Morning sunlight passed through the peaks of the Sierra Madre del Sur and fell on the Divine Altar before the camp in the valley road. The alliance's War Priests bustled about, lighting the sacred braziers and setting out the many formal funerary ritual vessels.
The gold disk was needed first. Its soft, easily carved surface was being imprinted with the emblem of the Hummingbird Main God, as well as the symbols of the four eras, and the myths of the Rubber People would be added later. Of course, to avoid making it too heavy, the gold disk would not be too large. This two-hundred-catty gold disk was, after all, only a flattened rubber ball one foot in diameter. As for the meaning of its golden color, it naturally represented light.
Silver bowls were certainly needed. That gleaming color had always been a ritual vessel people loved, like the clouds and sky revered by every tribe. Normally, four silver bowls would be placed to the east, south, west, and north of the disk, but right now a full eight had been set down. In these silver bowls, all kinds of herbs and seeds would be placed, symbolizing healing and salvation. In truth, this had once been the Feathered Serpent's divine office, and the ritual vessels used were also those for sacrifices to the Feathered Serpent. But by today, the traces of the Feathered Serpent had already dissolved into the Main God, becoming the first deity to fade completely from people's hearts in the alliance's process of "becoming one god."
The round mirror of obsidian was needed as well. That dark, translucent round mirror was like a divine eye, gazing at the deep blue sky. And the reflection brought by the round mirror was often seen as a window into the mysterious