The Immortal Nicholas
Page 20
“What do you mean?” Agios gripped Nicholas’s hand even tighter, but just like that, Nicholas had fallen asleep.
The others Agios had mourned had died by violence, or suddenly, and this slow decline was one of the most heartbreaking things he had ever encountered. Nicholas drifted in and out of consciousness, and sometimes when he opened his eyes Agios could see recognition there. Other times it was as if Nicholas was already gone.
For two days Agios didn’t leave his beloved son’s side. Then, late one night, Nicholas took a deep breath and whispered his first words in days. They were clear and lovely, a call to arms: “Persevere, Agios. Until Jesus’s mission is complete. Until all the ends of the earth shall hear. Remind all mankind to fight the good fight. Remind them to give in memory of God’s greatest gift. Give them comfort and hope. Promise me, Father.”
Agios swallowed. “I promise—Father.”
Nicholas’s smile was gentle. “You’ve never called me that before.”
“You are a priest,” Agios said simply.
Nicholas drew a deep breath. Then his features relaxed, and his smile became a look of expectancy— of delight.
He didn’t breathe again.
Tears dripped off Agios’s cheeks as he leaned over his friend. He kissed his forehead in blessing, in good-bye. “Farewell, Son. Farewell—Father.”
His back bent with the burden of loss—“But God gave me a back for bearing burdens,” he whispered to himself. He stood beside the bed.
The whole town mourned Nicholas’s passing. With his own hands Agios carried the frail body to the tomb and placed it safely inside. I have buried three sons now, he thought.
But now he hoped to see them all again, in the fullness of time.
The priests of the church thought of Agios as a faithful servant of the bishop’s. They offered him a place among them, but he gently refused. One asked, “What do you want, then? You deserve something.”
“There is one thing,” he said. They were surprised when he named it, for it was only a well-worn garment that Nicholas had set aside years before, but they gladly gave it to him.
“Is that all?” the priest asked gently.
Agios said, “Father Nicholas gave me a gift already. This is plenty.”
Hesitantly, the priest asked, “Sir, some say you are the bishop’s uncle—Nicholas, too. Is that your name?”
“It’s a good name,” Agios said. Yes. I would be honored to share it.
Despite the offers of hospitality, Nicholas took the red cloak back to his small room and sat looking at it. It was a symbol of the true, precious gift that Nicholas had left him, one so priceless it took his breath away. Already he could feel himself fading into mist and memory, a myth of a man who would point to the cross and beyond—to the resurrection. His role was to teach men and women how to give—and to give them all what Agios himself had always needed:
Hope.
Agios would remind them all of Christ and his promise, and he would inspire them to follow his example, to serve until Jesus’s mission was truly complete, until all the ends of the earth would hear and believe.
Agios took Nicholas’s cloak and swept it over his own shoulders. It was a perfect fit. The robe spilled to the floor in lustrous folds, and the gold and white hems sparkled in the lamplight. Agios turned up the hood, hiding his face save his long, snowy beard, shouldered his pack, and left the room.
The night was cold and clear, the stars a million points of light in the dark veil above him. But one star glowed especially for him. The North Star that had graced the sky when he was still a boy so many years ago shone eternally in the heavens, winking as if God Himself were whispering to Agios.
Maybe He was.
Glory.
Glory and majesty, honor and praise, all glory to the highest.
Agios knew he had become a part of the story that would transform the world. It had the power to make men and women whole, to change everything, because it had already changed everything in him.
Until all the ends of the earth shall hear.
“Lead me home,” Agios whispered, a prayer that would live on his lips in the days and years and ages to come. And then he shouldered his pack and started walking north, toward that place where the stars always shone clearest.
Though he walked through darkness, his heart was filled with light, for he knew that his work was only just beginning. The entirety of his life to this point had merely been to prepare him for what he was to do next: bring hope to the hopeless and joy to the joyless. He would serve mankind by reminding them every year that a King had been born who had died for their sins.
There, at the top of the world, Agios would spend long nights watching the frigid sky, waiting for the one star that would never set. That impossibly bright star, which had first appeared at a time of great sadness and anger in his life, would usher in a new era of joy and celebration.
For when that star returned to the heavens, the Lord would return from the heavens to the earth.
GLENN BECK, the nationally syndicated radio host and founder of TheBlaze, is a thirteen-time #1 bestselling author and is one of the few authors in history to have had #1 national bestsellers in the fiction, nonfiction, self-help, and children’s picture book genres. His recent fiction works include the thrillers Agenda 21, The Overton Widow, and its sequel The Eye of Moloch; his many nonfiction titles include Conform, Miracles and Massacres, Control, and Being George Washington. For more information about Glenn Beck, his books, and TheBlaze TV network, visit GlennBeck.com and TheBlaze.com.
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Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns
Agenda 21
Cowards: What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say
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The Original Argument: The Federalists’ Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century
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Idiots Unplugged: Truth for Those Who Care to Listen (audiobook)
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Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government
Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine
America’s March to Socialism: Why We’re One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades (audiobook)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-4767-9884-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-9890-5 (ebook)