“What is your name?”
“My name is Yayauhqui, sir.”
“What a sinister name. It reminds me of darkness.”
“That is what they called me because I have always had a gloomy face, sir.”
“Who? Your parents?”
“I have no parents, sir. That is what the other slaves called me.”
“Oh, do not worry! From now on, I shall be your brother!”
“Do not joke about such things, sir.”
“I am not joking. Besides, do not call me sir. Call me brother!”
Tezcatlipoca remembered the day he met Quetzalcóatl, when they were still children living in the kingdom of Puh. Though only voices echoed in his mind.
Still lying on the ground, at the feet of the enormous white statue, the god began watching as the planet, which had almost been destroyed, started restoring itself thanks to the sacred energy Rodrigo had emanated. It was as if that energy were healing the planet.
“I always hated you, brother,” Tezcatlipoca said. “You had everything: a beautiful family, great intelligence; everyone loved you. I, on the other hand, never had anything. I was born into a family of slave gods, and I do not even remember my parents’ faces.”
Then Rodrigo approached the defeated Toltec god. Tezcatlipoca could no longer move because the young man’s attack had severely damaged all his ichor, and his wounds were no longer recovering.
Rodrigo had already withdrawn his tannin transformation and removed his Ehécatl totema. The young man looked like a normal person and stood before the god. It was evident that neither he nor Tezcatlipoca wished to continue fighting.
“Listen, Rodrigo,” said the ancient Toltec king in a choking voice. “I must confess my sin to you.”
Tezcatlipoca looked into the eyes of the white statue. He swallowed and began telling his story.
“I hated my brother, that is, my half-brother Quetzalcóatl,” the god confessed. “He and I, though we were brothers, were sons of different fathers.”
“Quetzalcóatl descended from a noble family that had ruled over the first great empire to govern this land. I, on the other hand, was an orphaned slave who worked for the Nahua and Otomí gods. However, Quetzalcóatl adopted me as his brother, and from that day onward, my life changed,” the Toltec god continued telling his story while still lying on the ground.
“He always stood above me. He was light; I was darkness. He was wise; I was savage. He was loved; I was seen as something someone found stuck to the sole of his sandal.”
Rodrigo could understand a little of how the god felt. After all, he had always been rejected as well.
“When the god El ordered me to murder him, the entire council of deities opposed it and was willing to go to war against Lel… but I was the one who convinced them… not out of fear, but out of envy. I hated my brother, and in the end I betrayed him, even though he had always helped and supported me… I could not bear it,” the Toltec god said as tears came from his eyes.
Tezcatlipoca then looked toward the statue and apologized to his brother, continuing to weep in pain.
Rodrigo did not know what to say. Certainly, he felt no affinity toward that Quetzalcóatl, but he did not feel he had the moral authority to criticize the Toltec god’s decisions. Then he remembered when Tania had tried to murder him to save her people.
“It would be hypocritical of me to criticize this guy when I myself decided to forgive Tania,” he thought.
Meanwhile, the planet was completely recovering. The forests were reborn, the lakes rose again from the sterile ground. Birds flew once more, and fish swam again. The paradise of Teoiztacuauhco returned to life, with its beautiful colorful sky and white mountains.
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Rodrigo looked at the enormous white statue, which shone as if it were made of ivory.
“Is that… Quetzalcóatl’s moloch?” he asked.
Tezcatlipoca nodded.
“It has been here, hidden from Lel’s hands, storing all the energy that devotion toward my brother continues to generate in the hearts of my people,” Tezcatlipoca said while wiping his tears with his hand.
“But I have heard that he had the form of a dragon with feathers,” Rodrigo said, confused as he looked at the statue’s human shape.
“Only when my brother transformed into a coateotl did he take the form of a majestic feathered serpent. But he, like all of us, had an anthropomorphic form,” Tezcatlipoca replied.
Then the Toltec god looked into Rodrigo’s green eyes and smiled.
“When Anat showed me your face for the first time, I felt unimaginable terror,” the Toltec god continued. “It was as if my sin had come to take vengeance on me.”
Rodrigo looked carefully at Quetzalcóatl’s statue, and indeed, he realized it had his own face, only with long hair.
“That is why I rushed to try to kill you when we met. But who would have thought we would end up in this situation?” the Toltec god continued explaining as, with what little strength he had, he tried to stand.
But Rodrigo quickly offered him his hand to help the ancient Toltec king. Tezcatlipoca immediately accepted it.
“Without a doubt, you are my brother’s heir,” Tezcatlipoca replied as he stood, though without letting go of Rodrigo’s hand.
“I do not know how he chose you, or how Ehécatl found you, but at this moment I have decided to recognize you as such and place Tula under your care,” he added.
Rodrigo and Tezcatlipoca then shook hands. Both gods had forgotten their differences to fight for a common good: the people of the great continent of the New World. And they would not allow Lel to lay his hands upon it.
Tlazolteotl, who remained at the lower part of the pyramid, felt this union between the two gods and smiled.
“Finally, the alliance between the serpent and the jaguar has returned to this world,” she said, moved.
“I fear the retaliation Lel may bring upon these lands because of Anat’s disappearance,” Rodrigo confessed nervously.
“Indeed. But first, we must remove that false king from Tula,” the Toltec god replied.
At that moment, Tezcatlipoca released Rodrigo’s hand and raised his own toward the sky.
“It is time to depart,” he said.
Both gods disappeared and returned once again to the top of the great pyramid of Cholollan. It was already dawn, and faint orange lines could be seen in the dark sky. The planet Venus shone with exceptional strength.
“Go on. Speak with my brother,” the Toltec god said, indicating that Rodrigo should enter the chapel at the top of the pyramid.
Rodrigo then nodded.
When the young man approached, he felt a force field opening before him. This was what prevented Tezcatlipoca from entering. It was a place where only Rodrigo could enter, and no one else.
Although the entire pyramid looked worn and old, the room inside the upper chapel was completely intact. There were three drawings on the walls, and in the center, a small altar with a golden cross shining like a star in the dark sky.
Rodrigo looked carefully at the murals on the walls, and they filled him with terror.
The first mural, on the left wall, showed a boy being sacrificed. What appeared to be his spirit flew toward the firmament, where there were terrible monsters. The people sacrificing the boy looked frightened and full of fear.
The second mural, on the central wall, showed a man in the center wrapped in perpetual darkness. Winged beings descended from the sky, while the people in the lower part of the drawing fled in terror.
The final mural, on the right wall, showed two beings, a man and a woman, generating light in the darkness.
Rodrigo then looked at the cross. At first, he thought it was a Christian cross, but when he examined it more carefully, it had more the shape of a plant.
“That is the totema of my lord Quetzalcóatl,” Ehécatl’s voice was heard in Rodrigo’s mind.
“Should I… touch it?” Rodrigo asked.
“Go on, young Rodrigo,” Ehécatl said. “Fulfill my lord’s will.”
Rodrigo nodded and took the cross. At that moment, the room darkened, and the image of a gigantic horned feathered serpent appeared above the young man.
“My son, I was waiting for you,” the serpent spoke with a very calm and peaceful voice.
The feathered serpent, which had yellow horns on its head and beautiful red and green plumage, looked at the young man with eyes full of tranquility. Its presence was comforting and soothing.
“Are you… my father?” Rodrigo asked nervously.
“No,” the serpent replied. “I do not deserve that title because I neither begot you nor raised you. No one with such irresponsibility could be called a father.”
“Then what am I to you?” Rodrigo asked. “Why did you choose me as your heir?”
“I will tell you, but it is a long story,” the serpent replied.
Rodrigo nodded. At last, the answers about his birth would be revealed.
“However,” the serpent continued explaining, “you must keep this information secret. The moment you learn what I am about to tell you, you and your friends will be placed in danger. Do you wish to carry that responsibility?”
“My friends have been defying Lel without worrying about those things,” Rodrigo replied. “And I will stand beside them to protect them.”
“I am glad to hear that,” the serpent said.
Rodrigo and Quetzalcóatl continued speaking as the sun rose that day. Little did the young man know that, at that very moment, the war in Tula had already begun.