By the next morning, only Tania, Rodrigo, and Anpiel were still awake. Rodrigo wore an expression of worry, while Ana lay completely asleep against his shoulder.
Tania had Tul resting in her lap, and the goddess stroked her head with great affection.
Susanoo was asleep in his lotus position, while Freyja and Loki slept lying on their respective mats.
Menrva had fallen asleep sitting beside Anpiel, who merely kept watching the sky as it turned orange with the sunrise over the great desert.
At that moment, a terrible sound rang out across the entire area. It was so loud and horrifying that it made the whole city shake as though from an earthquake. Several clay pots shattered when that shockwave struck.
Everyone awoke at the horrible noise, which came from inside the kiva, now trembling like an erupting volcano. The priests and kachina, who had been dancing without pause until that day, finally stopped, while the smoke from the chamber ceased rising.
“What was that noise?!” Ana asked in terror as she jolted upright from Rodrigo’s shoulder. The young man too was staring at the gigantic structure with a fear unlike anything he had ever felt.
“I have never heard such a sound in my life,” Menrva said in alarm, while she saw Anpiel softly whispering Epona’s name, his face full of horror.
Tul too had risen from Tania’s lap and was staring uncertainly at the kiva before them. Tania merely ground her teeth in rage.
Is this what you heard, Eshmun? she wondered.
Loki and Freyja also watched in terror and uncertainty as events unfolded. Then Susanoo rose to his feet and donned his totema.
“Mina-san, I know not what may be happening inside that temple, yet we must be ready to fight and save Epona-chan,” he said, drawing his sword.
“Susanoo is right. The time to fight has come,” Menrva added, putting on her totema as well.
“We cannot allow whatever made that sound in there to destroy this town, which has shown us such kindness,” she said.
Everyone nodded and donned their totemas, except Ana and Freyja, whose totemas were still being repaired, and Tul, who possessed no such garment.
But then the sky turned black, so dark that nothing could be seen, very much like the technique of the King of Tula. A tremendous quake began to shake the whole city as black lightning burst from the kiva, and under the immense power now emanating from within, the white barrier covering the structure shattered into pieces.
At that moment, every member of Orniskem felt something they had never experienced in all their lives. A divine power so immense, so exalted, that it made Ares’s power after assimilating his children seem like that of a flea. Anat’s power or Heshuka’s would be nothing but a nuisance before that monstrous might. It could have devoured the whole universe if it wished. There were no words to describe it. It was so atrocious that Rodrigo and the others went pale and, for an instant, felt there was no hope left in the world.
Epona... did you really see something like this? Ana wondered in panic, just as a demonic face formed from a dark gas that began pouring out of the kiva. From that face, many agonized faces began to emerge from the apparition, all with enormous fangs and white eyes that filled the members of Orniskem with terror.
“Mina-san! We must not hesitate! It is our enemy, and we must defeat it!” Susanoo shouted, trying to rally the group.
The others broke free from their fearful stupor and prepared themselves to fight as well.
But then the Talking God appeared behind them and ordered them to stop.
“You think you can defeat that thing?” Menrva asked the god in astonishment. Unlike on previous days, his entire attire was now pure white and shone like a gem. Looking more closely at his mask, it now bore the minimalist drawing of a corn plant instead of a mouth and nose.
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“No. I could never defeat it. I doubt there is anyone who could overcome such abyssal power,” the god confessed.
“But we have to do something!” Tania shouted.
“Our friend is in there!” Ana cried as well.
“Of course she is. Your friend was carrying that germ. That egg inside her, like a parasite, was consuming her from within until all that would remain was a hollow shell,” the Diné deity said as he continued walking toward the kiva.
“Did the ritual go wrong?” Anpiel asked.
“Is this what Epona saw in the afterlife?” Ana asked fearfully.
“No. That is only an egg. What your friend saw was infinitely larger and more powerful,” the Talking God answered.
Everyone stood stunned. Was it possible that the egg of such a monster was stronger than all the gods together? It sounded insane.
“As I said, I cannot defeat it. But we are going to use all our power to remove it from our universe and send it back to its own dimension. Because this land is protected by the great Tawa, it will be possible,” the Talking God continued.
“We? You want us to help you?” Ana asked.
“He means us,” came three voices at once, identical to that of the Talking God. Behind him appeared three gods dressed exactly like the Diné god, differing only in color. One shone blue, another red, and the last black.
“They are my brothers: the Water God, the House God, and the Black God. Together, we shall send that abomination back to its own dimension,” the Talking God said.
“It’s incredible. All four of them possess astonishing power,” Freyja said in amazement.
At that moment, the goddess realized that the Viking gods were only a small part of this world, and that there were beings even more powerful than they were.
“Grandmother Spider, I, and the kachina inside the kiva all knew this would happen. We knew what we were facing,” the Talking God continued.
“But we could not allow that girl to die because of these interdimensional wanderers. This is not the first time we have sent one of these beasts back to its world, and it will not be the last,” the god said with great resolve.
Epona, you had that thing inside you and still kept going... and I was feeling jealous over stupid things... You really are a very strong woman, and I admire you for it! Ana thought, ashamed of all the thoughts she had harbored regarding her friend and Rodrigo.
Without wasting time, each of the brothers took position at one of the different corners of the mound on which the kiva stood, and the four of them began an invocation with their arms raised. Meanwhile, the priests and kachina, who had stopped dancing, resumed their ritual despite the colossal dark power radiating across the entire area.
The demonic face emerging from the dark smoke began to show signs of agony, while both its own features and the many faces within it started distorting in a psychedelic manner. The emanation let out a shrill, deafening scream.
At that moment, corn plants began growing all around the kiva. They grew with incredible speed and opened their leaves, revealing the ears of corn growing within them. The Talking God’s were golden, while those of his three brothers matched the colors of their energies: blue, red, and black.
The Talking God and his brothers began twisting in pain, yet kept their hands raised toward the kiva until the white barrier covering the monument took the form of a three-dimensional rhombus. At that moment, the demonic emanation began trying to spread outward, claiming the lives of several kachina and priests in its path, but they kept dancing, unconcerned by the consequences.
The gigantic rhombus began spinning at tremendous speed, and at last the black cloud started shrinking, all the while continuing to let out screams of agony and terror that made all of Chaco tremble.
The four gods shouted, and in that instant the rhombus shattered into pieces. Within those fragments floating in the air, the dark cloud could still be seen inside, but only within them, no longer physically in the sky. Then the crystal shards were absorbed into the atmosphere and vanished, taking the grotesque monster away with them.
The sky returned to normal, and the tremors ceased. The light of dawn began illuminating Chaco once more, though the city had suffered considerable damage from the dreadful phenomenon.
The four gods collapsed onto their backs, completely exhausted by the immense effort it had taken to send one of those creatures back to its own dimension. The members of Orniskem finally understood how small they truly were in a world they did not yet fully know.
Then Rodrigo looked toward the kiva—and saw her.
It was Epona, standing atop the monument. The goddess had regained her figure, her hair had turned golden once more, and the wrinkles she had gained had vanished from her face. Though her hair looked longer from not having been cut in a month, the goddess was as beautiful as ever.
Rodrigo ran toward the kiva at once, climbed the steps, and removed the helmet of his totema, then surprised Epona with a kiss and embraced her with all his strength.
Ana saw them and smiled with satisfaction.
No... I have no right to shatter their happiness, she thought.
“I missed you so much, Ep. I feared the worst,” Rodrigo said, filled with emotion.
Epona, her eyes also brimming with tears, kissed him back with all her strength.
“I knew you’d be the first person I saw,” the Celtic goddess answered with a smile, curling up against the young tannin’s chest.
The members of Orniskem cried out in pure joy, because their friend had finally returned.