The Last Flute

“Look at that road,” she said, pointing to the sword-straight avenue facing the pyramid. “It’s called the Road of the Dead. The thorn bushes lining it are used for sacrifices. The Zike people throw babies into the thorns. As the babies cry, they cut out their hearts and toss the still-beating organs into the flames, which burn all the way to the pyramid where they worship their gods. There, they sacrifice prisoners of war to the gods. The prisoners’ hearts burn in the fire, their skins are flayed as offerings, and their skulls are collected and stored in the basement of the temple behind the pyramid. With so much bloodshed and suffering, what are they really trying to find, what are they trying to discover? I long to know. Can the greatest mysteries of the universe be understood only through such terrifying cruelty? I believe there must be another way. Symbols: your name is Symbols. How wonderful. Everything is a symbol. With all my heart, I long to reach the ultimate truth through these symbols. Life and death, time and space: those are my true goals. Simply gathering knowledge of what happened is not what I’m after. So these trials and sufferings will no longer torment me as they once did. When I shatter all the symbols of outward appearances, I will gain eternal happiness and joy.”