that together with the darkness won’t let the other shore
be seen. Lazra is disoriented and uncertain, because she sees clearly that they
cannot go on straight, if not across the water. Other moments of silence
follow…Erì-thong seems to be waiting.
-- “Now something
should happen…”, he whispers almost to himself.
Charon:
At that moment,
from the fog over the waters Lazra sees that something is materializing and
taking shape, little by little, as if out of nothing, into the figure of a
boat, and on board of that a boatman, appearing experienced in the activity of
steering with one oar.
Charon
continuously emits noises and grunts, as if they were nervous contractions that
sometimes also impel him to make brisk movements of his neck and shoulders.
Noticing them on the shore, as he is approaching to draw the vessel to land, he
addresses them with beastly sounds, which are horrible and incomprehensible,
and gradually modulate in some phrases that Lazra gets to understand:
--
“argnweghh…rstkgghees…stay back, you scumbags, you’ll all get a ride anyway…”,
he exclaims, running his glance over Erì-thong and Lazra, who are standing
right where he is pulling over, and also beyond, off to their sides, as if
toward other subjects who are not present, or better, that Lazra cannot make
out.
-- “You can change
your tone for this stretch, that you’re going to have on board a particular
visit, still alive and only passing through. So you just try to be as a
gondolier in
Erì-thong then
turns to her, getting closer:
-- “The whole
shore of the river is crowded with damned spirits who are waiting to get on
board with the boatman, in order to get across the river and therefore reach
their destinations. You can’t distinguish them yet, because it’s as if your
eyes were getting used a little at a time to discerning the afterlife world,
like the sight needs to get accustomed in passing from an environment filled
with light to darkness.”
Lazra becomes
remarkably upset at the thought that there is a multitude of beings that she
can’t see, but who evidently do see and hear her, just as anyone alive in a
mortal body.
-- “Take this”,
Erì-thong continues toward Charon, handing him over a coin. “This time across,
it’ll be the two of us”, and he indicates himself and Lazra close by, “and
that’s it.”
The boatman goes
on grunting and giving off muffled cries and low noises, and replies nothing.
However Lazra is not paying much attention to them for the time being, because
she has begun to recognize a few spirits on the shore, although vaguely at
first, and like shadows. As they emerge to her perception, she notices that
some of them are annoyed, and they complain with painful sounds. While the
former Guardian and the terrestrial girl climb on board the craft, they hassle
around with anger, maybe in protest for the anomalous situation. Some of them
get near the vessel, while the boatman is thrusting the oar into the shore so
as to push the boat onto the water, and they stretch out their arms to grab the
edge. Charon then uses the oar as a big stick, and while he swears and mumbles
curses he hits the upset damned spirits, swinging hard from up downward. In a
short time the skiff is free, it detaches from the shore, and it moves forward
across the river.
The soul of the works of men:
As they progress further,
Lazra now starts to hear also other sounds, noises, that were indistinct to her
before. From the quiet of nature, she perceives the increasing wails of the
restless souls, and other noises of acts or situations that take place
somewhere in their surroundings.
-- “This is the city of pain,
of desperation and grievance without hope, and this river is the Acheron, that
is situated on its edge”, the wise hermit then relates to her. “You must get
across this dark realm, but it is somewhere else that you are bound to arrive
so as to do what you have to, the superior kingdom of heaven, the city of
-- “The soul of the statue of
Dayéd is not the soul of David the king of
The vessel is now approaching
the opposite side of the river, where Lazra is beginning to distinguish some
shadows and semblances which are appearing as incorporeal reflexes, sometimes
transparent, that are however acquiring consistency and truth as they get
nearer and she puts her stare into them. Erì-thong continues:
-- “The fictitious works of
art, which are secondary reproductions of other true and good works, and that
try to imitate their sublimeness without even getting close to it, or try to
capture and gain their spirit and their grace, by representing though only a
remote and vague pretense, they don’t have a soul of their own. Indeed, that is
what makes the difference between a real work and an imitation, a copy being a
gesture which is not animated by the spirit, it is only materiality and
corporeality. However, in the case of that particular sculpture, which is a
reproduction of the David by Michelangelo, as of all those that were produced
to be sent off into space with the purpose of forwarding a message of
brotherhood, a soul was in fact infused into the body of all those works, which
animates them every 500 years at the same time and for the period of a few
hours. It is a soul that does not come from the creative act of the statue in
itself, which is evidently missing, as much as it does from the important
purpose for which it was produced. A vital and universal intent for all the men
and women of the Earth, whose very destiny is tied to the effects of that
exploratory act. The spirit of the sculpture, therefore, was associated with
its inspiring subject, the soul of king David, as long as he remained in the
Limbo of the infernal world, before he was recovered and raised up on high.
When this happened the soul of the work found itself orphan of its source,
because being a reproduction it couldn’t follow it along, and this is its
divine decree, written since always for always. Such an art spirit animates not
only that particular piece, which reached the planet Gaia, but all those that
were part of the expedition. As soon as the soul of the statue should be taken
out of its eternal location, those works would come to vanish and disappear,
like several mirror reflexes from which the reflecting subject is withdrawn,
until the soul returns to the hereafter. Then, they would resume existing, to
come to life every 500 years as established previously, with the exception of
the one on Gaia, which, having assumed by destiny the mortal life of an actual
man, gets buried definitively after his death.”
Lazra stays engrossed in
listening, while the boat is now almost over to the other side of the river,
and Charon grunts a few unintelligible noises, as a sign of conclusion of the
ride. He jumps off the means of transport, and pulls it ashore for a moment.
The two step off, and the boatman prepares to take off again right away,
without any delays to his task.
In the Limbo, with Ovid, Homer and other writers and
poets:
Erì-thong and Lazra
discreetly set out along a natural, darkened stretch of land, in which the view
is at the moment very much limited and hampered by vapors, fumes and thick air,
as if the landscape dissolved soon into nothing in all directions.
Nevertheless, Lazra keeps on hearing sinister, dismal noises, mourning and
shouting from torments and pain, with an intensity that is not at the moment
set and steady, but it comes and goes, as if with wind breaths blowing in
different directions. As they are moving forward, Erì-thong continues speaking
to her:
-- “The afterlife world is
not visited often by beings still in their bodily life, like yourself now. One
time that this occurred, which left universal and undying fame in the planet of
men and women from which you come, was when a poet of divine spirit was granted
by Heaven the chance to visit and know it in such extension and detail, and
with such a grace of insight and celestial awareness, that many among his
fellowmen still find it hard to believe that his trip actually took place.”
-- “Do you know these
places?...”, the girl asks very timidly and hesitantly.
-- “Not since long ago, but a
spirit gets to be aware of the realm of the souls by itself, with no need to
visit or traverse it. It is a sort of knowledge that arises by itself, a
remembrance that comes back.”
In the time that they are
talking, the environment has become more diversified, with vegetation of
different kinds, and nevertheless lacking any colors, Lazra notices, partly
maybe because of the darkness, she thinks, partly due to the particular density
of the air. They can make out rocky clefts, although the views are still short
and gloomy.
At a certain point they
discern some ethereal presences heading towards them, at first barely visible
in transparency, that somewhat remind Lazra of those incorporeal figures, which
she occasionally saw on Gaia, projected by beams of rays that relay a
transparent, three-dimensional aspect. They are elderly and wise semblances,
which denote worth and distinction in the bearing and in the gestures.
-- “It is the souls of a few
great poets of the terrestrial antiquity”, Erì-thong informs her as they are
getting nearer.
Some of them nod their heads
in a greeting, as they pass close by them, without giving a sign of slowing
down, and intending to go further, when one of them particularly not only
realizes but also takes curiosity from the fact that the girl is alive in flesh
and blood. In walking past her he continues to observe her.
-- “Excuse me, please”, he
starts out then. “Where do you come from, and how is it that you are here?”
-- “This is the spirit of Publius Virgil Maro, Lazra, you’ve probably heard of him”, her companion
suggests to her. She stares at the incorporeal soul, enchanted, speechless, and
also very fearsome. Other souls among those stop and hold on.
-- “I
noticed that you are still alive, and I was wondering what the reason was for
your presence here, which is certainly exceptional”, the outstanding poet
directly explains to her. Lazra then stirs herself to recover some presence of
spirit.
-- “My
name is Lazra…I am terrestrial, but ever since I was 7-years-old I have lived
on planet Gaia, where I come from. I have come here searching for a soul in
particular, and to see whether it is possible to have it come back into the
mortal world for yet a while longer.” Virgil observes her, while others of his
companions now get closer, coming back a few steps, and they take interest in
the meeting.
-- “Hello”, interjects one next
to Virgil, stepping forward. “My name is Publius Ovid Naso, I am a poet of the
ancient times of the Earth. You’ve heard who this one speaking to you is, this
instead is Homer, this is Plutarch, that is Hesiod”. Then he turns toward her,
he begins to stare at her deeply, as if meditating, and continues: “There was
once a singer of great value and vast fame, by the name of Orpheus, who came to
this eternal realm in search of his beloved spouse. Now they both are not far
from here.”
The one who was introduced as
Homer now intervenes:
-- “A token of immense love
was given by Alcestis, faithful wife of Admetus, king of Phere in
-- “It is a beautiful story,
sir…”, Lazra comments, “and how long did Alcestis live after that?...”
-- “If you like, you may get
to know that elsewhere as well, and in other ways, don’t worry”, the poet
answers her, and then he carries on: “There was also Laodamia, wife of
Protesilaus, the first greek soldier to fall in the war against Troy. At his
husband’s death, she entreated the gods to let her see him again one last time,
and they granted that, for the time of three hours. Protesilaus met with
Laodamia in front of the threshold of Hades, which is the ancient name of this
place, and when he returned to the world of the shadows, at the expiration of
the period, Laodamia was torn by the pain to the point that she could not
tolerate living without him, and she stabbed herself to death.”
-- “I’m very sorry…”, the
girl replies after a moment of enchantment. Then she also takes a look at the
others present among them, and she adds: “I have actually never met personally
this spirit that we’re looking for. I heard him talking for a few hours,
together with others, and he doesn’t even know about me. Indeed, I’m going to
have to explain to him who I am and what I am seeing him for…His name is Dayéd,
and it is the soul of a statue, that comes to life every 500 years.”
-- “I know who you are
talking about”, Plutarch interjects, slightly off to one side from her. “It is
right in this place, in the Limbo, not far from where we stand. Over here are
the souls of those who in their life did not adore the Lord God as is proper,
because they didn’t know the incarnation of the Word, of Jesus Christ, who
brought the truth of the Gospel to the world, either because they lived
previously and elsewhere, or because this was not contemplated anyway by the
divine schemes. The soul that you are searching for is alongside other spirits
of works of art, around those parts”, and he indicates the direction, spreading
out his left arm, which is to the left-hand side of Lazra and Erì-thong.
In the Castle, with
Orpheus, Aeneas,…:
The two visitors
say good-bye and they set off again, in the direction just indicated to them,
and they walk up to a castle surrounded all around by 7 belts of walls and a
stream of water. Crossing over a walkway, the enter the building, and they move
toward the central area of the colorless and shady meadow that is located
within it. There is a spirit of young and fascinating aspect who is paying
particular attention to the terrestrial girl, it watches her, and it finally
gets closer:
-- “What are you
doing here? Since you’re still looking alive…yes, you are still alive in your
body”, it addresses her.
-- “I’m looking
for a spirit, I’m here for him, and I am passing through”, Lazra answers with
surprise but not intimidated.
The spirit nods,
staring at her thoughtfully. Then it continues:
-- “I’m Orpheus,
and when I was living, I also visited hell, over here. My beloved wife Eurydice
had died from a viper’s bite, but she was so young, that I came searching for
her to try by whatever means to have her return to the mortal life. I am a
singing poet, I play the lyre, and so I began to sing out my love, and my pain,
with tears and sighs, that I almost wasn’t thinking of where I was anymore. The
singing wasn’t useless: a delay to Eurydyce’s life was granted, if only, on the
way back to the mortal world, neither of the two turned around backwards. Right
before reaching the threshold, however, I instinctively turned around to make
sure that Eurydice was with me, and she just vanishes away, ever since that
very moment, returning to her eternal location among the shadows. I went back
alone.”
Lazra stares at
him silently for an instant, and then she asks:
-- “Ever since you
came back, have you ever had the chance to meet her again…?”
-- “At this
moment, Eurydice is not far from here, but in the world of the souls we have
become for each other what any other spirit is for us, as the passions of the bodily
and sensitive life no longer exist. In the Final Judgement, we will acquire our
bodies again for ever, but the difference between man and woman will
nevertheless be irrelevant.” After that he walks away, distracted by something
else.
While Lazra is
mustering up her ideas and she turns toward Erì-thong to think of what to do,
she sees and she feels, in a sense, that a feminine spirit, that is heading
toward her left-hand side coming up from behind her, passes right through her,
without really wanting to, since it is engrossed in the company with which it
is moving. Lazra catches a glimpse of her as she walks on further, from behind,
with the sensation that it was as vapour or smoke.
At that moment,
she is approached by another incorporeal soul, of proud and sturdy presence,
while she is still astounded and bewildered.
-- “I was an
Italic warrior, and one of the wise men that you met a short while ago
recounted my deeds to men and women. In my life, I temporarily came here,
accompanied by the sibyl of
…and Socrates:
Progressing
further, in silence, Lazra looks around her with interest, curiosity and timidity.
At a certain point she spots two spirits coming up in their direction, neither
glad nor distressed, who are walking one alongside the other, although without
minding each other. They have an austere look to them, serious and lucid, and
the girl recognizes in the aspect of one of them a familiar figure. It is like
a reflex, a semblance of the soul, which comes and goes according to its
position and movements, and she remembers what her wise companion related to
her. She decides then, almost without thinking about it nor being fully aware
of it, to take the initiative and, after exchanging an inquiring and knowing
look with Erì-thong, she gets nearer:
-- “Excuse me, are
you Socrates, the ancient sage philosopher?”
The Greek
philosopher gazes at her for long, surprised and disoriented by the encounter
with a being who definitely looks alive, in flesh and blood.
-- “Yes, I am
Socrates from
-- “I come from
planet Gaia, but I am originally from the Earth, and I’ve had the chance to
look over works and sources from that world. I’ve read some dialogues that
Plato wrote about you. I found them very fascinating. I had almost right away
the feeling that many things that you believed, that you asserted or practiced
in your life were the same as in the life of Saint Francis. Both of you walked
barefooted, you despised the pleasures of the senses and the body, and you went
along with its needs just so as to maintain health, you scorned riches, honors
and the worldly possessions, and you assiduously pursued virtue and the height
of the soul, of the spirit, and the love of God and of the next one.”
-- “In general”,
replies the philosopher placidly, “the wise and spiritual men of any place and
any time, even though with slight variations and degrees, had the same
aspirations in their lives, and sought after the same things.”
-- “I found it
extraordinary that centuries before the teachings of Jesus Christ, you claimed
not to commit injustices or ever do harm to anybody even in the case that an
injustice or a wrong was suffered in the first place, because they are always
in themselves a mistake. It is actually true, then, as Gandhi stated, that
non-violence is as ancient as the mountains! One thing, though, I do not agree
with of those that I have heard you say, and to be more exact, it is where you
discussed about how to carry out an ideal and perfect republic. You considered
that the guardian-philosophers were the most suitable citizens to govern the
state, and that this fact was to be imposed, even through coercion, upon anyone
who didn’t tranquilly accept it. I believe I am one of those persons who had
rather be satisfied with imagining in the sky certain things, or only seeing
them described, or traced, or represented, than compel somebody else by force
to accept the practice of them. In some cases I feel very vile, and I reproach
myself for a scarcely productive attitude, but I sincerely believe in ‘not
doing unto others what you would not have others do unto you.’”
-- “It was a
different time, in which I was living”, replies the wise philosopher. “It was
the 5th century before Christ. Although I already felt that many lies were
attributed to the divinities that were adored back then where I lived, I had
not known Christ. I had not heard His living, true and luminous message of
charity, love and compassion. Belonging to that time and that place, those
terms appeared to us the best and the wisest to imagine a more righteous city.
What is your name?”
-- “Lazra.”
-- “Thank you for
your sincerity”. She joins her hands across her chest, and she performs a
tentative half bow, without speaking, while the philosopher resumes his route,
together with his mate. Lazra and Erì-thong exit the castle.
Encounter with the soul of
the statue:
The spirit of the
wise prophet leads her then to see the soul of the sculpture. She immediately
recognizes the spirit that she admired the night of the astral conjunction in
which the statue was animated.
-- “Hello”, Lazra
says in seeing Dayéd, lowering her head down a few times in short and rapid
movements as a sign of respectful greeting.
-- “Hello”, he
answers, although not participating much in the situation. Dayéd doesn’t
recognize her in his turn, there wouldn’t be any reason for that, since he did
not dedicate any particular attention to her during his brief appearance on
Gaia.
-- “My name is
Lazra, and I am the adoptive daughter of the President of the Twelve from the
planet Gaia, where you recently appeared for the period of a few hours of night.
Besides illustrating the civilization of the men and women from the planet
Earth, you spoke of a difficult situation, on account of which some of them had
thought of sending off into space a message of alliance. The inhabitants from
Gaia, however, do not have sufficient information at their disposal to try to
answer, or to do anything about it in anyway. So a short while ago I have come
to this place, with the indispensable guidance and company of Erì-thong, here
by my side, to see whether it is possible to have you get back to the temporal
world, alive in a mortal body. You could, therefore, maybe communicate some
more useful information.”
Dayéd listens and
slowly nods with promptness, as if he had never stopped thinking and caring
about the question of the gaiasis.
-- “Alright”, he
replies then. “The decision is surely not up to me, and I have no idea whether
it is possible. For whatever it’s worth, however, I will come with you right
away, if you like.”
-- “Yes, I think we
can do that…”, Erì-thong answers with a thoughtful look.
Minos:
They resume the
journey, and to Lazra the surrounding environment continues to reveal itself by
brief extensions, as she can discern no more than a limited depth of view,
which still varies according to the particular moment and place, because of the
vapors, the fumes and most of all of the uninterrupted darkness that extends,
in some cases, for long stretches. It is Erì-thong who, despite the reduced
visibility, seems to recognize the various places as they go, and the way to
take through them.
Shortly after they
set out again together with the spirit of the sculpture, the wise hermit is
addressed by three souls who, from one side, are drawing his attention. He
turns to take a better look at them, and all three slow their step down
momentarily.
-- “I am the soul
of a Guardian of the ideal republic that Socrates discussed in a dialogue
written by Plato, this one here is the spirit of a Jedi Knight, of the republic
that existed even before Socrates, and this here is a Samurai of the Order from
the Modern Utopia.”
Erì-thong promptly
nods, without replying anything, and he turns around toward the young
companions:
-- “If you will
please hold on for a few instants I would very much like to have a word with
these gentlemen...”
Lazra and Dayéd
nod their heads positively, and they step off to one side by themselves. Out of
discretion, they timorously wander about in the surrounding vicinity, slowly
and with no particular purpose, and gazing around for whatever they can.
-- “What is going
on over there?”, Dayéd asks Lazra, indicating with the expression of his face a
thick gathering of damned spirits, further ahead, which fades out of their view
more because of the transparency of the spirits at a certain distance, and in
the darkness, than because of a definite limit to their number. They notice
that almost all of them are turned with their backs toward them and facing a
point further in front of them, where someone is set who takes heed to what
they have to say or offer, and then after this has occurred some spirit,
despairing in consequence of a sentence, departs from the place for ever.
-- “I don’t
know…”, she replies, “it seems that the spirits keep flowing over, and then
they head off, after something happens…” They exchange a nervous and curious
look between them, and they gradually move in that direction, while Lazra turns
around to catch a quick glimpse of the hermit, who is busy conversing with the
three spirits. They see the damned from their backs as they are all
concentrated ahead of them, and they get to sight the center of the attention.
They spot Minos, a gigantic being, with a severe and beastly aspect, of
dimensions and proportions greater by several times than those of men or the
gaiasis. He is half laid down on the ground, with his trunk leaned against the
elbow of his right-hand forearm. At the same time that Dayéd and Lazra see him,
Minos becomes aware of their presence, although in the midst of such a
multitude, and immediately recognizes the girl for being still in her mortal
life, instead of deceased as all the other spirits present there. The damned
directly surrounding the two newcomers, noticing that those are drawing a
particular attention from the giant in front of whom they stand in expectation,
step off to one side, and they leave a certain liberty of passage between
themselves and Minos. The judge, after a moment of surprise and bewilderment
due to the novelty, begins to laugh out loud cavernously at the sight of Lazra,
and then he breaks out:
-- “This isn’t a
fun job for anyone here…”, he says pulling himself up in a sitting position,
and pointing at the damned spirit standing by turn in front of him, almost
responding to the curiosity of the two. His voice is low but deep and echoing,
and Lazra hears it and feels it is at the same time, on account of the
vibrations that run through her body from certain tones. Dayéd and she, not
wanting to attract so much attention, back off slowly, gesturing a sign that
they did not mean to intrude or bother.
All of a sudden
Lazra feels her left arm being clutched, by something that tightens hard and
tugs her toward the gigantic monster. She realizes that it’s Minos’ very tail,
which can outstretch to a certain length. Dayéd tries to take a grip on it in
vain, and nevertheless remains by the girl’s side as long as he can. She cannot
help but go along with the traction, as the fellow, sitting leaned upon his
left palm, grabs a hold of her with his right hand, squeezing with his thumb on
her belly, and his other fingers beyond her hips, behind her back.
-- “What a nice
little body you are still wearing there, you tiny one! Where are you going?
Have you come here to see me by any chance? Oh, don’t be ashamed if that is the
case, all of them that you see here have come for the same reason…!”
Dayéd tries hard
to get a hold of the hand and the arm that clench the girl but to no use, so he
moves off aside reflecting on what to do and enjoining the giant with severity
to stop.
Minos throws him
an angry and menacing look, and growls toward him grinding his teeth. Lazra
attempts to snap off free of the gigantic grip, hitting it with her hands, and
then grasping it and pulling as hard as she can, but it is useless. Minos
tightens on her somewhat, stretching out a smile in her direction, and he runs
his thumb upward on her front, but in doing so his grip unbalances and lets up
on most of her weight, so Lazra manages to slip downward and tumble on the
ground.
Erì-thong then
arrives, and he and Dayéd reach Lazra while she is getting herself together,
and they set close next to her.
-- “Minos”, the
spirit of the ex-Guardian addresses him with a cautious but firm and resolute
tone of voice. “Leave this girl alone, don’t think about her anymore, she did
not come here to be evaluated and judged by you, as the rest of these damned
souls, that just departed from their earthly lives. She is still alive in her
mortal body, you have seen that, she is only passing through here. It is
somewhere else she needs to go, and the two of us are meant to accompany her.
Do you remember Polyphemus, madly in love with Galatea, and how he became upset
with Acis, her young lover. He killed him, by hurling a piece of mountain at
him, and from his remains the spring of a river originated, and the spirit of
Acis turned into its divinity. Well Dayéd here is already a spirit, and not a
man of flesh and blood, a passionate lover. Lazra is not here for his love, but
for that of all her terrestrial fellowmen. Do not get angry, then, and let us move
forward, because she is being awaited on high.” After that the girl, half
terrorized and half flabbergasted, draws back timidly, with a humble look, and
the three leave the place.
Encounter with Cerberus:
Lazra, Dayéd and
Erì-thong are moving forward on their path, which is indicated and directed by
the spirit of the wise hermit, while the girl is recovering herself from the
shock of the fright.
At a certain
point, leaping out into the open from behind a rock, a tremendous being appears
in front of Lazra, roaring ferociously and painfully for the hearing, and when
it lands on its squat legs, the girl discerns more clearly the figure of an
enormous, monstrous three-headed dog, with a serpent’s tail and covered with
slimy scales. The body of the animal is vibrating, and from the various eyes it
glares at the girl with outrage, shakes all its heads, drooling out of its
mouths, and continuing to emit foul noises and cavernous roars. It slowly moves
its paws toward Lazra, while she backs away blindly, now speechless and pale
with terror, and staggering without diverting the petrified look from the
beast. She then touches a rocky wall behind her, toward which she’s being
pressed by the slow but relentless surge of the dog, she leans against that and
sidles rubbing along it. She stares at it beside herself with terror,
breathless and quivering, and even forgetting about the presence of the spirit
companions. Erì-thong, then, stealthily sneaks next to her, upright against the
rocky barrier, and he pulls out of his garments three honey-flavored cakes. He
picks up from the ground three stones, which he wraps up entirely with each one
of the cakes, and he prepares to toss them to the beast. He throws one to the
head in the middle, which bites into it as it flies by; another one to the head
on the left, and the last one to that on the right. Now the monstrous dog
stops, as it’s intent on chewing with all the jaws of its three heads. Pretty
soon, though, the necks begin to writhe, as they perceive the foreign bodies present
in the food. The beast lets out howls of pain, it wails and roars, in several
directions, it wriggles and turns on itself, it tosses to the ground and rolls
over on its back and on its sides. It stands back up, as the girl and Erì-thong
steal away from that corner and reach Dayéd. The dog flings itself against the
rocky wall, where a moment before Lazra was standing, it slams its head into
it, it scrapes with desperate force its necks and flanks against it. Then it
sets back upon its paws, and it lurches away, at times walking, at times
springing on a run, at times barely dragging itself along.
-- “That is
Cerberus”, the ex-Guardian relates to them. “It is almost impossible to tread
into this dark world without encountering it, even if one doesn’t go by where
it is located. On purpose I had carried those honeycakes with me, I know it is
fond of them.”
-- “Is
it…d-dying?...”, the girl asks stuttering, still strained with terror.
-- “It will digest
the stones”, the wise man answers her, “and it will turn them out of that
hellish carcass just like everything else that it swallows, but at least for
the moment it got a little distracted…Filthy dog, even being tied on a leash
was no good in changing its character. One time Hercules came all the way over
here to capture it, he immobilized it, by tightening a lace around its middle
neck, and he dragged it to the temporal world, as the last one of his labours.
Later on, Cerberus was brought back to this place.”
Afterwards, he
observes the directions for an instant and then he adds:
-- “Now let’s try
to get going again.” He gives Lazra a warm look, which is of comfort and
encouragement to her.
The
By the least
demanding routes, from the point of view of crossing the places of torments and
of contact with the damned, through steep and rough descents, and narrow and
unsafe passages, the three finally arrive at the shores of a huge fuming swamp.
Lazra and Dayéd observe with apprehension the black, liquid muck, slimily
boiling and in continuous ferment, which lies out at their feet and ahead of
them, as far as the shore on the other side.
-- “This the
From the place
where they are standing, they can see the walls of the city of Dis, of a red
and burning-hot aspect, with quivering glimmers of smoky fires on top of the
walls themselves and beyond them, although they cannot make out exactly what is
going on the other shore, for which they are heading, as the environment is
dark, very gloomy and dismal.
In a nightly
atmosphere, lit up locally by gleams and faint reflexes, they soon catch sight
of a boatman coming along on board his skiff, by which they should get across
the swamp, as do all the spirits who pass through this place after being judged
by Minos.
-- “This is
Phlegyas”, Erì-thong informs them before the boatman pulls over.
Next, they jump on
board, without speaking, and without Phlegyas himself saying a word, almost as
if he is already aware of the peculiarity of the situation, or rather he simply
does not care and just goes on with his office. As they progress further over
the liquid sludge, Lazra gets to see more closely that there are damned spirits
immersed in the swamp, in part at the surface level, beating themselves with
their hands, their feet, their heads and teeth, and in part underwater, seeming
to gurgle their sin from the depths, making the surface turn and seethe.
-- “In this place,
the pains for wrath, sloth and superbness are suffered”, relates the soul of
the knowledgeable hermit. “Some spirits you may see, because they are at the
surface, but others are always completely immersed, so one might spot them only
by the movement and the stir of the muck.”
Some of the damned
notice the particular weight of the boat, and breaking above the surface they
realize the circumstances of the load. The craft glides on past, as Erì-thong
continues:
-- “The city of
-- “On the other
side of this swamp, at the entrance of Dis, the shore is frequented by the
Furies together with the gorgon Medusa. They are beasts that it would be best
by far not to encounter, and I hope that this does not happen, but in the case
that they should realize our presence, we need to be careful. In her mortal
life, Medusa was the most terrible of the gorgons, she had a head overgrown
with snakes and serpents which fell also upon her body, and most of all she had
a glare that turned anyone who looked her straight in the eye into stone. Many
valuable men and women were literally petrified, becoming pieces of stone, as a
consequence of the adventure. Only Perseus managed to defeat her, and finally
slash off the head covered with snakes, because he avoided looking at her
directly and he watched the reflex of her on his shield, until he came within
range of a sword stroke. From the gorgon’s blood sprang out a white horse with
wings, by the name of Pegasus, on which Perseus has ever since moved from place
to place. The spirit of Medusa, however, still plagues the shore ahead, to
which we are headed, and her glare, if anybody happens to come across it alive
in their body of mortal flesh, has the same effect as before. For this reason,
in case she should appear, we need to be alert about Lazra”, and he turns to
look at her in particular.
The city of
The rest of the crossing
takes place in silence, both on the part of the souls in the mud, and on the
part of the visitors. So they reach the other shore and step off the vessel. As
soon as they arrive, they realize the movement and the agitation that
characterize these places of the bank, between the walls of the city and the
shores of the swamp, which could not be seen from the other side. A short
distance from where they stepped off, in proximity of the gates in the walls, a
number of damned spirits are standing around who express suspicion and distress
in regard to the newly-arrived, and in particular two of them, the closest
ones, whisper something between them, sending mockery and menacing looks in the
direction of the visitors. Subsequently, one of the two decides to get nearer,
and as he is a few steps away, he grunts:
-- “Look, this is
not a place where one can just come and go as they please, you know!”, and he
makes a gesture of his arm to indicate other damned ones standing there, and
the walls of the city behind their shoulders. Noticing that none of the three
strangers reply to him, he lets out an expression of annoyance, rolling his
eyeballs upward, and he turns toward his companions. Behind him, then, numerous
are the damned spirits who exclaim and shout out loud abuses and vulgarities in
the direction of the three, which among other things turn out to be hard to
comprehend or guess. They make signs and movements with their bodies, so as to
enjoin them to back off and get out in the direction that they came. For the
most part they turn out to be a hostile hindrance in the continuation of their
path, and evidently they are particularly bothered by the presence of a live
person. To Lazra, in fact, is addressed the majority of the outraged glares and
the attentions.
-- “Get out of
here!!”, they hear someone yell out from the vicinity of the walls.
-- “Get away!!!”
Others and in a
greater number, in the meantime, are getting excited and they surge in their
direction.
-- “Away! There
must be some reason if all of us here are saying the same thing, isn’t there?”,
continue the various grunts.
-- “Yes! We’ve had
enough of this!!”. Someone laughs, commenting with the neighbour. Others are
mumbling with an offended and hostile expression, giving Lazra, Erì-thong and
Dayéd hateful looks.
The spirit of the
former-Guardian then turns to Dayéd and the girl:
-- “There’s no
need to be surprised, nor to give the situation particular attention. In a
place like this, only a spirit of the same kind would not arouse a similar
reaction upon arrival.” After which, despite the hostile surrounding clamor, he
gathers together closer with his companions and reports to them:
-- “My duty in
escorting you guys on the way into the eternal world of the souls is almost
out, by now. You will find assistance elsewhere, and in other ways. What you
need to do at this moment is walk past the threshold of Dis, through those
gates. In doing so, you will not properly enter the hellish city, which is
surrounded by those walls, but you will be transported to the skies, as if by a
celestial vision.” He stares Lazra and Dayéd straight in the eyes, with a
concentration and an intensity that remove from their spirit any distraction or
secondary presence.
The Erinyes:
All of a sudden,
while the three visitors are collecting their ideas as to what to do, and they
are the object of the attentions and the curses from the surrounding spirits,
the Erinyes, or Furies as they are otherwise called,
appear to them: Megaera, Alecto and Tisiphone. They are flying high, in the
gloomy air thick with stinking, mucky vapor, and they get closer, all three of
them together, with their arms, necks and hair wrapped by snakes, big and
little ones. As soon as they sight the newcomers, they become furious, and they
immediately manifest an attitude of contempt and scorn toward them:
-- “Aaaaggghhh!!!!”, breaks out shrieking the first one of them, dashing in
the direction of the three strangers, ahead of her companions. “Any more
presumptuous and arrogant wanderers who took it into their heads to come across
these dark lands before the time has arrived, without being requested, and get
away with it?! What in hell did you ever think you had to do here, with the
damned community?” In pronouncing these expressions, she stopped halfway in the
air, over Erì-thong, Lazra and Dayéd, in part so as to stare them down better,
in part to hold on until she is reached by her sisters and decide together what
measures to take. She keeps on flapping slowly her enormous scaled wings, with
reflexes of colors shading from green to dirty yellow, while she stops speaking,
and from her mouth a reptile pops out, with the head first, and then the whole
body, and it tumbles down on the shore. It is now one of her partners that
intervenes, as they are positioning by her sides:
-- “Back off! Go
back the way you came!!”, she exclaims, while the first one bursts with
laughter that she tries to hold back so as not to interrupt the dispute. The
third one carries on:
-- “No more living being is allowed to set foot, not even for a brief
moment, inside the dreadful city!”
Afterwards, while
the one of the Erinyes that just spoke sneers scarily and a slim viper slithers
out of her ear, all the three of them seem to throb in the expectation to move,
and suddenly they hurl all together in the direction of the newly-arrived. The strangers
react with terror and promptness. Lazra lets out a high-pitched and desperate
shriek, and she puts her arms over her hair, as if to shelter herself.
Erì-thong, however, maintaining control over his nerve and his sensations,
urges his two mates to dodge out of the way, off to one side. In the movement
Lazra trips over and tumbles to the ground, and the spirits of the wise man and
Dayéd crouch down over her, so that the Erinyes swooping down suddenly steer
upward and ahead, gaining some height again, but at the same time proceeding
for a stretch straight in the direction of the damned in front of the gates of
Dis. The foul souls in their turn, accustomed to being scared of the Erinyes
and of the gorgons, get stricken with dismay and panic, and they quickly jolt
away from in front, leaving a certain liberty of passage. Erì-thong immediately
perceives this novelty, and suggests to Lazra and Dayéd to head with no
hesitation for the entrance not far away. They react promptly, and before the
winged Furies manage to get themselves together and charge at them again, they
reach and pass through the threshold of the hellish city.
They walk through the threshold of Dis:
After passing the entrance of
the city of
In the
They mutually exchange looks
of check-up and confirmation, and they are disoriented, hesitating and fearful
for being in a new place and not being able to count upon a knowledgeable guide
anymore. They find themselves in the superior Kingdom of the Skies, where the celestial
color of the infinite depths, brightened by suffused light, is tinged by pure
and limpid whiteness, of varying density and consistency, which spreads and
expands in every place with noticeable continuous movement. The air is clear
and bright, there is no trace of material or worldly things; the two guests are
as if suspended in space, including Lazra, on account of an exceptional grace
that has been granted her. There aren’t any annoying or discordant noises, any
visual or hearing accidents: every thing is in harmony perfectly measured and
proportioned with the whole environment and all that is within it. Gliding
one’s glance over such luminous spaces is imbuing and filling one’s spirit with
a total consonance. To tell the truth, there are just no words that could
render even a pale description.
-- “You know what sensation I
have?”, Dayéd whispers in the direction of Lazra.
-- “What…?”, she asks,
pleasantly curious about the fact that Dayéd is confiding something to
her.
-- “A work of a craftsman,
such as those that one sees, hears or touches in the mortal life, has the
purpose of representing a part or an experience of the creation and of life,
and it is an imprint, a trace of them, with an interpretation from the author
who is inspired by the harmony, the order and the proportions of nature and
tries to inform his work from them. In this manner, the mortal world, which is
in the becoming of time, seems to me now as an imprint, a momentary and partial
reflex of these extensions and these environments, which spread out everywhere
and always. The harmony and the exact proportions, in this case, are not
inspired by another source, but they are unlimited and universal faculty of the
maker.”
Michelangelo…:
In these celestial and
musical atmospheres, of a melody that is not heard through one’s ears but is
seen by one’s interior eyes and is felt by the spirit, glares appear to Lazra
and Dayéd, which at times are barely discernable from the depths of the
luminous spaces, and at times shine in clear and vivid blazes. Their very
luminosity goes from being steady and constant to being changeable and animated
by flashes. They are in absolute harmony among them and with the whole of which
they are part, and since the infinite inspires all here, the part equals the
whole.
One of those glares, then,
sets out towards the two new presences; it is so vivid, and gives off
luminosity to the point that Lazra cannot quite distinguish precise traits to
its figure, nor take in the sight of it for a long time continuously. As it’s
gotten within their vicinity, it slowly comes to a stop, and with infinite
grace its outline becomes more definite and intelligible. So it takes a step
forward, and addresses itself to them, slightly
opening both arms, somewhat bent at the elbows, and with its hands relaxed but
stretched open:
--
“You are welcome, Lazra and Dayéd”, it warmly begins. It is not quite next to
them, but still Dayéd and Lazra can both hear its voice as if it were whispered
into their ears. It continues: “In the mortal life of a time of the past, I was
an artist from
The
two visitors exchange a timid and comforting look. The artist proceeds:
--
“I have been chosen in particular for this task not because I have merits or a
desire greater than those of other celestial spirits, but for the reason that,
since the statue for which you are here to entreat a grace is a copy of that
work of mine, this would have been a sign of positive support and good
disposition on the part of the sky.”
Lazra
and Dayéd keep on staring at him enchanted, and after his last words, the girl
slightly lowers her head and bobs it up and down a few times as a sign of respect
and gratitude. Both of them, however, feel timid and awkward. The celestial
spirit resumes speaking:
--
“My location in Paradise is among the souls who served the faith and the Holy
Spirit through the culture of art, producing pieces of manufacture,
representations or works which had the purpose to spread, to whoever was
interested, the Word of the Scriptures, or more in general to interpret and
even transfigure the sense and the significance of them into various forms and
expressions, that could reach and touch intimately the soul of men, making it
susceptible to the things of good, of love, truth and mercy.”
The two guests stare at him
engrossed and motionless, as he slowly comes a few steps closer, and he goes
on:
-- “As the spirits of Trajan
and Rifeus, who weren’t properly Christians having lived before the incarnation
of Jesus, are nevertheless situated in these skies, among those who governed
nations in their earthly life, on account of the fervent love for justice that
characterized them, and as in heaven there are divine spirits like Mahatma
Gandhi, although he never was baptized and he practised another religion, so
there are works that maybe don’t concern directly the Scriptures and sacred
subjects much in a strict sense but which interpret truthfully and profoundly
the spirit of them.”
…and other glows:
After pronouncing these last
words, the soul of Michelangelo gracefully makes a half turn on himself and turns
his look more in depth, where Dayéd and Lazra glance in their turn and discern
now a great number of glares, that move about and across and pass by and in
front of each other, while the intensity of their brightness is constantly
flickering, as that of lively flames exposed to a breeze. The two newcomers
cannot even make out as far as where the multitude extends, as it becomes
transparent and invisible to them in the endless depths. Michelangelo continues
in relation to those, who, although they are undefined in their features to
Dayéd and Lazra’s eyes, appear to be participating, acknowledge the signs and
answer with glimmers of greeting:
-- “The soul who was Raphael
Sanzio is here, as is Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Giotto, Victor Hugo,
Lev Tolstoj, Alessandro Manzoni, Dante Alighieri, master of those who wish to
seek information about the afterlife world, and infinite more, of the past and
future.”
The two listeners run their
enchanted and astounded glance along, Lazra’s mouth is partly open, and her
lower lip is trembling.
-- “The spirit of their good
and true works”, the artist resumes, “is itself part of Heaven, contributing to
the brilliant radiance let off by every spiritual being that you can see in
these spaces, and when the Last Judgement occurs, also by its body, which will
have resurrected to it.”
-- “Erì-thong, who escorted
us until a short while ago,” Lazra whispers with a soft tone of voice,
“mentioned to me about this…” Michelangelo smiles at her gently and nods:
-- “As the reflexes of a
mirror arise from the presence of a subject in front of the smooth and
reflecting surface, so the soul of a work of art in honor of somebody or on the
part of someone, be it a painting, a sculpture, a writing, a concept, music,
film, or, more in general, an action, will turn out to be a luminous
reflection, an emotional emanation, which comes from and is given off by the
subject. The way in which in the sensitive world someone who has been smoking
much holds the smell of the smoke upon themselves, that others may recognize,
or yet someone who has eaten something might carry in their breath a particular
flavour, may be suggestive of how the spirit of truthful works emanates from
the glow of the subject involved. Sometimes the souls of the works are predominantly
representations of a particular subject, and become therefore associated to
that, and not only in Heaven, as you know, but also in the inferior realms; the
souls of other works, instead, as may be the writings or films that recount a
story, with characters and events of fantasy, or architectural, technical
achievements, as well as scientific discoveries, and, more in general, acts of
charity, and expressions of love and mercy, since they don’t regard any
particular subjects, are connected to their own authors, or yet to the spirits
who have a relation of some kind with them.”
At this point, Dayéd musters
his courage and asks:
-- “Do these glowing
reflections represent differences in merit?...”
-- “Greater and lesser
degrees of grace and virtue exist, but it’s not that a subject turns out to be
worthier than others on the basis of such visual increases, because every soul
springs grace from within it anyway, more or less evidently according to the
eternal divine decrees, and it is not affected by further inputs. However, when
any of those are present, they become part and essence of the atmosphere
originated by the subject. Moreover, the emission of a particular glow, up
here, belongs as much to the spirit involved as to every one else, or rather to
no one in particular, but to the whole. Therefore every glow is bound to
rejoice and benefit from the radiance of the others, as if it were its own. In
a sense it happens in a similar way that in the mortal life the living beings,
terrestrial or gaiasis, take pleasure in seeing something beautiful as a
painted figure, a form, an animation, or in glancing through a writing, or in
hearing sounds in proportioned rhythm. As has already been revealed to you in
another place, Lazra, this concerns the true and good works of craft, which
therefore stem from truth, and not the reproductions and the copies of other
creations, or the works that originate from trivial or dismal impulses, or
worse from false shadows, that do not have a soul, a spirit of their own, but exist
as matter and physicality. The soul of the original statue of David that I
sculpted, for instance, is part of the glow given off by David himself, and at
times one may see it and recognize it, as well as, on the other hand, the souls
of all the other works that represent him or concern him.”
Encounter with David, the king of
After that the soul of the
artist from Florence stops speaking, he looks down for a moment, and then he resumes
observing them, while he is approached by another glow, coming up from behind,
who as the last words were being pronounced has gradually drawn forward in
their direction. Michelangelo does not appear surprised at all, and continues
looking at the two visitors peacefully smiling with grace, with his arms
loosely hanging down, and his hands joined in front.
-- “Hello to you”, begins the
spirit that has just joined them. Lazra lowers her head down a few times in
humble response, with a veneration even greater than before, as she thinks she
recognizes a few reflexes and semblances emitted by the soul in front of them.
The spirit of Dayéd makes as if to pronounce a salutation, but he only manages
to move his lips, at the same time feeling remarkably ashamed on account of the
observations just made by the artist. The soul of Michelangelo introduces the
new company:
-- “Approximately 1000 years
before Christ, this celestial beacon was, in his bodily life, the Singer of the
Holy Spirit, David king of
Lazra and Dayéd are
overwhelmed with awe, and the spirit of David begins speaking again:
-- “Dayéd doesn’t have to
feel guilty or disgraceful in any way about the fact that he represents a
reproduction of the original work made by Michelangelo, because the motive and
the circumstances that brought to his expedition by the human beings of the
Earth have a celestial and virtuous grace to them which is by no means of a
lesser degree in comparison with that of a truthful work.”
Michelangelo in the meantime
nods seriously, still observing the two in front. The king of
-- “It is very important and
vital, as a matter of fact, that the inhabitants of the planet Gaia acquire
more information about the men and women of the Earth, to then attempt to get
in touch with them, and together that they assist and support each other. The
terrestrials find themselves in a situation of urgent need, and the survival
itself of their spirit and of their soul is at stake. There is a risk that the
same thing happens to the very essence of men and women which you saw on Gaia
about the statue, when its breath of life leaves it and does not animate it
anymore. It isn’t that they might properly turn into stone, but that all that
would be left of them is matter and physicality, with no vital spirit.”
-- “In fact, as you have
always known,” interjects the artist from Florence, “Lazra and Dayéd are here
to address a supplication for grace to the Virgin Mother, in order for Dayéd to
return to the bodily life, in advance of the 500 years scheduled for the
statue, and live a life as a mortal adult, supplying therefore the necessary
service so that the gaiasis may respond to the message sent off by the
inhabitants of the Earth.”
Both of the celestial
spirits, in uttering these things, maintain a serious and motionless composure,
serene and appeasing. Michelangelo deeply gazes at Dayéd and Lazra, and after
expressing the words with every faculty of his spirit, he gives a slight
peaceful smile. The spirit of David, now with his hands behind his back, lowers
his look, closing his eyes and faintly smiling. After which he raises his face
again to observe Lazra, and smiling he tells her:
-- “You have been courageous
to decide to try all this, as was indicated to you by Erì-thong, at your young
age.”
She raises her brows and
opens her eyes wide, gaping her mouth and somewhat lowering her head, in a
respectful expression of exclamation, and she whispers:
-- “…I am actually out of my
mind…believe me!...”, and she even lets out a hint of nervous laughter. “I
am…unsure..unsure of me, that is, and I am scared!...” Her voice gets almost
stifled in her throat, and then she remains silent for a few moments, which the
two souls of the sky respect, to give the two guests the chance to recover and react.
Afterwards, with expressions of awe and infinite veneration, Lazra addresses
David again with a faint voice and the most discreet tone that she can:
-- “Did you get mad, when
Michal made that observation to you?”
David smiles gently, and with
interest he replies:
-- “At the moment I did, it
bothered me, not so much for a personal reason, as because she didn’t
understand at all the motive for which we were doing all that, the spirit and
the sense of the situation: it was about a dedication to the Lord,
unconditioned, animated by total zeal and joy, and therefore also by personal
renunciation. Michal was blinded in this by her pride and her vanity, and so I
answered her what is written. I didn’t stay angry for long, tough, and if it
had been for me, and the events had allowed for it, I would have proved that to
her as well.”
Next, David and Michelangelo
start moving forward along with Dayéd and Lazra.
Saint Francis:
Progressing forward in silence,
Lazra and Dayéd glance through the space around them, with their heads slightly
tilted downward, so that in order to look straight they keep their eyeballs
somewhat rolled into the high part of their sockets. If she were alone, Lazra
would probably be walking on her toes, and now besides that she is trying to
keep up with the two celestial guides’ stride. Pretty soon they see another
vivid glow, graceful and bright in its aspect which is at first vague and
undefined, and more distinct and intelligible as it draws closer to them. It
starts talking while it is approaching, before it arrives in proximity, but
Lazra hears its voice as if the air itself were addressing her, the space
around and within her.
-- “I have been deeply
touched and moved, Lazra, when you had me present while talking with Socrates,
a little while ago, and you showed righteous and virtuous feelings about
charity and justice. “ He then gets near the four, and his aspect is outlined
more clearly to the girl’s eyes, who notices that his lips are moving, and so
finds confirmation that the voice she was hearing actually belongs to him. With
his arms loose along his front and his hands joined together, the spirit goes
on in a mild tone:
-- “And so much so because it
doesn’t happen very often, indeed too seldom, that one is sincerely interested
and wholehearted like you in the Spirit, with which I impressed my life and my
works, that one is so, I mean to say, out of real interest and love, and not
after motives of advantage or material gains. Even among the very members of
the religious order that I founded on the Earth, or more in general of the
Church of Jesus Christ, there happens to be some who reproach and confess
people that are actually much more pious and zealous than themselves. If it is
true that Saint Pio from Pietrelcina, on the planet that you come from, Lazra,
at times refused to confess some who would go to him with a superficial
attitude just to try the experience of meeting with a person portrayed in the
papers, there are also colleagues of his who reject sincere penitents just for
the experience of an act of distinction, even though blind and unjust. Saint
Pio himself, however, despite the several hardships that he had to go through
for a long time, used to say that the Church is yet always mother, and it is
spouse of Christ, and with constancy he defended it and respected it, even
though friends and acquaintances of his criticized the bitter and unfair
treatments that were dealt to him. I myself, Francis, used to say when I was
living that although the hands of some priest might not have been immaculate
and properly clean, it was by means of those that God was accomplishing His
sacraments, so in that fashion I would accept them in humbleness, leaving to
God any judgements or evaluations. Instead, estimates to this effect were
uttered by the sky through the mouth of that author who illustrated this very
celestial kingdom with so much insight. It will therefore be up to your
judgement to meditate and to balance with wisdom between the teaching ‘not to
judge’ and the loyalty toward what you feel and know is true and right, which
implies precise discernment and choices. This is true of anything, and
sometimes recognizing and choosing can be hard and distressful. Have faith, and
cultivate the spirit, and this will guide you on your path.”
Dayéd and Lazra keep on
observing him with veneration, as scholars or disciples who hang on every word
of the master. Lazra nods very softly. Michelangelo intervenes at this point:
-- “Saint Clare also, for
whom I know you, Lazra, have felt an affection ever since you heard of her when
you were a child, is located not far from here, together with her mother and
sister, and Mother Teresa, and other devout women of the recent past, of the
future and of the terrestrial antiquity. There, if you take a look in that
direction you may make out that blaze which is throbbing in its glare as a sign
of greeting and approval.”
-- “Yes, I see, thank you…”,
the girl whispers, following with her look the direction indicated to her.
Saint Francis resumes speaking:
-- “She is present with you,
when you decide to restrain yourself with the food, or to make some other
renunciation of pleasures thinking about her.” Lazra’s nodding is barely
visible, as she carries on being surprised that he knows and is talking about
aspects of her life that she hasn’t expressed. The Saint goes on:
-- “Maybe keeping track of
time is not the first thing that you have in mind, but I remind you that a day
and a half has gone by since, Lazra, you came to the eternal world of the
souls, and as Erì-thong already told you before you set out, I would like to
recommend you not to eat any food for the whole time that you will be here, or
else it might turn out to be impossible for you to get back to the temporal
world. Once you are out, you will be able to make up for that, and recover,
although three days is not such a long time, don’t worry. More in general,
about fasting and the renunciations on the whole, I would like to encourage you
to behave the way that you feel and believe is most appropriate, according to
the health that God will want to grant and command you.”
Gandhi and Martin Luther King:
In the meantime two souls are
approaching from far away and, like all the others encountered by Dayéd and
Lazra, their features become clearer in the glare as they draw closer and the
sight gets used to their light. It is David now speaking:
-- “These are the beloved
souls of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King”
The two spirits are coming
close, and it seems to Lazra that they are passing by to say hello, but without
uttering a word and without staying. In front of her and Dayéd the two stop for
an instant, both of them smiling radiantly, they lower their look in an
affectionate welcome and perform a slow bow of salutation, Gandhi with the
palms of his hands joined in front of him, and the reverend King putting his
right hand up to his chest. Lazra is as surprised and speechless from timidity
as joyous and excited about the honor that has been granted her, and full of
the cheerfulness of a vivacious child. Dayéd and she take a bow in their turn,
both of them lingering down for a few moments, and as they pull themselves up
again, they see the two souls moving forward past them, still smiling.
Saint Francis, then,
exchanges a knowing look with Michelangelo and David, who step back, with a
wide and lasting smile and lowering their look in a good-bye, and they draw
away from the two visitors and the soul of the saint, to then get back and
vanish in the surrounding brightness.
-- “Come on”, the saint from
Towards the Virgin Mother:
As they move
walking along in the atmosphere, Lazra and Dayéd take an ample look around more
attentively than they have done up to this point, and they spot many different
glares, at times just catching fast glimpses of them, for an instant, because
afterwards they merge into the general radiance of space; Lazra recognizes a
few of them, not many, but they all seem familiar to her, almost as if she has
always known them, even though she knows she has never seen them before. They
both distinguish smiling and amiable looks and expressions, even only in the
glow that they give off; those souls appear infinitely merciful, comforting and
encouraging, only by the aspect and expressions of them. Further ahead they
catch sight of a figure, or better, a feminine luminous being, who draws back
from another presence, masculine, although these apparent distinctions of sex
are vague sensations, hints of the aspects, and not real differences, because
it’s love and light that the spirits are made of and shine with. Nevertheless,
the spirit from whom She just departed was Him; although Lazra hasn’t made out
or discerned anything, she feels, she guesses and understands that it is the
Lord, the Son of the Spirit : the center, the essence, the focus, the being, at
the moment when the whole is present and concentrated in one place. Lazra and
Dayéd perceive all this, they feel it and become aware of it. Subsequently She,
mother full of grace, steps away and slowly heads toward them; actually, more
than anything else, it is them that get close to Her. There, She is standing
right in front of them…She doesn’t appear bigger than the other spirits, or up
higher, or more luminous: maybe because they already all, in themselves, are
shining with pure and absolute light, although with varying reflexes.
Nevertheless, they perceive who it is, they feel it and become aware of it for
what it is, precisely, and what is revealed to them, because they have been
granted the grace. A sensation of infinite veneration and wonder takes a hold
of Lazra and Dayéd’s souls, and all the rest of the surrounding space fades
away, with its brightness and its splendour, and it is no more in their sight.
Lazra almost doesn’t feel like opening her mouth, nor moving, nor even taking a
breath. She loses awareness of herself, and she is not sure whether she can
hold up with the situation and stay on her feet, or she is about to pass out.
She doesn’t think about it though, she lets it be what it has to, as if
abandoning herself to a superior and incomprehensible will, in which she
trusts. Many presences gather around them and stand about momentarily, as if
they were attending, but none of them linger for long, each one moves along and
draws away. At other moments, instead, they feel as if they are alone, as if no
other spirit were present or participating. Truthfully though, Lazra
understands, or better, she feels that everyone and everything in that
atmosphere participates and is aware of everything and everyone else, as one
infinite being which is, reflects and manifests itself in their particular presences.
And She is standing right in front of them, Lazra feels almost unable and
inadequate to fully realize what is going on, as if she were always missing
something important, as if she could only get to a certain extent. Somehow like
in a dream that one might have about wanting to move, run, swim, walk or else,
and one just can’t get going, there are no effects to the efforts, and the
result is minimum or null. So, She, mother of love, with a voice which is felt
and perceived by the spirit, instead of being heard through the ears, and with
a tone of infinite and incomparable grace, tenderness and mercy, speaks to
them:
-- “The divine
Love, which is infinite spirit, and is always itself, in every place and in
every time, because beyond space and time that He himself has created and
ordered from nothing, has since always and for ever planned and arranged what
is taking place at this moment. It was destiny that you two came over here and
that, in His divine providence, the grace was granted to let Dayéd get back to
the temporal world so that the statue would be animated again, to live the time
left of a mortal life in a body of flesh and blood.”
Lazra and the
spirit of the sculpture listen delighted, for the most part unconsciously. She
continues:
-- “You were
chosen, Lazra, and you have had a moving grace to use so much self-denial in
dedicating yourself to this mission. It is with a celestial devotion that all
the time you hold within your soul the love for men and women your fellows, and
as a consequence also for your current companions of the new world, and you
take courage and drive from the hope to do a good service with your commitment
and your efforts.”
Lazra has lowered
her eyes, she is looking downward, and she is deeply moved and overwhelmed by
emotions. Dayéd is enchanted instead, although he can’t keep his eyes on Her
figure for more than short moments, and then he draws it off to the surrounding
environment.
A precept:
-- “However, I would
like to make a recommendation: you will both have to commit yourselves to
observing a precept on the way back. You need to pass through a stretch of the
realm of hell, which you already came across on your way over, and whatever
happens along your path, whatever is the difficulty, the temptation, or the
provocation that you may encounter, I recommend that you have an attitude of
mercy, of compassion and forgiveness toward the inhabitants of the world of the
souls. Don’t reply an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth to any insults,
derisions or expressions of scorn from the spirits of hell; don’t ever answer
an abuse with an abuse, an offence received with another offence, but always,
should you be confronted with an evil, respond with good; with compassion and
pity to hatred, with a blessing to a curse. Passively resist evil, violence,
without reproducing them in return. And value and prize this precept more than
any sensitive and temporal thing, than any possession, even your own safety and
what you may mean one for the other. In this manner it is possible to gain the
way out and get back to the mortal world, otherwise God’s schemes do not imply
that, and in a short time, the consequence for coming short of the precept will
be to fall into a state of unconscious sleep, from which there is no awakening,
precluding the opportunity to leave the afterlife world.”
Both Dayéd and
Lazra are now gaping at the speaker with their eyes wide open, attentive and at
the same time carefully meditating.
-- “Before going
back through the world of hell, however, you will have to pass by the
Terrestrial Paradise, and take a drink from the Lethe river, which will give
you a vague amnesia. Once you get back to the mortal world, you will retain a
veiled memory of your experience in the realm of the souls, but nothing vivid
and precise, almost like the faint sensation of a dream, to the point that at
times you will even doubt, within yourselves, whether it really took place or
it is all rather a fantasy, or an impression.”
After uttering
these words, smiling, joining her hands toward them and nodding sweetly, Mary
looks at them with infinite mercy and compassion, which there are no human
faculties to comprehend, nor suitable words to express. She steps off and backs
away, and as She moves along She becomes more and more transparent, and
vanishes into the surrounding space, like a body that merges into a thick bank
of luminous fog.
Lazra is deeply
moved to tears, and to the point of feeling her face flame up with emotions,
while Dayéd is enchanted and petrified by the veneration and the wonder of the
moment. They are hesitant and undecided as to what to do, what to say and how
to move, but the saint from
-- “Come on, let’s
get going. Your task here for now is over.”
The two take their
leave, and Lazra timidly stoops down to kneel toward where a moment ago the
celestial Mother appeared to them, but before she accomplishes the gesture she
loses her senses and passes out tumbling down.
In the Terrestrial
She then gradually recovers
her senses in an earthly atmosphere of grass, plants, trees and various
vegetation, at a moment of early morning, when the sun is just rising up over
the horizon, and sending out its rays in the direction of the summit of the
promontory on which they find themselves, surrounded by air and open spaces.
She sees Dayéd close by, standing upright while gazing at her, and smiling in
expectation. She draws an urge from that to stand up and reach him, and taking
an attentive look around they both spot the waters of a river, which runs
quietly from east toward west. They make for that, slowly and hesitantly at
first, not from fear, but out of reserve and discretion. In proximity of the
shore they meet a feminine figure, who turns into their direction and smiling
sweetly she heads toward them, with the aspect of one who already knows who
they are and why they happen to be in that place. She has a serene and charming
appearance, and her moves express the joy and the peace that stem from the
interior fullness. She bows her head as a sign of greeting, still smiling:
-- “Welcome”, she starts out.
“I am a Samaritan woman, and I was waiting for you to take you to the waters of
the river.” She points at it with grace, a few steps away from where they are
standing. “It is the secondary river that irrigates the place that you see. “
The woman accompanies them for a stretch and then she lets them find their own
way. They get closer, at a point of the shore in the vicinity of the spring,
and they realize that there are two gushes evenly flowing out of a recess in
the rocks. One of them turns into the river that they just saw, while the other
one continues in a direction slightly off aside. They turn toward the woman,
and she reports to them:
-- “They produce different
effects on the one who drinks from them. For a soul that is heading for the
sky, one of them softens the memory of the sins committed in the mortal life,
which have been forgiven, while the other one enhances the remembrance of the
good deeds accomplished. For you now, it is planned that you drink from the one
that you saw first, the Lethe, which will somewhat veil your memory of your
afterlife experience. You will preserve, however, an invaluable spring within
you, which will accompany you for ever.”
Dayéd and Lazra stoop down,
then, and they take a delicious drink.
In approaching the Samaritan
woman again, Lazra decides to try to inquire:
-- “By any chance…is the Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil around here?”
The Samaritan woman turns
around so as to silently indicate a place where a few trees and plants grow, at
a short distance behind their shoulders. She points at one more precisely,
which stands apart from the woods, of not particularly great size, in
comparison with other trees rising up next to it. All three of them step
nearer, and before getting there the woman slows down and stops, letting the
other two approach by themselves. Lazra and Dayéd observe the branches, the
foliage, the shape on the whole and the constitution of a stretch of the bark,
of the wood, the colors and the shades of the leaves, the volumes of the boughs
and the spaces among them, and around the trunk. They contemplate the thinning
out of the branches as they rise up, the solid robustness of a few of them and
the light slimness of others, they examine the signs and the characteristics of
the bark that account for the life of the plant, which, however, does not have
an age and is eternal, renovating itself continuously. After that, Lazra lowers
her look, drawn by something lying at the foot of the tree, near the roots and
all around it. It definitely looks like apples, of various dimensions and
particular shapes, except that they are made of gold. Dayéd and Lazra exchange
an involuntary rapid glance, and then they turn toward the gentle Samaritan
woman:
-- “Thank you…”, the girl
whispers, afraid that she might not be heard. At the same time she puts her
hands up to her chest and she takes a bow. Dayéd, also, joins his hands in
front of him and tilts his head downward with his eyes closed, in greeting. The
woman smiles bowing her head in turn, radiating peace and reassurance.
Afterwards, the two visitors take their leave, although they don’t really know
as yet where to proceed, or how.
In Cocytus:
They draw closer to the
border of the upland plain, beyond which they glimpse at a bright and limpid
sky, in order to discern which way to move on or how to get off, and suddenly
they feel hauled by an irresistible force, invisible and unknown, which
transports them over the edge, suspended in the void, in an atmosphere which
from morning becomes dazzling brilliant in an instant, making the view beneath
their feet disappear, to then turn as suddenly into thick, pitch-black
darkness. In a few immeasurable moments, the environment gains definition
again, as a dark, gloomy, freezing location, characterized in its traits by
nightly, colorless shadows and lights, with icy expanses, steep faces of rock,
and a height that fades out soon into a sinister, blind, overwhelming darkness.
They find themselves standing with their feet on what appears as the icy
surfaces of a river or a lake, which probably turned solid on account of the
air that is relentlessly blowing like a freezing, deadly breeze, foul and dense
with fetid vapors and dismal fumes. The contrast is such between this
underground, hellish place, and the upland of eternal spring, of sweet and
gentle air from which they come, that it cannot be put into words, and the
spirits of Dayéd and Lazra become aware of it gradually, like in discerning and
making out presences in the dark, after just leaving a luminous environment.
They look around with terror and trepidation, motionless in the exact spot
where they’ve been brought to be, making movements and gestures to try to
shield themselves from the ice-cold air rushing over them. They perceive little
of the surroundings, because the sight peters out quickly within short depths,
and Lazra decides to step forward, to take a wider look at the environment.
All of a sudden, they hear in
the semi-darkness:
-- “What are they doing
standing on Cocytus, like that?...and that one seems alive…”
Lazra and Dayéd gape around
them with anguish and desperation, and they catch sight of damned souls,
grieving and lamenting, immersed in the ice everywhere, some straight, some
lying down, with their back or their front side up, some with their whole
bodies except for the face, and some with the whole head outside. The girl lets
out a shriek of distress, stifled into a groan, which is followed by a few sobs
of poignant crying, which she manages to hold back by turning to look at Dayéd.
They don’t try to realize anymore, nor to comprehend, it is their spirit that
moves them, making choices and decisions by instinct, before they become fully
aware of them.
In answer to that first one,
they hear a slow and hoarse rattle, mumbled by someone who tried but could not
utter intelligible sounds.
-- “Get…out of here!...”, one
might hear more distinctly now in another lament coming from the iced surface.
Lazra, then, musters up her
energy and reacts by standing up in front of Dayéd and, staring at him with a
concentrated and grave expression, she urges him:
-- “Let’s remember well now the
condition to which we are supposed to go through these places, alright?”
Dayéd assumes a conscious and
serious attitude, and he answers her nodding his head in confirmation. Among
banks of vapour which hover over the vast icy expanse, they start off without
heeding any other utterances about their presence.
A sudden encounter…:
-- “It is freezing here!...”,
Lazra exclaims in a low tone of voice, tightening her arms around her, and
feeling her lips and her teeth gradually begin to shudder. “What is this air
blowing? It feels like an unstoppable wind…”
-- “I don’t know, it comes
from over there”, and he points behind their shoulders, “but I can see
nothing…” In the prevailing dark and by the features of the place that they do
make out, they can’t see enough to try to guess. She continues:
-- “There are damned spirits
everywhere, down there…I wonder if this place ever was liquid.”
-- “As long as this air keeps
on blowing I wouldn’t think so…”, he answers her.
Lazra observes with horror
and grief the damned ones situated next to their feet and all around, she is
shocked by the laments and the groans that she hears coming from them, and at
some moments she cries in dismay. Dayéd, instead, remains more watchful about
the location, and he tries to push his look through the thick air, to
investigate which direction to follow.
-- “Come on,” he suggests to
her, “let’s go this way.” And they proceed for a few instants in silence, Dayéd
first and Lazra following right behind.
At a certain point, while
they are walking along a steep face of rock, they hear a continuous drone, as a
constant background. At first it is a slight vibration of the ice and of the
rock, barely perceptible, but it keeps on growing more or less evenly.
-- “Can you hear it?... the
noise?...”, Dayéd asks with uncertainty and hesitation, at the same time
looking around apprehensively. At certain times they distinguish particular,
more intense noises, as stronger impacts, which are followed by brief pauses,
and then the continuous tremor resumes.
-- “Yes… and it’s not just
noise, the whole place is quaking!...”, Lazra points out. The noise is turning
into a din, and the vibrations become more forceful.
-- “What is it?...An
earthquake?...”, she asks, with a growing sense of anguish. The entire environment
is rushed through by a roar that has become deafening, and which vaguely seems
to be coming from up above. “What’s going on?!?”, she screams again, in order
to be heard over the rumble and the tremors.
-- “I don’t know!...” Dayéd
exclaims, looking around franticly to catch a hint of what is happening. They
both try to stand still, and they keep their legs slightly apart and bent at
their knees and their arms ready to grab a hold of something to maintain their
balance. Stones or pieces of rock break loose and tumble from the rocky slopes
nearby, as on account of the quakes Lazra and Dayéd have a hard time focusing
on the objects. They gaze at each other, but they stay where they are in
expectation, tremendously shaken up by the continuous jolts.
Then, all of a sudden, there
is a violent impact, following which both the noise and the shocks cease. At
this point, as if by a conditioned reflex or a sudden intuition, they both
raise their look above them, and they sight a huge boulder which comes flying over
the edge of an overhanging promontory, and plummets in the void toward them.
-- “AAAhhh!!!!”, Lazra yells
out in despair with all her breath, while both she and Dayéd plunge together
with a spurt toward the base of the face of rock, tumbling down on the ground.
The boulder is dodged barely in time: it hits the icy floor where they were
standing a moment before, with a tremendous crash, it rolls over for a certain
distance yet, and it finally comes to a stop.
… with Sisyphus:
Lazra and Dayéd are lying on the
ground, startled and even in disbelief of what has just taken place. They
glance at each other in silence, with a look making sure of each other’s
conditions, and then they turn toward the stone, which is now halting on its
track. They stand back up, and with a very hesitating step they move towards
it. Next, they hear other noises:
--
“Ooohhh…Ooooohh…Huuuhh…HuuEeehh…”
They turn around and they
catch sight of someone who is climbing down the same promontory, making efforts
along a steep and rough descent. The desperate and bitter groans that he lets
out accompany each step or leap that he takes. At first he is not aware or
doesn’t care about Dayéd and Lazra, and in this manner he reaches the earthy
plain at the foot of the face of rock, next to the expanse of ice which begins
at a short distance from there. Lazra and Dayéd’s attention, for the time
being, has been drawn away from the damned spirits stuck in the frozen and hard
transparencies.
-- “Where did it go?”, the
fellow asks as soon as he sees them. As a matter of fact, the boulder hit the
rocky wall on the opposite side, and it has stopped in a position partially
concealed by a projection of earth and rock, and is therefore not immediately
in sight. Dayéd and Lazra are speechless from the bewilderment, her mouth is
ajar and her eyes are wide open, and they both step back and aside somewhat in
order to let him by.
-- “Did you see a big stone
rolling off of there and passing by here?...”, that fellow asks again,
indicating the summit of the rocky face from which it plunged down. They stare
at each other intimidated, without saying anything. As the guy gets closer and
he looks at them longer, he also stares at them with more attention and
surprise, at the girl in particular. For a few moments he observes her in
silence, her face and her figure, without any scruples about being indiscreet.
So she gets herself together and speaks up:
-- “It went that way…”, and
she spreads out an arm in the direction of the huge rock, a few steps ahead,
partly visible. The newcomer, however, has noticed by now the exceptional
presence and he’s gotten curious about it.
-- “Where do you come from?
Who are you, since you’re still alive? How can you be here with your body? It’s
not really as if I care, it is my boulder I need to think about, but there are
some who may hold a grudge. Once a couple of Greek fellows came over here in
hell still alive with the intention of kidnapping the goddess that was reigning
in this place at the time. Now neither she nor her spouse are here anymore,
ever since the whole universe shook up so much that a fair amount of this dark
world was crumpled, but back then those two had showed up just for her. It was
hard to believe. They couldn’t make it, though, and they had to stay in here,
too. Only one of them, after a period of time and with the help from Hercules,
finally was able to go back to the mortal world.”
-- “She came in here”, Dayéd
then interjects, indicating the girl with a look, “so that I could get back to
the bodily life, for a period of time. Now we are trying to find a way out, in
the same direction that we came. We don’t care about anything else.” They
remain silent for a while.
-- “Who are you?”, Lazra then
asks him, with sincere curiosity.
-- “My name is Sisyphus”, the
damned spirit begins again. “In the mortal life I was king of
Afterwards, he takes a pause
and Dayéd and Lazra keep on staring at him in silence.
-- “I’ve got to recover the
rock…”, Sisyphus concludes, and with an expression on his face of one who’s
already thinking of what to do next, he sets off in that direction.
The girl is trembling and
disoriented, undoubtedly still shocked from the fall of the boulder, and she
softly lowers her head, while Sisyphus walks on past her without seeing her,
and she silently follows him with her stare, turning her head with brief and
hesitant jerks.
Subsequently, Dayéd and she
exchange a glance, and with a fearful and tentative attitude they proceed
further.
The well of the Giants:
In moving along, they get to
take a look at another part of the icy expanse of Cocytus, in which they
distinguish other damned spirits immersed under the surface and with either
their faces, or their heads, or with a part of their bodies sticking out,
although their faces are in any case covered with ice over the eyes. A few of
them groan at their passage, but they say nothing that the two can understand,
and they go on by with caution. As they walk past, someone else lets out
laments or wheezes, and slightly rouses towards them with painful effort,
although for the most part hampered by the ice that shrouds them, and at a
certain point Lazra and Dayéd get to hear something more distinctly:
-- “…stop…come over……”,
utters a wheezing and sore voice. “Come here!...”, it whispers this last time
with a more firm and desperate tone.
Nevertheless, the two
visitors proceed further, with all the possible vigilance and caution, without
wanting to stop, not turn around.
All of a sudden, they catch
sight of something tall and daunting that they are approaching, even though, on
account of the general darkness of the place, most of all at a certain height,
and the vapors and the fumes filling up the atmosphere in banks, they cannot
make out right away what it is about. They perceive, however, not one but
several presences, that move slowly and awkwardly.
-- “What is it? What are
they?”, Lazra inquires with a tone which denotes increasing fear and
desperation.
-- “They move…”, Dayéd points
out, and he looks around quickly and attentively to decide what to do. “It
seems that the only direction that we can go is right that way, let’s see…”,
and off they go, with hesitation and dismay, toward the huge presences standing
in front of them, which become more and more recognizable.
-- “Oh, my God!”, Lazra
exclaims, now discerning gigantic beings, in the human form, although with
stockier and more coarse proportions of the limbs in relation to the overall
dimensions.
-- “They are giants!,,,”,
Dayéd comments in a low voice and in disbelief. The two of them exchange a
glance, with which they urge each other along, and they proceed, trying to pick
out a route that passes the least possible in proximity of the new
company.
In approaching further, they
see that the giants stand up in the air to a height where their heads almost
vanish into the darkness above, and they appear to them as moving hills, with a
slowness and a clumsiness similar to those of cows or oxen. In the obscure and
thick air, Lazra and Dayéd can’t quite make out how many of them there are,
since in the depth of the view their features soon diminish in definition. They
stand sunken up to their waist inside a well, a large opening in the hellish
ground of which Dayéd and Lazra cannot make out the depth, and they are lined
up along an edge within the cavity, a certain distance below the surface. One
of them, in particular, is remarkably constrained in an unnatural position,
tied up in heavy chains that wrap him closely. All the giants, moreover, wear
around their necks a horn, which occupies a notable position in front of their
huge chest.
Lazra and Dayéd move along
with brief and silent steps, at some moments when the giants seem to be
immobile and at rest. One of them, however, spots the newcomers, and so does
another next to him, and in turning around to re-position themselves, they
scrape along the inside walls of the well, and the friction is felt as a tremor
in the whole environment, so much that it reminds the two visitors of the
recent moments just gone by. The giant that saw them first, then, grabs the
horn hanging from his neck, puts it in his mouth and gives it a forceful blow,
which runs with strong vibrations through Lazra’s body. Once the noise is
finished, both she and Dayéd look at each other in a daze, undecided as to what
to think, and how to get on. Then, the giant which is tied up in chains, with
his right arm fastened across his chest, and his left one held behind his back,
addresses them:
-- “My name is
Ephialtes, can you hear me?...Can you hear me?”, Dayéd and Lazra do not answer.
The giant is immobilized in a position for the most part turned toward the
opposite side with reference to the newcomers, so he cannot see them except out
of the corner of his eye when he turns his head sideways. “The one who just
played the horn is my brother Otus, and we both were killed by Apollo, for
having tried to climb the mountains up to the sky. Can you hear me?” Again, they
don’t respond, although they remain immobile and attentive. “We put the
Another giant that
the two visitors haven’t spotted yet on account of the visibility and of the
bent-over position, scarcely in sight, that he’s kept until now, is standing up
tall in the point where he’s located, a little farther away than Ephialtes. It
is with great dismay that Lazra and Dayéd discern, through the thick
atmosphere, that the massive being spits fire out of his mouth, has enormous
wings covered with snaky scales, and instead of fingers in his hands he has
serpents, with which he grabs in turn his own horn, and putting it in his mouth
he blows in it a long deafening wail.
-- “That one is
Typhon”, Ephialtes continues when the terrible noise finally ceases. “The
legend has it that it is him, with these motions of his, that stirs up an
island on the Earth, by the name of
Dayéd and Lazra
would very much like to leave, but they’re both afraid that in turning around
and walking away they might be seen and attract the attention.
Tityus:
-- “And then those are the
Titans”, the giant Ephialtes adds, with his head slightly tilted, as if he were
now reflecting by himself, in a loud voice. Lazra and Dayéd take a look around,
but they don’t understand who he is talking about.
-- “And there’s Tityus,
closer this way”, and he indicates with a nod of his head in front of him, on the
opposite side from the two visitors, who catch sight further ahead of a giant
sprawled with his back against the curve edge of the well, and immobilized with
his arms spread out and tilted upward from his head, held down to the ground.
“Son of Zeus and Electra”, Ephialtes carries on, “he was killed by Apollo and
Artemis’ arrows for trying to rape Leto. For this reason he has been tied down
here to this rock, and in the daytime a winged creature gnaws at his liver,
which grows back again at night.”
After the silence of a few
instants, Dayéd and Lazra hear some noises, as if from fluttering, periodic and
regular, which on account of a certain echoing rumble seem to be coming from
the well. The two freeze in anxious expectation, as the noises become louder and
louder, they get closer and they are more clearly perceived as the flapping of
wings. After a few moments they glimpse, in the spaces between a giant and
another, a huge eagle that rises up slowly from the edge of the opening. It
emerges sideways with reference to them, and it is of the same proportions as
the giants, in relation to men and the gaiasis, it has nervate and scaled
wings, like those of a dragon or a bat, and long paws, as if it were, besides a
bird, also a half terrestrial animal. It hovers heavily above the heads of the
giants, with a grave movement of the wings that has the regularity of a placid
heartbeat. Lazra and Dayéd are horrified and speechless, and they watch it in
disbelief without breathing a word nor attempting the littlest gesture, as
gusts of freezing air, roused by the flapping of the wings, rush over their
faces and figures. The winged creature slowly soars over Tityus, and here it
stays hovering in balance, as the giant on the ground observes it with his eyes
half-closed, before closing them altogether in resignation. The eagle raises
its head and stares at the newcomers for a moment, as if it were aware of the
novelty and of the exceptional situation. It gazes at them, and they’re feeling
awfully exposed and examined, while the creature hovers in the air. It
relentlessly flaps its wings, and then gets back down to business, lowers its
head toward the prey, and darts swooping down. Tityus groans, stifling a
scream. Lazra withdraws her look, incredulous and distressed. She and Dayéd,
even without standing close to the scene, can hear the operations of the beak
of the animal. They take advantage of the moment, then, to back off in horror,
and they walk away, without adding anything.
In backing away, Lazra is
taken by a physical uneasiness due to what she just saw, and intermittent sighs
rouse up from her chest, so she hangs her head down and gives in to a burst of
tears, while Dayéd struggles to draw deep relaxing breaths. They slow down,
then, hesitating for a while, they look around in order to find their bearings
and get oriented, without observing or spotting anything in particular, and
they search for a way out of that place. They pierce the thick air as far as
their eyes can see, with their heads hung downward and a cautious, fearful
attitude. They hear noises, at a short distance from where they stand, of quick
and hasty gestures, as if of someone who’s running and moving frantically, and
they perceive beastly grunts, from exertion and ferocity. In the dark density
of the atmosphere they can barely make out shadows, that rapidly disappear.
Dayéd and Lazra exchange a questioning look:
-- “What was that?”, she
asks.
-- “I hardly saw anything…”,
answers the spirit of the statue.
Afterwards they distinguish,
in a soft dispersion of the atmosphere a little further ahead, a few deformed
damned spirits, in whom a part of the figure is unnaturally swollen and out of
proportion with the other, which is dehydrated and withered. Other motionless
beings, instead, give off hot vapour and maybe smoke. In particular two of
those, a deformed and an overheated one, are addressing each other scornfully
in a prolonged quarrel. Lazra and Dayéd cannot quite comprehend what they are
saying, so he signals to the girl that they should move along, and they take a
different direction.
Tantalus:
Not too far from where they
are, beyond a thin cloud of fume and dust, they see a sheet of water. It is
approximately a circular shape, with a largeness of about ten ample steps, and
at first glance they get the feeling that it might be a distraction from the
horrible spectacle of shortly before, so they head for that. They discern a
tree, to their right-hand side, next to the brink of the water on the shore,
that has most of the branches and foliages hanging over the little lake, with
some ends almost touching the surface of it. Next, they realize that right
below the lowest foliage there’s a figure, sticking his head out of the water.
His head is turned upward, and he is panting somewhat, breathing through his
open mouth and with his eyes closed. It seems that between one pant and another
one may hear him grumble. Dayéd gives Lazra a signal with his look, and having
both gotten curious they walk further along the shore to their left, getting
closer to the figure on the opposite side, in front of him. The damned soul is
approximately in the middle of the sheet of water, so he is not a long way from
them. From the bough dangling a short distance above his head tender pears,
mature apples, figs and pomegranates are hanging, which give off a fresh and
sweet odor. In an attempt made by reflex and instinct, rather than with real
confidence and effort, he raises his mouth, pulling his face upward, in order
to bite into the swollen and abundant fruits. In perfect synchronism, the
boughs withdraw back with lightness, dodging his bite. As he goes back to rest,
the branches as well take their initial position again. He tries once more,
this time with a little more exertion. The same result follows. With one last
sob of desperation, he tries again, although he seems to know well enough that
he will never succeed in reaching those fruits. He groans and lets go, as a
matter of fact, even before he completes the vain attempt. After which, he
hesitates for a moment, resting and catching his breath, and then he tries
hanging his head downward, pressing his chin against his chest, to get a drink
of the water from the lake. In the operation his tongue sticks out through his
lips, but the water retires, and it all piles up around the sides of the pool.
He then draws his head up again, groaning and crying, and letting out
continuous wails, of various tone and intensity. Lazra feels a contraction of
pain within her, and she steps near the spirit of Dayéd, as if to communicate
that to him, but without opening her mouth. Dayéd addresses her a glance of
understanding. Next, the spirit immersed in the lake spots them, and he
acknowledges with a curious look the particular situation regarding the girl.
-- “It looks to me like you
will be going back to the mortals…”, he comments in his discomfort toward
Lazra. “Imagine that I used to say, when I was living, as also others I had
known, that I preferred hell to heaven, because I was claiming, almost
jokingly, that one could have more fun down here. Well, I really did come down
to the dark world, but, as you might have imagined, I have a pretty different
idea of it now”. Lazra and Dayéd give each other a look, and he resumes:
-- “My name used to be
Tantalus, king of Sipylus, in
-- “And this is all for me,
you know…”, the damned soul continues. “In this hellish place there are
different kinds of sins and of consequent damnations, which are distributed and
assigned among infinite numbers of damned spirits that are destined here. For
the most part, the same punishment is due by fate to the souls that committed
in their life the same type of sin. There exist, however, also particular cases
of individual punishments, which are a distinction from the general
arrangements. There isn’t a precise and only motive for these differentiations,
it is simply due to events and circumstances that take place by will of the
divine fate, according to which such situations are established. Sisyphus, who
now and again makes himself heard by one who is around when his boulder rolls
downhill, is an example of that. As a matter of fact, even though he is fated
with a damnation similar to that of other damned souls, who go around in
circles, though, and not uphill, his particular situation is unique. The giants
represent another one, although they are nevertheless a non-numerous group. And
what you have in front of yourselves is another case. A short distance from
here, moreover, there is the soul of someone who was quite rich in his life,
and who was assigned a punishment similar to mine, for taking delights in
pasturing lavish tables, denying a poor man by the name of Lazarus, longing to
feed on the crumbs left over from his table, the bare minimum to survive. Maybe
you have heard of that, or you might have read about it in the Scriptures. The
spirit of Lazarus, instead, is in quite different environments, on high.”
A few moments of silence
follow, in which Lazra and Dayéd have nothing to reply. It is then Sisyphus
again, who raises his head toward them, as if after a sudden idea which popped
to his mind.
-- “Wouldn’t you by any
chance want to lower for me one of the branches that are hanging right here
over my head? This way I could reach out and bite into the fruits…can you see
them?” He asks this with an affectedly pleading tone of voice, almost as if he
wanted to resort to hypocrisy where the gloom of his spirit wouldn’t have
allowed for support to his intentions. He addresses Lazra in particular, in
whom he thought he noticed some emotional reaction a little while ago. She
instinctively sets out to make herself available, although in the space of a
moment, reflecting about it, she is not sure of what is good and right to do.
She gives Dayéd a look, but then she slowly proceeds in walking around the
sheet of water and approaching the tree. She is very doubtful in her soul, and
she doesn’t properly feel that interior serene and joyful fullness, that she
has always felt in her life, each time that she has tried to help or assist
somebody. She doesn’t know very well whether this way she would become
accomplice of something illicit, or else attempting to be useful toward the next
one still would be an act of mercy. She turns toward Dayéd again with a
questioning look, before reaching the other side. Once she gets there, though,
by instinct and almost without thinking, she leans over somewhat, and she
reaches out to grab the bough, which, jutting from the trunk, ends up dangling
over Tantalus’ head. She tries to stir it up, at first faintly with a few
fingers, and then grasping it more firmly and with more force. The branch moves
and shakes a little, but only in its middle part, that is the stretch between
the trunk and its loose end. This latter end, weighed down with fruits and
suspended a short distance from Tantalus’ mouth, stays immobile and fixed, as
does the trunk on the shore. Lazra tries to exert more strength in the movement,
but although some foliage might shake, and a few twigs might quiver, the far
end over the lake remains steadily motionless in the thick air. It is a
supernatural phenomenon, Lazra ponders, there is no recognizable reason for the
branch not to be able to move, and still there’s no way of budging it. She lets
out a moan of discomfort, most of all as an emotional reaction to a situation
she cannot comprehend much, and in which she is uncertain. She glances
inquiringly over at the spirit of Dayéd standing on the other side of the lake.
He looks back at her with participation, but without having anything in
particular to suggest. Afterwards, she draws back, moves off and walks away.
She doesn’t go back to where she was before, it is instead Dayéd who reaches
her halfway over, still on the shore of the pond. Lazra then addresses the
damned spirit:
-- “I tried…but the bough
stays still. I am sorry, but it seems that the only one who is able to move
those fruits is yourself.”
Tantalus slightly turns his
head in her direction, not completely, and without looking at her.
Dayéd and Lazra leave.
At the Phlegeton:
Subsequently, they arrive at
the shores of a river, which appears to them as consisting in a semi-viscose
red liquid, with prevailing dark shades to it due to the depth of its bed, and
in a continuous slow boil. They sight a number of damned souls immersed in the
river, that rise to the surface and then they plunge again, and turn over, and
they are transported and churned according to the stir of the liquid. As soon
as one of them dares stay above the surface for longer than the flow would
force them to, he or she are immediately aimed at with precise throws of arrows
by animal-like beings, half man, in the upper part of their bodies, and half
horses, in the lower part, by the name of centaurs. They happen to be galloping
along the banks of the river with the specific purpose of guarding, and making
sure that the damned souls stay immersed. Dayéd and Lazra watch the scene for a
while, with horror and in silence. Next, Dayéd notices something on the other
side, and giving the girl a look, he observes:
-- “Those over there ought to
be the walls of Dis, from inside…”, and he indicates them with his look ahead
of him. Lazra makes a sign of recognition with her head, and he goes on:
-- “We should go that way,
get out through those gates, and head back on the same path that we came on our
way over.”
-- “There’s still some
crowding around, over there…”, Lazra points out, indicating with a gesture a
dense number of damned spirits who are sticking around in the proximity of the
gateway of the walls. At this moment they both realize that a group of centaurs
not a long way from where they are, although not within voice-range, have
become aware of their presence, and they are heading in their direction. A few
of them linger along the way, as they spot a few damned souls in the river
attempting to break above the surface, and so they draw arrows from the quivers
on their backs, to throw with their bows. Three of them, instead, arrive in the
vicinity of the newcomers, and one in particular gets near them, looking like a
boss, or a supervisor of the bunch. From an aggressive and violent attitude
that he seemed to have assumed towards them as soon as he saw them, he shifts
to surprise and perplexity as he approaches and he observes the living
girl.
-- “What’s going on?”, he
inquires with a raw and harsh tone. He gets there and stands in front of them,
while staring at them with attention and curious persistency, most of all the
girl. “What do you go looking for? Which is your place?”, and then he turns
toward a companion that has stayed a few steps behind, and he gives him an
ironic, understanding look. He scratches his beard under his chin, and he
searches Lazra with his eyes a little more.
-- “She came here because of
me”, answers Dayéd, then, “so that I could get out for a period of time, and
now we would like to go across this river.”
-- “Nobody ever crosses the
Phlegethon the way that you are going. If one goes anywhere, one goes that
way”, and the centaur points into the opposite direction, from which Lazra and
Dayéd have just come, “and there’s no way back…”
-- “We need to get through
those walls on the other side, and go back the way that we came, and so leave”,
the spirit of the sculpture explains himself.
The centaur observes him for
an instant, taking on an expression of scorn and haughtiness, but after
glancing at the girl again, he resumes speaking and answers:
-- “Well, if you really mean to
go along on your crazy route back, I will carry you over to the other bank, on
my back”, and he points at it with the bow that he’s holding in his hand. “Not
that you have much of a choice, you sure can’t go wading across this river of
blood!...”
Lazra feels a shiver of fear
and uncertainty rushing through her, and she crosses her look with Dayéd’s.
-- “However”, the horse-man
resumes, “I will have to carry you one at a time, not both together.”
-- “Alright”, replies Lazra
nodding.
First trip on top of the centaur,…:
Dayéd is therefore getting
ready to mount the horseback of the centaur, who is already immersed with the
lower part of his body in the boiling blood of the river. He jumps and lands on
top of him, trying not to slip off, and to reach his balance.
-- “Are you all set?”, the
other one asks him, half-turning the human trunk around. “Are you inside the
cockpit?”
-- “Yes, I’m ready”. And off
they go, while Dayéd sitting astride gives Lazra a knowing look of temporary
good-bye, as she’s standing on the shore a short distance away.
At first they remain silent,
and the conductor manoeuvres in the swim with practical and experienced
motions. Afterwards, Dayéd addresses him a question:
-- “Why is it that it’s
necessary to make the trip in two times, since I don’t have any weight, and
having us both together would have been like carrying Lazra only?”
-- “Huh? Yes…but,…it’s a
question of presences: I get less confused, and the trip is safer if I carry
one passenger at a time”, the centaur replies, with a tone that sounds to the
other one slightly evasive and artificial.
During the crossing, Dayéd
spots some damned souls plunged in the boiling blood, and he hears their
harrowing wails and stifled groans. Not a long way from where he is, he notices
that one of them raises himself up out of the blood, turned in their direction,
so as to take a look at the unusual scene, but he gets picked out by another
centaur, standing on the shore off to the side, who takes aim, hurls an arrow
with his bow, and he transfixes the damned one in his eye, making him submerge
in the liquid depths.
-- “Do you make many trips
across the river?”, he then inquires, trying not to mind his own dismay.
-- “No, hardly ever from
shore to shore. There’s no need to. It happened when someone in particular was
only passing through. I transported a saint, who is now on high, somewhere”,
and he vaguely points upward with the bow that he’s holding in his hand, “and
he was still alive, but whether he was with his body or only in spirit I don’t
know, the fact is that taking him across was like carrying you. And then a
woman who was going back to the world, like you guys are. A poet who played an
instrument and sang, and it seems that he got a lot of attention, down here. I
wasn’t present, but somebody still remembers that…And then a guy, still alive,
together with his guide”
-- “You carried them both
together?...”
-- “Huh? Yes…but, that was an
exceptional man, even his guide told me that…”
After that, they proceed the
crossing in silence. Once they arrive at the other bank, the passenger gets
off, still silently, and the centaur turns around and sets out again in the
opposite direction.
…second trip:
-- “So, Miss”, he addresses
Lazra, as he’s approaching the bank from which he took off before. “Are we
ready?”
-- “Yes…”, she replies,
although a little disoriented and uneasy about the weird smile on the face of
the fellow. The centaur turns around sideways, and she puts her hands on his
back in order to recognize the most comfortable position to get on top.
-- “If you need help”, he
intervenes turning his trunk around and swiftly stretching out his arms toward
her hips and her legs, and grasping them with enjoyment, “I can lend you a
hand, with no problem!...”
Lazra, immediately alarmed
and frightened, tries in turn to take a hold of the centaur’s unwanted arms and
to stop them, at the same time flinching back herself.
-- “No!!”, she exclaims,
almost shouting. “No, thank you! There’s no need for that! I’ll just do much
better by myself, thank you.”
-- “Alright!...”, he answers,
as he sneers maliciously. “My name is Nessus”, and he turns around facing ahead
of him again.
The second crossing then
begins.
-- “You know,” the centaur resumes
after a short silence. “You remind me very much of a woman that I met when I
was in my mortal life. I gave her a ride on my back, too.”
-- “Did you?”, she replies.
“Good, that means you must be practiced, then.”
-- “Yes!! Ah, ah!!”, he
bursts into laughter, turning around to look at her. She frowns somewhat, and
she draws backwards.
-- “Well,” he resumes, “that
was a trip in which I reached more distant shores…”, and he turns back around
thoughtfully.
They remain silent for a few
moments, after which Nessus goes back to more pleasureful thoughts:
-- “And how is it that a
pretty girl like you happens to be crossing these gloomy lands on account of
that ghost over there?”
-- “So that he could go back
to the sensitive world. Now we are trying to get out”, Lazra answers,
concealing a growing uneasiness.
-- “I wonder what this place
would be like if you hadn’t passed by, huh?, he asks her with intrusiveness and
arrogance, and he makes a half turn towards her again, while giggling.
-- “What it’s always been, it
is, and it always will be, anyway”, the girl replies as coldly as she possibly
can, although she is starting to really worry about the situation and the
intentions of the centaur, frowning, raising her eyebrows and tightening her
lips.
-- “Ah! Ah!!”, and he goes
about turning his bust of human form yet more toward her. “Maybe you are
right!”, he slides his arm past her hips and behind her back. He is very swift
and stealthy in his moves, and from behind he grasps her tightening her to him,
as he slows the pace down, and he changes the direction in one way first, then
another one, and then simply going around in circles, and ultimately stopping
altogether. Nessus struggles to pull het to his chest, putting his other arm
around her neck, sticking his face forward and opening his mouth toward her
with grimaces and expressions of desire. Lazra reacts with desperation, tossing
her body about to snap off the grips, recoiling backwards, flinging her arms in
short and quick jerks to hit out with her hands and elbows.
-- “Oh, come on!”, he
comments. “Ah-Ah! What is it? Would you like to get off? Oh, calm down! Calm
down!!”
Lazra is shouting and
flinging herself back and forth, and she calls out:
-- “AAHH! Help! Dayéd! Ah!
Erì-thong!!” She is scared and in despair, and she is running out of breath,
more from fear than the physical effort. She slaps at him, she hits him on his
arms, on his back, and in his face, in his head, when she gets there. However,
the force of the gestures and the grip of the centaur is overwhelming, she
wasn’t expecting it, and she doesn’t know how to react anymore, wheezing on top
of his back in the middle of an expanse of boiling blood.
Confrontation with Nessus:
-- “Let her go! Damn you!
Damn you!! Leave her alone!!!”, Dayéd in the meanwhile screams from the top of
his lungs on the other bank, and he bends over from desperation, leaning with
his arms upon his thighs, and he tosses himself about with anguish. After
taking a look around in order to think of something, he darts running toward another
one of the centaurs, engrossed in taking aim at a few damned souls in the
boiling blood, and he yanks the bow and a few arrows out of his hands. He gets
one loaded, he runs as close as he possibly can from the shore, he positions
himself, takes aim with all his strength and he lets it off toward Nessus, who
raises an arm and, without much of an effort, wards it off sneering.
-- “Is that all?”, the
centaur replies shouting in the direction of the shore, still giggling. “I’ve
seen arrows being shot in quite a different way!” And after being distracted
for a moment from his passenger, he turns back toward her with an amused and
malicious expression.
Dayéd tries again with
another arrow, which he loads promptly. The centaur sees it coming up in
advance, and he fends it off aside as the other one, with a yet more
accentuated sadistic sneer. After which, he gestures toward himself with his
hand, daring Dayéd to try again.
The soul of the statue makes
another attempt, then, but with the same outcome. Three arrows ended up in the
boiling blood, and Dayéd doesn’t have anymore at hand.
Next, he gathers himself in
concentration, closing his eyes, bowing his head and leaving out the outside
world. After a few instants, he raises his eyes again, and with a deep leap of
Faith, he stretches out his leg, and he takes a step onto the boiling blood of
the hellish river, and he walks over it as if it were hard land. He steps
along, at first hesitantly and with caution, and then more confidently. He
finally reaches the centaur and Lazra almost running.
-- “Get off, Lazra!”, he
yells with urgency and anguish, while the girl gives him a questioning look of
dismay, not knowing what to think of the liquid expanse under her feet. In the
meantime she tries to hold her balance, since Nessus puts up a fight and grabs
a grip of Dayéd’s arms, who in turn, although he constantly keeps in front of
him the precept received to be observed through all the way out of hell, reacts
snapping away from the grasp, and hitting hard at the centaur. The two of them
subsequently get engaged in a hand-to-hand confrontation.
-- “Get off of there!!”,
Dayéd urges her with a more stressful tone.
At this moment, another
centaur draws up near them, which was passing by, curious to take a look at
what was going on. He observes the two fighters clasped with each other for a
moment, after which he lets out an ironic giggle of comment about the
situation.
-- “Get out of here Chiron!”,
Nessus intimates to him, while gripping the adversary.
Lazra takes advantage of the
occasion to jump onto the back of the centaur that’s just pulled over, even
before he realizes it, as he’s all concentrated on the two fighters, so that
afterwards he turns his trunk around to make sure of what is going on behind
his shoulders and on his back. Dayéd, in the meantime, continues to punch at
Nessus’ face and figure, by now resigned to the fact that he broke the divine
precept. To tell the truth, he is infinitely more distressed about interrupting
a sacred commitment, rather than not being able to get back to the mortal world
again to live a life as an adult, even though this took up an importance
infinitely more relevant than his individual case. He is lashing out with
continuous and forceful punches, he kicks at the horse-like legs, and he is
finally getting the better of the centaur, but if he were a man in flesh and
blood, he’d have tears in his eyes. After making sure, then, that Lazra is out
of Nessus’ reach, he also jumps on the back of the other centaur behind her,
and the half-animal takes off, although he hasn’t seen his passengers well, nor
has he fully understood the circumstances.
-- “Could you get to the
shore right head of us, please?”, the girl asks with panting urgency from
behind the conductor’s shoulders, pointing at the bank in front of them. The
fellow heads for that, nodding, without answering anything in return.
-- “Quickly, please,
quickly!...”, Dayéd recommends from behind.
-- “I am sorry”, Chiron
replies, “but my knee hurts, I can’t go any faster than this with a load on my
back…”
They soon arrive at the shore
without any more accidents, and the two passengers get off and with a glance
they take leave of the centaur.
The threshold of Dis:
Lazra and Dayéd take an examining
glance at each other, reflecting upon what has just taken place. Dayéd has a
mortified and guilty expression, and he has to exert himself to raise his head
and look at her, for brief moments. Lazra is touched and emotionally stirred.
She has tears in her eyes, her lips are trembling, although she doesn’t despair
as yet of the possibility that the event might not have consequences.
Dayéd, then, whispers to
her:
-- “Let’s go…”, almost
fearing to be heard, and he gestures toward the gateway of Dis, in order to get
out.
They arrive there, and
despite the crowd of damned spirits hanging around the gates, they look for a
way through. The damned, who anyhow don’t have any physicality in relation to
Lazra, step back in the first place, in the general perplexity, and they open
up a sufficient passage among them. Lazra is walking in front and, suddenly
heartened and strengthened by the apparent easy achievement, she reaches the
threshold: she turns around toward Dayéd, and she realizes that he is now being
surrounded and held back by the very spirits that a moment ago let her go
through.
-- “No!!!”, she exclaims with
sudden grief.
There isn’t any corporeality,
the damned ones could not touch Lazra, nor she could hit them, nevertheless
they grab the soul of the statue, and they slowly but relentlessly draw him
back, towards the interior. Lazra dashes in his direction, screaming in an
outburst of desperation and grief, she goes back on her track, she tries to
grab hold of his arms, and for three times she reaches out to hug him and pull
him to herself, and for three times, as vapour, he vanishes in her arms. Then
Dayéd shouts to her:
-- “We can’t do anything
about this, neither one of us, and we had it coming, it is right this way. You
go, please, cross the swamp again on Phlegyas’ craft, and head for the exit as
quickly as you can. Unfortunately, it just turned out this way…”
Lazra walks out…:
Lazra, in tears and hesitant,
proceeds towards the gates, turning around continuously, among the harsh
expressions, the wretched derisions, the vulgar sexual insinuations, or the
manifestations of scorn that her attempt to resist has aroused, and which
follow, on the part of the damned souls, after the first moments of
bewilderment and surprise in relation to the stranger. Someone show off
improvised provoking gestures, in order to impart fear and subjection, others
assume perverted facial expressions of challenge and sneer. Lazra, however,
terrified and baffled, slowly proceeds. The spirits crowd around her, to such a
point that she could touch some faces, some limbs, if they were corporeal and
tangible. Despite the apparent scene, in which Lazra could physically walk
through, without any contacts or consequences, the same cannot certainly be
said about the spiritual and emotional conditions. Such are the insults, the
attacks, and the manners in which they are put forth, that she actually passes
the gates of the walls profoundly troubled and upset, with sobs and tears of
humiliation and offense. Even though rather than all these present conditions,
Lazra is torn inside much more about the idea of leaving behind the soul for
whom she came here in the first place,
the motive itself of her afterlife mission.
She walks past the threshold
of the walls of Dis, to head into the opposite direction to that of the first
time, and go back on the path that they came. She treads on the sand outside,
with her head down and pressed against her chest, her eyes squeezed closed,
which she opens at times to make sure of the place and the direction, with her
arms crossed and tight over her belly, her shoulders clenched together and
raised up to her neck. She feels, however, extremely doubtful and
uncertain.
…towards the spirit of Erì-thong:
At a certain point, she
raises her look in front of her, and she spots the spirit of Erì-thong,
standing near-by on the shore ahead, as he is waiting for her. A few steps away
from him is the craft on which he arrived, and Phlegyas on board is positioning
his oar. The wise hermit is looking at the girl with a discreet hint of a
smile, and infinite sweetness and mercy flow out through him toward her. Lazra
recovers, then, a little vigor and presence of spirit, and she walks on in his
direction.
Erì-thong addresses her
first:
-- “It is my duty again to
conduct you on your return. I was waiting for you on purpose.”
A moment of silence follows,
in which the two observe each other, and the wise man notices her hesitation.
Next, he continues:
-- “I have no words to say to
you about Dayéd, I just hope that you can recover some courage. There was
nothing else that anyone could have done, and so there are no reasons for
remorse nor regrets.”
Lazra is speechless, hearing
Erì-thong utter those things arouses in her soul despair and resoluteness at
the same time. She feels more precisely what she was already realizing a short
time ago, but it was still indistinct and unclear to her. She tries to express
this to her friend:
-- “I…don’t know whether, I
don’t think I want to, or I can.. leave like this…” She herself is trying to
clear up her feelings about the situation.
The wise man gets on board
the boat, with calm and well-measured moves, and he turns around to make the
same act easier for her.
-- “The task assigned to me
implies that I accompany you on your way back out of the afterlife world, in
the direction that we came in, and then to set off with no hesitation to where
I am supposed to be. If for any reasons you should choose to do otherwise, it
is not planned that I may help you.”
Lazra puts her hand out toward
him, automatically and absent-mindedly, and follows him on board. After a
moment, as if realizing where she is and what she is doing, she tries to
explain herself better:
-- “I can’t come along like
this…”, and looking with a pleading devotion at her companion and guide she
softly shakes her head.
-- “In any case”, he
suggests, “you may still find the way back just by yourself, proceeding the
opposite direction to that of the first time, but I’d like to remind you that
there’s only a handful of minutes left before the three days’ period available
for staying in the world of the souls runs out, and once the time is up, there
is no way back anymore. Therefore, staying here now, almost certainly means for
you to give up on any hope to get out.”
Lazra turns toward the
entrance of Dis, direction that she should follow in order to attempt to see
the soul of Dayéd again. She tilts her head downward, she takes a look at her
watch, and then at Erì-thong again. The wise man understands what is going on in
her spirit, and he doesn’t try in any ways either to discourage her, nor to
urge her, instead he just watches her interior conflicts. Afterwards, she tries
to account for her attitude:
-- “Maybe it will be good for
nothing at all…but I would like to see whether there’s something I can do, or
what happens next. I’m sorry…Thank you!” She looks Erì-thong in the eye, as if
to implore understanding. He responds to her with a look of love and mercy.
They both hint at a smile, him with an air of celestial pity, her with a shiver
of fear. Subsequently, Lazra steps off the skiff, and she gazes around with
caution and incertitude.
Lazra tries to get back in:
Without turning around
anymore toward Erì-thong and the boat, Lazra moves forward with uncertain and
discomforted step onto the dry shore. Over there, some spirits crowding around
the entrance to the city, notice that she is coming back, they turn toward her
and with deformed grimaces and perverted expressions they communicate their
disappointment and their contempt in seeing her approaching again.
-- “Get out of here!!!”
-- “Shame on you!! Shame on
you!!!”
-- “Get away! Scumbag!”
And a lot more, actually,
which it would be best to leave out of the text, though.
Lazra tries to gather herself
together and face the situation in the most rational and convenient possible
way, all the more since she just explicitly gave up on leaving the place, so
whatever happens now, she surely can’t expect anything other than to try and
deal with what is around her. Through the gateway of the walls she’ll have to
pass, if she has the intention of trying to get in touch with Dayéd’s soul
again, and therefore she’ll have to address herself that way. And off she goes.
A few damned spirits walk up
to her, and they disorderly assemble around her, proceeding then alongside, so
that she soon becomes, in spite of herself, the center of the attention of that
gathering.
Someone screams insults into
her ears, with terrifying aspect and expressions.
Another one aims to
intimidate her, standing right in front of her, walking backwards and with his
hands touching his lower parts, in front and in the back.
Someone else threatens her in
her ears, in a loud voice from behind.
As she walks forward, the
obscenities increase more and more, and the screams into her ears become
deafening. She sees foul figures pressing in on her from all sides up to her
face. She remembers that she doesn’t have to fear any physical contacts, but
she has no idea what to expect or how to resolve. The horror of their expressions
and the manifestations of scorn intimidate and dismay her inside, although she
still can move, and therefore head for the gates. She maintains full bodily
freedom, nevertheless her liberty of choice and action, and her very sensory
perceptions, are determined and influenced by her spiritual conditions. Without
fully realizing it, she gets dejected and she slows down to a stop of her
progression, defenceless and unable to go on. She gradually begins withdrawing
to one side where the souls surrounding her are less numerous, and she retires
a little at a time, actually, as an instinctive reaction to the violent
expressions and gestures addressed to her. And she finally backs off running in
the direction that she just came, with sobs and anguished bursts of sighs. She
stops when she’s alone and she cries by herself, in a mixture of desperation
and rage, as she thinks about her situation again, what she has stayed there
for, and what she can rely on. She has no idea even where to turn her look,
besides where she sees hatred, disdain and damnation. She also considers death,
and she feels that it won’t be disagreeable, when her time arrives, so that
afterwards she will be assigned the condition that is due to her, and which she
will have deserved. Except that, before then, she would like to do what she has
to, and for which she decided to remain in that place.
With a sudden gesture, she
then thrusts her arms downward, clenching her shoulders, to shake off the
resignation and doubts. She needs to get herself together and try again, she is
pretty sure of that, although she doesn’t know how yet. So she sets off in the
same direction. She says to herself that, knowing the nature of those spirits,
if she closed her eyes and shut her ears she should be able to get through the
gateway of the wall, since they can’t touch her, let alone get a hold of her.
She takes up speed, thinking that the faster she will try to go, the less she
will be exposed to their ranting. She also begins to take a few running steps,
tentatively and irregularly, and in getting closer again she lowers her head,
squeezes her eyes and clenches her teeth, tensing her whole face, as in the
mortal world she would have done in rushing through a rainstorm.
Such are the coarse and
vulgar yells and racket, even the sounds produced are so piercing and
offensive, and the expressions and the aspects are so inhuman and terrifying,
that although she turns her face first to one side and then to the other, she’s
holding her breath and she squeezes her eyes to the point that she doesn’t see
anymore where she’s advancing, she bursts, however, into a groan of discomfort
and desperation, she stops in the hail of insults and humiliations, she
withdraws aside, and she backs away. As she is alone again off to one side, she
gives vent to an outburst of moaning and sighing, and she tries to recover her
breath.
She draws long and ample
lungfuls of air, both from having held her breath, and from the state of
agitation in which she finds herself. She feels shivers running through her
body, and she gets tense fits of coughing that make her contract and bend over.
She keeps slowly moving around, at first walking on forth, and then turning
back and going around in circles. She catches her breath, and she recovers the
strengths that are with her. Without stopping any longer, she instinctively
decides to try again, not having any choices.
She starts off with the short
and quick steps of a hasty run, tightening her arms firmly against her belly,
and pressing her head down between her shoulders. As she moves on, she lets out
prolonged crying moans, which make her grimace her face and clench her teeth.
She clasps and gathers herself together, tossing her crossed arms and body to
the left and to the right, she also raises her voice to herself, hoping she
will manage to cover and not hear the expressions and noises of the damned
souls. To no good use, however, because it’s as if she could see them and hear
them in her soul, even though she is keeping her eyes closed, and she herself
is now screaming. At a certain point, she feels as if she is almost hitting
against an intangible barrier of hatred and despise, of insults and abuses,
which stops her and pushes her back, inevitably and relentlessly. She returns
to the bank of the swamp again.
Here, by now resigned and
disheartened, she looks out over the expanse of muddy marsh, in order to let
her sight space out into wider and ampler extensions. However, she spots two
damned spirits that are staggering out of the muck in which they were immersed and,
with awkward and sluggish movements, are headed into her direction, stretching
their arms out and bellowing. She turns to her right-hand side to move off, but
she sights three other spirits that are coming on toward her, as one of them
grits his teeth, and the other one giggles. She switches direction again, and
she dashes to the left, to try to find some cover.
The
Erinyes and Medusa:
Again,
the Erinyes appear flying in the dense and uneven air,
slowly approaching and observing the situation:
-- “Oh,
look who’s here! In a way, I was expecting and waiting for the little snotty
fairy to come along through here again!”, one of the three sisters comments to
the others, articulating her mouth slowly and ostentatiously, in pronouncing
every word. They all three have a savage and threatening aspect, and as soon as
Lazra catches sight of them, she runs off promptly, and she goes about
crouching down and seeking shelter.
--
“Hi! Hi! He! Ha!! Ha!!!”, another one of them laughs loudly, amused to see what
effect is caused by their presence.
Not
that Lazra manages to notice effective shelters at hand, and she runs behind
the shoulders of some damned spirits of the place, who, among other things, are
all but favourable and helpful to her, and the Erinyes themselves giggle and
sneer:
--
“It surely won’t be incorporeal spirits that will cover you, darling! Don’t
worry, though, because you sure can touch us instead!”, Tisiphone remarks to
her, slowly moving forward ahead of the others. All three of them, however, are
splitting up, from being close together as they first came along, and they
arrange themselves so as to draw nearer from different directions, while Lazra
is frantic, and looking around with terror to think up what to do.
Now,
the gorgon Medusa also advances in sight from behind the sisters, soaring in
the air herself, with live and wiggling snakes as her head of hair and, as the
Erinyes, with a few also wrapped around her body, which have most likely
derived from her head. Both she and the three sisters are of corporeal size and
proportions similar to those of the terrestrials or the gaiasis, and Medusa is
carried along by the spirit of a filthy animal, with wings and scales, a sort
of tailed dragon approximately as big as half her own figure, and uttering horrifying
noises and expressions.
--
“Insolent and simpering young woman!”, the gorgon breaks out with a hoarse and
cavernous voice, “now you will learn to venture through these dark places, to
go picking up cute young men, as if the ones that are by nature still living in
the earthly world weren’t already enough for you!”
The
gorgon is moving forward, she pulls up alongside the Erinyes, and she slowly
passes ahead. Tisiphone replies:
--
“She wanted to turn a statue of such pretty looks into a body of flesh and
blood for her own delights, the hottie-one”.
--
“Yes”, Medusa resumes. “Just like Pygmalion with his ivory girlie, but Venus is
not here to fulfil your wishes, darling, and I can see to it, instead, that
your cheek is fairly rewarded by turning you into stone!! I wonder if the two
of you might be happy all the same together, huh?” In uttering these words, a
menacing twinkle lights up for a moment in her glassy eyes.
--
“Come on out and show your face, where are you running off to hide yourself,
you snot?”, Megaera adds in turn.
Lazra
runs and flees, first in a direction, then in another, always improvising in
terror, and in the indecision of what might possibly be more opportune for her
among the gorgon, the Erinyes, and the spirits from Dis themselves, who have
turned against her at the same time. She keeps clear in mind that first thing
she needs to avoid crossing her look with Medusa’s, or else she will turn right
away into stone, so with her head mainly turned down toward the sand of the
hellish bank, she searches for cover and a way out. While Medusa is moving
along in order to change her angulation and therefore be able to look her in
the eye, and the Erinyes let out wild yells and sometimes deafening hollers,
and the damned spirits are attempting to push her along and reduce her to no
refuge, Lazra finds herself having to choose between heading back to the gates
of Dis and seeking cover inside the city, or setting out toward the foul muddy
liquid of the Styx swamp. She finally opts for the latter alternative.
In the swamp:
Lazra rushes breathlessly
toward the shore and, after a moment’s hesitation, she steps forth into the
liquid of uneven consistency and density. It evidently isn’t a homogeneous and
uniform substance, but it seems to her that something slimy, creepy and of
various consistency is immersed and not dissolved in it, and it also feels to
her very cold at one moment, and very hot the moment after, and then less, and
then more again. Desperate and panting from the terror, she moves on forward
with little hops into the sludge, where the substance gets rapidly deeper. She
feels it freezing, and next boiling hot, and so it is, at the same time, for
various parts of her body, at different depths. She cannot even breathe well
anymore, and she realizes that the liquid sticks to her, and it soaks through
her clothes and skin. All of a sudden, as she is advancing, she perceives some
presences under the surface, and she soon understands that it is damned souls
immersed in the muck of the swamp. A few of them also become aware of her
presence, as they’re churning in the dense filth they get a glimpse of her, and
awkwardly and slowly they struggle to push along and move into her direction.
They stretch out their arms, and there are two or three that are thrusting the
closest to her, although others have seen her and they are getting curious. It
seems that their intention is to invade her, possess her, turning her into a
part of the swamp itself, along with them, in the never-ending drift along the
flow of the sludge. Although they can’t touch her with their bodies, Lazra
becomes conscious of how concrete those presences are, as they get to affect
her, to act upon her spirit, her soul, through sensations, emotions and
feelings. She perceives how she might be impelled into a direction or a motion
by an impulse of the soul, by a sensation, or a passion that grabs her inside.
She rebels decisively against such aggressions, with screams and jerks, trying
with all her might to get back in control of herself and find balance, but
suddenly she sees and feels two other spirits, which sprawl over her with their
presences, making her collapse and immerge completely in the foul sludge. Lazra
flings her body about forcefully, from one side to the other, letting out
desperate yells inside the dark substance that is embracing her, and
subsequently, with yanks and immense efforts, she emerges again, pulling away
from the violent assaults, and she finally manages to break free and recover
some control over her spirit, at a moment when the damned ones drift back and
disappear into the swamp, fading away off shore. She dashes out of there, then,
trembling hard with terror and coughing, and she heads for the shore again.
Medusa up closer:
Despite the fact that Lazra
is emerging back from entirely blind and obscure depths, the surrounding
environment is constantly gloomy and dark, the glimmers that one may perceive
come from inside the city of
Lazra runs hopping along, and
she gets all the way out of the marsh. She immediately sees to it that she does
not go back exactly where she was before, but she tilts the direction aside so
as to also find a break, however she can, from the dangers of before. She then
slows down the run, and she begins walking in circles, diminishing speed and
occasionally stopping to catch her breath, feeling exhausted and drenched, in
her skin and her hair, with the dirt of the swamp.
Megaera and Tisiphone,
however, draw nearer from above, parallel and one at a short distance from the
other:
-- “Alright, we have waited
long enough for the most fun moment!”, Megaera announces with a grin, giving
her companion an excited look.
Next, they swoop hurling down
at her with no hesitation, both at the same time. They grasp her by the arms,
one on each side, and they lift her up in the air, like the prey of a voracious
bird, as she kicks her legs around, she uselessly tosses and turns in the open
space that becomes more dense and fetid as they lift upward.
-- “Stay calm, we’re going
for a ride!”, Tisiphone enjoins into her ear, with a slow and menacing tone of
voice.
As a priority, Lazra keeps in
mind that she must not look at Medusa, so she turns her head with quick jerks
first to one side, then to another, to get an idea of where the gorgon is and
where she is moving. She hears her hollers and her laughter, even before seeing
her:
-- “Hi! Hi! Look who’s here!
I almost thought that you’d decided to go away and leave us alone!”
Lazra recognizes the
cavernous voice, and she vehemently bends her head downward, pressing her chin
against her chest and squeezing her eyes. Next, she turns her head to one side
again, yanking hard at the Furies’ grip, and Medusa appears right in front of
her, rising up from below, and she gets closer and closer to her, slowly and
relentlessly, glaring her straight in the face.
-- “Hi! Hi! Hi!!”, she
giggles hoarsely.
Keeping her eyes closed,
Lazra turns her head to her left-hand side, above her shoulder, with such a
forceful jerk that she almost sprains the bones of her arms, her shoulders and
neck. Still moving slowly, giggling cavernously, and parting her lips into a
ghastly and dreadful grin, Medusa draws her face up even closer to the girl’s
right cheek, until she smells it, and while some snakes slide down Lazra’s hair
and they slither over her body, Medusa sticks her tongue out of her mouth,
wiggling it rapidly, and she gives her a long and slimy lick along the side of
her face, and drags it up to wet her right eyelid.
Michelangelo,
along with the soul of the statue:
At
that moment, not far from over there, the gates of the city of Dis open up,
from being closed as they were, and in a blaze that lights up a vast part of
the entrance and the shore in front of it, the spirit of Michelangelo
Buonarroti appears, the artist author of the original sculpture of David,
accompanied by the soul of its copy Dayéd, that Lazra left a little while ago
inside Dis. They move forward on the sand of the bank, placidly and
unperturbed, with the wise awareness of an unavoidable destiny, in the midst of
the damned spirits who were attending the scene, and who are now staggered and
bewildered. They walk in the direction of Lazra, Medusa and the three sisters,
and raising his look toward them, with a firm and forceful voice, Michelangelo
enjoins the Erinyes:
--
“Let the young terrestrial go immediately! Back off and don’t ever bother her
again for any reasons, because she’s been granted grace, and it is wanted so by
the sky.”
He
then turns toward Medusa, :
--
“Have you heard? Get away right now, and don’t ever get near her again! She
must continue her route.”
Next,
he turns toward the damned souls that were surging onto Lazra, but they have
already quieted down by themselves and have for the most part scattered around,
recognizing the inevitability of a divine will.
Lazra,
in the meantime, has abruptly tumbled down into the sludge of the swamp again,
in its shallow part right by the bank, and trembling and terrorized, from the
experiences that she’s just been through, she is standing up again and
gathering herself together. She gradually recovers as Michelangelo and Dayéd
get nearer with discretion, and so she reunites with her companions of a short
time before. The spirit of the artist then addresses her:
--
“Lazra, I‘ve been called upon by a celestial spirit to bring you and Dayéd
assistance and therefore allow you to proceed.”
Lazra
is wide-eyed and in disbelief, her mouth is hung half-open with the
bewilderment, and she gives a puzzled look to the soul of the statue right
beside. The artist continues:
--
“By virtue of the spirit of generosity and sacrifice of which Dayéd has given
proof, not only with you, Lazra, but in favour of all your fellowmen who would
get to benefit from the realization of your efforts, he has been granted the
divine grace to go on, and to get back from the realm of the souls to the mortal
world, as was planned by the previous promises.”
Lazra
stares at Dayéd, astounded and bewildered, and the soul recounts to her:
--
“I was no longer hoping to see you nor any place not only of the worldly life,
but even outside of the walls of Dis. At a certain point, right there where I
was standing, I saw the shining spirit of Michelangelo come along, who was
making a bright day in the dark of the eternal night, and he told me to follow
him. So I started walking after him, and we then came to you.”
Lazra
opens up her mouth wide, in an impulse of joy and enthusiasm, without however
being able to express and sustain all that she is getting to feel after these
new emotions, and she simply hangs her head down, and barely lets out a
liberating weep, jerking between her shoulders.
Since
Michelangelo and Dayéd’s arrival, the three have been left completely alone by
the damned spirits that were previously crowding around the threshold of the
city of
Across
the
After
taking leave of the spirit of Michelangelo, Lazra and Dayéd head off across the
shore, toward the skiff of Phlegyas, that in the meanwhile has just arrived
with a load of damned spirits just evaluated and judged by Minos, and destined
into the city of
As
they are getting ready to climb on board, Dayéd asks her, with a fearful and
faint voice:
--
“Have you kept track of how long we have left in order to leave and get back?”
She
half smiles, without looking straight at him, and lowering her eyes she answers
him:
--
“The period is running out now, if it isn’t all up already. And to tell the truth,”
she adds with a hint of laughter, “I feel that my strength is now and then
falling short, and it must not be just from the exertion of before.”
--
“But it’ll still take some time to get to where we started…”, he observes with
apprehension and grief.
Lazra
looks him in the eye, and with a warm and merciful smile she tells him:
--
“Don’t worry about it, never mind. This has already been taken into account for
a while…”
They
start out on the crossing, the craft is empty except for the conductor himself,
and during the first stretch Dayéd and Lazra lean against the edges and take
the opportunity to relax somewhat, while she feels that her strength is
dwindling away, and at certain moments she has the impression of losing her
senses. The spirit of the sculpture, instead, is gradually acquiring
corporeality and sensitivity, turning from the immaterial soul that he was into
a man of flesh, bones and blood.
Then
something occurs that neither one of the two would have expected, nor Phlegyas
himself: a damned spirit immersed in the muck of the swamp seems to be
particularly mindful of the boat and its passengers, and after observing Lazra
and noticing that she is still in her bodily life, he addresses her with grunts
and expressions which in the first place sound incomprehensible for both her
and Dayéd. After a while, however, they recognize some meanings to them:
--
“…who are you? What you want? What you do here?...”, the fellow asks with
brusque and threatening tones. The passengers stare at him with attention and
prudence, but they reply nothing in return. Then the damned one carries on,
approaching further:
--
“..nobody…no-one…nobody goes back this way, on Phlegyas’ boat…you only go that
way”, and he indicates the direction toward the city of
--
“Who are you? Who do you think you are, to be doing as you wish?”
Afterwards,
he gets yet closer to the craft, he grasps the edge with his hands, he yanks
himself up onto it, and in one movement he awkwardly flings himself at Lazra ,
reaching out to get a hold of her. She screams, although her reflexes and her
strength are sapping, and she plunges backwards, groping for cover, and Dayéd
also reacts to defend her.
--
“Noo-ooh!!!”, he yells out, and he dashes towards her, taking hold of the
damned spirit by the arms, to set her free. He achieves that: the sprit gets
warded off, while Lazra is bounced back by the hit with the physicality that
the soul of the statue is acquiring more and more, and she tumbles down to the
floor of the skiff. In the current phase of assuming his corporeality, Dayéd
begins little by little to have some physical, fleshy contacts, at the same
time gradually reducing the direct contact with the souls.
The
damned one remains clasped onto Dayéd, and indeed, now another damned soul
climbs up against the boatside exactly as the first one did, taking advantage
of the bustle, and he latches onto the passenger together with his companion.
Dayéd hesitates now, he glances over at Lazra who is free and sitting a few
steps away, she is not in danger and he, in his turn, cares more about abiding
by the precept than struggling for his own safety. He therefore remains
defenceless and passive to the yanks and attacks from the damned spirits, but
when the first one that climbed onto the edge suddenly jumps all the way on
board, and he addresses his attention to Lazra once more, turning to get back
at her, Dayéd reacts again, and he hurls himself toward her. In order to
protect her this time, he ought to hit the damned one who is immaterially
assaulting her, and throw him back into the sludge. After grasping hold of his
arm, Dayéd gathers his thoughts and concentration, to consider and decide, and
Lazra realizes this with dismay. As the damned soul is turning toward her, the
girl is mostly worried about what Dayéd might do, coming short of the
commitment. The soul of the statue then decides instinctively, charging his arm
back to strike a punch. She lets out a cry of despair and anguish and she
faintly flings herself to stop Dayéd’s arm, which is by now in motion and
delivers the blow. Lazra gets stricken, absorbing the whole impact upon
herself, and she falls unconsciously to the floor of the boat.
--
“Noo!”, Dayéd cries out with tearing pain, and he
crouches down toward her, despairing of his gesture.
It is
now up to Phlegyas, the oarman of the Styx marsh, to step in, as fate has
planned and disposed, and with his oar he strikes the damned spirit
clandestinely on board the skiff, and the other one sprawled over its edge, and
he hurls them both back into the sludge of the swamp, where they‘ve been
destined for ever.
Lazra
is pale and unconscious, Dayéd tries to accommodate her the best that he can,
with her legs slightly propped up, and her bust resting against the side of the
boat; he’s feeling as if he doesn’t fully realize the situation, or what needs
to be done. He takes a look around, glances at Lazra, trying to reflect, and he
despairs, bending down towards her, with groans of discomfort and rage at the
same time, tormented by the sense of guilt about what he has done.
On the way out:
When the crossing of the
-- “Oh, my God! Until a short
time ago the two of us could not even touch each other, and now what have I
done?” He addresses a prolonged moan to the sky, with his eyes squeezed and his
hands clenched together, and then he bends over on himself.
It seems to him that her
color is turning more and more pallid, and her breathing is dying away. He then
grabs her arms and pulls her to himself, shaking her with desperation, and he
screams to her:
-- “Recover yourself! Open
your eyes! We’re almost there!”
All of a sudden, Dayéd catches sight of the spirit of Erì-thong, the
wise hermit, who appears standing on the shore at a brief distance from him,
with a fleeting aspect which comes and goes, and is barely perceptible. His
expressions is benevolent and warm-hearted, and with a voice that sounds to
Dayéd low and deep, as if it permeated the whole environment, he urges him:
-- “…Take Lazra with you…keep
going on your way…”
-- “What do you mean?!”,
Dayéd replies with distress. “She’s almost dead! She won’t answer anymore, she
doesn’t breathe, the period’s been up for a long time!! She is dead!!!”, he
shouts with anguish.
-- “…keep going on your
way…”, Erì-thong repeats with a placid voice, “…she has found grace from the
sky…” Now the spirit of the wise man vanishes into the air, and his voice
leaves off all reference of place and origin, and it resonates all around and
within Dayéd. “…she will come around three days from now…carry her with you.”
Dayéd is dazed, in disbelief,
he does not even react to the novelty: simply, with his mouth frozen and his
eyes wide open, he turns his look to where the spirit appeared a moment before,
and then to Lazra, lifeless on the ground. He hesitates for a few instants, but
then a practical sense of duty spurs him, and after taking hold of Lazra in his
arms, he stands up and he sets off to pick up his path again.
He can no longer see the
damned spirits ready to be embarked by Phlegyas, although in a feeble and
fleeting way he still can hear some shouts, yells, noises as before, which are
however progressively fading away. He walks on without minding that much
anymore, and after a few steps, almost without him fully being aware of it, the
environment of hell as it appeared to him a little while ago, vanishes and
turns into a forest with vegetation, plants of different kinds and trees, which
are little by little thinning out. Lazra is still unconscious and motionless in
his arms, but he is not very concerned about that, as he passes with discreet
steps the last lines of trees and he glimpses ahead of him the initial morning
glow that is just now reaching out its first dense rays over the horizon.
Return to the mortal life…:
Dayéd descends from the plain
of the valley of the Soles into the ampler and wide open low land that one may
cross on the way to the built-up area, and on the verge of it, in the proximity
of one of the lanes that Lazra herself has been in the habit of frequenting, he
meets three Interplanetary Guardians, Gus-par and Yu’ko, the girl’s two
confidential friends, together with a third companion of the Order, who are at
the moment walking across those natural sites. Immediately, Lazra and Dayéd get
conducted to a service-center of the Order, in which there is also a first-aid
infirmary, and she is admitted into it under observation, whereas he undergoes
a general check-up.
Lazra is in bed, in an
admission room of the intensive care unit at the service-center of the Order,
she is still unconscious, and is under constant observation. Gus-par and Yu’ko
are inside the room as well, standing one next to the other, discreetly off to
one side from the bed, in the vicinity of the entrance. They are watching her
with anxiety but trustfully, as Gahk walks into the room from outside.
-- “She is not in danger”,
Yu’ko relates to Gahk, to inform him about the situation, “she is gradually
recovering liveliness, and shortly she ought to be coming to her senses again,
maybe in a few days…”
-- “But what is it with
her?”, Gahk asks . “What has happened?”
Gus-par answers him:
-- “When we found her
yesterday, she was extremely weak, her vital sings were very faint and
irregular, and nevertheless they were gradually recovering, as if they had just
started functioning again from an actual state of death. By the way that she
appeared to us in the first place, actually, up to this moment she has gotten
better in an amazing manner.”
-- “Nobody has quite
understood yet what has occurred to her”, Yu’ko continues then, “the fellow
that was with her when we met her, although in general he is doing fairly
alright, seems somewhat vague and hazy about what has happened, as if he
himself was feeling confused over it…”
-- “However it is…”, Gahk
comments observing the girl, “if she is out of danger and she is recovering,
this is already good enough, I would say…”
The other two Guardians nod
slowly, agreeing with his words.
As if at a certain point she
had decided that she’s rested enough, Lazra opens her eyes in the most
spontaneous and natural way. By the side of the bed she recognizes her two
friends Gus-par and Yu’ko, at whose sight she weakly stretches her lips into a
smile.
-- “Ehi, there! Good morning!”,
Gus-par exclaims in her direction, bending toward her. “So, did you finally
sleep well? Did you rest alright?”
The girl nods half-closing
her eyes. After a moment she slowly rubs them, and then, looking at the two
Guardians, she asks:
-- “…Dayéd…?”
-- “He is doing well”,
Gus-par answers her. “He is keeping company with a few Guadians, and he is
staying with them for now, later on we’ll see. He has taken a medical check-up
in here, in the past three days, and he’s turned out to be in good shape.”
-- “Afterwards we’ll see how
to start telling others that Dayéd is here!...”, Yu’ko observes with a joking
air.
-- “That’ll be something to
think about!...”, Gus-par comments.
Lazra smiles with her eyes
almost closed.
Gus-par draws closer to her,
beside the bed, and he recommends in a low voice:
-- “We don’t know much about
what happened, up until now we haven’t been able to gather information to
understand a lot, but if you need something, or if there is any need, let us
know, ok? These Guardians are available: use them!”
Lazra smiles again, sweetly
and gratefully.
…and first encounters:
Lazra is at the moment
immersed in the beloved natural environment that she has often been to, either
by herself or in company, before her recent experience, and she is standing
near the two companions of a short while ago, Gus-par and Yu’ko, on the edge of
a vast and flourishing meadow.
-- “This place is a wonder!”,
she comments with an ample and joyful smile. “Maybe I feel attached to it from
the habit of coming here so often, and this is not right, I ought to be
independent and detached from places, but it certainly is a magnificent
setting.”
The Guadians smile. The three
start walking along a path and she continues:
-- “I happened to think about
Erì-thong. How is he? Have you seen him lately? I’d like to meet him…”
Yu’ko, who is walking beside
her and at this moment is the closer to her, gives her a look, then he turns to
look down again at the path where he is setting his feet, and he communicates to
her:
-- “Erì-thong is dead.”
Lazra turns her head abruptly
towards him, with a surprised and questioning expression, uncertain about what
he might mean, whether he is speaking seriously, and with a hint of a smile
still on her lips.
-- “He died seven days ago”,
he carries on, after taking another look at her in confirmation, “at night. It
seems that it was due to a sudden, fatal stroke. He was at his place.”
Lazra becomes more aware now,
and a little at a time her expression turns serious and distressed. The
amazement, for the time being, still softens the sharpness of sorrow.
-- “Seven days ago?...”, she
exclaims almost in disbelief. “But it must have been the day after I went to
his home!...”, she continues to reflect by herself, and then she gives Gus-par
and Yu’ko an abrupt look, as if following a sudden realization. Her soul has
reached a new awareness, but it is also pervaded by sadness and pain.
Lazra, Gus-par and Yu’ko are
then reached by Gahk and two sisters of the girl’s, who were present on the
night at the public hall from which Lazra suddenly ran away.
-- “Lazra!”, both her sisters
yell out walking up towards her, smiling and with a genuine enthusiasm about
seeing her again. “Where were you?” one of the two inquires. “Oh, well, it’s
true that for three days we were gone with Pop as well, and finally only Mom
was home and she says she hasn’t heard news from you for days. She was a little
concerned, although you know that she trusts you very much.”
-- “More than me for
sure!...”, comments the other one smiling ironically. “We went away for three
days and she kept on saying to Pop: ‘Make sure they do this, and they get that,
and be careful about this yet…’ Gosh! Just like with some dim-wits!”
Lazra smiles, and then
replies:
-- “If she had known in
advance that I would be gone, she would have done the same with me too!...”
-- “Yes, she often does
that!”, the first one comments, while all three of them laugh and smile. Lazra
observes her sisters sincerely friendly and well-disposed between them and
toward her, and she is at first a little amazed, although she can’t but be glad
about that, and she cares about being good-natured in return.
-- “Raski says hi”, the
second sister goes on. “He was doing some work that Pop asked him for.”
Lazra nods.
-- “Let’s hope for the
best!”, the other one intervenes amused. “He said that it’s an experiment that
he’s never tried before”.
-- “Oh, yes, come on!”, the
first one replies to her. “He said that just to safeguard himself, so that
nobody’s expecting anything special! In that respect, he is kind of smart about
it, but truthfully he got seriously committed.”
-- “Pop says hi too”, the
other one reports looking at Lazra. “I saw him while we were on our way over
here”.
-- “Thanks”, replies the
terrestrial girl.
The two Guardians are present
at the meeting, although slightly off to one side, and they have listened
silently up to this moment, without interrupting the conversation. At this
point they pleasantly get close to Lazra, and Gus-par interjects:
-- “I’m sorry to interrupt
you. Lazra, we ought to get going now, it’s about all set, and we don’t have
very much time…”
-- “Yes!...”, she replies
readily. “We have to run!”, she informs her sisters. “We’ll see you. Say hi to
Raski and Pop too, please, if I don’t see them first…”
They all say good-bye to each
other and they head off, Lazra and the Guardians in one way and her sisters in
another, each following their path.
FROM PAINTINGS TO VIDEOS
HOMEPAGE