1

Leere walked along the base of the mountain. There was no life here except a strange fruit called a Lysergy. The Lysergy fruit was red and grew on a bush with leaves orange and red like fire. The ground here was like cracked skin, and it seemed the bushes somehow took root in these cracks and bloomed above them as a great kind of fuck you to the landscape: ‘I will grow and I will make strong impressions with the locals,’ they seemed to say.

Leere picked the red fruit from the burning bush. He took a bite. It had a sweet, metallic taste. Strange fruit. Good fruit. Leere looked down at the bush. The effects were already taking hold of his brain. He took another bite.

The bush’s leaves at first seemed to blow without the aid of wind. Then the leaves were moving in a little jig across the bush, seeming to trade places with each other in organized lines. Music started playing to the beat of the little dancers. A voice sang like whispers on the wind:

IF YOU CAN SEE

YOU’RE BLIND WITH ME

AND BLINDED MEN ARE TRUE

I’M ONE OF THESE

A RIVER GREEN

THE VALLEY AND ITS FOOLS

The bush burst into flames that seemed to shift colors as they bit at the air above them. The Valley, Leere thought. She needs a face to run from and a face to hate. She must make it to the tower. All of the lysergy fruit on all the bushes around the base of the mountain—the Tower of Truth as some called it—were singing in a buzzing, blowing fashion that didn’t quite make a specific melody, but seemed to vibrate with the very nature of the universe—impermanence and chaos. Leere took another bite, then Moved.

2

Leere appeared in The topmost chamber in the Tower of Hate.

Leere spoke into the minds of the Rakshasas in an unfathomable voice. This chamber was reserved for the Rakshasas and they were currently in contemplation, eyes closed—that is, until Leere showed up and started his soliloquy. They stirred, then stood up, quickly retracting their black wings into their back. They put their middle and forefinger together, pointing straight up, while the thumb held the other two fingers down, then they brought the hand to their foreheads in a salute. They kept their gaze to the floor. Leere stood still, watching.

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Candles flickered, their light reflecting up from the black marble floor, walls, and ceiling.

Leere told three of them they would be going to the Valley. He said they would need to send one empty one to take care of the old man in the group. If anyone was carrying the Eraser, it would be him. They’d bring back the man with the Eraser, and mind-blind the rest; but they were to leave the girl awake. She needed to see Him.

Leere stared at the rainbow in his mind which was telling him sweet stories about the future. Arriving shortly, darling, always soon and never late. What a sweet song. Lies of course, but how else to dance with the vibrations but to lie to oneself and to let one be lied to.

Leere spoke to the Rakshasa named Roth.

“Indeed, My Lord,” Roth said, still maintaining the salute, fingers glued to his forehead. Leere attuned the Low Vibrations. HATE. Roth’s chest exploded as his heart was ripped out of it and landed in Leere’s outstretched hand.

“I don’t like lies,” was all Leere said before he Moved from the room. The Rakshasas would do as told and he would appear at the right time. Angels, he thought. He swam in the rainbow of his awareness, all colors merging into one, then he Moved to the lake.

She sat on the shore, tail behind her, her nude body offering itself to a gigantic moon—it was always night here—on the other side of the water like an imprisoned lover giving the grace of what may be felt again someday, but for now, it was just out of reach. Leere had appeared behind her and, dropping the heart beside her—touched her horns, twisted like his own, then made his way down to her breasts.

“Hello, Leere. I was beginning to think I’d be able to give myself to the moon before you came back,” she said, her blue skin shimmering in the moonlight. Blonde hair fell straight down her back, reaching her tailbone.

“Shalonudra,” was all he said as he sucked on her neck. Lady of The Strings, Leere thought. It excited Him.

She bit her lip and smiled softly, a quiet moan escaping her mouth. “Did you bring the toll to walk The Strings?” she said.

“Lady of the Strings?” Leere said, then he coiled the arm holding the heart around her, offering it to her. She took it and ate greedily.

“This is a good heart. You may pass through one String, Lord Leere. But first …” She slipped into the water away from him. He took off his cloak and extended his black wings. He flew into the night sky then plunged into the dark, choppy water. The plants that grew here tried to grab his flesh and draw his blood. These were inconsequential to Him. He was Leere and He had the Low Vibrations. The plants died as they touched Him. He swam deep, propelled by His lust. She swam fast, but He was faster. He caught her and they wrestled, His hand going to her breasts and His fingers plunging inside of her with the other hand. She screamed in pleasure, a chaos scream that rang through the depths and made the other creatures that were lurking shrink away. He pulled her close, the rainbow exploding in His head from the lysergy fruit.

Then He saw … her. It was only a moment. One tiny moment in which the water was air, the dark was sunlight, and the blonde hair was dark brown. Grass, green and soft beneath their bodies, flowers close by, infiltrating His nostrils. Those haunting eyes, widening in a secret love that couldn’t be spoken but was communicated and understood right then as He looked into them, into her soul. It said she loved Him, but that was another lie, wasn’t it? The brown became Shalonudra’s blonde again, the air became water and the horns were locked with His, eyes dead and insane as his own. He thought this seemed a little more true. The rainbow exploded in His head again, and Leere gave of Himself to the demon, the Lady of the Strings.