A Blinding Light, A Moment of Silence

A blinding light, a moment of silence.

Darkness.

And then, the sound of a river.

He could feel the hot dirt below his skin. A flash of memory hit him like a wave. Sounds of battle, people falling around him… cold, slicing stone and then… hot blood falling towards the ground.

"No!" he screeched, and sat up, eyes wide and darting about. He sat alone in a desert that went as far as the eye could see. The ground was flat, cracked with veins of dry, dead earth.

Heat rippled off his skin, and suddenly he was thirsty. Thirstier than he had ever felt.

To his right, a river cut a trench into the reddish dirt. He followed it to the end of the horizon; it seemed endless. As he examined the edge of the river, water splashed onto the surface, sizzling into the ground with a hiss.

He ran to the edge and splashed water up to his face. It was cold, so cold it almost burned. Quenched, he stared out across the water. Across it he could see life, green plants and trees that led the way to two giant mountains.

There must be a way across.

"Hfff. Hff."

His eyes snapped to his left, where a sleek, hairless black dog had padded up without so much as a sound. It sat on its haunches a few feet from him, with dark eyes that shone like obsidian gems. It lifted an ear. He smiled at it, despite himself.

His eyes fell upon his reflection in the water. His skin was golden and tan, like tiger’s eye in the sun. He had nothing but a white cloth around his waist, and leather sandals. The dog huffed.

"Where do I go now?" he asked.

It stood, its nose pointed across the river. “Huff.”

The man hesitated. "There's no way across."

"Hufff." The dog began padding away from him. It went a few feet, then stopped and looked at him expectantly.

He followed.

He was led to a break at the water’s edge strewn with an outcropping of rocks jutting from the surface of the river. The dog barked.

"Arf!"

"I'm supposed to cross here?" the man asked. The dog gave its huff of agreement. He shook his head. "It's too dangerous. I can't."

The dog growled.

"Hey. Hey!" He took a step back, but he was snatched at the wrist by the dog, who suddenly lunged at him. The creature had a bite like a vice, and he fell to his knees in pain as he was dragged forcefully across the edge, and into the water with a splash.

His mind raced.

Who am I? Why am I here? Where is this dog taking me? I can’t…catch my breath!

He couldn't breathe. He kicked his feet until his face breached the surface, gasping for air. Earlier, the sun had felt as though it might begin to sear into his skin, but the river was so cold it felt like acid. The river began to overtake him. He could no longer feel the firm grip of the dog's jaw on his wrist, nor the burning cold water. Time slipped away.

"Teo! Teo! Agh. Where did you go? Come back!" Yaotl moved through the edge of the lake that bordered his home. He looked back at the city, it's mountainous temple growing smaller on the horizon. He knew he must return before nightfall. But he had to find Teotl, his dog.

Teotl was excitable, but a gentle soul. Today he had run off chasing a rabbit, but Yaotl had lost sight of him among a thicket of trees by the lake. He sighed. A sudden bark jolted him into attention.

"I'm here! Come find me!" He ran faster along the edge of the lake, when he stumbled clumsily over a tree root. He tumbled toward the edge of the lake, flailing. Dark, murky water flashed by him; it was shallow, thankfully, and he pushed off the bottom back toward the surface. Teotl stood and yipped, tail wagging at the edge of the lake.

"Teo!" he laughed. He waded towards the handsome black dog. It froze up suddenly, gaze fixed behind Yaotl, letting out a low growl. He turned in the water, panicked, and saw a crocodile’s gaping jaws steadily swimming toward him. Teotl yelped then leaped in front of his master, barking at the fearsome beast. It slowed its approach, before turning back into the water. Yaotl scrambled backwards toward a tree, wet and panting. Teotl ran to him, whining and licking his face. Gently, the dog grabbed him by his wrist, pulling him back towards the city. Yaotl's heart began to slow as he felt his dog's gentle pull, and he followed him back into the jungle, toward home.

I remember my name.

Yaotl awoke to a verdant green oasis, dotted with flowers and fruits among the trees. He felt...strange. Teotl laid next to him, snoring gently. He looked at his hands, clenching them open, shut, open again. His skin looked strange and he felt...nothing. Not heat, or cold, or even a faint breeze. His body had become numb to all sensation.

"The river..." he murmured. It had transformed him. He remembered a part of himself. He remembered his dog.

"Teo?" he said softly. The dog's head lifted from slumber, tail wagging. "I remember you now. You came to find me in...Mictlan? That's where I must be, right?" Teotl cocked his head to one side.

He was dead, then. They were dead, and he was in the afterlife. In all the stories of Mictlan, his father had told him there were many levels of the underworld. Teotl had led him across the first: Itzcuintlan. But he had a long way to go, still. The path through each level would be filled with treachery.

Teotl stood up. He pointed toward the two mountains across the jungle. Tepectli Monamictlan. He had to keep going. His after-life awaited him in Mictlan.

The two mountains towered over Yaotl and Teotl. They were as tall as the sun, and as wide as the eye could see. They followed a worn footpath through the verdant jungle until they reached the foot of the mountains. The path continued between them, but the way was blocked. The base of the mountains were so close together that they created an impassable wall, green and grassy. Yaotl looked at Teotl.

“What now?”

Teotl gave a small huff, then laid down comfortably on the grass. Yaotl walked up to the grassy wall, tried to climb it, but slipped and fell, frustrated. “I guess…we wait.”

Days passed, then weeks, to his surprise. The sun came and went, as did the moon, but there were no stars. He never felt hungry, but he did sleep. His dreams were filled with memories of his life before, like threads slowly unraveling in his mind.

Love. Life. Death. War. He was filled with regretful memories, avoiding sleep. Soon, he couldn’t take it any longer. He screamed at the mountains.

“MOVE! I see the path! I know where I am. I know you have to MOVE! Gah!” He kicked the mountain. He felt nothing, so he kept kicking. “I don’t need to sleep. I’m DEAD, right? I can wait here FOREVER!” He kept going, dropping to his knees and beginning to dig his fingernails into the earth, throwing handfuls of dirt and grass. Teotl was curled up by a nearby bush, watching.

Yaotl gave up, throwing himself on the ground in defeat. The first few nights he was waiting for the mountains to move, his memories were faded and far away. But in the last few weeks, he could only dream of one thing. Again and again he was tormented with the memory of the face of the only one he had loved.

“Yaot! Help me up, please.”

Xochitepetl stood outside in the early morning. At the bottom of a temple wall Yaotl leapt up, found a handhold and heaved himself up on top. He chuckled at Xochi mischievously.

“I’ve seen you climb trees taller than this, Xochi. How will we hunt if you can't even climb a wall? Come on, try and reach my hand,” he teased. Xochi jumped to grab it, but Yaotl pulled it away at the last second. Xochi scoffed.

“You couldn’t catch a thing out there without me, Yaot,” he said. He leaned against the wall, smiling up at him. “Face it. You need me.”

Yaotl rolled his eyes, but offered his hand without pulling away this time. They grasped each other’s arms tightly, and Xochi began to climb up after him. From inside the temple, a horn sounded.

“You! Xochitepetl! Stop, traitor!” Three guards rushed out from inside the temple walls. Xochi’s grip faltered and he fell, thudding into the ground where the guards surrounded him.

Yeotl stood above them all in confusion. Xochi moaned with fear. A guard faced him.

“Yaotl, our brother has betrayed us. He is an enemy! He must be punished. Join us, or join him in death!”

He didn’t stop to think. Yaotl screamed and leapt toward them all from atop the wall, obsidian dagger drawn.

A fray of bodies tumbled to the ground, fists flying, hands reaching to restrain him. He swiped his dagger in a protective frenzy as he kept screaming.

“Xochi! Run! Run, Xochi-”

Thump.

The fight stopped suddenly as silence fell. The guards drew back, and Yeotl found his dagger had plunged into Xochitepetl’s stomach.

Xochi quietly met his eyes, his expression taught. He opened his mouth to speak, but a rivulet of blood appeared at his lips.

Yaotl was frozen in disbelief. He had been trying to protect him, rescue him from his fate, but-

A guard moved gravely toward him. There was a thud. Then, there was nothing.

Darkness.

As Yaotl lay at the foot of the mountains, a gasping sob escaped his lips.

A rumble roared from deep below ground. Teotl was barking, racing toward his master, and then past him towards the wall where the mountains met.

CRRAAACK!

The great hills came apart as the path between them gave way. Yeotl ran after his dog. The road before him was jagged, like arcs of a lightning bolt. Teotl zipped ahead fluidly, dodging falling rocks and debris. Yaotl was running, breathing hard now, ignoring the pain of rubble beneath his feet, and the pain in his chest as his body once again gasped for air. He was aware of only one thought: move, move, move!

A bright tunnel opening shone ahead. Teotl had already reached the other side, barking in desperation.

There was a jolt of movement above him. He glanced up in time to see a giant boulder descending from above, but not in time to avoid its impact. He couldn’t stop his own momentum from carrying him forward. Time hung in the air, and he lost his footing.

He floated for a moment that took an eternity. A great void now opened up in the path, like a black pool into nothing. Dust motes glittered in the air, fading slowly as he began to fall.

Teotl was gone. Yaotl descended into the chasm head first, tumbling into the blackness. He was filled with such devastating horror that he couldn’t even scream. Eventually the rushing wind past his ears faded into a dull roar. He tried to open his eyes.

Something flashed brightly in front of him. He held his arms out, trying to stay upright. Another flash. This time he saw colors. Bright green, then yellow, red, blue. They swirled around him, like a vortex.

A voice almost indistinguishable from the wind hissed,

“Your soul is on the verge of oblivion, human.”

Yaotl still could not speak; when he tried the breath was snatched from his lungs so quickly he thought he’d choke. With a blast of air, an enormous serpent head parted the darkness, dazzling Yaotl with brilliant scales and feathers set like jewels against the darkness. Yaotl knew this creature.

Quetzalcoatl.

The great feathered serpent god bared its fangs with a hssss of approval.

“You know me, Yaotl, as I know you. I helped to create your kind on the earth when I descended into the Underworld to retrieve the bones of humankind from the god to which you now journey to. I have a question for you, human. Where will you go once your soul reaches Mictlan?

Yaotl could hardly stay focused enough to think. He was tumbling through an endless pit, talking to a giant serpentine god. He had no idea what lay beyond the Land of the Dead. Mictlan was all that there was.

Mictlan is the end, he thought.

The great serpent’s maw opened, and for a moment Yaotl feared he would be swallowed whole. A booming laugh rose from deep within the serpent god.

“HA HA HA! The end, the end! Dear human, I will tell you why I have come here. I have descended into Mictlan to discover which of the humans I helped create contain the most powerful souls.”

“You were buried with my symbol of guidance; your father feared your soul might be lost to the dangers that lie here. I have come to offer you a choice, Yaotl. “

Faster and faster still, the god’s jeweled scales flashed around him as Quetzalcoatl drew closer.

“Release your regrets from the life you once lived, and I will guide you through Mictlan to return you to the land of the living, should you wish it.”

Quetzalcoatl’s head withdrew into the darkness slightly, forked tongue flickering in and out of his teeth.

“If you cannot, I must deliver you to Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of the Dead. Your soul will remain there in Mictlan until the end of time. Your regrets will be yours to keep, forever.”

Sapphire eyes remained glittering in the vortex, waiting for his answer.

Yaotl stared into the face of the god, his thoughts tumbling through him as quickly as the rushing wind. His regrets…

He thought of home. His family. A friend. His death.

Xochitepetl.

Yaotl gazed upon the magnificence of the feathered serpent god. He could return to his home, his life. And yet, he hadn’t left anything he truly wished for in the land of the living. Yaotl stared into the eye of the gigantic god, his choice made. The serpent’s scales fluttered and shook, and a rasping hiss filled the darkness.

“Come. I will deliver you, Yaotl.”

This time, the god opened its maw, and it enveloped him.

The roaring wind stopped abruptly, and Yaotl fell to the ground. His ears rang from the sudden silence. Despite being swallowed whole by a gigantic snake, he was not inside a mouth. Rather, he was at the entrance of a gray stone temple. A single torch lit the open archway that led inside.

He entered. A dark hooded figure stood before an intricately carved throne, his back to Yaotl. He spoke with a voice was soft and dark, like the pelt of a black jaguar.

“What regrets do you cling to so tightly that you would not relinquish them for another chance at life?”

Yaotl approached the throne warily, then knelt in deference to the ruler of Mictlan.

“Lord of the Dead. I-” he faltered for a moment. “I cannot forget the face of one that I love.”

Intrigued, the figure turned to face him. Yaotl shuddered. Beneath the hood was the grinning face of a skeleton, worn smooth and white through ages of time incomprehensible. Its teeth did not move, but a voice emerged nonetheless.

“You would stay in my domain forever to cling to…love, then. What is the name of the one you loved?”

Yeotl kept his eyes to the ground. “Xochitepetl, my lord. He was captured. Well, I was protecting him because, I-”

A skeletal hand held itself up to silence him.

“Yes, I know of your love. And I know where he might be found,. Here, in Mictlan.”

Yeotl’s body went slack. His fear momentarily forgotten, he looked up at the Lord of the Dead with hope. Despite the lack of skin to form expression, there was a slight softness with which the skeletal god gazed upon him.

“Where can I find him?” he asked.

The skeleton laughed. “I will tell you, human. But once you find him, you must both return to me. You will serve the kingdom of the Land of the Dead, to guide souls into the afterlife. This will be your first test.”

Test? he thought. Yaotl nodded. "Tell me and I will find him.”

Mictlantecuhtli thrust his arm toward the throne, and the sound of a thousand screams echoed throughout the temple. The throne cracked, shattering into a burst of light that nearly blinded Yeotl. But then he could see a shimmering image of the arid desert plains where Teotl had first found him.

“You must find Xochi here, before his soul is lost to Mictlan forever. The Desert of the Dead will cause you to begin forgetting what you now know. I will give you a guide, to lead you to the source of your regrets, so that you might find a way to return to me should your memory fail.”

The skeletal lord pointed into the distance, where Yaotl could just make out a figure moving towards the portal. It was Teotl, marching steadily towards them. Yaotl grinned, relieved.

“Only when the source is found will you be able to return to me here. Do you accept this, Yaotl?”

He stood in silence for a moment, a smile perched on his lips. His heart leapt! Yes, he was dead. But Xochi was dead too, here somewhere in the afterlife. He could find him, explain everything to him. They could stay here, forever. He turned to Mictlantecuhtli.

“I accept.”

He stepped into the desert, once more.