Two people stood on the crow's nest, staring at the small boat as it slowly drifted away. One of them spoke: — What do you think of them, Ron?
Ron felt a strange pang of curiosity. He did not know why, but the unnatural silence of that boy made him feel that something was hidden behind his calmness.
After a moment of silence, the dark-brown-haired man answered after placing his hand on his chin and said: — The one with his eyes closed caught my interest, the owner of the white hair.
— And the other? the person beside him asked again.
— Ron replied, his strange face looking ordinary to me; there is nothing that arouses my curiosity except his strange face. And you, Darom?
Darom tilted his head to the side and then said: — I also felt that something was not right with the one with his eyes closed. What attracted me most was his silence.
— So shall we follow them?
Ron answered while holding a small book in his hand that resembled the book the soldier had taken from the bookshelf:
— They did nothing that calls for following them. Their names and pictures are not registered in our records, but there is no harm in following them until they reach the shore.
Darom said: — Send two soldiers after them and tell them not to be careless.
— All right, Darom answered, then began to descend from the crow's nest.
Ron is a lieutenant in the army, the third rank after the seasoned soldier, in his late twenties, with dark brown hair, wearing a gray cap on which the same banner drawn on the flag fluttering beside him was depicted. Ron wore dark gray clothes different from the faded gray uniform worn by the soldiers, adorned with the same banner as on his cap. On his chest, on his left shoulder, a golden star stood out.
Darom is the deputy lieutenant, a seasoned soldier in his early twenties, with blond hair, sharp eyebrows, and blue eyes. His uniform was not different from the other soldiers' uniforms, but there was a yellow band wrapped around his left arm that distinguished him from the others.
From the warship emerged a small boat, but larger than the boat on which Yousafer and Yuray had sailed, and on board were two soldiers. They set off quickly, chasing the two boys while keeping a distance between them so as not to be noticed.
Yousafer and Yuray continued their sailing unbothered despite their feeling of being followed.
After two hours of sailing in the stretching waters, land appeared on the horizon like a wavering thread, and as they approached it, the tall trees swayed right and left with the force of the wind, as if welcoming them.
They approached a shore, but in front of them appeared several sharp rocks, and the sound of the waves crashing against them could be heard from a long distance.
— Yuray, row to the side!
— Yuray tilted the oar, following what Yousafer was doing; the boat began to lean to the right side.
— We must steer the boat toward the gap between the rocks.
Yousafer's eyes were fixed on a gap directly ahead of them.
The boat advanced between the rocks.
The waves rose, as sailing with such a small boat in this place was considered suicide.
"Ha ha ha..."
Yousafer's heart was beating rapidly, and as he laughed loudly he felt excitement when he sensed the waves trying to overturn the boat.
As for Yuray, his slender hand trembled slightly, not out of fear but from the intensity of concentration.
Water sprayed into the air with the force of its collision with the sharp rocks, soaking the clothes of both of them, but they soon passed these rocks. They were nothing to them, but ordinary people would find it difficult to get out of this place if their boat did not shatter.
They arrived directly at a shore composed of a large group of smooth pebbles.
They got out of the boat and pulled it a little closer to the land. Yousafer bent down to pick up two animal-skin bags waterproofed, which were tied under the boat. He threw one toward Yuray and kept the other.
— Then they changed their clothes, which looked like fishermen's clothes.
They had planned the matter well so that they would appear to be just fishermen; they hid the two bags to avoid anything later. They changed their clothes, and after encountering a warship, their decision was correct.
At that moment, they saw the boat approaching, but from the other side of where the rocks were located, as if the two soldiers knew the place well.
The gazes of the two soldiers were directed and they saw the bundles on the backs of the two young men, but it was too late; Yousafer and Yuray disappeared behind the gigantic trees quickly. Water droplets flew from the hair of both Yousafer and Yuray as they ran fast, increasing the distance between them and the shore.
The air was cold among the trees, and with every step the two heard branches breaking under their feet.
The soldiers acted quickly after reaching land; one of them followed their tracks into the forest.
And the other returned to the sea, heading toward the warship.
At that moment:
And an hour and a half away from the island... and an hour away from the warship in the middle of the sea, a small black box sailed alone. It was motionless, the waves striking it since Yousafer had placed it, but now the box began to shake; the shaking started weak, but soon its intensity increased, as if someone were shaking it with his hand. Suddenly, the box opened quickly, something came out of it, launching and soaring into the air, and as it launched, a gray-colored cloud of smoke followed it, flying high without stopping, and upon reaching a certain height a massive explosion occurred in the sky.
ـــــ
Ten days before the date of Yousafer and Yuray's departure from the island, the two boys stood beside a table inside the wooden hut, and in front of them was a drawing of a red banner, in its center there was a hand wrapped in a chain gripping a torch, but that torch above it was not fire but a glowing sun.
— Is this our banner, Yousafer? Yuray said.
Yousafer smiled: — This banner is our emblem from now on.
Yuray nodded: — It looks good. From now on we will become wanted by the Church of the Union of Nations.
Yousafer lifted the drawing of the banner into the air and began to scrutinize it, then said: — And who cares about the Church of the Union of Nations or whatever its name is?
Yuray released a wide smile and then said nothing.
After scrutinizing it a little, Yousafer folded the drawing: — I will take it to the seamstress Mari to make many copies of it for us to place on our clothes and one banner for our future ship.
ـــــ
— Present time
A massive explosion erupted; the explosion could be seen from a distance of 20 kilometers across the open sea. At the top of the explosion, a banner formed from the rising smoke; it was the same banner whose drawing Yousafer had been holding.
Everyone on the island of Ceylon raised their heads to the sky, staring from afar after hearing the force of the explosion. A smile appeared on the face of the old man in the village, and in his hand was the same banner, unlike the other villagers who did not know what was happening.
Except for a woman in her late fifties, who knew that banner well; and how could she not know it when she was the one who spent nine days sewing the same banner? The woman was the seamstress Mari.
Old feelings rose inside the heart of the woman whose wrinkles had begun to carve slowly into her skin.
— Aunt Mari, my jacket is torn...
— Aunt Mari, my trousers are torn...
— Aunt Mari, my shoe is ripped...
— Aunt Mari....
— Aunt Mari...
— Aunt Ma...
As if Yousafer had left a long time ago, a tear fell from the woman's pink eyes.
On the opposite side, all the soldiers, including the two people on the crow's nest, saw that explosion. They all saw the banner formed from the smoke despite the distance between them and the explosion.
Expressions of astonishment and shock rose on everyone's faces:
Everyone was silent for a period of time, staring with wide eyes suddenly.
— What is that thing? What is happening? — Look at that banner... has any of you seen that banner before?
All the soldiers discussed among themselves, curiosity and amazement on their faces, and some asked what they would do, but all the soldiers looked toward the top of the ship, waiting for a word from their commander.
Ron and Darom stared toward the top of the ship at that explosion, and after a short period of silence, after the same questions that the soldiers had wandered through their heads circulated in his mind, Ron issued his order: — Head there immediately!
After the warship had been heading north, it was then redirected toward the explosion.
At that moment, the soldier who was tracking Yousafer and Yuray was retreating to the shore after losing their trail.
ـــ
Returning to the two.
Yuray asked: — Will the explosion be big enough?
Yousafer answered: — I don't know. But we must trust the invention of that person... He is crazy. I wonder what he is doing now.
"Hahehehehe"
Yuray laughed: — Perhaps in the midst of conducting a crazy experiment like him.
Then he continued: — But how will a banner be formed?
— He told me: when the banner becomes ready, just pass it with the machine in the small box.
— All the inventions of that madman are strange. Yousafer said while running.
— Like the strangeness of your facial features, Yuray released a light smile.
After about an hour, the warship reached the site of the explosion. A black box appeared from which a column rose, and at the top of the column was the red banner, in its center a hand in a vertical position wrapped around by a thin chain holding a torch, above it a glowing sun.
Ron slid down with the thick hemp rope until he set his foot on the wooden deck of the ship, and behind him his deputy Darom followed.
Ron and Darom stood staring at the banner atop the box.
While the soldiers were silent, staring at the banner, Ron pointed with his hand toward one of the soldiers: — You there! Go down and retrieve that thing.
— Yes, sir, Lieutenant.
The soldier bent down and then began removing his main clothes; he took everything off, leaving only half a yellow pair of trousers with some flowers on it.
Which made many of the soldiers laugh secretly.
The soldier's face turned red until it became like a tomato, as he noticed the other soldiers laughing at him, then he jumped into the sea.
The box was placed on the deck of the ship, and a circle of soldiers formed around it, all consumed by curiosity about what the explosion was? And what is this banner? And who caused the explosion? And to whom does this banner belong?
These questions were harmonious thoughts in the minds of everyone on the deck of the ship.
Everyone wanted knowledge, but no one had the answer. After a short silence prevailed, Ron broke it with his words: — Search for this banner in our records.
Immediately, three soldiers headed to the only room on the ship that contained several books, papers, and records.
The three soldiers took three similar books and began flipping through the pages one after another, but their search yielded nothing. They returned to the lieutenant, who was holding the banner he had removed from the box.
— Lieutenant, we did not find in our records a banner that resembles this banner.
Ron thought for a moment: — It seems this banner is new... but to whom does it belong?
Darom interrupted the lieutenant's thinking when Ron said: — What do you think of the two boys we met? Most likely they are behind this explosion, and you know that we have been here for three days and have not encountered anyone in this sea except them.
Ron looked toward the sky and then thought inwardly: — Someone wants to draw attention in this way... interesting. Ron clenched his hand into a fist; the sound of iron friction was heard from the strength of the grip, as if he were holding two pieces of iron.
The eyes of everyone opened wide, while some others were astonished after hearing the sound of the iron friction.
"In truth, neither Yousafer nor Yuray wanted to draw attention to themselves in such a situation; rather, this explosion was nothing but a farewell to the inhabitants of the island of Ceylon. Yousafer wanted to place the box atop the mountain on the island, but he would not risk a large explosion on the island. What if the box did not ascend into the sky? What if it exploded with the mountain? For this reason, he wanted to move away by the greatest possible distance."
— Ron, what will we do now? Darom wondered as he stared at the banner in his hand.
Ron answered: — There is nothing for us to do; we will complete the mission we came for, which is to arrest that rebel.
— And what about this banner? Do we forget about it?
— Of course not. We will send it to the main headquarters, tell them what happened, and leave the decision to them. Our target is that rebel nicknamed the Devil of Humans.
— You are right, we must not abandon our mission. We must capture that rebel at any cost; that bastard causes trouble wherever he goes!
Ron replied: — No wonder that is the case, because everyone born in that cursed year is considered a devil. We, the guardians of this world, must exterminate them. Have you ever heard that they are called "the Sons of the Devil"?
A cursed year?? Sons of the Devil?? Darom asked in astonishment evident on his face: — And why?
Ron answered: — You do not know what happened in that year because you were young. In that year, several disasters struck this world, among them many earthquakes and floods occurred, and several volcanoes that had been dormant for many long years erupted. Millions of people around the world died as a result of those incidents.
— And in the same year, several deadly diseases spread, but what made that year even more terrifying was that the sun disappeared for a whole month; we did not see its light. Instead of the sun in the sky, two eyes appeared for a whole day. Those eyes were extremely terrifying; just looking into them made you feel your blood freezing inside you. That year was not linked from month one to month twelve, but from mid-2999 to mid-3000. That period was called the cursed year due to the abundance of unnatural phenomena, and whoever was born in that period was called a "Son of the Devil".
Those on the ship would not have believed what they heard if the words had not come from their commander.
One of the soldiers asked: — In which month did the sun disappear?
Ron answered calmly: — The tenth month of 2999.
Questions followed one after another toward Ron, but he did not answer many of them.
Darom said: — I have heard of this before. I heard of a year in which all the children born in it were killed, but were not all of them killed?
Ron answered without hiding anything: — Yes, ninety percent of them were purged, but the remaining ten percent were hidden by their families.
The soldiers were astonished, including Darom: — Do these bastards seek to ignite chaos in a world that is supposed to die upon it to die?
Ron answered: — Any family was dealt with by higher authorities. This matter is outside our scope of jurisdiction, and I know nothing about it.
End of the Chapter
A new era will begin
"The new era has begun and the banner has risen. What part of the 'Cursed Year' secret shocked you the most? Drop your theories in the comments below!"