Hadrian's Wall (71 page)

I winced.

Later on came the representation of a god
named Loki. I looked in detail for that exotic figure: his
contemptuous attitude, challenging, he was crowned with a sneer. He
was dressed in green, various shades of green...much like a
Venetian harlequin, but not all the illustrations show him so...
so...soft.

(...)
Loki
was connected to fire, magic,
the betrayal, and all kinds of evil. He could be described as a
complex and Machiavellian creature, as he might be tilted to aid
someone in need of his help, as well as cause someone’s
downfall
. (...)
As a volatile
“
transmutable
”
he had fun fooling many gods and men.
(...)

(...)
Loki had three children:
Jormungand
,
Fenris
and
Hela
. While Jormungand took the form
of a dangerous snake, his brother, Fenris, was transformed into a
grotesque wolf. Hela, on the other hand, had powers almost as
complex as those of her father. For this reason, she would become
mistress of
Helheim
.
(...)
For
Christians
, Helheim had the meaning closer to
“hell”
in pagan culture, properly
indicating the address of sinners.
(...)
Helheim received the dead,
except for the brave warriors who died in combat. For them a piece
of heaven called
Valhalla
was reserved, to which they were conducted by the
hands of the
Valkyries
.

From what I understand,
every somber bore the mark of a curse or fate. (...)
As a serpent, Jormungand was destined to cover
the earth with his poison before biting off his own tail.
(...)
Hela found her
favorite weapons against civilization in the form of natural
disasters and her own human frailties. She was condemned to live
alone, as a hybrid: half beautiful woman, half rotting corpse. She
provoked horror in those who discovered the other side of her sad
character
.

So, Hela was the female version of Two Face
from Batman?

And the wolf...what
happened to him? One text mentioned something about persecution and
dispute. I had no patience to read the rest. My vision was
beginning to blur and my eyes felt grainy, as if there was sand in
them. For me, searching the Internet worked like a sleeping
pill.

I yawned once, twice, three times...but
still I resisted stopping. Stubbornly, I returned to the previous
page and located Greco-Roman mythology—the most referenced in
films, TV series, and comics.

I decided to click on the
Greek first. There were many names associated with somber
creatures; however, the god of darkness and shadows
par excellence
was
called Erebus, the son of Chaos.

Well...Chaos. That explains
everything, right? Wrong. Chaos had a different meaning to the
ancients—nothing to do with disturbance of order, breakdown, or
cosmic mess. For the Greeks, Chaos represented “the nothingness
from which everything derived.”

(...)
Erebus
has been confused with
Hades
, the famous lord
of the depths
. (...) In this section, came
a long list of gods related to his figure. With so many children,
brothers, and nephews, his family was almost an...institution. Just
like the
Corleones
or the
Sopranos
...o
r the Cahills
.

Dark gods? Gangsters? Oh
Jonathan and his ridiculous conversation about Giuseppe Valenciano
had activated my delirious and sleepy mind. I yawned again. Well, I
preferred the Mafia. In fact, anything was better than Count
Dracula and its toothy and bloody derivatives.

Definitely repulsive!

(...) I
n addition to personifying the darkness, Erebus was known as
one of the primordial gods.
(..) After
all, what does “primordial god” mean? Soon I saw a list of
primordial gods, but I don’t get it. Would “primordial” mean the
first gods of the pantheon?

Hmmm... Too complicated for my mind. I
clicked on the mouse and in the blink of an eye, I found myself
among the Roman gods. The majority had a correlation in Greek
mythology. Zeus becomes Jupiter, Aphrodite becomes Venus, Neptune
becomes Poseidon, Ares becomes Mars, and so on.

Among them, Mars seemed the
best example of a dark and turbulent god, since he commands the
wars. Indeed, the wars are his food and he takes almost obscene
pleasure of the bloodshed and atrocities committed during them. I
didn’t need to read more because I know him very well from the
ancient comics of
Wonder
Woman
.

Well, what else I could
expect after the violent and sexy god of war? Oh, yes...Bacchus.
The famous bacchanals derived from his name... The following text
mentioned something about them: (...)
The
bacchanals were secret parties, which became a controversial
fashion event in Rome. At first only women participated. The
bacchanals were surrounded by scandal, since women took the
opportunity to escape from the social and sexual control that was
charged to them by the rigid Roman society
.
(...)

A Renaissance painting showed the scene of a
banquet served by half-naked slaves, where languid ladies stretched
upon colorful cushions, drinking wine. Around them, men and women
were talking in an intimacy scene. Warm colors suggest passion; in
the background, two yellow eyes behind the mist hovered over the
subtle outline of a tall, athletic body. Would it be the shadow of
Bacchus, contemplating the party in his honor?

I clicked on the command bar and returned to
the home page, where there were several links. So I decided to take
a leap into the age of the pharaohs.

(...)
Known jackal-headed god, Anubis, was banished by Seth, when
Seth was discovered that he was not Anubis’ real father, but
actually Seth’s brother, Osiris, is the father. Seth hated
everything that Osiris represented and had, especially the
qualities of leadership which Anubis had inherited, so Anubis was
summarily dispatched to the underworld
.
(...)

Orgies, murder, intrigue. Who said that
ancient people didn’t watch television?

(...)
Doomed to roam the dark and lonely places of the realm
between life and death, Anubis did something positive with his
unfortunate legacy: he became the guide of souls and responsible
for weighing their hearts in the court of Osiris
. (...)

But the hot Seth became the
typical serial killer—those nasty guys for whom you don’t feel any
sympathy. Brad Pitt in
Kalifornia
or Woody Harrelson in
Natural Born Killers
. Hmm... even
Robert DeNiro in
Cape
Fear
.

But never like Dr. Lecter or Mr.
Brooks...

Seth was thinking about a trap for his
brother, inviting him to a banquet held in his honor, so he could
find a way to put him in a sarcophagus. From what I understand,
Osiris would “petrify” inside it. Not content with this, Seth would
flense his brother into many pieces to be scattered throughout
Egypt.

Unfortunately, along with Mars, Seth was the
closest I found to a description of somber people. In some cases,
he appeared as himself—a redesigned Mars. In others, the authors
said that he was the inspiration for the description of Lucifer
(because of the ram’s head).

Wow! How did I end up in
these matters?
Enough!

I closed the program, knowing that in
relation to vampires and somber, I was still at square one.
Perhaps, my situation was worse than square one because every time
I researched it, I found even more disturbing aspects. I needed to
recognize that the dark gods, with their dark underworlds—so full
of treachery—had characteristics as implausible as the vampire.

Barely containing another yawn, I was
overcome with fatigue. I turned off the computer.

26

A DINOSAUR WITH FOUR
WHEELS

The day dawned cold but the
temperature soon began to rise in proportion to the rise of the
king star on the horizon. That would be another day of hell...
Automatically, I saw in my mind the ghastly world of Hela and I
carefully corrected myself:
No infernal
from hell, but from heat
. If the “book of
invocations” that I’d found in the Internet was correct, I had to
be very careful with the words spoken or thought, especially in the
case of the dark gods...or somber.

My first weekend free of
“lab coats” in Hadrian’s Wall passed without incident—a quiet one
compared to the chaotic Friday. It helped me put things, especially
ideas in place. Then came Monday and now the routine would start,
so I had to watch out and keep my feet on the ground.
Come what may... whatever
.

Holding the drawing board bag with one hand
and my ultra-stylish handle bag in the other, I headed to the
cafeteria ready for anything—or so I thought. When I arrived,
however, I realized that I’m not the big deal I thought I was on
Friday because no one paid any attention to me at all.

The place was packed, but quiet as a tomb.
Many people looked like they were terribly hung over. The sound of
cutlery and crockery clinking provoked grimaces of pain from those
who had partied too hard all weekend. You’d have thought they were
hearing a marching band! Their discomfort served as a shield—no one
seemed to notice the arrival of the “new girl.”

I sat between Delilah and Abby, who seemed
as bad off as the others, even though their hangovers were already
“cured” so to speak, but they still had long faces and soon I would
learn why. Naturally, the two girls were lamenting for similar
reasons. Delilah was depressed about not having drawn Stephen’s
attention as she had hoped, but what did she expect? Instant
results? I wondered if I should have told her that I saw him in the
BP that night and he seemed so upset; however, she might interpret
that as an unconditional surrender on his part, which is absolutely
not true. Much more water would still have flow under the bridge
before Stephen would take the first step. It’s possible that
Stephen doesn’t feel the same about Delilah as she feels about him,
which is why he isn’t making a move.

There was Delilah, looking like she’s
dying... and a glass of AlkaSeltzer on hand, courtesy of David
Martin—without doubt one of the most thoughtful guys I’ve ever met;
always helping friends...the kind of guy who can be trusted. I had
an extra reason to thank him—even though he may not have done so
intentionally, I am convinced that he saved me from something
terrible on the trail en route to Joe Verano’s party.

“I hate AlkaSeltzer,” Delilah grumbled.

“But you said you had heartburn,” Abby
responded.

The two of them looked at
me.
What? My opinion was being
requested?
I shrugged.

“Hurry up! Drink it all,” I encouraged
her.

She grimaced, but drank.

“What was that happened on Saturday night to
leave you so down-in-the-dumps the whole weekend?” David asked,
curious.

“Nothing. I played snooker, I got a little
tipsy, and then I came back with the guys. By the way...what’s up
with you and Nik, Abbs?” Delilah smiled, pointing to Abby with the
empty glass in her hand.

Abby turned red as a
tomato. She was embarrassed and upset because since she danced with
Nik, Dwayne hadn’t said a word to her. He left the BP later with
Violet. No one saw them again until this morning when they came
into the cafeteria together.
O-oh! Bad
sign!
Since then, Dwayne has blatantly
ignored Abby

Well, I suggested to Nik that he dance with
Abby, but I didn’t suggest that their bodies melt against each
other on the dance floor.

I rolled my eyes. Dwayne,
of course, would behave himself like a guy who had his “male pride”
wounded. I took a quick peek around me. I didn’t spot anyone, which
meant he had already left, but Violet was still at the
table.
This is a good sign!

I saw Nik sitting with Sally Benson’s group.
She waved to me and I waved back, somewhat mechanically. The
gesture caught Nik’s attention. He smiled at me and raised his
“Greek eyebrow.” He balled his fists and pointed his index fingers
in my direction as if to say: ‘You owe me one.’

“I think I’ll look for Dwayne,” I heard Abby
comment. “I’ll beg and grovel...if he still wants me, that is.”

“No way!” I said, turning to her. “You’ve
got to stand firm. If you start chasing him, Dwayne will never
respect you. Every dispute, every impasse, he’ll wait for you to
cave first because he knows you will. He’ll know that all it takes
is to treat you with a bit of contempt until you do whatever he
wants. Is that the kind of relationship you want?”

“Mel’s right,” Delilah said quietly from
behind her arms. Her elbows were resting on the table and her hands
were pressed against her forehead.

Abby stared at her with astonishment,
obviously wondering if she really was endorsing the words of the
“dull” girl. I smiled involuntarily.