Rodrigo and his companions had traveled south from Onondaga for two days. Vast forests and green prairies rose all around them beneath a clear blue sky, dotted with magnificent, billowing white clouds. Rodrigo felt that this was the perfect place to live with Epona.
Bluish mountains crowned with snow blended into another range of green hills thick with enormous pine forests. In the distance, great herds of buffalo could be seen running across the plains. Of course, neither Rodrigo nor the others knew what those animals were, so they compared them to wild bulls.
But there was something troubling Rodrigo too much to enjoy the scenery before him in peace: Epona.
He had not told the group that he had clearly heard the goddess’s voice bidding him farewell during his battle against Sawiskera, because he did not want to worry them. But deep down, he was a bundle of nerves.
Are Epona and Ana all right?
Such questions and uncertainties kept him from taking in the beauty of the land with any calm.
“I cannot believe such beautiful landscapes exist on Earth,” Tania said in astonishment. She too knew very little of the world, only North Africa and parts of Europe.
At that moment, Anpiel came to a halt.
“I detect human life nearby,” he said.
“They must be advance scouts roaming the area,” Tania replied.
Then Susanoo drew his sword, which alarmed everyone, fearing that the eastern god was about to pick a fight, and they whispered for him not to do anything rash.
“Gomen, gomen,” the eastern god said. “In truth, I merely wished to invoke a stealth technique upon us all, that we may pass unnoticed by the ears and eyes of our enemies.”
Rodrigo then remembered that Susanoo had used a similar technique when they fought each other.
Susanoo then invoked the mantra:
“Mayonaka no Wōkingu (Night walk)”
Yet apparently, nothing happened.
“Did anything happen?” Tania asked, when suddenly she realized that her voice could no longer be heard. Only her thoughts reached the others.
Anpiel moved his arm and noticed that it shifted like a shadow-image.
“Hai,” Susanoo said. “This technique doth yet function here, despite the barrier.”
The gods then realized that their footsteps made not the slightest sound, nor their breathing, nor anything else. All their communication had become purely telepathic.
“Even so, I do not believe it would be wise to wear our totemas,” the angel said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
The gods continued onward until they spotted scouting parties nearby, but the men could neither see nor hear them. They wore only loincloths and carried enormous bows. Their hair was tied in long topknots. Rodrigo noticed that their skin was darker than that of the people in the territories they had visited before.
“If there are scouting parties here, then there must be a city nearby,” Anpiel said. “We must be cautious, for it is possible this trick will not work against deities.”
The gods walked another hour as the sky began to turn ochre, while the sun slowly disappeared behind the green hills. Then what they saw left them utterly amazed.
There stood a gigantic palisade, and behind it rose a massive quadrangular pyramid. It had three clearly defined tiers, and at its summit they could make out a sort of hut fully protected by a wall.
Around the enormous pyramid stood hundreds upon hundreds of thatched-roof houses, as well as several smaller mounds nearby. At the base of the great pyramid stretched a vast plaza where dozens of people were buying and selling, with countless market stalls arranged in rows.
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“Is this the kingdom of Cahokia?” Rodrigo asked in amazement.
“I do not believe so... Cahokia should lie farther to the southwest,” said Anpiel, puzzled.
“You mean this is only... a small town of the Misapini Empire?” Tania asked, alarmed.
“Mississippi,” Anpiel corrected, prompting the goddess to make a look of irritation.
Just then, a woman saw them and greeted them.
“Are you travelers? Why not stay in our city?” she asked.
The gods were taken aback.
Can she speak the divine tongue?
Yet after seeing how common it seemed for people in these lands to speak it, they no longer found it so strange.
“Ah... yes. We are seeking to travel south,” Anpiel said.
“To the south? How far south?” the woman asked.
“Have you heard of the kingdom of Tula? We intend to go there,” the angel continued.
“Oh, I am sorry, but no. Even so, you may stay at an inn tonight before continuing your journey,” the woman replied.
Anpiel turned to Tania, and she agreed. But just as they were about to move, Susanoo stopped abruptly.
“What is it, Susanoo?” Rodrigo asked.
“Hast thou not perceived it? We have not yet withdrawn from the stealth enchantment. That girl should neither see nor hear us,” the eastern god said, fear in his expression.
At that very moment, chains sprang from the earth and bound the four gods of Orniskem.
“These chains... it cannot be,” Tania said, struggling to free herself.
“Oh, but it very much can, Tania,” the girl replied, though her expression had changed completely.
Up close, she did not seem to be a woman at all, but rather a mere puppet, manipulated by a bundle of chains as though she were a marionette. Behind her stood the goddess Bellona, dressed like a native of the region. In her right hand she held the four chains with which she had restrained the gods, and in her left, the chains she used to control the doll.
“Bellona! What in the hell are you doing here?” Anpiel asked in astonishment, while the others kept struggling to escape.
At that moment, dozens of soldiers surrounded Bellona and the captured gods, and above in the sky, two of the dreadful creatures they had fought in Onondaga began to appear. The Roman goddess quickly tossed aside the girl-doll and made it vanish.
“You left me naked and humiliated in Taltheilei, but the king of Tula found me and rescued me,” the Roman goddess said.
“He brought me here, and I have been waiting for you in order to set this trap after learning that the attack on Onondaga had been repelled.”
Rodrigo then remembered that it had been he who pleaded for her life, and now they were in trouble because of that decision.
"Will it be the same with my wish to spare Sawiskera? Are there truly beings who must die—beings beyond redemption?" he wondered.
“Fortunately, neither Menrva nor Loki is here, and those two learned how to rid themselves of my chains,” Bellona continued.
“Why are you doing this, Bellona? Why do you still follow Lel’s orders?” Tania asked.
"Shall I ask you the same question, Tania? Why do you fight against your father? Don't you see that he wishes to create a world where the gods no longer fight, and we achieve the peace and unity we so desire?" Bellona replied.
“That does not justify using humans as livestock for war,” Tania said furiously.
Bellona then lifted the Punic goddess’s face with her left hand and stared at her with contempt.
“Do you care more about these pathetic beings than your own family?” she asked.
“My family is the people I live beside every day—not some ancient gods whose minds have been twisted by human blood!” Tania shouted.
Bellona answered with a fierce slap that sent the goddess sprawling sideways onto the ground.
“Having noble blood among the world of the gods and wasting it in such a disgusting way… Pathetic!” the Roman goddess said in disappointment.
“Is that all this is, Bellona? Envy?” Anpiel asked.
“Silence, malak!” Bellona shouted, turning away.
Rodrigo felt ashamed that he could do nothing to help Tania. Once again, she was being hurt, and once again, he could not protect her. But he could not open his chakras without his totema, and they had foolishly chosen not to carry them.
“I shall take the brown-haired boy south, to Tula,” Bellona told the soldiers.
“As for the others, take them to Cahokia. But remember—the red-haired girl must not be sacrificed, or we shall all find ourselves in great trouble,” she warned.
A translator immediately relayed Bellona’s orders in Pawnee, the empire’s official tongue. The soldiers saluted the goddess and approached Tania, Anpiel, and Susanoo, binding their hands with the Roman goddess’s chains.
Bellona then walked over to Rodrigo and seized him. At that moment, she noticed that the young tannin had Bellona’s own totema in one of his pockets—a statuette of a woman wearing a roman helmet—and she tore it away from him violently.
Then Tania turned to Rodrigo with a look of determination.
“Rodrigo,” the Punic goddess said, “do not worry about us. We shall reach Tula and help you, no matter what.”
“We have endured worse predicaments,” Anpiel said.
“Indeed. I shall not perish until I am able to defeat thee once more, Rodrigo-san,” Susanoo said.
Rodrigo then felt his courage return and shouted, “Do not worry about me either! I’ll find a way out of this too! I’ll see you in Tula!”
The three gods smiled and gave him a sign of acceptance, just as Bellona stepped behind the young tannin and struck him hard on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.