After finishing writing that thing, the girl collapsed in tears, pain clearly visible on her face.
"Who are these people?" said Mihon, curiosity apparent on him.
After reading the girl's board, Mihon went toward the others. They were all crying, but the shocking thing was that every one of them, without exception, was waiting for someone—
that person was Santa Claus.
Who is this person they are waiting for? Santa Claus? Who is that?
Mihon froze in his place, thinking about the things these children had gone through to write such things. Every word, every letter, expressed their pain.
Mihon lifted his head, and in front of those students was an old man with signs of aging sitting at a table before them. He looked sad as he wrote. Mihon approached him and saw something that shocked him—
although the man was writing, his writing did not appear on the board.
Suddenly, his awareness returned, and he was back in the place where Youray and the others were.
What Mihon went through, Youray and the others went through as well.
Silence filled the place. Everyone was thinking about what they had just seen.
Suddenly, the old woman spoke, breaking the atmosphere of silence:
"So, did you all see?"
Mihon and the others looked at the old woman, then Mihon said:
"Why do you want to show us this thing?"
The old woman looked at Mihon, then said:
"Follow me, and you will know everything."
After the old woman left the room and the others followed her, Youray said:
"I wonder, who is that person known as Santa Claus?"
"That name is strange. I've never heard it before," said Mihon.
Youray said:
"Me neither. I've never heard his name. Why were those children waiting for him?"
"Maybe it's just the dreams of children, or what arises from their imagination," said Ames.
After walking a little, they reached a massive red door.
The old man placed his hand on the door and pushed it—
the door began to open, and they stepped inside.
As soon as they set foot into the wide chamber, a look of astonishment appeared on everyone's face.
The room was filled with statues of insect-like creatures, but their bodies were massive.
The walls were covered with strange carvings.
But the greatest shock revealed itself before them—
something they had never imagined.
Behind a red throne made of stone, on a vast wall,
they found a banner.
And it wasn't just any banner—
It was a red banner, within it a sun pierced by ten swords,
and inside the sun, a terrifying face.
It was the banner that belonged to Mihon.
In front of them, the old man turned toward them and said:
"This is the reason I brought you here."
"What is our banner doing in this place?" said Youray in shock.
"What is happening?" said Mihon.
"Look, there's writing above it," said Ames.
They all approached the banner,
and then the words appeared clearly before their eyes:
Our banner began behind the sun, from a place no one reached before them
Every time it is forgotten, it returns to remind everyone why they feared it the first time
At that moment, everyone fell into deep thought.
How could this be happening?
This banner—we thought of it, we designed it ourselves...
How could it belong to someone before us?
We designed it here?
And how did it begin behind the sun?
This is strange.
What Mihon was thinking, was the same reaction both Youray and Ames had:
How is this possible?
"This is not all. Come," said the old man.
The man was standing in front of a wall,
and on that wall was a large panel that Mihon and the others hadn't noticed before.
"It's a shard from the Shards of the Tablets! What is a panel like this doing in such a place?" said Youray.
"This place is very strange, so it's no surprise that one would be here."
As they approached the panel, they all saw what it depicted.
There was a large gathering of children, all kneeling on one knee, looking up at the sky.
In the sky, the shadow of a chariot could be seen, drawn by animals that—judging by their shape—looked like deer.
And in the chariot was a figure whose form was unclear.
"This panel is completely incomprehensible," said the old man,
"And this whole place is as well.
To whom do these things belong?
To whom does this place belong?
It's impossible to guess."
"But it seems these things have been in this cave for many years."
This is strange.
We didn't understand this panel, but why was the old man asked to search for it?
That's what Mihon was thinking.
Youray nodded,
"Perhaps we won't understand this piece now, but in the future, we will."
Then the old man asked,
"That banner… where did you get it?"
Mihon answered,
"That banner—we designed it ourselves.
We didn't copy it from anywhere.
So finding one here… I think it's just a coincidence."
"Is there anything else in this place?" asked Ames.
The man replied,
"I don't know. This is all we've discovered so far."
Mihon began to think: Since we entered this secret cave, there is something unnatural. Those ugly shapes—are they merely shapes made just for decoration, or were they placed there for some purpose? And that snow falling without clouds, which in itself is not cold for humans— I wonder, does it affect the animals?
Carvings on the walls and those objects—are these what existed in the past? Or are they just imaginations of previous generations who used to draw on the walls?
And the room that contains statues of very strange children—it was as if it transported me to the past, and someone manipulated time to show that scene as soon as you read those things. I wonder what the previous generations lived through to leave their children such words?
Santa Claus—that name—what does it mean? Why were the children waiting for him? The savior? Were they waiting for him to save them from what they were living through? Santa Claus... I will remember him.
But, why is our banner in this place? From what we saw, it existed before we designed it. No, even more than that, it was made behind the sun. How is that? Is it a coincidence? Hmm, but such a coincidence cannot exist. But who fears a banner? Ah, my head...
There is so much information... Oh, I forgot... a panel of children looking toward that chariot drawn by those animals, which resemble deer, and the person riding on it...
Suddenly, he remembered the children who were in the room, and the children in this panel. Is that person in the chariot the Santa Claus they are waiting for? Hmm...
Mihon was currently in deep thought, to the point that he forgot the people around him.
"Mihon?" Youray's words brought Mihon out of his deep thinking.
"Mihon, what do you think about these things we saw?"
"These things in this place seem very strange," said Mihon.
Mihon looked toward the old man: "Can we take that panel?"
The old man looked at him, and after deep thought, said: "You may take it."
Mihon walked toward the panel and took it down from the wall.
The panel was one and a half meters wide and two meters tall.
Mihon raised it into the air and began examining it carefully,
when suddenly he noticed small words on the left side of the panel.
Mihon read:
The Somarin family will find you all
The Somarin family will summon you all
The Somarin family will frighten you all
The Somarin family will purify you all
The Somarin family will all return
These words struck Mihon's mind like lightning,
and millions of nails hammered his head.
He dropped the panel to the ground and began clutching his head.
"What is this? This is bad…"
Mihon's skin started secreting purple worms,
his eyes began to hang out of their sockets,
his hair started falling,
and blood veins appeared on his body.
"What is this? Am I losing control? Why me? I haven't reached the second level yet! Why is this happening?"
Mihon's body secreted many purple things—
purple worms, threads dangling—
his body began to melt,
his teeth started falling one by one.
"Damn, damn, what is this thing? Why is this happening?!"
While talking to himself,
the old man put his hand on Mihon's shoulder and said:
"Are you okay?"
Those words brought Mihon back to awareness,
the panel was still in his hand.
He looked at his body; nothing had happened.
"What's wrong, Mihon?"
"Didn't you see something?" said Mihon.
"What would we see?" said Youray.
Mihon did not understand what had happened or what had changed,
but everyone was convinced that the cause of those things happening to him was the writing he read.
The Somarin family? I have never heard of them before.
"No, no, nothing happened…" Mihon did not say anything at that moment.
After they talked a little, they intended to leave the place.
In the wide room where they were standing,
the one with the banner and the red throne,
what no one noticed was that someone had been sitting on the throne since they entered, watching everyone, but no one paid attention to him.
The person sitting was not fully visible, only a shadow sitting on the throne.
He sighed and said:
"It seems things are accelerating this time...
Is this the end of everything?
Or is this path unstoppable?
Only one chance remains...
This is the last chance...
Either destroy this world, or remain in an endless cycle."