Lyrics
Once Darien was seated at a table, he was approached by a young, attractive server. She had no sooner said “sir may I take your order?” when she let out a gasp “Darien Martini!” Darien immediately shushed her and motioned her to sit down. “How do you know who I am,” he whispered? She replied “I’m a fan… I, too, am a violinist”. My name is Clarissa Anders. Why on earth are you here in Prague? The whole world is looking for you.” Darien recounted the series of events leading up to that very moment and then showed her the strange riddle. Clarissa replied, ”I believe that you were sent here, but what do you believe Darien?” “I don’t know” he said” I’ve never given religion much thought. My head is spinning from this whole ordeal”. ”Then you must somehow trust that God would not call you away from Paris unless there was a very good reason” Clarissa urged. “He has something extraordinary planned for you and I will help you discover what that is.” Darien then asked her what sanctuary she thought the riddle was referring to. She replied, “I think I know and I will take you there in the morning. Right now you must be very tired. Let’s get you fed and then I will show you to a small flat over top of the café. You can stay there as my guest”. “But will the owner approve” Darien inquired? “It’s fine, I am the owner”.
As soon as Darien hit the pillow he was out like a light. The next morning Clarissa knocked on the door. “I’ve set breakfast and coffee on a tray outside your door. See you down in the kitchen in a half hour. We have a busy day ahead. There was also a newspaper on the breakfast tray with a write up about Darien’s disappearance and in light of the unfortunate circumstances, the title of winner of the World of Europa contest would be forfeited to Sabothian Wolfe with his modern chamber Goth composition “The Pentagram Waltz” causing quite a stir. Darien prayed, “God, I don’t know what this is about, but it better be good. I’ve laid it all on the line for you and I don’t even know you”. The other news of the day included coverage of the world economy with the U.S. dollar continuing its decline as the world currency, creating the threat of hyper-inflation. Iran continued to push its nuclear program, making more threatening remarks towards Israel. A fringe religious sect in the U.S. issued a prediction that the so called “rapture of the church” was imminent and would bring about a worldwide cataclysm. An article on the advances in digital technology regarding the integration between man and machine or so-called “trans-humanism” was also making news.
After meeting up with Clarissa downstairs, they exited out the back door and hopped in her car. She drove him to the outskirts of town to a long abandoned cathedral. The stained glass windows were boarded up and the grounds hadn’t been tended to for decades. Darien followed Clarissa to the back of the building where, hidden amongst the brush, was a memorial garden that was very well tended and in full bloom. “I like to come here for solitude and to play my violin. I’ve taken to tending the garden to honor the dead that are buried here. There’s something here I want you to see”. They walked along looking at the various gravestones. “Many of these were church musicians from the 1700s. Some also played in the orchestra at Estates Theater during the time of Mozart”. Then they came upon a memorial stone that was placed there in honor of Mozart. Even though he was buried in an unmarked mass grave in Vienna, the members had considered him one of their own. For Darien, the whole scene played out like a requiem to of all his hopes and dreams that were left to die on the stage in Paris.
As he gazed at the stone, something caught his attention that snapped him out of his mournful daze. There was a G clef engraved in the stone with a B flat key signature which indicated either the key of F major or D minor. Since the Requiem was in D minor, Darien assumed that was the key it was referring to. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that within the key signature, was a literal key that conformed to the image of the flat sign. As he began prying it from the engraving, Darien immediately thought of the riddle, “The key to the kingdom is in F. You’ll find it on the G Clef.” This had to be what the riddle was referring to, but what kingdom was this a key to? The other problem was the key signature was suggesting the key of D minor, not F major based on its connotation to Mozart’s Requiem. There had to be some other explanation.