seeking security in it, had no longer any value on its own, but that its only value resided in the light that eventually such device became capable of flashing, a light that such as the fire of a candle had managed to revive the warrior fire inside Arthur while he was at the hospital. Therefore, that light, that destiny, that direction, that sword existed already outside the gadget, existed beyond time and space. Once the Iphone was dead; its light still persisted. And if Arthur died; his light would also eternally persist. That destiny that he had very present in his imagination, nobody could ever steal from him, not even the SuperDragon, no matter the unbearable amount of pain he made Arthur feel during those moments. And his Destiny announced the following, with words carved in the hardest stone: “Here is a man who faced with infinite courage the biggest Dragon of the modern Dark Ages or Modern Ages”.
So Arthur remembered that written Destiny, and that itself induced him to face the maximum pain, the maximum suffering and death itself, aware in every moment that what kills is not death, but only the attitude when facing its immediate presence…
Arthur, by experiencing a state of glorious madness, no longer felt any fear when being exposed to all the pains and attacks on the part of the SuperDragon. He knew perfectly well that the impetus of hellish attacks constituted the main strategy of the great beast, very similar to those torturers who seek the final confession of the tortured. But Arthur was not going to in any case give up, nor confess to himself that he was a coward and that we was going to require the assistances provided by the Techno-System or his Iphone… This surrendering deep down is what the SuperDragon wanted, in order to have Arthur´s life finally under control by means of an artificial pacemaker and a by-pass operation… But Arthur no longer cared and was no longer frightened by such menaces. He wanted to face all the pain on his own, with no assistances, aware in that moment that ultimately he was exposing himself to the most unbearable pain for the sake of himself, for the sake of his Temple, and that as any other majestic construction, never had such accomplishments been achieved easily without infinite sufferings and pains.
Hence Arthur got up from the ground and after this effort started to feel an incommensurable pain in his chest. The SuperDragon was just in front of him, awaiting, immense, powerful, ubiquitous, bigger than ever and hellishly covering all the scope of his vision, expelling fire, fumes and vapor as countless torrents through its immense mouth. Its wings were more powerful than ever, trying all the time to intimidate Arthur and remind him that he could easily move to any part of the universe, and that Arthur would never get completely free from its presence for the whole of eternity.
Unless one fatidic day, our hero managed to defeat the monster.
Thus, Arthur, having an impassible gaze, and accepting his destiny, all of a sudden put a hand in his pocket… He still had one weapon left, an ace up his sleeve in order to defeat the SuperDragon. It was a pill of nitroglycerine, a substance that dynamite is synthesized with, and that could assist Arthur during those moments in order to temporarily calm the onslaughts of the SuperDragon if he introduced it under his tongue… And in those precise moments the following were the words that furrowed though his mind: “I don´t care about dying… You hear me?… But if I die… You better know that I choose how I want to die! Do you get it, fucking, shitty beast! Not how do you want it!!…
The Dragon seemed to be laughing at this “epic speech”…
-Take that, you son of the biggest bitch! Take your own medicine!! -Arthur shouted…
Instead of applying the nitroglycerine under his tongue, Arthur energetically tossed the pill into the void, not making any use at all of such pharmaceutical assistance, not even in his imagination… Immediately a tremendous explosion occurred, like that of a supernova, and the SuperDragon exploded in a million parts, leaving the entire battlefield full of oil, plastics, coal, natural gas stink bombs and millions of fossilized and charred elements that the beast had swallowed during the last centuries… In this explosion could also be seen a classic Ford Model-T learning how to fly through the skies.
And in the center of this scene full of smoke, sparks of fire and ashes, Arthur could be seen laying down, immobile, and in a fetal position upon the dark domains of death.
-Hey Miguel!… Are you there?
-Hi Arthur, yes, here I am… I´ve just allocated myself right now in your thoughts, I hope you don´t mind my meddlesomeness…
-No, no… Not at all… It´s ok!
-How are you? -I asked
-No idea actually… Everything over here is very dark… Apart from you, I can´t hear anything… This silence is agonizing… I couldn´t have imagined that the afterlife was so boring… What a bummer! I can´t imaging withstanding for the whole of eternity for this kind of environment, always looking at this boring darkness, without ever being able to get out of here… Didn´t they say that at least there would be some sort of celestial background music?
-Have you tried the old trick of opening your eyes? -I asked
-Goddammit! No, actually I didn´t… I don´t know where I have my mind… I can´t remind anything -Arthur answered, quite stunned.
-Don´t you recall the Doctrine either? -I asked
-No
-Ok… So open your eyes then!… You have brand new eyes, so give them a chance…
Just like one who awakens from a deep dream, Arthur decided to open his eyes, a little surprised that in the afterlife one could even feel eyes or even have them, or what´s even more surprising: to even open them.
-Wow! This is fantastic! I couldn´t even have guessed that in the afterlife they were so concerned with interior design! This is awesome! Now I understand that thing they said that you only get here by cultivating your interior…
Arthur, almost in a state of ecstasy, observed that in front of him could be seen a room decorated in a very exquisite and elegant way, where all details where treated with care and where there could also be observed an integral harmony at all levels, mixing styles of the most diverse… The light penetrated intensively through the windows, and projecting upon all sorts of engravings, paintings and sculptures. Goya, Rembrandt, Van Gogh… Many artists that had succeeded in observing the world with new lights had there celestial sanctuary in that place.
-Now I also understand that thing of the “eternal art” -Arthur said- I always sort of imagined that in my celestial Temple there would be a fantastic selection of great works of art…
-Well, Arthur… I´m sorry to be a bit of a killjoy -I replied- But I´m afraid to say that all those works are… mere copies and replicas of the originals… They are all fake..
-What!! So even the angels, saints and heroes all became hoaxers too? -Arthur asked, shocked…
-I didn´t say that!! -I responded- The only thing I´m telling you is that all those works are falsifications…
-Ok… Let me get this straight… Are you telling me that everything that is up here is false?? This is outrageous! Oh, give me a break, dude… I worked my ass off to get here, I challenged the SuperDragon to reach my Destiny and my well-deserved place in the Olympus for the whole of eternity… And now I realize that I´ve risked my life for something that actually is… A third rate, b-list falsification?? But do you know how immensely painful it was to get here? I sacrificed my entire life at the age of 38!! This can´t be happening…
-But what are you talking about dude? Of course I know all the pains you went through. I created them myself for you, as you well know! -I replied
-Ok, all right… Why don´t you just get me out of here then!! -Arthur shouted at me- I want to go back to the earth, even if I have to go reincarnated as a worm!! At least it would be something authentic… This place is too self-degrading!
-Why don´t you just stop complaining like an annoying baby? It´s the least you should do when having been delivered to a new world that welcomes you… Are you going to stop crying like a spoilt kid once and for all?
-All right. Ok… Do I have any other alternat
ive? Of course not… I suppose I better get used to the fact that countless cycles of cosmic existence shall always treat me as a chump, fool, gull, mark, patsy, fall guy, sucker, soft touch, mug, berk, dimwit, burk, dope, bugger, damn fool, dumbo, dunce, twirp, nut, hammerhead, loggerhead, moron, oaf, dolt, twerp, peabrain, imbecile, idiot, cretin, changeling, half-wit, retard, jackass, bonehead, fathead, wanker, arsehole, fuckwit, nincompoop, ass, dumbbell, dummy, pinhead, nitwit, booby, wally, numskull, donkey, blockhead, clot, fat-head, poor wretch, poor bastard, poor bugger, poor devil, wretch… Different incarnations, different names and labels… But always the same relying principle!… Indeed, THAT is my destiny and none other…
-Say whatever you want Arthur! Eventually all your nuisance and cries shall disappear… Some day you´re going to thank me! -I said. In truth, I was no longer in the mood to discuss with Arthur, since he was quite agitated and disconcerted due to his new situation in the cosmos and universe. So after awhile I decided to say goodbye to him.
-Well Arthur, nothing more for now… I´ll have to leave you there, because you´ve got a visitor… So at least try to keep some good manners if you can…
Arthur didn´t answer my words, since it had been quite a fiasco for him to reach to the conclusion that the domain of heaven and existence in