THE SUN WAS RISING over the jungles of Mesoamerica. As it slowly ascended, large parts of the land were covered in shadow. These shadows belonged to massive pyramids, the smallest standing 1200 feet tall. Each pyramid had its own human city built around the base. At the top, there were two massive structures; the first was the seat of government for the pyramid and surrounding city, the second was a temple where priests conducted rituals. Each of the two temples were dedicated to a god. In the temple of Huitzilopochtli, located on the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan, sat a priestess with dozens of advisors.
This woman was 20 years old, ascending to the role after the death of her mother two years ago. She was 100 feet tall, far taller than her advisors and subjects, although she was 50 feet shorter than the average giant. With the death of her mother, the priestess appeared to be the last of her kind. As the advisors talked about rebellions and famine, the priestess stared off into a massive circular calendar which described the history of this city and its people.
The calendar starts off hundreds of thousands of years ago, when Huitzilopochtli became the fifth sun and Quetzalquatal retrieved the bones of humanity from the underworld, dipping them in his blood to bring them back to life. He also revived the bones of giants from the era of the first sun, who wandered across many lands before seeing an eagle perched on a cactus eating a snake. On the spot they saw this, they built the first of many pyramids. Humans had lived in these lands for a few thousand years, but the more powerful giants came in and took over. Feeling pity for the small, weak, and pathetic humans, the giants took them under their wing and let them live amongst the pyramids, building cities of their own connecting the many pyramids and making makeshift roads for the giants. The giants taught humans their language, culture, and religion, and in return humans would act as servants, food, and even sacrifices to appease the gods and keep the sun burning. Despite humanity being used as slaves and chattel, their population exploded under the giants rule while the giants themselves slowly began to stagnate and die out.
Now, without the giants, humans are running rampant. They no longer draw blood by mutilating themselves, make sacrifices, they even start to rebel. Just last year the priestess had killed thousands of rebels using her specially cut nail to carefully cut their hearts out, decapitate them, and flick their bodies down the stairs of her pyramid. Working alone, she could never spill enough blood to satisfy Huitzilopochtli, so she started to crush them with her body and switched to an all human diet. It’s messy, but it keeps the sun rising every day. As she fantasized, one of her advisors' voices broke through to her.
“Cihuaton… Cihuaton, are you paying attention? This is important for all of us.” The man said softly, not wanting to meet his end by upsetting the priestess.
Cihuaton sighs, “I know, I was just trying to think of a better way to appease the gods, even sinking the city won’t be enough.”
“Right now might not be the best time for religious ceremonies. Our border towns are in open rebellion and the major cities are openly discussing leaving the confederation.” Another priest retorts, more sternly than the last.
“I am just a humble servant to the gods, besides, I don’t have divine blood in my veins, so I am unfit to rule. If you find me someone who does, I’ll happily endorse them.” Cihuaton responded more annoyed than before. “If I stop, Huitzilopochtli will be extinguished allowing the stars and moon to devour the earth.”
The second priest speaks again. “All the other pyramids crowned humans as their monarchs and look at what’s happening. This is no longer about you, you need to take the role of monarch, take back power, and maybe if Xipe Totec is kind, you will find a human partner and be able to bring a new generation of giants to reconquer…”
The second priest is silenced as Cihuaton’s fist vaporizes him. She responds with a simple “No.”
A third priest nervously says “You’re right Cihuaton! We will search for someone to crown. We won’t make you wait long!” The priests look at each other and nod apprehensively as Cihuaton licks the remains off her hand.
With the ruler issue settled, Cihuaton and the other priests moved on to discuss other religious issues, none daring to bring it back up. The sun continued to move as the day passed.
“I was thinking that maybe we should focus on killing rebels on the battlefield instead of capturing them. Their blood is still spilled as it would be normally without the risk and time required to capture and transport them back to the pyramid to be executed.” One priest says.
“If our soldiers don’t capture enemies, how will they progress in rank?” Another priest asks.
“Simple, we just count the dead instead of captured. Don’t worry, this system will last only as long as the rebellion. I’m sure our dear Cihuaton will see it go back to normal within her five hundred year life. We might even live to see it as well.” The first priest answers.
As Cihuaton ponders this change, the meeting is interrupted by three warriors. The first one was a Cuahchiqueh, one of the highest ranks in the army. At his sides were two Otomi, one rank lower, but still elite. Both ranks lived at the top of the pyramid in their own special barracks, along with jaguar and eagle warriors.
“Priestess! It’s an emergency! The sky is darkening and the sun is being swallowed by the moon!” The Cuahchiqueh said, obviously scared.
The priests looked shocked as Cihuaton jumped up and ran out of the temple, nearly crushing the warriors in her path. As she stepped outside onto the top level of the pyramid, she looked up and saw that the sky was growing darker. Humans in the city down below looked up in horror and Cihuaton’s blood ran cold as she saw a dark orb swallowing the sun, only a small bit of light was still shining through.
Knowing what she had to do, Cihuaton started to run down the stairs of the pyramid. Once she was halfway down, she jumped up into the air, aiming for the marketplace. Today was a market day so it was full of people, all of which were currently distracted by what was happening in the sky. Landing on top of a few stalls, Cihuaton immediately started to kick, trample, and stomp everything she could at the market. From the merchants and their goods to the common citizens of Tenochtitlan, none were spared by the priestess. Some quickly ran out of the market, some were too scared to move, but whatever was in the market, did not survive.
With her rampage over, Cihuaton once again looked into the sky and saw that the sun was completely engulfed. The only light visible was a ring around the black sphere. She could see the stars in the sky and looking out into the horizon, it almost appeared like morning light was coming from every direction. For a moment she stood still, observing the surreal sight, finding a strange beauty in it. Although soon the city wide panic brought her out of the calm and she left the market, knowing that her work was more essential than ever.
Humans, at all levels of society, were panicking. Some cut and pierced themselves to draw blood, others ran and hid both from the end of the world and the priestess. Humans started to murder each other and animals were slaughtered, all to save Huitzilopochtli and bring the sun back. The priests who were advising Cihuaton ran to grab anyone they could and started to perform their own religious ceremony.
Cihuaton focused on more densely populated areas, stomping the wood and stone buildings to destroy them and anyone inside. She would also throw herself into populated areas, to cover more ground than conventional stomping. This continued for several minutes until Cihuaton landed on her back and looked at the sun once more. She saw a small sliver of light again. Her culling was working, so she got up and doubled her efforts.
She continued until the sun was free once more, shining brightly in the sky like nothing ever happened. Seeing that the world was set right once more, she returned to the pyramid. As she climbed the steps, she saw that her body was covered in dust, debris, and blood. Once she reached the top, the priests congratulated her on saving the sun and the world. Cihuaton just walked into her temple and collapsed on her giant bed, exhausted from the whole ordeal. After catching her breath, she demanded to be cleaned and a whole meal worth of humans be brought to her.
For the rest of the day, Cihuaton stayed on her cot as she was swarmed by humans cleaning her body and massaging her. She would occasionally grab a handful of prisoners and toss them into her mouth as she listened to citizens sing her praises. In her head, she was thinking about doubling or even tripling the number of sacrifices to keep the sun burning.
Now as the sun began to lower, Cihuaton was clean and fed. With the ordeal behind her, she was getting ready to perform religious rites when a scout ran into the temple.
“Priestess, you must see this, it’s a miracle!” The scout yells as he runs up to the giant woman.
“What is it? I already brought the sun back to life, what could be more amazing than that?” Cihuaton said, mostly ignoring the man as she continued to prepare for the ceremony.
“My men and I were traveling along the coast when we spotted three giants on the shore, we immediately ran back to inform you. We didn’t have time to get details, but I believe there was one man and two women.”
Cihuaton immediately drops what she was doing, squatting down and looking at the soldier. “Are you absolutely sure about this? They were giants like me?” She asks, a little skeptical.
“I couldn’t have mistaken it. They also had humans with them, but it was a rather small amount. Travel east out of the city until you hit the coast then travel south, you can’t miss them.” The soldier replayed.
“Very well, I will check it out, but if you’re lying, you’ll be the first one I execute tomorrow.” Cihuaton said as she stood back up and walked to her cot. She grabbed her father's Macuahuitl for protection and headed out.
Following the scouts instructions, Cihuaton reached the coast and started to head along the beach. She walked along the sand until she saw three giants, being unsure of them, she jumped into the jungle. She crouched and used the tall palm trees as cover, inching her way over to the giants to get a good look at them.
There were in fact two females and one male. Each of them wore metallic head and chest gear while the rest appeared to be fabric. The humans wore a similar type of outfit, made of metal and fabric. Some of the humans also rode strange four legged creatures with long faces. Cihuaton stayed in the forest, watching the humans cut down trees and the giants talking in an unknown language. Eventually the male and one of the female giants returned to a massive wooden ship which sat on the beach, the remaining one gave orders to the humans.
Feeling more confident, Cihuaton stood up and let her presence be known to the female giant. The giant saw Cihuaton and raised a hand, waving it as she yelled.
“Hola!”