After flying for about twenty minutes, the gods of Orniskem found ruins wrapped in thick undergrowth among the mountains. The ruins had two gigantic mounds in the central area.
“That’s it! That is the city of Puh!” Tania shouted, and all the gods descended toward the ruins.
“Stop right there! Access to this area is forbidden by order of the great Lady Itzpapálotl!” a man’s voice was heard in the distance.
When the gods turned around, they saw a squadron of giants wearing headdresses and loincloths, carrying gigantic obsidian macuahuitls.
Those giants were approximately five meters tall, and there were dozens of them. The gods then remembered that Tláloc had mentioned access to these ruins was forbidden.
“Who are you? Identify yourselves!” the gigantic man continued shouting at the gods.
“I think they are Quinametzin,” Tul said. “A race of giants created by the ancestral gods.”
“Do you mean the primordial gods here were able to create life?” Tania asked in surprise.
All the gods were intrigued by this discovery, since although humans believed the gods had created them, the truth was that this was a lie they told them so they would worship them. The creation of life was completely beyond their divine faculties.
“Not exactly. They are more like humanoid figures with artificial life or something like that,” Tul said.
Tania then remembered that when she had faced Hephaestus in Sicily, he had used beings made of bronze that possessed life of their own. But it was artificial life, not real life. The god called them Automatons.
“So that means they are not alive, correct?” Loki asked.
“Indeed,” Tul replied.
The Norse god then completely froze all the giants with a motion of his hands. Then, with another motion, he made them explode into hundreds of pieces.
“It seems they are made of metal and use electricity to move,” the Norse god said.
“You did not have to be so harsh with them,” Ana reproached the Norse god.
“Dear, that is why I confirmed whether they were alive first,” the dark god said.
Ana nodded, and the gods then prepared to head toward the pyramids of that ancient city, which had been devoured by the grassland.
There was a sepulchral silence in the area. One would always expect to hear birds or wild animals, but there was nothing. Only ruins beneath thick undergrowth. It was surprising that the city had been abandoned barely a century ago.
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The two pyramids stood along a long path full of grass and stones. The dark night sky was lit by a half-moon, while thousands of stars could be seen in the firmament.
“Wow, those enormous mounds are gigantic,” Epona said in surprise. “Did humans create those gigantic structures?”
“Everything you see here, or will see in this region, was built by humans,” Tul replied. “We gods do not have the makings of architects.”
“Yes, it is the same on our continent,” Tania replied. “Humans are always more ingenious than we are when it comes to building structures.”
Epona turned to look at Ana and laughed cynically.
“As proof, here we have a goddess who cannot even build a cabin again,” she said.
“Leave me alone, mare!” the Irish goddess replied angrily.
All the other gods laughed.
The gods stood before what was called the Pyramid of the Sun, since it was the larger of the two, and looked at it with admiration. Although it was full of undergrowth, they could still see a complex staircase leading to the top. It seemed to be composed of five sections, giving it the form of a stepped pyramid. The red and white colors that had once adorned the architecture of that region had already been lost, leaving only the color of limestone.
“You know, Tul?” Tania said to the Maya goddess. “On our continent there are pyramids similar to these in the desert, but they are completely sloped.”
Tul was surprised by those revelations.
“Ch’úupal, will you take me to see them?” she asked.
“Of course, Tul. We will go soon,” Tania said with a smile.
“I can easily teleport you there,” Menrva said. “Once we leave this continent, of course.”
Tul smiled and longed for the day when this adventure would finally end, so she could at last achieve her cherished dream of seeing the world and beyond.
Epona then began looking around. There were only empty ruined houses and traces of destroyed life on the ground, such as statues and pottery. It was clear that the region had been abandoned during a war. The goddess could swear she had seen a skull or two in the area, still unburied.
“I would expect to see animals in this area, but it seems there is still a trace of divine power keeping them away,” Epona said.
“Or maybe those huge giants scared ’em off,” Freyja added.
“So, how will we divide ourselves?” Tania asked at last, once the gods stopped admiring the colossal structure.
“Tláloc mentioned that one pyramid created the sun and another the moon. Therefore, one must be a trial of fire, and the other a trial of ice,” Loki explained.
“I will participate in the water one,” Tania said, raising her hand. “My element, fire, may be useful against ice deities.”
In truth, Tania wanted to encounter Tláloc and give him a beating, because she still held a grudge against him.
“I’ll go to water too,” Ana said.
“Then I will fight in fire,” Epona said, touching her chest. “When I faced the flames of the diseased god, I discovered that I have a weakness related to fire, and I want to overcome it.”
“I will choose water as well,” Menrva said. “Thunder works with that element.”
“Watashi, fire,” Susanoo said. “Like Menrva-san, my water element may inflict great harm upon fire.”
“I don’t know which one to choose, but since almost no one is choosing fire, I’ll go to fire,” Freyja said.
“Fire as well,” Loki said. “My ice ability can severely harm flames.”
“Then I suppose I am the only one left, so I will go with ch’úupal Tania,” Tul said.
“All right. Let us go to each pyramid and perform the ritual,” Menrva said.
Then the gods separated, climbed, and stood atop the pyramids.
All the gods except Tul and Susanoo took out the paper Anpiel had written for them with the phrase they had to say. Then they read it slowly and clearly.
At that moment, all of them were teleported into the trial, except for Tania, who remained alone because she had misread the paper.
“No! Damn it!” Tania shouted furiously.
“You can speak about twenty languages, and you cannot handle this one?” the Punic goddess said to herself in frustration as she tried to read the phrase, but still nothing happened.