Conch Echoes is a Book Collection.
Vol. 1[]
"Give me the conch from your hand, and we will trouble you no more,"
Said the handsome young man, who had arrived at the bonfire with his followers, and was now idly fiddling with the blade in his hand.
This was their thirtieth night in the desolate land of exile, which the boys and girls secretly called the "Outlands."
The blade that once felled trees, cut grass, pried open fruits, and silenced a great many not of their group was no longer as sharp as it used to be, and the adults who sought to control them by force had died before ever drawing their own blades from their sheaths.
Now, no one even knew where its scabbard had been thrown.
"Are you sure you want this conch?"
The boy holding the conch was the most diminutive of them all, and hence, they called him "Shorty."
"Yes, I do."
"Why?"
"Do you really need to ask why?" the handsome young man said with a smile. "Didn't 'we' all agree on a rule, Shorty? That whoever is holding the conch has the right to speak?"
Yes, this was the secret pact made by the children around the bonfire, to resist the adults who had made slaves of them.
To survive this desolate land and break free of their grim status as exiles, the children made a pact.
A leader would be chosen from their midst — a child like them, clever and capable of guiding them through hardship. One who would stand with them, yet not fear strength. This was the person who would hold the conch and become the leader of all the boys and girls.
Secreted from the beach during the day's labor right under the adults' noses, proof that they were not infallible.
As childhood fades, so does the belief that elders are all-knowing superhumans. For most, this perhaps leads to some disillusionment. But for these youths, it might not have been the worst thing to learn.
And then...
The ideal order did not arrive. Or rather, the bestial cruelty in the hearts of these children, yet unquenched, was becoming more rampant without anyone to suppress it. For if violence was capable of overthrowing everything, why should those who could wield it not seize everything through it?
This included the conch, and everything it represented in the children's secret pact.
"So you think you can hold the conch?"
"I was the one who put in the most effort, and I also got the most in return. What's more, I'm the one holding the blade now."
"Then you will become the one who commands us all."
"Yes, of course I will become the one who commands you all."
"Just like those adults at the beginning...?"
"Well, that might not sound so bad after all."
Well, if that's the case... As if to answer, the short boy rose from the bonfire, his back to the flames, his face hidden in shadow...
But the handsome young man thought he caught a smirk on the other boy’s face, and a strange unease about the future washed over him. Until that night, he had believed all to be in his grip, like the knife, steady in his hand.
Shorty handed him the conch, and turned to walk into the forest.
After that night, the boy who once held the conch seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Vol. 2[]
"You knew that things would end up like this..."
The girl wearing glasses eventually found the short boy. As he returned, the other children parted to make way for him, their eyes filled with worry.
At the path's end, a handsome young man lay slumped in a chair piled on with heavy objects, his features sharpened by the pallid green tone of his skin. His deep crimson-purple lips were stark against the bonfire’s eerie flames, which flickered like a strange veil in the wind.
The young man bore no visible wounds, and yet his hands hung dully, long stiffened as if cast in plaster.
The blade that he once wielded with so much pride had fallen right there.
Not a single person picked it up.
"Things always end up like this. I just didn't think it'd happen so soon."
The boy picked up the blade. Though still hard, it bore the scars of years of wood-chopping with its nicked edges and dented surface.
The young man didn't know how to tend to this power, but as it was his only lifeline, he kept the blade's need for tending a secret.
Naturally, he grew to distrust all and sundry. His sleep became short and restless, and he was quick to anger. The fear of revealing flaws like the adults did caused him to reveal still more flaws... Things could thus only end in one way.
In truth... the only thing the protagonists in most stories need is more patience.
"When did you start seeing this?"
"Since he demanded the conch from me, I guess."
"Back when he wanted the conch?"
"Just what is the conch? It's nothing. A toy we found on the beach, really. He would've tossed it sooner or later, either that or maybe that broken blade. To carry both would only have slowed him down."
A pair of hands, holding a conch, emerged from between the boy and the girl. The owner of the hands stepped forward and placed the conch in the boy's hands.
The boy looked down and saw red marks on the palms beneath the shell, left there by the coarse rope.
"So what will you do?" the girl with glasses asked him.
He raised the conch to his lips and tried to blow it just like he'd seen in the picture books. But instead of a clear call, only a soft, comical puff of air could be heard.
Then he brought it to his ear and listened, and from the conch came the sound of waves.
"We shall build a town here and make it an Elysium for boys and girls. No one person shall monopolize the conch from now on, for it belongs to all of us. Anyone can hold it and speak their mind."
"But all of us will grow up one day. And we'll become the adults we don't want to be."
"Don't worry, it's okay. There's always a tomorrow, and there will always be other children. If they don't like who we become, they can shatter our world with their own hands."
A short, unassuming boy. And a rather smart one.
He hurled the dented blade into the waves,
And placed the conch amidst the children.
Other Languages[]
| Language | Official Name |
|---|---|
| English | Conch Echoes |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 海螺的回响 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 海螺的迴響 |
| Japanese | ホラガイの残響 Horagai no Zankyou |
| Korean | 소라의 메아리 Soraui Meari |
| Spanish | El eco de la caracola |
| French | Échos de conque |
| Russian | Эхо раковины Ekho rakoviny |
| Thai | เสียงสะท้อนจากหอยสังข์ |
| Vietnamese | Tiếng Vọng Của Ốc Biển |
| German | Echos der Meeresschnecke |
| Indonesian | Gema Keong |
| Portuguese | Ecos da Concha |
| Turkish | Kabuktaki Yankılar |
| Italian | Echi della conchiglia |
