Chapter Text
Place:
xxx’s eternal theater /name pending/
Description:
The location of this particular building changes every time, and to be able to get inside you must be in possession of a “silverwing ticket”.
I obtained mine bartering with an old lady that claimed to have helped an angel a long time ago. That same angel gave her this ticket as a sort of compensation, and said that it would open the door to the most luxurious place she would have ever set foot on. She tried numerous times to use it but never succeeded, so she decided to barter it for a certain piece of equipment i acquired on an old desert planet.
I too had difficulties in using the ticket, but the answer came to me in a dream. I was in front of a vast building, surrounded by golden clouds, lights that could only be described as divine were floating all around. But in front of it a little booth, there was a skinny man, a bit old, a little emaciated on his face and who wore an elegant pair of silver glasses on his slender and refined nose.
The man said “one entry, one ticket, remember to reclaim your memories at the end of the visit”
After listening I gave him my ticket and I was instantly teleported by a swirling flurry of feathers and steam into a strange lounge.
The room was really large, there was a red carpet coming from a closed door that said “exit” into another that was clearly the entry to another room, all around this carpet were wooden shining tables and red velvet chairs, and near the left wall, a long counter filled with every kind of alcoholics one could imagine, some even extinct, people lost the art and techniques to make them, like the old champagne from the french region.
This counter was populated by a vast number of people? I can’t really describe them. They seemed like puppets, but everyone had an elegant demeanor and attitude, all wearing clothes that were of the utmost luxury and finesse, as if they were going to meet their boss’s boss.
I felt a lingering stare on my back but every time I watched behind me there was nothing except these people, but enough of that. After drinking more than i should have, i finally gathered the courage to enter the only other door, the “entry” one, a colossal door made of wood, gold, shiny silver and even glass, every element intertwining into flowers, wings, almost as if breathing with life, like notes in a music sheet coming together to form a powerful melody or an authoritative march.
After opening it, I remained there frozen for a good chunk of time.
There was a theater behind, or an opera hall? I don’t really remember the difference, and I feel that both of them would pale in shock if ever compared with whatever this place was.
I was standing currently on the first floor, something like a watching place for people that didn’t want to sit on the chairs in the audience zone for too long. It resembled a long road that encircled the whole theater, with metallic railings to let people use them for support. Everything was so carefully planned to ensure the best experience possible, it was stunning.
And down in the audience zone, rows and rows and rows of seats, they appeared so near that they looked like a sea of velvet fabric and gold islands, but actually when sitting in one of them you could feel all the space you would need to adjust your legs or arms, i feel that even the biggest of the giants could fit in there with no problems.
After making myself comfortable i looked before me, and here it was, a superb stage that went up in the sky, it looked to be touching the roof, as to make one perceive the hopeless distance that separates earth and heaven, mortals and the divine, yet you could clearly see the subjects present on the stage, it wasn’t really high, but the aura and emotions it exuded could make one’s scalp go numb, and it was what happened to me.
I felt my legs tremble and my eyes reddened when i pointed them at the center of the stage, a melody, a moving song came from there, a magical orchestra directed by an angel with twelve wings, dressed with light itself and adorned in black feathers, moving its wand like a part of his body, and it’s halo resembling a snake eating itself.
The crowd that was on the stage holding the various and mysterious musical instruments were so concentrated that they made me think they were machines for a split second, almost like controlled by a superior will…
But the spectacle didn’t even begin, it was all a prelude to what would happen, the lights went on, and i finally could appreciate the whole theater, rows and rows of greek columns carved into splendid marble, some with black and golden streaks, almost as if they were battling inside the stone marvel. The gold standing for the goodness and the elegance, while the black for the wickedness and corruption, even looking at these arches and carved masterpieces could tell me a story, it was entrancing.
And behind these round walls of columns and stories condensated, countless strings and threads coming from up high in the roof, moving and adjusting every single thing in the whole theater, they were everywhere, yet they were unnoticeable, if they didn't reveal themselves to me I would have never perceived them.
Up in the deep stage a figure emerged.
A colossal puppet covered by a glowing and egregious tattered cloth, it had golden ridges. The puppet was only made of a white porcelain mask with delicate yet austere figures. With a gentle but stern mouth with wine colored lips.
Its body is only composed of a sort of metallic ribcage, made of unknown alloys, all decorated with some necklaces and bracelets here and there, on everyone else they would have looked too much, too luxurious and too excessive. Yet on them they looked almost pious and humble, outshined by the holy radiance the whole construct emanated, and enhanced by the surrounding majestical and royal theater.
The puppet started to use their mechanical white and bronzed limbs to do multiple things at once. Unhurried but with a natural rhythm, at first they started playing the gigantic organ that was placed on the stage behind the orchestra, with its uncountable blinding tubes, gears, and white buttons.
The music that came from within its mechanical heart was indescribable, i felt like crying, like admiring from below all that humanity had ever created, feeling like an eternal architect that after finishing their hard life’s work were satisfied yet still burning with passion for the future, it was so fulfilling that my whole body was crying in its own ways.
But then.
A sharp note, an out of tone note, the orchestra chimed in, every instrument out of tempo and rhythm, every voice in the choir behind the red curtains screaming in agony, panic and anguish, as if watching a mother losing her son or a king falling from their throne after a life of goodness, only regrets and suffering.
Then silence.
It was a story of birth and death, a story of growth and exhaustion.
The song of life. The melody of the empires. The sheet of the apocalypse.
But Yet.
Everything was in its place. Countless violins, pianos, harps, and even singers started playing in unison, I felt their eyes, souls and sounds all fusing and forming the countless threads of before.
The puppet stopped moving and the cloth vanished, only to reveal an enormous eye overseeing everything, controlling and mastering the fine art of a sweet dew but determined blows.
The experience was enriching I must say, and my descriptions of the events aren’t fulfilling as I would want them to be, but sadly no mortals can really understand the divine, because if there's something I know, it is that fateful day I met a god. And they glanced at me. I still feel them every now and then, as if checking if one of their children is still behaving after a long time of separation.
I met them, and I must thank that old lady… maybe they knew what I would see there.
Still I must keep on wandering, for the space calls me and new experiences have to be witnessed.
***
Here in the file are some images of the place i managed to catch, i don’t know how, they were just on my desk the day after.
-a lost, but warm, space wanderer.