The Special People

Chapter 14

As those loyal to Zaca were being taken from their homes and brought up for sacrifice, Quauhtli quietly gathered as many members of the Momaquixtia as he could and fled the city. Among those with him was Zaca’s widow. Quauhtli led the people north in the same direction of Zaca’s previous quest.

The king was informed of the Momaquixtia’s escape and gave the order for them all to be hunted down. The Momaquixtia kept pushing further and further north to escape the king’s men. They finally settled down just northeast of the great canyon where Zaca had found the micoaz atl. They figured the canyon would make a good barrier and provide protection from the armies of the king if they should venture this far north. By the time they settled down and established a community, they numbered fifteen. They named their village after the group, Momaquixtia. Their numbers increased as more refugees from the city and nearby villages discovered them.

The king searched for them relentlessly, burning and conquering as he went, but his obsession went unrewarded for years. The Momaquixtia had hidden themselves well.

In the year 1454, Zaca’s widow bore a son. It was apparent this child was conceived after Zaca had taken the serum. He had light skin, and as he grew, the hair on the top of his head became very light and straight while the hair on the sides of his head just above the ears was dark and wavy. It was as the color of straw blending to the color of the earth. His eyes were the silver green of a new leaf. He grew much faster than the other children of the village, both in body and mind.

Word spread quickly to the other villages of a boy king hidden in the mountains, destined to rule over all the people and bring peace to the Aztec kingdom. News of this boy eventually reached King Montezuma, who decided to put an end to it. Four years after the Momaquixtia fled, Montezuma finally knew where they were, and he launched his attack. The king sent thirty of his best warriors to conquer the small village and kill the boy. It was then that the boy’s extraordinary abilities began to manifest themselves.

He was able to transform his arms into snakes that stretched out toward his attackers, wrapping around their necks and injecting a deadly venom. He had a pair of retractable fangs in front of his upper teeth, also with the ability to inject his venom. He had two sets of fingernails—the regular rounded fingernails common on every human and a razor sharp retractable set that was hidden beneath the others. The pads of his fingers could flatten out like a gecko’s, making him able to stick to surfaces much more easily. His pupils could elongate vertically like a viper’s. Folds of skin above his mouth could open up to reveal three holes on each side of his nose for tracking body heat. His lightning-fast reflexes made it nearly impossible to strike him. His strength rivaled that of his adult attackers.

Thirty of the strongest Aztec warriors were defeated by the three-year-old in a matter of minutes. The people of the village were shocked by what they had seen and returned to their homes with mixed feelings of hope and fear. This boy wasn’t a boy but a god. He was, thereafter, known by the name Isaac , meaning “its venom.”

As Isaac grew, so did his passion for knowledge. At the age of eight, he discovered the cave where his father found the micoaz atl. He befriended the serpent guardian and discovered that the liquid had no damaging effect on him. In fact, quite the opposite—it was a balm, invigorating and energizing him and healing cuts and bruises within seconds. He soon discovered that because of the serum his father had taken, his blood was bonded to the liquid. He found that he could use a combination of his blood and his venom to heal others as well. When he combined his blood and venom with the liquid, he could create new life and strengthen existing life. He first tested it on a lizard. The lizard began to grow larger and larger until it was the size of an adult man with arms and legs similar to that of a human, but it retained its lizard head and tail. The creature’s strength, speed, and ability to blend into the environment were enhanced. It even developed near-human intelligence. He named the creature Yolcatl and ordered it to remain in the cave until a time when he would need it.

One day, some grieving parents brought a boy who had died falling from a ledge to Isaac , begging for his help. When he miraculously brought the boy back to life, news of his healing abilities spread like wildfire across the land. Many believed him to be the great feathered serpent god sent to save the people from the tyranny of the king. He was soon elected the ruler of the people, and they began construction on a temple dedicated to their new god.

But there was one of the Momaquixtia that feared him. His name was Zolin, and he was an apprentice to Quauhtli. Zolin had the gift of foresight and prophesied that Isaac would rise up to be a wicked ruler and conqueror of mankind. Quauhtli didn’t want to believe that their beloved boy god would do such things, but it wasn’t long before Zolin’s prophecy proved all too true.

One day, while Isaac was in the cave, the village was attacked by more than a hundred men. The army was too powerful, and the Momaquixtia were forced to surrender. The captives were gathered together in the center of the village. Isaac ’s mother was taken and burned alive at the stake. When Isaac discovered the charred remains of his mother, he was so enraged that he either killed or enslaved every member of the opposing army.

In the year 1469, when he was fifteen, Isaac took his vengeance on King Montezuma by sneaking into his quarters at night and suffocating him in his sleep. From that point forward, the tyranny of Isaac became total. Killing the king didn’t satisfy his hate. He became consumed by it. He wanted to punish all mankind. He devoted himself to gaining power over the entire human race. Over the next seven years, Isaac built up two armies—one of men and the other of monsters created by Isaac himself. With these armies, he expanded his kingdom. The village grew to a small city which Isaac renamed Icoatzin, meaning “his little snake.”

As an adult, he was considered a giant, standing more than a foot taller than the others. His power continued to grow, and no man dared challenge him. Quauhtli, Zolin, and a few others began working together in secret to find a solution to this problem.

Zolin prophesied of a small group of people born with powers to match Isaac ’s. This group was called the Teteo Analoya, meaning “gods and goddesses, they are chosen.” The Analoya consisted of two men and two women, one of the men being Isaac ’s doppelganger and the group’s leader, whom they named Huitecoya, meaning “he was struck by lightning.” The other man was named Tlepitzalo, meaning “fire is lit.” Yeyecame Atl, meaning “wind water,” was the name given to the taller of the two women, and to the other was given the name Chimalli, meaning “shield.” All the members of this group had a similar look to Isaac —light-haired, fair-skinned, and tall. He prophesied that the Analoya would not fight Isaac in this lifetime but in the distant future. Isaac would come back to life at the time when his doppelganger reached the age that Isaac was at the time of his death. The powers of the Analoya would not be known to them until the day Isaac returned. They would wield them through the stones of power and the legendary blades.

Zolin prophesied of a great war between Isaac and mankind. He saw great weapons used in the war. He saw men using a variety of small handheld weapons that could only be described as blowguns that required no breath, made a sound like thunder, and shot fire from their ends instead of a dart. However powerful those weapons were, they were nothing compared to the legendary blades. Isaac and the Analoya wielded blades, combined with the stones of power, and were superior to all others in battle.

There were five blades in all. Each could only be wielded by the one to whom they belonged—the Blade of Life and Death belonged to Isaac , the Blade of Lightning belonged to Huitecoya, the Blade of Fire belonged to Tlepitzalo, the Blade of Wind and Water belonged to Yeyecame Atl, the Blade of Shadows belonged to Chimalli.

With the help of Zolin’s gift of foresight, Quauhtli and Zolin led a small group of men to track down the stones of power. Obtaining the stones was dangerous as they would kill any man who touched them. They had to be taken from their place of origin and cut without ever coming directly in contact with human skin. Forging the blades was a difficult task as the integrity of the mineral used wasn’t strong enough to hold the power of the stones. The mineral had to be strengthened by melting it down and mixing it with tiny fragments of the stones themselves. Once the blades were ready, the stones had to be fitted into place with the utmost precision and delicacy. After the blades were finished, Quauhtli ordered them to be taken from the city and hidden all over the canyon so Isaac would never find them.