REALMS OF MEN – AZTLAN
YEAR 1268
"Papa!" Aurora cried as the dark-clothed people dragged her and her father outside. The rain was so heavy that the little girl could hardly hear her own voice.
Icy sheets blurred her vision as she tried as much as possible to see the faces of the dark-clothed figures, but she couldn't. Thunder cracked across the sky, and the fifteen-year-old girl grew even more frightened than before.
"Make him kneel," came an order from a woman among them. They obeyed, dragging Aurora's papa to his knees.
The woman stepped closer and asked, "Look around, Carmen. Is this how you want to end your useless self?"
Carmen looked up at the goddess with green eyes and answered, "I'd rather end up this way."
"Stop trying to act stubborn, Carmen. It suits you not," she replied. Carmen laughed quietly but said nothing.
"Where is it?" the goddess asked. But the mortal man kept silent.
"Where is the book!" she thundered.
"It's in a place where you wouldn't find it," Carmen said, which only made the goddess laugh.
"Oh, Carmen, you have so much courage for a mere human."
"And I intend to keep it that way," Carmen replied, glancing at his daughter. His little Aurora must be terrified, and the thought tore at him. She was too small to be in the toxic presence of cruel gods and goddesses. But Carmen had sworn never to reveal the book to them.
The Book of Kalisees had existed for centuries, guarded by the messengers of the gods. They had sworn never to reveal it, for it held a power that could undermine all things. Now it had been passed down to Carmen — the current messenger of the gods — and he would never give it up to the gods and goddesses of Axis Mundi.
"Your kind will never lay eyes on the Book of Kalisees," Carmen declared.
"We'll see about that," she whispered, gesturing with her hands. Instantly, her followers pinned the mortal man to the ground.
"No!" Aurora cried, struggling against the dark-clothed god who held her.
"Let my papa be!" she screamed, yanking at his hands. But the strength of a fifteen-year-old girl was nothing compared to the strength of a god.
She tried to see what they were doing to her father, but she couldn't.
"No!" she cried again and again.
"Quiet her!" the green-eyed goddess ordered.
Suddenly Aurora felt a strong pair of hands cover her mouth. The god holding her whispered unfamiliar words into her ear, and slowly everything became blurred. Each raindrop that struck her skin burned like fire.
Then a sudden stab of pain pierced her chest — unbearable, excruciating. She screamed, a sound so full of horror it could have awakened the dead.