Saint of the Pyre

We are about to die, yet we are not afraid. We are proud to be sacrificed for our treasure. Our one great secret. The unmentionable word. I. We do not fully understand it, but, we know enough. This knowledge brings us relief from our pain.  

We feel not the chains that bind us to the stake that will serve as our funeral pyre, nor the evil stares of our so called “brothers”. We look into they’re eyes and know that we are above them. We are one. No, I am one. I alone in the knowledge of myself.

I have never been as proud as I am now, on the brink of my death. But, I am not at peace with the thought of leaving this world for the knowledge I carry shall die with me.

“Fools you know not what you are about to do!” I scream.  But, alas I make no sound. I taste the bitter blood, and for the first time feel the marks of my transgression.  

    I remember my trial, and hear again the final words of the great council speaking in perfect unison. “They have committed the greatest transgression possible. They must die, but first, silence them.” My mind projects the events on the backs of my eyes. Again I see the men with hoods descend on me,wrenching my mouth open with their hands. Their bone crushing strength over takes me. The sun glints off their blades as they arch towards my face. The last sound I utter is a scream, before the memory dissolves into blackness.

    I awake in the present, looking straight at a boy I have never seen before. He is like a mighty red wood among the shrubbery of the world. He stands slouched, but still he towers above the other children. He is a diamond disguised as coal. His eyes though, are his betrayer. It is they who mark him as different.

    They sparkle with a million question and very few apologies.  They are tinted windows that flicker with whispers of a defiant spirit. This boy seems to be a man to great for his time.

I burn to enlighten him. To bestow upon him the knowledge that is now about to kill me. I have no words left though. They have all been stolen from me at a time when I need them the most.

Then, suddenly he is staring right at me. Lightening seems to shoot from his eyes, and through me. It is now, or never. I understand now that my entire purpose has been, to pass on the knowledge of the great “I” to this boy.

I waste not a moment because my time has run out. In the distance the crowd is roaring as the torches are being lit. But I hear not, for there is only him. Our connection is tangible. I try with all my might to put the full power of my discoveries into my gaze, and I will him with all my remaining strength to  understand. “Be wary little brother.” I silently plea, “The world is not what you think.”

The shock in his eyes tells me that he understands. I revel in the final ecstasy of knowing that I have fulfilled my purpose. I am truly exhausted. I know now that it is my time to depart this world.

The executioners advance forward, as if they heard me calling. “Come,” I think “I am ready.” I feel the invisible ropes that tie me to this life, loosen, and I know that I will soon be free. I smile with the last of my strength. I know not if the logs are ever lit. I am gone.