June arrived in warm drizzle, soaking the coasts of the Totonac tribes. The rough fields were lush and green; beans had just put out new shoots, while corn grew vigorously alongside the weeds. It was the height of the busy farming season. Yet now, around Golden Bay City, the villagers of every tribe had no mind to clear the weeds. Faces full of fear, they gathered before the altar of the Feathered Serpent, whispering uneasily, even falling into panic.
Travelers fled along the coastal dirt roads, and refugee militia brought terrifying news. More than half a month ago, the ancient Holy City of the Feathered Serpent in the north had already fallen beneath the Aztec campaign!
"The brutal Aztec legions summoned demons from the volcanoes beneath the earth! With roaring thunder, they shattered the protection of the Feathered Serpent's priests! The sacred high priests and noble God-descendant aristocrats all died in the legion's invasion. Their blood and bodies were sacrificed to the God of War! Their heads and feathered crowns were even piled into little mountains!"
That was what Pap, the refugee Feathered Serpent priest, told the headman of the Snake Lake Tribe, Chuchut, the village chief of Lake Snake Village. In the Totonac tongue, Pap meant "moon," while Chuchut meant "water." Both of them bore divine names, inherited from God-descendants of their ancestors, and naturally, both were among those the Aztecs meant to purge.
"Chuchut, I escaped from the fallen Ancient Feathered Serpent City and stayed in nearby villages for more than ten days. The way the Aztecs treat the noble is so savage that not even evil gods in mythic epics ever showed such cruelty!"
Pap looked wretched as he sat in Chief Chuchut's longhouse. He gripped his Divine Staff tightly, recalling everything he had experienced over the