Stepping out of the shelter, a Nican-Tca Jungle Elf man of dark brown skin sees a fire dying as the sun slowly repces the light the fire was providing. Looking around he sees the same setting he saw when he fell asleep. To his left is a tent made of unharmed shrubbery where his master Ka'a lies resting, next to the fire in the center there are two dogs resting, a chihuahua named Xbanque and a xoloitzcuintli named Hunahpu.

  Finally, to his right he sees their guide, former pirate, and newfound friend, Irie, a feline women resting on a hammock, a women of the Atca race, with gray fur with bck spots and adorned in a long dark blue reefer coat, high dark brown leather boots, and gloves, with a white head wrap and a dark brown tricorne hat sitting atop. Beside her is her satchel of material good and weaponry; two cutsses and four flintlock pistols. Ever since the Mercenaries Guild's standstill with the pirates of the recently discovered isnds, her people's homend, many people have been escaping and seeking refuge to the main continent of Anahuac.

  "Good morning Master Ka'a!" he says in an upbeat tone.

  The unexpected greeting got everyone else to jolt up, also causing Irie to fall out of her hammock, only to then nd on her feet. Ka'a's head sprung up only to bump into a piece of wood supporting his shelter up.

  "Shall we get ready to head out to Bernalejo?" the man asks.

  "Calm yourself Urracá, I'm not as spry as you youthful ones are, not anymore. At least let me brew some erva-mate to get me up," Ka'a says rubbing his eyes and head.

  They all gather around the fire, where a boiling kettle sits and next to it is bison meat roasting for a hardy breakfast. Urracá sets two dishes down for the dogs gently setting some tea and meat for them.

  "I hope you two are ready, we're almost complete in the pilgrimage," Urraca says in delight petting the two dogs.

  "I just want to go back to bed!" Xbanque barks.

  "I, for one, am excited to see the great pyramid of Bernalejo" Hunahpu yaps in delight.

  "It still gets me, from my point of view I just see a man talking to some dogs!" Irie ughs out.

  "You know I could always teach you, you seem to be skilled in magic learning animalism shouldn't be to hard," Urracá says petting the dogs and looking towards Irie. "They complement you a lot."

  "Shit, they better with how I've been spoiling them," Irie says bending down to give Hunahpu a belly rub. "I'm still skeptical on that little monster," she says eying the little chihuahua trying to get a few minutes of extra sleep in.

  "We just have to make it through the ftnds and then the desert. After that the pilgrimage is complete," Ka'a says with a smile as he packs up all their supplies.

  "I can not wait to see the great pyramid, the others were beautiful, but I have heard so much about Bernalejo and the paintings of the nd back home are breathtaking, I can only imagine what it looks like now," Urracá says as he puts on his travel gear. Standing up from the fire he reapplies his body and face paint of jenipapo fruit and urucum seeds. Dressing in his tradition battle wear of feather and boar skin based garbs, and a wide feather headdress, all done in blue, green, and red feathers. Upon his back is an obsidian tipped spear, a bow with obsidian arrows, and on his side is a gun-stock war club and a hide and wood based shield. Every piece upon him being hand made by himself from kills he made, making sure to use every part of the animal.

  "It will be magical to see it," Irie says with joy glittering in her eyes.

  With excitement in their hearts they all head out on foot through the ftnds, home of the nomadic Mixtitn people. Soon making their way through the desert nds of a far and dry ndscape, where the oldest race resides, the serpentine āc?ātl people. In the distance the city of Bernalejo can be seen now as they get closer. As the sun sets now as a bright gem can be spotted in the middle of an empty nd, yet there are differences in what was assumed to be here. Lights of an artificial build blind Urracá eyes, noises of bring horns push aside the singing cicadas and desert winds. Above all the great pyramid of Bernalejo is being tarnished by a rge man-made structure, a wall that seemingly has no end blocking the holiest pce of worship to the gods in all the nd.

  "What is that?" Urracá asks.

  "I do not know, I haven't been to the city since I was young, I had no idea it changed.... This much," Ka'a says.

  "Fuck..." is all Irie could mutter.

  "Making their way to the cities entrance where there is now a rge gate they look around to see that the houses and structures are all tarnishes, barely standing, these pces were seemingly blocked from the inner part of the city where the pyramid stands. There seemed to be no way to enter to gain access to it.

  "There is no way Emperor Taxkin would allow such alterations.," Ka'a says to himself.

  Noticing the visual anger in Urracá's eyes he walks over and pces his hand upon his apprentices shoulder. "Look, it is getting te, let us find a pce to rest and we can gather our thoughts," taking a deep breath Urracá simply nods.

  They find a small bar with a sighn saying El Sue?o del Quetzal they enter looking around only to see a single āc?ātl man sitting at the bar.

  "Excuse me sir, do you know where the owner is?" Ka'a asks the man.

  Swinging around the stool and red and bck serpentine man, wearing more modern clothing of beige eyes them.

  "Your looking at em... how can I help you?" the man says in a tired voice.

  "What do you know of the pyramids!" Urracá says immediately.

  "... You two, you're from the jungles aren't you, and I assume you over there are from the isnds?" The man says gesturing towards Irie. "We haven't had anybody on the pilgrimage in ages," he says with a light ugh, "I mean that has to be your expnation for being here, not many people still partake in that, only elves really. I know I have no reason to say it, but I'm sorry, I know about as much as you. One day a wall pops up and the next thing you know all the poor people are being crammed behind it over here. No one has had access to the upper part of the city in years, just mercenaries, the occasional high valued trader, and of course any uppercssman living behind the wall seem to be able to go in and our as they please, avoiding our section of the city of course," The man rambles. "I'm sorry for that where are my manners, I'm Nezahual. He says reaching his hand our for a greeting.

  Each person one by one grasps his arm in a return greeting as they exchange names.

  "So this is the emperor's doings?" Irie asks sitting down at a table adjacent to the bar flipping a chair to face him.

  "Yeah, the mercenary guards have been pushing back anyone trying to enter, and anyone who tries to force their way through are killed, without a second thought," Nezahual expins.

  "But why?" Urracá asks.

  "Like I said I know about as much as you guys, I've been doing my best to protect those around here being abused by the guards, but it's hard as they only seem to get stronger as the days pass by. People join the guild like normal thinking they'll become some hero, the next day they're killing innocent lives, people trying to scrape by with what little materials we can scrounge up down here, all form of outside goods seem to be funneled to the top first and we get what's left" with a deep breath Nezahual expins,"Look I can tell this pisses you off as much as it does to me... So can I make a proposal?" Nezahual asks.

  "What is it you need?" Urracá replies.

  "I'm a part of a group, well gang would be the technical term, but I digress, we are gathering as many people we can and we're pnning on stopping this, the guards, the walls, we pn on killing Taxkin, and restoring this city to what it used to be," Nezahual says.

  "Stop, nuff said, I'm in," Irie says without hesitation, "I still have connections in the isnds and can access food and materials back home, I can get us supplies and food for the people, and the cause."

  "I can also help, I am a priest in training, if the people cannot feel the gods presence then I shall bring it to them," Urracá nods.

  "Um... Urracá please may I speak to you in private," Ka'a asks. They both make their way outside the bar.

  "Urracá please listen to yourself, we were just here for the pilgrimage. You can not just join some rebellious uprising against the emperor, imagine the consequences this might have on the other provinces. You wanted to train yourself to become a council member back in the jungle-nds have you forgotten your goal?" Ka'a asks.

  "Yes master I remember, but that will have to wait for now, I wanted to become a council member yes but to do so means that I must honor the gods and their words, to see a nd where their love cannot touch those in need... this far more important than become a council member. I apologies but if you wish to leave than so be it, I will stay" Urracá says leaving Ka'a with a puzzled look on his face.

  With a deep sign after some seconds of thought, "alright, if you wish to stay then so be it, it looks like we will have to continue your training here then," Ka'a says with a smile, after understanding what this meant Urracá returns a simir expression.

  Ka'a and Urracá walk back inside, "Nezahual, would there be any pce within the city we can go to to pray?" Ka'a asks.

  "I do know of a pce, but it might not be perfect."

  ***

  The car pulls up to a broken down archival building, with holed walls and smashed windows it's no wonder people stay clear of this pce, it looks like any form of use has vanished, being destroyed like the structure itself. Urracá and Ka'a step out car, minds now overtaken with nausea and dizziness, their first experience in an engine powered vehicle left much to be desired. Irie on the other hand only worries about the sudden dust attack on her lungs. Simply walking through a broken portion of a wall they all gather and see what can be scavenged.

  "Look, in terms of religious texts and accounts there isn't much but I'm sure you can find something of use here." Nezahual expins.

  "No... it's perfect, thank you," Urracá says.

  "Alright, don't just stand there man, we got some cleaning to do." Irie says as gives Urracá a pyful shoulder punch, passing him by, they all get to gathering broken sbs of texts and any writings they can find off the ground, finding away to organize what is left and fixing up the room for a local pce of worship. With a deep breath Urracá looks out of a hole in the ceiling where he see's the clear night sky, the light pollution doesn't seem to reach here. Upon noticing this he couldn't help but smile.