Night lay heavy, the waves rolling up whispers and scattering them along Cuba's coast at Iron Bay Town. And when dawn broke and the Morning Sun rose above the jungle, it illuminated Kapok City of the Lowland Maya.
From Iron Bay Town to Kapok City, there were two thousand li of Cuban coastline, one thousand li of Caribbean waves, and another thousand li of the northern Maya coast—four thousand li in all. And for the Kingdom to open this four-thousand-li sea route, the only obstacle left was the final thousand li of the northern Maya coast...
Kapok City was the capital of the Canul Clan, an ancient Maya city-state with a thousand years of inheritance. Five hundred years ago, after the Toltec king led his forces on an expedition and captured the Maya sacred land of Chichen Itza, he enfeoffed his following highland warriors on the western Maya coast. And this ancient city-state at the center of the western coast had also lain within the enfeoffed territory, ultimately coming under the Canul Clan, formed through intermarriage between highland warriors and local Maya nobles.
This ancient city was named for the kapok, so divine Kapok Trees could naturally be seen everywhere. Though it was not yet the season for kapok blossoms, faint red-and-white buds were already showing their first signs. Once the spring wind arrived, the whole city would be filled with fragrance and full bloom.
The buildings within ancient Kapok City blended the features of highland and Maya civilizations, and there were also clear differences between old and new. At the very center of the city-state stood a single-pyramid temple at least thirty meters tall, yet within the temple were enshrined two chief gods of the Canul Clan: the Maya Feathered Serpent, God of Wind Kukulcan, and the more revered