Last King of Kings

Chapter 47: The boy of a divine descent

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"My Shahanshah, may he be immortal, the ceremony is about to start."

Some servant was talking to Yazdegerd while kneeling before him. Yazdegerd was well aware of that, so he dismissed the servant with a small wave. He was clothed in a colourful silk robe, his heavy ceremonial crown weighing on his head. He was in the small room in Ctesiphon's Fire-temple. It was a massive building, nearly as big as Shahanshah's palace itself. That was understandable, since it was probably the most important Fire-temple in the whole Empire. Of course, much of the temple was funded by the Sassanid royal family. After all, the state and the religion were inseparable in the realm of Sassanids. That is, until now. Now, the religion and state was as divided as never before. In order to rebuild the relationship between the priests and the warriors. In the olden days, when Sassanids were just a small vassal family of the Parthians, this concept of cooperation between priests and warriors was what helped Sassanids gain their power. Unfortunately, as the Empire grew in its size and power, priests and warriors, who were replaced by state overall, were also growing more powerful and their interests overlapped. That caused the separation of priests from warriors. But today was the day Yazdegerd would change that. He would once again unite both priests and warriors under a single figure, single leader. Him. Today would mark the day of the revival of the fallen giant. Today would be the day Derafsh Kaviani would rise from the ashes and serve as a guiding light for all Iranians, both in and outside of the Empire of all Iranians. He put his head high up, while still trying to balance his crown. He gazed upwards, as if to show his superiority. Full of confidence, he opened the door and, together with few guards marched towards the main hall, where the ceremony was held. Many important and powerful figures from all over the Empire were present, wanting to witness this epic moment. Security was tight, as Yazdegerd was still scared about the recent assassination attempt.

He walked through the magnificent hall towards huge doors, behind which was large ceremonial hall full of esteemed guests waiting for their Shahanshah to start the ceremony. Yazdegerd steadied his crown and his posture. Everything was ready, so Yazdegerd nodded towards the guards that stood in front of those huge and magnificent doors. The guards, all of them members of the darigan, understood the order and slowly, yet steadily, and with a creak, opened the great door. Behind them was a sight to behold. The whole hall was dimly lit by a plethora of Atar's, or holy fires. They were called by a plethora of names. "Burning and unburning fire." "Visible and invisible fire." It is considered to be visible presence of our Lord and saviour Ahura Mazda. In the hall, large number of people was seated, even around the pillars. In the centre of it all was an elevated platform, on the platform was altar, where the reincarnate and Bashir stood, both clothed in white ceremonial robes with white cloth hats. Yazdegerd suddenly felt the pressure, as eyes of everyone in the room suddenly were glued to him. He was watched closely by the keen eyes of his subjects, as if being judged and evaluated. Half of them saw him for the first time, so that was to be expected. His darigan surrounded him from all sides, briefly disrupting the evaluating gazes. He suddenly felt very safe and warm, surrounded on all sides by men willing to risk their life for him. But soon, the encirclement loosened a bit and he was once again under watch. His every move, his every expression. And so, he threw all emotions that were swirling in him away, but on an iron expression and went straight towards the altar.

Bashir was already awaiting him at the altar with some form of paper in his hand. Perhaps notes for the speech? After all, this ceremony was one of its kind. It will most likely never take place again. Although the days where Sassanid Shahanshahs considered themselves of divine descent were long gone, they were returning at this very day. After the ceremony would be over, Sassanid dynasty would once again rise to a position between mortals and gods. At least in name. And Yazdegerd didn't believe that there would be other occasion for such ceremony. Because that would mean Sassanids once again lost their standing among the divine. And if that were to happen, Yazdegerd was very sceptic whether they'll recover. Perhaps they would, once again. But that wasn't for Yazdegerd to worry about. He had the present to worry about, not the future.

He stepped on the platform and stood in front of Bashir, with the reincarnate sitting on an elevated chair behind the altar. The height difference between Yazdegerd and Bashir was very obvious, even with the crown on Yazdegerd's head. But he didn't let that take him aback. He puffed his chest and put his head as high as he could. Even with that, though, he could only reach somewhere to Bashir's chest. But he didn't mind. He stood there, proud and mighty, sheer confidence shining from him. Bashir smiled on him and turned around to face the reincarnate. Reincarnate was already official head of religion in the Empire, as planned anyway. Although controlled mostly by Bashir, who was in turn controlled by Yazdegerd, he served as sort of medium between the Ahura Mazda and the mortal world. God of Wisdom bestowed his guidance upon him, and he shared that guidance with his Shahanshah. This "gift" was paid for by his voice – that's why he's mute. At least that was how the story was told. In reality, only those outside of Shahanshah's closest circle believed it. Those in the circle knew that it's all just made-up bullshit. And although Bashir believed him to be the reincarnate, not even him believed this talk about the communication with Ahura Mazda.

Reincarnate was supposed to write his guidance onto the paper he was given, thus surpassing the need to talk. Bashir took the paper from him. Now he had two papers in his hands. One with the guidance, and one of unknown content. He then raised his hand to gather attention.

"Most esteemed and honoured guests of our Shahanshah, may he be immortal. Our lord, God of Wisdom, our creator has spoken through this child once again! He, who was reincarnated with the spirit of Zoroaster, our prophet and servant of our Lord. The message from our Lord is clear and sound! Today, he doesn't guide our Shahanshah, but instead, he guides us! Us, his servants and loyal retainers! He guides and advises, sending a message about our mistakes. How we were mistaken and how na?ve were we. To even think our most holy, mighty and stalwart Shahanshah, our great and glorius rulers, that they were and are mere humans? No, that couldn't be! Of course it can't! And our Lord, Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom reminds us of that. He reminds us of the fact that we threw our symbol, our divine Shahanshah away, and mistakenly thought he might be one of us! Of course he can't! As our Lord says, our Shahanshah was, is and will be of divine descent! How blind were we!"

After this "speech" of sorts, Bashir gathered all of the attention upon the young Shahanshah, who still stood there, quiet, listening closely. Bashir knelt down, the Fires around Yazdegerd were set alight, as if Ahura Mazda himself wanted to observe the ceremony. Bashir then started to recite some prayers, mostly to Ahura Mazda. While he was doing that, some priests brough a tub of water in front of Yazdegerd. He washed his hands in the water and started to recite the prayers with Bashir. After a while, everyone in the temple was praying, even the guards. It was a graduation ceremony of sorts, with Yazdegerd graduating from his humanity. Now he officially wasn't human. What would that mean to him? Would he be exempted from human laws? Would his human emotions disappear? Well, of course they won't, as this all was just a formality. In reality, he still was normal human. But If he wanted, could he misuse his "divinity?" Perhaps he could. But now, that the divinity of the Sassanid lineage was restored, it was time to act. To start the preparations. To fend off the wolf from the desert.