"This is what's written," said Youray.
"Hmm... It seems it's addressing a king," Amis commented.
Mihon replied, "It's clear that it's addressing the king of Randor in some past era."
"Yes, it does seem so," said Youray.
Amis began to think, then said, "When I spent those years in Randor, I heard many stories. Among them was that the kingdom wasn't always this weak. In the past, it rivaled the greatest kingdoms and empires on other continents… but for some reason, it began to wither, until it reached what it is today."
Mihon said in a calm tone, "Then, these words explain everything… It seems the one who wrote them is the one who brought this curse."
Amis asked, "Who could this person be, capable of changing the fate of an entire kingdom?"
"We don't know, but surely he was very powerful," said Mihon, then added: "The curse we're talking about is the concrete found in the palace. As long as it stands, the Kingdom of Randor will remain under its influence until it collapses. There is only one solution: to change the path they are taking. I gave them that hope… if they follow it, they'll survive, and if they don't, they will perish as their ancestors did."
"But, what about those words at the end?" asked Amis.
Youray said, "It seems they are addressing someone other than the king."
Amis replied hesitantly, "Maybe yes, maybe no..."
"Then, who do you think they're addressing?" asked Youray.
"Since this concrete carries a message to the king, it might be addressing him..."
But Mihon interrupted them, thinking deeply, and said, "No, I don't think it's addressing the king."
"And how do you know?" asked Amis.
Mihon replied, "Because the writer says: You won't be able to read it nor comprehend it. Even we barely managed to read it. The words are directed at the one who will read them… not the king."
Everyone looked silently at Youray.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" said Youray, surprised.
Mihon said calmly, "The final words in the message address someone known by the title 'My Sun'..."
Youray asked, "Do you think he knows him?"
Mihon answered, "Maybe..."
Then he continued, "Let's forget this message for now. Let's look at this skull."
Amis said, "Hmm... This skull looks mysterious… and that sound that came from it in the city of Randor… was not ordinary."
Youray said, "Yes, and the words that were spoken from it made things even more mysterious."
Then Amis approached the skull and said with surprise, "This writing… is different from that on the concrete, but even so… I can read it, although I have never seen anything like it before."
Mihon looked at Youray and asked, "And you?"
Youray replied, "I can read it too."
"So can I," said Mihon.
Then the mute girl raised her finger pointing to herself, as if to say, "Me too."
Amis tilted his head to the side and said, "It seems that everyone can read it despite its strangeness."
Mihon looked toward the skull and began to read:
Since I knew everything, I am no longer I am. And my self is no longer my self. And my spirit is no longer my spirit. And this world no longer appears to me as it was. I have always asked myself the same question: Who am I?
Mihon finished reading and looked at them in silence.
Youray asked him, "Is that all?"
Mihon replied, "Yes, that is what is written on the skull."
Amis said, "This is not a message, but a description of a psychological state."
Mihon nodded, "Yes, it seems that its owner knew something that completely overturned his being... I wonder, what did he know?"
While they were discussing those words, Mihon felt dizziness sudden. He stood swaying, and began walking toward the room sole in the ship. Others stared at him with astonishment.
"Mihon? To where are you going?" asked Youray.
But Mihon did not answer. He entered the room, and closed the door.
Moments of silence... then:
(waaaaa) (waaaaa) (waaaaa)
Cries of pain intermittent, violent. The sound increased strength. Youray and Amis trembled, and shock was evident on the face of the mute girl.
What is happening? Why is he screaming suddenly? Amis remembered something, looked at Youray then asked, "Does he still suffer from those seizures?"
"Yes... not disappeared yet," answered Youray.
"Does it come to him always?"
"No... recently became appearing randomly. It did not come to him since our departure from the island."
They stood powerless, hearing Mihon's painful screaming... screaming not they knew for it a likeness.
Tears froze in the eyes of Youray and Amis, and even the mute girl, although she knew him since only days, a tear flowed from her cheek, while she whispered to herself:
"Why am I crying? Why do I feel this pain? What is this happening inside me? How... and why?"
These were the questions in the minds of both Youray and Amis also.
Before moments when Mihon entered the room and inside his consciousness... Mihon was inside a boy of twelve years old, with blonde hair, and black eyes like his.
In a dark room, crying.
A man in his forties entered upon him: "Hey, why do you cry again?"
The child did not answer.
The man approached him and kneeled: "Did they not want to play with you? Do not worry... you are a man. And men do not need to play, is that not so?"
The child said while crying: "They... call me the monster, because of my eyes... why do I have such eyes?"
The man smiled: "Because you are special. They envy you. No one has eyes like yours."
The child raised his head and said: "Really?"
"I assure you," raising his thumb toward the child.
"But what do I do if I do not play?" said the boy.
The man replied: "Go to the river and bring us some fish."
The boy wiped his tears and said: "I will not cry again, I will go to the river to fish some fish."
The boy left the house carrying a bucket and a fishing rod.
He arrived at the river and began to fish.
After an evening full of abundant fishing, the boy decided to return to the house.
The boy was walking with steady steps and his small childish face carried signs of fatigue and his blonde hair was played with by the winds.
He reached the village entrance and suddenly stopped before it.
It was a scene he had never expected in his entire life.
The houses were in front of him destroyed and smoke was rising between their broken rubble and fire was devouring what remained of them. There was heavy silence charged with loneliness and terror. Wherever he looked he saw nothing but ruin. He did not see a standing human.
He advanced and ran quickly then began to scream among the ruins and corpses scattered everywhere. He saw children and women and old people and animals. Everyone in the village was burned. Wherever he went he did not see a single person. "My mother, my father, my mother, my father, where are you?" His scream was fading amid the roar of the fires and winds.
When he reached the remains of his parents' house, what tore his heart to pieces was what he saw. His parents' bodies were crucified and hanging on a tree beside the collapsed house, surrounded by fire eating their flesh very slowly.
The boy stood in his place and his black eyes almost popped out of their sockets because of the scene in front of him.
"No no no no no no, this is not true, this cannot be, stop, no no no no no, I don't want this, my mother, my father, stop joking, this is all acting, isn't it? You are joking with me, aren't you?" The voice of a child mixed with his tears.
"Why is this happening to me? I did nothing. I, I, I, why is this world cruel to me? Why does it fight me?" The child's crying intensified and his tears increased. "Why, why, enough, enough, mother, father."
The child's words got lost; he could not understand what he was saying.
Suddenly from among the shadows appeared a black unclear shape.
The boy could not distinguish its appearance. Was it a man or a woman or another entity?
A faint voice began to sneak into his ears; that voice and those words were clear to the boy but unclear who was saying them. It was an annoying voice to the ear.
"You cursed one, I found you at last, now you will taste the worst death." The boy trembled. The shape came closer and closer, and the boy felt an indescribable feeling of fear and coldness that crept between his bones.
The mysterious shape grabbed the boy by his neck then waved his hand forward and lit a large circle of fire. He and the boy entered it. Terror began to pump in the boy's heart. At that moment he knew his end was near and he would meet the same fate as his family. The boy wanted to speak but the other entity did not allow him because it held him by his throat.
The mysterious shape threw him in the middle of the fire. The fire consumed the boy and he began to scream, wanting to get out of the circle, but whenever he tried to get out, the mysterious shape returned him to the middle. It was eating him slowly while he screamed in pain, pain he had never felt in his life. This was slow death. His clothes and flesh melted. The same thing happened many times before the last flame of his life disappeared, his eyes shattered, and stopped on Mihon.
Yes, Mihon was standing without realizing how he arrived. A little while ago he was in the body of a boy, but now he saw the boy breathe his last breaths. The boy looked at him with eyes identical to his and said in a barely audible voice:
"Break the shackles."
With those two words, the boy's soul overflowed and left his body.
The boy died.