After walking for an entire day, they finally arrived at the walled city of Tlacuitlapán, the royal seat of the Chichimeca kingdom known as Tzacatetl. This was the kingdom of the Zacateco ethnic group.
Although the group had crossed the entire Zacateco territory, in truth, they had not seen much civilization in the surrounding lands. The Zacatecos were more of a semi-nomadic people who moved their homes while following the animals they hunted, such as deer. However, unlike the rest of the region, the city of Tlacuitlapán was filled with merchants, artisans, temples, workshops, and bureaucracy in general. One could say that the elite of this warrior people lived in that city.
Although Tlacuitlapán was nothing particularly special compared to Chaco or Cahokia, Tul was excited as she looked upon the place and its circular houses with grass roofs. The city had been built beside a hill, and atop its summit stood a gigantic fortress where the god of this warrior people ruled as absolute sovereign.
The fortress in question was a gigantic pyramidal palace adorned with a variety of red-and-white columns. To reach the entrance, one had to climb an enormous set of stairs. The soldiers gestured that the gods should ascend the staircase, and they complied.
On each level of the curious stepped pyramid, groups of soldiers watched them with disdain. These soldiers wore only loincloths and feathered headdresses for protection.
At the top of the enormous pyramid, the gods could see that the mountain divided two different peoples. This was evident because the architecture of the town on the other side of the mountain was different. Without wasting much time, the gods entered the peculiar palace.
Inside the building, they found a man wearing a terrifying jackal mask, seated upon a red stone throne. Several servants stood beside him. The king was protected by several soldiers, who formed a perimeter between him and the gods.
In addition to his curious mask, the king wore a headdress of green leaves, as though they were made of emerald. His skin was completely painted black. He wore a loincloth and a white mantle covering his shoulders and chest, marked with the image of a seashell. His hands and feet were protected by jaguar-skin gloves and boots that included enormous claws. Though his eyes could not be seen, hatred and impatience were evident in his gestures.
“You must be the great Zacateco king, Xólotl,” Anpiel said with a bow. “It is an honor to meet you.”
How did he know this person’s name? all the members of Orniskem wondered.
However, Xólotl did not move or make any gesture.
The soldiers then used their bows as threats and ordered the gods to prostrate themselves before the king. They did so, although several of them did it with great reluctance.
“I could… blow up those barbarians’ brains,” Loki mentally said to the rest of the group, but he was completely ignored.
“If you did, I would kill you myself,” said the man seated on the throne.
Everyone was surprised that he had been able to perceive their mental communication.
“Why should something like that surprise you?” Xólotl asked the gods, who remained prostrated before him.
With a gesture of his hand, he ordered them to rise.
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The members of Orniskem stood, and Anpiel tried to say something. But before he could, Xólotl moved his finger and pushed him out of his sight while electricity emanated from the angel’s body.
Anpiel fell onto his back near the entrance of the palace, completely unconscious. Epona quickly ran to check his condition, while the gods glared defiantly at the Zacateco king.
“You should understand that you are not guests, but prisoners,” Xólotl said. “And on top of that, he attempts to use that diplomatic filth with me.”
“Then there won’t be any hard feelings if we take out your men right now,” Loki said, just as all the soldiers fell to the ground, victims of the god’s mental power.
But once again, Xólotl moved his finger, and Loki was thrown out of his presence by a dark bolt of lightning. The Norse god fell unconscious at the gods’ feet. Freyja quickly checked on her companion and realized he was still alive.
“You were unable to defeat Nanahuatzin, and yet you intend to challenge me?” continued the god with the jackal mask, while his men stood again, already recovered.
“If we are merely prisoners, why have you brought us into your presence?” Menrva asked angrily.
Xólotl then pointed at Rodrigo.
“I am aware that you are not Ehécatl, nor any relative of his. Is that correct, young man?” the Zacateco king asked.
Rodrigo looked at him defiantly while preparing to fight. But at that moment, the Zacateco king removed his jackal mask.
All the gods were stunned when they saw Xólotl’s face. It was exactly the same as Rodrigo’s, except that he looked a little older, and a horrible scar ran from his left eye to his mouth. Furthermore, his right eye, the only eye he had, was brown rather than green.
“It is… the same face as yours, Rodrigo,” Tania said in surprise.
Ana was left speechless, while Epona stared into the distance with uncertainty.
“I can see the rumors were true,” Xólotl said. “That a man with a face identical to mine had been wandering through the northern regions of CeAnáhuac.”
Rodrigo then removed the mask of his totema. Indeed, the faces of the two gods were almost identical. Even so, Rodrigo continued to stare at him defiantly.
“Then are you the brother of the king of Tula? The former king of Tula?” Rodrigo asked.
“The king of Tula? If you mean Yayauhqui, then yes, I am his elder brother,” Xólotl said with what seemed to be a smile, though little could be seen because of the face deformed by the great scar.
“Yayauhqui is the king of Tula, the man with no leg, right?” Rodrigo asked. “Then you must be the one he told me had been murdered.”
Xólotl began to laugh, while at the same time signaling all his men to leave.
When the room was empty, with only Xólotl and the gods before him, the man shook his head.
“The true king of Tula was my twin brother, Quetzalcóatl. Yayauhqui is my half-brother.”
“If that is true, why are you here and not in Tula?” Menrva asked, puzzled after hearing the story. “You would be a kind of prince or something, would you not?”
“My brothers, Nanahuatzin—whom you encountered upon entering my lands—and I are all natives of the city of Puh; or, as those ruins are known today, Teotihuacán,” the Zacateco god said.
The gods then began listening to Xólotl’s story, though they still watched him cautiously.
“More than three centuries ago, the city was invaded by an extremely powerful enemy. Because of that, we decided to create suns as weapons. However, each sun could only be created through the sacrifice of a deity,” the Zacateco god began recounting his story.
Tania then remembered how Heshuka, the hawk god she had faced in Cahokia, had been able to emanate the powers of a sun in exchange for vast amounts of human sacrifices.
Something similar must be what this man is talking about, the Punic goddess thought.
“Nanahuatzin sacrificed himself without hesitation to become a sun. But the second individual, Tecuciztécatl, hesitated to do so, which caused the weapon to be incomplete,” the deity continued.
So that is why that man had fire powers, Ana thought to herself.
“Furious over the failed sacrifice, the gods demanded that more deities be sacrificed to create another sun. Thus, a man was sent to kill me for something to which I had never agreed. That is why I fled from there and took refuge among this people,” the Zacateco god said.
Then Xólotl touched the enormous scar on his face.
“The man who tried to kill me and left me this hideous wound was the owner of that repulsive teotonli: Ehécatl,” Xólotl said, pointing his claw at Rodrigo.