The Boy with Golden Eyes

In a tiny village in the south of Iskitaan, back in the early 1000's, a young boy was born. It is said that the gods themselves blessed his birth, by commanding the legendary Companions of Light to be in attendance. The boy was born to a farmer’s son and a weaver’s daughter, on the floor of a Chalan temple. According to the priest and Sisters who were in attendance, the child was born with eyes that glowed gold. And the Daughter of Love herself, the Sword’s Living Child, attended his birth, along with the other Companions of Light.

The Companions spoke of prophecy that named the boy the future king who would reunite Iskitaan under the Enshallen flag. It is said that each of the Companions gave the baby a gift, but the one that is best remembered is that of a fox. The boy grew up with the fox as virtually his only friend. They were never separated, until the vixen died on his thirteenth birthday. The villagers shunned the young boy, both for his pet fox, and because occasionally, during times of stress, his eyes would glow gold again. The villagers didn’t like to be reminded of his birth, and the prophecies the Companions of Light Spoke of. It was with the coming of his birth, they whispered, that the 2nd Dark Emperor rose to power.

For fourteen years, the village lived in the shadow of Emperor - too small to really be noticed, but big enough to be worried he would eventually notice them. In the winter of the boy’s 14th year, the Emperor’s Night Guard swept through, and killed the boy’s parents, and took him into their custody. The villager’s didn’t know whether to be relieved the Guard took only the boy, or worried they would return for more children.

But once again, fate intervened. The Companions, who hadn’t been seen for fourteen years, picked that very day to return to the boy’s small village. In time to hunt down the Night Guard, and rescue the boy. They were too late to save his parents, and the village did not want the boy. So the Companions took the boy with them, raising him as their own. From them he learned the value of heroism and action, that of responsibility and dedication, as well as how to lead effectively and care for his people. Those are the traits that served High King Andrell Morgonson well when he ascended to the Enshallen Throne of Iskitaan.