WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.040 Welcome to Mika Kosulkanen, the legend of Talon. Today the legend leaves Talon, I know. 00:05.640 --> 00:10.220 Dangerous concept, some legends should probably stay in one city. Close to familiar cafes, 00:10.620 --> 00:15.920 predictable weather, and known emotional damage. But this time Kosulkanen went east, the Silame. 00:16.420 --> 00:20.600 Silame is one of those places that looks quiet only because it is hiding better stories than 00:20.600 --> 00:25.120 everyone else. The sea is there, the promenade is there, the old architecture is there, 00:25.120 --> 00:30.560 the wind is there of course because Estonia signed some kind of ancient contract with wind and gray 00:30.560 --> 00:38.720 skies. And then, there is the silence. Not empty silence. No, Silame has the kind of silence that 00:38.720 --> 00:45.140 feels like it has read classified documents. I arrived in the afternoon. The Baltic Sea looked 00:45.140 --> 00:50.480 cold, metallic, and deeply unimpressed with humanity. The promenade was almost empty. 00:50.480 --> 00:55.600 A few people walked by like normal citizens, but I could feel it. Something was watching. 00:56.420 --> 01:01.040 At first I thought it was just a seagull. In Estonia, this is always a reasonable first suspect. 01:01.680 --> 01:07.640 But then, the seagull blinked with three eyes. That is when I understood. This was not a regular 01:07.640 --> 01:12.340 travel episode. The creature landed on a railing. It looked like a bird designed by a committee 01:12.340 --> 01:17.620 of marine biologists, Soviet architects, and someone who had misunderstood a dream. 01:18.120 --> 01:22.860 It had silver feathers, tiny antennae, and the facial expression of a customs officer. 01:23.140 --> 01:29.860 It looked at me and said, documents! I said, for what? It said, for existing dramatically 01:29.860 --> 01:35.820 near the sea. I explained that I was Mika Kosulkenin, the legend of Tallinn. The creature paused. 01:36.380 --> 01:42.280 Then it made a small clicking sound and said, Tallinn, legends require temporary registration 01:42.280 --> 01:47.100 in Silame. Of course, even the fantastic creatures in Estonia understand bureaucracy. 01:47.980 --> 01:52.880 Before I could answer, the fog moved. Not the wind, not the sea. The fog itself. 01:53.820 --> 01:57.740 From inside it came a glowing jellyfish floating about one meter above the promenade. 01:58.260 --> 02:02.680 It was transparent, blue, and full of tiny lights. Like someone had uploaded the northern 02:02.680 --> 02:06.960 lights into a nervous aquatic chandelier. It introduced itself as an administrative 02:06.960 --> 02:11.900 oracle of the Baltic zone. I asked what that meant. It said, I predict delays. 02:12.560 --> 02:16.940 Honestly, the most believable oracle I have ever met. The jellyfish floated around 02:16.940 --> 02:22.240 me and said that Silame was built on layers. The stone, memory, concrete, secrets, 02:22.980 --> 02:25.840 and one very confused dimensional gate near the cultural center. 02:26.820 --> 02:32.080 I asked if this was dangerous, the jellyfish said. Only for people without a sense of humor. 02:32.820 --> 02:38.780 That was reassuring. Almost. Then the third creature appeared. It crawled down from the 02:38.780 --> 02:44.240 side of a building. A small concrete gargoyle about the size of a cat with wings like 02:44.240 --> 02:49.460 folded tram tickets. And eyes glowing warm orange. It did not speak immediately. 02:49.920 --> 02:55.000 It looked at me, then at the sea, then back at me. Finally, it said, you are not from here. 02:55.280 --> 03:00.420 I said, technically, I am from the internet. The gargoyle nodded, as if this has explained 03:00.420 --> 03:04.940 everything. It told me that Silame attracts strange things because it stands between 03:04.940 --> 03:10.420 eras. Not just geographically, not just historically, but emotionally. Some cities 03:10.420 --> 03:15.080 are loud. Some cities sell themselves. Some cities put their personality on billboards. 03:15.700 --> 03:20.920 Silame does not do that. Silame waits. It lets the sea talk. It lets buildings remember. 03:21.500 --> 03:25.660 It lets fog cover the parts of reality that are still loading. And in those loading 03:25.660 --> 03:30.300 moments, creatures arrive. The three-eyed seagull, the glowing administrative jellyfish, 03:30.700 --> 03:35.760 the concrete gargoyle, and apparently me. By sunset, the promenade had turned golden. 03:35.760 --> 03:40.380 The sea was still cold. The fog was still suspicious. And the creatures gathered 03:40.380 --> 03:43.860 around a bench, as if we were having a very strange local council meeting. 03:44.780 --> 03:48.760 The seagull stamped an invisible form. The jellyfish predicted a minor delay in my 03:48.760 --> 03:52.320 personal destiny. The gargoyle gave me a small stone and said, 03:52.660 --> 03:57.520 take this back to Talon. It will make your legend less centralized. I asked what that 03:57.520 --> 04:01.840 meant. It said, you cannot be the legend of Talon forever if you never leave Talon. 04:01.840 --> 04:06.620 That was annoying. Because it sounded wise. On the way back, I thought about that. 04:07.300 --> 04:11.800 Maybe every personal myth needs a second location. A place where the story becomes 04:11.800 --> 04:16.120 stranger. A place where the main character is forced to admit that the world is larger 04:16.120 --> 04:21.320 than his own branding. Talon gave me the title. But Silame gave me creatures. And 04:21.320 --> 04:25.780 honestly, that is a fair trade. So if you ever go to Silame, pay attention. 04:26.200 --> 04:31.560 If a seagull asks for documents, be polite. If a jellyfish predicts delays, believe it. 04:31.840 --> 04:34.880 If a concrete gargoyle gives you advice, take it seriously. 04:35.880 --> 04:39.120 And if the fog starts moving against the wind, do not panic. 04:39.720 --> 04:42.560 It may simply be another legend trying to enter the Baltic region. 04:43.380 --> 04:46.440 This was Mika Kosulkanen, the legend of Talon. 04:47.100 --> 04:51.480 Episode 2, The Silame Creatures. Probably true. Definitely dramatic.