In the days of old, Maakh of Herat—a venerable and worldly marzban endowed with wisdom and eloquence—recounted the dark chronicle of King Hormozd, son of Anushirvan, upon his ascension to the throne of Iran. In the dawn of his reign, Hormozd stood before the assembled grandees and swore sacred oaths to govern with supreme justice. He promised to extend a protective wing over the destitute and the oppressed, to strike fear into the hearts of transgressors, to banish greed and malice, and to preserve the realm as his glorious father had done. Hearing his magnificent discourse, the wise rejoiced, while the corrupt trembled in apprehension.
Yet as time turned, the inner nature of Hormozd warped toward malice and tyranny. Departing from the path of righteousness, he grew consumed by paranoid dread of his father's most celebrated scribes and ministers: Izad Goshasp, Barzmehr, and Mah-Azar. Seeking their absolute destruction, Hormozd first cast the righteous elder Izad Goshasp into a barren dungeon, subjecting him to starvation. The Mobad of Mobads (Zardesht), grieved by such cruelty, secretly dispatched food and rode to the prison under cover of darkness. Embracing in tears, Izad Goshasp imparted his final testament, asking the Mobad to deliver a message to the tyrant king: 'I served your royal father and nurtured you in my arms, yet prison is my reward. On the Day of Judgment, I shall present my guiltless heart before the Almighty Creator.' When spies reported this meeting, Hormozd was enraged and ordered Izad Goshasp slain in his cell.
The king's bloodlust did not cease there. Desiring to silence the Mobad forever, Hormozd summoned him to a royal banquet, secretly lacing a dish of bone marrow with lethal poison. With hypocritical warmth, the king served the morsel to the Mobad with his own fingers. Fully aware that death lurked in the bite, the Mobad could not defy the sovereign's direct command and swallowed it. Returning hastily to his estate, he consumed potent antidotes, but the venom pierced his vitals. On his deathbed, the Mobad warned the king's envoy: 'Tell Hormozd that his fortune has reversed; we shall soon stand as equals before the Divine Judge, where retribution awaits him.' Upon the Mobad's death, sorrow swept the land, yet the bloodthirsty monarch doubled down on his reign of terror.
Next, Hormozd orchestrated a treacherous plot against two noble lords, Bahram Adarmahan and Simay-e Barzin. Summoning Bahram in secrecy, Hormozd offered him immense riches if he would falsely accuse Simay-e Barzin of treason before the full court. The following morning, as Hormozd sat upon his ivory throne, Bahram denounced Simay-e Barzin as a ruinous blight upon Iran. Shocked by this betrayal, Simay-e Barzin exposed Bahram's falsehood, reminding the court how years ago, when Anushirvan sought a successor, only Bahram had argued that Hormozd—despite his maternal lineage from the Turkic Khagan—was fit to rule. Humiliated and furious that his lineage was brought into question, Hormozd cast both men into the dungeon and executed Simay-e Barzin three nights later.
Sensing his imminent death, Bahram sent a desperate message to Hormozd, revealing the existence of a sealed black chest hidden within Anushirvan's treasury. Hormozd ordered his treasurer to bring the chest immediately. Breaking the royal seal, he uncovered a silk scroll inscribed in his father's own hand. The prophecy read: Hormozd shall rule for twelve years, after which the realm will erupt in turmoil; a demonic enemy will rise, his armies will scatter, his own kin will blind his eyes, and he will be brutally slain. Reading his father's ominous words, Hormozd turned pale with terror, his eyes filling with blood. From the shadows of his captivity, Bahram sneered bitterly: 'O Turk-born king, do not rejoice in shedding innocent blood! You are no true scion of Kay Qobad; it was merely Noshirvan who mistakenly bestowed this crown upon your head!'