Finding Him
Prologue - A Legend
As the dawn broke, the new high priest stepped up to the cliff ledge above the great portal to the Spirit World. Below him, the assembled crowd cheered him. He turned back to face the figure of the Chief, who nodded for him to begin.
The priest raised his hands and his audience fell silent. Taking a deep breath, he began to recite the scriptures of El Dorado. The new legends.
"At the dawning of the Age of the Jaguar," he boomed, "the two Gods, creators of our world, visited the city of El Dorado. They came astride The Great Beast, protector of the natural world around us, Altivo.
First came Lord Tulio, the wise. Tulio is the master of all that is logical, of our routines and customs. It is He who protects what we have, and what we hold dear.
And with him came Lord Miguel, the kind-hearted. Miguel is the playful spirit who reminds us that we must always remain light-hearted. He is the forger of the new, and the exciting.
Together they brought the dawning of the Age of the Jaguar. What was once predicted to be an Age of blood and sacrifice was decreed to be one of peace and prosperity. The Gods no longer demanded our blood for their happiness. They came to smite he who spoke lies of them. He who presumed to be their priest and know their desires was told to step down, leaving the Gods to speak for themselves. And speak they did.
The great God Miguel spoke unto us all that there would be no more sacrifice. In his anger, the high priest attempted to use black demon magic to destroy the Gods, but they banished him to the Spirit World.
But the fighting had created a rift between the two Gods. While Lord Tulio knew that they must soon ascend to the Great Beyond, Lord Miguel desired to stay with the people. Their divine partnership broken, Tulio decided that He would leave without Miguel and ascend alone, with only the ferry girl for company.
But because of his dark magic, the high priest was banished to the World Below when he crossed over. Driven by revenge, he gathered many demon followers and lured them to El Dorado with the promise of gold and blood. Knowing that they had to save the city from the evil invaders, the God Tulio formed a plan to keep them out of the city forever.
Using the ship that had been constructed for the God's ascension, He would destroy the gateway to El Dorado, the sacrifice of the gold on board magically sealing the entrance so that nothing could pass into or out of the city.
But as he was leaving, the ship, created by humans and thus capable of human error, did not work as it was supposed to. The sail would not open. It looked as though the plan would fail and our city would be doomed forever.
Then, as it looked like nothing would save us, the great Lord Miguel jumped astride the Beast Altivo and rode out to the boat. As they lept from the bank, Lord Miguel began slightly to abandon his physical form and soared through the air toward the boat. As he landed he grabbed the sail and pulled it open, allowing the boat to follow its intended course and seal away the entrance to El Dorado forever.
We should not dare to venture beyond that seal, or to destroy it. For if we do, the legions led by the priest would overrun the city, and it would be cast into darkness.
So through Lord Tulio's cunning and Lord Miguel's selflessness, our world was saved. The two partners were reunited, and ascended back to the World Beyond to watch over us once more."
As the high priest finished, the crowd once again burst into wild applause and cheering. In the background, Chief Tani smiled to himself. He knew the real reason why Miguel had left. It was, in fact, quite obvious; he was in love with Tulio. But that wouldn't do for the holy writings. So he kept it to himself, and just smiled.
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