The Conqueror - Part 3

“You are as good a storyteller as any of the old men in the village”, I tell my brother.

But now we all see our father and some man in white robes who looks like a priest from the temple and I and Kimmu are both trembling because the priest has a long stick in his hand and we fear he might be here to beat us for playing truant.

Now, however, my father is laughing and excitable, “Jeryan”, he’s saying, “Show this man the birthmark you were born with. The one on the small of your back”.

I’m embarrassed because I’ve always seen my birthmark as something ugly; a disfigurement to hide away but now the priest is seizing me in strong but gentle hands and pulling up the back of my tunic and now he is nodding and saying, “Yes it is certain. The Prophecy says that when the sacred stars
come into alignment a boy shall be born with just such a birthmark and he shall be called the reincarnation of King Karzan, ruler of Kazaryxan”.

“Me?”, I am asking in bewilderment, “I am a king?”.

Now dreams of power are filling my head. Dreams of building a great Empire and amassing gold and jewels and building giant statues of myself.

But my wise brother Kimmu, seeing some strange look in my eyes that he has never seen before, is nudging me and reminding me, “Don’t forget the story I told you about Karzan and about the promise he made to the eternal light”.

“Yes”, I say, “I won’t make the same mistakes as Karzan. I’ll be a good king. One who serves life and light, not death and darkness. This I promise”.

“I believe you will”, says the priest in white robes, smiling and disappearing like a ghost.

My father and my brother and I are all shocked
and now I realize that the priest has placed something in my hand and, opening it, I see a sunflower seed.