"It must be the wish of the ritual, what did Lucas ask of Poseidon?" Taras asked expectantly.

Ricardo put his hand in his mouth and took out the rolled paper, when he opened it the same scribbles that are scattered throughout Paulo's body appeared written.

"It's a pity, I don't speak this language..." Ricardo said, disappointed for not knowing the desire that he could be condemning them.

"Nobody does... Are you sure it's the same doodles and not another language? Let's see, give me the paper!" Taras yelled, taking the paper out of Ricardo's hand with violence, he seemed quite upset.

Taras grabbed the paper, seeing the scribbles, his hands began to tremble, he got up and went to Paulo's corpse and verified that the scribbles were the same, when he found some matching scribbles, sweat began to fall down his face.

"Is something wrong, Taras? ... Already with Paulo's body, we found out that he knew how to write the language ..." Ricardo said when he noticed Taras's absurd reaction.

"No, it's different... Putting symbols on Paulo's body is the ritual and in general only some armed phrases that were passed down from generation to generation are remembered... But this here is the wish!" Taras yelled quite altered.

"No one would dare to write a wish, without knowing the language, you could end up asking for anything or even worse, angering the god in the most crucial part of every ritual..." Taras said, going back and forth around the room, as if trying to remember something.

"But he is an initiate of the galleon, it is more than logical, that he knows another language to perform rituals" Ricardo said without understanding Taras's concern

But then a thought crossed Ricardo's mind: 'Make an official ritual... A miserable initiate? ... I never saw that'

"Could it be that he is a priest or a cardinal? If he were the last one and the church found out that he died on this ship... They would kill us all as soon as we touched port..."

"No, his attitude would never have been so submissive if he had a position in that hierarchy, he is probably only an initiate" Taras replied, but he was thinking about something else.

"That he's inscribed on the plates, kid?" Taras asked suddenly, as if trying to search for some memory-aid that would guide him to the memory of him.

"I only know of two types of badges in common use, the one used to pay salaries has the motto: 'If you can read this, you are free in my kingdom' and the ones used for inter-island transactions have the motto: 'Ticket for a daughter'"

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"Although there are others, like the badge that represents the noble status of my family and has the motto: 'Ticket for an island'"

"The second one you mentioned, do you know where the expression comes from?" Taras said, he still didn't remember the story that a drunk had told him in a tavern, but he related to this language, for which he needed her now.

"Yes, it's like, Ticket to fuck a whore" Ricardo said with some doubt, he remembered several jokes with this badge, but not very well the expression.

'Shit, I'm sure he was related to these plates' Taras cursed more and more annoyed at not being able to remember the story and not being able to understand the ritual that he was condemning them.

"No, Poseidon was a merman, there is only merman per shoal, so the mermaids killed themselves for that plate to have a daughter" Taras said correcting the boy.

"'Good for a whore,' is an expression from the human islands, to brag that you fucked a fucking face"

"And all this, what does it have to do with the ritual? Why so much fear..." Ricardo asked, starting to check the mouths of the other heads, to see if there was also something written.

"The era of Poseidon was a long time ago, the language of that era died in the next era, where the mermaids were exterminated ... by other mermaids, and it started the era where we humans began to expand to other islands, supposedly"

"So there is no one who can read the plates, but the phrases are still remembered... The important thing is that on one occasion, a drunk told me that this language is still used somewhere, but I don't remember where, or who used them... and it wouldn't hurt to know, if my life depends on this ritual" Taras recounted his worries.

"Will they be mermaids, right? If not, who the hell would use this language..." Ricardo said, picking up the paper from the last head, the coolest of all, the other three papers were just doodles.

"No, no... The mermaids use the language of the era where Poseidon was killed, the era where a mermaid ruled the seas. The era of the 'unspeakable'... The hatred towards Poseidon by the mermaids, was which caused the death of the language and also of paying homage to it, partly because Poseidon was ignorant of all the rituals dedicated to him". Taras said more relaxed, lying in a box waiting for time to pass, outside there were still screams and fights throughout the ship.

"So really, it was more of a mythological story than a real one... But now I need rumors and myths, to know whether we have a chance to end this ritual" Taras added, opening a jar from Paulo's boxes and putting on a seaweed in his mouth, as if waiting for the drug to loosen his memories.

Hearing that sentence, Ricardo stopped his attempt to remove the paper from the depths of the mouth of the head, it seemed that the small paper had gotten stuck in the portion of the throat that remained in the head, so it was very difficult to remove. Tired of trying, he threw his head back into the box.

Ricardo looked at Taras peacefully chewing some seaweed and said:

"In this sea the myths are only the truths that were forgotten and the closer you get to the truth, the more the whispers of the nameless king consume you, preventing you from achieving it... were the last words of my grandfather… He told them only to me… So, that story must be true"

'... but man does not recognize any king and the truth will be found one day, the gods of the Pantheon did not flee, they betrayed us, be your own king… Go to the sea, Ricardo…' Ricardo thought remembering that strange night, that last part was the one his grandfather forced him to keep secret.

"Ha, ha, ha, that old man lived in the seas, Ricardo! … I told you about the time I found a relic while fishing" Taras said, somewhat drugged by the algae.