The Rainbow Bridge and the Shadow of the Serpent: The Rainbow Bridge and the Shadow of the Serpent

by Sergio Pereira

  From time to time, bloody rituals, involving the sacrifice of animals or humans from any of the kingdoms in the universe not yet evolved, painted those symbols. It was the spilt blood of innocents that kept those colours alive.

  As Violet’s and Stefanie’s eyes adapted to that atmosphere, they noticed that the same symbols were also etched and drawn, on many rocks on the walls.

  Their rotation was in the direction contrary to the natural and preponderant direction of rotation of the heavenly bodies in the universe. They represented and invoked involution. They resembled the Nazi Swastika.

  The three friends were terrified. The waters of the great lake churned. They were like a choppy sea, full of small conflicting undulations. After this sudden movement, they heard a deafening crash. The waters separated and divided into two halves.

  Two endless, bottomless walls, made from the lake waters, separated the two halves. The space between them was increasing, while an extremely macabre symphony invaded the place. It had been composed by beings that knew a lot about the dark power of magic that music can have. Listening to it for a long time was a guarantee of sickness of the spirit and heart. Violet’s and Stefanie’s hearts felt a sharp oppression at once, as if a tourniquet was compressing them.

  - Rub the towel. Rub your chest with the towel. They always help. They still have a little of the moon magic of romantic hearts. – the Girl of Clouds muttered. She was obeyed by both of them. Relief was immediate. Now the space between the waters was even greater and from it ten dragons with heads like a pig’s crossed with a wild boar’s appeared, flying in circles and gaining altitude in order to leave the lake.

  They came from deep down. They came from another dimension to which the bottom of the lake was connected. As soon as they emerged from that almost foetid black hole, they flew reconnaissance and patrol circles through the great chamber.

  The three girls were so still, lying down in their pure white clothes, that they were indistinguishable from the stone slab. The dragons landed in sentinel position around the altar and the throne. The symphony thundered and an even bigger dragon emerged from the depths of the lake. Its body was brown, but its long, thick neck of more or less eight metres, was covered in red, protruding warts.

  The neck ended in three heads. One was like a king vulture; the second had the same form as a hyena’s jaws, with a bushy moustache; the third was even more frightening, large and identical to the African snake, the black mamba, known as the Black Death. It was green and inside its mouth was totally black. Its long, three-forked red tongue could sniff out odours from kilometres away.

  Riding this practically indestructible monster came the Fairy Queen of the Forces of Oppressive Music herself. The dragon landed. She jumped off its back lithely, arranged her hair and went towards the throne.

  - Where is that incompetent fairy? Ahah!. Late as usual....here she comes!

  From far away, and also from the depths of the lake, two circular beds, already familiar to all of us, appeared. As usual, they brought the Fairy Queen of Easy Fame in her most splendid and seductive form. As this Fairy Queen had not dispensed with the services of her rats, but didn’t allow them onto her bed, this time four dozen of them were in a kind of floating metal skip, pulled by a thick rope tied to the second bed.

  As soon as the two beds and skip emerged from the lake, the rats promptly jumped out, positioned themselves and carried the two beds, halting in front of the Tyrant Fairy Queen’s throne. It was not out of respect, but out of pure, hair-raising fear that they honoured her.

  - Late, as usual! This excessive vanity of yours is killing you.

  - A lot of work. I was busy.

  - But what unutterable shame! To be deceived by a child in your own theatre.

  - It was a trick. That brat had help. It was sheer trickery.

  - That’s enough! I don’t want to hear any more excuses. I don’t have time. Let’s get down to the business in hand.

  - Will you allow me just one small observation, then? Why spend so much effort on these insignificant operas? They’re practically ours.

  Hearing that, hidden high above, the Girl of the Clouds scowled. Soon afterwards, a tear slid down her face. The diabolical dialogue continued:

  - Immature, young Fairy, your millennia haven’t taught you anything yet. Do you by chance not know that just one of them could eventually, like a spark, awaken the desire to be happy, a spark of the sublime, in people?

  - That’s not correct. They’re defeated.

  - Never underestimate the enemy. Annihilate them with everything you can. They are a plague that we must contain. Only our allies should move between ears and minds in the Blue Kingdom.

  - But we’re winning. We’ve already dominated most radio and TV stations. We also have many corrupt judges and politicians. The political fanaticism that leads reason to blindness is a reality. Drugs are becoming more and more present. The last century was ours and this century will definitely be ours, even more so.

  - An entire millennium is very little to me! Let us impose eternal darkness. Only this way can I rest. Fool, don’t you know that this is done mind by mind, city by city, nation by nation? No enlightening song or symphony can exist any longer on Earth. Prison for all of them!

  - Don’t you think we’re spending too much time on these here?

  - Not at all. They have not been entirely annihilated. If I come every lunar cycle, it’s because there is still work to be done.

  The Tyrant Fairy Queen got her whip and cracked it across the back of the first rat she spotted. The moment it jumped in pain, she wielded the whip again. The poor rat was entangled in the whip and thrown at the three heads of her dragon. They tore it into pieces and swallowed it.

  - They need to eat.

  - But does it have to be one of mine?

  - Shut up and let us proceed. Where is the pianola?

  CHAPTER XIV

  MEDUSA’S EYE AND HONOUR

  The Tyrant Fairy Queen cracked her whip once more and one of the great stalactites in the centre of the ceiling became more luminous.

  The rats fled to the darkest corner. Up against a rock, stood an old pianola. Its dimensions were like those of a removals lorry. A name was written on the front in the hieroglyphics of a language that doesn’t exist in the Kingdom of the Blue Earth. However, if they were translated, the nearest we could get to its meaning would be “Master Pianola of the Curse of Despair”.

  The rats put all their effort into pushing it to the determined place for the ritual, in front of the altar. Then, the Tyrant Fairy Queen stood up and invoked one of her magic powers. The Pianola awakened. Luckily for everyone, it didn’t emit smoke, as the others in the Kingdom of the Seven Moons did. Strangely, the sonority could be altered. Sometimes it sounded like a piano. Then a harpsichord. And, now and again, like an organ. There must have been multiple ingenious internal mechanisms to perform such a feat. It served just one mistress, who commanded it with each crack of her whip.

  Its music was sinister and had been composed not to affect human minds, but to infect and sicken healthy operas and music that did not serve the interests of the Forces of Oppressive Music.

  The virus that the Pianola of the Curse of Despair was inoculating in the poor operas was of the worst kind. It was that of hopelessness. Once inoculated, and, if successful in installing an infection, it would attack the vital purpose of the existence of the unfortunate opera and the work would walk one step at a time towards the lack of will to live. If it finally gave up its mission, the opera would die. To prevent its musical spirit from returning to the great ocean, mother and father sources of all music, the Fairy Queen of the Forces of Oppressive Music exerted and at the same time exercised one of her most perverse magic powers. While the Pianola deprived all of hope, another symphony in counterpoint promoted forgetfulness and a macabre metamorphosis. Operas and their characters were impregnated with a penetrating, depressing sadness. Little by little, they were transformed into porous stones, a
bsorbed by the walls of that kingdom forged in the centre of the earth.

  The more forgotten or partially forgotten operas were seduced and imprisoned there, later to be transformed into spongy stone, the more that sub-kingdom expanded and the more its chambers grew, cracking and penetrating the entrails of the Kingdom of the Seven Moons. This was also the reason for so much sadness residing there. It was why the waters, which slipped through the splits and cracks in the rocks, were so impregnated with unhappiness that no positive sentiment was admitted there.

  That sub-kingdom and everything it represented or that emanated from it were part of yet another diabolical, well-conceived plan devised by the Tyrant Fairy Queen. She achieved two objectives. She was smothering the existence of her enemies and, on top of that, had planted a malignant tumour in the Kingdom of the Seven Moons. If this tumour were to grow as planned, it would shake the power of the Fairy Queen of Occidental Music and her Castle would collapse into eternal unhappiness.

  - I refuse. I refuse. I refuse. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. I refuse. I refuse. I refuse.

  The Girl of the Clouds began to repeat these words to herself. She was chanting in a low voice as if they were a mantra of protection. Even so, she was going pale. Meanwhile, a crowd of shapes was attracted to the great chamber. They appeared from all the tunnels and from every side. They were characters and also the spirits of many forgotten, or almost forgotten operas. They were walking and their expressions were of the most acute sadness.

  The music orchestrated by the Tyrant Fairy in counterpoint with that executed by the Pianola was producing its effects in different tempos and intensity.

  Violet was not familiar with any of the operas or their characters either, but she was really impressed by the quantity and diversity of types. Some of them were sitting down, drained of colour. Others, already the colour of the rocks, were hardening and petrifying; in other words, they were turning into statues. As soon as this happened, the Tyrant Fairy cracked her whip on the poor statue, which, at the same moment, shattered into pieces. A small tornado then appeared, and dragged and propelled the pieces that one day had been a spirit of living opera, or even some of its characters, to become part of the cave walls.

  In this situation a wail was always heard, like the crying of a child – as the walls widened and expanded their limits to receive and imprison one more opera.

  Violet was able to understand a little of the logic of the perverse magic that reigned there. She realized the need to act quickly or her friend Stefanie would not survive. She had to be diligent and speedy or the sweet Girl of the Clouds would be one of the next victims. She couldn’t get her last dream – in the circus of horrors – out of her mind.

  She took off the towel made of moon threads and wrapped it around the Girl of the Cloud’s head, covering part of her body, head and ears. The effect was immediate.

  - Thank you. That was a great idea. But what about you? You’ll freeze like that.

  -Let’s tear off part of the towel – said Violet.

  - Yes, I just need to protect my ears. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. What an idiot I am. Yes indeed, humans are really incredible and creative.

  It was the Girl of the Clouds herself who tore two strips off the towel. She gave the rest back to Violet and, quickly wrapped the strips around her head, covering her ears.

  It was a brilliant manoeuvre, but it came at a price. They had made more noise than was prudent and had attracted the attention of a sniffer mole positioned by the tunnel exit that led to where they were. The animal, the size of a wild boar, weighed some one hundred and twenty kilos.

  - My God!

  That tenacious mole had been on their trail for some time. It could sniff out good feelings, as well as other odours of all types.

  Without putting her infected foot on the ground, Stefanie dragged herself back and shrank behind Violet and the Girl of the Clouds. The three of them huddled together, embracing. They were paralysed with fear.

  - My God!

  Trammmmmm!

  The mole received such a wallop on its hind end that it slipped over the edge of the slab and rolled twenty metres down, ending up in the lake which, because of the effect of the music at that moment, had become sulphurous. It died in agony, eaten alive by the now acidic waters.

  - We have to get out of here soon.

  The three friends were terrified. Before them, an unknown faun, who seconds before had head butted the giant mole with all its strength, was standing and handing a backpack to Violet.

  - Forgive me for not speaking to you from the outset. If you knew how regret burns...There is no more painful fire.

  Violet was the first to speak, but with not one drop of confidence.

  - Hello. Who are you?

  - Take this, it belongs to you and was delivered to me for an honourable mission. I hope I haven’t caused all to be lost.

  She didn’t dare take the completely soaked backpack from the faun’s hand. The clothes inside were in the same condition. But what neither Violet nor Stefanie had realised was that there was a false bottom well-hidden inside.

  The faun opened the backpack. He put his human hand and arm inside and pulled out the false bottom. From there he took a fine gold chain, with a tiny tuning fork as a pendant.

  - If you will allow me, I should have introduced myself and done this a long time ago on the beach.

  He placed the gold chain around Violet’s neck. She, like the other two, looked at him in amazement, saying not a word.

  - The Fairy Queen told me you would know what to do when the time was right.

  - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Intruders!

  The whiplash was strong. The end of the whip cracked at the base of the slab where Violet, Stefanie, the Girl of the Clouds and the recently arrived and presented faun now stood.

  The slab cracked and collapsed. The faun had enough time to grab Violet and Stefanie. He held them against his breast and allowed himself to fall on his back, thus suffering most of the impact himself and protecting them.

  The Girl of the Clouds, being a creature of the clouds, knew how to fall without suffering a scratch.

  Luckily, they didn’t fall into the lake, as the mole had done. Part of the faun’s neck and head were bleeding considerably.

  On the ground, he pronounced his last words

  - Forgive me. She said you would know what to do. Now I can leave. I can die with honour.

  His faun’s eyes closed, never to reopen.

  CHAPTER XV

  THE MISSION

  Outside, high above the stratosphere, a falling star streaked through the sky of the Kingdom of the Seven Moons.

  In the underground Kingdom of the Forgotten Operas, the eyes of the three girls saw a small luminous point passing through the ceiling. They knew nothing about that point coming from distant space, which had broken off from the falling star.

  What they saw was no novelty for Stefanie. It was the Fairy of Youth, who had appeared to her in a dream. The Fairy looked at the faun with angelic tenderness. Her butterfly wings fluttered slightly, creating a gentle breeze. Then, she put one of her hands behind the faun’s neck. She raised his head and said:

  - Well done! Mission accomplished. Come with me. Come to what you have wished for.

  Then, she laid his head back on the ground breathed over him. Part of her luminescence was transferred to that semi-human body. The Fairy looked up high and evoked music from the heavens. Her invocation passed through the rocks and the great cave was invaded with a symphony that was most improbable for that location.

  It was called “A Faun’s Spring” It is actually said that it was composed by the Maestro Maurice Debussy himself years after his departure from the Kingdom of the Blue Earth.

  What followed then was something rarely seen. The faun’s soul broke free of that bent and broken body. It was astonished, but very happy.

  The Tyrant Fairy Queen’s irritation was such that, without blinking, she cracked her whi
p over the Fairy of Youth and the Faun. As soon as the end of the whip touched them, the Fairy’s luminescence grew, forming a ball of light that enveloped her. The ball also gathered the body and soul of the Faun, Stefanie, the Girl with the German Piano and the Girls of the Clouds.

  The crash shook the foundations of the cave. The whip sparked. From the ball, a current made of electrons and photons ran up the whip, burning its owner’s hand. The Tyrant Fairy Queen was thrown backwards and just had time to scream:

  - Damn you!

  The ball of light began to disappear and the Fairy, along with the body and soul of the faun, started to vanish. With a smile and a wave, the Fairy bade them goodbye, addressing Violet directly:

  - You will know what to do.

  Now, as two points of light, they both left the field of vision, while the faun was taken to a far-off place where the Happy Kingdom of Eternal Youth was located.

  As soon as they disappeared, the atmosphere returned to being and having the immense discomfort of the corrosive sadnesses of the soul and mind.

  - My Lady! Did you hurt yourself?

  - Quiet, useless flatterer!

  - Oh! How terrible. Get up!

  - Enough! You really are good for nothing; why don’t you do something? – said the Tyrant Fairy Queen in irritation, composing herself while getting up. The rock she had crashed into was in bits. A shape with a strange clarity freed itself from the pieces and tried to escape from the cave with no entrance or exit.

  The Fairy Queen of Easy Fame ran back to her main bed and ordered from there:

  - Tear them to pieces. Spare no one! Get to work!

  Violet, Stefanie and the Girl of the Clouds found themselves surrounded. Shiny, pointed teeth flashed, while their owners slowly advanced. But the rats were not as confident as they appeared. Suspicious, they feared that some good magic was protecting their victims and would do something much worse to them than had happened to the Fairy Queen of the Oppressive Forces.