Noah understood what Abraham had been reading. But the real concern was that Abraham might actually be right. A thought passed through his mind: Perhaps what we see belongs to a state of wakeful vision, or perhaps it is a dream. Yet the absence of chaotic, disconnected events made the dream possibility unlikely. When he pinched his own arm and felt the sting of pain, that too confirmed reality.

While Noah was considering various possibilities in his mind, he lifted his head. A little ahead, near the front façade of a large building on the left, stood a man. They could tell he was not young—his whitened hair, his beard, and his slightly bent posture revealed that much. When Abraham approached the building where the man stood, he looked at him, timid yet hopeful, and thought the man was human.

“Sir, could you help us?” he called out.

When the man lowered his head and looked directly at him, the group felt a moment of joy—at last, someone who could hear them, someone who could see them. But after waving his hand as if brushing something away, the man suddenly collapsed onto the road.

The group stared in horror at the man lying on the ground, covered in blood, struggling to comprehend what had just happened. Shocked, they exchanged dull, bewildered glances.

They had not yet recovered from the first ordeal when another unsettling sight confronted them. Looking through a window of the same building, they saw many elderly people inside—and for some inexplicable reason, none of them showed the slightest reaction to the death of their companion.

Abraham asked,
“What is this place? And why are so many elderly people gathered here?”

Noah answered,
“It’s a practice more common in the West, and it has slowly begun to appear in the lands I come from as well. Such places are called nursing homes. Sadly, children who do not wish to care for their aging parents leave them here.”

Odessa frowned.
“Old age is the most tender season of life! They are easily hurt by such things. Yes, in these years they can be stubborn, they try to meddle in matters that don’t concern them, but both spiritually and materially they bring a new color to the home. And with their experience, they can help in ways younger people cannot.”

Noah raised his hands slightly.
“You’re right, but that is how the world outside has become,” he said, and then added,
“But we also cannot assume every parent living in a nursing home has uncaring children. There are those who, for sincere reasons—such as work demands or the peace of the household—believe their parents may be better cared for in such a place.”

When Petrus motioned for them to look ahead, they fell silent. Two men stood there, with skin tones between black and white, curly hair, and full lips. Carrying bags in their hands, they were preparing to lift the corpse.

Mark ran toward them.
“Help us! What is happening here? Can’t you hear us?” he called out.

One of the men frowned and said,
“Why are you shouting? Everything is already over—now you decide to come?”
Then the man carrying the corpse pointed ahead with his hand:
“Go there. Our Lord is aware of you and is expecting you.”

The group felt both relieved and anxious—relieved at the thought of finally finding answers to the questions tormenting their minds, yet uneasy at the word Lord. For human beings, one of the greatest torments is not being able to uncover the meaning behind the mysteries that trouble the mind. Abraham remembered the papyri he had once read—those that said: even if prophets told their people only where they came from, where they were going, what the events around them signified, and what the boundless sky truly meant, such guidance would still be one of the greatest gifts ever given to mankind.

He felt an intense curiosity about the person they were about to meet. In his imagination, he pictured someone radiant-faced, leaning on a staff—someone who reminded him of Prophet Moses.

While the group expected a grand château fit for a lord, they instead found a simple house, and in front of it, a man standing with his back turned toward them. When they told him they wished to meet the Lord, he turned to them and said:

“Welcome. I have been expecting you.”

They had people on their island who could be described as dark-skinned, but never anyone whose body was entirely black. When Abraham and the others whispered to Noah and Seth,
“What is this? Is he human?”
Noah was the first to explain:

“Their skin color is simply different. Do not call them ‘black men.’ In the lands I come from, such a description makes people uncomfortable. Instead, let us call him the Black Pearl.”

Seth, however, added:
“Well, I hope you finally understand that I’ve been right all along. Let me remind you—there is a line in the Babylonian Talmud: ‘The skin of Qabil was struck.’ And skin that is struck darkens—blackens. So standing before us is the ancestor of Qabil, the black man.”

Noah thought to himself:

Allah, grant wisdom to those like him who seek to enslave people through belief, and grant patience to those like me who try to live Your heavenly religion in its original form. As if we cannot see his true aim—how he uses such words to justify enslaving black people and to build a system of exploitation. For him, Jesus, the Gospel, the Torah—none of it matters. His only concerns are power, wealth, and advantage.

The man known as the Black Pearl—the so-called Lord—spoke:

“I am not really a Lord. There hasn’t been a Lord on this island for half a century. But people always cling to something. They think that when I become Lord, this island will be restored and return to what it once was.”

Abraham asked,
“So you mean everything went bad after the Lordship system ended?”

The Black Pearl answered with laughter:

“No, never!” he said. “I am only the spiritual guide of the place of worship. The reason those men told you, ‘You come only after all is over?’ is because they think the prayers for peaceful passing were not answered by God.”

Noah nudged Seth with his elbow:
“Your Qabil has apparently found faith and repented. And if those you saw were houris, don’t be surprised!”
Then he scolded himself inwardly:
“He even made me resemble him, dragging me into his mythological nonsense!”

The Black Pearl called someone from inside. Pointing to a very short man, he said:
“Do not be afraid, he is only a dwarf. Not a devil, not a jinn, not anything from mystical tales. His only difference from us is his height. What I mean to say is this: this dwarf has been watching you since the moment you stepped onto the island. He told me how you reacted to the events you encountered.”

Seth interrupted:
“Excuse me, but how do you know about these mystical legends you mentioned? Do such things exist on this island?”

The Black Pearl brushed the air with his hand, dismissively.
“Those young people you saw invent a new legend almost every day for excitement. One of them makes up a mystical tale, and soon it spreads to everyone. The story circles around and eventually returns to the one who invented it. And when the young man hears his own tale from someone else’s lips, he starts believing it is real.”

Then, pointing toward the distant fields, he continued:

“They cannot think clearly because they numb their minds with the poppy plant. There was even a time when they stoned me, calling me Qabil. Can you imagine? Without ever looking at their own nakedness, their wickedness, their selfishness—at the cruel way they treat their parents, at their arrogance and opportunism—they treat me as if I were Qabil! If Qabil were to see them, he would probably embrace them, saying: ‘My children!’ Do not misunderstand me; I speak in this way only to describe their faults. In truth, they were once good people who contributed to their society…”

The Black Pearl continued:

“Let me explain, one by one, the truth behind the events you witnessed.”

“We were forced to dig that large pit filled with corpses you saw. Every day, many people on this island take their own lives, and the youths who lose themselves in narcotic herbs do not even bother to tend to the bodies of their own. The number of those who still strive to prolong the life of this island—my companions and I—barely equals the fingers on two hands. We cannot possibly bury so many bodies. So we had no choice but to dig mass graves. When one fills up, we seal it and open another. And at this rate of population decline, soon no one will be left living on this island.”

Abraham asked,
“But why are people so miserable, so hopeless that they would choose to end their own lives?”

“Do not rush. I will explain that as well,” said the Black Pearl, and continued:

“You gazed with great curiosity at the serpent-headed grave markers. In earlier times, the dead were buried according to their professions, and their tombs bore symbols reflecting their life’s work. For example, on the graves of scholars, a sun symbol was used, representing how they enlightened the universe with their knowledge. For judges, there were carvings of scales to symbolize justice. And of course, the figure long associated with physicians—stretching back centuries—is the two intertwined serpents. That region of the island was a burial ground for physicians. That is why you saw gravestones marked with serpents.”

Noah whispered into Seth’s ear:
“This is only the first explanation. It sounds like there’s much more to come.”

The Black Pearl continued:

“You may have formed many questions about the abandoned settlement. You must have noticed how old the houses there were. Instead of those ancient dwellings, we built the multi-story, modern homes you see here. When you step inside these houses and see their comfort, their convenience, and their finely carved decorations that please the eye, you will understand my point.

Imagine this: no need to go to the fountain and fill buckets with water! With the piping system we installed, water reaches every house, and everyone has their own tap. Some houses even receive heated water. Had we managed to fully prevent heat loss, we would have supplied it to all homes. We built a similar system for the fields as well. By making tiny openings under the pipes to let the water drip continuously, we saw that productivity increased.”

Abraham whispered to his father:
“I told you—we could distribute purified lake water throughout the island using pipes made of fired clay. They achieved the very things I had imagined. If the Lord hadn’t opposed us, we would have done this long ago! Because he didn’t give us enough resources, everything is his fault. What—are they the clever ones here and we the fools?”

The Black Pearl pointed toward the young people:

“You must have understood their condition by now. For the past few generations, our society has become like this. Our youth surrendered themselves to narcotics, fantasies, and unrestrained sexuality. In the belief that we should offer them limitless freedom and unchecked pleasure, we did not only lose affection, compassion, and family bonds—we also lost great virtues such as honesty, generosity, and justice.

We realized, though far too late, that unlimited pleasure and freedom would bring sociological and psychological ruin. But by then, the damage was done. The youth, like bulls who had snapped their ropes, attacked everything around them without regard for anyone! Either they truly struck and killed, or they crushed human dignity underfoot, inflicting psychological destruction.”

Noah thought to himself:

“I hope other societies can truly learn from this bitter reality the island has experienced. Even though, like the peoples who were destroyed before them, they did not learn from those who came earlier…”

The Black Pearl, noticing their curiosity, continued:

“Let me explain the last thing you wonder about—myself.

My family has served as clerics here for generations. I followed their path and carried out the same duty. As we mentioned earlier, my people created wonderful inventions, discoveries, and innovations. I praised their achievements and told them that God would reward them. But later, because of this comfort and success, they grew arrogant. In shamelessness, in corruption, in their appetite for chaos, the elders began to compete with the youth.

When I warned them, they first threatened me. Then they beat me and sealed my place of worship. Eventually, that so-called Lord—an arrogant pharaoh of a man—forced me to serve him, simply to prove that human intellect and science were superior to God.

I served him only to protect my family. But after some time, everything unfolded exactly as I had warned: the people completely lost their moral compass, and the island became unlivable. Seeing the state of the island, the Lord fled, taking his wife with him.

The few hundred people who remained chose me as Lord, hoping we might return to the days of peace and prosperity. Even though I begged them—‘Don’t do this, don’t put such a title on me!’—their desperation, and perhaps their misguided hope, led them at one point to worship even me.”

Mark stepped forward with a faint smile:

“You don’t look like an old man at all. And in that building over there, we saw people who seemed far older than you.”

The Black Pearl shook his head slowly.
“No, impossible. Except for one person on your island, there is no one on earth older than I am.”

Noah called out, “You must be speaking metaphorically.”

But the Black Pearl replied,
“No— I mean it literally,” and then added,
“I am a little over six hundred years old. But I will die soon.”

He showed them the portrait drawn on the papyrus the dwarf had brought and asked:

“This is our Lord. Do you know him?”

The group stared at the image as if they had swallowed their tongues. They had no idea what to say. Knowing the others had personal issues with the Lord back home, Noah—despite being an outsider in this matter—answered on their behalf:

“Unless he has an identical twin, this man is the Lord of our island.”

Understanding from their expressions that they agreed with Noah, the Black Pearl said:

“That deceitful liar! He claimed that with the great ship he built, he would pass through the surrounding storms and reach the outer world. I should have realized that he had come to the island right under our noses with his wife.”

Mark objected gently:

“There is something I don’t understand. Our Lord appears to be very religious, and he opposes many innovations and inventions, saying they would mean altering what God has created.”

“That is precisely why I call him a fraud! Here, on this island, he would say: ‘There is no God,’ simply because that was the spirit of the place at the time. But when he saw the religious people on your island, he must have immediately begun his pious theatrics. And surely, just as this island once grew corrupt and nearly destroyed itself, he must have desired—sincerely or not—for religion to dominate the island he fled to. Because with the values of tawhid—honesty, justice, humility—a society prospers.”

“So you mean only religious people can live by such values?”

“Of course not. Any individual can interpret their faith or their chosen ideology either for the good of humanity or for what we might call despotism and evil.”

Noah, knowing Seth would be disturbed, realized it would be unwise to go deeper into religious matters. Petrus came to his rescue by changing the subject:

“I think you are confusing the Lords. I have known our island’s Lord for more than thirty years. Even the elderly say they have known him since their childhoods. Which means our current Lord has ruled us for at least eighty years. And if he governed this island before ours, then he must be over a hundred years old. How is that possible?”

The Black Pearl spread his hands to both sides and replied:

“As I already told you, I am over six hundred years old. He is nearly the same age as I am. Why—could that not be possible?” He glanced first at Noah, then at Seth, and began his explanation:

“The name Seth appears in divine revelation. He is the third child of Prophet Adam. According to our belief, Seth—born after the murder of Abel—was rewarded by God because he was the first to speak the name of God. Whether it is entirely true or not, it is said that Seth began the practices of magic, sorcery, and spirit-summoning. Alchemists consider him the first alchemist.

I do not wish to confuse you with all the legends told about Seth, but what I want to emphasize is this: he was the first to seek a potion of immortality. And the important detail is that he began this search through experiments related to the soil.”

“You know as well as I do that, according to the Book of Genesis, the fact that Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and Enoch nine hundred and five suggests the possibility of such an elixir. It is said that although Enoch did not find the elixir of immortality, he discovered a life-extending potion known as the el-iksir. It is told that after living three hundred and sixty-five years, he vanished. As for Seth, it is claimed that through his work with the soil, he discovered the el-iksir.”

Seth grinned and interrupted:
“So, you are an alchemist—and you found this elixir yourself, is that what you’re saying?”

“My friend, who bears the name of the Seth of our age,” he said, “have a little more patience and I will come to that as well.” Then he continued:

“Alchemists performed many experiments involving soil. They observed that saplings planted in different soils—though under the same environmental conditions such as climate, water, and sunlight—grew with varying yields. They interpreted this difference as the roots drawing in tiny particles within the earth that we cannot see. In other words, they believed that the soil contained particles with distinct properties.

For reasons I cannot fully explain, they came to believe that certain particles and substances from beyond the earth had mixed into the soil. And they thought that if they could identify these foreign particles, they might, through certain processes, discover immortality or at least prolong life. Perhaps, because they regarded the sun and the stars as gods, they assumed the incoming particles were fragments of those divine beings—and drew their conclusions from there.”