The tomb was deep and secluded, its four walls made of reddish-brown tuff, carved and painted with ancient sculptures of the gods, abstract divine patterns, and whirlpools symbolizing the entrance to the Underworld. The Ant God was half human, half insect, with a carapace painted in black and red stripes, a pair of golden antennae atop His head, and red gemstones set into His sunken eye sockets. In His mouth He bit down on a human skull, symbolizing the soul of the dead being led into the cycle of rebirth at the heart of the earth. And in Zapotec myth, He could dig open the seam between the human world and the Underworld; He was not only the ruler of death and decay, but also the medium of sowing and new life!
"aa nequia, za'yaani lii. O Ant God, please lead me back beneath the roots!"
A line of abstract and mysterious ancient Zapotec Pictographic Script, like a spell from hundreds of years ago, had been painted and carved beside the tomb's carving of the Ant God. Mountain Clan Chief Izel reached out a finger and stroked all this that he could not understand. But he clearly knew that the red whirlpool entrance in the painting represented death and final refuge. And right now, he was standing before the mouth of this whirlpool of life and death!
The great tide of the age rolled forward, and the deep, irreconcilable contradictions among the Divine King, the Prophet, the priesthood, and the great nobles all surged in hidden undercurrents beneath the blazing sun. Many powers concealed behind the scenes were pushing him, and pushing Sintel beside him, silently sliding toward the Abyss of death! And at this very moment, he suddenly jolted awake to the realization that he was already standing at