The Power of Painting in Year 3,000 Part 3

We proceeded to walk to the backside of the barn and came to a dead stop when we reached the wall.

“So?” I said, blaringly.

“We’re here brother,” Ako says with a big grin.

“We’re here, what? You know I thought you’d be less of a troll in person, but I guess I thought wrong. Come on even if there’s a secret passageway, how the heck would I -”

Ako interrupts me, flipping open a haystack “Don't compare me to those guys, Pat. We have to use some unconventional methods in order to stay well hidden. I’d like to say that we’re a pretty di-”

“HEEEEE!!!!!” Ako gets interrupted by a squealing old lady, “Amazing so it seems Charlie’s venom did the trick? HOLA, COMO ESTAS?!!” (Hello, how are you)

“Hola, lo estamos haciendo bien (Hello, we’re doing well),” Ako replied.

“¡Muy bien! (Very good) Woowwww, our hero in the making has such long hair! Come, come, I baked plant-based cookies for everybody!” said the old sweet lady.

“Pat, meet Italia; she is one of our elders and is the greatest cook in the whole village,” Ako said.

“Ahh.. What a beautiful name. Nice to meet you, Italia. I’m sure you know a little bit about me but my name is Patrick, you can call me Pat,” I said.

“Oh yes, I’ve heard that you are quite the rambunctious and messy fellow,” Italia said in a jolly tone.

I send Ako a sullen look. Of course he’s saying nothing but bad things about me.

Shaking off the negative energy, I turned to Italia and asked, “Hey Italia do you happen to be Italian?”

“No, I’m Argetenian,” Italia stated.

I laughed for a moment but stopped shortly after I saw how serious her face was.

Changing the topic: I asked curiously, “Hey Italia, I notice that you have wings and all these squiggly things for an arm. What's that all about?”

I suddenly remembered memes about japanese anime, but immediately canceled that thought. Jeez come on Pat. This is an old lady here, get your head out of the gutter.

“These special parts of mine also came to be, because of the worldwide spell. That ended up working in my favor,” Italia explained.

Ako joined in, “ Yes, so Pat. Not everybody was affected negatively by the curse. Those who had their desires in the right place ended up with hardcore power-ups. This is why I say its good to sacrifice, my brother.”

“Okay, God-daddy,” I snarkily retorted while rolling my eyes.

Italia continued where she left off, “Ako is right you know. Although his form of sacrifice is a bit more literal, we all have a unique way of expressing self-sacrifice. In my opinion; I believe that self-sacrifice leads the way to purifying our desires, and the only way we can wholesomely love our families to our fullest potential is when we purify ourselves from within.”

I replied, “Wow… everything you just said is pretty much aligned with how my Grandma lived her life…”

“Well I’m sorry you had to leave her, but I can tell you that for sure you’re here for the right reason” Italia returns.

I sighed in response, “Well she passed away, way before I started to embark on this journey. It happened in 2020, it was quite sad yet relieving. She wanted to be with Grandpa and quarantine made it very difficult to see her… I have to say though, it feels as if she never left.”

Italia exclaimed, “Don’t you worry now, Pat!” Your loved ones never really do, and this village is filled with elderly, so you’ll be surrounded by grandparents.”

I smiled and then redirected the conversation, “So why do you have wings and an arm like that?”

Italia laughed and replied, “Deep down I think I’ve always wanted to be a Fairy God-Mother. As for the arm, my biggest weakness transcended into my greatest advantage. It has always been my desire to heal others. Being the senior citizen that I am, I was reaching my limits and my right arm started to retain water. Not too much time after that the spell hit me and transformed it into a powerful arm with healing properties. Everything that I cook/bake/clean with this arm gets bestowed with regenerative qualities. Now honestly, when you cook or clean with organic products they naturally have the ability to heal. When I use those products with this arm, it makes those qualities twice as effective. This arm also regenerates physical/internal ailments when I hug someone with it.”

I replied in awe, “What an amazing super power! I see that you use the arm to carry yourself and move too.”

“Yes, yes. The more spaces that I purify, people that I love and create experiences filled with joy; the more powerful this arm gets. This limb of mine is packed with so much power that if I touched a troll with it, they would burn to death from the inside out. Albeit, trolls are not supposed to experience love. They gain power based on anger and hatred, but grow weakness when it comes to love and affection,” Italia explained.

I proclaimed, “Wow so not only are you a cook but you are also a protector.”

Italia excitedly remarks, “I am THE best cook in town, mind you. Come now, after dessert you will get dinner. I have a special healing treat for everybody to take on their journeys.”

Meanwhile; far, far away in Washington D.C…

Four abysmal figures were hanging out in the remains of human civilization. One of them was pacing back and forth relentlessly, two of them were sitting down, calmly staring into their beautiful disasters and another couldn’t help but watch the one that kept pacing.

Ad interim; Ako, Italia and I just finished a hearty meal filled with laughter.

I asked, “So tell me, Italia. Why has your desire always been to heal others?”

Italia responds after picking up some plates and dropping them off in the sink, “Pat every time we work on healing others, we heal ourselves. Also, healing provides protection against dark spirits. There are spirits that are older and more evil than the Cona Vights themselves.”

It took me a moment to digest what she said; but then I posed another question, “ What could be more evil than those guys? They kill everything they touch.”

“There are by far worse forms of suffering than death,” Italia said.

Woah. This old lady’s talking about something way more deep than my level of understanding, I thought.

“Hahaha I have a feeling that I know what you're thinking, niño (boy). In order to combat these dark spirits we must eat real organic food, clean our spaces as much as possible and lighting sage/paolo santo helps too. But it has to be the real stuff, grown from the Earth. This planet is our Mother rock and she houses the spirits of our ancestors. The more of them we put inside of us the more we are inside of us. Doing this leaves little room for other spirits to sneak in,” Italia explained.

I was flabbergasted. What is she even talking about?

“It's quite the laugh to see how you absorb information, Pat. What also brings out the potency in our psychic abilities is when we work towards healing others. That's my job before, after and always will be,” Italia replied after observing my facial expression.

I replied, “How old were you when you started this line of work?”

“It started in my 30’s and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said after cleaning the table.

I remark, “Does that make you around 100 right now?”

A giggle leaked out as she replied, “Well technically I would be 148 years old. When the spell hit the world I was 78 years old. I’m still 78 though, pretty soon after I received this supernatural gift I stopped aging.”

Holy cow… This granny got a super power-up, I thought.

Ako interrupted, “Oh that’s right my God-son. Our Elders in the village have their age frozen in time. They’re the strongest out of all of us, in terms of abilities. Not too long after the spell affected them, they were recruited by our Master of time. Charlie was able to master clairvoyance within seconds of receiving her abilities. She knew exactly who to round up in order to create a team of beings that were capable of raising a village and put up a fight against the Cona Vights. The minute she met our Elders, she gave them a bit of her venom, taking away the problem of aging.

At the exact same moment Ako said Charlie's name; she let out a big sneeze, “AHH-CHOO!!!”

“Oh… This must be the moment Ako reveals the power of my venom and how I’ve aided the Elders,” Charlie softly said to herself.

In the meantime, Ako continues…

“So this is why we must develop a good relationship with our Ancestors, my God-son. She would not have done so without consulting them first,” Ako explains with a candid tone.

Italia finishes sweeping the floor, bounces off a tentacle supporting her from her right arm and spins in a twirl. She starts flapping her little wings rapidly, barely floating off the ground. Throwing herself back into the conversation; she exclaims, “Healing our ancestral wounds also helps us tap into our psychic connections! Oh that’s right, speaking of healing… How about I tell you some old stories of mine over some healing chocolate cake? I baked this while holding the Okuutuu Imola, So I’m sure this will power you right up!”

With a warm fuzzy tone in my voice; I replied, “Sure that sounds good to me.”

All this dessert she's cooking up for us reminds me of Grandma. I could see myself staying here for a good while, I thought.

“Let me tell you about a time in my youth where I had to clear the negative energy in a space and use sage to psychically combat a dark spirit!” Italia joyfully hollered.

Alright I love story time, I thought.

Before she continued I grabbed my fork and consumed a little piece of cake from my slice.

All of a sudden my insides felt warm like a sunny afternoon on a Sunday. My eyes rolled back and I stopped perceiving the reality in front of me. I began to journey into a psychedelic experience as a school of celestial dolphins swimming in a liquid body of light. We swam to the surface and as we breached the aqueous light, together we experienced the cosmos. We multiplied and formed clones of ourselves infinitely until we all gathered around the luminous universe; like friends at a campfire. Every star that twinkled, felt like they were waving “hello” to us. We all started to bleat, blat, chirp, click and squeal in a robust form of jubilated conversation. After a good squawk, we realized it was time to come home. We assimilated back into one dolphin, swam back into the light and approached Earth’s atmosphere. We dove through the clouds and swam at the speed of light. I saw myself, or at least my human form sitting next to Italia and Ako. I darted and crash landed into myself. When I opened my eyes, I met the tragic disappointment in the reality of the current situation.

Aww man… I really enjoyed being a space dolphin, I thought.

As if she was waiting to hear about my experience; Italia asked, “That’s some good cake isn’t it?”

I asked, “Holy moly, how long was I out for?”

“Only 1 second” Italia replied.

What?! What felt like an entire lifetime as a different entity, was only a second??? This is incredible, I thought. I felt completely rejuvenated and all my energy replenished.

Italia stated, “That slice of cake will heal you from the inside out, restore any lost sleep, ailment or illness and I’m sure it will take you on a good trip.”

“You can say that again, I just had the experience of a life-time,” I replied.