Hammurabi, Hannibal, and Amon were all certain that this was a secret they had never learned. Their private discussions confirmed that even Praetorian Guards at the tribune level could not know the truth behind queen Yaaxil Chakchel's oracle. Thus, they all believed that Constantine, the Praetorian Guard Commander, must know the reason. Yet at the subsequent Sacred Guard meeting, Constantine explained that he did not know the full course of events either. That excessively mysterious immaterial realm was not something warriors like the Praetorian Guard, who controlled the Material Universe, could easily enter. What they saw and learned through folklore and mythology was merely the tip of the iceberg. He did not even know why queen Yaaxil Chakchel could look directly at the Emperor's face beneath his hood, nor why the Emperor had allowed it to happen. It was as if he had been expecting it.
Through queen Yaaxil's eyes, the Emperor saw himself reflected in hers. Beneath his hood, his face was a giant skull devoid of even a trace of flesh. Queen Yaaxil called that face Hun Hunahpu, the creator of the Yaaxil Tribe, husband of the Goddess Xquic, daughter of the Blood Gatherer, and father of the Hero Twins Head-Apu and Xbalanque.
In the myth, the Goddess Xquic, who lived in the underworld, investigated a gourd tree. There, the lords of Xibalba—the underworld, the place of fear—showed her the head of the defeated and decapitated Hun Hunahpu hanging from the tree. Curious about this skull-like fruit, the Goddess Xquic was instructed by Hun Hunahpu's head to reach out and take one. When she did, the skull spat saliva—gourd juice—onto her hand. Through that act, she conceived Hun Hunahpu's twin sons and fled the underworld. The later tale was of the Hero Twins defeating the lords of the