The Immortal Tricked Me into Keeping a Lamp Lit for Ten Years

The year my son died, he was only five.

A bitter winter fever burned for three days and three nights.

Holding his tiny, fever-hot body, I knelt at every medicine shop in town.

No one could save him.

Just before dawn, an immortal in white descended from the sky and stopped me.

He said he had a way to bring my son back.

All I had to do was use my own heart's blood to light ten thousand soul-returning lamps.

I didn't hesitate.

Ten years later, on the night the final lamp was lit, a pillar of light shot into the sky.

Just as promised, my son stepped out of the light.

He was taller now, with handsome features, and he smiled as he called to me.

"Mother, I'm back."

I rushed over in tears and hugged him.

But the moment I embraced him, my hand touched the smooth skin behind his left ear.

My smile froze on my face.

My son had a red birthmark the size of a coin behind his left ear.

This person didn't.