After Tania left with Menrva, Ana, Epona, Anpiel, Tul, and Susanoo were left alone in the room.
Then someone knocked on the door, and Anpiel opened it. Outside stood a castle maid dressed in a simple green dress. The girl had orange hair and was covered in freckles.
“My lords,” the young woman said in Vulgar Latin. “The lord of the castle wishes to offer a banquet tomorrow at midday in honor of his daughter’s return.”
Then the young woman looked into the room with great curiosity, seeing the four gods seated on their beds.
“Is Lady Melania not among you? She does not answer in her room,” the young servant asked.
Anpiel grew nervous when he realized it would be impossible to find Menrva at that moment.
“Were there not more of you, by the way?” the young maid asked insistently.
Anpiel shook his head.
“Lady Melania went out to show the castle to some of our companions. They will surely return soon, and I shall inform them of this matter,” Anpiel replied in Vulgar Latin, to which the servant smiled and bowed her head in farewell.
Anpiel closed the door and turned to look at his companions. The four of them had the look of people who had no idea what the angel and the maid had spoken about.
“I understand Susanoo and Tul, but do neither of you know Vulgar Latin either?” Anpiel asked in surprise.
“Those languages are relics for a woman as young as me,” Ana said proudly. “Remember that, after Tul, I’m the youngest one in this group.”
“I knew how to speak Latin, but it has been ages since I used it. Even so, I do not understand that strange Latin they insist on speaking in these regions,” Epona said. “Forgive us for not possessing knowledge of hundreds of languages like you.”
Anpiel smiled and explained to his companions what the young woman had told them.
“Wonderful. I hope the others are back here by tomorrow,” Epona said, a little worried.
“Especially Menrva, or her fake parents will get worried,” Ana added.
Then the Irish goddess fell into thought.
“We criticize Lel for placing its personnel as kings in this world, but our friend Menrva pretends to be the daughter of nobles so she can stay in this fief,” she said.
“How did she meet that couple? Why do they believe she is their daughter?” Ana asked.
“I suppose we ought to ask her when she returns,” Anpiel replied.
Then Ana realized that Susanoo was staring fixedly at a crucifix hanging on the wall. The cross was made of gold, while the Christ was made of silver. The eastern god looked at the object with great interest.
“Is this the Kami… I mean, the God of the Christians?” the eastern god asked, puzzled.
Ana nodded.
“This is your first time in a Christian area, right?” the Irish goddess asked him.
“In Greenland, I saw that a temple had this curious symbol. Furthermore, the man who took us to Vinland also had this symbol as a pendant,” Susanoo replied. “Yet this is the first time I have beheld the little crucified figure upon this cross.”
“What is this religion about?” Susanoo asked, puzzled. “Is it perchance about self-sacrifice and pain?”
Tul also came closer and looked at the cross strangely. It was like a kind of self-sacrifice. Those terms were not so strange to her, since self-mutilation and self-sacrifice were also common in Mayapán.
“I think it’ll be better to understand what we’re fighting against,” Tul added, also curious.
Ana placed her hand on her chin while trying to organize her thoughts.
“Well, the man on that cross is called Christ or Jesus, and he’s the most important figure in Christianity,” she said. “He came to this world to sacrifice himself and cleanse people’s sins.”
“Cleanse sins?” Susanoo asked.
“Yes. In these lands, it was common to sacrifice animals to cleanse sins committed as offenses against the gods. So Jesus, being the Son of God, by sacrificing himself, made the greatest possible sacrifice, purifying humanity of all its sins,” Ana explained.
“But are sins or offenses not personal matters?” Susanoo asked, confused.
“Does that mean any person is already free of sin because of the sacrifice of such an important God?” Tul added, asking.
Anpiel and Epona smiled at their companions’ curious questions, while Ana shook her head.
“Let’s say the Christians’ goal is to have a life far from material goods, while dedicating your body and soul to helping others,” Ana continued explaining. “That way, you guarantee yourself a place in the Beyond after the Final Judgment.”
“In fact, Christianity’s great success,” Anpiel added, “was that there were no economic divisions between people, which led many slaves to join the movement. And Rome was completely dependent on slave labor.”
Then Anpiel reminded them of the maid who had come to see them.
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“She is not a slave. She is a servant who receives food and a bed for her work, and she also enjoys the protection and care of the lords of this fief,” he explained.
Tul looked puzzled then.
“I don’t see why a religion like that has to be bad,” the Maya goddess said, confused.
“Monchiro,” Susanoo added. “Slavery hath ever been a degrading thing. If a religion asketh for the end of such a practice, it cannot be evil.”
Ana sighed then.
“That’s true. Christianity, in essence, is a religion that seeks peace and brotherhood among humans,” the Irish goddess said.
“The problem is its intolerance toward other religions,” Anpiel interrupted. “They consider every religion outside their faith to be the work of demons.”
“Many people were exterminated because of that faith,” Epona said gloomily. “Many people who worshiped me were murdered for defending their faith.”
“Exactly,” Ana said. “The truth is that little remained of that Christianity of brotherhood and love.”
“But is that not part of human nature?” Susanoo asked. “Religions such as Bukkyo are similar to that which thou mentionest, yet kingdoms that follow that faith wage war against one another all the same.”
“I am not familiar with that religion,” Ana confessed, embarrassed.
Anpiel and Epona also nodded.
“Have ye not heard of Butsu?” Susanoo asked, confused. “The man who attained Nehan after meditating for six years beneath the Bodhi tree.”
Anpiel interrupted then.
“Are you speaking of Buddhism?” he asked.
“Sō omoimasu,” Susanoo replied thoughtfully, making a doubtful expression.
Anpiel then explained that he had once had a mission in the territories of Bactria, present-day Afghanistan. There, he had come into contact with Buddhist culture and learned about its belief and faith.
“Monchiron, Anpiel-san,” Susanoo replied upon hearing the angel’s explanation of Buddhism. “We speak of the same faith.”
“I must admit I do not know much about those beliefs,” Epona added, embarrassed.
Then Susanoo stood and looked again at the crucifix.
“I do not believe the religion itself is wrong,” the eastern god said. “The problem always ariseth when humans or gods seek power and use it as a banner of supremacy.”
Anpiel, Epona, and Ana remained thoughtful for a moment.
“What yuum Susanoo says is true,” Tul added. “It isn’t that different from Kukulkán’s teachings.”
“Unless the person who created the religion used this message knowing that many people would embrace it because of the problems that existed; but also knowing that, even if it became corrupted, that person would continue being worshiped,” Epona said, confused, while stroking her blond curls.
“Do you believe the same as my master?” Ana asked, confused. “That the Christian God is actually the false El?”
“It is possible that Christianity was born naturally in a world full of poverty, slavery, and injustice,” Epona continued explaining. “But what if someone took control of that discourse and used it to gain power from the faith of its believers?” she asked.
“And it is not only Christianity; it is also Islam and the Hebrew faith,” Anpiel added.
“And not to mention that all three are at war with each other,” Ana said.
“But the three religions worship the same God,” Epona added. “Did that deity know that monotheism would make them intolerant and that, by killing one another… his believers would become human sacrifices when they entered war?”
All the gods were stunned by Epona’s conclusions.
“Like a New Sun?” Tul asked, frightened.
“Yes. We saw what happens when you massively sacrifice people to a deity in Tula and Cahokia,” Epona explained. “What if this deity knew of rites of this kind and has been manipulating these religions from the shadows, turning himself into a New Sun?”
Everyone became worried and nervous at that moment.
Epona then turned to look at Anpiel.
“Anpiel, tell me, when did the god El stop making public appearances?” Epona asked the worried angel.
“Almost 2,200 years ago,” Anpiel replied. “A moment that coincides with many civilizations being exterminated and erased from history.”
“Did the Hebrew faith exist back then?” Epona asked again.
“Not in a monotheistic form,” the angel affirmed. “That religion separated from the Canaanite faith after the disappearance of the god El, with the rise of a small Canaanite people in the Levant; a people we now call Hebrew.”
“Egypt controlled that region, did it not?” Epona continued asking. “I do not know much about that time in the world, but I seem to recall that this region belonged to Egypt.”
Anpiel shook his head.
“Precisely during that cataclysm of civilizations, Egypt lost that region and fragmented,” the angel replied.
“And that allowed this nomadic people, the Hebrews, to conquer the region when the local rulers and leaders were left without Egypt’s protection,” the angel continued explaining, and at that moment, he was horrified.
“What is it, Anpiel?” Epona asked nervously upon seeing the angel worried.
“Helel! Helel was sealed in that region!” the angel said, terrified.
“Helel?” Tul asked, confused, as she saw her two companions turn pale when they realized they had discovered something great.
Anpiel then began to explain.
“More than 10,000 years ago, as far as I know, several gods, including the god El, faced a very powerful rebel malak named Helel. However, he could not be defeated, so his power was sealed in Mount Moriah,” the angel explained.
“Do you mean the god El seeks to break the seal protecting Helel?” Epona asked.
Anpiel remained thoughtful for a moment.
“There was a god who tried to resurrect Helel about 2,000 years ago. His name was Ashtar,” the angel said.
Epona and Ana shook their heads, implying they knew nothing about it.
“I had not been born yet back then,” the equine goddess said, embarrassed.
“If she wasn’t born yet, then imagine me, a tiny little spring flower,” Ana said sarcastically.
“Well, this man, Ashtar, mobilized a powerful empire in the Levant, called Assyria, to cause a blood holocaust in the region. That would break the seal, but the god El commanded several gods to defeat him before that could happen,” Anpiel continued explaining.
“So the god El tried to stop Ashtar from opening the seal?” Ana asked, intrigued.
“Indeed. But the seal is precisely in the city known as the holiest city to those three religions. Furthermore, that mountain is seen as sacred by all three of them,” the angel continued explaining.
“Don’t tell me it’s the city of Jerusalem?” Ana asked.
Anpiel nodded.
“Well, if the god El prevented Helel from being freed, that means he and Helel do not work together,” Epona explained.
“That is true,” Anpiel concluded.
“One might say the god El is trying to protect this region by placing his most faithful peoples there,” Epona continued explaining. “First it was the Hebrew people. Then Rome, but it became Christianized. Then a Muslim Persia, and currently the Abbasid Caliphate.”
“That’s true. They can’t be related,” Ana said, reassured.
“Mate,” Susanoo interrupted. “In truth, I understand not much of what ye are saying or explaining, but as Susanoo understands it, a very powerful god is right in a region that seems exceedingly bloody.”
“Do you think, then, that making those three religions fight one another is meant to open the seal on Moriah?” Anpiel asked, confused.
“Perhaps,” Susanoo replied. “Yet I believe what we behold here is something akin to Huitzilopochtli.”
Then the eastern god took the crucifix and pointed to the figure of Jesus upon it.
“A deity who was sacrificed and seeketh blood to restore himself,” Susanoo continued explaining. “But not merely local blood in a brief span of time. Three religions that have spent more than a thousand years constantly giving him blood through their intolerance and wars. That must create the most powerful New Sun that hath ever existed in history.”
Everyone fell silent, when suddenly, Menrva appeared before them all.
“Epona, Tul; it is an emergency. Come with me!” the Etruscan goddess said, frightened