"Riyan Black, come back! Don't go so deep!"
The supervisor stood at the top of the mine, holding a whip, and shouted.
"Don't bring your son to work from tomorrow," he said to Riyan's father.
"It's his first day, sir. He will learn," Riyan's father replied in a small, nervous voice.
The supervisor hit him with the whip and left without saying anything else.
Riyan's father shouted again in pain, "Riyan, come back!"
Riyan, who was only eight years old, moved deeper into the mine with his old, torn clothes and bare feet. A strange, white light was shining ahead of him. Outside, a crowd was gathering. Their faces showed worry and curiosity.
After a few moments, Riyan came out with his right hand tightly closed into a fist. As soon as he appeared, his father hit him. His father slapped him twice.
"Why did you go inside when I told you not to?"
Riyan opened his fist. In his hand was a small, magical stone—about twenty grams. Everyone in the crowd was shocked to see it.
Then the supervisor came back. He took the stone and started hitting Riyan and the crowd with his whip. Riyan's father tried to protect him, but the supervisor hit him many times too.
Sitting on the ground, Riyan Black looked at his father, who was shaking with sadness. Riyan had never seen such a scary scene before. He said to himself, "Why are all these people like this?"
At that moment, Riyan's father coughed, cried out, and died. Riyan ran to him and tried to grab him. Then, some security guards standing nearby came and grabbed Riyan's father by his hands and feet. Riyan cried, but the guards threw his father's body deep into the mine.
Riyan's anger exploded. He picked up a tool that was used for digging and attacked all the security guards. But they caught him, beat him, and threw him out of the mine.
"Where do these fools even come from?" he shouted angrily.
Riyan was sitting outside the mine, crying. His leg hurt a lot, maybe because of an old injury. At that moment, he felt like he was going crazy.
He stumbled and reached his home. His house was small and made of wood, in a corner of the village. Riyan stood outside the house. Holding his anger and pain, he said, "I will not forgive them… not anyone. I swear !" Then he went inside.
Then he felt that his eyes were slowly closing, as if a connection wire was about to break. He heard someone's voice—his mother was shouting, "Wake up, wake up! This is no time to sleep! Night is coming!"
Riyan's eyes opened, and he found himself lying on the bed. His whole body was burning with heat.
Riyan's mother was a beautiful and shining woman, who looked like a statue of beauty. She asked, "What happened? Are you seeing that same dream again?"
Riyan said softly, "How can I forget?"
His mother tried to comfort him and said, "What is gone is gone. Evening is coming. Go and give food to Grandpa. He will be waiting."
Riyan asked eagerly, "Mom, can I join the royal army when I grow up?"
His mother smiled and said, "Yes, why not?"
Riyan was only nine years old. His mother stroked his head and said, "You can do anything."
Riyan asked excitedly, "Anything? Can I become a spiritual guru?"
His mother said fearfully, "No… no. We poor people are not allowed to do that. If anyone learns, they are killed."
Riyan felt a little unhappy hearing this. Then he said firmly, "One day I will become a great man. Just watch, Mom."
His mother said lovingly, "Okay… first go and give the food."
She gave Riyan a food packet. Riyan took it and started walking. Standing at the door, his mother looked at him and said, "What happened a year ago is not something to forget so easily." Her eyes filled with tears.
The darkness was growing. A little scared, he reached the door of a small hut outside the village.
Riyan knocked on the door. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"
From inside, an old man opened the door. His beard was two feet long and white. The hair on his head was so long that it was hanging down to the ground.
He took the food packet from Riyan's hands and, in the next moment, pulled Riyan inside the room. Riyan got scared in this situation. This had never happened before. It was the first time that after taking the packet, Grandpa did not let him go outside but pulled him inside the room.