“Who are you?” Menrva asked, while the three goddesses watched a woman descend the great pyramid’s staircase, surfing on a board made of jade and feathers.
The goddess leapt off her board and landed on the ground, supporting herself with one hand as she flipped through the air and stood upright. Then she greeted the three goddesses.
“So you have come for the trial?” the woman asked, showing a beautiful smile.
“It has been a long time since anyone came to take it, since no one has ever been able to pass it. That is why I found it so strange,” she said.
The woman was very beautiful. She was tall, with light brown skin and slanted eyes. Her hair was very neatly styled and bluish in color, with bangs that almost covered her eyes, while snails and seashells peeked out from her hair. Her eyes were also blue, like the color of water.
The goddess wore an elaborate headdress with green feathers. A necklace of precious blue and white stones covered her bare breasts, while she wore a long skirt made of jade, so shiny that everything was reflected in it as if in a mirror. The skirt had an opening on the left side, and its back part touched the ground. Upon touching it, it took the form of a body of water, as if it were a river.
“Yes, we have come for the trial on Tláloc’s recommendation,” Menrva said.
At that, the woman turned pale and began trembling in fear, as if Menrva’s words had frightened her.
Did something bad happen between those two gods? Ana wondered.
“Is something wrong?” Menrva asked.
“Oh no!” the woman cried. “I did it again!”
The three goddesses looked at her with concern, trying to understand what the problem was.
“You asked who I was, and I did not introduce myself… a complete lack of manners!” the goddess said anxiously.
The three goddesses stared strangely at the peculiar deity.
“My name is Chalchiuhtlicue, and I am the queen of this place, together with Tláloc,” she finally said.
“We are Menrva, Ana, and Tul. Nice to meet you!” the Etruscan goddess said, giving the goddess a slight bow.
“I hope you forgive me! Sometimes I get lost in my own conversations and ignore other people’s questions,” the goddess said, still embarrassed.
“It is all right,” Menrva replied in a soothing tone. “If you explain the trial to us, we will be more than happy.”
“Well, as you can see, this kingdom used to be a very beautiful place. But now it is empty because of the prohibitions imposed after the fall of Teotihuacán,” the sea goddess continued, completely ignoring Menrva’s question.
“Our servants and the humans who lived here have already disappeared, and only I remained… completely alone,” she said with a depressive expression.
“That… is very sad, Miss Chal…” Menrva tried to say her name, but could not.
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“But you will be my new friends, right?!” the sea goddess asked, bringing her face so close to Menrva’s that the latter had to lean backward.
“Friends, of course… but we would like to know about the trial,” Menrva replied, confused, while seeing her companions gesture in denial.
“Tláloc told me I had to stay here, alone,” the Toltec goddess continued, completely ignoring Menrva’s question.
“And I have been here talking to myself for a century or more… I would say it has been around 38,791 days in total… but I have not lost my mind. Of course!” the goddess continued, smiling in a somewhat frightening way.
“Miss Chalchiuhtlicue!” Tul shouted. “We’ll gladly come back and talk with you in the future, but we’re in a hurry right now.”
“Oh no! Don’t tell me I did it again!” Chalchiuhtlicue shouted in terror. “I ignored your questions again!”
Menrva made a worried gesture. That goddess’s mental state was rather concerning.
Chalchiuhtlicue then became serious and pointed at the pyramid.
“Up there is a kind of illusion representing Tláloc, the king of this realm. If you wish to fight him, you may do so. But if you wish to go to the next trial, you must cross a portal inside that pyramid,” the goddess said.
“Does that mean we do not have to face him if we do not want to?” Ana asked.
“Only if you can distract him, since that illusion’s assignment is to protect this precinct from intruders by any means necessary,” Chalchiuhtlicue replied.
“In the past, people used to come in shifts so they could jump to other heavens and reach the thirteenth world without fighting. But few could avoid even one of the gods,” she added.
“Thank you very much, Miss Chalchiuhtlicue,” Tul replied.
Ana and Menrva felt embarrassed because they would not have been able to say the goddess’s name even if they had lived with her for months.
“Are you leaving, then?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked, disappointed. “Please do not leave me alone here!” she cried, almost in tears.
“I am sorry, but we are in a hurry,” Menrva said, trying to distance herself from the Toltec goddess.
But then Chalchiuhtlicue used the water tail of her skirt to attack the three goddesses like a whip. The attack struck all three directly.
“If you do not pass the trial, then you must stay here,” the Toltec goddess said with an obsessive gaze. “Then I only need to defeat you so you can be my friends forever.”
Ana, Menrva, and Tul had been thrown into one of the structures on the enormous esplanade where the central pyramid stood. The goddesses got up without much trouble.
“I will handle her,” the Etruscan goddess said.
“Don’t be too cruel to her, ch’úupal,” Tul added. “I feel sorry for the poor thing.”
“We are in a hurry, Tul, and we cannot waste time here with that madwoman,” Menrva replied irritably.
The Maya goddess lowered her head and nodded.
“Tul, remember that your teacher is captured in Tula, and we must rescue her as soon as possible,” Menrva said, while once again wearing her armor fused with Bellona, taking on the bearing of a Roman general.
“Will you stay with me, then?” Chalchiuhtlicue asked.
“I am sorry, but it will have to be another day,” the Etruscan goddess said as she made an enormous golden spear appear.
The goddess Chalchiuhtlicue launched another attack with the tail of her dress, but Menrva moved ahead of it and struck the Toltec goddess’s chest with a devastating spear attack. She suffered electric discharges and fell unconscious to the ground.
“You defeated her in one blow, ch’úupal!” Tul shouted.
“Well done, Menrva!” Ana shouted excitedly.
But Menrva returned her totema to normal and looked at her hands with concern.
“What is wrong, ch’úupal?” Tul asked.
Menrva then turned to look at her two companions.
“Do you remember that Xólotl said he would not have been able to defeat the hawk god Tania defeated in Cahokia?” she asked them.
“Yes, I remember,” Ana replied.
“I believe our power already exceeds that of most of these gods,” Menrva said, disappointed. “And if that is the case, this will be of no use to us for breaking the barrier.”
Ana and Tul grew thoughtful. It was true. They had become very strong, but they had fought in Vinland for more than two months. Outside the protective barrier, they were far stronger than most of their rivals. Even if those rivals had become powerful through human sacrifices, the goddesses had trained like madwomen and pushed their bodies to the limit.
“Do you have any suggestion?” Ana asked.
“We could use reducing bracelets, like the ones they placed on us in Cahokia and Chicomóztoc,” Tul said.