The scene lasted only as long as the flash of light that illuminated it. A young man looking suspiciously like Matthew Broderick was standing at the top of a step pyramid, facing the sun above and the humid crowd below. Behind him and a step to either side were two very severe countenanced priests in simple robes. They held their faces tilted slightly up but kept their eyes on the ecstatic young man. Their hands were loosely clasped in front of them, but their exposed arms betrayed the tension of expected action.
The young man at the center of all this attention was dressed in a long white tunic decorated with gold thread embroidery. It was a wonder how he was standing with all the gold piled on him. A elaborate gold headdress giving the appearance of a series of layered flames fit loosely on his brow, and he was struggling to remain balanced so it would not fall over. A tall gold scepter topped with a three inch opal sphere kept his left hand occupied. A long non-functional obsidian sword trimmed in gold was heavier than he thought and his right arm trembled to keep it upright.
Chains and loops of gold added even more pounds to his lanky frame. They fit snug against his neck but also looped low to reveal his chest. It was everything he could do to stand upright. He did not notice the weight, however. He was thrilled to have been chosen. “I am the Sun!” The crowd roared back their adoration.
The priests noticed me approaching up the steps. The tension in their arms increased. Above us, a solar eclipse started. The crowd’s tone of adoration became one of concern. They did not see me ascending the step pyramid. Not initially.
The chosen man shouted that the sun in the sky was dimming because he had become the new sun. A few moments more, he exhorted, and he would take his rightful place in the sky.
As the eclipse deepened, my form was gradually revealed in the shadows. Sunlight would not reveal me. But the umbra of the eclipse would.
The crowd saw me and became silent with apprehension. The priests welcomed me with their visage. The chosen man continued to look up, ready for the moment of his apotheosis.
At the height of the eclipse, the land was darkened. Only the gold on the chosen man gleamed and sparkled. In the near darkness, I was completely visible to those that wanted to see me. He finally realized I was standing in front of him.
“I am the Sun.” He spoke it as a defense and an attack.
“You are.” I nodded in agreement.
His lips curled in confusion. “I will banish you, [Absence of Light].”
“You won’t.”
His right hand trembled, making the obsidian sword dance. To the crowd, it was an act of aggression. But I knew he could barely hold his position. If he tried to swing it, he would drop it on his foot.
“I AM THE SUN!”
“The Sun is eternal. If you survive me, then you are the Sun. If you do not, then after your death, you will become part of the Sun. Either way, the Sun is eternal.”
The priests grabbed him by his shoulders to hold him in place as I took my own obsidian dagger and pierced his chest between the ribs. His heart decried my violence by spraying me with his blood.
The first gleam of revealing sunlight came down and set the still living body to flame. The light dissolved the edges of my form, giving me a wispy appearance. It also licked up every drop of blood that had drenched me, so that when I turned to descend the front of the step pyramid, I was just as clean as I had risen.
At the sight of the conflagration at the top of the pyramid, the crowd bloomed into cheers, chants, and cries. As the sun in the sky reasserted itself, my form became less visible. By the time I had fully descended, I was invisible to most of the populace.
The obsidian dagger that killed him was clean, but it was not empty. I had a delivery to make. I turned sideways and stepped towards the lands of the dead, leaving the flash dream.