Story „Futuristic celebration of the Zielona Góra festival with Eliza”

Autumn 2027

Chapter 15b. Dragons’ City

I carry two open beer bottles, looking under my feet not to make fool of myself. I look up and almost splash the liquid onto the shiny glass cobble. At the last moment, I catch balance after noticing where Jacob is located. He leaned his back against the pillar, lifting his left foot up to his right knee, supporting it against artistically decorated glass bricks. He is looking at me with a wicked, wolf-like look with a lurking smile in the left corner of his mouth. My heart is twitching anxiously again when I save this image in my memory. I think he does it on purpose. Or maybe he still doesn’t know how it affects me? Now I really need to drink. My throat dried up like asphalt on a speedway road in July and is just as hot.

The road from Poznań City to Zielona Góra town was easy. Finally, I had an excuse to borrow Camaro from Oliver and drive on the speedway road. [WOW] Now his car is safely waiting for us in the hotel garage, and we can relax. Today is the day of the Zielona Góra town, which is why we travelled so far. Jacob mentioned this trip shortly after the Shadow of Intent concert, I think it inspired him to delve into metal. Today’s event is related to power metal, not melodic deathcore, but I like this vibe as well. Jake has always made only hip-hop lyrics, but his choice of words combined with metal sounds even better to me. I’m glad I inspired him.

“Eli, are you drunk already?” Jacob makes his classic mockery of me with an animal spark in his blue irises.

I look at him with feigned disapproval and freeing one hand from the beer, I hit him in the ribs and snuggle into his black hoodie. “I’ll check the schedule of the event so that we don’t miss anything” I say reasonably. “Let’s sit down for a moment.”

“OK, Eli.”

Jacob rises from the architectural element that he supported, and only now can I see that it is the tail of a glass dragon ended with a shuttlecock like in a badminton game. Dragon wraps whole beer garden in which we find ourselves, with his half-translucent red body. His left wing stretches over the tables, creating an interesting umbrella. We go to the table, which is right next to the dragon’s head, to have a closer look at it. The animal looks as if it was defending us against some danger, shielding us with its own body. It has bared fangs that are perfectly polished, shining with sharpness in the sun. Through the red glow all over his half-translucent body and cherry irises it looks mad and fierce. Its ears held tight to the head end with cherry fringes that stand stiffly and menacingly. The paws on which it rests are equipped with three long claws, two at the front and one at the back. I am impressed by the quality of this sculpture and its condition.

“The march begins in half an hour. It starts from Staszic’s Street, which is right behind this Millennium Park.” I revolve around my axis. “The parade will go along the woods, then through Jan Matejko Square and next to the Co-cathedral of St. Jadwiga Śląska.”

“OK.”

“I saw that on the stand next to the bar there are smartatlases specially made for this event, so I will go and grab it for us.”

“And when will the contest start?”

“Immediately after the march in the Old Market Square. This is where the march ends.”

I put my beer on an illuminated table and go for a guide of Zielona Góra town’s mutations and places worth visiting. I will need this knowledge because I want to collect material for a blog post. I want to describe the traditions associated with animal mutations and combine them with the history of the city and the legends about dragons from Zielona Góra. Looking at the strangers I can already see that it is going to be a hell of a post. In the beer garden I didn’t notice, apart from the two of us, a single norm. All women have pointed ears like elves. What is this mutation? And what do elves have to do with dragons?

“Did you know that the festival of Zielona Góra town once focused on the grape harvest?” I say surprised, studying the introduction to smartatlas.

“{OHH} Really? I did not know.”

“They wrote here that people used Bacchus, the Greek god of vine, wild nature and fertility as a symbol of festivities. People dressed up in various colorful outfits often associated with vines. For example, they wore wreaths from the leaves of this shrub. Look, there are even photos.”

“Indeed, cool. {WOW} I can see that these were the days before the mutants’ era, but people liked to dress up at that time as well.”

The tradition that every resident wants to participate in this march has survived. The inhabitants of Zielona Góra town are very much connected with their place of residence. Today there will also be performances of various dance groups, mobile installations and shows. Only the topic has changed. Smartatlas tells me that we’re in the Dragons’ City.

Finishing the history lesson, we head towards the start of the march. I put the smartatlas temporarily in my purse so that I can enjoy the nature that surrounds us on the way. Despite the September weather, the temperature is pleasant. The trees are still covered with leaf blades in warm shades, and some of them alongside with moss, create a soft carpet under our feet.

“How did it happen”—I grab Jake’s hand—“that the inhabitants of Zielona Góra like metal?”

“This homie Grobler was born here and became famous a few years ago for Dragon’s game” my two-meter companion responds, letting go of my hand to pretend that he is aiming at the dragon with a bow.

“This TV series?”

“Yes. His songs are used there as a soundtrack in sharper scenes.”—he bends for a stick, which he starts to swing in front of his face—“I read a little about it, reviewing his texts for the competition.”

“{UUU} I have to start watching this series. I haven’t read anything about the artist, but his songs are great. I can’t wait for today’s concert. Last year, the dragon legend about males killing their own offspring won, and today will be the premiere performance of the song.”

“My aggressive sound mimicry will win this year,” Jacob answers with determination.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I bellow, reveling in the smell of the forest and admiring the rays of the sun breaking through the multi-colored canopy of leaves.

I run to a nearby tree to look at the barn owl that has just caught my attention with a loud screech. For several years, the Millennium Park has been known for being filled with owls, because the inhabitants of Zielona Góra decided to spend money from their civic budget on breeding these fluffy animals. Their hooting makes Zielona Góra have an amazing atmosphere that gives me positive energy. We walk cheerfully through the forest until we reach the starting point of the march and notice a large group of mutants, circus performers, their dancers and their costumes. There is only a minute left to the official start, we are perfectly on time. We decide that we will move next to participants of the march, not in the middle of them, to see everything better.

At the head of the march there is a circus group with a blue-gold vehicle in the shape of a horizontal shield. Above this vehicle a woman with huge wings which look as if they belonged to an enormous bat, hovers at a height of about four meters. The figure calmly loops in the air, pretending that thousands of people under her feet looking at her with delight don’t exist. The woman is dressed in a lizard-green shimmering outfit, and from under apparently artificial wings, two most real-looking tails stick out. I notice that my smartatlas has a scanner function, so I aim it at the mutant flying in the sky. It turns out that she managed to implant two kangaroo tails to her buttocks, which now artistically curl around her body during aerial acrobatics.

“{WOW} What is this technology?” Jacob asks me with his head facing up.

He rarely can look at someone from below. The king of the march responds to his question. His voice is amplified by the presenter’s glottis on his neck. It turns out that this circus team is the pride of Zielona Góra town and is the first in Poland to use reverse gravity technology with an emitter mounted on a four-wheeled vehicle.

The rest of the circus performers follow her, all with the body covered with scales of a very rare American albino alligator. Instead of hair they have many rows of green iguana spines on bald skin. On their hands they have gloves in the shape of dragon heads with hidden flamethrowers. They create swirls of fire in the air with swift movements. The group has about a hundred of briskly moving performers. Drummers set in strategic places give the rhythm to their movements. The distant roars that make me think of a lion and a bird of prey break through the music.

We slow down to catch up with the group of dancers who are jumping along the forest route just behind them. Women have noses covered with yellow beaks of white eagles, loose hair waist-long, and scanty, flimsy dresses showing spiral patterns of the skin of the spectacled caiman covering their entire bodies. Girls make splits in the air and pirouettes, creating an opportunity for perfect photos to photographers jumping around them. They have bare feet, white lenses with vertical pupils, and white clothes. On their heads we can admire traditional wreaths of vine leaves, which are the trademark of this group from Zielona Góra.

Another vehicle attracts no less attention, burning with a blue flame. It is a modern-looking navy-blue heavy truck with a streamlined cabin, tires with spiked hubcaps and a long trailer, on which another band dances in aquamarine fire. This time they are men in black leggings with lion tails covered in caiman scales.

“{WOW} Did you know that mutations can be mutated?” I say shocked.

“No. If it wasn’t for the smartatlas, I would be wondering what kind of animal has such a strange tail,” Jake laughs.

“It must be hard to mutate into an animal that does not exist, for this you need to have more imagination.”

“Well, I will not say that this flying chick did not impress me.”

“I like these guys. {AJJ}” I look up at Coby flirtatiously, especially trying to make him jealous. “They are so muscular and have cool tattoos, as if they were scratched by a big animal.”

“Another group is called Fire Power, the boys belong to the Zielona Góra school of dancing with fire, their trademark is characteristic dragon tail,” the loud voice of the march king interrupts us. “I know they are on fire, but don’t worry about them! {HAHA} It’s a harmless eco bean fire phantom that doesn’t harm people or trees, so you don’t have to worry about our magnificent Millennium Park.”

After dance groups it is the orchestra’s turn. They walk in a tight formation, waving their bodies to the rhythm of the very original folk vibes. They are Dragon whisperers who play music on small pipes and miniature drums that make rumbling sounds. Tiny double basses, violins and harps also take part in the event, enhancing the mystical atmosphere. Their music flows like an ocean wave through a sea of ​​colorful leaves, seeming to flow straight out of the philharmonic bodies shaken by musical emotions. Drummers have necklaces of Nile crocodile teeth and dark green fingerless gloves reaching to the middle of the forearm made of the skin of the same animals. The string instrumentalists have one tail of black salamander on each vertebra and in line along both hands. Harpers have Komodo dragon tongues and vertical lines from their skin on shaved heads. The philharmonics playing the pipes have light green iguanas’ beards under their jaws, horns of the Texas horned lizard on the hairy chests and wide linen pants. The whole orchestra also has an additional pair of bat ears, thanks to which they have unsurpassed hearing, providing them with divine pleasure from playing instruments.

Song author: Ensiferum

Received from: http://tiny.cc/soq8bz

Lai lai hei

(…)

Dreaming fields with skies so pale 
Calm is the glorious land 
Flames will send the sign to the sky 
That we have come to feast tonight 
The lakes are echoing with our song 
Shadows are dancing on the forest wall 
Shadows are dancing on the forest wall! 

Enchantment of the fire and moon 
Lost in the whispering night 
The raven’s magic enthralls the woods 
Crawling in the sweet starlight 
We have gathered in this distant land 
Full of wisdom, secrets and tales 
The morning will never rise again 
Roaming wolves are howling for the dead 
Roaming wolves are howling for the dead! 
Oh yea!

Lai Lai Hei!

(…)

“We invited our Dragon whisperers for today’s parade for a reason!” presenter’s voice roars. “They help us tame our domesticated beast – Bachrai!”

After these words, Jacob and I turned simultaneously towards the end of the march and look at the great, white dragon, or rather a dragon lady, on which back proudly sits a woman wearing a crown made of the saltwater crocodile’s teeth, with a necklace and earrings made of the same teeth. She is dressed in a beautiful emerald dress and her hands have claws and skin of a green iguana.

“Do not be afraid of Bachrai! Although she looks very realistic, she is only a 4D phantom prepared especially for today’s show after the parade. Marianna is, however, entirely real. She is a leading actress in the Lubuskie theater. How does she stay astride on our dragon? Let it remain her sweet secret” comments the king of the parade.

“They’ve definitely just prepared her hologram” adds Jacob.

“We can see Bachrai, smell her sulfuric odor, hear her roar and half-touch. However, you won’t get hurt, her fire is harmless, and half-touch is only a fleeting impression.”

The dragon lady, controlled by the programmer’s skillful fingers, gives a demonstration of her powers, releasing a column of fire from behind sharp fangs and roaring to her limits. Jake and I look at each other in disbelief with enlarged pupils. His blue eyes are now almost black. We walk next to Bachrai, admiring her huge white paws with pink spots, each with four claws curved like hooks. Her body swaying over our heads has cramped, large, half-translucent wings made of thin skin, with a visible grid of red veins. Bachrai has a very long and thick tail finished with a dart in the shape of a killer whale’s fin. Her whole body is covered with pinkish spines, and despite its light color the skin seems indestructible. A very long neck ends with a slender muzzle with small, protruding triangular-shaped ears. The pink markings on her face look as if she had just left the makeup artist, curling around her eyes and creating a symbol of fire on her forehead. Being so close, I can really smell the sulfur and hear every wheezing breath of this beast.

We leave the forest, and the dragon in the city makes an even greater impression. However, it is not the only attraction in Zielona Góra. I see the roundabout of November 11 on my left, when we cross the busy street.

“I can see the tunnel!” I shout excitedly.

“Indeed, and I think there are some margays in it.”

I start reading a description of a place from a smartatlas, “On Jan Matejko Square there is the famous asylum for margays, which are wild cats known for their agility in moving about trees. In 2019, cat lover Michał Alanowicz bought areas on two sides of the street and adapted them for the needs of margays. These cats love to spend time at heights, so he made transparent tunnels over the street for them to give them opportunity to watch town traffic. On both connected tracts of land there is an artificial rainforest under two domes, so that the cats have conditions as close as possible to natural ones. Since then, American margays have become another symbol of Zielona Góra and are enthusiastically welcomed by passers-by.” I finish reading and I look up because we’re just passing under one of the tunnels.

Through the transparent walls I see a small cat comfortably stretched out along the tunnel, looking at me curiously.

Coby is delighted, “It has such cute spots!”

“Look at these sweet paws!” I say, feeling that my eyes dissolve from the excess of sweetness.

I accidentally run into a mutant who also stares at the cat and she laughs that such accidents often happen here. Despite everything, we apologize to each other and I can look at her elven ears. It turns out that these are ordinary dragon-shaped earrings with wings extended up at such an angle that they create the illusion of the owner’s pointed ears. I can see Jadwiga Śląska’s Co-cathedral from afar. Amazing that it survived till 2027, most of such buildings were replaced by modern, glazed giants. Apparently, Zielona Góra’s inhabitants care a lot about their history. Gothic bricks are a big difference from the ubiquitous shiny glasses and half-translucent colored cubes. Smartatlas displays photos of the church’s interior, including baroque and renaissance elements.

“Look, what a nice choir on the mezzanine, nobody builds like that anymore.”

“Really nice, so rich,” Jake laughs. “I wonder why they didn’t convert this building.”

“Maybe because it’s a co-cathedral, not just a cathedral.”

“What does that mean? It’s higher level in holiness?” says Coby with a boisterous smile that I like so much.

“Yeah, you can say that. Look at this door. They are made of bronze. Amazing, am I right?”

“I assume they’re not revolving?” says Jacob, after which he rolls with laughter.

I just nod laughing and I’m already looking for a place for us in the Old Market Square.

“Relax, beloved strollers! We have to give our Bachrai a quarter of an hour to rest, because she will be the main actress during Grobler’s concert,” the king of the parade announces in a loud voice, winking at us. “Remember to give earmuffs to small children. Power metal is no joke! It will be loud! It will be bloody! There will be fire! Stay with us!” ending the sentence, the presenter’s hologram disappears from the roof of the town hall where he just appeared.

I sit with Jake at one of the tables arranged around the town hall, which will apparently be today’s stage. This time Jacob gets up to bring us something to drink and I admire the central building of the square. Smartatlas tells me that the entire building was built from scratch in 2025. The ground floor of the building was created as a mapping of the first wooden town hall in Zielona Góra from the 15th century. Each has five dragon-carved pillars, and each is different. Coby puts another beer in front of my nose, and I send him a kiss in return and read on. At the central point of the roof, an ultra-modern black tourmaline tower was built entwined with glass lianas with half-translucent green leaves. I look up and find that they shine beautifully in the sun. The tower is on a square plan with a side length of three meters. It rises ten meters up and has a flat top. Interesting design.

On weekdays you can sit next to the tower on the roof, but today there are instruments and speakers several meters tall. It seems that the text will be displayed on each side of the tower so that it can be read from any place on the square. Firstly, they will announce the results of the competition for the best text about dragons of year 2027, in which Jacob took part. He was to come up with lyrics for a given Grobler power metal melody so that he could sing it. The premiere performance of the text of 2026 with the 4D music video will take place after the results are announced.

“Welcome Grobler on the stage!” the hologram of the march king, suddenly materialize at the top of the tower.

“{WOW} Eli! Look who will be handing out the prize!” Jake says excitedly, rubbing his long-fingered hands theatrically.

“Hello to all inhabitants of the Dragons’ City and all guests!” the singer shouts into the microphone wearing black, leather pants with lots of chains, green boots and a dragon T-shirt. “Are you having fun?!” he asks, stroking his long hair arranged in a loose ponytail.

Being pleased with the audience’s shouts, he begins to talk about the difficult process of choosing the right text. He talks about how some people would like to fit simple monorhyme into rich power metal sounds.

“{OHH} You can’t do that!”  Coby winces.  “We’re not in kindergarten.”

“One text, however, caught my attention with its innovation so much that I had no doubt that I wanted to sing it. It immediately made me began to see the project for the music video. I will not prolong this moment anymore, because I cannot wait to meet the author. Jacob Wolfer is our winner! Come to us buddy!” says excited metalhead.

“Eli, did he just say I won, or did I imagine it?” says shocked, despite previous jokes, Jake.

I’m pushing him out of his amazement, “Yes! It’s you! Go!”

Suddenly agitated Jacob gets up and walks confidently, with his characteristic, long steps towards the entrance to the town hall. I look at his receding figure, not showing any sign of his internal nervousness and I feel pride. My Coby is the best of them all! That means we’ll meet Grobler! [GREAT] After a moment of tension, during which I was climbing the stairs with my chosen one in my imagination, I can see him on the stage. His loose pants, white T-shirt and Boyka’s style blond hair strongly contrast with the look of a metalhead who is congratulating him.

“Siema, man!” Grobler says happily. “Honestly, I expected someone more like me. {HAHA}” Artist is eyeing Jake from the bottom up. “Your work is unique, I must admit that, with this mimicry you got me, man! I had to google it.” He turns to the crowd. “The behavior described by Jacob is most natural among animals, I checked it myself!” He looks at Jake again and gives my rapper a box. “It is a trip for two to Bulgaria. I hope you have someone to go with, Jacob!”

“Yes, I will go with my Elizabeth. She is a metal fan and inspired me,” Jacob uses microphone for the first time.

“Awesome,” Grobler answers, nodding. “I hope all three of us will talk after the concert.”

“We now invite the laureate to his chosen one!” the king of the parade takes over. “Now our juror will read the text of the year 2027 wrote by Jacob Wolfer from Poznań. Big applause for the winner!”

Jake comes back to me surrounded by the noise of thousands of hands, all in a cocoon of positive energy, with glittering, cheerful eyes. I sigh involuntarily and gloat over our happiness. He is so wonderful, so brave, so intelligent.

“{OHH} Crap, Eli. I know I’ve talked stupid before, but I didn’t expect to win {HAHA},” he says, his lips grinning a smile.

I hide in his happy arms and we listen to Jake’s words together. He created a story about the descendants of the good dragon Luna born in Zielona Góra. True legend says that this animal was domesticated and had its human friends who were kidnapped. Luna was looking for them and shedding tears from which people later built houses. Coby’s story tells about her further fate.

When Luna flew to search for her missing friends, she had to land in Gryżyński Landscape Park. She gave birth to three little dragons in a gorge. However, she was deeply sad and decided that she was not good enough to raise the young. Despair obscured her common sense and after one day, she left her offspring in the woods and flew away.

Little ones were exposed to many dangers, but the abundance of worms and the proximity of the lake allowed them to survive. When they were able to walk well after a week, they began to move around the park and learn life lessons without a guide. Dragon lady returned to the gorge after finding Carl and his wife, but it was too late. The young were gone a long time. Over the following weeks, Luna was looking for her children, mourning again. It was only then, when she realized, what she had done. However, she finally gave up and returned to her friends.

During this time, the little dragons grew stronger and learned the sounds of various animals trying to figure out what species they belong to. Over time, they learned the languages ​​of all animals, but they still did not know who they were. One day they realized that they were bigger and stronger than all the other animals and began to use their skills to lure victims into a trap.

The final scene from the song depicts a dragon hidden in a deep gorge whining like a small child and a worried mutant running towards an ambush.

“Who would have thought that the children of domesticated Luna would be so dangerous!” Grobler yells into the microphone, delighted. “We now know that it was thanks to dragons that the phenomenon of aggressive sound mimicry arose, thank you Jacob!”

“And now it’s time for the premiere performance of the song called Dad, it’s me,” the presenter takes over. “Music, of course, was written by Grobler, no one else! The lyrics to the song were created by last year’s winner of the Zielona Góra town’s competition – Alexandra Milaszek. I invite you to the final show of the Zielona Góra festival!”

When the eco-flame on the wooden pillars of the town hall begins to burn, Coby hugs me harder. This time the fire is ruby and although it is not dangerous, a policemen walk in front of each side of the building, two meters away from the pillars. As standard, each has an additional, hybrid pair of gorilla paws, which every man holds entwined on his back, and a red uniform. On the flat top of the town hall tower appeared a nest with two eggs looking like huge, perfectly polished emeralds.

Grobler’s band is starting to play, and the aggressive music gives me a thrill. The drummer does not spare the drum kit, and two guitarists show off with an incredibly fast tempo of the music. Bachrai appears with a bird-like lion roar on our right. This time we can admire her in flight. Wings with thin half-translucent skin seem to keep seven tons of white dragon in the air. Grobler imitates the dragon with growl and sings about the hardships of a young dragon mother. Bachrai must eat 441 pounds (200 kilograms) of meat daily and guard the eggs at the same time. It is not easy, so she is often forced to eat the roots of trees, which she calls fast food. She makes sacrifices to guard the eggs as often as possible. However, it has weakened her, and she has little energy left. When she sits in the nest, the music calms down. I can hear the violin and Grobler whispers into the microphone Sleep, sleep tight.

The sudden entry of electric guitars and the activation of the drummer occurs simultaneously with the appearance of a second dragon in the sky. The audience makes strangled shouts, and Grobler growls the song’s words again at an accelerated pace. The second animal is even bigger. It’s head, neck, stomach and paws are dark brown, and top of its body is covered with short, dark green fur. In addition to large jade wings, it also has a mane of skin around the mouth like the frilled-necked lizard. The dragon makes a sound you would expect from a nine-ton lion. Deep, low and scary.

Bachrai wakes up and avoids the flame at the last moment, which sets fire to the dry branches in the nest. Fortunately, the eggs are completely resistant to high temperatures and lie adamant to the flames licking them. The dragon lady is furious and the adrenaline flowing through her veins visible under her white skin illuminates their pattern. I can also see the fire symbol on her forehead very clearly now. Bachrai breathes fire at the enemy and it flies over our heads. I notice that on its reptilian paws there are catlike pillows and retractable claws. Bachrai stands on the tower, shielding the eggs with her own body. The attacker bites her leg and she hit him with her tail. Blood flows down the town hall tower, and Bachrai makes a terrifying roar.

The song played by Grobler accelerates again, adding horror to the scene. The male catches Bachrai by the tail with its teeth. It distracts her with this, and with its own tail, finished with an 8-inches (20-centimeter) talon, wraps around the tower and hammers into an egg from behind, hooks it, and smashes into a nearby tenement. Bachrai and Grobler roar with despair. The dragon lady catches the only remaining egg left in her mouth and fights the other dragon with her hind paws. She manages to cut up its mouth, and the male withdraws, devours the broken egg and flies away. Bachrai carefully places her unborn child in the nest, but the eggshell breaks. The music dies out with the dragon’s breath. After a moment, a small dragon hatches out of the egg, begins to spin inside and licks the mother’s blood from the nest.

“After all, he is the son of his father,” with these words Grobler ends the song.

“{WOW} It was a nice story too,” says delighted Coby straight to my ear, giving me a shiver.

“I’m impressed with the music myself. {WOW} Power metal and 4D dragons, we certainly have something to recall. I hope that someone made some nice photos of the event, we can print.”

At this moment I notice Grobler coming towards us. Jacob introduces us, after which the musician joins our table.

“Call me Olaf,” the metalhead says with a laugh.

I’m on first name basis with a world-famous vocalist. [AAAA] Wonderful.

“Olaf! I’m impressed by the show, it was amazing!” I praise him, sincerely delighted.

“Thanks. I hear you like metal?”

“Yes, I wouldn’t survive without it.” I grin in response. “I wonder what the life of a famous metal vocalist looks like?”

“You know, it’s always on tour, but I love it. I am not a territorial animal.” Our new colleague laughs. “I travel the world and I do what I am passionate about.”

“{GREAT} I work in a corporation, so it’s a whole other world for me.”

“With this lifestyle, my whole family is my dog, which is like a son to me. {HEHE} He has his own air-conditioned room in my concert bus.”

Coby asks Grobler about his travels and looks impressed by such a life. In fact, quite lonely, despite the cheering crowds. Olaf offers him a lyrics writer position, but he disagrees. He says that this event ends his adventure with metal. It’s not his vibe. On the one hand, I am happy that he will not suddenly go on tour somewhere, but on the other I am sad. He said it as if he wanted all his connections with metal cut. Willing to show the metalhead the vibe of hip-hop, Jacob begins to rap the text that won the competition today. He begins to sway back and forth to the beat that he hears in his head and disappears from our reality into his world. He presents a slightly harsher version of this text, uncensored with unseeing eyes. I look at him delighted. Olaf begins to add growl in strategic places and gets into the rhythm.

When Coby finishes, Grobler is already pretty much engaged with creating music. He begins to talk quickly about metal riffs and vocals in hip-hop flow. Plans to combine two genres. He wants to create metal music with Jake’s voice and his own growling. My guy refuses. He wants to write about street life and loves hip-hop beats and samples.

I think it’s time to ease the situation. I hope Olaf will find a rapper who wants to play with him. I say that I would love to listen to such a mixture. I’m a little sorry. I had beautiful ideas of symbolic for me hip-hop-metal connections. Such as Jacob and me. However, I know that it makes no sense to force him to do anything. I don’t want him to think I want to control him. So I am asking Olaf about the customs of Zielona Góra’s inhabitants to change the subject. After all he was born here.

“As soon as the fashion for animal mutations began, the legend of Zielona Gora’s dragon, who once lived here was unearthed. All citizens and people working in Zielona Góra were offered co-financing for dragon mutations. It is treated as a privilege and at the same time an honor, like an official admission to the group of residents. The town rulers want everyone who stays here permanently to get involved emotionally with this place. And since there are no live dragons, the most popular are all reptile body parts for mutations, although the dragons’ mythical aura gives a proving ground. I only have a dragon tattoo on my back, somehow I don’t want mutations, but you know, to each his own,” says Grobler, shrugging.

“We don’t follow this fashion either,” I admit.

“These circus and dance teams have approached limits, but I have also seen that even young children have some reptile skin patterns,” comments Coby.

“Yes, such school designs were introduced for students instead of uniforms. In my days we run with badges. {HAHA}”

“Seriously? Does each school have a different pattern?” I ask.

“Yes, all these mutated tattoos are made on hands. It is more convenient for parents and students, because they do not have to remember about any name tags. Additionally, teachers are sure that uninvited person will not enter the school.”

“And it’s free of charge?”

“In public schools, yes. In private you must pay, but the patterns are way cooler.”

We return to the topic of legends and boys get into conversation again. Fortunately, Olaf doesn’t seem to have hard feelings for Jake for his lack of cooperation. [UFF] Good. They both like legends and myths, so Grobler educates us in the sphere of Zielona Góra stories, and Coby pays back with stories of Slavic gods. Both talk and gesticulate spontaneously. Despite the apparent differences, I can see that they are very similar. Both have ridiculously complex facial expressions, but something elusive in their movements recalls the two contradictory musical currents they represent.

We invite each other to friends on Facebook so that we do not lose contact and at midnight we start heading to the hotel. Despite the late hour, I walk with a springy step, jumping here and there from time to time, releasing accumulated energy. There were so many emotional experiences today that the level of adrenaline perversely does not want to drop. Jacob, however, feels tired and he walks quietly next to me, smoking a cigarette thoughtfully.

Our hotel is close, we only must cross a few streets. I breathe in the autumn leaf smell and stop suddenly, faster than I thought I could. On the next narrow street, I see bodies of a dozen bitten rats the size of a rabbit, scattered randomly across the entire width of the street. I notice that one of them is moving. In disgust I look at the gray rat, wrapped in a ball, biting the base of its own tail. After a while, the tail falls off, and the animal begins to pierce its own belly with sharp yellow teeth. Intestines pour out and the rodent dies with a high-pitched moan of painful agony. I look at this without moving my eyelids and after a while I wake up from numbness. Jake points at something with his hand. I follow my gaze in the pointed direction and notice that a few steps further there is a man who until recently was a healthy norm. Now he lies with his eyes gnawed out and covered with blood seeping from small lacerations.

I no longer notice Jake’s usual slack and peace, but the profound horror that pierces through his wide-open eyes. Without a word, he begins to pull me to the haven of the hotel. I try to keep up with his long-legged haste, but he must slow down so as not to separate our hands. We run without turning back and stumble breathless into the hotel. We close the room door behind us and run to the window. A calm, empty street looks at us, from behind the glass. The yellow, warm light of the lantern contrasts with the black terror in our hearts. I cover the window, turn on the light and jump under the quilt. Jacob calls the police rightfully and after pressing the red receiver, he hurries towards me.

I feel that my face is stiff and deprived of facial expressions. Everything I see reminds me of a rat. Our shoes on a doormat, a pillow next to my head, and even a modern chandelier. All the time I listen carefully to murmurs with my withdrawn ears. Coby seems to be in a state of dullness because he looks like he hasn’t seen anything with tired, motionless eyes. I cuddle my whole body into his warm embrace and breathe in a familiar scent that calms me down. We remain silent for an hour, listening to police sirens and human noise. We fall asleep without a word.

Song author: Shadow of Intent

Received from: http://tiny.cc/oti9bz

The Heretic Prevails:

Is this the beginning or the end?
Your fate’s in the palm of my hands

(…)

Infinite nightmares unleashed That’s what I am afraid of
Spreading their toxic disease 
I will not rot 
Nor will I become a trophy of the tyrant of the kingdom to fall I will not take part in cruelty

(…)

I shall never bow to a maddened tyrant obsessed with murderous protocols 
I shall not bow to thee I am free

(…)

On the next day I report events on my blog. I wanted to collect more materials about mutations, and I gained much more. Yesterday’s event may be a key aspect of my private investigation of animal abuse. I have a feeling that this case is related to mutations, and the behavior of these rats certainly cannot be considered normal. After breakfast, we pack up and leave. There is a murderer and a poisoner of animals at large, so we prefer to hide in a familiar place.